Nathan Brooke's P.O.V. (D9)

I slowly walk aimlessly around the forest in the pouring rain. Not even the thick trees can stop the heavy rain from hitting me. I pull the hood of my jacket over my head as I trudge through the muddy forest floor. The storm clouds have made the arena exceptionally darker than it usually is during the day. In fact, it's almost as if it's nighttime. The only time you can really see clearly is when lightning strikes. But that only lasts for a few seconds.

A bolt of lightning strikes in the sky, shedding lighting over the arena for a split second. In that split second, I see I figure in the distance. A second bolt strikes, and the figure is closer to me. Whoever it is, they are running straight for me.

Without waiting to see who it is, I turn and run in the opposite direction.

"Nathan...Wait!" I hear a voice scream.

I don't know if the person is trying to trick me or what, but I'm not falling for it. I push through the wind and rain whipping in my face. My hood flys off from a gust of wind. I don't bother to replace it on my head.

"Nathan! Please stop!" the voice calls again, but it's closer now.

"No!" I yell back, looking over my shoulder. I gasp when I see the person only a meter away from me! It's Cally Blue, Vance's sister.

"You asked for it!" she shouts, jumping into the air and tackling me down. I squirm beneath her, trying to get away.

"Just relax for a second and listen to me!" Cally shouts, slapping me across the face to get my attention. Since she doesn't seem like she is about to kill me, I stop and listen to her.

She sighs as I relax my arms and legs, "Alright. Vance needs your help. We were in a tree. He fell. His leg is broken. It's really really bad. I can't fix it. I don't know what to do. He told me to find you. He said you'd come and help if I asked you. You can be our ally. Just please please please help!"

I lay under her with wide eyes as she explains everything between panicked breaths. I can tell she has been running for a long time. She couldn't be lying. If she were, I don't think she would risk coming to get me at all, especially in this weather. I look into her pleading eyes. There is nothing about them that show she is lying.

"Alright," I say, trying to sit up, "Bring me to him."

"Thank you so much!" Cally says as she helps me up. Then she starts running back the way she came. This time, I follow her.

Delinia Spokes's P.O.V. (D4)

A lightning bolt crashes into the ground beside us. A huge crack forms in the ground where it struck. More cracks start to branch from that crack. Another bolt strikes farther away, forming more cracks.

"Guys, I have a bad feeling about this," Tai says.

"Move!" Grace shouts, shoving me me roughly in the shoulder. I fly through the air and land on the ground a few feet away. There is a huge hole where I was standing just a moment ago.

Tai helps me up, "We gotta go! I think this island is going down!"

Wonderful. Now the Gamemakers are definitely playing around with us. First it's this nasty weather, now this has to happen? Typical!

Grace takes off first, running for the bridge. Then Tai and I trail behind her. We run the hardest we ever have as the island crumbles behind us, the adrenaline and exhaustion setting in.

Suddenly, as I jump over a log, my foot gets caught on a jutting-out branch. It scrapes a deep gash the whole way down my shin, tearing through my pants. I cry out and fall forward onto the muddy forest floor.

"Del!" Tai shouts a he stops running to come back to me.

I glance at the disappearing ground several meters away. I shove Tai back.

"No! Just go without me! I'll hold you back!"

Tai reaches down and wraps his arm under my shoulder, "No way! If you go down, I'm coming too!"

I force myself to stand up and run, using Tai as support. Right now is no time to argue. I know that if I stay, so will he.

The ground is crumbling away a lot closer to us now. A huge chunk of the earth falls from the island behind us. We stumble forwards and keep running.

"There it is!" Tai shouts in relief, pointing at the bridge. It's the best thing I've ever seen in my whole life.

Grace is waiting there for us, gesturing hastily with her hands for us to go first. We jump onto the bridge and go across as quickly as possible. It's hard when the rain has made it so slippery. Lightning strikes dangerously close to us. Finally, we reach the other side and throw ourselves on the soaked ground.

A blood curdling scream cuts through the air as a lightning bolt strikes the bridge. Electricity runs the whole way down the bridge. It's like the lightning has charged it. The electric current reaches Grace and she stands there a moment. A bit of smoke comes off her as she falls over.

BOOM!

There was no way of knowing whether that boom was thunder or a canon, but the fact that Grace isn't moving, we can only assume she is dead. I want to go out to her and see for myself. She could just be stunned. Tai stops me.

"We have to stay here! We can't risk going on that bridge again in this storm. Wait until it passes!"

"There's no time to wait! We either go out now and save her or she dies anyways!" I point to where the forest island is still crumbling away to nothing, "The bridge is gonna drop when the island's gone!"

"It's already too late," Tai says, "I'm sorry."

The last chunk of the island gives up the fight and the bridge goes down with it. We're helpless as we watch Grace tumble down with the bridge. Both disappear beneath the dark clouds.

Mason Paits's P.O.V. (D7)

"This storm sucks," Brenda comments miserably.

I crouch down and pull her hood over her head, "Better?"

She shakes her head, "A little bit. Its just that, I've never been outside while it has rained before, let alone during a storm."

"Well, I can sorta see why. If I was blind, I don't think I'd ever leave my house, or even a room."

"Well, I had Colette to guide me around. And I have really good ears. I was lucky to have a sister like Colette."

I lean against a tree with my elbow, "Not to pry, but if you and your sister were so close, why didn't she volunteer for you? I would've done it without a second thought if I had a brother that had his name called."

"I'm sure she would've volunteered, if she could," Brenda explains, "You see, she isn't eligible for the Games anymore. Last year was her last year, in fact."

"Oh...lucky for her I guess," I pluck a leaf from the tree and examine it, "Next year would've been my last year."

"What did you do before you got reaped?" Brenda asks.

I toss the leaf away and put my hand in my jacket pocket, "Eh, nothing much. I used to work with my dad in the forests. We would go through and mark trees. It's a pretty easy job actually."

"And during your free time?"

I look around, "Well, I guess it would be alright to say now. I used to practice throwing axes in the woods behind our house. I had this rusty, old axe I found in a scrap pile that I practiced with every day. Those were the good old days," I chuckle, "Poor thing. That axe is probably still where I left it, in that hollow log. It was the perfect hiding place. I put all of my junk in there. It was so weird, changing from my usual routine to being in the Games. I didn't even expect my name to be called. I felt the way I did every year, like nothing was going to change."

"Hmmm. All I ever did was have my sister take me to school every day. My sister was a teacher there. Then we would go to the park where I liked to try and guess the different sounds of animals. Then we would go back home. It's quite boring when you can't see things."

"Well, you weren't always blind, right?" I ask.

"No. When I was about six, there was a fire in the section of the forest my dad worked in. When mom found out, she ran out of the house and went into the fire, searching for dad. Since I was little, I didn't know any better and I followed her. I saw them, just as a tree fell on top of them both, crushing them. Some branches from another tree fell and hit my head. Some of the other workers had dragged me out of the fire, but it was too late to save mom and dad. When I woke up, mom and dad were dead and I couldn't see anymore."

I can't help tearing up at the story. Brenda also has tears in her blank eyes. I sit down beside her and put my arm around her, but I know it won't do much. I never knew anybody in my District had gone through so much trauma. Think about it, the last thing Brenda ever saw was her parents die in front of her. Now that image is probably the only thing she sees.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, "I'm sure it was hard for you to say that all to me."

Brenda buries her face in my shoulder and starts sobbing. I don't try and calm her down. She won't be heard over the storm anyways. All I do is lift her chin up and give her a gentle kiss.