Percy

The picture fades and the arena is silent. Then Juliet shouts.

"I clearly killed that little brat! Now it turns out I hit some kid hiding in the bushes! “She screams in frustration and throws a knife at a nearby tree. Georgiana steps forward, trying to calm her down.

"Juliet, calm down, the kid is prob...." 

Juliet screams and throws a knife at Georgiana. It hits her heart and her cannon goes off. Juliet turns to us angrily. 

"I could kill you all! Right now! Then I could go after that little rascal and the rest of them rats!"

Ditty stands up. 

"But you won't. You will do what I say. You won't kill any of us. Except for that Percy kid, if I tell you to." Ditty gives her a glare and Juliet starts to calm down.

"Ok. But I want to kill someone." Juliet says. 

"Ok, then let’s go back to that cave and get rid of those rats." She looks directly at me and grins. "Percy can come with us. Maybe he can even use his dagger skills." 

Crunch pushes me up. 

I turn around and give him my best, leave me alone, look. I walk over to them and Ditty gives me an evil grin. She chucks me a few daggers and I put one in my belt and leave one in my hand. It's not like it mattered. I was horrible with them. The only reason I had managed to hit that bird was pure luck. 

"Come on. We'll be back in a while and with bloodstained fingers hopefully." Ditty says. 

----

Primrose

The shout, scream and cannon boom came from the direction of the cornucopia. Bonnie gives me a worried look. 

"We need to go. Juliet is obviously furious that Daisy isn't dead. She's gonna want to take her anger out on someone and that know where we are. We're the easiest targets. Us, the careers and Daisy are the only people left. We need to go."

We all nod, and start packing up our things. 

I look over at Zara and sigh at the thought of carrying her. Ruby must see me do so, as she pulls out one of her leafs and scribbles something on it, handing it to me. 

'Don't worry, I'll wake her, she seems fine now.' She wrote. She kneels down beside her and places her hands on Zara's chest. She closes her eyes and stays still for a moment. Then Zara's eyelids flutter open and she sits up and looks around at us. Bonnie quickly introduces her to everyone. 

"Zara, meet Kay, Summer and Ruby. If tell you more right now but...” 

A shout comes from the direction of the Cornucopia. I think I hear the words right back and blood-stained. 

"We need to go." Bonnie finishes.

Zara gets the picture and jumps to her feet. She spins dizzily. 

"Hey, take it easy." Kay says. 

"I'm fine. Let’s go."

We go outside and start walking I look back at the cave, realizing this is probably the last time I will see it. Then it is gone, enveloped in the trees. The shouting gets louder behind us. We start running. After a minute or two, angry shouts come from back there. 

"Come on. They know that we're gone now." Bonnie says, and we pick up the pace. The shouts get louder behind us. In a matter of minutes, we're all sprinting through the trees in the darkness, the careers hot on our tails. 

"Look! It's them!" I hear Juliet shout. Oh no. They'd spotted us. 

"You can run but you can't hide!" She cackles. 

"Come on!" Bonnie shouts and we run even faster. I realize we have started running upwards. The trees have started becoming thinner and the air is getting colder. 

"Come on! Slow down a bit and come kiss your boyfriend, Primrose!" Juliet shouts. My heart beats faster. Percy was with them? 

"Come on, Prim!" Bonnie shouts from in front of me, and I realize I actually had slowed down. I catch up with her. The careers gain on us. Soon they are only about a hundred meters away, and getting closer. Zara and summer are starting to tire and slow down. The trees continue to thin out and soon we are running on a bare rocky landscape with a few scattered trees, going upwards. I realize we are running up a mountain. I look down and see Juliet, Percy and Ditty behind us. I also lose my breath at the view. I can see the whole arena, including the cornucopia clearing a few ponds and a large calm lake, not that far from the mountain. A fire is going in the cornucopia clearing but it looks unoccupied. I think I see two silhouettes. Running towards the mountain. I look down at the lake as I run and Juliet and Ditty get closer. I think I see a small island in the centre. A plan starts to form in my head. 

"Bonnie. You know how amazing the pond was? With its crystal water and flowers."

"Now's not the time to be bringing that up." She pants. 

"Yeah, but wasn't it like paradise? Like a LAKE, ISLAND paradise. It's a shame it was DOWN there and blown up." I put emphasis on Lake, Island and down. She looked down and saw it, recognition blooming on her face. 

"Yeah! Your right! Hey Zara, Summer, Kay. You should've seen it! It was DOWN THERE and it was like a mini LAKE." Bonnie said. They each got the picture and looked down. They spotted the lake and nodded. The careers get closer and closer. Bonnie keeps glancing back at them. I wait for Bonnie's cue. Come on, I think. They get even closer. She still doesn't do anything. They get closer and closer. Juliet is almost an arm away from me. 

"Now!" Bonnie shouts and we all switch directions and run downhill. The careers are stunned for a second and then realize what we had done. Juliet growls and they start running again, but we are already nearly at the tree line. We sprint through the trees, the careers trying desperately to catch up on us. The darkness blurs the trees and bushes, making it harder to see. Then, like it was an accident waiting to happen, Zara trips on a tree root. I turn back to help her. 

"No! Go! If you stop they'll catch you!" She says. 

"I'm not leaving you here!" I reply.

She smiles sadly.

"I know."

Suddenly she coughs and blood comes out. She looks up at me.

"Go." 

I turn and start running.

There is cackling behind me and Zara's cannon goes off. Tears blur my vision as I run but I keep on going. My heart pounds in my chest for two completely different reasons. 

The trees next to me crack and Soren and Crunch crash out. Soren turns to face Crunch who charges at him. Then his angry face goes shocked. He falls over and I see the knife in his gut. Soren pulls it out and turns. He spots me.

"What are you doing? Run!" He shouts and I realize I have stopped. I start sprinting and he turns and runs toward Juliet and Ditty.

I hear some shouting and a cannon boom from behind me but I keep on running. I am dimly aware that the careers have stopped following us. 

All I can feel is the blurred trees around me and the raw thirst in my throat. Sweat drips down my face.

I see a break in the trees in front of me and I burst out of them and crash onto the bank of the lake. Bonnie is already there and Summer almost falls into the water. I gulp down some water and sit, catching my breath. 

“We lost them.” Bonnie says.

“Yeah, but we also lost two others.” Summer says, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Hey, I’m sure they are fine.” Bonnie says comfortingly.

When my breathing is back to normal, I sit up and look out at the lake. In the centre is a small island, covered in trees. I look at the island and for a second I think I see a figure in the trees. I blink and she is still there. Her dark skin and frizzy hair is unmistakable. Daisy.

I look up and see that Bonnie is staring at the island as well. The figure on it disappears and Bonnie looks at her pack closely. She puts it back on and looks at summer.

“Can you swim?”

She nods.

“Good. Because we’re going out there.”