Note To Reader: Please keep in mind that I am starting this story from the moment that Katniss enters the arena. I have altered all parts of the arena and the circumstances that occur in the arena to see what a different Hunger Games might look like! All of the things that have happened before Katniss enters the arena are the same. I do not own anything of Suzanne Collin's book series and all rights go to her.

THE ARENA

The sixty seconds that we are given to stand on our podiums might have been the most electric moment of my life. As soon as the glass lifted around me and I stared down at Cinna as his face was obscured by darkness, a feeling of nervous energy surged through my veins. And then I was staring out at the arena. The golden Cornucopia with its glistening horn, only about a few hundred feet away harboring the vast amount of materials inside. The air was hot, way too hot to have rained for days yet. Sweat was already beginning to slide down my face from the heat. As soon as I got a good look at my surroundings, my heart dropped. It was a desert. One of the most terrified terrains here in the arena.

A few years back there was a game where the entire arena was a desert. That year was not particularly interesting since the tributes couldn't find any fresh water. That's why sponsors played such a big role except that most died of a heat stroke before they could be delivered any gifts. And in case you didn't know, watching someone collapse out in the middle of the desert on live television certainly didn't entertain most viewers. In fact, they haven't even had anything containing heat much since that year. And because food was so scarce that was the year the unspoken rule of not eating each other came into play.

So I wasn't very clear at what they were getting at this games but if I had to guess, there was going to be fresh water somewhere. Without it the games would just be the same as that year and that actually terrified some people in the capital as well as the districts. Of course that was always the initial plan of the games. Scare the districts. But if there was freshwater somewhere, that's the one thing I could hope for. Instead now I directed my eyes to the weapons inside the Cornucopia. They were all scattered across the ground in heaps, so that you could barely tell what each pile contained. Maybe this was the gamemakers strategy, to confuse the tributes and increase the number of deaths just because people had to rummage through the supplies to get what they wanted. And I would have to guess that most of the tributes, myself included, wanted at least one of those weapons in that pile. Unless they had mentors like Haymitch, who thought it was best to flee with nothing. And I knew that they would have hidden the best weapons closer to the Cornucopia. It was a matter of speed. And I needed to get there. Haymitch might have told me to flee but he didn't know what I was capable of. I was faster than any other girl in my school back home. I could get to that Cornucopia and gather up enough weapons before any one else. But say, they were fast too and they had the same idea as me. I couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't just pick me off as soon as they got to that Cornucopia. The question was, if I could clear out fast enough.

I wanted to know how Peeta was feeling about all this and looked around the other podiums to search for him but he was no where in sight. He would probably flee. All because Haymitch told him too. Not that he couldn't branch out on his own and make his own decisions, but he was definitely going to play it safe. So I figured it would be best if I did too. I positioned my feet to flee the opposite way of the Cornucopia, but that is when I saw it. Its golden surface twinkled in the rays of sunlight and the glossy surface curved steeply inward for a hand to sit very comfortably. A longbow so perfect that I completely forgot Haymitch's warning. A quiver, filled with golden arrows laid up against it and I knew that that was mine. It was meant for me. There was no way anyone was going to get to it before I did. And as soon as the gong sounded I was sprinting down after it, forgetting about the other tributes, forgetting about looking out for Peeta. As far as I could tell I was going to be the first person to reach it. My legs acted on their own and I was closing in on the bow. Only a few more feet. Adrenaline pulsed through my body and as soon as my hand clasped around the slippery surface...

Something hard hit me squarely in the back sending me plummeting forward. Dust sprayed up all around me, blinding me from my attacker but I was already backing up on my heels, leaving the bow completely. My ears rang. For a moment I was convinced that this was Cato, prepared to end my life all because I had gotten an eleven in training and he hadn't but by the time the dust cleared I found that it wasn't Cato. It was Thresh, the boy from District 11. His strange golden brown eyes glared at me and as soon as he took another step forward I scuttled back even farther.

Battle cries and the sound of metal on metal echoed in the hot air. I caught sight of several people running around me, taking backpacks and throwing knives but I wasn't paying attention to any of it. I was focusing on Thresh, with his hands bare, prepared to strangle me, or give me some terrible end. I hope that it's fast, not just for me but for Prim and I grit my teeth as I wait for the pain I know is coming. He is leaning towards me, his hands coming closer and closer until something seems to knock into Thresh as well. I can tell from the way he stumbles towards me, but on instinct I role out of the way before he can come crashing down on me. Despite his size, he retrieves his footing fast and is no longer focused on me. He has a new victim. Ready to end the person who stopped him from landing his first kill.

