Where am I? More importantly, where do I go?

"60, 59, 58, 57-"

Cinna. He was beat up. I owe him for everything he's done for me. I have every reason to fight.

"49, 48, 47-"

I scan the arena, hoping to draw out something useful, something that could help me win. Strength isn't at my will and I'm going to need to rely on my logic big time.

"41, 40, 39-"

Blue water and a white hot sun that's beaming on every object in view. A pink sky, with fluffy white clouds that only adds on to the illusion that we're in paradise. Beach like scenes stretch out from different directions.

"22, 21, 20, 19, 18-"

The golden cornucopia stands in the center of us tributes, while we're wedged between spokes- 12 spokes that all lead to the cornucopia. So...2 tributes between each spoke. In my wedge is none other than District 8's Woof.

"12, 11, 10-"

The water shimmers, wavering in even currents- some washing up onto my pedestal. I reach down and touch it with the tip of my fingers, then bring it up to my mouth for a taste. Salty. Of course it has to be seawater.

"3, 2, 1-"

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the seventy-fifth hunger games begin!"

The gong sounds, signalling the start of the games. I jump into the water, and shiver when my skin comes in contact with the water. Contrary to the hot sun, the water's quite cold.

I'm not that great of a swimmer, but somehow I swim quite easily without any effort. It's weird, almost like I'm floating on the water. Must be the suit.

Soon I reach the cornucopia, lifting myself out of the water and onto the rough and hard ground. I sprint towards the weapons, like any Career would do. I don't see anyone yet but the cornucopia is pretty big- it could be blocking my view from the most dangerous of enemies.

Unlike last year, the weapons this year are piled in a large stack near the mouth of the horn. I scan the pile quickly before yanking out a slingshot and a spear. A throwing knife falls out in the process and I'm reminded of Clove- the girl who played with knives.

I hear something shift behind me and I turn around abruptly, only to be greeted by none other than Finnick Odair. I raise my spear, afraid he'll attack me. He's a few yards away, glistening gorgeously with his trident- ready to attack. He's also got a net, hanging loosely from his other hand.

"Didn't know you could swim," he says with a smirk.

"That's 'cause I didn't tell you," I answer swiftly.

"Liking the arena?"

"Not one bit. I bet you like it though- they probably built it for you."

It's true. With all this water, the District 4 tributes have a clear advantage. They didn't even have a pool in the training center so it was either you knew how to swim or you better be a fast learner. And seeing how few people are at the cornucopia (basically just me and him), swimming isn't a common talent among tributes/victors.

He and I stand there for a few moments, trying to intimidate each other with our glares. Not much fun. Then suddenly he smiles.

"It's a good thing we're allies, right?"

A look of confusion flashes my face before I raise my spear once more. It's a trap, Prim. Don't trust him.

I'm about to throw when he shifts his wrist and something catches the sunlight, blinding me for a split second. Just great. I'm really about to throw when I recognize what that 'something' is. A golden bracelet. The same exact one that Effie gave Haymitch. I know he could've stolen it but somehow I know Haymitch has given it to him. It's a sign to me to trust Finnick. And well, I trust Haymitch, so...I trust Finnick?

The other tributes are starting to near the cornucopia and I know I need to make a decision now, as in right now.

"Right?" he repeats.

"Right," I reply and I lower my spear and look over to the other folks coming to attack us- hungry for blood. I have no idea why Haymitch never told me about this before. He could have at least-

"Duck!" Finnick shouts in a loud voice and I follow his orders. He reaches over me and stabs someone in the stomach with his trident. The dude drops to his knees and I cringe.

"Don't trust District 1 or 2," Finnick tells me as he pulls out the trident that had been impaled in the other guy's chest just a few seconds ago. I nod because I had never trusted them from the start anyways. I head over to the large pile of weapons and Finnick follows.

"I'll take this side, you take that side," I order and we search for something useful. Neither of us are successful. "Weapons, nothing but weapons," I mutter.

"Same here. Get what you want and let's go."

I scan the pile and pull out another spear (or perhaps it's a javelin- I don't know), an awl, two machetes and some darts. I look over and find Enobaria and Brutus nearing from my right.

I throw a dart at Enobaria but she predicts it and jumps back into the water. As for Brutus, he's taken off his belt and he uses it to deflect the dart I throw at him. The dart leaves a hole and purple liquid spews out- gross.

I watch as Finnick throws a shuriken at Gloss, and it sticks right into Gloss' calf- causing him to fall back into the water.

"Nice," I say as I flash him a smile.

"You aren't too bad yourself. Now let's get off his island."

I nod as I watch Enobaria and Brutus recover, climbing onto land. Cashmere's real near too, and she's headed towards her brother Gloss whom Finnick just injured. It's pretty clear that the 4 (Enobaria, Brutus, Cashmere and Gloss) are going to be allies- it's been clear since the beginning of training. And if it weren't for the goal I had, I would have become allies with them. The goal. To save Rory, to get him out of here.

"Are we saving Rory?" Finnick asks me, reading my mind and breaking my thoughts at the same time.

"Absolutely."

Both of us spot Rory on his pedestal and I almost dive in but Finnick stops me.

"I'll get your friend- I need you to help Mags."

I look over to where he's pointing towards to find the old woman paddling towards our general direction.

"We'll meet back here before running off?"

"Yeah, now let's get moving."

I watch as he dives into the water and reaches Rory in a matter of second. A task only possible for someone with long strokes like his. As for me, I wait for Mags to reach land before hoisting her up out of the water. A bit of a struggle for a small girl like me but not impossible. Mags tells me something incoherent and I scrunch my eyebrows. All I catch is the word 'bob' and she points towards her belt. Oh, the belt must have kept her afloat. I was right. I watch as Finnick holds Rory with one arm while navigating through the water with the other. How he got Rory to trust him, I have no idea. But that's really the least of my concerns right now.

