Dear Readers,

Wow, I am on a ROLL. Two chapters in 24 hours? It's crazy. I wrote this one in the wee hours last night, and I decided to wait until the morning to post it so I could just edit and proofread it to make sure there aren't any tired insane mistakes.

Also;

Theatergirl6: Thanks! Here is the first chapter of the games! Hope you like :)

koyamon-lover: I am happy tht you like it, and hope this update was soon enough lol

inluv4eva:Thanks! I hope you like this one just as much :)

So without further a due, here is the chapter where the games really begin! Enjoy!

-esl1852

Clove knew she was supposed to wait for sixty seconds; it was agonizing. She was itching to get her hands on a knife and start eliminating the competition. But she knew better; she didn't wanna end up blown sky high before the games even began.

The first thing she was check her surroundings. She noted the Cornucopia in front of them; it was massive and full of tons of goodies that Clove couldn't wait to get her hands on. They were on an open stretch of land. There was a lake on the far right. Behind her there is a thick wooded area. Opposite the wooded area was a field of extremely tall grass.

The second thing she did was locate Cato. He was a couple of tributes down from her and standing in a ready position, looking as if he was itching to get his hands on a weapon as much as she was. His focus didn't break at all, which she assumed meant he found the sword he wanted.

Clove then took to survey of all the items spilling out of the Cornucopia. She saw some useful things; a tent, a spear, a bow and arrows, packs containing who knows what. But Clove didn't care about any of that, not really. No, she was trying to locate what she wanted most. Her weapons. The Gamemakers had to have put a set of knives in here. They just had to. Clove noted there was one or two bigger knives lying not to far from the mouth of the Cornucopia, but those were not what she wanted. And then, with 15 seconds to spare, she finally saw what she wanted. Right by the mouth of the cornucopia, there was a vest holding a set of knives, at least six, maybe eight. That was hers. It was meant for her and nothing would keep her from it. Clove's vision was completely locked on the vest, focused only on securing it for herself.

When the countdown reached zero, Clove was off of her platform faster than any of the other tributes. She was little and lean, and she had less strength than tributes like Cato, but man was she fast. She darted towards the mouth, falling to her knees as she grabbed the vest of knives immediately. She counted eight knives. Satisfied with her prize, she quickly looked up and around. Cato was stabbing the boy from District 6 with a stunning sword. He looked at her, nodding in the way that said Go ahead, put it on, I'll cover you. She slipped the vest on in no time and then Cato was off, slicing his sword through someone else, picking up the object the fallen tribute had been holding.

Clove looked around to check out her allies. The District 4 girl was struggling a bit, but she was managing. Clove didn't see the District 4 boy at all. Marvel was stabbing the girl from District 3, who had not realized her mistake when she grabbed the spear Marvel had wanted, with a curved knife. After a couple stabs, he was satisfied, taking the spear, going after a blonde girl that Clove was pretty sure was District 6. The girl from district 3 who Marvel had injured didn't even have time to get up before she was pulled off the ground by the District 5 boy who then slashed her open with a sword. She was definitely dead. It was then that Clove spotted Glimmer. Clove noticed that Glimmer was, in fact, not doing bad at all. She had a knife in her hand and was stabbing the district 10 girl tribute she had wrestled to the ground. Unfortunately, Clove didn't see District 12 anywhere. Clove noticed that the little girl from 11 was nowhere in sight either.

It was then that Clove saw the District 4 boy closing in on her, barely 6 feet away from her. Clove went to grab a knife off of her vest, but Cato came out of nowhere, stabbing the kid through the stomach, then pulling his sword out. The kid fell to the ground, and Cato looked back over his shoulder at Clove. She was a little pissed as she came to stand next to Cato.

"I had him Cato." Clove said, irritated.

"You didn't even have a knife in your hand, so complain if you want, but you'll thank me later." Cato said, and then jogged off, skewering the District 5 boy with his sword before she could say another word.

Clove pulled out one of her knives, looking down at the district 4 boy. He was almost dead, so there was no point in stabbing him again; besides she didn't want him. She wanted another, more prized victim. She certainly didn't want Cato's half-dead leftovers. Before the light drained completely drained out of the boys eyes however, Clove said, "Crossing someone you have an alliance with? Dick move." Then she was off, no longer worried about the District 4 boy. She was really searching for one person, and one person only. The Girl on Fire.

Clove realized that Katniss would be too smart and cowardly to just dive in to the bloodbath, unfortunately. So she ran a little farther away from the mouth of the Cornucopia and started surveying the areas around the platforms. She pulled out five other knives, since she could only hold the six of them in one hand, so she wouldn't even have to grab from the vest, she could just throw them. She hoped to the good lord Katniss hadn't fled, because she really wanted the opportunity to kill her herself. If she didn't get her now, she would have to fight with Cato over the right to kill her later.

