"Think I should press it now?" Rick asked. He was sitting before the Head Gamemaker's master control table, his hand poised over the green button — the one that'd set the arena in motion.

President Clair watched the cameras, trying to locate the blondie. "Do it," she said finally, "let's shake things up."

Rick turned around and addressed the other Gamemakers, "Cameras at the ready! I have a good feeling about this one."

◼▲◼

Annabeth ran straight back into the cave and began throwing their supplies together, knowing the rain would soon come flooding in.  Her allies quickly followed, and soon they were racing away from the acid rain.

Her heart pounded as they leaped tree roots and ducked under low branches. The shower closed in on them at the same pace as their running, so they were forced to continue on until it eventually stopped a half hour later.

Now they were in the middle of the forest after having been near the edge of it. The three collapsed against some trees, too exhausted to find a proper hiding place.

She couldn't see anyone around, but she made sure to keep an eye out. "Do we still have all our supplies?"

"Dropped a sword," Luke panted, "but I have another one."

Thalia had her head against the tree and lay there unmoving. Annabeth gently removed her backpack and looked through it. "Everything's here. We're lucky that our things weren't spread out all over the floor."

"We've got to find shelter," Luke said after a few minutes, standing up, "and set up some snares."

"I'll find shelter. You do the rest and we'll meet back here in an hour."

"Got it."

Annabeth crouched next to Thalia, "Thalia? How are you holding up?"

"Fine," Thalia rubbed her nose, then got to her feet. She still looked fierce, despite the grieving look on her face. "Don't worry about me. I want to survive too. Snares, you said?"

"Yeah."

"I'll get to it."

Annabeth tied an extra shirt around a branch to mark their meeting place, then they parted ways. They weren't near any caves this time, so she walked around, searching for a sturdy tree with thick leaves.

She suddenly heard a faint yelp and cursing from Luke.

Annabeth managed to locate him and ran over, "What is it?"

"Stay there," he was backing away from something. "There's a nest of scorpions under that rock." He was pointing at a flat chunk of stone by a tree trunk.

"How many?" she asked.

"Three, I think." Seeing her face, he asked uneasily, "What?"

"If they're venomous, we could use their poison."

He stared at her, "That's smart. So what's the plan?"

"Think you could hit them all fast enough?"

"I think so."

She walked up to the stone, ushering him closer. "I'll lift it up this way," she gestured. "Stand right beside me and stab them. The scorpions shouldn't be able to see where you are."

Luke unsheathed his sword, "Ready."

Annabeth hefted the rock, and he stabbed and sliced with his weapon.

He got two, but one escaped with a chopped-off pincer, leaping nimbly out of view and into the brush.

Putting his sword away, Luke eyed the dead arachnids warily, "I'll uh, leave you to it."

She nodded, waving him away.  She plucked some large leaves and wrapped up the scorpion bodies, studying the stinger. There was a bulb at the end of its tail, just before the point. She'd figure out how to get the venom out of it later.

The floor she was kneeling on felt strangely hard-packed. Almost like she was on metal. Before she could mull this over, she heard rain and thunder. Her instinct was to drop everything and run again, but it was distant, in the desert.

She stowed the remains in her backpack and continued her search. And a few minutes later came the earthquake.

◼▲◼

When the earthquake hit, Leo nearly fell out of the tree. Travis was checking out the rain from earlier and hadn't returned. When he was gone it'd rained in the desert too, which was starting to really aggravate him.

He was propped against the trunk with his legs out — the injured one resting along a large branch while the other hung on the side. He held the branch under him tightly as he was jerked back and forth.

Pain went up his leg and he grit his teeth, forcing himself to be still. He heard a cannon and assumed the worst — that Travis was dead.

He forced himself to think positive and kept holding on. He wasn't sure how long it lasted, but eventually, the shaking stopped and he relaxed. His hands were scraped from clutching the rough bark so tightly.

Travis returned in about twenty minutes. "You okay?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"Fine. Anyway, the rain was acid. It burned down the trees and everything. Don't worry, we weren't very close. I guess they're trying to squeeze the tributes together."

At that second, they noticed a parachute falling nearby. An artificial breeze expertly directed it right into Leo's lap.

He opened it up and found a pillbox containing a single white tablet.

Sponsors didn't give out anything expensive in the first few days — the value of the gifts increased the longer you lasted in the Games — so it wasn't some miracle pill that'd instantly fix his leg.

Still, he swallowed it dry, hoping it'd at least speed the healing process.

Travis took the parachute and fiddled with it, "We could use this to bait someone. Lure them somewhere, you know?"

Leo just nodded, wondering what his ally was planning and knowing he probably couldn't help. He hated how useless he felt.