Finnick get's too land and I see Rory properly for the first time in a long time. He gives me a hug and I give him a shy smile before handing him the two machetes and the darts. I keep the rest to myself, but then Mags keeps tapping on me and babbling so I end up handing over the awl. She smiles, pleased. Then she positions the weapon between her gums before holding her hands up to Finnick. Finnick puts his net over his back before hoisting Mags, then we're finally running away from the cornucopia.

The sand ends where the spokes end. Then it's a jungle. I've never seen a jungle before- yet I know what it is. Mother told me about it- explaining some of the ingredients we could get here for her remedies. Nice.

Rory walks up front, hacking at the foliage with his machetes. Behind him are Finnick and Mags then finally myself at the back. It was my idea- I thought Finnick with Mags on his back might not make the best caboose.

As we travel, I realize that the water from earlier has all evaporated. But all the sweat from the scorching hot sun is still there- making my suit stick to my bare skin. It's quite uncomfortable, to be honest, but I know it'll serve me well in the water. If we ever go back, that is.

We keep walking for about half an hour, covering quite some ground before we stop. We've all trained for a while so we're not too tired. Even when Finnick insisted we stopped, I have a feeling it was for Mags rather than himself.

We've lost sight of the wheel a while ago and it kind of feels like we're wandering around pointlessly. But no we aren't, because we're getting away from the bloody fight. We all wanna know what's up though, so I volunteer to climb a tree and be the eye of the group.

When I see what's happening, I regret volunteering almost immediately. In front of my eyes I see the blue water stained purple, and within it are motionless bodies floating around. On the ground near the Cornucopia, some figures are still fighting.

The holding hands during the interviews meant nothing. Whatever bond we had is broken and we're all just pawns of the game- vicious killing machines. I have only one true ally. And he isn't from District 4.

I look down to see Finnick with Mags, and for a second I consider killing Finnick off soon. He's way to dangerous to keep. But then the golden bracelet keeps coming to mind- and plus, how am I suppose to kill Finnick? The guilt would overwhelm me plus he'd probably kill me first with his awesome skills

"What's up, are they holding hands and not hurting anyone?" Finnick asks with a stern look, his voice full of irony.

"No," I tell him. "They're fighting."

"Thought so. The past is in the past. You see, us victors were all crowned for a reason," he chuckles. "Well maybe expect you and well...Rory isn't technically a victor."

I stare at him in confusion. What does he mean I wasn't crowned for a reason?

"You're not vicious Prim, you're compassionate."

"Not anymore," I mumble. "I threw darts at Brutus and Enobaria just about an hour ago with intentions to hurt them, and a year ago I killed Marvel for killing Noah and-"

"You're not vicious Prim, you're compassionate," Finnick repeats.

I just keep my mouth shut and come down from the tree. And then we're back to walking.

As we walk, I notice Finnick holding his trident in a defensive position. He must think I'll try to attack him at some point. He's just erring on the side of caution, Prim, don't take offence. Will he attack me? Will my weapons kill him faster than his trident me? Of course not, I stand no chance against him.

Rory then suddenly turns around and steps in between Finnick (and Mags) and I.

"How many are dead?" he asks.

"I don't know, around 6 of 'em?"

"Okay, let's keep walking. We need to find water."

I have no idea how he knows all this, nor why he stopped to tell us that. And suddenly I realize that Rory's got a lot more stuff going on in his mind than he lets on. He's the sort of person that uses his smarts to hide how smart he truly is.

What he said is right, we need to find water. We haven't seen any source of water so far, and that's a big problem. I think back to when dehydration nearly killed me in the games last year. Water is a necessity.

"We need to find water soon. When the others come hunting tonight we need to stay undercover."

The others. We. Hunting. Undercover.

Finnick's been a pretty good ally, another reason to spare his life. And plus, if there's an emergency I can just kill him in his sleep. No Prim, stop thinking like a murderer. You're not vicious, you're compassionate.

The absence of water only adds onto the thirst I've been feeling for a long time. We keep walking for another half hour, trekking up a hill. Then finally we reach a point where the tree line ends.

"Hopefully there's water on the other side," Rory comments before hacking some more foliage.

Other side.

I spot a shimmery patch in the sky, just like the one Beetee and Wiress showed me in the training center about a week ago. There is no other side. This is a forcefield.

I don't warn Rory fast enough. His machete is already up and in motion. I cringe when his blade comes in contact with the field. There's a large zapping sound and he's flung back- knocking over Finnick and Mags before hitting the floor with a big thud.

"Rory? Rory!" I cry. The others could hear and find us, but I don't care. I care whether or not my friend is alive.

"Rory..." I say once more but there's no response. I take his machete and place it carefully over his philtrum. It doesn't steam up like it should.

"No...please no..." I mutter before pressing my ear on his chest. I'm expecting the steady beat of his heart but what I hear is far from that. Silence.

~A/N~ I'm back- Prim is back- CFP updates are back!

First off, I am so sorry for the lack of updates! I will try really hard to make up for the missed chapters during winter break. You can look forward to double updates coming soon :)

Second...how'd you like the chapter?? I tried real hard write a long and exciting chapter- hopefully I did pretty well up there. Vote if you liked it!!

Thank you all so so much for supporting me in various ways- reads, votes, comments, messages and other crazy stuff. Love yall~

-Monica

My whereabouts in November: I was participating in NaNoWriMo, a writing challenge that takes place in November. I wrote a simple fictional story called "The Babysitter" which I've attached in the external link below. Please check that out if you've got time~