Amethyst took the boys to her camp. They marveled in the stunning beauty of the way the flowers were organized, the way that the game makers set it up so that it looked even more lovely than any district. 

"Where did you find this?" Kelvin asked her. Amethyst took hold of a rope and tightened it.

"I actually don't know," She said. She kept adjusting the trap.

"What is that?" 

Amethyst smiled. She looked at him. "A trap I made. Can catch animals, or tributes. So they don't invade us."

"Us?" asked Zane, suspicious.

"Well, I did save your life, the least we can do is be allies." Zane and Kelvin said nothing.

As the sun dimmed down, Zane took two sticks and rubbed them together. Amethyst slapped his hand away, but he kept rubbing them anyway. "It'll only be a small fire, nobody will spot us." She put her hand back down as Zane created a small flame, like he said, and set it down on the ground. Kelvin rubbed his hands together near it, trying to stop shivering. Amethyst left the fire and went back to her tree, picking up a leaf and when she came back, handing it to Kelvin.

"What's this?" Kelvin asked, holding it between his hands.

"Drink up," She said, ignoring his question. Kelvin did, sighing out with relief as he did.

"You found water?" Zane asked. "Clean, drinkable water?"

"Well, not exactly," said Amethyst. "just something I had made to help with the cold."

"Have anymore?" asked Zane, not trying to sound desperate, even though he was. He wasn't very cold, but was really thirsty.

"A little. You cold?"

"A little," He echoed. She smiled, and handed him the rest of the drink. Zane drank it sparingly, his throat feeling soothed as it poured down his throat. Amazingly, he felt better. Much better, like he could run miles. And the taste wasn't half bad either. "Where'd you get this?"

"Well, I crushed up some berries and flower petals and made that juice."

"Seriously, Amethyst, you're a goddess," Kelvin joked, still sipping on his drink. Amethyst's smile widened as he said it, and even blushed a little.

Soon, the Panem anthem played. They turned around to watch the sky, and saw two faces light up in the sky, the first being Jacob, the boy from District 1, and then the boy from District 6.

"All this time," Kelvin started. "I never knew his name, and he sacrificed himself." 

***

"Skya? Diandra?" Jess asked, holding a limping Cole at her side. Skya turned from the cornucopia and went outside it, staring at Jess.

"What-" She started.

"Help me," Jess managed.

Diandra's head peeked out from inside, her auburn hair barely visible. Skya got hold of Cole's other side, helping him into the cornucopia. Jess laid him down on the ground, holding the arrow Amethyst used in her hand.

"Stringharp," She told them. She took the small pedal wrapped around the tip to show them. "a deadly flower. Cole's lucky to still be alive."

Cole sat, wincing. "Oh that's comforting. Almost getting killed by a fifteen year old girl."

Skya scowled. 

"Well, the poison might not have spread to your blood stream yet," Jess said nervously.

"That's even better," Cole said, looking at her.

Soon, a sound caught Diandra's ear. It was faint, but she couldn't un-hear it. She got up from her seat, and walked to the front of the cornucopia. Looking at the sky, she ran out further. Skya eyed her, watching as Diandra held her hands out. Diandra felt the small little parachute fall into her hands, the small silver box new and smooth. She turned around, showing everyone else. 

Jess sat up quickly, and asked Diandra to hold it.  Jess opened the sponsorship container, revealing a small bottle of clear liquid. "They sent us something," She said.

"Is it water?" Skya asked.

"No," Jess said. She walked over to Cole, and sat down. She took the bottle and poured out a small drop onto Cole's wound. He winced, almost screamed, and clawed at the ground as the liquid drained into his skin. They waited a second, and after Cole's continuous clawing, saw ink-like red liquid floating up to the surface of Cole's white skin.

"Amazing," Skya breathed. Jess took the corner of the top of her uniform and wiped away the red liquid, staining her shirt.

