Another update. Longest chapter so far. Wooo! There are still places in districts: 3, 8 (male only) and 10. Please R & R.

Chapter 10

Sixty seconds, that's how long I have to take in my surroundings and make a decision that could be the difference between life and death. I start scanning for a weapon and look at the terrain.

There's a huge mountain to my right, it looks barren. To the left is a muddy river, and beyond it a dark forest.

I turn my gaze to the cornucopia. There are weapons and packs scattered around the outside. The weapons I'm best with will be inside though. I spot a short spear I can use until I get inside the cornucopia, I get ready to run for it. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. I'm at it in a few seconds, the District 9 boy also went for it, so I stab him swiftly and he falls to the ground, unmoving.

"No!" The District 9 girl lunges towards me. I chuck the spear at her and she also falls to the ground. I hear her whisper something as she falls "I'll be with you now dad. I sacrificed myself like you." I decide she's a bit weird. And also dead. Weapon-less, I run towards where Autumn and Jay are already defending the cornucopia entrance. They let me in and I grab some knives and put them in my belt and then I grab a long, sharp, curved sword. It glistens in the sunlight. Autumn and Jay are fighting the District 11 girl, I look behind them and see the District 3 boy trying to swim across the river. I chuck a knife into his back. He goes underwater as the brown water turns a murky red. A few bubbles come up. He's dead. Carter suddenly and I guard his back as he grabs a bow and quiver full of arrows and a spear. When we come out the District 11 girl is lying dead on the floor, she has blood dripping off her head. Out of the corner of my eye I see a movement and I turn and am about to throw a knife at them, when I notice it is Coral.

Her curly red hair is bouncing around her chin and she has a fleck of blood on her cheek. She is running as quickly as she can, but she is slowed down because she is clutching her arm. Blood is trickling out between her fingers. She reaches me.

"Ash." She mutters darkly as she moves her hand to show a slit in her coat and shirt that dark red blood is dripping out of.

"There's bandages and stuff in there." I nod towards further into the cornucopia. She nods and goes in.

"Where's Alex?" Carter asks.

"He'd better not be dead." Autumn replies. I glance around and see him running around a boulder to us. Suddenly, the District 12 boy rushes into him and shoves him over. I don't hesitate, I sprint to them, the 12 boy is holding Alex's neck, his face is purple. I slash my sword at the 12 boy. It's a wide cut, but it is quite shallow. He howls in pain and leaps away and runs away, blood dripping off him as he goes. Without medical stuff it's going to get infected and he'll die soon. I don't pursue him. I need to stay close to the cornucopia.

Two hours later the bloodbath is over. We have the cornucopia. Thirteen cannons boom. Thirteen deaths. I know some of them who died: 3 boy, both from 9, the girl from 11 and I killed both from 5 close to the end. Just over two hours in and over half of us are dead already.

"Thanks for saving me earlier." Alex says to me. I forgot he had a thing for me. He'll be worse than ever now. Maybe I should have let him die.

"It's okay." I reply, before turning my back on him.

"We should get some rest." Alex adds "I'll keep first watch for a couple of hours, then I'll wake Coral for an hour." We all nod at this suggestion, we're exhausted after the bloodbath. It's too hot to sleep in the sleeping bags we've got, so we lay on top of them. It's comfier than the hard ground anyway.

Carter wakes me up three hours later, and we start to divide up our gear. Between the six of us we have: 3 first aid kits, eight full 2 litre bottles of water, 12 sleeping bags, loads of thin wire and all the weapons we could hope for. I end up with about fifteen throwing knives that I attach carefully to the inside of my coat so I won't accidently stab myself. Tucked behind my pack are two curved swords , they are as sharp as a talon. Their handles stick up by my shoulders so I can grab them quickly. I also have a small knife attached to my ankle just in case. In the pack on my back is: a short spear, five or six cans of food, a large pack of nuts, some wire, a bottle of water and a sleeping bag. We leave the gear we don't want in the cornucopia, but set up some intricate traps so no one can get them without being killed. Then we hunt.

"I cut up someone pretty bad, but they ran off before I could finish them. He won't have gone far. Let's get him first." I suggest. The others nod, and we follow the drips of blood the 12 boy left behind. We soon find him in a cave not far off. He hasn't got long left to live. The wound is already infected and he is a pale blue colour. His chest is rising up and down very slowly. He sees us come in.

