I look around, and I see the cornucopia with all the supplies. I see an orange backpack about halfway in, and I see weapons all over. I look to my right and see Bonnie from District 8, and to my left is the guy from District 5, no idea what his name is. I see Titus on the other side, but I can't see Romulus. I see Ally, and she is between Lily and Topaz, and next to Lily is Bella.

"fuck fuck fuck fuck," I think to myself, "10 seconds to go. I have to get her out. I have to get her out. 5 seconds."

I see the others getting ready. The gong goes off, and I start running. I know I'm tunnel visioning, but I can see Ally running, and Topaz and Bella are chasing after her and Lily, who is faster. The boy from 5 bumps into me, and I just shove him back as hard as I could and hear him fall back and hit his podium. I get there just as Topaz jumps on Ally, and Bella is turning back because Lily is long gone. I ran up and twist Topaz's neck and hear a crunch, and Bella is on me punching, but I hit her in the nose, and she falls down.

I twist her neck and shout at Ally, "Ruuunnnnn!!!! Go! remember the plan," and I turn back.

It's a mess in the cornucopia, but I go anyways. Throw a backpack on and grab a spear when I see him. Titus is savaging Melissa, and my heart breaks. I aim and throw the spear at him when the boy from 8 stands up, takes my spear in the head, and falls down. He was attacking Jillian, who gets up and runs off with her district partner.

I grab another spear and scoop up a sword and a weird looking bag and turn around when I see Romulus with a sword in hand covered in blood.

He shouts, "remember what I said," I nod, and he turns and runs after some other tributes.

I am gone right after that; thankfully and sadly, Topaz and Bella point me in the right direction. I run through the trees and see Ally standing there behind a tree. I kneel down and tell her to hang off my neck. She jumps on, and I'm off. I run cross country at school, so I know I can run for miles when I need to, but the backpack isn't light. Hopefully, a good sign, plus Ally and the little bag awkwardly swing. I won't be able to go as far as I could back home. I hear a cannon and shout to Ally to keep count for me. I've been running for about 20 minutes at this point at top speed, so I know I have covered some good ground. 

I stop so she can get off, "how many did you count?" I say between gasps.

"Umm Ummm 9 or 10 maybe. I lost track.....I...I .....you killed them," and I see she is tearing up.

"Hey, hey, it was them or you.   I had to save you," I say back, and she nods, but I can see the tears still there.

"Hey, what's black and white and red all over?" I say with a smile.

She smiles and sobs a little with a laugh, "what?"

"A cow with a sunburn," and I scoop her up as she starts laughing, and I start running again, but I know she is smiling. 

I picture Michele and Jackson smiling because we made it out of the bloodbath, at least. I know that Callum and Evan will be in the town square with our father. Family members are required to be there when the games start, and I hope people support them. Even if no one loves our Dad, he loves Ally more than the rest of us put together. I wonder if Felix and Portia are still below us in the underground complex.

Ally taps me and says, "We should rest. You can't run forever," I nod and put her down.

I've been running for an hour, probably I have to be a couple of miles from the bloodbath. I pull off the bags and finally really look around. I've been running and just looking ahead of me, green plants, and more green plants, but now I see that it's a jungle-like area. Not as wet or hot, but it seems to be the right way to describe it. I tell Ally to look in the little bag, and I start looking at the big one. She pulls out 3 throwing knives and a first aid kit. So we have knives, the sword, and the spear. I open the big bag; it has bread, some water, a sleeping bag, a water filter, and a rope.

"Not a bad haul, huh?" I say with a smile.

Ally seems to be in better spirits; maybe the shock is wearing off. When we hear another cannon and look at her, she is shaking a bit, "you ok?" I ask.

"How many did you kill? After I ran off," she asks, not making eye contact.

Her words hurt me more than I could have expected, "Ummm Bella and Topaz, I pushed the boy from five out of my way to get you, but I don't know if he died. I accidentally got the boy from 8. I was aiming for Titus," I say seriously.

"Did you see who else died?" She asks, probably not wanting the real answer.

I think back to the bloodbath, and I think to myself, who did I see, "Ummm Melissa, for sure, Titus got her. Lily was running off ahead of you, but I think Jake is gone and the boy from 7, I think. With that last cannon, we are at 10 or 11, so almost halfway there. Let's sit and rest a bit more, and we can head off, want some water?"

She nods, and I give her the bottle she drinks, and then I drink some. "We have a filter, so there must be water around here someplace; that's good," I say. Ally is still being quiet. "What's on your mind? Are you mad at me?"

She shakes her head, "I didn't actually think about what it would be like to kill someone. when you killed Topaz, it was just so fast." I

Nod and understand, "I honestly didn't think about it until it was done, and I killed Bella. It was fast. I'd be lying if I said wasn't shocked." She is still quiet, "I didn't like it; if that helps, I just had to save you."

