CHAPTER ONE

10,
Brace yourself.
9,
Feet ready.
8,
Keep calm.
7,
Focus.
6,
Breathe.
5, 4, 3, 2,
Ready.
1.
Go.
I pounce off the pedestal and dart forwards for the closest thing to me: a small red backpack. There are tributes all around me, screaming, running. One if the careers has already reached the cornucopia and she's found a trident. That's Aquette, from four. I have to get out.
But something, possibly greed, drives me forwards and I snatch up another, larger, green backpack. And now I have to run.
I sprint for the trees to my left. Trees. Trees will give me shelter. I'm from seven. I'm used to trees. But I can't stop to admire the scenery now. I have to run. I have to put as much distance between myself and the careers as possible. I leap over a fallen log and almost trip as I land. No matter. As long as I keep going. Sprinting through the forest is a lot harder than it looks. Half the time I'm ducking, whilst trying to cover my face from the scratchy low branches above, and the rest of the time I'm jumping over various plants and weeds. There's already a rip in my T-shirt. That might be a problem later, but I can't think about that right now. The green backpack is heavy, which I try to take as a good sign. There might be something if worth in it. Or rocks. That happened last year. All the backpacks were just full of rocks. They had to stone each other to death. But the gamemakers are not known for being repetitive. They like surprises. All the worse for me.
I hear movement behind me and I run faster, heading further into the dense forest. I'm terrified. Not as terrified as I should be, but terrified nonetheless. The adrenaline is coursing through my body and I know if I stop it will take a long time for me to stop shaking. But I'm not stopping yet.
I'm sprinting flat out, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. I can do this. I can do it. Just a little further. Just a little further.
I arrive in a patch of weeping willows. And really, it's the best shelter I'll get. So I quickly scale the thick trunk and find a branch high enough to be virtually concealed, and hard enough to climb up so that the careers won't be able to reach me.
Once I've settled down into a fork high in the tree I find the red backpack and unzip it.
Well it's not rocks.
Actually, I've struck the jackpot.
In the pack there are a pair of night glasses, rope and three small, sharp knives. This is better than I hoped for.
But it isn't food of water. And without them, I won't last long enough to use my precious few items.
But I still have the large green pack. I sling the red pack over my shoulder and tighten it, so it doesn't fall from the tree. I open the green pack and grin.
Water. Two bottles. This is fantastic. There's also an extra jacket, matches, and crackers, and I can't believe my luck when I see a small axe at the bottom. It has a hood on it that doesn't take long to unstrap. I sigh. The blade is completely blunt. But at least I know how to sharpen them. Otherwise I'd be in trouble.
BOOM.
It's over. The cornucopia bloodbath I was lucky to get away from. It's finally ended.
Fourteen canons. That's... A lot. And it was probably the careers. The deadly, brutish careers.
I'm going to need that axe.

Reviews and follows are appreciated :) A lot :) The chapters here will be pretty short for the most part, but still :)

Lucy xx