Day 13 in the arena

Port Tidello's POV (District 4 male)

"They're almost done," I tell the other two, turning over one of the birds that Kellan caught yesterday. Kellan seemed quiet when he returned yesterday, but I guess we're all quiet these days. There are only three careers left. That's not unusual at this stage in the games. But then there normally are more deaths by this point. I guess the game makers are trying to long it out though. We have three weeks to make it across the arena and just over two-thirds of that time has gone already. We must be near the end. Maybe they are keeping us alive for some kind of battle near the finish line.

"Thanks Port," Darius says, sitting on the sand next to their fire. "Have we got some berries to go with it." I nod, pointing to the pile that I put on a sheet by me so that they wouldn't get sandy.

"I'll divide it up," I tell Kellan and Darius, taking the bird off the fire. I use my knife to divide it into three roughly even parts.

"I'm assuming we're moving onwards again today," Kellan says partway through the meal. Darius nods.

"Maybe we'll come across some tributes today," I think all of us are getting frustrated about the lack of tributes we've come across since the bloodbath. All of us have people that we want to bring to the Capitol.

Lena Gray's POV (District 5 female)

As it comes to the end of the day, I wearily sit down. I've swum quite a way today, but I need to rest now. I don't swim at night. I don't think that it would be safe. I can't see the bottom of the sea and I wouldn't put it past the game makers to send some sharks or some other horrific mutt chasing after me in the dark, ready to snap me up in a bite. It's just safer to rest at night. I'm hoping that I must be close to the end of the arena. It's been nearly two weeks and I've been going as fast as I can.

I still want a kill though. I only need one to be able to bring my dad to the capitol. I know I'm definitely not the strongest tribute in here, but maybe if I catch a younger tribute by surprise and I can do it without much of a struggle. I don't want to kill. Dad is all I have. After mum died... we only have each other. I have to get a kill in for him.

I trace my finger through the sand softly, watching as the sun sets, wondering how much longer I would be in here for. As selfish as it sounds, I hope someone dies soon. Swimming all day, especially when I'm not great at swimming, is exhausting. At least if someone died there'd be a new arena. And a new source of food. I've been living off berries that I've found on the island. Tomorrow I think I will try fishing instead. I have a couple of spears that I can use to try to stab them. I know that there are fish because I've seen them in the shallows when setting off from or arriving at an island. Maybe it'll taste better than berries. It'll give me more protein and energy anyway.

Orrick "Ric" Jamieson's POV (District 11 male)

These islands aren't super far apart, but since this is my first time trying to swim, I struggle even just a mile. New muscles I didn't know existed now burn with soreness every morning. My eyes and hands are raw due to the constant salt water and scrambling on rocks. Swimming feels endless, but I've learned how to float so I can take short breaks to catch my breath and rest my arms. I try not to imagine drowning and how deep this water probably is, but my nightmares now are centered around those thoughts.

I quickly pull myself away from my imagination and spot my new favorite sight: Shoreline.
"Thank god!" I gasp quietly as I'm filled with a renewed sense of vigor and relief. It's still probably a kilometer or so to the shore, but compared to an unknown time of extended swimming, I'm incredibly thankful.

I continue my steady pace onward, when suddenly I feel a sharp burn on my left calf. I yelp and look down to see a red welt forming in a line and a jellyfish next to my leg.
I try to swim away rapidly, but apparently this is jellyfish territory and as soon as I think I'm out of range another one stings my opposite leg. Now, with both legs burning and beginning to swell, I decide to just speed to shore as fast as humanly possible. Despite moving as quickly as I can, I'm still an amateur swimmer and it takes me seemingly forever to arrive on shore. In this time, I get stung twice more, both on the left thigh.

By the time I reach shore, my arms feel as though they are going to fall off due to exertion, and my left leg has swollen to nearly 1 and ½ times its normal size. I drag myself up the beach and under the shelter of some trees before allowing myself to inspect the injuries.

Two intersecting rings of raised bubbles circle my left thigh and one traces the line of my calf muscle. The one on my right leg is much less swollen, but still looks as though I have an incredibly bad sunburn in one streak down my leg. Hopefully the swelling goes down and the pain becomes more bearable, but until then I guess I'm stuck on this island.

Marcus Thresher's POV (District 9 male)

So, it turns out I'm incredibly good at one thing: sinking. I've been trying to swim in the shallows for 3 days now and I am still unable to move more than a body-length without touching the ground.
Grabbing hold of a tree root hanging above me, I pull myself up and walk back over to the makeshift home I've established for myself. I attached my sleeping bag and supplies about 15 feet up a tree- off the ground so the nocturnal animals I've seen can't ruin the few items I have. The rope fastens around the trunk of the tree and a portion hangs loose now because I don't have it tied around me.

Thankfully, my tree climbing skills are much better than my swimming abilities and the practice of the last few days has ensured I could climb this tree blindfolded. I scamper quickly up, careful to attach myself immediately using the rope. My balance isn't great, and within the first minute of climbing this tree, I realized I needed a way to harness myself so I wouldn't fall.

I have grown accustomed to walking around the tree and don't trip as often, but I still feel safer with the rope fastened around my waist. I slide the rope further up the trunk and climb to a lookout point. From this point, I can see a few islands. The closest is to my right, in the opposite direction of the giant red arrow. That's the only one that looks remotely reachable, but as it's in the wrong direction, it has no worth to me. The only other ones I can see are a chain of three islands in the distance- despite being generally the right path, much too far for me to travel. I've seen this same view every day since the switch, yet every evening I climb up here- just in case I spot something new or by some miracle there is a new island much closer. I'm pretty much stuck here until another death and arena change- hopefully soon.

I climb back down and gather a collection of nuts from the surrounding trees before retiring to my sleeping bag. I am tying the safety rope around my waist when I hear grunts of pain and some indistinguishable words. Another tribute. Oh no.

My hands begin to shake as I carefully fasten the rope loosely and try to creep out to see which tribute it is. This could be my chance to guarantee an arena change. I can tell by the sounds of pain that its only one person and definitely male, but that narrows it down to either district 5 or the district 11, as the other male tributes are careers and would be in a group.

Slowly, I sneak onto a branch where I can see the tribute. District 11. I forget his name- was its Owen or Oscar or something? I have no clue. Regardless, he's on my island.

I weigh my chances of survival if he found out I was here. On the one hand, he's injured, but also strength-wise he could probably just crush me. That prospect convinces me that my only chance of survival is if I caught him off guard and then ran away as quickly as possible. All these possibilities race through my mind, but right now I can't do anything, so I settle down on the tree branch, keeping him in sight, and try to come up with a plan.