Semi-Final Task Description:

The arena is flooded by huge waves, tributes are supplied with flimy liferafts in order to survive.

The problem with having secrets is that secrets can make you a very lonely person. They cut you off, segregating you from the world even if you're surrounded by people. Why? Because even if you're smiling and *trying* to be nice, nobody understands you, therefore you are alone. One of the side effects of being human is the deep longing to be understood and loved. You know, I consider myself tough and a force to be reckoned with, I've walked through Hell and kept my head up. The problem is that I'm still human and humans have breaking points.

I found my breaking point last night. The walls I had built around myself all these years had finally tumbled to the ground letting all those painful emotions leak through, that deep longing not to be alone the most prominent. I knew reconstruction of my walls was probably going to take a while. So yeah. I decided to be nice to Revere. Bite me. Besides I owed it to him; each day has uncovered my faults just a little bit more than the day before and time and time again, Revere has managed to compensate for my faults, and I for his.... And of course my partial mental breakdown had left me bawling in his arms- which was beyond embarrassing and I had made him swear never to speak of it again if he valued his life.

These thoughts bounced around in my head as I scanned the area looking for threats, we were in the final eight and I don't think the tension I was feeling could have been any higher. Revere however seemed oblivious as he tinkered with his prosthetic leg. He had successfully managed to attached it to his leg and appeared to be on the final touches.

Through the branches to my left the ocean was visible. It sat still, barely a wave could be seen. Everything I was seeing was calm and serene... too calm. Something bad was going to happen. My focus intensified, my eyes scanning the horizon for something- anything.

The attack came from above. One second I was innocently scouring the bushes with my eye when out of nowhere something heavy hit my head. I flinched as whatever it was flopped into the ground next to me. It was a parachute with a silver box attached to the bottom. A sponsor box, I glanced over at Revere who had one as well. He was turning it over in his hands, studying it. It didn't take a genius to see that he planning on opening it.

"It's probably here to kill us." I told him before he could unlatch it. Just because It's a sponsor gift didn't mean it was sent here for our own good, the person who sent this could have a lot of money placed on one of the career tributes and decided to pick us off with a sponsor gift of death- besides who in their right minds would sponsor us? No one. Thats who.

Revere shook his head, "No, Carolina-Ax, these are sponsor gift boxes. They should be okay to open." He quickly unlatched the silver box before I could stop him. a yellow rubbery thing fell out.... Well it certainly looked poisonous.

"I will be severely pissed if that ends up killing us." I growled watching him unfold the yellowley rubber of death- that turned out to be a liferaft. I squinted at it a second before I yanked my box open as the same thing fell free. Somebody had a sense of humor.

"Yes indeed," He hesitated, "This liferaft really is quite evil." A small grin of satisfaction spread across his face.

It had been an awful attempt at a joke, but I figured I should indulge him on it. After all everyone had to start somewhere. I fake gasped, "Did the nerdy mechanic actually just crack a joke? The seventh sign of the apocalypse!"

"Yes as a matter of fact I did. I am rather proud of myself." His face fell slack again and he turned his attention to the life raft. "What do you suppose this is for? Someone finally felt bad for me because I couldn't swim?"

"Either someone has an awful sense of humor or something bad is about to happen." I shrugged uncaringly but I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise and my eyes darted around looking for some genetically enhanced mutation of some sort that would have to be fought off with a life boat.

Suddenly a booming (yet still incredibly irritating) voice came from above. "Hello tributes! And congratulations on making the final 8, but that isn't why you are here." Mayla laughs, "Well I hope you can swim! If not, row, row, row your boat!"

The voice faded away and I exchanged glances with Revere."I'm going to kill that bitch." I informed him as the arena began shaking, I looked around, my eyes settling on the ocean. A monstrous wave was forming. I looked down at my deflated life raft. "Crap." I breathed grabbing the nozzle on the float to blow it up. I began blowing for my freaking life.

The water hit me just as I was capping the nozzle, it swept me off the ground. I tumbled through the water's momentum, debris rushing around me, trying to pry my grip from the float. I swirled out of control in the water's muddy oblivion. The current finally slowed enough for my float to break away from the current and shoot upwards, my head exploded from the water.

