Hello! A quick update! Hope you're enjoying it. Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know your thoughts. How would you like to see these games end?

"Keep your eyes open! Taiya!" Theo yelled at her as they sped through the current of the river.

"Ok," Taiya stuttered in between gasps as her eye's threatened to flutter closed.

"No, no, no," Theo panicked as he felt her body relax further in his arms. "Just a little longer Taiya," he pleaded as he kicked his way over to the edge of the freezing river. They'd been carried along the river for a few minutes, putting them a good distance from the tributes from Districts 1 and 10. Taiya's head rolled off Theo's shoulder and she spluttered as her head went below water. "No, you don't!" Theo yelled as he grabbed the collar to her coat and tugged her head higher above the water level. "You stay awake!" he yelled at her semi-conscious body as he clambered out of the river before pulling her out and laying her on the snow.

"Theo," she tried to speak as her body violently shook from the cold.

"We've got to find shelter," he said looking around. "The wind is going to make this worse," he realized. He pulled the shaking girl up slightly and smiled when he saw that her backpack was waterproof. He quickly pulled the backpack off of her, and unable to use his hands properly, he used his teeth to unzip it. "Ok Tay, I'm really sorry but I'm going to have to get these clothes off you."

"Why?" she moaned.

"The water in the coats will start to freeze, it'll make us colder. Trust me. We've got to get these off, it'll be better in the long run, can you help me with that?" he asked her and she nodded.

Slowly, she pulled herself up and tried to unzip her coat. "I can't, my hands are shaking too much," she cried.

"Mine too," he sympathized and he used his teeth to unzip her coat before helping her pull it off.

"Here," she said waving him forward before copying him and using her teeth to unzip his coat.

Theo leaned forward and ripped her beanie off her head. "Put out your hands," he instructed as he pulled out the blanket Finnick had given them and rubbed it against her hands, trying to use friction to warm her hands up to the point that she could use them. "Did that work?"

"A bit," she nodded.

"Ok, get the rest off," he said and she began to take off the rest of her clothes.

"Do you need help?" she asked as she watched him struggle with his shoes.

"I've got it," he grunted as he managed to kick them off, leaving the both of them in just their underwear. He quickly ran around the area and shoved their weapons into the backpack, leaving just the sword in his hand. "Alright, come here," he said standing up. Taiya stumbled over to him and he grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around the both of them. "Just hold onto me. We need to try to use each other's body heat to function properly. We need to get somewhere the wind and snow can't get at us and hopefully Tyler and Finnick can get us some new clothes."

Theo and Taiya stumbled around for half an hour until they found a cave to hide in. Theo leaned the both of them up against the wall and looked over at her to see her eyes glazed over and her body not shaking anymore.

"Hey, hey," he whispered tapping her face, making her slowly blink in response.

"Is that Taiya?" a quiet voice asked and Theo instantly jumped up, sword at the ready.

"Who's there?"

"Please don't hurt me," the voice pleaded. "I don't want any trouble."

"Then show yourself," Theo challenged.

Out of the shadows of the cave stepped Cooper with his hands raised in the air. "What happened?" he asked as he got a good look at them.

"We had to jump in the river," Theo answered cautiously, not lowering his sword.

"Is she going to be ok?" he asked looking at her.

"Why do you care?"

"She let me go at the Cornucopia," Cooper told him. "She let me take these gloves and told me to get out of there. She spared me. Is she in pain?"

Theo looked over at her, lying still against the wall before turning back to Cooper and nodding sadly. Cooper quickly took the gloves off his hands and handed them to Theo. Theo lowered his sword and took them before running back to Taiya and pulling them onto her hands. "Thank you."

"It's the right thing to do," Cooper shrugged as he came closer. "She helped me now I can help her."

"Did you hear that?" Theo asked as he heard a clunk outside the cave. Cooper nodded nervously as he shrunk back against the cave wall beside Taiya. "Is someone with you?"

"No, I've been alone this entire time," he shook his head.