I don't wait to see the fight between them, or even to see the person brave enough to stand up to someone as big as Thresh. I turn around and sprint, kicking up dust in my wake. I don't try to return for the bow, since now everyone has gotten to the Cornucopia and I've wasted my opportunity but I can't take the fact that I will be leaving the Cornucopia with virtually nothing. As soon as I have made a good distance I pick up a small purple pack almost completely obscured in dust just laying alone on the ground. It's light. Too light to carry anything heavier than a water bottle but, what other choice do I have? I fasten the loop of the pack into my belt and keep on running, thankful to get out of that bloodbath as soon as possible.

I run through the dust until the noises of death have long faded behind me. I feel so vulnerable, racing across the naked ground with no trees to protect me. The woods in District 12 have always kept me shielded but now, there are no more trees. And no more Gale. Oh Gale, I think. I miss having him standing beside me, having my back whenever I needed it. I wonder if he's been feeding Prim and my mother but I have no reason to worry. Gale and I have hunted for years together and the oath that we made to feed each other's family was sacred to both of us. Is he out in the woods now? It is a Sunday, the day off where we would go to stock up for the week. I wonder if he's gotten anything so far. Even if there is nothing romantic between us I can't help but wish he were here now. I just...miss him.

I keep on going until I eventually have to slow to a walk. Sweat pools down my forehead reminding me that I need to find water soon. With this heat I might only last a matter of hours before the dehydration starts to take me. I suddenly wish I had drank more water when I had the chance this morning.

Finally after a bit more walking the cannons finally go off. Since there is such a vast amount of deaths at the start of the games they usually wait until the battle is over until they announce the number that have fallen. I silently count the booms echoing in the sky. One...two...I count nine cannon shots altogether. I wonder if one of those booms represents Peeta and I find myself hoping that it is, so that later I won't have to do the job. No matter how truthful he sounded on the roof last night I keep having to remind myself that he is plotting to kill me in here. The sooner he is gone the better.

I decide this is my chance to check out the purple pack I managed to snag up. I take it from my belt and unzip the top hoping that if in fact there is a water bottle inside that it is full. But the game makers aren't that giving. I'll have to work to find water. Inside is a sheet of plastic, a bag of raisins and dried berries, and a small water container. As I suspected, it is empty. The berries and raisins won't last me very long so I toss a couple of the raisins in my mouth as I walk. Rationing them would just be a waste but I have to try to hang onto them for awhile. Until I can find food.

That itself presents another problem. With the heat and little rainfall there is bound to be no animals around here. So, how do the gamemakers expect any of us to get food? They can't just let us sit here and starve for the games. No, of course they won't. The games are supposed to be entertainment. It wouldn't be fun for the capital to watch us just sit here and starve.

Although the games have only just started the sun is already starting to sink lower and lower into the sky. At least in the desert when the suns down the temperature starts to drop. I'll need to find a place to settle for the night soon but I could never risk sleeping out here in the open with nothing to defend myself. I'm forced to just keep on going, walking until the sun has finally dipped down below the horizon.

By the time the anthem plays I have found nothing but the same dusty ground in front of me. The projection up in the sky allows the tributes to see the others who have died. I see the boy from District 1 first. His blurry figure with the label District 1 underneath. That takes me by surprise because usually the Careers hang on for awhile before they start to get picked off. That or they turn against each other. The girl from District 3 appears next followed by both the boy and girl from District 4. Both from District 6 and the girl from 7. The girl from District 8 and the boy from 9. I wait impatiently for another face to appear but there is only a small burst of light before the sky turns back to normal.

Huh. So that would leave the girl from District 1, the boy from 3, boy from District 7, the boy from 8, the girl from 9, Thresh and the girl named Rue and Peeta and Me. So Peeta hasn't died yet. The dehydration and heat might take him before I get my hands on him still, even if he wasn't killed today. There are so many others left in this arena that I will most likely not be given the most unpleasant task of killing him. But even so, if it comes to it I will kill him. I will. Because I have not forgotten the promise I made to Prim. And I'm not ready to fail her...

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