Don't own Hunger Games. Would like a few more reviews to if you could spare them please.

Alto POV

'59,58,57,56,55…' I keep counting in my head, already preparing to give Katniss and myself the advantage of a first start. As I count silently, I glance around, taking in everything. Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which is at least twenty feet high, spilling over with the things that will give us life here in the arena. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters. Strewn around the Cornucopia are other supplies, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn. We're on a flat, open stretch of ground; plain of hard-packed dirt. Behind the tributes across from me, I can see nothing, indicating either a steep downward slope or even cliff. To my right lies a lake. To my left and back, spars piney woods.

Perfect terrain.

'When the gong sounds, get the hell out of there. I don't want either of you up to the blood bath at the Cornucopia. Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of water.' Haymitch's advice rings through my head. It would be the smartest thing to do, but everything in front of me looks so tempting. That's why I'm going for the weapons first. I know it goes against what Haymitch told and Katniss and I, but we need those damn supplies. I can see a throwing knife bandolier of 15 knifes. I keep looking at the pile, taking in everything, spears, knifes, swords, bow.

Good, Katniss won't go without one. This just gets better and better.

I look at Katniss, who's looking back at me, and I motion with my head to the supplies a little to her right. She give it a quick glance, then looks forward, her left hand low and open, giving me five fingers.

'5...4...3...2...1'

At one, Katniss and I push ourselves off of the metal plates, and time slows to a crawl. Katniss and I needed to time this right because it's too late for a correction. If we didn't time it right, we'll end up being red smears on the ground or at the very least loose our legs. But our fears are neutralized when our feet touch the ground right at the gong sounds, and the ground beneath us doesn't blow.

With the push we gave ourselves, Katniss and I have a huge lead ahead everyone else. We're the only ones in front while the others are ten or twelve meters behind us. While on the way, Katniss and I grab a few things that are in the direction of our objectives; I grab a canteen of water and some iodine while Katniss pick up a loaf of bread and a piece of plastic. When I reach the weapons, I simply grab as many things as I can while running past it. The only thing I pay attention to grabbing is the bow and arrows and anything that has a strap or belt is thrown on my person, with is all of it. When I'm a few meters away from the pile, I glance at Katniss, who has a backpack on already and grabbing for a smaller bag, which is caught by both her and district nine boy.

"Sorry kid." I quickly fire an arrow at the boy.

My instincts tell me there's a presence behind me, so I drop to my knees, in which a spear swings above my head. I quickly spin and throw an open palm into the boys neck, which he grabs immediately, dropping the spear into my hands. I move to strike him with my new weapon, but a glint catches my eye, in which I instead grab the boy and pull him in front of me. He jerks forward before going limp in my grip, and I dropped him as his weight grew in my hands. I hear the sound of rushing air and catch another glimpse of a glint and I move my head to the side as a knife flies past me.

"Clove; girl from Two. Excels in knifes." Said girl is running to me with a knife already drawn, and I charge to meet her, since I'd have an advantage in terms of reach.

She tries to come in close, but a simple swing's all that is needed to keep her at bay. She growls in frustration, and throws a few more knifes, all of which I dodge.

It's not log before Cato comes into the mix with a sword. He swings at me and I catch it with the spear, but stagger back at the unexpected force. When I steady myself, Cato and Clove have me surrounded, with Cato in front and Clove behind.

"Regretting your words the other day yet Alto?" Cato sinkers.

"A little, yes." I give a laugh before swinging at him, making him jump back. I use the momentum from the swing to spin backwards, throwing the spear at a surprised Clove. Since I was spinning, I wasn't aiming, so the spear only nicks her side. She yells out in pain as a spray of red erupts on her left side, and by the time any have time to recover, I've the bow and quiver of arrows in my hand, throwing them while I'm running.

Katniss catches both and quickly throws the quiver and bow on her back before following the direction I'm taking to. The bloodbath continues, but everyone is too busy to deal with us as we run into the forest. We keep running for a good five minutes before we stop, and even then we're in a fast walk for another three before we take in our stock.

"You alright?" I ask Katniss.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Fine."

"What did you get?" She asks me.

"Well," I glance at myself. "I have a yard long sword, a throwing knife bandolier of fifteen, and a nine inch knife with the words 'US Marines' engraved in it."

