Day Six:

Micah Islen (D4 M 17)

As soon as I open my eyes, the pain returns to my chest, the spot where Tyroarius almost killed me with a spear. I roll out of my sleeping bag and grab the medicine package I received as a sponsor gift. After rubbing the paste liberally across my chest, the wound feels loads better. I should still take it easy today, but at least I know I'm healing.

I climb out of the tent and grab myself a dried fruit package from our food pile. I rip it open and sit down next to Sable, who kept watch early this morning. "How's the injury?" he asks.

"It feels much better," I say. "Especially now that I've got some medicine on it."

A few minutes later, Jade stumbles out of her tent. "Morning, everyone," she says, reaching for the food pile. I let her finish her beef jerky before getting down to business.

"So my wound's feeling much better," I say, "which means I'm good to do whatever you guys want today. Whether it's tribute hunting, animal hunting, or just a walk around the center of the arena, I'm good with anything."

"I don't know," Sable says. "I think we've got enough food for a few more days, and I'm not too big on the whole tribute hunting thing."

"I'd hate to stay cooped up here all day," Jade says, "but I agree. With Ty on the loose, we don't want to split up. And we can't leave the camp totally abandoned either, because he could steal our stuff or set up some sort of trap. But I'm not against taking a trip to the stream or exploring the surrounding area."

"I guess that sounds okay," I say. "I think we're starting to get low on water, so maybe we can take a trip to the stream later to fill up some bottles. I'd rather not fill them up in the pond since the water's a bit murky."

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Sable agrees. "We have to at least do something today, or the Gamemakers will get bored with us."

"We did give them a pretty good show two days ago," I point out. "But yeah, I'd hate to sit around for two days in a row."

"So I guess we should start sorting through our stuff then," Jade says, jumping to her feet. "We can pull out all of our empty water jugs and bottles and put them in a pile."

I don't know how she has this much enthusiasm so early in the morning. But she's right- we have a huge mountain of bags to go through, so the quicker we get started, the quicker we can go on our adventure to the stream. I discard my empty fruit package and begin pulling down bags from the pile. The backpacks have so many compartments that it takes minutes to search through just one. This is going to be a long morning.

Through the boredom, I find myself thinking about my family back in District Four. Since we've been in the final eight for almost a full day now, I'm sure the family interviews were either conducted last night or are being conducted right now. I miss my parents more than I ever thought I would. And Slate and the other boys down at the training center- they're like a second family to me. I'm sure they're cheering me on right now, but I miss working out with them every day.

Now that we're in the final eight, I wonder how much longer the Games will last from here. Usually, once this point is reached, the deaths slow down to about one per day (with the exception being the day of the feast). Two-thirds of the tributes may be gone, but there's really no telling how many days it'll take for the remaining seven deaths to occur. Honestly, it depends on what the Gamemakers are feeling- if they want more action and excitement, they'll speed the deaths up. However, if they're looking for suspense and more hours of entertainment, the Games could last another week or two.

Obviously, I want the Games to be over as quickly as possible. Even though I'm a volunteer from a Career district, I don't enjoy killing innocent children, and I absolutely despise the people who do. I volunteered for two reasons- to save Slate (my friend who was supposed to volunteer this year but had second thoughts about it) and to prevent my life in District Four from becoming dull and meaningless. Even if I die out here, at least I'll know I died as myself- not some stupid Capitol lapdog.

Lumiere Rutherford (D1 M 15)

Our encounter with the mutts yesterday made me realize something: if I hadn't allied with Cleo, I'd be dead by the end of day one. By keeping a cool head under pressure, she managed to save both of us from dying at the claws of those stupid electric lizards. With only seconds to think, she came up with a brilliant plan to escape from the mutts. After recognizing water as the mutts' biggest weakness, she led us straight towards the stream in the center of the arena. I never would've figured that out so quickly. If I had been alone when the mutts attacked, they would have turned me into a burnt human shish kabob in seconds.

