TUESDAY ERELLE- Wangari Kariuki

Bits of her were probably still in my hair. I'd stayed there in the shower far longer than I should have. Vulnerable as it was- though I'd kept my underwear on- I couldn't bear to leave the cleansing water. It was so warm in there, almost like I wasn't in this terrible place. It was like I could wash it all away.

MAXSON DELORIA- Shinju Matsushita

I'd been hoping he would win. Wangari was a Career. I was a monster. Walcott was neither of those, but whatever she was gave me pause. I'd been hoping it would be either Maxson or Gabriel. They were the ones who deserved to get home.

Lancia Audren- District Six mentor

It had been a long shot for us from the start. We had several contenders, but there were just so many Tributes. People kept telling me how proud I should be that we were among the last Districts to be knocked out. I would never understand how obtuse Capitolites could be. Only one placement mattered.

District Six

We never knew what to say to the parents. What must it be like to lose your child once and then see their ghost every so often? They kept getting older and their children flickered in and out of their lives, always that same age.

Wangari Kariuki- Res D2F

If the blog was correct, my next target should be Shinju. It seemed she had turned into a vampire. There was an entire can of worms there I didn't even know how to work through, so I didn't try. Shinju was a vampire and that was just that. Nothing to do but take the proper precautions.

Once I'd finished with Shinju I needed to work on Walcott. Most people seemed to think she was just another outlier to be easily brushed aside, but I wasn't so sure. First off, she had lasted this long, and in the Hunger Games the proof is in the pudding. Even before the arena I'd had my eye on her, though. She'd been wearing a sleeveless shirt during the parade. Walcott may have been slender, but I could see the wiry muscles in her arms. It almost seemed like she'd been training. She wasn't a volunteer, though. She must have just been into sports at school or something. Whatever the reason, though, she was stronger than one might think.

Gabriel was the last on the list, but his time would come. Most of the Careers had probably been hoping someone else would get him. Well, some of us probably hoped so. Others of us thought of a kill as a kill. I couldn't lean on my fellow Careers anymore. It was either going to be me or perhaps it might be Shinju. Of the two of those, it was probably better to be me.

I hissed between my teeth when a chiming noise gave away my position. I didn't even need anything. All the same, I opened the package. Maybe it's a tracker…

I felt a little guilty when I saw the little round cake in the box. Someone out there had just been trying to cheer me up. I did manage to smile a little as I read the note.

It's the home stretch now! Track them down and bring it home!

Walcott Patel- No Way Down D3F

I hadn't noticed any sign of Wangari sealing doorways. Maybe she was just sneaky enough I couldn't hear her, or maybe she'd stopped. Maybe she ran out of material, or maybe she just thought one floor and the basement was small enough for her to find everyone. I was thinking maybe I'd give her strategy a shot. I had a small variation, though.

It might have been a stroke of luck that I found the silver cleaning fluid in one of the unsealed rooms, or it might have been Gamemaker interference. In either case, it would stop Shinju in her tracks. She couldn't run from me forever. As I moved down the halls, smearing silver on the doors, I blocked off one hiding space at a time.

It was of the utmost national importance now that I did not die. I was the only thing standing between Shinju and our entire country. If Wangari found me before I found Shinju, no one would be safe- especially if Shinju had already gotten to Wangari. I wondered what would happen if Gabriel was infected. Probably he'd regain his hearing. That would be a trip…

Shinju Matsushita- Heart of Darkness D3F

The machine hummed lightly as I sat beside it, staring at the specimen door. The blood testing machine looked something like a printer, but one of the older printers you might find in a run-down library. It had been an ordeal figuring out how it worked. There was no manual- all I had to go on was a sticker of basic instructions stuck to one side. I was just grateful the hospital was modern enough that the machine didn't require a certain type of blood sample. It just had an ovenlike opening for anything from a microscope slide to a smeared bit of fabric. I'd squeezed a drop of blood out onto a cotton swab and now I just had to wait.

It was almost certainly nothing but a pipe dream. I was hoping- desperately clinging to a straw, more accurately- that maybe the machine would tell me what exactly had changed in me when I'd been exposed to the chemicals. Maybe then I'd be able to find something that would cure me. It was a stupid, ridiculous plan. I already knew it wouldn't work. I just wanted to keep trying.

The machine made a chiming noise. A little green light started blinking beside the specimen door. I leaned forward tensely as a piece of paper started feeding out.

Specimen shows bizarrely high number of basophils, indicating a tetradirectional infection base originating from an exogenous epidermal breach. Infection seems to be endemic. Recommend CAR T-cell extraction and filtration. Reintroduce plantar cells in titrated manner.

I stared down at the paper with moist eyes. The answer might be right there and I wouldn't even know it. I don't know what this means. I don't know what any of this means.

Gabriel Farad- Power to the People D5M

Wangari was out there. It was her Games now. Everyone out there watching the Games knew what would almost certainly happen now. Gambling centers would be swamped with people all making the same bet. They'd still be taking the bets, though. Now it wasn't a question of who would win. They were betting on what order she would kill the rest of us in.

It was one final hurdle for me. If I could get past Wangari, I had a shot at this. Walcott and Shinju were nothing to underestimate, but there was a chance. Walcott was an untrained outlier just like me. Shinju was a vampire, but there were ways to fight them. If we got Wangari out of the picture, Walcott and I could just look for her in the daylight and stake her while she was sleeping. First we had to deal with Wangari.

Tuesday's blog was still up. No one could make new posts, but the comment section was still open. I stared at the screen for a long time before I started typing. This was where it became so clear that strength and training wasn't the only thing in the Games. No one won the Games alone. You lived and died based on how many people you could convince to help you.

Hey, sponsors. I'm just gonna make one last case for myself. If I know anything about you, it's that you love a show. There's nothing exciting about a Career winning. That happens almost every year. But me, I've been giving you a show. I gave you a war. I fought off a vampire. Are you not entertained? I have more in me, but I need your help. Sponsor me and I will give you something you've never seen before. You've never seen someone like me win. You can make that possible. Let me give you the best show you've ever seen, and as you watch it, have the pride of knowing you're the ones who made it possible. What do I want you to send? Surprise me. When it comes to spectacle, there's no one better to ask than a Capitolite.- Gabriel Farad

Two people died last chapter so this time I thought I'd give the final four all a blurb during some downtime.

PS I was too lazy to concoct a vaguely realistic medical report for Shinju so that's just medical-sounding lorem ipsum. If you're trying to make sense of Shinju's blood report, there is no sense in it LOL