"What are US Marines?"

"They use to be a military branch of this country before everything went to hell."

"How the heck do you know that?"

"I read a lot of pre-Panem books. But anyway, what do you have?" I point at the backpack and smaller bag she has.

"Let's spread them out." We kneel and she opens the bag.

"One thin black sleeping bag that reflects body heat, a pack of crackers, a pack of dried beef strips, a bottle of iodine, a box of wooden matches, a small coil of wire, a pair of sunglasses, a knife Clove threw at me, and a half-gallon plastic bottle with a cap for carrying water that's bone dry." She looks at the bottle. "Would it be so hard just to fill this up?"

"Apparently it was." I roll my eyes, but take my bottle out. "But I have a full canteen. Won't last long with the two of us but it's something." I pass it to her.

"Thanks." She takes a drink before handing it to me. She pulls the smaller pack out. "I'm not sure what this is."

"Let me see it." She hands me the small pack. I check the outside first, then find a long tube protruding from the back.

"Oh, you may have more water. Did this feel slightly heavy?"

"Yes."

"If we're lucky..." I open the pack to find a blue pouch with a clear liquid in it.

"Yes. You found a camelpack. We have another three litters in here as well as, let's see, some smashed glasses." I throw those out. "And a Multi-tool."

"That'll help."

We start making my way through the forest once our breathing slows. The forest has a variety of trees, some I've seen, while others are completely foreign to me. I see animals scurry all around me, which is a good sign. In reality, this isn't half bad. The forest is like a second home to me, I've been in the forest back at twelve so often. It'll be easier to do things here, being that I'm use to this kind of terrain. Same for Katniss.

Around late afternoon, the cannons start firing. The bloodbath at the Cornucopia just finished. They don't fire the canon until after the fighting subsides. The killing is happening so fast that they can't keep track. We pause, silently counting the shots.

'One…two…three…' until it reaches eleven. Eleven tributes are dead, thirteen left. I don't take that into comfort; two of those human beings are dead because of me.

We continue walking through the trees, taking small sips from the canteen. We'll going to need to find a source of water; we will run out. There must be streams of rivers here, how else could the animals survive? It's getting darker, and my stomach's demanding food, but I'd rather refrain from eating our stores on food right now. There's plenty of bark, but I'd rather not eat that right now, though Katniss is already chewing.

"Get in the tree Katniss."

"What?"

"Get in the tree. I can find us some real food."

She nods and climes in a tree while I do the same, and wait. Animals will start walking closer if they don't know that I'm here. I'm up there for a good hour before I hear the rustling of leaves. I look down at two hares. I don't hesitate to throw a knife and kill them. I drop from the tree, get to the rabbits, and start skinning them

"Sorry buddies," I tell it. "But I'm hungry."

Once I'm done with that task, I have another, which is cooking it. I don't want to make a fire. The smoke it'll create will attract the other tributes. Making a fire is basically the equivalent to painting a target on my chest and screaming 'Shoot me!'

'Didn't really think this out did I?'

"Didn't really think this out did you?" Katniss asks.

"Oh shut up."

So I'm out of luck for this. I tie the hares to my belt using some of the grasses on the ground as a rope. I keep walking, there's not much to do. That's when I notice that I'm moving down hill, into a valley. I'm wondering how I didn't see that before, but that was probably because I was so focuses on gaining as much distance between me and the other tributes, and that I didn't take in my surroundings as much as I needed to. I really hate valleys, I feel like a caged animal when in one. I'd rather not go in, but I don't have much of a choice. Besides, being that it is a valley, I may find a water source.

Unfortunately for me, I don't see a steep drop on the side of this small incline. When I reach the edge, the ground gives way, and I literally roll all the way down the valley, which is about thirty yards. You can imagine how sore I was at the end. What stopped me was a tree to the stomach. I lay their, clutching my stomach, groaning.

"You alright Alto?" Katniss calls, having not fallen.

"Yeah, I'm fan-effin-tastic . Nothing but gumdrops and ice cream down here." I grunt.

"Don't give me attitude Alto."