Although Cleo escaped relatively unharmed, I did pick up a few minor-ish injuries. As the mutts closed in on me as I hung from a tree branch, I rushed my dismount. After falling about five feet, I landed awkwardly on the side of my heels and twisted my left ankle. And if that wasn't enough, as I continued to fall towards the ground, my tailbone landed on a rock. The next few minutes were some of the most painful of my life as I sprinted towards the stream with every ounce of strength I had left. By some miracle, I reached the stream before the mutts could catch me and lived to see another day.

Miracle number two occurred this morning when I woke up to find a sponsor gift floating down from the sky. I opened it up and was shocked to see a small tube of medicine and a Velcro ankle brace located inside. Although Cleo thinks they're from my mentor, I know that man wouldn't send me a gift if his life depended on it. It's more likely that these are gifts from Cleo's mentor. With her beauty, I'm sure she's got plenty of sponsors lined up to give money to her mentor.

There's still one more question to answer under this theory: why would Cleo's mentor waste her money on me instead of saving it for Cleo? Well, I think Cleo's mentor is worried I'll hold Cleo back or put her in danger because of my injuries. By helping me heal, Cleo's mentor gives Cleo a functioning ally again, which could help her out in the long run. Not that I'm much help to Cleo, but I know she'd never abandon me (and her mentor must know it too).

Cleo interrupts me from my thoughts. "I can see the clearing. Let's grab our bottles and make this quick." We're currently on our daily trip to the stream to replenish our water supply. After pulling our bottles out and dropping our bags, Cleo and I head to the edge of the clearing and stand behind a pair of trees. "The coast looks clear," Cleo says.

"Alright," I reply. "Let's go." We step out from behind the trees and begin running. My ankle and tailbone burn with pain, but I ignore it, just like yesterday. About halfway between the trees and the stream, Cleo suddenly stops in her tracks, a look of terror forming on her face. I follow her gaze downstream where three Careers have emerged and are headed in our direction.

I gasp and turn back toward the woods, Cleo right behind me. I have no idea if the Careers spotted us. I can't look back now. The only thing that matters is getting inside the cover of the trees. My injuries ache even harder, but I don't care. I need to push through this. I run and I run until finally, I collapse behind a tree. I swivel my head back towards the clearing and sigh in relief when I realize that the Careers have not spotted us. They're still a ways downstream and seem to be fumbling through a bag for something.

"That was even scarier than the mutts," I say when I've finally caught my breath. "If they had spotted us, we'd be dead."

Cleo nods. "We got extremely lucky there." She looks over at the Careers as they walk upstream, closer to where we're hidden. Suddenly, she frowns. "Lumiere, I don't think those are the Careers," she says.

"Why of course they are," I reply. "That's Jade right there, my district partner."

"Yes, but look at who she's with," Cleo says. "The one on her left is Micah- he's from District Four, but he refused to ally with the Careers during training, remember? And the other boy- that's that wolf boy from Ten. He's no Career either."

"Maybe they changed their minds and decided to join the Careers once they joined the arena," I say.

"I don't know," Cleo says, but there's definitely something a little... off about the Career alliance. Remember two days ago when the girls from Two and Four died?"

"I actually remember that quite well," a slightly-familiar male's voice calls out. Cleo and I whip our heads around to see Tyroarius, the boy from District Two, step out from behind a tree with a spear in his hand. I stare at him in absolute shock and terror as he continues to speak. "That was the day your bitch of a district partner betrayed me." He twirls the spear in his hand, looking livid. "She tried to kill me, but she failed. So, I've been following her and her stupid new allies around for the past two days, looking for an opportunity to get my revenge. I haven't found that opportunity yet, but I guess I could settle for her district partner right now."

Tyroarius stops twirling the spear and locks his eyes on mine, a menacing snarl covering his face. "Run Cleo," I urge her. "He can't get us both." She pauses for a moment, looking at me with a conflicted, sorrowful expression. Then, she turns and dashes behind a tree right as Tyroarius charges toward me. Before I even tell my body to move, I'm back in the clearing again, sprinting in the direction of the stream. I have no idea why I'm going this way. There's three other armed tributes standing right next to the stream.