My hair was plastered to my face as I blindly climbed into my liferaft. I brushed it from my face. My eye widened as I took in the landscape, water stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. Revere sat in his float in front of me, beyond him in the distance were six other floats in the distance.

This was going to be a bloodbath.

"Carolina-Ax, quick! Bring your boat up alongside mine, get into my boat, and lets flip your boat on top of mine." Revere said anxiously, glancing over his shoulder.

"Why?" I demanded, my eyes settling on the other boats again. I noticed that that one set of boats was moving towards another. Ether they were allies, or the moving pair was fixing to attack the other set.

"Just do it! Please?!" He begged desperately, "I'll explain after."

I shrugged, it was Revere. He probably had a plan. I quickly paddled my boat over and flipped it over his half sunk one. "Nice. Now we have a little cabana to throw a little party in. Cute." I growled looking at him waiting for my explanation.

He shook his head, "No. Now when the other boats look at us all they will see is one flipped over boat. They will assume we drowned. Gosh, we can probably float here unnoticed until the final four." He grinned leaning back.

It was my turn to shake my head now, "No. These games don't win themselves. Great idea, but I say we use it as the element of surprise to pick off the strong ones." I said... though at this point only the strong were left. Revere and I were probably the weakest pair left, which says something because I'm a tank when it comes to fighting.

He nodded falling into silence. He was scared. I kind of felt bad for forcing him to attack, but at this point in the games we couldn't afford not to be the ones making the first move. "Good." I said peeking through the crack between our boats,they were still a distance away though we were drifting toward them. If we started paddling toward them it would destroy Revere's ruse that we were dead because we 'flipped'. Drifting toward them was the best option. "We've got a while before the current drags us to them though, so get comfortable."

Everything got really silent. I remembered how at the beginning of the games these lengthy silences would make Revere uncomfortable and he'd tried to fill it with meaningless conversation. Now he simply sunk into it as I did.

"Revere." I said suddenly.

"Ummm. Yes?" Revere asked looking at me hesitantly.

"If we are going to die in the games, we are probably going to die within the next hour or so." I said staring at the yellow rubber above my head as it was baked by the sun. I don't know why I said it... Maybe just to get the dark realization off my chest.

"I'm sorry." He said looking sad all of a sudden. "Its not like anyone will miss me anyway." His voice knotted and he looked away.

I suddenly felt really bad for him. I wanted to comfort him somehow, but not knowing how so I said the first thing that came to mind- which as it turns out was not very comforting. "Well. I don't suppose you strike me as the type of person who has two stable parents and a social life."

He sigh, "Your confidence in my sanity knows no bounds."

I shook my head feeling worse. "Don't take it personally. So what is your story?" I asked thinking that maybe verbalizing whatever was bothering him would make him feel better.

He looked at me a second as if contemplating whether to tell me or not, then hung his head. In that instant I knew whatever he had come from had been bad. "Well."He paused, "My mom was raped when she was my age and... well six months later I came along. She tried to love me, but I know its hard for her. I don't begrudge her at all, I am just a messed up failure. Like the things I try to build, I'm just a malfunction. I tried really hard to make friends... but I'm just not the kind of person people like, I guess. Its okay though." His voice was pitiful, like he thought he was overreacting and none of this mattered.

He looked away, his messy black hair that had been groomed and slicked back the first time I had met him fell in front of his face concealing it from me. Then, on impulse, I did something I had never done before; I leaned over and hugged him. "It is okay because I like you. I have this theory that life gives you only what you need to get by, and if it gives you one friend? Then you are strong as heck and you shouldn't let any bitch mess with you."

He turned to face me suspiciously, "Who are you and what have you done with Carolina-Ax?" I asked hesitantly. "Did Mayla poison you or something?"

"Everyone is composed of different layers. People just aren't one thing. I have a nice side, I just don't show it very often. Just like you aren't all annoying. You have a bearable side too." I grinned.

He looked at me as if he had just lost his best friend. Crap he had taken me literally. "Hell! Revere! Smile, I'm just teasing you." I gasped rolling my eyes.

He smiled a little and opened his mouth to say something then hesitated. "So.... Whats your story?" He asked looking at me.