Theo slowly stood up, his sword raised as he exited the cave. Cooper stared after him fearfully before Theo let out a laugh that made the boy jump.

"Thank god!" Theo laughed as he ran back into the cave, a parcel in his arms. "You'll have to help me open it, I can barely keep my hands still," Theo said to Cooper as his hands shook from the cold.

Cooper nodded as he took the parcel from Theo and tore it open. "Its clothes," Cooper gasped. "That must've been so expensive."

"Yeah, well people love Taiya," Theo smiled as he brushed the loose hairs out of her face. "What have we got?"

"Two pairs of pants, two tops, two inner jackets, two pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks, one beanie and one coat," Cooper stocktakes. "Why only one coat? That's the most important?" Cooper frowned.

"You said it yourself kid, this is an expensive gift. Imagine how much two coats would cost. Ok, pass me all the stuff that fits me and then I'm going to need your help getting this stuff on her. She's too out of it to be able to do it herself."

Cooper nodded as he passed Theo his clothes, allowing him to get dressed before they worked together to get the clothes on Taiya.

Theo adjusted the beanie on her head before he frowned at her lips that were still blue. "She's still too cold. I've got to warm her up," he muttered looking around frantically.

"There are pills," Cooper pointed out in the wrapping of the parcel. "And a note. 'She needs two, you take one – Tyler'," Cooper read.

"Maybe they'll help warm us up," Theo said hopefully as he snatched the pills from Cooper. "Do you have water?" he asked the boy, who nodded and passed his flask of water to Theo. "I'll fill this up later, thank you," Theo smiled. "Hey, Tay, you need to wake up," he shook her, making her eyelids open slightly. "These will help," he held up the pills to show her. "But I need you to swallow ok?" he instructed. Taiya nodded weakly, allowing him to place the water and pills in her mouth. He fed her the pills before taking one himself. "Woah."

"What's wrong?" Cooper asked.

"Nothing. I just feel like I swallowed fire," Theo smiled.

"In a good way?"

"Definitely. Look, her lips are already pinker. They're working."

"You should take the blanket from her," Cooper suggested, making Theo look at him in confusion. "Well, you were in the water as well right? And she has the coat, you must be freezing."

"Well yeah…"

"You won't really be able to help her if you freeze to death. She's had the pills she'll be ok for now."

"You're right," Theo nodded as he slipped the blanket off her and wrapped it around himself, instantly glad for a bit of extra warmth. "How many cannons went off earlier?" Theo asked, wanting to know the result of the fight he and Taiya fled from.

"Two."

"What do you mean two?"

"I mean two. Why?"

"We watched two people die. When we left there were four people fighting. That means they all survived. How is that possible!"

"Who died?"

"The pair from 2."

"So Cotton and Hero are still alive in the Career pack?"

"Seems so," Theo confirmed. "They were fighting the tributes from 9. The ones from 9 were… vicious. 1 would have turned on us straight away if they won the fight so we got out of there."

"You should rest," Cooper recommended. "I haven't seen anyone walk past here apart from you two, but if anyone comes past I'll wake you up. I don't have a weapon I can't do anything so I'll need you."

Theo looked at the boy cautiously, he knew he didn't want to rely on someone else to keep the both of them alive, but he was so exhausted he didn't have a choice. So he nodded and curled up next to Taiya.

The sound of the anthem that night woke Taiya up from her sleep. She sat up to see Theo lying next to her sleeping with his arm wrapped around her. She looked around to see they were alone in a cave. As she began to relax she heard footsteps and tensed up, looking around for any weapon to defend herself. She picked up the sword Theo had left to the side and held it up as Cooper walked into view, freezing when he saw her attack position.

"No, we're allies, we're allies!"

"Cooper?" she frowned as she realized who it was, before lowering her sword. "What happened?"

"You and Theo went swimming in the river," he explained to her as he stepped towards her and her eyes widened as she remembered. "He basically carried you in here and found me. I helped him try to warm you up and then you got a sponsor gift with a new set of clothes each and some hypothermia medicine. I've been keeping watch for the last few hours, I just went outside to make sure Theo was right about who died today."