It takes awhile before the pain subsided enough for me to walk again. As you can see, not much of this is very interesting; it's just walking, rest, and then walk again. We continue this for a few hours before we decide to sleep. We can't say 'set up camp' because doing that wouldn't be so wise, so we decide to camp is a tree. No tribute would look up a tree and expect to find another tribute in there, so they won't look.

"How heavy are you?" Katniss asks me as she looks up a tree.

"Maybe around one forty, one fifty. Why you ask?"

"We'll be sleeping in a tree tonight."

She pick a tree that's not too high off the ground, just in case we have to make a run for it. It's our luck that there is a trio of thick branches close to the trunk of the tree that could hold our bodies comfortably, and keep us in the tree if we roll during our sleep.

"Come on, I see a trio we can use." She grabs a branch and begins to clime. I follow soon after.

"Um, Katniss, if you could pick up the pace." I'm right below her.

She looks down to see me right were her foot is. "How'd you clime so fast?"

"Most of the time when we hunted either alone or together, I climbed trees to get a better vantage point. The tallest I've climbed was the side of a mountain that took ten minutes." I smirk. "It's like I said before Katniss; I'm not your typical teenage boy; I'm a lot smarter, stronger, and a lot more good looking."

"Oh no you don't." She smirks too. "I'm not falling for that twice."

"Worth a shot."

She arranges the sleeping bag in a relatively comfortable manner and place the backpacks in the foot of the bag, then we slide in after it. As a precaution, she remove her belt, loop it all the way around the branch and my sleeping bag, and refasten it at her waist. I told her it wasn't necessary with the way the branches were positioned, but she's not taking any chances.

I get in first and Katniss gets in next. She's curls up against my chest, her head situated on my shoulder, her arms wrapped around my waist as I wrap my arms around her as we get ready for the long night.

I have to say, I'm enjoying this quite a bit, even if we're in the Games. She's smaller then I thought she was; she fits rather well with me in here.

After a few minutes, Katniss is the first to complain. "Why is it so hot?"

"Sorry, that's me." I've already noticed, but didn't voice anything since I didn't know if Katniss didn't mind.

"You're like a heater. I saw you last night sleeping in your freezing room with only sweats on." She shakes her head a little, then looks up at me. "You're enjoying this though aren't you?"

I give a quite laugh. "What gave it away?"

"Your hundred mile an hour heart beat. And your red face." She smirks at my expense.

"Touché. But I have to say, for a first night, it's not too bad."

"It really isn't." She smiles lightly. "We're here with water, some food, and we can sleep in comfort without worrying too much about the other tributes. That's a lot more then a few other could say." Her smile grows when she looks at me. "And you're here."

"Of course I'm here. Wouldn't want you taking all the glory now would I?" She punches me, but smiles none the less.

The anthem blears through out the arena startling the both of us, as it does a recap of the deaths. The Capitol emblem appears to be floating in mid air. In reality, We're watching on another screen, a big one that's transported by hovercraft. When the anthem finishes, the sky darkens. They show face shots of the tributes that were killed, along with their district number.

Let's see, girl from three, boy from four, boy from five, both from six and seven, boy from eight, both from nine, and the girl from ten. None from eleven of twelve.

Nine boy and four boy were my kills, though I guess you could call four boy a tie for Clove and I; she threw the knife that killed him and I'm the one so put him in its trajectory.

After, the anthem plays again, while the Capitol emblem floats above us. When the music stops, the darkness and sounds of the forest resume. So who's still alive? Five careers, that girl that Katniss calls Foxface, Thresh and Rue…I'm amazed she's alive. I don't know the other three, but I'll worry about that later; I need some sleep.

"Night Alto."

"Night Katniss." She slowly drifts to sleep, leaving me to my thoughts. My body's tired but my mind isn't, and I say up for hours.

Her face is like it was last night; it's much softer, her eyebrows down low, cheeks flushed from the heat, her lips in a thin line.

I'll say it even if it sounds all fluffy; she's beautiful; there's no denying it. She was beautiful before and she's beautiful now. Nothing will change that in my eyes.

My thoughts stay on her for a time, but that stops when she shifts slightly. Her hand moves from my waist and comes to rest on my face, in which I quietly grunt, but it stays there for only a second before slowly moving down to my chest, then stomach, and, um...below that.