I stand up and stretch, it's been a long day already, and we have an unknown amount to go.

I look around and see lots of fruit on the trees, "ok, so we won't starve," I think to myself.

I point them out to Ally, who looks around, "I don't recognize them from the training center, do you?" She asks.

"Not from there, but at the justice building, there are dumb posters of fruit, and I recognize that one from it," I point to the brown fruit in the tree, " it's called a coconut, like a chocolate nut I think."

"You remember the poster? Why?" She asks.

"I saw it this year after I had that fight with Dad, but I also saw it last year when Jonah left...I cried and stared at a lot..." I trail off.

"Oh, I'm sorry, wait, chocolate doesn't grow on trees," she says quickly.

"First of all, nice subject change, and secondly, I'm pretty sure chocolate comes from a plant, and it's pronounced co co nut; what else could it be?" I say, and I know the Capital loves this; even if we aren't on the screen now due to a fight, they will play this later to kill time.

"I know it's a plant, but I think it's a bean," she says.

"Well, I'm sorry that I only learned out to take care of dairy cows and not what plant makes chocolate.......how tall do you think that tree is?" I smile.

She looks up, "maybe 12 feet. Why?" I raise my eyebrow and look up, "no. Nope, I'm not climbing that tree; you can't make me."

I laugh louder than I should and say, " I could always just pick you up. You'll almost be at the top."

She gives in, and I pick her up, "now go quick. I don't want to do this for too long. The other tributes could be nearby, but we need more than that bread," she reaches up and grabs some coconuts.

I am listening to the forest around us, keeping my ears open for another tribute, but all I can hear are birds and bugs. I hear and feel Ally pulling on the coconuts when she shakes two loose, and I pull her down.

"Ok, genius, how do we make chocolate out of this?" She says.

I knock one of them, "give me that sword," I say, and when she hands it to me, I smash it into the coconut. It doesn't break it open, but I can see it's a start. I hit it again, and it's open.

I smell it and sigh, "ok, you were right. It's not chocolate, but it smells good," Ally leans down and says, "that smells great."

Just then, we hear feet running and crashing through the trees. I grab the spear and shove Ally behind me when Jillian comes running into the clearing.

She stops when she sees us and just shouts out, "you need to run; he is probably coming this way! Go."

"Who? Who is coming?" I say, but I feel Ally grabbing her bag.

Jillian looks scared and just says, "Titus," and then we hear him roar off in the distance.

"Kyle, we can trust her. We made a deal in training," I hear Ally whisper, and I nod.

We head off in a different direction Than she came from and run for about ten minutes before coming to a stop. "I think we should be good," I breathe out. Ally climbs down and pulls the coconut out of the backpack. I look at Jillian and ask, "what happened?" 

She tells us that she and Brian were resting after running out of the bloodbath, "We were figuring out what we had in the bag when Titus came charging at us. He slashed Brian across the chest and grabbed me by the neck." She looks at Ally and then to me, "he was holding me up when Brian stabbed him in the leg, and Titus dropped me, and I ran. I just assume the cannon was Brian."

I know she isn't telling the whole story, but I don't push it with Ally. We eat our coconuts and share some of the bread.

"What weapon did Titus have?" I ask.

"He has a sword, and now he has the knife Brian had. All I had was some beard and these broken glasses," she says and gives me a look that means she needs to talk to me alone.

"Hey Ally, climb up into that tree for a bit. Jillian and I are going to look for some water, and you can keep safe up there, ok," I say quietly.

Ally doesn't love the plan, but I think she knows there is more happening than meets the eye. Jillian and I walk off once I push Ally up in the tree with her knives and the backpack, "so what really happened? I ask without waiting.

"Titus had me by the throat and said he was going make me suffer before he killed me, then he licked my face, and that's when Brian stabbed him," she lets out a shudder.

"Maybe Romulus will get him first," she looks at me, "we made a deal to take Titus out first before we go for each other, him, Jake from 12, and me," I explain.

Jillian looks off to the right, "well, Jake died in the bloodbath, I think Aurora got him, but maybe it will work." 

We actually find water and use the filter to fill up the two bottles, and head back. I stop when I hear something and whisper to Jillian to get Ally and get ready to run, and she nods, and I think she heard it too. I bend down and pretend to tie my shoes when I hear light footfalls coming behind me, and I know this is going to end one of two ways. As they get closer, I listen to them start to run and turn around, and it's a boy with a hatchet running at me. I throw a water bottle at him, and he ducks out of the way, and I throw a rock at him, and I hit him in the head. He falls down, but gets back up and lunges at me, and slices my arm. I grab his arm and lank it. I hear it break, and he cries out. I grab the  hatchet and stab him in the chest, his eyes fade out, and I hear the cannon go off.

He set him down and whisper, "I'm sorry," to him.