Tucking the parachute in the duffle bag, Travis squinted at the ground. "I really wonder if there's more to the earthquakes. Maybe it does something in the other zones."

A rainy desert and a dry rainforest, Leo thought. He wondered what else the arena had in store.

◼▲◼

Rainstorms in the desert should be outlawed. Calypso and Will had definitely not been in the best place to get caught in it.

The earth around the oasis was solid, but they were in the dunes looking around. The downpour turned the dunes to quicksand, and Calypso sunk in straight to her shins as they tried to make their way back. It was definitely unnatural.

And as if things couldn't get any worse, there was an earthquake. The sand shifted and Calypso dropped in to her waist.

Heart pounding, she through back to what she'd learned in the Training Center. She lay back and moved her arms, propelling herself back to the surface as if she were swimming. The rain stung her cheeks and eyes, but at least it was just water. Her legs were still half in, and sand coated her neck, but her mouth was above ground and that was all she needed to survive.

Will was shouting at her, and she turned her head to see him on his stomach, limbs spread out like a starfish as he inched himself towards a cactus. "Come on!" he yelled, words almost lost in the thunder.

Calypso grabbed two tent poles from her bag and lay them flat on the ground to support herself as she rolled around, then followed him.

It was slow going and she was beginning to be terrified of drowning. District 7 had neither quicksand nor bodies of water, so this fear was new and almost paralyzing.

Her hands and elbows kept sinking in, and her legs insisted on submerging themselves. It got harder and harder to pull them out as the sand liquified further, forming a suction that wouldn't let her go.

She knew that if her lower half fell in any deeper, it was game over.

A cannon boomed, and panic-stricken, Calypso checked on her companion, but he was fine. He had reached the cactus and clung on to it tightly as the earth threatened to drag him down. Calypso joined him on the other side, hands scrabbling for a place that didn't have spines.

The quake stopped, but the rain was still going. Her arms were wobbling from the effort of keeping herself up.

"Hate the desert," she gasped tiredly. "Water is overrated."

"We're lucky we didn't go too far," he responded. His face was already red from sunburn, but it must've hurt even more with all the sand coating it.

She nodded vaguely, trying to brush the wet hair off her face with her shoulder. Her wounded side ached with pain, and she noticed that the strip of green fabric around Will's forearm was turning black with blood. His stitches had reopened.

◼▲◼

Clarisse and the other Careers had been camped out a hundred metres from the forest, planning on collecting rainwater before returning to hunt.

None of them had expected a storm, or for the ground under their feet to suck them under.

Once the earthquake began and it was clear that the quicksand could be fatal, Percy immediately dropped onto his stomach. Clarisse stared at him, throwing her arms out to keep her balance, "What are you doing?"

He frantically gestured for them to copy him. "Spread out your weight so you don't sink more!"

Bryce and Piper promptly did as they were told. Clarisse was reluctant because it looked pretty stupid, but winning was important so she followed his lead. She was easily the heaviest one in the group, and it took a while to get her legs to the surface. The aching injury the stupid boy from 6 had inflicted wasn't helping either.

"Try to move the sand as little as possible," Percy shouted, just as a cannon sounded, unmistakable even among the roaring thunder.

"Oh, easy," Clarisse barked, trying to mask her terror, "the earth is really helping us right now!"

"Shut up!" Bryce snapped angrily. "Let Water Boy talk."

Percy's face was pale, and his hair looked gray with all the sand in it. "Get rid of anything too heavy, but something with a big surface area could help keep you up."

Bryce removed the axe on his side and placed it on the sand experimentally. He put some weight on it and it only sunk slightly.

Clarisse didn't have anything except her two spears, so she used those. Piper was light enough to not need much, and Percy used his sword.

"If only the Games provided shields," Piper muttered near her.

Percy glanced around, "There's nothing nearby. We need to wait out the earthquake and then crawl back to the forest."

When they finally got back to safety, they collapsed on the dirt, shaking the sand off of themselves.

Clarisse was glad she'd survived the quicksand. Her dad probably would have personally marched into the arena to pulverize her dead body if she hadn't.

Bryce was staring at Percy strangely, "Well what do you know, you're actually useful."

"Thanks," Percy shrugged, "some of the beaches back home had quicksand."

Seemingly contemplating this, Bryce continued, "And you and Piper are easily the best-looking here. You might be the one pulling in our sponsors."

"Yeah...I guess," Percy replied, clearly unsure of this.

Then Bryce turned to Clarisse, and she could tell what he was thinking. What have you done for me? Why should I let you live any longer?

It was reminiscent of how her dad looked at her.

It ticked her off, and it had to stop right this minute. She marched over and yanked him up by the collar, slamming him into the nearest tree.

