What now?

[Alistair Kingsley]

Al slowly made his way towards the other two tributes. The lizard attack had not been kind to him and he was trying to close up the wound with pressure. "See what I mean when you let little nerdy computer geeks by large scaly creatures? Doesn't work too well." He slowly slid to the ground and looked at the other two, shrugging. "What now? Only two can go to each hovercraft, what's gonna happen to us now?"

[Jaffe Maddox]

"Everything was going great," said Jaffe, "I guess too great." She stared at the hovercrafts beaming the different tower locations. "The game maker must be punishing us." She sat down and put her head in her arms. "I don't want to leave either of you, we're all dead meat if we separate," she sobbed.

"Tristan, you seem to have the best memory of the cornucopia. Do you remember which way everyone went?" she looked up tears streaming down her face.

[Alistair Kingsley]

Al released a big long heavy sigh and placed his head in his hands, contemplating his next words for a moment before lifting his head up to make eye contact with both of them. "Look. I understand we have something here. I don't want to leave you guys either. In a perfect world we would skip off happily in friendship back to our families and forget that this ever happened. However. That is not realistic." Al gestured to the exit with his arm. "The reality is that tonight, those hovercrafts are going to leave and if we are not on one when that happens, we will die. Simple as that. And we can't all three fit on one. It's just not possible. We need to sort out who is going where and possibly acknowledge that it will be the last time we see each other."

[Tristan Danio]

"The warm-ups are over, guys. Surest way to get us fighting again is to break our crews."

Tristan sighed and absentmindedly rubbed his arm where a tattooed series of interlocking rings formed a circular chain.

"The only two cannons after this gale started were for Talley and that little kid, umm...Sinkler?" Giving a grunt, Tristan pounded his fist against his open palm. "Should have at least learned everybody's name better!"

The young man paused a moment, lost in thought.

"Those two had gone North with Wikus and the Schuhmacher kids. It's safe to say those two are not holding back; makes me glad the three of us got this far together.

The big group, with Judkins, Voss, that huge lug Ox, Swather, Farrow and Rosa all made headway to the west. Game makers will be as happy to split them up, since they apparently haven't killed each other yet. But the question is..."

Tristan looked at the set of six hovercrafts waiting to split their group up.

"If you two stay on this tower; will you be joined by friendly people from the big group, unpredictable people who went south, or dangerous people from the north?

Personally, I think those District One toughs will use any chance they get to find more victims, so I intend to be the one place they hopefully won't be tomorrow: The North Tower."

The stony expression on Tristan's face softened a moment as he took in Alistair's wounds and Jaffe's helpless expression.

"You two can do this. Keep that pistol ready, Maddox. Watch her back, Kingsley. You're both tougher than you realize!"

Tristan nodded toward the Hovercraft facing the north side of the tower; then turned back with a smile.

"When you win this; buy a round of Bowline cider for Boat 24 during your victory tour."

[Alistair Kingsley]

For the first time all Hunger Games, Alistair was rendered silent. He knew what this meant, he knew what was going to happen. He held out his hand to help Jaffie up as he nodded towards the older tribute who was already headed for the hovercraft headed north. He wasn't one to get emotional about goodbyes, but he admits this stung just a little although he didn't dare show it on his face.

"Hey. Tristian. Take care of yourself, man. Watch out for any more giant lizards."

Once the older boy was out of sight, he turned towards his District partner. "Ready for this?"

[Jaffe Maddox]

Jaffe watched in silence as Tristan boarded the hovercraft. She had not known him long, but his kindness and friendship had been a comfort to her the last few days.

She starred off into the distance lost in thought. "Could Tristan be right Alistair? Could all the towers be giving the tributes the same hovercraft dilemma? So he thinks the North is safest... and he's going to leave us here to meet god knows who, while he sits back and relaxes in the north tower!"

[Alistair Kingsley]

Al grabbed his District partner's shoulder and shook her lightly. "Hey. Don't think like that. Please do not freak yourself out, it's not worth it. He could be right, he could be wrong. Don't worry about what he said. This is between you and me now, okay? We need to make a decision on where we are going.."

[Jaffe Maddox]

Alistair's reason calmed her down. She couldn't believe just a week earlier she had been the one slapping sense into him. "Okay you're right. I don't want to stay here, but what are our options? The south seems safe to me. We also have sponsor points we could use... You can make the final decision. I trust you." She says looking into Alistair's eyes.

[Alistair Kingsley]

He worried his lip between his teeth as he weighed his options. Nothing was guaranteed and nowhere was safe. It was worth a shot. "Let's do it. South it is."

[Jaffe Maddox]

"Okay," whispered Jaffe.