"Who died?" Taiya asked.

"Marcus and Calista from 2."

"And?"

"That's all."

"But that doesn't make sense," Taiya shook her head.

"That's what your friend said!" Cooper smiled. "Here," he said handing her a bread roll. "They're a little stale, I found them in a bag when I left the Cornucopia."

"Thank you," Taiya smiled at him as she took the bread. "How long have we been here?"

"You got here in the morning, so you've both been asleep for about 9 hours."

"Where's Theo's coat?" Taiya asked.

"They only sent one coat," Cooper shrugged. "How are you feeling? You really weren't looking good when Theo brought you in earlier."

"I'm pretty hungry, but apart from that, I think I'm ok. Why did you help us?"

"You let me go at the start. You didn't have to do that. I wanted to make it up to you."

"Thank you," Taiya smiled as they heard a clunk.

"I know that sound!" Cooper smiled as he ran out of the cave, coming back quickly with a gift in hand. "It'll be for you," he said handing it to her. "I don't get gifts."

Taiya pulled off the note to read 'No more swims, ok? – Finnick' and smiled briefly before continuing to open it.

"Woah!" Cooper gasped excitedly, leaning forward to smell the air as she opened up a feast. There were fish, seaweed rolls, apples, and hot chocolate. "You're really popular."

"Do you want some?" Taiya offered him.

Cooper looked up at her with a wide smile. "Are you sure?" he asked and she heard his stomach rumble.

"Absolutely, you've kept us safe today. I think we owe you now. Let me just wake up Theo," she said crawling over to him and shaking him awake.

"You're ok!" he laughed as he lunged at her and pulled her into a hug. "You scared me, I was so worried," he confessed.

"I'm ok now," she assured. "And Finnick's sent us a ton of food," she pointed out. "Come on, we're sharing with Cooper."

Theo and Taiya had spent the entire fourth day of the games recuperating in the cave with Cooper, the day had resulted in no deaths. It was now nighttime on the fifth day and they still hadn't heard a cannon.

Taiya was sitting with Cooper chatting whilst Theo paced the cave, deep in thought. "Do you want to see a trick?" she smiled at him and he nodded. Finnick and Tyler had been sending them gifts of food once a day now that they didn't have access to the food supply they had with the Careers and she knew she could afford to make requests if she wanted to. Looking at Cooper's forlorn face all she wanted to do was cheer the boy up. "Ok you ready?" she asked and he nodded again his smile widening. "I feel like a hot chocolate," she said aloud.

"Was that the trick? It's not very good," Cooper laughed and Taiya held up a finger to silence him when they heard a clunk outside and his mouth fell open in shock.

Theo walked out and grabbed the canister of hot chocolate, throwing it over to Taiya who caught it and opened it, wafting it under Cooper's nose.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Cooper laughed. "My mentors said you got the best crowd reaction at the interview and would get a lot of the sponsors but this is insane!"

Taiya's smile weakened, she knew what the real secret behind these gifts was, and it wasn't just the lecherous Capitol men choosing to splurge their money on gifts for her. It was also Finnick leveraging his abuse to her advantage. She pulled the note off the canister to read 'Don't push it – Finnick', smiling as she read the note.

"Want some?" she offered Cooper.

"Yes please."

"Theo?"

"I'm good," he called back to her.

"He's grumpy," Taiya smiled, not wanting to alarm Cooper to Theo's tension. "Here," she said handing him the canister as she filled up the lid for herself. The anthem blared out through the arena, but Cooper and Taiya stayed seated in place. They knew that Theo was out watching and would report back. "Did anyone die?" Taiya asked as he came back.

"No one," Theo shook his head as he sat down close to her. "Who's left?"

"Well there's Cotton and Hero from 1," Taiya said holding up her fingers. "Techna from 3, the two of us, Ivy from 7, the pair from 9, and Cooper. 9 in total, including us."