I get up and head back to the tree, and I see Ally and Jillian waiting. Ally runs over, pulls the bandage out of the little first aid kit, and starts wrapping my arm.

The hovercraft is coming down to get the body, and Jillian asks, "who was he?"

"I think it's the boy from District 3, Hex, or something?" I say.

she nods, "We need to move that hovercraft gives away our position so the careers or Titus could be heading this way."

I take the backpack and knell down for Ally, but She says she can run with us, and we head off in yet a new direction. We run for about 15 minutes and come to a grove of willow trees whose leaves hang down to the ground.

"I think is as good a spot as any to spend the night, but we should get more fruit off the trees over there," we backtrack a bit, and they grab coconuts and some bananas while I keep watch. I remember the glasses Jillian mentioned and ask to see them. "I thought that might be the issue; they are night vision glasses. We use them after the calves are born and have to watch the herd for predators and stuff," I say, and she looks happier to have something useful and goes off and gathers some fruit. 

When the sun starts to go down, we head back to the grove and settle down for the night. We are quiet for a bit....finally relaxing when we hear the anthem being played. We look out to the sky and see the symbol of Panem; this is when they show the tributes that have fallen that day. The Capital gets to see it live be we only see it once a day. I look up knowing at least 4 of them are because of me.

I feel Ally take my hand, and Jillian takes her other hand, "let's do this," she says.

Up in the sky, we see Topaz and Bella from District 1, no one from 2, both from 3, Hex and Pearl, no one from District 4, the boy from 5, so I guess I did kill him, Melissa is next, followed both from 7 and the boy from 8. Brian is shown, and I feel Jillian pull back a bit. The last two are shown, Marcus from 11 and Jake from 12, the anthem plays, and the wild sounds are back.

"So half of us are gone on the first day. I bet the crowds love that," Jillian says.

I nod, and Ally says, "we should be proud of ourselves."

I pull her into a hug, and Jillian looks at us. I pull her into the hug as well, and she laughs.

"I need to go to the bathroom; we can figure out who will do watch tonight when I get back," I say.

They agree, and I head off to a neighboring tree where I'm close, but far enough that they can't hear anything and do my business for the first time all day.....it feels great. As I'm heading back, I can hear them talking, and I hear Jonah's name, and I freeze.

It's Ally speaking quietly, "I didn't know about them until last night, but I knew something was wrong."

Jillian asks, " so it's real then? I wasn't sure if it was part of the games."

"Oh, no. As soon as he said it, I knew it was true. He and Jonah were attached at the hip, and when Jonah died, Kyle wouldn't stop crying and didn't smile for months......it was sad. He was sad. And our Dad didn't get it, and that just made things worse," Ally says.

I make extra noise as I walk back. I climb into the hiding place, and they are quiet but talking like nothing happened.

"One of you should go next. I went about five trees over," I say quietly. They go in shifts, and I help Ally up the tree and then Jillian, "I'm too big to be up there, so I'll take the first watch you two get some sleep. we have a rope, tie yourself to the tree, and you won't fall."

Ally kisses me good night, and Jillian smiles and says, "I won't be kissing you, big boy."

I chuckle and reply, "you're ain't my type hot stuff, don't worry."

They fall asleep, and I lay there thinking about the 5 people I killed today. What my father thinks. What my brothers are saying. What Michele and Jackson are saying to the sponsors. The fact that we are in the final 12 will help. I am thinking about Jonah when I hear the branches above me move.

Jillian climbs down, "you should still be sleeping. We have a long day ahead of us....maybe," I say.

"I can't sleep up there," says quietly and pauses, "I'm sorry if you heard me asking about Jonah. I'm sure you did." I'm quiet, and she is nervous, "What was he like?"

I know the Capital is watching. We are probably on every screen in the nation having this conversation, "he was the best, he was nice and funny and smart. He would tell the worst jokes at the right moment. He smelled nice....his mom made soaps, and he always used the orange scent cause that was my favorite. I told him that once when we were about 10, and his mom started to make some for my family, but Jonah always used it," I feel the tears building, "I would have volunteered for him last year, but we made an agreement that we wouldn't.....I regretted it every day until the reaping this year when I got to try and protect Ally," I finish and wipe a tear away.

She leans over and gives me a hug, "you should get some sleep; I'll wake you up in a bit," I say, and she starts to lay down. "Hey, you and Ally made this deal, right?" She nods, " did you agree to an endpoint for it?"

"Nope," she says quietly.

I nod my head and whisper, "well, let's make a deal then. We stick together until Titus is done, and then we talk it out," I hold my hand out.

She takes it, "deal," she says, "ok, I'm going to bed."

She lays down, and I hear her breathing change. The Capital probably loves this, talking about Jonah and being a good brother and ending it with a plan to win. I plan to put in a good show for sure.

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