Brutal

-Savagely violent

I move off of the plate with super-human speed and race towards the Cornucopia. Everyone around me mirrors my actions. I get there first, taking the machete into my hands of spinning to face my competitors.

The District 6 boy is pelting towards me, defended only by a knife. With a quick motion, I pull the machete across his chest, digging deep into his heart. His lifeblood is drained almost instantly and he crumples to the ground, twitching and then still.

I spot Clove throwing a knife into the District 9 boy's back, which makes me grin sadistically. Marvel is battling with the girl from District 7 and all he has to arm him is a spearhead. I pluck a spear up off of the ground and throw it towards him. He catches it neatly and finishes the girl.

I take a split second to survey what is in the Cornucopia, which would undoubtedly be ours. I see movement in amongst the crates and send a knife flying into the side of the little boy from District 4. He holds a trident in his hand, which I snatch away as he bleeds to death.

Then I'm out in the open again, where only 9 tributes other than me remain, four of them being careers. Glimmer swiftly stabs the girl from 3 as the boy from 5 comes whirling at me, preparing to throw a knife. I dodge it easily and grab him by the shoulder, plunging the trident deep into his stomach. Then I shake his lifeless body off of it and tear off down the plane.

With a quick punch, I knock the District 6 girl out of my way. She goes flying into the girl from 4 who I think embraces her. Well, I think that until she drops District 6's body, a bloody sword in hand.

Clove has a bow and quiver in hand and sends a deadly silver arrow into the back of the girl from District 10. The shot is rather clumsy, probably not her best weapon and it only takes the girl to the ground, but Marvel is there in a split second, slicing the girl's throat.

As the final kill of the battle, I send my trident in to the head of the girl from District 9, who lies on the ground, mortally wounded. She stops flailing and goes quiet as soon as the weapon makes contact.

We are quiet for a minute, in which I take the time to arm myself with a spear, but then we descend into hysterical laughter. My first kill is done. There's no going back. I think everyone around me is feeling the same way.

"Welcome to the Careers." Glimmer says to the girl from District 4. The kids from 4 tended to be careers too, so I felt bad for killing the little boy, but he was making no attempt to join in with the Bloodbath, so he couldn't have intended to be a career. Now we have one less competitor to worry about.

"Thanks." The girl said, wiping the blade of her sword on her sea green t-shirt.

"What's your name?" Marvel asks.

"Jerrica." she says simply.

I nod and take a quick look around. About two thirds of the initial Cornucopia spoils are now ours by default.

"How many kills?" I ask them.

"Two." Glimmer says quickly.

"Two." Marvel nods.

"One." Clove says, almost embarrassed.

"One." Jerrica says.

"Four." I say triumphantly.

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" Marvel says with a laugh.

Then the cannons start. I count aloud, all the way to eleven. My brow furrows in confusion. "We're one kill short." I say.

"Whilst you were in the Cornucopia, Thresh stabbed a kid who was fighting with him over a backpack." Clove explains.

"Huh, so he isn't a friendly giant." Jerrica says, a little worried.

"Don't worry, it's five on one, even if that one is Thresh. I reckon Cato could handle him on his own." Glimmer says silkily and I feel my insides squirm. Was she just flirting with me? But I don't show any signs of being uncomfortable.

I see a little movement in the corner of my eye and whip around, spear raised and poised to throw.

There are two of them, the boys from Three and Twelve. I'm about to throw when they raise their hands in surrender.

"Wait!" Peeta cries. "We're here to talk. We crashed in to each other in the woods and decided we could both be of use to you."

My brow furrows in confusion. "How can you help us, Twelve?" I snarl.

"I can find you Katniss Everdeen." he reasons.

I cock my head to the side, ridiculing him with a menacing glare. "How you gonna do that?" I snap.

"She trusts me. I'll find her, lure her in to a trap and you can finish her off." he says.

We consider this for a second. Maybe it would be worth it. Katniss Everdeen is a strong competitor, but the one weak spot I know she has is the boy before me, who will readily betray her if it means a better chance of survival.

"Deal." Marvel says and steps forward to shake his hand. He tightens his grip until you can almost hear the bones in Peeta's hand cracking under the pressure, but, to my amazement, Peeta doesn't even flinch. "You find her for us within five days, Lover Boy, and we won't lay a finger on you until the final eight. But if you dare betray us, we kill you on sight."

"Deal." Peeta says, his expression strong and composed. Marvel finally releases his hand, which is paper white, and I catch Peeta flexing it, checking for breaks. But Marvel didn't squeeze hard enough, because Peeta is relatively unharmed.

"What do you want?" Clove asks the boy from Three.

He steps forward and speaks nervously. "I can dig up the land mines under the starting podiums, reset them and put them around your supplies, so no one can steal from them." he tells us. "But I want the same guarantee, I want you to let me live until the final eight, then I'll jump ship."

Marvel grins wickedly at the boy. "What do we think?" he asks us.

I wrinkle my nose slightly. "I'm not sure, he looks slippery." I admit. There was something about his small eyes that was mischievous. I didn't trust him in the least, but then, who did I trust in this damned arena?

"I say we take him on." Jerrica says and Glimmer nods to back her up.

"I agree." Marvel says and looks to Clove for confirmation.

"I agree with Cato. We don't want to owe anything." she says.

But Marvel is too confident, too superior, too stupid to take heed of our warnings. Perhaps this boy would turn out to be worthy ally, but Marvel seemed incapable of looking past what will benefit him to consider the disadvantages or the potential threats of every situation. He would be easy to kill. That much is apparent to me, and I can sense everyone around me thinking the exact same thing.

"Deal." he repeats. "But if you make a mistake, or betray us, we hand you over to Clove."

