The Fourth Quarter Quell

Hunger Games Day Four

Jo Stevens' Perspective

After Colton's death, Penny kept to herself. When we stopped walking for whatever reason, she sat at the base of a tree and gazed off into the distance. Anything could've been stirring in that head of hers; sorrow, anger, plotting my death.

Colton's death at the waterfall really made Ryan and I think. We hadn't been perceptive of the weapons of the weapons our opponents had bore, so Colton paid for our ignorance with his life. We could have saved him.

As heartless as it may have seemed, we had more important things to dwell on. Things like the sudden shift in climate. The three of us had been walking aimlessly when the entire setting of the arena changed from lush forests to a barren tundra. Thankfully, what with our unusual supplies, we were able to fend off frostbite through the remainder of the night.

But it was morning and the blazing sun gave off no warmth whatsoever.

"Reminds we we're heading towards the Cornucopia?" Penny spoke through chattering teeth. Her dark brown hair was dotted with snowflakes and her grey eyes reflected the pearly shade of the clouds above.

"There's some sort of feast with winter supplies, remember?" Ryan ducked under a low-hanging barren branch as he spoke. "And judging by Jo's condition, we need the supplies."

Right. I failed to mention that I suffered from hypothermia as a child and I guess I hadn't grown immune to it. The only winter fear we had was a pair of socks on Ryan's feet, a sweater on Penny, some blankets we used for sleeping, and one not-so-thermal blanket I wore over my shoulders.

"I'll b-be f-fine." I stuttered through the cold. By speaking, the cold air got into my lungs, making me cough wildly. My knees buckled and I fell to the snow.

"Jo!" Penny and Ryan exclaimed in unison. They crouched around me.

I winced and looked at them. "You guys go."

"Don't be stupid. We aren't gonna leave you. You aren't in any shape to fight a tribute if you were alone." Penny said to me.

"But we need supplies." I said shakily.

"What're we gonna do?" Penny turned to Ryan.

There was silence for a while until we heard footsteps approach. It seemed like they were running away from something. Then I went rolling down the small hill we had climbed up. Someone had accidentally tackled me and they were rolling down as well.

"Jo!" Ryan yelled and wielded his sword but the tribute next to me held their hands up in surrender.

They were engulfed in snow and stood. They dusted themselves off and I got a better look. The girl was short with brown hair tied into a ponytail. She seemed to have some supplies from the Cornucopia.

"Please. Don't hurt me. I'm not looking for a fight." The girl said shakily. I finally put a name to her face. Paisley. The Career from One.

"You're a Career." Penny spat. "Why should we trust you?" She hefted her spear.

Paisley, eye on the spear, knelt to the ground. She opened her backpack, pulled out an axe and tossed it behind her. She unzipped her jacket and removed all of her knives from her vest. She even placed her backpack behind her in a pit of snow. Finally, she stood and showed her hands to prove he surrender.

"I'm not a Career anymore. I killed a member of my alliance, another probably is dead and the other is wandering around trying to kill me. I need help." Paisley sobbed.

I looked to my alliance, and their emotions were unreadable. I knew what they were thinking though; if we accepted her into our alliance, she might turn on us.

"She has hypothermia, doesn't she?" Paisley spoke through sniffles.

My eyebrows furrowed. How'd she know?

"I was able to gather some equipment from the Cornucopia. If you let me in, you can have it all. We'd be a team. The four of us could win." She explained.

I wanted the equipment so badly, I just couldn't tell if Paisley's intentions were true.

"You're in. Ration out what you've gathered and you're hired." Penny said.

Paisley sighed with relief. "Thank you so much."

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's get to the equipment." Ryan waved his hand in dismissal.

I'd seen Paisley many times before the Games. Before the Tribute Parade, during training, I had watched her interview and been waiting outside the center as she was evaluated. All of those times she wore an intimidating smirk that proved her position as a Career. Now, as the four of us sat rationing out our supplies, she wore a genuine and warm smile.

•

Mike Samuel's Perspective

We ran from the Cornucopia, supplies swinging wildly from my hands. DJ and I had gotten a good amount of things for the remaining four of us. Logan's supplies were probably blood splattered.

We slowed to a stop in a tundra-like field. The once peacefully-flowing river was here. Now it was frozen over with snow covered rocks dotting it.

"Everyone alright?" DJ panted, setting down his stuff.

Sophie and I nodded but Isabella went silent. She must've been attached to Logan in some way, and his death probably sent her into depression.

"I'm fine." She spoke softly.

Sophie, DJ, and I shared a look. We had to get her spirits up but it's hard to do so in an arena build for your death.

"Um, let's ration out our supplies, okay?" I said. We sat and began going through our stuff.

I handed a sweater and some gloves to Isabella, a hat and a jacket to Sophie, and I poured us all some soup. DJ, donning a hat, scarf, and sweater, sliced some bread which he passed out. I slipped on a hooded sweatshirt and some durable gloves.

"We've done good so far." Sophie said before she began to eat.

"We've made it to the fourth day. That's pretty good." DJ shrugged.

We are in silence, Sophie coaxing food into Isabella who sat with an emotionless demeanor. When we finished, we stood.

"What now?" Sophie asked.

"We should set up camp." I said. "We can use the river for water."

DJ and Sophie began to get to work on the tent set we had acquired. When they finished and the sun was going down, I noticed my spear.

"Mike, did you figure out the problem with your spear?" DJ asked.

"Nah. Maybe it's just defected." I shrugged.

"Why would they put a defected weapon in the Games?" Sophie arched a brow.

"To get a rise out of us." I muttered.

We got to work on making the tent bigger when I noticed Isabella sitting cross legged by the banks of the river. I thought she was just trying to calm herself down when I saw her eyes squinted at something. The only thing of any notice across the river was a set of bright yellow flower bulbs swaying in the arctic air.