We're still walking. We've come across several possible stopping places but Dayn has dismissed them all. I know she didn't say or do much, but the Career pack seems empty without Daisy. For once they're all on edge as well, glancing around nervously every time something moves. Even Dayn seems jumpy. Any second I expect Garth to do something stupid and jump out of his hiding place, just to startle everyone.
It's not just the atmosphere that's dangerous. The slopes and paths aren't steep this high up, but they're all coated in a thin layer of ice. The cloud is closer and occasionally drifts in front of view, and every so often a fierce blast of wind threatens to throw us over the edge. For the first time Alice seems uncertain, clinging to the rock faces just like me, her pretty face contorted. The arena sprawls nauseatingly in front of us. If I thought it was cold before, it's a thousand times worse now.
Garth can't possibly be following in this.
I look backwards, peering down the path for the umpteenth time.
"Something bothering you, Faraday?" asks a smooth voice casually. Startled, I whirl around; Dayn is leant on the rock face, his face impassive. The other Careers watch curiously, while Alice looks at the floor. Emerald keeps her face very sternly forwards, white as the snow.
"We've come very far," I snivel pathetically. It really is a good job there's no sponsors this time, or I'd have none. At least the snivelling covers up my lying. Well, it's not really lying. We have come a long way. I'd say it's about midday now, not that you can see the sun through the persistant cloud.
"He's still bothered about Ford," Alice chirps suddenly. I almost gawp at her and she smirks ever so slightly at me. Now I'm completely confused. Dayn is suspicious already, and now is Alice too? Or does she geniunely think that's what's wrong with me? She has a point, though. Ford's dying face floats through my mind every so often, no matter how hard I try and force it away. Cinder chuckles and even Chuck smiles.
"Come on, Faraday," Cinder urges, "You want to get back to your girl, don't you?"
Callie, he means Callie. But I think Tara too; she's my girl, my little sister.
"Of course," I whisper, as wind searches for a way through my clothes.
"Well then, you did the right thing. Now come on," he insists. I'm not comforted by this, but then again it would take a lot to comfort me right now. The Careers must have families too. Friends, certainly. Well, maybe not Chuck, but I can imagine Emerald and Cinder and Dayn being popular. What about boyfriends, girlfriends? Alice has a boyfriend, though I can't remember his name and she doesn't mention him much. Only when Cinder starts up one of his stupid question games.
Home. I never thought I'd miss the drab, dark wooden house, falling apart at the seams, with damp corners. My room, all the old school papers on the floor. I never was much good at maths.
Where are they living now?
"Come on, Faraday," Alice calls, tugging hard on my arm. I hadn't even realized that I'd phased out and snap back into the real world, the cold and the height and the desolation coming back. Alice is looking apologetically at me; the rest of the Careers are forging on ahead, Emerald keeping close to the walls and very purposfully not looking down. Cinder and Chuck, perhaps teasing her, are trying to guess how far down it is. They still look jumpy and keep glancing behind.
"Careful, it's slippery," Alice advises, as my concentration wanders. It is. There's a patch of thick ice, and I have to grip the rock wall just to get across it, my feet flying all over the place.
"I really don't like it here," I mutter, as if that'll solve anything. She smiles kindly at me, though I notice that she looks unsettled.
"Are there many hills in Twelve?" I ask, trying to make her feel better. It's weird, that Alice with the infallible composure is starting to lose it. It doesn't bode well for the rest of us. She laughs quietly to herself. "Nothing like this. What about in Five?"
I shake my head, regretting it when my hood falls down and cold wind brushes over my hair. I should have had it all cut off; it's sticky and lanky with sweat. Mind you, none of us are fresh as roses.
"It's very flat," I tell her, "You can see all the way to the horizon."
"But you seem okay with heights?" she probes.
"I work on pylons."