I didn't say anything. I should have seen this coming.... I kind of wanted to tell him... and yet I didn't. I adverted my eyes, "Umm..." I turned away peeking through the crack to see the boats and let me tell you I am glad I did. we were only ten yards away and drifting towards a fight fast. "Crap! We're coming up on four boats, they look like they are attacking each other- yes they definitely are."

He crawled over and looked with me. It looked like it was the dumb blonde and the career who wasn't really into being a career but had volunteered to make his daddy happy. They were attacking the loverboy from seven and- I swallowed- Cody. That wasn't possible. I had killed him.

"You want to attack them?" Revere asked as if he wanted the exact opposite.

I forced myself to nod, unable to stop thinking about how I had killed Cody. I tried to shake it from my brain I was in the mental state of someone who should be locked away in a home, but I was not a coward and if Cody had been raised from the dead I was just going to kill him again whether I liked killing innocents or not. "Yeah. I'll hit the careers from behind, they won't even know what hit them. Then Grey shouldn't be hard to take care of...." I couldn't bring myself to mention Cody. "Just stay here Revere and don't move." I whispered as the current closed the final gap.

I took a deep breath, readying my axes. This was a do or die moment. I sprung from the float throwing the top one off as I hit the float the careers were standing on swinging my ax through Bryant's neck, it slicing through it with ease. Blood spattered everyone in radius as his corpse collapsed and the head fell free.

Everyone looked shocked at my sudden appearance, but I didn't give them time to recover as I charged Grey. If I could kill one from each pair it would only be the waiting game before the poison kicked in on the other two. I agiley ducked Cody's lumbering arms as he attempted to protect his partner. Grey's eyes widened as he lifted his ax to defend himself swinging it as it connected with my right blade. The problem for him was that I still had my left. I sliced it through his wrist that he held the ax with. Most of it fell free, his hand attached to his arm by only one thread of skin. He shrieked falling to his knees. It was official, I amputated legs, hands and heads. I was on a roll. Maybe I should look into becoming a doctor.

I glanced over my shoulder on instinct, only to see the Amethyst swinging a sword at my head. I ducked, wind rushed past my ear as the blade passed over, centimeters from my head. Amethyst fell off balance, I noted she was taking much longer to recover than when I had fought her for a vile at the cornucopia. The poison must be working. I sent a jaw breaking kick to her side and she crumpled. I was about to finish her off when pain exploded in my leg. My head snapped over to see Grey's ax sticking out of my calf, his remaining hand clutching the handle. I threw my ax at his head and the blade sliced his face in half, embedding itself directly between his eyes. I watched panting as his head snapped back and he collapsed.

Hesitating was not a good idea. Hesitating was a very bad idea. That one meager second I stopped moving I felt huge arms wrap around my body. I cried out a little as the grip slowly began to tighten and the broken rib was crushed again. I tried to wrench free but I only managed to get crushed more. I felt my breathing get cut off.

I started swearing in my head, I had not just frikin slayed two careers and a bloody ax wielding romantic only to be crushed by a giant! That was when something caught my eyes, a glimmer of a blade. Revere thrust a sword into the side of the float, air exploded out of the hole throwing the entire boat off balance. Cody lost his footing and we toppled into the water. I managed to twist free and kick him in the stomach, propelling myself upwards. My head broke the surface and I gulped in air greedily. I fixed my eyes on the sinking float. I had to get my axes! I stroked over pulling my ax from Grey's skull. I looked desperately for my duel ax but I couldn't find it. I must have dropped it when Cody attempted to squeeze the life out of me. My eyes settled on Grey's ax, which laid where it had fallen when I had ripped it from my leg. It was bigger and made from a darker metal but it would have to do. I was just hooking it in my belt when I heard a gasp.

Crap! Revere, I forgot him! I spun around expecting to see Revere crushed to nothing more than a bloody pulp- instead I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched Cody sinking into the depths of the ocean with a sword through his skull- and Revere vomiting in our life raft.

I felt a bit of my bitchy instinct return. "Eww. Grow a backbone. Or make yourself a prosthetic one to match your leg, just don't vomit in our life source." I growled, then instantly regretted it. Being nice didn't come naturally to me.

His sat back visibly upset, "Sorry, I do not enjoy killing people." He muttered angrily. I felt my eyebrows raise... This was a new side of Revere.