"Please, I can help you." He begs "Just help me, please don't kill me."

"You're right you can help us, by making sure we have a better chance of winning." Autumn says.

"No, please. I had to volunteer for my dad. He's ill and my mum's dead. I have to win to pay for his medicine. He'll die otherwise." He begs.

"So, I'm in the games with my brother." I snarl. Alex chucks his trident, it hits him straight in the chest. Boom! The cannon goes off. Fourteen dead.

"Come on." Jay says, leading the way out again. We decide most people will stay in the forest. It probably has a water source and food. The only way to get there though, is to swim.

"You four go first, Carter and I will watch your backs, then you watch ours when we come along." I say. They jump in and soon all of us are dripping wet on the other side. At nightfall we haven't found anyone.

"Let's rest." Carter suggests as we walk into a clearing. Autumn nods, and I sit down, leaning against a tree stump. We gaze up to the sky, waiting. The capitol seal soon comes up. Then 'The Fallen'. The people that have died today are: 3 boy, both from 5, 7 girl, both from 8,9,10, 11 and 12. An idea pops into my head.

"I'll take first watch." I offer. Everyone but Alex settles down, he comes and sits next to me. No! He needs to be asleep too for this to work. "I'll be fine." I say.

"I'm not tired." He really is persistent. Maybe in other circumstances we could have dated. But we're in the games. There's only one winner, and it's going to be Carter. Everyone else is asleep now, but he's still here. It may be easier to pretend to like him though. I rest my head on his shoulder. "You're really hot you know." He says. That didn't take long.

"You're pretty good looking yourself." I reply, feeling around for the knife on my ankle. He smiles, not noticing.

"Thanks." He kisses my head. I grab hold of the knife on my ankle, and pretend to go to hug him. I stab him exactly where I wanted to. There's a point on the spine where if you stab it, you die almost instantly: you're paralysed for a couple of seconds, and then dead. That's where I got him. I push his body away and in turn stab the others so they also die almost instantly. Well, all except Carter. Now there's eighteen dead. Only four are trying to kill him. He'll be safer now. I don't think we should stick together now. I think it should be down to chance. I divide up the rest of the gear between him and me. I've done my best. I'll wait until he wakes up, then leave. I climb up a nearby tree and wait. After a couple of hours he stirs.

"Sapphy, do you want me to take over now?" He whispers, not looking around. Silence answers him. He stands up and sees the four dead bodies. He works it out almost instantly. He's smart like that. "Well done Sapphy." He mutters, I don't know if he realises I'm there or if he's talking to himself. He checks his pack and wanders off. I jump down the tree and walk in the opposite direction. Whatever happens now is down to fate.

This may turn out to be the longest games in existence. There's six left. They'll start interviewing our families now. That's what happens when there's six left. There's only four districts left in the games: 1,3,6 and 7. Eighteen dead and it hasn't even been twenty four hours yet. Things usually slow down a bit after day one. I find a suitable tree and strap myself to a sturdy branch on it and get some rest.

I am woken by the cannon. I hope it's not Carter. Or maybe I do. Then he won't have to watch me die. If it wasn't him the odds that we'll have to fight are less than 1:4.

"Mum, dad, I'm so sorry." Tears gush down my face as I rush off the train to meet them. They blank me.

"He was just a boy." Mum finally sobs, Dad turns to me angrily.

"You were supposed to protect him, bring him home alive."

"I tries, he-he just." I trail off, they're right. It's all my fault, Zoey comes up to me and we have a wet embrace.

"It's no use, I've tried. They're convinced it's your fault. They won't forgive you." She whispers.

"They're right. It is my fault." I reply "I'm sorry." Zoey wipes my tears away.

"No it's not. You weren't to know that his name would be picked. It's the capitol's fault." She nutters "Come on, I'll help you settle into your new house at the victor's village." I look more closely at her and see a pale yellow bruise on one eye. Her parents abuse her but she can't do anything about it. Or if they could, they didn't care. Until now.

"Come and live with me." I offer.

"She's not living under our roof." Mum objects, Mum's never liked Zoey. I don't know why.

"It's my house, if you don't want Zoey there, then you're not living with me. You can't accept he made his own choice." I yell, I'm wrong though. It's all my fault that Carter's dead. Zoey leads me away before I break down again.