"Dangerous?" I shrug. If I didn't need all these layers of clothes I'd show her the scar on my arm, where I caught myself on metal. I was lucky; if it had got infected it could have caused some serious issues. "Probably," I answer, "But I've never known anyone fall."
"I suppose you're all just used to it," she says.
We're silent as we navigate another patch of ice, my heart in my throat. Alice slips a few times, so I reach out an arm and pull her across.
"Keep up, you two!" Dayn shouts backwards. The implication is clear; keep up or we leave you behind and come back for you later, with weapons. We pick up the pace uncertainly, watching out for more ice. The path is getting perilously thin now, too thin to risk walking side-by-side. She slides in front of me. I glance behind for any sign of Garth. Maybe he's given up, in which case, what am I going to do tonight?
"What about you?" I ask, to break the silence, "What do you do?"
She just about manages to grab onto the wall before tumbling onto her backside. When she scrambles properly upright, her face is as calm as ever, though I'm sure she panicked, just for a moment.
"I work in the Hob," she answers, as if nothing happened, "It's like a trading place." I don't know what to say to that. At least Twelve will have something else, when all the coal runs out.
Or maybe they'll just get fire-bombed once they're not useful anymore.
At least District Five will always be producing.
I wonder what's happening in Eight.
"What about here?" asks Emerald. It seems like she's found some sort of cave or shelter. Not expecting much, I see that it's actually not that bad. Bigger than the earlier cave, even. It's hard to tell because the light doesn't stretch far enough inside, but it's definitely big enough to fit us all in comfortably. And inside are a bag and a pile of what look like shoes with spikes on the end, perfect for trying to walk across ice.
I guess you can find items all over the arena. Maybe this is the Capitol's way of getting around the lack of sponsors. Garth will be interested to know this.
Cinder breaks into a wide grin and heads straight into the cave, as Alice shuffles along the ledge. Chuck absently kicks a small rock over the side; we don't even hear it clatter on the ground. Emerald shoots Dayn a pleading look. He ignores her, reaching out an arm and catching Cinder.
"I don't like this," he mutters, "It could be a trap."
"Come on," Cinder laughs, throwing Dayn's arm off him, "Why would the Capitol want to trap us? We'll not find anywhere this good. You're so uptight, Dayn!"
Blur of movement; Emerald gasps.
Dayn is holding Cinder by the collar, dangling him over the edge of the path so that his toes are only just in contact with the solid rock. He must be much stronger than he looks.
Cinder looks petrified, his mouth gaping but no words coming out. Everything happened so quickly. Chuck is frozen, startled. I can't move, and I wouldn't want to anyway. Dayn's face is contorted in anger.
"You're overreacting, Dayn," Alice says calmly into the tense silence.
Pause.
Dayn allows Cinder back onto the ledge. The boy from District Two gasps and stumbles to the wall, visibly shaking.
"You nearly had me there..." he stutters. Dayn wipes his hands pointedly on his jacket.
"So, does this mean we're going in the cave or not?" Chuck asks, frowning at Dayn. It's more a confused frown than an angry frown. Dayn looks around, obviously weighing up the advantages of the items against the probability of it being a trap. Personally, I don't think it is. Definitely not by the Capitol, and I doubt any of the other tributes would have got up here already.
Then again, it could be. Maybe that pair from Three.
"We are not going into the cave yet," Dayn says eventually, having to shout over a gust of wind. Emerald grips the rocks tightly, paler than ever. Cloud is starting to descend too, bringing back that fog. Once we go in the cave, we're stuck there. And it's awfully dark at the back.
"Yet?" asks Cinder, just about recovered from being dangled over the side of a mountain.
I have a really bad feeling about this.
"Yet," Dayn repeats, "We're not going into the cave yet. Faraday is."
Brilliant.
Trinity isn't going to be able to keep this pace up until nightfall. She's never been especially fit anyway and now she's exhausted. Luckily the Careers are easy to trace without actually getting within sight of them; they'll follow the path up the side. Not that there's much of an option. The rock faces here are too tall and steep to climb up, and more slippery too.
