I stand on my metal plate in the clearing, watching the timer above the Cornucopia.
20. 19. 18. 17.
I look over at the other tributes. Ginger, the female tribute from my district, catches my eye and shakes her head at me. I know what she means. It would be suicide to try to grab something near the center. I will surely be killed.
I spot a backpack near me that is closer to the forest. I keep my eye on that and wait for the buzzer.
12. 11. 10. 9. 8.
I see a boy with glasses eyeing the backpack as well. I watch him, wanting to send a threatening glance at him to tell him to stay away, because he looks about fourteen and is thin, small. I don't think I can kill him, but I can make myself look like I will. He doesn't look at me.
3. 2. 1.
There is a loud ring in my ears and I leap onto the grass and nearly trip, but keep going, my legs moving so quickly that the rest of me can barely keep up. I glance around, and all I see is death.
Twelve deaths, right in front of my eyes. I see everything.
1: I see a girl get her throat slit.
2: I watch as a boy's head is bashed in.
3: A twelve-year-old boy is thrown against the Cornucopia and I see his head collide with it, hard. He falls to the ground and doesn't get up.
4: A girl is grabbed by her long hair and decapitated.
5: A boy is throttled by a Career.
6: A girl has broken another's neck.
7: A boy is taken by the hair and has a hand clamping shut his nose and mouth.
8: A boy is shot down by an arrow as he tries to make an escape to the woods.
9: A Career crushes a girl with a heavy box inside the Cornucopia.
10: A boy has a sword sticking through the other side of his stomach.
11: A boy has a dagger sticking out of his skull.
12: I grab the backpack, only for an eighteen-year-old girl take it at the same time. I tug it away from her, but she holds fast. Suddenly she screams and slumps over. There is an arrow in her back.
I take no time in finding out who killed her. I sling the backpack on and run into the woods, away from the murders.