I don't make it to the other tributes, though. I barely even make it out of the clearing. Seconds after I begin running, I feel a jolt of searing pain in my chest. I look down to see the head of a spear poking out,stained scarlet with blood. I collapse to the ground, my head spinning and my vision going dark. The pain begins to fade, and I realize that death doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

Jade Platinum (D1 F 17)

Right as I'm leaning down to scoop some water out of the stream, Lumiere, my district partner, comes crashing out of the woods with a look of terror on his face. A second later, Tyroarius comes bounding after him, a spear raised in his hand. Sable, Micah, and I remain frozen in shock as Ty releases the spear. It flies through the air and lands in Lumiere's back with a sickening crunch. Lumiere collapses, and a loud BOOM shakes the arena.

"Let's get him," I tell my allies, but Micah is already one step ahead of me. Sable and I grab our weapons and follow Micah, sprinting toward Ty. Ty realizes the terrible mistake he's made and rushes for Lumiere's body. He grabs onto his spear and yanks it out with a quick tug. He turns back to us just in time to see Micah's axe sail through the air, straight toward his face.

Ty doesn't have enough time to duck. The axe lands in his head, right over his left eye, with a loud clunk. He staggers backwards, feels around for the axe handle, and pulls it out, unleashing a thick sea of red. He falls to the ground, the axe handle slipping out of his hand. A cannon echoes throughout the arena, and Ty moves no more.

For a moment, I'm frozen in shock. Did Micah really just eliminate the biggest threat in the arena? A grin spreads across my face as it begins to sink in. "You've done it, Micah," I tell him. "We're in the final six and our biggest enemy is gone."

"That was kind of stupid of him to run out here and throw his weapon," Micah says as he walks toward Ty's body. "I'm sure he knew we were out here."

"Yeah, well, Ty isn't exactly one of the smartest people I know," I say. "He was probably so focused on killing Lumiere that he forgot about the threat we posed to him."

"I wonder if that's why Lumiere ran out into the clearing," Micah says, reaching down for his axe. "I mean, when you're trying to flee from someone, running out into the open definitely isn't the place to go. Do you think Lumiere led Ty out here because he knew we could kill Ty?"

"Possibly," I say. "We'll never know for sure. But whether it was an accident or on purpose, we owe Lumiere a lot for bringing our biggest enemy right to us."

"I guess that means we're in the final six then," Sable says. "It seems like just yesterday we were entering the arena."

"It's hard to believe that the three of us make up half of the remaining tributes," Micah says, wiping off his axe in the grass. "It's just us and the girls from Three, Seven, and Ten. And none of them are huge threats."

"We can't overlook them, though," I remind Micah. "If they made it this far, they've got to have at least some sort of skill."

"Muna's definitely a tough girl," Sable says. "My district partner. She's only fifteen, but she did score a seven in training."

"And I think the girl from Seven also scored a seven," I add. "We still have to be careful, especially if the three of them are allied."

"Speaking of alliances, what are the three of us going to do?" Sable asks. "I mean, this is about the point when the Careers decide to split up and forge their own paths in the Games."

"I think we should wait," I say. "Until at least the feast. If those girls are allied, we need to keep our numbers. I don't know about you guys, but if I was alone and attacked by all three of them, I don't think I'd stand much of a chance."

"Yeah, let's wait until at least one more death," Micah says. "As much as I hate the idea of us killing each other, if I don't win, I'd want one of you to be the victor. So, I don't mind sticking together a little longer than normal."

We stand in silence for a few moments. Then, I take a deep breath and speak up. "Well, I guess we should finish filling up those water bottles and get back to camp." The guys nod. We turn around and head back for our bags, lying next to the stream. The feeling of elation I got from Tyroarius's death has disappeared. Now that our biggest threat is gone, I think we've all realized the inevitable: the three of us are going to have to kill each other in the end.

Muna Taylor (D10 F 15)

Two cannons just went off within a minute of each other. Two! That's extremely rare this late in the Games (with the only exception being the feast). Hopefully, the Careers got into another fight and wiped out two of their own. At this point, though, I'm happy with any death. Most of the remaining tributes are strong and skilled anyways, so it really doesn't matter who's gone now.

I'm expecting the Gamemakers to do something to force us together pretty soon. This arena is way too big for six tributes, so they'll definitely do something to make the playing field smaller within the next day or two. Usually, they use either a "natural" disaster (fire, flood, etc.), mutts, or a feast. All of them are very effective, so there's no telling which method or combination of methods they'll use.

