The ocean seemed never-ending. For about two hours, we kept up the perimeter and kept going straight. We weren’t tired yet though. My arm was still bleeding, but Slate had tied it up nicely with one of the bandages in his medicine pack. I realized that after Taffeta made that comment about me having a possible advantage because of the arena, Slate was careful to stay behind me, since I was the one leading the group.

The landscape shifted suddenly as I needed to exert more effort since the ground started sloping up. The beach stopped a little way. A cliff. I saw that it was about twenty to thirty feet above the water. I couldn’t tell from this distance. It was rocky, and the terrain was leading up to it, which explained the upward slope.

It had to be somewhere near, probably on the other side of the cliff.

The terrain sloped downwards again and we found a beach on the other side. The island finally seemed to end, with the beach curving around.

An hour of walking and I saw that there was a clear path of water coming from the forest and streamed into the river. I paced myself faster. This was it! We would finally get some water.

I was so parched, and the other Careers, seeing that I was rushing, finally saw what I saw.

We were stopped short when a cannon sounded. Thirteen tributes were dead now.

It could have been that another tribute killed them, or because of the tribute’s stupidity. Whatever it was, we were back on our guard.

When we got to the stream, it looked like a slice of heaven. The trees were tropical and the scene was beautiful. The sand was white and slowly turned into pebbles and rocks as it turned into the stream that held the fresh water. Hopefully, it was fresh water.

Before I could stop her, Chiffon buried her face into the water and started drinking. The others had more restraint and collected the water into our jugs and added a few drops of iodine. It would take about half an hour before we could drink, but it had only been a few hours. We weren’t completely dehydrated.

Chiffon laughed at us for being so cautious. None of us were really offended by this, since caution was needed in this game. We were envious of how she dunked her head underneath the water and how she drank to her delight. She kept splashing us and telling us to take a dip.

We were tempted to do it too.

To keep myself from diving into that shallow stream of water, I took off my pack and started climbing the tree. Maybe some of the coconut juice could satiate my thirst first. My eyes widened at this realization.

Stupid!

I already knew where the source of water would be! I just didn’t think of it sooner!

The sound of the cannon earlier… I heard the sound of choking and pain. I glanced behind me and saw Chiffon shaking all over. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets and white foam started coming out of her mouth.

Taffeta, Slate and Lark had crowded around her. They didn’t know what to do. They knew when a person was poisoned beyond help. They had seen it in the past Games.

All I could do was stare from my place in the shadows, waiting for the cannon that came a few seconds later.

Ten left.

“Don’t drink the water,” I said out loud. They already knew it, but I had to say it. I only hoped that they didn’t think that I was tricking them into being poisoned.

Their thirst was only magnified at the thought that we were tricked once again.

Something had to happen. One of has had to die anyway. The four of us knew that it was inevitable. There weren’t any tears shed for Chiffon, but Taffeta did take his last look for quite a while. He was the one who took her body out to sea for the hovercraft to take. We couldn’t afford the other tributes knowing our location. It would be better if they thought that there were still six Careers alive.

I started climbing the tree, using my legs to keep me up, but my arms to haul me higher. “What are you doing?” Lark said. I wish she didn’t. She used such a loud voice. None of them really bothered to keep quiet.

“I figured out where we could find water,” I replied, forcing myself to inch higher up a few more feet. The coconuts were just within reach.

I took out my knife, from my belt, started hacking at the coconuts. “Get ready to catch these,” I said as I ran the knife back and forth.

My injured arm couldn’t handle my weight anymore, and the friction from the trees would bruise me hands. I tried to slowly slide down, but I was having a difficult time of it. “Jump!” Slate called. “I’ll catch you.”

I breathed out and let go of the tree. Sure enough, Slate was right at the base of the tree and he caught me as I jumped the last few feet down.

The three of them looked curiously at the coconuts. Out of the luxurious food in the Capitol, they probably didn’t bother trying this out. They probably wouldn’t even know what it looked like, since the coconut fillings were used in the ingredients. The shell would have been disposed of, unless it was used as a cup.

“I didn’t think of this before. We were looking for some specific source of water that I forgot that there was liquid in these.” Using one of their swords, I split the top of the coconut.

