I woke up by the sun glaring into my eyes. I stood and stretched, trying to count how many days I've been in the arena. I started over and over again, but couldn't reach to a definite answer. Three days? Four? Maybe a week?

I climbed to my feet and stretched, walking outside the cave. I noticed Rosie Mae was gone, and despite my cautiousness around her I felt a spike of fear. No one deserved to die here.

But twenty-three people have to anyway. Or I'll never wake from this nightmare.

It seems so easy to believe. That this whole thing is a nightmare, with just a pinch of my skin or a blink of an eye this will all wash away into my imagination. That I'll wake up with Mom and Dad by my side, Michael too, telling me I have to get up and go to school. 

Is everyone still going to school? Pretending I never existed, Iver never existed? Telling themselves my parents never had children, waved away Michael and I like bothersome flies? Or were we constantly on their minds, haunting them throughout the day?

Are we honorable mentions or forgetful pawns?

Rosie Mae came back, stumbling along with her leg bleeding. It was almost noon, the sun almost reaching straight above us.

"Girl! Rosie, you scared the heck out of me! Where have you been?" Silver dropped her squirrel straight away, racing across the grassy ground to tackle Rosie Mae in a hug. "I thought you died!"

"I didn't... I just wanted to find drinkable water. Everything's salt!" Rosie Mae explained, looking at Reyna and me. "How will we survive if there's no water?"

Reyna marched right up to her. Whipping out her knife, she pressed it to Rosie Mae's throat without a word. "Tell me, Eleven, were you betraying your allies to another group?"

"N-no," she stuttered. "I-I told you I went to go find water!"

She sounded terrified. I wonder why. Reyna's a bully, nothing more. I bet she didn't even know how to use a knife to cut bread, much less kill somebody with it. I wouldn't defy Reyna in case I was contradicted, though.

Until I know how to kill her.

"You better be telling the truth, girl. Or else Death will answer to you." With a disgusted snort, she sheathed her knife and moved away. "Luna, Silver. Cover more ground, see if we can pick a fight. I wanna knock somebody down to the ground."

Silver and I shared a long look. Yeah, right. We played along, though, as we nodded our heads and strutted into the woods. As the undergrowth covered us from sight, though, we snorted.

"'Go and pick a fight for me, you peasants,' she might as well have said," Silver mocked. "Reyna is something else, like gum under your shoe that you can't pick off."

"Let's look for water," I added moodily. "My throat is drier than the Sahara Desert at this point."

Silver frowned at me. "The Sahara Desert? What's that?"

"Oh. You're not on that unit yet?" I asked as we trekked along. "The Landmarks Unit?"

She shook her head. "Does District Four have an advanced program or something?"

I smiled humorlessly. "It's called the IB Program. I'm in it, and I'm good at geography."

"Oh. Well, I suck at geography, so ten points for you, fishie." I smiled, for real this time, at the nickname. Silver was probably using it ironically, when Reyna's words were still fresh in our minds.

"Thank you, Twelvie," I replied, smirking as I stooped and grasped a handful of dirt. It was dry, crumbling through my fingers easily. I sighed in disappointment and stood back up, brushing my hands on my pants. "There is literally no water anywhere."

"There is, but we can't drink it," Silver pointed out, rolling her eyes. "Dumb Capitol. Why are they killing their own people? This is inhumane!"

Tell me about it, I wanted to say, but I just walked on in silence.

Suddenly, the earth rumbled. It wasn't light, either, I literally got knocked off my feet and fell face-first in the dirt. Silver managed to grab a tree branch and huddled next to an oak while the ground split, a crack jaggedly forming a circle.

The noise was deafening. Rumbling filled my ears, along with a distant popping noise, like the sound when someone cracks their neck. The circle was completed, and in that space the ground caved in. Water rose up until it was lapping at the edges of the circle.

I couldn't believe it. A pond just appeared right in front of me, right where there was ground before. Was the dehydration finally getting to me?

"I'll test it," Silver declared, greedily rushing to the water and taking a long drink. Popping back up, she grinned at me. "It's fresh!"

I smiled. "Nice. I need to get Iver."

"Aren't you going to drink? See if I'm right?"

"Later. I'm sure you're right, Twelvie."

I knew I couldn't let myself drink until Iver did. I would never live it down. I turned my back, but a shriek erupted behind me. Whirling around. I grabbed my knife, but it wasn't necessary.

Silver's face was green, froth foaming at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she slammed into the ground. No enemies were in sight.

The water was poisonous.