Hey guys, sorry to do this to you but I think that I'm going to take this off of hiatus now. You can be looking forward to updates but I warn you that they're going to be pretty slow since I have school and then practice along with that. So to try and make it up, this is a super long chapter! I love you guys and hope that you enjoy!!

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It was two days before he woke up and I had been nursing him like a mother, feeding him some of my ratioins and splitting the purified water. I had thought things over, why he had the Tracker Jacker stings and how I had found him passed out just an hour after the cannon had went off. The only answer I had come up with was that the Careers had run into a nest that attacked them or something to that affect. One of them must have been stung to death and while they were running they had gotten split up. That seemed like the most logical thing that could have happened.

Now I was perched in the tree once again keeping an eye out for the other tributes and threats. From where I was ther was a pretty good vantage point to where I could see anytinng coming. I was crouched out on the end of a thick branch that was broken, trying to get a look to the far left. Anyone who was coming from below or to the right would spot me easily since I was right in the open on the branch that hung over the clearing.

I began to think to myself.

The tricky thing is that yesterday we were just children. Playing soldiers, just pretending. Dreaming dreams with happy endings. In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords. But now we've stepped into a cruel world where everybody stands and keeps scores. 

There was a groan from below and then some movement. Kai squinted his eyes and glanced around, still seeming to be dazed. He pushed himself up slowly and stretched out his stiff muscles, a few pops could be heard from stiff joints becoming loose again. Then he looked down at his feet, probably for his weapon but saw the note instead. As if he felt my frozen gaze on him, he looked up to where I was perched in the tree. A small smile came across his features but it wasn't one of those ones that screamed death.

"Maya."

He remembered my name?

"Kai."

"Why did you do this?'

"It was the least that I could do for not pointing me out a few days ago."

"A few days ago?"

I nodded slowly, I didn't care if he didn't look like he would kill me or have a weapon in hand but there was no way that he was getting me to come down from this tree. Not unless he either cut me a good deal or I was sure that he was gone.

"You should join us."

"Huh?!" The question came as a shock to me. Kai wanted me to join him in the Career group, there was no way.

"You heard me. Don't think that we didn't see you swing that axe at the guy without a second thought. You should come with me Maya."

"But I'm not a Career."

"You fight like one."

There was a long, slient pause as that sentence rang through my head over and over again. You fight like one. Was I really that lethal? Was I really like them in a way that could never go back? But this was all a part of the games. I was just a pawn in the Games, just like Kai and the others were.

I growled out a small agreement and was met with a smirk as I unwedged the axe from the trunk of the tree. My dagger was still strapped to my belt and the bag was over my shoulder as I gracefully landed on the ground in a crouch.

I followed Kai to where the Careers were originally camped out at the Cornucopia. It was like a tradition for them athat the Careers always had control over this area in almost every year of the Games. Night was coming and we had just came out of the woods to their camp. There was a fire going with Minwoo and Vera sitting around the flames with another kid from District 3. When we came out of the woods, they all looked up and it seemed like both Vera and Minwoo had been treated from the Tracker Jacker stings since there were only red spots where they had been stung.

"Hey Kai, who's that?" Asked Vera, her eyes looking over me. We were about the same height, being only 5 feet 4 inches.

"This is Maya, the one with the axe."

"Oh!" Sain Minwoo quickly, looking interested in me as his eyes wandered my body hungrily. I scrunched my nose and made sure that he saw that axe that I had in hand, he seemed like a creeper.

The boy from 3 looked down, adding to the fear of being with the Career group. He was from the Technology District and Kai had told me that he was gurading their pile of food, weapons, and anyting else that hadn't been taken by other tributes. He was supposed to be figuring out something to protect their pile from anybody.

"Welcome to the Career group," said Minwoo with a smile. That was when I noticed that his district partner was missing. She must have been the one killed by the Tracker Jackers a few days ago.

I sat down next to Kai by the fire and was passed and apple and a bread roll, the Career's eyes were on me as I quickly ate and drank the rest of my purified water. My axe was beside me just in case one of them decided to attack me but nothing happened as we ate in silence.

So here you are, two steps ahead. Every lesson forms a new scar, they never thought you'd make it this far. But turn around, they've surrounded you. It's a showdown and nobody comes to save you now.

The anthem and the Capitol's seal shown in the sky but no faces of fallen tributes followed. Vera growled, as there were none that had died. I was thinking the same thing, if we were going to get any closer to winning people needed to go.

That night I slept cuddled into Kai, his big body keeping my smaller one warm as the night was chilly. I felt like I belonged here among the Careers, like this was my family. For the first time in the Games I actually felt safe, even though I was with brutal killing machines. But what could I say? I had killed two people, who's to say I'm not just like them? I snuggled more into Kai and his arm tightened around me.

Everybody's waiting for you to breakdown. Everybody's watching to see the fallout. Even when you're sleeping, keep your eyes open. Keep your eyes open.