Clove finally locked on to her, unable to contain the grin of excitement on her face. Katniss was grappling with the boy from District 9 for a backpack. The district 9 boy was in her line of fire, so while she was running their way, Clove launched her first knife at him. It hit him right in the back and he coughs blood right into her face and she looks completely shocked and disgusted. Then the boy falls and Katniss realizes what happened, and locks her fearful gaze on Clove. She was only ten yards away from Katniss at this point.

Katniss gets up, slinging the backpack on her shoulder, running away from Clove; she's surprisingly fast. Clove was hoping to have fun with killing this girl, but decided it was now or never, and launched a knife at her head. Suddenly, the girl hikes the backpack up enough to cover her head and the knife lodges in the pack. No! Clove thought to herself as she stopped dead in her tracks. I was so close! She keeps running after her, hoping to catch up, but Katniss is already gone in the woods.

Clove let out a frustrated scream before heading back towards the Cornucopia. Not only had she missed her golden opportunity, but she had lost one of her freaking knives. She was not happy at all, and that was an understatement.

She saw the girl from District 7 trying to escape to the woods. She would not be as lucky as District 12. Clove tackled her to the ground, where she pinned her down. She made small slices in the girl in her stomach, her face, her arms. When the girl screamed for mercy with tears running down her cheeks and mixing with the blood, Clove sliced her throat open. She gargled, choking on her own blood. Clove watched as the light drained out of her eyes, and felt a sick and twisted adrenaline rush because of the death she had caused.

Clove stood up, no longer enthralled with the now dead girl on the ground. She was farther away from the Cornucopia than the others. It seemed as if the bloodbath was over for the most part. Bodies were littered all over, eleven dead Clove counted, and the others were now going through some of the supplies, seeing what there was.

Suddenly, Clove could hear a fight breaking out between Cato and the District 4 girl. When she was earshot, she realized it was about Cato killing her district partner. "We had an alliance, Cato!" The girl screamed at him.

"Yea, we did, didn't we Tara?" Cato said, and Clove realized that she had been way off on her guesses of the girls name. Clove came to stand by Cato. Glimmer and Marvel were only a few feet away; they had been looking through the supplies where they were before Tara and Cato started fighting. "So if we have an alliance, why did your district partner try and kill my district partner?" Cato said, motioning to Clove.

Tarar glanced at Clove and then back at him. "He wouldn't! There's no way. Our mentor told us-" She started desperately, but Cato cut her off.

"Ask Clove. It's the only reason I killed the kid, you know." He told her, and then looked to Clove. "By the way, it's later." He meant she should thank him.

There was no way in hell she would give him the satisfaction of an actual thank you. "I told you I had him. So you just did what I would've done anyway. Really, all you did as screw me out of a kill."

"Whatever Clove." He said. Tara tried to continue their argument, but Cato just walked away, signifying that in his eyes, their conversation was over.

Tara looked to Clove for confirmation. "Did he really try to kill you?" Clove nodded. Tara looked like she had been slapped in the face.

Clove turned and looked around, picking up a bunch of other knives. She even figured out a way to hook them into her jacket. As soon as the cannons boomed, they all moved out of the way so that the hovercrafts could retrieve dead tributes.

As they were lifting them in the air, Cato came over to Clove. "I heard you scream during the bloodbath. What happened?"

Clove made a face. This is not something she really felt like talking about. "She got away."

"Twelve?" Cato asked, and Clove nodded. "How did that even happen? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you never miss." He said, confused.

"Yea you're telling me! I did notice, but thanks for pointing that out, jerkwad." Clove said, angry. "Besides, I got closer to killing her than you did."

"I'm just wondering Clove. No need to be pissy."

"She used the backpack as a shield and then the knife hit the bag and she took it with her! So I lost her and one of my knives. So excuse me for being pissy." She said, and then stood up, moving away from Cato.

"Oh, come on, Clove. Really?" He said, clearly irritated. She didn't really care if he was, she was pretty irritated herself; she didn't need to be reminded she had fucked up.

Clove did immediately regret her decision to walk away from him though, because Glimmer was suddenly all over Cato again. He looked her way, smirking at Clove before turning back to flirt with Glimmer for a few moments. Oh come on, really? You're that petty that you're gonna flirt with her to piss me off? Clove thought to herself. Clove held her arms out when he looked at her again, as if to say, What the fuck, bruh? Cato just smirked deeper. She couldn't deny now that he was in fact being spiteful and flirting with Glimmer to piss her off. And as much as she hated to admit it, it was working. Fucking Glimmer. I can't even say she's useless now because she's actually not completely useless. Fucking bitch. Clove thought, glowering to herself.

Once all the bodies were gone, all of them decided to start sorting through the supplies from the Cornucopia. There was everything they could ever really need and then some. They were set for the entire games; there was no way they were dying from any natural causes. There was some cool stuff they found; like the two pairs of night vision glasses that Cato and Clove found and claimed for themselves.