I glowered, not liking what he was implying. Hell! This was no time for Revere to throw a temper tantrum! Gah! That was my job! "Excuse me? Are you saying I do? You think I volunteered for this hell hole?" I snapped, wishing I could slap him for calling me a killer! I didn't want to be here any more than he did!

He looked at me coldly. "Technically you did volunteer."

I felt as if I had just been hit in the face. I felt a knot well in my throat. Suddenly I felt cornered, desperate to defend myself. "I- I didn't have a choice! The peacekeepers would have killed me if I stayed! You don't understand! Nobody understands!" I felt tears begin to slip down my cheek. Hell, I was so weak. "All I want is to be happy- I know its stupid I just- just! Gah I hope you rot in ****ing hell Mayla! I will cut your ovaries out and send them to your parents in an envelope!" I screamed in frustration paddling my way over and gripping the throat. All that pain I had felt last night resettling itself in my chest.

Revere looked at me in fear. He touched my shoulder as if he was afraid I might whip around and bite his hand off. -Which lets face it; at that point I might have. "Tell me?- I mean you don't have to, but sharing your load with others help. I can help you. We can talk about it- or not. I mean its up to you."

I pulled myself onto the float, looking down at the murky water below me. He was right. I had been cowering in a corner for too long. And I was not a coward. "My father was a butcher, my mother always in weak health stayed home to raise me." I paused, this was going to be hard. "My life was happy at first- but I don't really remember it. Then- then my father started drinking and gambling. My mother had to work in the shop we lost a lot of business because she couldn't keep. up with the orders. He used to beat my mother and I then steal the little money we had to fund his habit. When I was eleven, I tried to stop him from stealing our money one night... It got really bad.... he ended up popping my eye out." I paused, again my mind filled with unbearable memories. I tried to sort through them repeating only the most crucial ones. "Anyway not long after that I quit school and began working at the butcher shop for long hours, gradually we started to get business back and I brought in more money. I hid the difference between our old income so we'd have money for food. My father never got better, things only got worse as I got older. On the morning of the reaping I had been putting in some extra hours at the shop.... When I came home I heard screaming... which wasn't unusual for our house, still I rushed in-" She stopped, her throat choking up. "Mom was dead. He- he had killed her. I saw red... I beat him to death. I barely realized I was doing it." My voice came out strangled and halted. "It would have been smarter I suppose.... to just let the peacekeepers charge me with murder and execute me.. but part of me just wants to live it see another day, to live to wake up with a smile on my face and just be okay. I want a future. I want to get old have children and start a new life. So I decided to volunteer for the games to get out of the peacekeeper's reach before they found the bodies. I thought I had a chance. " I shook my head looking away, unable to make eye contact with Revere. "I'm so stupid."

Revere didn't say anything for a long time. I was sure he was thinking about what a foolish girl I was, how weak and pathetic I really was. I hung my head in humiliation, feeling blood rush to my cheeks in embarrassment. However the words he spoke were the last I expected him to say, "Carolina-Ax! We are in the final four! We can go home! We are so close to the rest of our life!" I looked at him, his eyes were full of excitement... and a little desperation.

I frowned and shook my head, the depressing reality finally hitting me,"Don't you see? We will always be broken and scarred from this. I've killed more people than I can count, the stress is fraying my nerves, and living under the eye of the capital for the rest of my life- I just have no idea how I can ever be happy after this!" I exclaimed, cradling her head in her hands. I was done pretending that a brighter day would come. The charade I was playing on myself was finally over.

He hesitated then a small smile formed on his lips,"Carolina-Ax, we have been shoved into a fight to the death, we have been on Mayla's kill list since the beginning, yet we've managed to survive. We fought a shark, outsmarted a bigfoot, amputated a leg and survived a mass flood, I think we can figure out how to be happy."

I smiled. Not because I was happy or optimistic- no it was really more of a grim smile. Revere was smiling right now, but I knew that he was falling apart, he had become more sullen and angrier since I met him. The threads of his sanity were unraveling. Mine I knew were on the verge of snapping completely.

It was too late for us.

This is Carolina-Ax's final entry. She dies in voting. Rest in peace, girl, you'll always be the tribute that started it all.