Theo nodded as he tapped his sword on the ground, he was getting antsy staying in the cave. "It's been two days in a row with no deaths, they're not going to like that."

"Theo!" Taiya interrupted curtly. She didn't want to scare Cooper.

Theo stood up quickly. "We need to do something, I'm sorry, but if nothing interesting happens tomorrow the Gamemakers will intervene."

"Ok," Taiya nodded. "Well, we're safe here for now. We're protected from the elements. If nothing happens tomorrow we'll leave the next day ok? You can come with us if you want Cooper, but it's up to you."

"Taiya…" Theo protested.

"You're welcome to," she cut him off and Cooper nodded nervously.

No one had died on the sixth day, so the day after they packed up their stuff and the three of them ventured out of the cave.

"Oh god," Taiya groaned as the icy wind whipped her face. "I hate the snow so much."

"No way, the snow's great," Cooper laughed.

"You get snow in District 10?" she asked and he nodded. "Ok, are we the only District with sun all year round?" she asked Theo.

"Must be," he smiled at her.

"Well, I'm glad for it. Give me the beach and sand any day over the snow. It makes little icicles on my hair," she complained as she ran her hand through her hair.

"Yeah it does that," Cooper laughed. "Did you hear that?" he asked freezing.

"No," Taiya shook her head as the two District 4 tributes tensed up as they looked around for a hidden threat. They were relatively well hidden with all the trees around them, but that meant any threat could be well concealed also.

"I swear I heard something," Cooper said, his voice shaking.

Theo grabbed a hold of Taiya's hand, he could feel the tension in the air. "Let's get moving," he suggested.

Taiya and Theo began walking again, expecting Cooper to follow. Not hearing any footsteps, Taiya turned around to see he hadn't moved.

"Cooper," she called out. "Come on."

"There's something here," he said taking a step forwards. As he did, a wolf lunged out of a bush straight for him. The boy let out one loud scream before a cannon sounded, it had gone straight for the kill.

"Wolves hunt in packs! RUN!" Theo yelled as he tugged her arm and they sprinted off. They'd only made it a short distance when Theo froze as a wolf stepped out in front of him. He went to try to run a different way but saw they were surrounded.

"Don't run, don't run," Taiya said quickly. "They're more scared of us than we are of them. If we run they'll go into hunter mode."

"Taiya these aren't wild wolves, these are mutts. I don't think normal animal behavior applies to them," he hissed.

"Well it's our best bet isn't it?" she cried.

"Ok, what do we do then?"

"You stay standing up, look tall," she instructed as she slowly lowered herself down. "Make loud noises," she told him and he started yelling at the wolves, trying to intimidate them as Taiya scooped up as many rocks as she could into her hands. She slowly stood back up and handed him some rocks. "We're going to throw them at the wolves and yell."

"Won't that just piss them off?" Theo asked.

"I hope not," she shook her head. "I did the animal survival station in training. The same rules as training have to apply here surely. The training said that throwing rocks can scare them away. Ready?" she asked.

"Now," Theo confirmed and they both began yelling as they hurled their rocks at the wolves. The wolves stuck around for a minute before whimpering and running off together.

As soon as they'd left Taiya and Theo spun together quickly slamming into a hug.

"That was so scary," she whispered.

"I know," he soothed as he ran his hand down her hair. "I know."

"Cooper," she cried.

"There was no saving him," Theo shook his head as he wiped her tears. "We just have to clear out of here and let the hovercraft take him home," he told her gently as he released her from the hug.

"There are six others left now."

"I'm leaving it up to you to decide what we do from here. We can lay low and try to wait it out or we can go hunting," he offered.

"This is our seventh day in here. You're right they need action or they'll make their own," she said looking back in the direction Cooper's body lay in. "We need to be careful. Super careful. Everyone left is good enough to survive this for seven days. That means they're smart. Technically, we're Careers. The only way one of us is getting home is if we start acting like Careers. I think it's time to go hunting."