"I'm going to kill you!"

I laughed as I ran down the trail with a pair of grubby glasses between my fingers. I turned to look behind me, seeing Aster chasing after me with a grin on his face. He stumbled a few times. I shook my head as I looked ahead of me. He was blind without his glasses, giving him the disadvantage in the situation.

Tilly and Ed were still behind us, nowhere to be seen. I wasn't concerned about them, though. They couldn't have been too far behind.

Tilly had warmed up to Ed and now refused to leave his side. As much as I didn't want to, I couldn't help but feel hurt at how easily she switched from me to him.

I mean, she's thirteen, of course she moved on quickly.

I stumbled and caught myself before I could fall on my face. My heart skipped a beat, and it took a minute to get back into rhythm. By then, I knew that I had slowed down enough for Aster to catch up. I nearly dropped the glasses from anxiety. I didn't know what would happen when he caught me.

A gasp escaped my lips as a hand grabbed my arm. Aster turned me to face him. I tightened my grip on the glasses, an uncontrollable smile forming on my face. Eventually, Tilly and Ed caught up with us, so we dropped the game. My smile didn't leave even after Aster's victory dance.

It had been two days since we faced the previous obstacle, and there hadn't been another one since. Aster and I talked for hours until it was time to make camp. I learned that he loved music and was thinking of growing up doing something that involved it. He didn't have any siblings but wished that he had a younger one to hang out with.

"What's Ed's story?" I asked.

Aster paused for a moment. "I don't know, he hasn't really told me. I just know that he's twenty-five and lives in West Virginia."

I looked behind us at Tilly, who was beaming up at the grinning man. I found it funny how the youngest and oldest tributes of the Pestilention ended up together. It was funny how we found each other in the first place.

"It's probably something that he doesn't want to talk about."

It took me a minute to respond. "What do you mean?"

"It's just," he shrugged, "everyone here has something in their past that they don't want to talk about. You know?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I know."

"Finally," Aster grinned. "I thought the Game Master forgot about us."

Disks the size of small tables were balanced on poles. Several of them stretched on for what seemed like forever. One of the plates was on its side, digging into the back of someone's head. I turned away, not wanting to look at the dried blood in his hair.

"Who wants to go first?" Ed asked.

Aster shrugged. "We can flip a coin."

"Idiot, we don't have coins. What about ro-sham-bo?"

"Two out of three?"

"You guys are babies," I said with an eye roll. I approached the first disk and stepped on it awkwardly. My heart jumped up into my throat as the unstable object rocked under my feet, and I crashed to the floor.

No one laughed, to my relief, so I got up and stepped on the platform once more. This time it was easier to gain my balance. Once I was sure that I wouldn't fall, I began to shift my weight from one foot to the other to reach the next disk.

I could barely breathe as the second disk tilted to its side. I crawled on top of it and shifted my weight to balance it. The pole was thick enough to balance this one, so I placed my foot where I assumed the supported area was. Before I knew it, I had climbed higher and higher.

I looked down and immediately regretted doing so. I could see the floor under me, shaking with my wobbly surface. It didn't help that everything in my body was trembling beyond imagination. I let out a breath before taking another step.

Why did I go first?

Before I could take another step, the disk wobbled under my foot and slid off, falling to the floor. I clasped tightly onto the pole and scrambled up before I fell, too. Then, because I couldn't get both of my feet on, I hopped to the next pole.

I regained my balance with a quickening heart. I could hear my allies climbing behind me. I almost laughed when I heard Ed and Aster cursing as they dropped disks.

Klutzes.

I sighed with relief as I landed on hard ground. It took awhile for my three allies to get to the end, and by the time they did, four more disks were on the ground and Tilly had a cut across her palm. I didn't want it to get infected, but we didn't have anything to clean it with. We had her wipe her hand on her suit, hoping that it would help for now.

Once we were all on the ground, Aster said, "How about we camp here for tonight?"

Hey, guys! So sorry that I didn't write anything last week. It's my fault, and I guarantee there will be one next week.

Aster and Kat are friends now! Do you think that their group can be trusted? Or are perfect things too good to be true? Tell me what you think in the comments.

Don't forget to comment, read, and share this story with your friends. Vote with your favorite CD (discs, disks, get it?). Stay awesome.

This mellow song by Jack Johnson is called Better Together and is focused on the first part of this story. Kat and Aster are finally becoming friends, and I find that they're better that way.