Here's my latest chapter. I hope you enjoy. Reviews are warmly welcome!

It's funny how whenever you dread something, time always speeds up. It's like the universe is plotting against you. That's what happens the morning of the beginning of the Games. I faintly remember Kasul and my prep team getting me ready for the last time. He makes sure I bring my token and then takes me into the catacomb under the arena. I say goodbye to my prep team and thank them. I really do appreciate them making me shine before…before my time comes. I had said goodbye to Thresh, Tibithia, Chaff, and, painfully, Seeder. She had told me that she believed in me. She gave me and big hug and tearfully left the room. Now I sit down in the catacomb, awaiting the hovercraft.

Then it appears, quicker than a groosling that wanders in the orchards back at home. A ladder drops down and when I climb it an electric current freezes me in place. In the hovercraft, a woman in a white "lab coat"I think they call it, tells me to hold still while she injects my tracker that will let the Gamemakers know where I am in the arena at all times. The injection is painful and I let out a sharp gasp.

"Thank you," the woman says and the ladder takes me back down to the ground. I wince and rub my forearm. Ouch! I think. Kasul takes me by the shoulder and takes me underground to await the start of the Games. I shower and eat breakfast. By the time it's 45 minutes until the starting gong, I'm trembling violently.

"Well," Kasul says, "Here's what you'll be wearing." He presents my outfit for the Games. It includes a pair of brown boots, some socks, black pants, black shirt, black hood-jacket, and a sturdy brown belt. This is all I will get easily, the rest, I'll have to fight for. I put on the clothes and calculate and measure a few things. The jacket is heat insulated; the Gamemakers must be planning on making it cold. The boots are soft, warm, and flexible, which means that they'll be good for running- especially when it's for your life. Kasul manages to get a little more food into me. For a while we just sit there in silence and then I ask him about his tattoo. "A long time ago," he tells me, face darkening, "I had a sister who I loved so much. She-she did something a little rebellious. She didn't really dress like a Capitol citizen; she looked just like you district people, no offense at all. Snow- he didn't like that. He took her away and… and-" he trails off. I nod. "So," he finishes, "That's why I have the sword running through the rose. Snow needs justice served to him."

"You shouldn't be talking like that!" I exclaim, then I whisper, "This place could be taped.

"What do I care?" he replies leaning back in his seat and letting out a sigh. Then his atmosphere changes; he radiates an aura of anger. "You have no idea what it's like!" he exclaims suddenly.

"Excuse me, but I'm from a district that you Capitol people take away innocent kids every year to be slaughtered!" I reply, filling my voice with venom. I think of my brother and grow suddenly sad, "Innocent kids like my brother."

"I had no idea, Rue. What was his name?" he says, calm now.

"Raloi," I whisper, barely audible. He winces. That year was terrible for my brother. He-he was killed at the hands of a District 1 tribute. I put my head in my hands, remembering the day when his cold, dead body came back home. I miss him so much. He used to call me Squealer, because that's what I'd always do whenever he'd pick me up and hoist me in the air. I always called him Loi, because I called him that from the beginning and never found a reason to stop. A clear female voice calls out "5 minutes until launch." My heart starts to race. Five minutes? I finger my necklace finding comfort in its familiar texture. I close my eyes and try to relax. "Three minutes." Breathe, Rue. "Two minutes." I do jumping jacks to help relieve stress. "One minute." I sit, hugging my knees to my chest. "Please enter launch tubes." I swallow and start to walk to the now open tube.

"Good luck, Rue," Kasul says behind me. I thank him without looking back and enter the tube.

The glass door slams shut behind me and I am in my own brief world. My pedestal that I stand on starts to rise rapidly, gaining speed as it goes up. I barely have time to process how different it is in comparison to the roomy elevator before I am temporarily blinded by the sudden light. When my vision clears I see that I am in a forest clearing, surrounded by a forest of apparently pine, oak, and elm. There are probably other various plants in there just waiting to be discovered so I have resources there, but now, I have to focus on getting something at the Cornucopia. There is a variety of supplies laid out before me and the other 24 tributes. If I leave my pedestal now, I'll most likely be blown to bits so I'll have to take off right when the opening gong sounds and hope I'm not to early. The countdown to the gong is 30 seconds now. I look around and locate a small pack that I'll easily be able to manage and looks like it has plenty of good content. 20 seconds now. I roll my shoulders to loosen them up. 10 seconds. I stance myself to run. 9, 8, 7,6,5,4,3,2,1. Gong!

I take off sprinting towards the pack. Many tributes are running much faster though and reach the general bounty before I do. Thankfully, nobody takes my pack so I stoop down, scoop it up along with a small knife that lies next to it, and turn, coming face-to-face with the boy from 7, Elmer I think, ax raised. I do the natural thing letting the possessing strength take over. I dodge his death blow and quickly implant the knife in his thigh, all the way down to the hilt, without blinking an eye. He falls to the ground, screaming in agony, ax next to him, long forgotten. I stare with my gold-brown eyes, terribly frightened by my acts.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper as I take the knife out of his thigh and stab it in his chest. His cries are muted and his flailing arms cease. I leave the knife there, not bearing to ever have it accompany me again, and take off with the pack into refuge.

So, what do you think? How do you feel about Rue killing that guy? She isn't who you thought she was, is she? Don't worry, she won't be a savage. Again, reviews are warmly welcome.