Chapter 6- The Games Todays the day I'll be going into the arena. The day I'll be up against 23 other teens, waiting for the gong to sound so they can grab the supplies that will allow them to survive these Games. I rise from my bed and take a shower then head to the breakfast table and start shoving food down since it's the last meal Ill have for who knows how long. I look up and see Courtney's lip trembling and I turn to see what shes looking at and I see Effie tearing up. Who knew. Not everyone from the Capitol are the same. "I-I-I am going t-t-t-to m-miss you g-guys so m-much…" Effie says through tears and a croaky voice. Adam pats her back and look at me and I can tell he's holding back tears as well. Courtney bursts into tears and my eyes water up. I always cry when other people cry. I quickly, my hand shaking uncontrollably, stuff the rest of my orange juice and eggs down before tears slip into them. Soon a Peacekeeper enters and nods his head. Its time. My insides are about to burst. Out of nowhere Effie slams me and Courtney together and gives huge, wet, tight hug. We hug her back, Courtney crying a lot, and Effie lets go. "P-please w-win," Effie says as she tries to control herself. I nod and say, "We'll try hard." Adam hugs me and Courtney, gentler than Effie, and gives us our first piece of advice. "Look for water, trees, food, shelter, anything you can find. Got it?" We nod and he says, "One more thing. …Stay alive." We nod once more and are taken away to separate rooms that have nothing but a bench and a tube. I see a black jacket, green shirt, beige shorts, and black hunting boots all laid out on the bench. I suppose I should get dressed and I do when Flavius walks in and smiles at me. He embraces me into a hug and looks at me. "You can do it. I believe in you," he says. "You do? Really?" I ask and he nods. "Yes. Actually, if I could, I would be betting on you," he says in a pearly white smile. "Thank you…," I whisper as 2 Peacekeepers walk in and nod to the tube. It begins to open and Flavius walks me over to it. I stand on the silver plated bottom and look at him. A glass cylinder begins to drop over me and Flavius smiles once more. "Remember, I'm betting on you." Then the glass cylinder covers me and all sound is gone. Slowly, ever so slowly, the plate rises upwards and I'm concealed in all darkness. When light seeps in, I begin to see the view of the arena. A lake on my right, forest behind me, plains on the left of me, the Cornucopia in front of me, and unknown things lie behind the forest most likely. I get my first full view of all the tributes and something hits me. These people may be big, but are they fast? Guess we'll find out soon enough. I count down the remaining 10 seconds as I get ready to run. 5…, 4…., 3…, 2…, 1… The gong rings and I burst into a quick sprint. I look around and I see that I was wrong and all the tributes are all almost as fast as me. I see a teal backpack in front of me and I lunge forward and clutch the strap. I'm lucky enough that nobody else grabs the pack and I look around for a weapon. In my search attempt for a bow or ax, I watch a tribute from 1 as he slices a tributes arm off and he looks at me. We stand there, just staring at each other, when I get side tackled onto the ground. I whip my head to the side to see the boy from 9, Dayne, sitting on top of me with a knife in hand. He has an evil smirk on his face and begins to speak in a slightly squeaky, evil tone. "I got rid of your little friend Courtney," Dayne says with a grin. No. No, I refuse to believe it! He killed Courtney! I lay there with my mouth opened wide as the bloodbath continues. He begins to lower the slender knife to my throat when I punch him in the face. He slides from my body and I roll to the side and stand up, ready to kill. He stands quickly and rubs his hand at his lip and looks at it finger to see blood. He looks up and smiles and runs forward at me. He slices at me and I duck then grab his arm. I wrench the knife from his cold fingers and kick him back. I hear a crunching, splitting noise and I look up to see that I kicked Dayne onto the sword of the District 1 boy. My mouth gapes in horror as I see the sight in front of me and I begin to shake. My eyes widen as Dayne lets out a bloodcurdling scream and slides from the sword. The boy from 1 is smiling from behind his sword and I back up a little bit. I tumble and trip over some object and the boy approaches me slowly, grinning like a madman. I begin to pray in my mind that anyone, anything, will save me right now from my predicament. And soon enough, my prayers are answered. A District 10 boy tackles the boy onto the ground and they begin to quarrel. I look down to see what tripped and almost killed me and it's a small plastic square that's about a foot all around. I snatch it up and turn then run from the Cornucopia, bodies on the ground that threaten to trip me and put me onto trouble once more. I continue to run away from the death scene and into the beautiful forest. It's about 300 yards from where I am but I have to keep running no matter what. Courtney is dead and I'm the only chance for 12 to have a victor this year. Im getting about 50 yards closer