Once they had taken inventory of all their supplies, they set up the three tent-like things, putting sleeping bags and their weapons under them. Marvel came up with the great idea, since each tent could only really fit two of them sleeping comfortably, of sleeping by district. Glimmer pouted, but went along with it. Clove hadn't notice it before because she was so focused on Glimmer flirting with Cato, but Glimmer and Marvel actually seemed pretty close. Not necessarily like they had been sleeping together (although, Clove felt like with Glimmer she couldn't really rule that idea out either) but as if they hadn't just met each other. They acted almost like siblings the way they interacted actually, as if they had known each other for a long time.

Marvel was actually the most enjoyable element of their little career pack for Clove. He had been waiting so long to get into the Hunger Games, and now that he was here, he was geeking out about everything and anything. He had pumped himself up so much that he was almost overexcited (if that was honestly even possible) for the Games. He couldn't even contain how giddy he was. He just could not stop himself and Clove found it hilarious; he was like great entertainment. While going through all the other supplies, Marvel even kept trying to get Clove to geek out with him about all the freaking awesome stuff they had. Clove was not one to "geek out" but when he started raving on about the excessive weapons, Clove couldn't help but to jump in with him about all her knives. She was in love with all of them. The Gamemakers had made her a happy little knife-thrower for sure. Glimmer seemed happy to see Marvel so freaking excited. Cato and Tara were just as excited to be there too, but they couldn't help rolling their eyes at Marvel. He was so ridiculous. But then, that was probably why Clove liked him so much.

They piled the rest of the supplies in a big mound, putting the stuff on the outside that they would be more prone to use. It wouldn't get stolen because one person would watch it when the rest slept. And honestly, who would steal from the careers? The threat of certain death was enough to keep other tributes away for now. At least until they started to get desperate.

"What's our next move?" Marvel said as darkness was quickly falling, ready to do something. He was practically bouncing around the tents. Clove sat on an empty crate that had once held a tent. She was sitting under the tent Cato and her would be sharing. Clove was cutting up an apple into pieces. Cato was surveying his swords from another overturned crate beside Clove, and he was every once and a while popping a piece of cut up apple into his mouth whenever Clove handed him a piece. Tara stood next to Glimmer, who was standing next to Cato. Marvel stood in front of Cato and Clove with a big grin on his face. Clove couldn't help but grin, looking from him to Cato.

Cato caught her grin, and gave her his own in return. Marvel was hilarious, and even though they had gotten into a little spat before, it was hard not to fall back into their old patterns.

The national anthem started playing and the seal of the Capitol appeared in the sky, and Cato said "Well Marvel, if you could contain your excitement for a few minutes, we will wait until they finish showing the dead and then we will do something you'll enjoy."

"Which is?" Marvel said, his eyes glinting in excitement.

"Hunting tributes." Cato said. "What else?"

That seemed to satisfy Marvel, and they all watched the pictures of the dead appearing in the sky. They were quiet except for when people shouted, "I killed that one!" Or "That one was mine!" and other things like that. Cato had killed the boy from district 4 (which he didn't say when he saw the kids picture because Tara was obviously still a little bitter about it) and the boys from districts 5 and 6. Technically the guy from 5 killed the girl from 3, but Marvel did the hard part and incapacitated her, so Clove thought he really deserved the credit. Marvel also killed the girls from districts 6 and 9. Clove herself had killed the girl from 7 and the boy from 9, which Cato nodded in approval about. She rolled her eyes. Duh she could kill two people; she would've killed more if she weren't so focused on Katniss. Tara only had one kill; the boy from district 8. It wasn't anything special, but she had managed to not get killed so she wasn't awful.

Glimmer had killed the boy from 7 and the girl from 10; she had the same number of kills as Clove, so Clove decided that even though she hated her, Glimmer was not a waste of space and was at least an asset (although she was better with other weapons than with a bow and arrow from what Clove could tell, so she wasn't sure why Glimmer insisted on taking them). Clove decided at that moment she wouldn't kill Glimmer in her sleep. Plus if she did, Marvel probably wouldn't be too happy with her. No, I guess I won't be killing her. Clove thought to herself just as Glimmer let out a loud laugh at something Cato had said, saying how funny Cato was. Or I might be killing her. Things are still up for debate if she keeps laughing like that.

When the sky went blank after the girl from District 10's face flashed in the sky, Marvel was already standing. He held a backpack and two spears. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Nothing." Cato said with a grin, looking at the girls. "Ready ladies?" Cato grabbed his sword and Clove was once again getting excited; the idea of slicing into more bodies had sparked another adrenaline rush. She already had her knives all stored on her person, and she had put the night vision glasses on herself, but she put a very small pack with some water, an apple and a small package of crackers in it.

They all were ready in a matter of minutes. Cato had his own night vision glasses on his head and said, "Let's go hunt some tributes." With a mad glint of his own in his eyes. Then, he pulled them down over his eyes, and the other tributes lit some torches. Clove noticed Marvel had a small pack of matches, and slid them back into his pack before the headed into the woods. Clove felt every bit of the excitement; they were Careers, they were predators. And it was time for them to hunt.