This didn’t even need to have iodine added to it. To prove to them that I wasn’t lying, I drank every drop from inside. It didn’t taste like coconut juice. Inside the shells were water and no coconut fillings at all.

Leave it to the Gamemakers to make the obvious choice a deadly one. I was only planning on climbing the tree for later use, if the food supply had run out. I hadn’t bothered remembering that there was actually juice inside.

We decided to set up camp by the stream. The other tributes would eventually need to head this way. This would most likely be the only source of fresh water in the whole arena, but if they hadn’t figured it out yet, water was actually all over the place if they knew how to climb this tree. The only other alternative to having water was if this place was going to rain.

With only ten of us left, the Gamemakers would want to prolong these impending deaths if they could manage. Rain would probably come later tonight.

“The other tribute who died before Chiffon must have drank from the water as well.” Slate said, slicing off the tops of the shells.

I scaled two more trees and took down six more coconuts.

Taffeta didn’t blame me in the slightest. If I was lying about only figuring out after Chiffon’s death, he didn’t say any accusations. She was dead, and that meant that was one less tribute in his way. I bet he was relieved that it didn’t have to be him that killed her if it came down to the two of them.

I offered to take a swim to see if we could get any resources from there. They nodded. It didn’t look like there was anything to hunt in this arena either. We hadn’t seen any birds, or wild animals prowling. It had only been us making the sounds.

My importance of being their ally surfaced. I might have been at an advantage because this arena was something I was familiar with, but it was also an advantage for them. It could mean that I could survive more, but they couldn’t kill me off early just to make sure that I wouldn’t get to use my knowledge to my benefit.

If they killed me now, their definite source of water would die with me. Rainwater would only come if the Gamemakers wanted. I was the only one who knew how to scale the tree without sliding down. Lark could be light enough for it, but she didn’t know how to climb it. It had taken me years to keep my strength while climbing that tree. It used a specific set of muscles and a certain amount of balance.

Also, what would they do when food ran out? Careers were good at weaponry, and these three were probably better than me at some. They were also stronger. I could do something they couldn’t though, which was swim.

I think that the only reason I got an 11 was because I could handle a variety of different weapons competently, not because I was unbelievably exceptional at them. The trident was a given, but the other Careers had a certain specialty when it came to weapons.

I would be the first to admit that I would not want to be combatting with Taffeta while he had a sword in hand. If there were archery weapons in this arena, Slate would have been at ease, taking down everyone from a safe distance. It didn’t even matter if the weapon wasn’t available here, because Slate was good at everything. He was like me, comfortable with plenty of weapons; only he was a lot better. Lark was incredible with her machetes in both hands. These weapons were smaller than a sword, but were just as deadly. Lark could handle two at the same time, and she didn’t even have to worry about cutting herself. Lucky for her, the arena provided her with it.

If I had to fight with these people, I had to make sure that I was in close vicinity with the ocean. It was the only way I could ever survive, because they’d have to go after me, and I don’t think their districts ever had swimming lessons.

Not a lot of tributes knew how. That was one thing I had been confident about, when I first entered the Games. I knew that I would survive in an arena with water.

If it had been a desert situation, then I would have been worried.

While I had the ocean in sight though, I wasn’t very concerned about being up against these three.

I didn’t have to worry about Xavier surviving either. The kid was smart. I bet he knew before I did that there would be something to drink up in the trees.

As I walked toward the ocean with my trident and a spear in hand, I heard heavy footsteps, which meant that Slate was going with me.

He kept up with me easily, what with his long strides. Three of mine could be one of his. He was armed as well. This was our only protection. I could leave my pack with a small feeling of regret, but I knew that I could survive without it. I had a pack of knives at my belt, my trident and a spear. He couldn’t present the same argument if the two that we left behind decided to go off on their own and break this alliance.

I would understand too. Ten of us left and nearly half of that was in this alliance. When would we start going against each other obviously, when we had killed off the other six? I would have even preferred if they abandoned Slate and me now.

Only, I remembered that they needed me. It was only the first day, and our resources were scarce. Lark was already Slate’s district partner. They wouldn’t abandon each other as long as they could still have something valuable to garner from their alliance.