He winced, one hand going for his belt, but his axe was still on the floor. "La Rue," he groaned, "come on. Let me down."

"Is there anyone else here who can pick you up like a TOOTHPICK?!" she roared.

"No," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Clarisse," Piper warned.

She released him and he rubbed at the back of his neck, which surely had a red mark now. He scowled at her, "When I'm on the Victory Tour, I'll spit on your crying family."

"Good luck with that."

◼▲◼

So far Hazel hasn't had much trouble. For the first few days, she'd melted some ice to drink and managed to make a few walls of snow in case there were winds or she had to conceal herself.

Berry patches and the gift of lamb stew quelled her hunger, but she was getting worried that the Gamemakers would be so bored of her they'd send something.

She wasn't sure whether to take the peace and quiet as good or bad. If she wasn't dead now, it meant the other tributes were giving the Capitol enough entertainment.

Although the days were mild, the nights were cold, and now she wanted out.

She packed as much food as she could carry, a full water bottle, and her backpack full of supplies from the Cornucopia. Then she set off, maintaining a brisk pace to keep her body temperature up.

It was the middle of the fourth day when she reached what was perhaps the halfway point between her original position and the edge of the tundra. The floor was covered in dirt now, the grass blades delicately dusted with powdered snow. She could hear heavy rain in the desert, and wondered which zone she should go to next.

If the tundra wasn't cold, then maybe the desert wasn't hot. And she was willing to bet that the rainforest didn't have water, but since she did, she'd get an advantage by going there. Nico was there, too. He was so innocent that she felt obligated to protect him.

She never expected the ground to start shaking.

Hazel slipped and fell hard, banging her elbow. She got to a kneeling position and braced herself, waiting out the Gamemakers' antics.

The trees rustled harshly, and leaves rained down. Animals were scurrying up the bark and chattering at one another.

It was strange how none of them lived underground. The rabbits she'd seen earlier had burrowed themselves into the earth.

Cracks echoed all over the area, and she thought it was branches snapping, but it was ice.

The dirt broke open two feet from her, revealing rushing blue water underneath. The ground was only soil for so far...

She crawled the other way, but there was more crackling around her, each sending a tiny vibration through her knees. The madrigal of creaks filled her ears as fractures spiderwebbed underneath her.

Hazel didn't know cold until she fell into the water.

◼▲◼

Rachel was hungry. These last two days she'd eaten nothing but nuts, strawberries, and the meagre amount of meat from a lizard she'd caught.

She had just enough energy for her daily needs, and she'd managed to conceal herself inside a large bush to get some rest. She'd ripped out the branches and leaves on the inside, and she sat there now, wrapped in her warm sleeping bag.

Her dad was the mayor, so he'd managed to send her a few things on the first day. Well, she hoped it was him. The gifts consisted of five bite-sized rolls and some socks, which she'd slipped over her hands.

The anthem played, and she reached up and nudged some branches out of the way so she could see the sky.

The girl from 10's face flashed across the clouds, and then it was over.

Rachel shut her eyes, wondering when she would appear in the sky like that. She'd take a while to die from starvation, she knew. Being the mayor's daughter, she always had just enough to eat, even if it couldn't begin to compare to someone from the Career districts.

Water, though...that was definitely a problem. She'd lost a lot from running, and she hadn't seen any source of it. The strawberries helped, but by day six she'd be keeling over.

She desperately hoped that a sponsor would help before she died.

◼▲◼

Percy was getting tired of the dying rainforest. They had managed to salvage some food from around the Cornucopia, but not enough to get through the entirety of the Games. They would have to rely on their sponsors for food and water soon.

He finished off his breakfast — a ham sandwich from their supplies — and left the group, saying he had to take a bathroom break.

When he was done with that, he found a strawberry patch and crouched down, picking through it. He could only find two of the red fruit, which he wolfed down eagerly. They couldn't for the life of them figure out which berries were poisonous and which weren't, but these he recognized and knew were safe.

He moved some leaves out of the way and froze. A shiny black scorpion was poised there. It was missing a pincer, but its tail was erect and it was clearly agitated.

Percy thought they lived mostly in the desert, and could almost hear the Gamemakers laughing at that.

It lunged at him, and he slapped it aside. He yanked his sword out of its sheath and sliced it cleanly in half. He was about to congratulate himself when his hand started to feel numb.

Raising it, he stared at the red welt smoking and oozing yellow liquid.

"Oh crap," he mumbled woozily, head spinning. It got hard to stand, and his knees buckled. He swore he could feel the venom going through his bloodstream.

"Percy?" Piper called from far away, her voice warped. "What's taking so long?"

His vision spotted, blurred and then went black.