Clove pulls open her jacket to reveal a collection of knives and snarls at the boy who was only a few inches smaller than her.

"We should get tracking." Glimmer tells us.

"Come on, Lover Boy. Let's go." Marvel leers and we set off, taking a backpack each. We put a bag of dried fruit, a sleeping bag, a bottle of water and a bottle of iodine in each and carry our favoured weapons in hand. Who knows what will happen out here.

We run quietly through the woods. Peeta is heavy footed, which annoys me. He's warning every tribute near us where we are. But I keep my temper with him, who knows how useful he will be when we need to hunt down Everdeen.

For now, we just run, stopping rarely to drink a little. The Tribute Training Centres have improved our stamina, speed and endurance greatly so Peeta is getting wheezy before we're breaking a sweat.

The sun is getting low in the sky and our vision is becoming limited. We stop for a half hour, catching our breath and figuring out what to do next. In that time, the sun drops completely.

"Damn, we should have brought those night vision goggles." Clove says.

This was news to me, I hadn't seen them.

"Night vision goggles?" Marvel asks curiously.

"Yeah, they hand them out in Two for the workers in the Stone Quarries. It's really dark down there." she explains and I nod to back her up.

"I've only ever used them once but they're pretty amazing." I say.

"Alright, we'll need to look them out, in the mean time, do you want to camp or try and get back?" Glimmer asks.

But the conversation is broken off when a hazy glow spreads through the trees, a thin plume of smoke filling the sky.

I jerk my head towards the general direction of the fire and place a finger to my lips. Then I'm on my feet, moving stealthily through the woods. The others follow behind, hardly making a sound. Well, we have to ask Peeta to take off his boots first.

As we near the fire, the warm, glowing haze is instantly comforting. The day was hot and gruesome, the night is cold and barren. I can understand why this tribute wanted to light a fire, I just can't believe they were stupid enough to do so.

We're on the final ring of trees before the clearing and I look back quickly to see that everyone is ready. Marvel gives me a swift nod and I pounce forward. I take a fist full of the District 8 girl's hair and drag her back. If there's one thing I've learnt from the Hunger Games, every kill has to be a show, or people get annoyed.

"No!" she cries. "Please don't kill me!"

I can only grit my teeth as I slash open her stomach and drop her to the ground. Her scream is a death scream, so high pitched and awful it sends shivers down my spine.

I stand back and stay clear of the pool of lifeblood on the ground. Peeta is trying hard not to look and I hold Clove's gaze steadily, not flinching at all. Glimmer, Jerrica and Marvel smirk at the dying girl, feeling no remorse or sentiment. That's the difference between us, the five real careers. We all kill thoughtlessly and with no effort or second thoughts. But Clove and I feel it. That split second where you're in the dying person's mind, seeing their last thoughts, last feelings. I saw it every time I killed today.

But my allies don't feel for these people, nor do they understand what they're doing to the families. I do it because it takes me one step closer to home, as I'm sure it is for Clove. For us it's a means of survival. For them, it's a sport.

"Come on." I say, my voice cracking. I turn around and all but march away. Clove is by my side in seconds and puts her hand in to mine. No one sees, apart from the cameras of course. The others are still at the fire. So I take this short time to accept her comfort, to bring her in, to be with her. She would have to die, I knew that even better than her. I wanted to enjoy what time I had left with her.

If there was anything today had made me realise, it was that the Games would be much harder than what I'd originally anticipated.

I was going home, I didn't care how many people I would have to cold-heartedly kill, I didn't care how many last thoughts I had to endure, I didn't care how much it tears me apart to know I was falling for a girl who had to die. I needed to be in my Mom's arms once more. I needed to see my brother's smiling face, covered in mushy banana. I needed to see what he would become. I had no choice. I wasn't ready to die.

Clove looks up at me and for one blissful second, I am at peace in the warmth of her eyes. She opens her mouth to speak. "I-" she says.

Then everyone else breaks through the woods and I step back so quickly it was impossible to tell I'd even moved. I look to them, scared they saw anything but the other Careers are still high from the kill. But Peeta's eyes are trained on me and he is confused. I wonder if he saw us...

For a second, I wonder if what he feels for Katniss is real, if we are actually very alike. The tragic star crossed lovers of District 12, one must die if the other is to survive.

But then I plunge back in to reality, as we trample through the woods, out of the way of the hovercraft. But the night is silent.

"Is she dead?" Glimmer asks, voicing my thoughts.

"I didn't hear a cannon." Jerrica says.

"I'll go back and check." Peeta says.

"Finish her if you need to." adds Clove and tosses him a knife. He catches it badly and the blade comes dangerously close to the vital veins in his wrist, making me wonder why we're keeping him alive. He disappears back the way we came.

Glimmer sidles uncomfortably close to me, but I don't object her. "Are you sure we shouldn't just kill him?" she asks.

I shake my head. "We need him. He's our best chance of finding Everdeen and she is a real competitor. " I explain.

She nods. "But couldn't we just track her? I don't see how Lover Boy could help us. He's no wonder man, he can hardly catch a knife without slitting his wrists." she points out.

A cannon sounds, as if to object to Glimmer's words. "He does what he's told and he'll help us. Besides, Everdeen is too smart for us to track. She's sly, our best bet is to outsmart her." I insist.

Then Lover Boy comes back through the trees, wiping the knife clean on his shirt and handing it back to Clove. "Done." he says simply, but I see the slight shaking in his hands.

Peeta Mellark saw the girl's last thoughts.

And to say it unhinged him is the understatement of the Century.

A/N: Long chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and I hope it wasn't too violent! Please review, your words mean a lot to me!