It's going to be getting dark soon, so I should probably move in toward the center of the arena and then settle in for the night. If the Gamemakers decide to do something tonight, I'd rather be near the center of the arena because that's where they'll probably force us. I won't go into to the clearing because that's likely where the Careers are stationed, but I'll get pretty close.

I did much better on food today than I've done during the past three days. I hit a squirrel with one of my throwing knives a few hours ago. After cooking it on a fire, I ate half of it and stored the other half in my bag for later. I also found a large bush of blackberries; I now have about three cups of them in my bag. Right now, my stomach feels fuller than it ever has since I split up with my allies. I have at least another day's worth of food too, so I'm definitely in good spot right now.

In terms of water, I'm definitely struggling more. Unfortunately, the only source of water seems to be the stream in the center of the arena. I've decided to visit the stream only once every other day because of the risk of stepping out into the open. I received a second water bottle along with some iodine as a sponsor gift yesterday, but they're both empty right now. Since I'm headed toward the center of the arena right now, I'll take a visit to the stream a bit later so that I'm under the cover of darkness.

After about an hour of walking, I reach the edge of the woods. I'll wait here for another hour, until all of the stars are out, and then head for the stream. I hang my bag on a tree branch and sit down against the trunk. Now, I just have to sit and wait. Staring out at the clearing, I see no sign of the Careers. They must be settled in a different part of the clearing. The coast seems clear, so getting water should be no issue.

A few minutes later, the Panem Anthem begins to play. I look up to the sky in anticipation, hoping to see some threats up there. First comes the boy from District One. I frown; he wasn't a threat at all. I'm actually surprised that he made it this far. When I see the face of the boy from District Two, my jaw drops. He was a gigantic threat! He was expected to win! How the heck did he die? This means the only tributes from Career districts left are the girl from One and the boy from Four. And the boy from Four didn't even ally with the Careers, which must mean the Career alliance has been completely dissolved.

The anthem ends, and a surprising feeling of relief washes over me. It seems like all of the alliances have dissolved. Mine and Valerie's is gone, the Careers' is gone, and my district partner Sable's is gone. That only leaves the girl from Seven, who must not have one either. As long as no new alliances have been created, the playing field has become much more level for me. I stand no change against an alliance of tributes, but against one, I could get lucky.

Thankfully, the moon is a very thin crescent tonight, which means there's a greater chance I'll go undetected. As soon as it's dark enough, I jog into the clearing with my two water bottles. I reach the stream and dunk my bottles in, making quick work of it. Once I've recapped them, I jog back to the woods and pull the small vial of iodine out of my bag. I'm too tired to wait for the water to purify, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to rehydrate myself. I climb up into a tree and fall asleep within seconds.

Recap:

The Fallen (2):

Lumiere Rutherford (D1 M 15) 8th Place

Killed by Tyroarius. He was chased until a spear was thrown through his upper back.

Tyroarius Stryker (D2 M 18) 7th Place

Killed by Micah. As he tried to retrieve his spear from Lumiere's body, an axe was thrown into his head.

Remaining Tributes (6):

D1:

Jade Platinum (GalacticFairydust)

D3:

Valerie Plasma (GalacticFairydust)

D4:

Micah Islen (emimawi)

D7:

Cleo Amorite (fifidear)

D10:

Muna Taylor (KittyMae98)

Sable Maren (AaronIris34)

Kills:

Tyroarius Stryker (6): Mindi, Kiyata, Trenton, Jazper, Cole, Lumiere

Mileena Nero (3): Logan, Jerry, Kairen

Jade Platinum (2): Claire, Bebe

Micah Islen (2): Jasmine, Tyroarius

Bebe Cora (1): Lexi

Cole Fyre (1): Mileena

Alliances:

Jade/Micah/Sable

Cleo

Valerie

Muna

Woah it's been months since I've posted two chapters within two weeks of each other, but I had more spare time than usual this week. It's hard to believe we're already down to the final six; we're so close to the end!

Thanks for reading! :-)