As her hand stops there, I dare not move an inch, not wanting to wake her in the middle of her mindless act. Suffice to say that I was trying to control myself and was thankful that this sleeping bag was concealing all this from the world.

And her warm breath against my neck wasn't helping either.

Snap!

What the hell?

Snap! Snap!

Katniss wakes, her head snapping every which way.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Those are foot steps...

Katniss looks at me and mouths. 'What is that?' I point down.

There are flickers of lights beneath us, and we both look down to find five career tributes, some with flash lights and others with torches.

"You see anything?" Someone says. I think it's Clove.

"I can't see a damn thing." Says Cato.

We're frozen in the tree, thinking of what we can do. We can't run; they'll see us, and we're strapped to a tree. We can't attack either; I may have handled Cato and Clove, but that was for a short time, We won't survive five. All we can do is wait and hope that they don't look up here.

"Hmmm. They couldn't have gone far from here; they had to stop and rest every once and a while."

"We need to get moving." Urges Clove.

"Calm down Clove, I understand you want to get back at Alto. I want the bastard dead too, but there's no need to hurry. We will get him and his little whore."

It's not surprising that both of them would come after me; I injured Clove and pissed off Cato. It's not surprising they'd go after Katniss to get to me. But I absolutely despise Cato after what he called her. But I know when and when not to act and this is one of those times I can't act.

My anger and both of our fears are pushed aside when we smell something: smoke.

"Hey, you smell that?"

"Look, I see a light."

"I see it too."

"Only a dumbass makes a fire at night."

"Then let's make this one less dumbass. Let's move." They all take to the direction of the fire.

We continue to listen until the footsteps couldn't be heard, and we both let out a breath we didn't realize we were holding. I look at the direction one of them pointed at, and I too see the light, which looks about the size of the stars we see in the sky, and smoke in the background of the forest and night, quite a ways out.

You see? This is a good example of why I didn't make a fire. Basically screams 'KILL ME!'

"What idiot lights a fire at night?" I say.

"One who can't handle the cold." Katniss replies.

"And that idiot just gave us a fire to use to cook the rabbits." I start to unbuckle the belt.

"What are you thinking?"

"We follow them to the fire. When they take care of who made it, they'll leave the fire, and we can use it to cook the rabbit."

"You do realize that plan of yours could kill us right?"

"It's the Games Katniss; if you want to survive you need to take some risks. Otherwise you end up like the eleven tributes that fell today." I pull myself from the bag. "So let's go."

She gives me a look but doesn't argue, already packing all our belongings in the bags. She hands me the camelpack, we drop to the ground, and we follow them at a slow jog. They won't hear us because we're to far for them too hear, but those lights they have are bright enough for us to see and use as a beacon. We reach them after a few minutes and stay at least ten meters behind. It's like that for awhile, since dawn arrives by the time they reach the fire starter.

We linger behind a huge pair of bushes that's a few meters from where they came out of. I can't see anything, but I know that it's a girl they found, from her pleading, and the agonized screams that follow. Theirs laughter and congratulations. Then someone shouts, "Twelve down and eleven to go!" which gets a round of hoots from the rest. They check the girl for supplies, but from their words, they didn't find much of anything.

"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking." Cato.

The other mummer in agreement and start moving away. When they're around a group of trees, I take a peek at the area. From here I can't see any body or blood stains.

"Shouldn't the cannon have fired?" Kaniss asks.

"That means she's still alive." I say in a grim tone. I move away from the bushes to the other side of them to see where said girl is, with Katniss close behind.

I find the girl sprawled out, her face in the dirt, cloths soaked in blood. She's still alive, regardless of the injuries she has and she actually has the energy to turn to me. Her eyes widen at the sight of Katniss and I and, weakly, she attempts to crawl away, leaving a red trail behind her. I watch her for a few second before I run to her in which case she decides it's useless to try getting away and stops. When I reach her, I kneel next to her and she flips herself over to look at me. I get a clear view of what they did to her; she has multiple wounds in her lower torso, and a huge one the size of two of my fists where her left lung would be. She's gritting her teeth, no doubt because of the pain. Her eyes show fear, but it's not for me or Katniss, or even the Careers that did this too her.

It's for death, because she knows she won't make it.