She thinks she sees a shadow glide across the face in front of her, but she can't be sure it's not a flicker at the corner of her eyes. Besides, it's almost unclimbable. She doesn't want to look up and see how much rock and snow there is above her; it's childish and silly but she can't stand the idea of being buried alive. And it would be so simple for the Gamemakers to start an avalanche...
There it is again, just ahead of her. A person shuffling along the rock face. It vanishes around a crag before she can get a proper look at it, but it's a tribute alright.
It must be someone else trailing the Careers.
Is this a good thing? It means her load is easier, since someone else is taking it as well. However, it also means she's got someone else to watch out for, someone presumably more vigilant who won't fall asleep with the other Careers.
She's always found it odd how the evil, scheming Careers trust each other enough to all fall asleep and presume they won't take advantage and kill each other. Then again, most of them are probably too stupid to think of that.
There's a small thunking noise and a cry that sounds like it comes through gritted teeth.
Without thinking properly about it, she scuttles forwards enough to see if the person is armed before she goes to help them. She has to stop and catch her breath, but now at least she sees who it is. He sees her too.
From the floor, he sticks a hand out, then when she just narrows her eyes at him hauls himself to his feet. "That's the fifth time that's happened today," he grins, "Garth Seame, pleased to make your aquaintance."
"You're the crazy one," she snaps, folding her arms. He doesn't look armed, but there's plenty of rocks and that drop may as well count as a weapon for both of them. He actually laughs.
"Crazy, determined, same thing! Trinity, right?"
She doesn't even nod, wondering if he'll carry on without her. Hasn't he understood that the Capitol will make him pay with more than a training score? His eyes - deep blue - glint brightly. Disturbingly.
Garth decides to take that as a yes; in her position he'd probably be silent too. But he has an idea. "After the Careers, are you?" he asks. Her frown relaxes a little. His knee hurts from that fall but it wasn't that bad.
"Yes."
"So am I."
"I gathered," she retorts, in a tone that says that she's also talking about in training and wasn't very happy about that, thank you very much. So she's not a rebel. She's not a suck-up either. She may as well be used to help the rebel cause, whether she means to or not. He knows she's intelligent; he could do with some brains. Or at least, some correctly wired ones.
Into the pause, she snaps, "I work alone."
"So do I," he replies with a smile, "We'd make a great team."
Her mouth almost drops open at this strange logic. It makes sense, in a warped way. Everything about Garth seems slightly twisted.
"I've got an inside man," he explains proudly, "I can get weapons, food. Neither of which you have."
He can see that he's nearly got her, now he's appealed to the survival instinct. Even if he fails to take out the Careers, she'll finish the job. He's sure of that. And if she says no?
She won't attack him. If she says no, he'll leave her to it.
"I've got some food," she says, but she has to admit that she's convinced. He actually seems like the sort of person you could trust with your life; it's just his own that he doesn't seem to care about. He's watching her, or more presicely gazing absently into the sky, waiting for an answer. A bird flaps not far away. What's that saying? That one the rebels made up?
A mockingjay flapping its wings in District Twelve can cause a tornado in the Capitol.
Garth isn't the mockingjay. He's got no gimmicks, no special talents. He's got the looks, but the wrong sort. But the principle is the same.
She's going to win. She has to win. So where's the problem taking a chance like this when you're offered it?
"Okay," she says, sticking out her hand and hoping the Capitol don't hate her too much for this, "I'm in."
She has to wonder who the inside man is.
"Nothing!" I shout. The cave is bigger than I thought, and I can only just see the point of light indicating the entrance. It's not a trap. I breathe a sigh of relief even though I didn't really think it was anyway.
"Sure?" Dayn calls after me.
"Certain!"
It seems like I'm now also a test dummy.
Perhaps I should make it one night before I break for it.