when my lungs begin to hurt and burn. No, I can't stop now; I have to push through the pain and reach the forest before sun down. I'm 100 yards closer now but my heart aches in pain and agony and begs me to stop and breathe a little bit, but I can't. I'm about 100 yards to the forest when I collapse on the ground and begin retching up eggs and toast. Ugh. I look up and a light orange, not dark orange, but soft, like the sunset, begins to form in the sky. The sun is setting and I'm not in the forest yet. I stand, shaking, and go out into a fast jog, hoping that I don't bring up anymore food. After about half an hour, I reach the forest but I don't stop there. I continue to go through, jumping over logs and ducking under sagging branches, as I attempt to make it to a water source. My heart feels like it's about to burst from my chest so I stand against a tree, breathing like I'll never have air again. I gain my breath and start to run into the green forest life, but I come to a sudden stop when I see a rabbit about 10 yards from me. I decide to follow it because it may lead me to some kind of pond or running stream. As I begin to follow it, my foot crunches on a dead leaf and the rabbit bursts into a fast sprint and I follow it like a Career would a tribute. But, to my despair, the rabbit out runs me and into a maze of trees, so I give up and slump down a trunk of a tree. I close my eyes and sigh, wondering how many tributes are dying for the cannons haven't shot yet. Then, as if on cue, cannons begin to shoot off, each representing one death. 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…12. Twelve people have died at the bloodbath. I begin to stand when the crunches of leaves and yells startle me back into the trunk. I peek behind it to see a boy, I think from 3, is running from the girl from 8, Second, I believe her name was. He trips over a log and Second pounces him from behind and puts a dagger over his throat. "Say goodbye, District 3. Hahaha!" she laughs and she slits his throat. I put my head back behind the tree and hold my breath as she begins to walk in my direction. The boys cannon shoots as she stops right next to my tree and I can just feel the smile growing on her face. She pokes her head from my left and says, "Found you." I take off into a sprint as she chases me through the forest, laughing like she should be in an asylum. I run through the maze of trees as she stays right on my tail, determined to slit my throat like she did the District 3 boy's. Soon enough, I can no longer hear her footsteps behind me and I turn around find no one. I sigh and when I turn back around, Second's face is in front of me, smiling, as she says, "Boo." I gasp and begin to turn around when she tackles me to the ground. We roll around for a little bit, me pushing her off, her tackling me back down, when we roll down a steep hill. We come off each other as we bounce and fly several feet in the air before hitting the hill again. As I hit the ground with a hard thud, the air gets knocked from me and Second sits on top of me, smiling. I begin struggling to get free when she head butts me. "Uh-uh, District 12, not this time," she says as she twists her dagger. "What are you gonna do? Slit my throat like you did to 3's?" I spit at her. "Oh no! I'm going to have a little fun with you, since you wasted so much of my time," she says with a grin. "You're sick," I say with a disgusted look. She ignores me and begins to glide the blade of her dagger over my forehead, making a cut across. Blood slides down my face when Second is tackled off of me by an unknown savior. I look to the right to see the girl from 3 is on top of Second, punching her roughly. I take this chance to get up and run away, yelling a quick "Thanks," to the girl. I run from the scene and begin to climb a tree as fast as possible. After a minute, I hear a cannon and the hysterical laugh of Second. The District 3 girl has died by saving me, and I feel extremely bad. I raise the middle three fingers of my left hand, bring it to my lips, and raise it to the sky, as a sign of respect. I decide that Second has given up on our little goose chase so I take this chance to discover the contents of my pack. I unzip the teal bag and take out a small bottle of water that's missing one thing. The water. I sigh and shove it back in and search again. I find a small bottle of iodine, a dagger, a sleeping bag, some crackers, and a pack of jerky. I remove the jerk and bite into it, hoping for it to be moist, but it turns out to be dry. Dry, but good. I put it back in my bag, sticking on last piece to chew on as I walk into my mouth, and set off. I walk for hours until night falls and I climb a high tree, lay out my sleeping bag, and strap myself onto the branch using my belt. I look up as I hear the anthem and see the seal of the Capitol, and the pictures of the dead tributes faces show up. Both from 3, one from 5, both from 6, the girl from 7, Seconds District partner form 8 , both from 9 , both from 10, and Courtney my District, 12. Lay my head back and close my eyes, wondering if sleep will overcome me. Tomorrow I'll have to find water. After this quick thought, sleep overpowers me and I doze off.