"It drained out the poison," said Jess. She took a bandage from one of the backpacks stored in the cornucopia and wrapped it around Cole's knee. "Better?"

Cole nodded. "But I'm not just sitting here all day."

"Well, it's night." Skya motioned outside, the sky black.

"So? Real careers hunt at night." Cole started moving, but Jess pushed him down.

"There might still be poison in there," She ordered.

"That's why I have to go now," said Cole. He was stopped by the Panem anthem, and everyone looked up at the sky. There were only two faces then, one being Jacob and the other being the young Venus. 

Diandra huffed. No, she didn't really care for Jacob, but she did know that he was from her district, and Venus was young like her. At that point, she couldn't be more frightened, especially when the next canon fired, right after the anthem ended.

***

She felt like she could run forever. Fiona wasn't one to get tired easily, for she had grown up running in District Nine with her little sister Via, especially to prepare for the games if she had ever gone in. And when her sister got entered, she had been glad to prepare her for the games. It had only been a few years ago when she saw her reach for the backpack and hearing the canon boom.

She had to avenge her.

Of course, Fiona couldn't really run forever. She had to get food, or even a little water. She didn't know how to operate a bow and arrow, or how to swing a sword just right. Her only weapon she had was her speed.

Soon, she came upon a clearing. She stopped abruptly, briefly panting. She closed her eyes, holding her balance against the tree. She was thirsty, and was almost tempted to drink the water from the sea in front of her. Fiona looked up, seeing how encased her and the other tributes were in the darkness. She looked around, wondering if she could safely camp in that area. Then, something caught her eye. Something drifting in the sea, something that looked oddly familiar.

She bent down and grabbed a stick, just in case she needed to defend herself, and started running over to where she spotted the body. As she ran, she could feel her heart beating out of her chest, especially since near the water was where she was most exposed, but kept running. For a second she thought that she saw the boy and girl from District Twelve, glimmering behind the trees, and ran faster so they didn't make eye contact. To her relief, no weapon came her way.

Fiona finally reached the place where she wanted to stop, and look at what had come up to the shore. The boy with the red and black, long hair and eyes wide open laid on the sand, expression blank. Fiona was shocked. Ren was from her district, as she knew it. She sat down next to him, and felt his pulse. Surprisingly, it was still beating. She shook him to see if he would wake, but he didn't respond. She turned his arm over, and saw a frightening blue mark coming down from his right index coming all the way up to his body.

The mark that could only be made by a forcefield. It was worn, but also fresh. Maybe for a few hours he had been like this.

The sky was completely black now, and she heard the Panem anthem play. She held onto his arm to make sure his heart was still beating as she saw both faces, first the boy from 1 and then the boy from 6. Then, the anthem stopped, and the faces disappeared. Then, when she looked back, she saw something even more frightening. Ren's blue mark started to die down, and his eyes slowly closed. The felt his arm, and then there was no more pulse.

She heard the canon echo over the trees and through her ears. 

She let go of Ren's arm, and stood up. She hadn't known Ren very well in District 9, besides school. He had always been interested in The Dark Ages, for used every chance to tell their class that. Fiona and him had seen each other a few times, and none of those ended up badly.

She took his left arm, and placed it to his side, and ran off into the forest.

***

He knew he had overlooked something.

That whole night, Zeon had been thinking of how he would win. He knew that, at some point, the careers would find him. He knew that at some point, he would have to do things that he didn't want to do. And he knew that sometime, the gamemakers would get involved in the game. He didn't know how, but he knew it would happen.

But he was missing something. Something he was surprised he didn't plan earlier.

Zeon held his bow and arrow to his side as he started walking. He tried hard to navigate the arena, which direction he thought his destination was in, occasionally swiping away plants. He knew that the careers would go hunting for tributes soon, if they already haven't. He knew that he would run into one eventually during the games, and would have to fight his way out.

But he hadn't thought the other way. He hadn't thought of the faster, easier way.

He would go to the careers first.