"Why would you do that?! Everyone in the arena has probably heard!" I whisper-yell. Normally I'd be afraid to talk, what with the other tributes possibly hiding, but it's no use now. They've already heard us.

She looks around, confused.

"I wasn't even being loud. And you almost attacked Aegis, anyways! Literally!" She says this in a normal tone, making me wince.

"You started a fire! They'll see the smoke and you'll be dead by nightfall!" I spit out. She thinks.

"Hmmm, fine, you're right. Allies?" She asks. I snort, untrusting, but finally, nod and shake the hand she puts out.

If they let me keep watch the next time we sleep, then there're two more tributes out of the way.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Victor, and this is Aegis. As you know. What's your name?" She asks sweetly. I lower my ax, taking a step back, but don't drop it.

Those careers could still be out there.

"Victor? That's ironic. Even more if you don't win. But I'm Amethyst," I say, not kindly. She nods and sits back down on her log, which can't be comfortable considering it's rotting and covered in freezing snow.

I look at them curiously. They don't seem as thin as the other tributes, as me.

"What districts are you from?" I ask, a bit nicer now. They're not going to kill me right now, and they'll trust me more if I make friends with them.

"I'm one, and he's two, you?" She asks. I notice Aegis hasn't spoken this whole time and look at him suspiciously.

But that does explain it. They ARE the careers, I was right. 

"Seven. So you're the careers?" I know they are, they must be, but I'm just checking. And wondering if I'm part of the career pack now, which would probably be the first time anyone from seven was in that pack. 

"No, we ran off from the careers," Victor says. That name still sounds so weird, as if her parents were just asking to get her into the arena. 

And maybe they weren't but she probably volunteered for another tribute anyway, just for the glory and money. 

"Which of the careers are still alive and which are dead? I missed that part." I'm feeling more comfortable now, and sit down on the ground. Who knows what's crawling around those logs. 

"Well, Gleam from my district's alive, and Cassia from two's dead. Four is just the girl left, what was her name? Oh right, Oceania. Sounds like a Capitol name. And then five's alive, Lymit and Dahlia, and both from six dead. Don't know their names. Seven, that boy from your district's dead, Adair was it? And eight, Lee and Lea. Hah! They're alive. Nine, Rylie's still alive from there, and ten, Magret and Pepperoni. Eleven's dead, and Etta's alive in twelve. That's it. Eight tributes dead, and twelve alive, including us." She stopped, leaving me slightly startled. 

"Wow, okay, long explanation, but thank you," I say. "How did you know their names? They don't show them in the sky." Victor gives me a quizzical look. 

"I listen. They say them all at some point, and me and Aegis are both good listeners." Aegis nods. 

"Did you volunteer? For another tribute?" I ask. Victor looks down at the ground. I know she must've. If she was chosen, another tribute would volunteer for her, simply to have the chance for fame and glory. Aegis stares straight ahead as if he's thinking.

"I did." Her answer is short, as if she doesn't really want to share. But I press on. She seems like she needs to talk about it. 

"Who?" I ask, leaning closer as if being five inches closer will make me able to hear her thoughts. She takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky. 

"My older sister. I love her so much, I didn't want to see her die. Her life's more valuable than mine. But once she heard I was going to volunteer, she tried to talk me out of it, but they don't let you back out when you've already volunteered. She said that she couldn't watch me die, and attacked the peacekeeper that was taking me away. He... shot her. She's flying in the stars now." Victor wipes her eyes, sniffling. I look away. 

I don't like talking about death. Well, I don't like talking in general. But talking about death makes it seem a lot more... real. 

And I'm starting to doubt my plan about killing them while they sleep. They do seem like nice people, but I don't need allies and only one person can win these games anyway. 

The thought crosses my mind that maybe someone else should win, someone with a family and friends they need to come home to. I don't have that. I'll never have that.

Maybe Adair should've won. He has a loving family. Loving friends. They'd be so happy if he came home. And now they hate me.

It's starting to get dark, with the sunset painting the sky beautiful colors. The light reflects off the  icy ground, reminding me of the sunrise I'd thought was my last.

It's still snowing, giving me the impression that it'll never stop snowing here. 

And it's still freezing, but we huddle inside the cave, trying to conserve warmth. We replace the leaves over the entrance, which feels as if it does nothing. 

The anthem plays, but I don't look to see if anyone's dead. I don't think so, considering I didn't hear any cannon shots the day before. 

Plus there's a thunderstorm going on, which started right after dusk and now is piercing my ears.  

The whistling wind accompanies the occasional booms from the thunder, and the light briefly illuminates the entryway of the cave, making it almost impossible to sleep. 

We also brought a few things inside the cave with us, including a few logs and some kindling to start a fire, everything we got from the cornucopia, and all the food we have. 

Which is only some berries I found, my bread and a few raw chickens they have from their time with the tributes. 

I've given up completely on my plan to kill them by now, and to my dismay I fall asleep before them. 

I close my eyes, and darkness creeps in, nesting itself next to the shocking cold, and burying me in a dream. 

And then, all of a sudden, I'm back in seven, back in my old house I might never return to. I'm sitting on my parent's bed, swinging my legs and reading a book out loud. My father and my mother are cooking together, side by side, and my sister is sitting behind me, reading over my shoulder and helping me with the hard words. 

She looks like my father and my mother combined, which isn't me. 

My father has dark brown hair, like mine, and piercing green eyes. My mother has black hair and brown eyes, black hair that was long and flowy then but is now graying and cut short. 

My sister has my mother's black hair and my father's green eyes, plus my mother's faint freckles that I have too. It's the only thing I inherited from her, excluding her personality. 

We're laughing, and I realize that I can't be very old in this scene. I look about six years old, so maybe I'm just learning to read. But I'd thought my sister and father ran away earlier than that, but maybe my mother lied to me, again. 

"And so ten-" I say, in a childish voice that makes me smile. My sister, Asha, points over my shoulder at something and I give her an exaggerated nod back. 

"And so THEN. And so then they walk-ehd and walk-ehd and walk-ehd until tey found te District. District tirteen," I try again. Asha laughs and points over my shoulder again, pronouncing the words for me. 

Younger me gets it right this time, leading me to believe that maybe I was just joking. 

"No, too much cinnamon, Aspen!" My mother says, concerned. My father laughs. In my mind, he always knew how to handle my mother's paranoia and perfectionism. Otherwise I can't see how he would handle being married to her. 

"Cinnamon makes it better, Oakley!" He jokes. It warms my heart, hearing him say my mother's name. I always think of her as mother. She doesn't even seem like a real person to me, the way she hates me and lies to me and wouldn't even say goodbye to me. 

An owl hoots outside. I look out the window, and a gust of wind blows it away with a faint 'squawk'.

I'm observing the scene from a distance, but suddenly it seems to zoom in and then I'm standing right next to my sister. 

She looks up and smiles at me lovingly. 

"You look so much older, gemstone," She says, and I suddenly remember the nickname she had for me. She touches my hand gently, and the world starts to get warmer.

Everything seems brighter, and I consider closing my eyes. But I don't want to lose this perfect imagine of my family.

"Just remember that we love you, and we'll always be here," She says, and my eyes close.

The sounds fade away, of the laughing and the reading and the correcting. 

They are replaced by blackness, then a reddish color I know as what you see when you close your eyes and look towards a bright light, and then my eyes snap open.