I wake up bright and early the next morning to chirping birds and extra sunlight. I spot some blue and white outside from the entrance of the cave.

I should have known based on the supplies.

Snow!!!

I squeal in delight. It has been FOREVER since I saw snow. The last time it snowed in our district was 8 years ago, when the storm unexpectedly brought us snow. School was closed for a week, and the underground tunnels were empty as a deserted island. I was 8 years old and I have always dreamed of seeing snow. At the time, My mom, dad, Savanna, Max, and I all went outside and made a snowman family. Savanna was going to go to middle school at the time, so I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be seeing her that much, but I always picked on poor 5 year old Max.

Anyways, I run over to the large rock hanging out of the cave. I grab the three shirts and slip mine on, handing the other two to my allies. Ash and I sit outside on a rock and braid each other's hair.

After talking and laughing, I reach my cold, calloused hands over to the warm, steel zipper on my bag. I forcefully unzip the bag, and reach for the coat, gloves, and watch. I refill my belt with the last few knives, swing my bag on my back and head out.

I trudge out through the snow, wielding one throwing knife in my hand. After about 10 minutes of walking, I pull out my canteen and take a sip of water, sitting on a snow covered rock. I reapplied the last of the Shea syrup to my wound. I breathe into my hands and warm them up. As I rub them together, I see a huge figure run across the ice. I stand up and cautiously approach the person.

I follow the boy, slowly but surely, through the icy land. Halfway through, I jump into a nearby bush and watch him from afar, peering through the leaves. I am starting to lose track of him, so I run my way down the cracked ice until I see him again.

I start to scurry to my left, sliding under a tree. I glide across the ice, slowly approaching the boy. He ducks into a small cave similar to ours and vanishes into the darkness. I hold my breath and clutch my dutch braids, tossing them behind my shoulders. I take off my pack and kneel down under the tree. Peering through the bush, I find a small ball shaped thing. I guess it's a camera. I hold it close to my face and whisper.

"Curiosity gets the best of me. If I go in that cave and die, well, I am saying goodbye right now."

I shove the camera back into the bush and swing my bag over my shoulder, sprinting away.

When I reach the cave, I step foot inside. It's all pitch black except for a small trail of light streaming through the hole.

I walk for about 5 minutes into straight darkness. I wonder why that boy went in here. At this point, I lost the light. For a hot second, I hear footsteps approaching. I whip my head around, scared, but before I can make out the figure, something heavy hits me and I fall down, unconscious.

***********************************************************************************************

I wake up with a nasty bruise on my forehead, dizzy. It takes me a few minutes to regain my sight, until I notice I am in the depths of the cave with 2 other people. My weak body lets out a painful moan as I remember the cut. The Shea syrup didn't help. It hurts more than ever. I need a doctor. I look up to see the large boy in a coat I followed sitting next to me, worried.

In front of us, I first see a hint of red hair, then wispy, heartless brown eyes. The shape of her head is sharp and fine. She holds some sort of melee. It looks like a mace. It's the boy's mace.

I RECOGNIZE THE BOY! HE'S THAT JD KID, FROM MY DREAMS!

His eyes are red and puffy and his dark skin looks irritated. I then see a jar of honey next to him. His lip is blowing up in size and he's twitching like crazy. He lets out a piercing scream.

I look back at the girl who stands in front of us with a annoying smile. I look more closely and see the white stitching on her coat. it reads "Cocoa Shear - D4".

Cocoa?!?!

She grabs me by the coat and tosses me over. I let out a painful scream from my hip wound.

"You think i'm a delicate little weakling, huh? Well, there isn't such thing as friends in the arena. Everyone. Is. An. Enemy. And you saw me at the parade and thought, oh what a sweet little girl that'll probably never make it past the bloodbath. Well guess what; I have strategies too. I can be a career too, with Thorn and Sparrow. Oh yeah, they allied. And I'm gonna kill you to show them I can be strong. I will join their alliance and back stab them. Literally. But why am I telling you this? You're about to die."

She kicks me in the wound and walks over to her mace as I wince in pain, trying to keep my screams in.

She drags the mace to me and shakes her head.

"Actually, I have a better idea. Let's play a game."

She drops the mace and pulls out 9 parachutes.

2 of these parachutes contain healing and cleansing supplies for dangerous wounds like yours. The other 7, well lets just say they aren't good. Pick one. If you pick a safe one, you can keep it and i'll let you go. If you pick one of the other 7, say goodbye to JD here. He has a honey allergy. He will die a slow and painful death.

I gulp and hover my hand over the parachutes. I stare closely at the parachutes. They all look the same.

I gasp for air as I randomly place my hand on the 6th parachute. She picks it up and starts to open it.

"Oh. Would you look at that."

She starts to reach for the honey jar, but I can't watch. My anger rises and before she can smear the honey on his eyelids, I jump up and tackle her. I grab a small sickle I find lying on the dirt and hover it over Cocoa's neck. I can't watch as I do it, but I do.

I hear her hoarse voice beg me to not do it, but I have to. I feel a tear trickling down my chin and I touch the blade to her soft skin. I can hear her cries fading off, tears emerging. I tighten my grip and swallow my saliva. I breathe out and lean down.

"You deserve it, you heartless, cold fool."

Her eyes turn wide and frozen as I look away and slowly slide the sharp metal blade down her neck. I can hear the crying stop and the breathing end. her entire neck is drowned in dark red blood and my hand shakes as I try to wipe the blood off of it.

I drop the sickle in shock and crawl over to JD. I help him up and my hands shake like crazy. I slowly walk over to the parachutes and open them one by one until we find the medicine. There was a pack of allergy oil in one parachute and bandages for my wound. I hand the oil to JD and wrap the bandage around my hip. I slip my coat back on and get up with a small moan, and JD looks fine now.

We slowly embark on the the 10 minute walk out of the cave in silence.