AUTHOR'S NOTES: And now we get to the arena at last. Apparently these arenas are made a few years in advance or whatnot, andso the 75th Arena from Catching Fire is the same one we will be facing today... although we might find new hazards or not see old ones. I don't think these games will end so quickly-or with a District 12 archer breaking the arena-but we'll find out.
Happy Reading!

PART II: THE GAMES

CHAPTER 9: The Quell Begins

Katniss was somewhat surprised to find herself in her bed and in her underwear when she woke up the next morning. Who had undressed her, undone her hair, and washed the makeup off her face? Had she really been that tired, or was she just that much of a heavy sleeper? Arguably, she felt that both answers were valid. As alert as she was when she was awake, Katniss was a heavy enough sleeper that sometimes it actually took pushing her out of bed to bring her back to consciousness.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart," Haymitch's gruff voice was the one to greet Katniss that morning. She was fairly certain that there was an almost disdainful amount of sarcasm present in his tone. As Katniss got up and showered for what very well might have been the last time, she came back to find a set of dark grey and black clothing on the edge of her bed: a grey T-shirt with the number 12 on the shoulders, with black cargo pants and a lightweight matching coat also bearing a pair of armbands with the number 12. As she put these on, strapping on a pair of black combat boots in the process, she thought about where she was going. She had heard rumors that the arena uniforms were going to be "standardized" this year, although she was not sure what exactly that meant. She pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves that matched the outfit, glancing at the light metal plating over the tops, with a hinge near the wrist and another smaller plate ending right near the knuckles. She imagined how good it might feel to punch someone in the face with these. Maybe she would try it out later today. First she wanted to get a bit of breakfast into her system though, and so she'd even deal with Levi, who was dressed in an outfit identical to Katniss'.

Breakfast was quiet until Haymitch had had his usual flask of alcohol, after which he spoke up.

"This is do or die, kids," he grunted, "not that you weren't already aware of that—just thought you ought to know. Take a look at the cornucopia during the countdown. See what's there, and what could be dangerous. If you see weapons that the careers might like, stay far enough away that you can stay alive. I'd suggest running into the wilderness myself, since that's what District 12 is better than the careers at—but even then, a lot depends on the arena."
"That's probably some of the most and only useful information you've give us so far," Katniss retorted dryly, "good to know."
"I've got my uses," Haymitch retorted without skipping a beat, "it's yours that I'm still trying to figure out, sweetheart."

Levi laughed. "He got you there, Everdeen."

"Shut it," Katniss growled, knowing that he was right. Still, it wouldn't matter too much within the next couple of hours. After filling her belly and drinking plenty of water, she bided her time until the Peacekeepers showed up a few minutes later to escort them to the hovercraft that would take 23 of these young men and women to their graves.

She was utterly quiet on the hovercraft, nonchalantly sticking her right arm out when they came around to put the trackers in the tributes' arms. Katniss made eye contact with no one until she was in the catacombs beneath the arena, where to her surprise she found herself face to face with Cinna.

"I don't have much time or very many words for you, Katniss Everdeen," he said softly, pulling a golden pin out of his pocket, "but I'm still rooting for you." He pinned it to Katniss' T-shirt, where Katniss realized that it bore a Mockingjay with an arrow in its beak.

"Where did you get this," Katniss looked surprised.
"Your sister left it in my possession before the games last year," Cinna frowned, "It seemed she knew that she would not be able to bring it back.

"I'll bring it back for her then," Katniss' fists clenched, "I'll crawl out of this mess alive." She wanted to hurt something—kill something. She didn't want to take it out on Cinna, but the first tribute to cross her path was going to get attacked. "…thank you, Cinna."
"I'm still rooting for you, Girl on Fire," he smiled as Katniss stepped into the glass tube. Cinna waved slowly as the platform the brown-skinned girl was standing on began rising, until Cinna had disappeared from view without incident.

As she emerged in the light, however, she finally got a view of the arena in front of her. The cornucopia was perched on a rocky little island in the middle of a large body of water. Each of the pedestals was surrounded by water, and between every two of them were 12 rocky paths that led to the cornucopia. Being unable to swim, Katniss knew that she'd have to use one of those.
"Sixty… Fifty-Nine… Fifty-Eight…"

Hearing the actual countdown made everything suddenly feel that much more realistic. In less than a minute, fights would break out, and people would start dying. She just had to make sure that she was not one of them. She glanced around, and saw a boy from District 10 on her left and then Kiera on her right. Hopefully that girl used the water—she knew that unlike herself, District 4 could swim.

"Nineteen… Eighteen… Seventeen…"

Squinting towards the cornucopia, Katniss scoured it for a bow, and also kept her eye out for some knives if she couldn't get one of the bows in time. She rolled her shoulders, getting ready for the final moment. She wasn't going to run from the cornucopia—if she died here, it would be a fitting fate for her after the life she led; if she survived… then perhaps fate would give her another chance. The odds might be in her favor after all.

"Three… Two… One…"

Katniss' mind went blank as she dove into the water and struggled frantically to reach the stone walkway. True to her theory, Kiera took straight to the water and beat Katniss to the path, racing ahead of her. Perhaps it was a blessing that she was so fast. Either way, Katniss made it to the rocks and sprinted surprisingly swiftly towards the golden horn. The careers were already there, but in the mayhem, Katniss was able to disappear and snatch a bow, which was exactly what she was looking for. No one had died just yet, but there were scuffles that Katniss was positive would end in at least one or two deaths. She saw the man from District 10 rapidly approaching, armed with a curved sword a smirk on his face. Cornering Katniss against the side of the horn, he twirled his sword hungrily as Katniss watched with a slightly slack-jawed expression.

A moment later she remembered that she was holding a bow and had arrows around her shoulder already, and so she rectified this problem by nocking and shooting an arrow faster than the sword-wielder could react, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Katniss jumped back into the fray by shooting a woman from District 7, and then snatching a handful of throwing knives, using one of them to finish off the woman she had just wounded.
Katniss found herself crying out as she felt the side of her face become white-hot and then cool again, stinging. The salty air was irritating the freshly opened wound on her cheek and neck, but more than that, she was amazed that she hadn't just been decapitated. However, the offending individual—a man from District 6—was soon put to rest as Katniss plunged one of her knives into his forehead, breathing savagely with adrenaline. She had her bow, she had her knives, and she had her backpack. With the careers either chasing the others off or the other tributes scattering anyways, Katniss knew that she had to do the same, and so took off down a stone path behind the cornucopia's tail, racing towards the surely treacherous jungle. She had not seen Levi escape the carnage, and figured the worst. Not that she had intended to align herself with him anyways—but another District 12 victor would be nice if she didn't survive this ordeal.

After running for nearly half an hour, Katniss knew three things: foremost, she was completely lost, but she was also alone, surrounded by an otherwise fairly silent jungle. Secondly, she was a murderer now, with the blood on her hands symbolizing it as well as being concrete evidence of her deeds. Some of it was her own, but she'd worry about that later. For now she needed to find a secluded place to make camp and then check the contents of her backpack to see what she had—and to see what she could do regarding food and water. The water around the cornucopia was salty, as she had smelt in the air (and felt on her face as her wound stung), and so she knew she would have to look elsewhere.

This was it—the 75th Annual Hunger Games had begun.