Katniss takes a shuddered breath while I stare at the girl. Her eyes are pleading, asking me to help her in any way I could, even when she knows she'll meet death. As much as I want to help her, I can't; I'm not god.

"Shouldn't we have heard the cannon by now?"

"I'd say yes; nothing to prevent them from going in immediately."

"Unless she isn't dead."

"She's dead. I stuck her myself."

"Then where's the cannon?"

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done."

"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice."

"I said she's dead!"

They'll be on us if we don't do anything. And if they see her still alive, I could only imagine how much more pain they'd inflict upon her, so I do the only thing I can. I pull the knife at my belt, which causes Katniss to jump a little.

"It would be mercy at this point." I whisper.

The girl simply nods, tears tumbling down her face as she excepts the fact. Katniss looks away as I position the knife above the girls heart before driving it in. The girl gasps and her eyes widen at the sudden pain, but soon after her eyes loose their color, and she lets out her last breath.

The cannon fires.

I turn my head slightly to listen for the Careers, and am relived that they're moving away from us. That doesn't bring me comfort though as I turn back to the body of the girl. I bring a hand to her face and close her eyes before closing my own and bowing my head.

"Almighty God, you love everything you have made and judge us with infinite mercy and justice. We rejoice in your promises of pardon, joy and peace to all those who love you. In your mercy turn the darkness of death into the dawn of new life, and the sorrow of parting into the joy of heaven; through our Saviour Jesus Christ, who died, rose again, and lives for evermore. Amen."

I open my eyes and take one last look at the girl before standing and walking to the tree line, Katniss in toe.

"Alto?" She asks quietly. "Alto, are you..." She stops when I lean against a tree and empty my stomach contents on the ground. She pats my back as I'm vomiting, but I only do that thrice more. I wipe the bile from my mouth and put my hands to my face, not uncovering them until the hovercraft picks up the girl's body.

A rustling above us causes us to pull our weapons, Katniss aiming her bow above while I pull my sword and knife. To our surprise, a box makes its way down to us, falling slowly due to the parachute on it. I falls directly to me, so I'm the one to catch it. It's a simple box with the word twelve, about a foot and a half long.

"What do you think it is?" I ask.

"Open it and we'll see."

I open the box, and My eyes widen as I let out a gasp. My mouth hangs open as I take in what I have in my hands.

A tomahawk.

My mouth's still agape, but then I regain composer of myself. I'd be a little giddy if I hadn't ended an innocent life just a minute ago.

"Thanks Haymitch." I place the weapon on my belt before making my way to the fire the girl had built and find the coals still burning. Katniss gathers some dried branches and sets it atop the coals. I cut the rabbit into strips and place them above the fire with a stick, and we both wait; I sit with my knees in my chest while Katniss sits cross legged. None of us try to start up a conversation, at least for awhile.

"Alto?"

"I'm...going to have trouble living with myself after this." I say truthfully.

"It's not your fault Alto."

"I know it's not my fault, but that doesn't make me feel better. Regardless of who's fault it is, I'm the one who took her life. Not you, not the Careers, not the Gamemakers, it was me." I look at the ground. "I thought I'd be prepared to take a life. Hell, I took two the first day and only had a little remorse. But when you're up close, face to face with someone you know shouldn't be here, having to end their lives because the both of you know that they won't make it..." I bury my head into my arms. "Let's stop please. I don't want to talk about it."

Katniss does something I don't expect her do; she sits right next to me and puts an arm around my shoulder. It startles me slightly, but I don't pull away, thankful that she's trying to comfort me, and we sit there like that for the remainder of the time it take to cook the rabbits. Once we finish eating we continue to walk deeper into the forest, occasionally stopping to rest. The day was uneventful and by nightfall we find another tree to sleep in. We get in the same position we were in last time, and Katniss and I see that the girl was from district 8. When the anthem ends, Katniss is fast asleep, but as for me...

"Father, this world sometimes bewilders me and is beyond my understanding. I see poverty and disease, storms and earthquakes, war and killing. Many hearts are bound by ego and fear. Please strengthen my faith in your higher purpose and open my mind to the truth that everything is unfolding according to your divine plan. Let compassion and love for my brothers and sisters flow from me and may we all be uplifted by your glory. Amen."

I'm not getting sleep anytime soon.