Five, Four, Three, Two, One…
"Bloody hell" Ron murmured to himself as he took in his surroundings. Twenty-three young men and women had already jumped from their places and started running away, either towards the cornucopia or into the vast jungle that seemed to be in the distance. Ron stumbled from his metal circle as he remembered he could only remain there for 45 more seconds before it, and he would implode. The red haired 18 year-old from District 4 was scared to death. Scared enough that he considered for more than 10 seconds staying on his stand and letting that be his fate. It was only imagining the faces of his family that motivated him to go on, he pictured his little sister Ginny, his father, his mother and all of his older brothers at home, starving. Ever since the Ministry of Magic had banished the Weasley's from the Borrow to this far away land of Districts and the Capitol, the family had been in a depressed rut. Ron took a second to think of his deceased brother Fred and how Molly could not bear the loss of another son before he moved on. Tuning back into the blood bath that surrounded him, he jumped out of the way of two wrestling girls who were both covered in blood, and in instinct reached for his waistband where he once kept his wand, finding it empty, he ran for his life.
Ron recalled many scary moments in his life. He remembered being led into the forbidden forest and being faced with monster spiders. He recalled being dragged to the depths of the whomping willow where he was sure he had come face to face with the grim reaper. He recollected upon an all out war against Voldermort and the death eaters, but nothing could have prepared him for witnessing the scene unfolding in front of him. He watched two children, no older than 12 stabbing each other with hand spears. The girl was biting the boys shoulder and actually taking chunks out like an animal, the boy responded by stabbing her straight in the heart, stealing her weapons and running towards the jungle. "Bloody Hell" he said again, he had a feeling he would be saying these words a lot in the arena. Despite his bright red hair, and obviously terrified appearance, nobody had taken any notice to the male tribute of district four. He walked with what seemed to be ease into the closest patch of the jungle, he had enough smarts to assume he would need to find water if he had any hope at all of surviving. "What I would give to apparate to Hogwarts right now, I could go for some pumpkin juice and a chocolate frog—bullocks!" Ron slipped on a pile of mud and started to tumble down a steep hill, rolling and flipping until he landed with a hard thud on a rock beside a little river.
"Would you watch yourself?" Ron jumped with a start at the voice, having no idea from where it came and instantly hid behind a rock. The mysterious voice let out a choked laugh, "Don't worry, I'm in no shape to harm you, but if you want, maybe we could become ally's?" Ron was stark still as he found the source of the voice, there seemed to be a boy camouflaged into the foliage beside the river, as he spoke, Ron could see the mouth moving and the white teeth mixed in with the dirt and plants. "Uhh, 'ello, names Ron" he said nervously as he moved closer and closer to the body, "How'd you do this?" The nameless, faceless boy started to lift himself from the muck, he reached out to help him and began to recognize the tribute from District 12, the one who admitted his love for his fellow tribute. "Names Peeta".
As the two started to talk, Ron couldn't help but notice a resemblance between Peeta and his own best friend, Harry. They both were quiet and soft-spoken at times, but also had the ability to be incredibly strong and brave. "So what do you think we should do, now that we're ally's and all…" Peeta asked as he scavenged through the brush for some edible plants. Both of the boys had begun to get hungry and neither could imagine they would be too good at the whole hunting thing. "Well, I gather people will be along to kill us shortly. So…hide?" Ron shrugged in good humour, but was ridiculously more scared than he was letting on. The only way he could ever imagine defending himself was through magic of sorts, behind the power of his wand. Just as he said this they heard fast movement through the bush, it sounded like two people were coming towards them quickly. Peeta and Ron jumped for some kind of cover but found themselves in a clearing with little to no place to hide. They stood tall and waited for what was to come.
A boy of about 15 and a girl of around the same age came face to face with the boys. The new boy was scowling and had a slice across his cheek, still bleeding and obviously rather fresh. The girl had a face that reminded Ron of an animal of sorts, she looked kind of like a fox, and not a pretty one. After a couple of seconds of a silent stand off, the boy pulled a knife from his back pocket and ran at Ron, at the same time Peeta pulled a large rock from the ground and smashed the boys head. The boy changed his target and Peeta and the boy fought hand to hand while Ron and fox face stood shell-shocked. In utter fear, fox face took off. Just as he realized he should do something, the cannon went off which represented a death. He ran towards the feuding boys in fear, praying it wasn't Peeta. Ron fell to the ground beside them and saw the mysterious boy, with a wound so deep he could see his skull. Peeta stood up confidently, "We should probably get going" Ron was at a loss for words. Just as he started to stumble forward following Peeta, he saw a silver box falling from the sky attached to a small parachute. He was warned that there was a chance a sponsor would send a tribute a gift in the arena and he rushed towards the box out of pure joy. He had no idea who would help him, or what could be in the box. Ron could not have been more surprised to lift the lid and see Harry's treasured invisibility cloak. "Well Peeta, things are about to get interesting" Ron said smiling for the first time since he had been chosen as a tribute.
