I woke to a bright light in the sky, Rue's melody, and the extreme cold. It was only a few short notes, but I guess it's just a temporary replacement of the Capitol anthem. And instead of the Capitol's emblem a mockingjay in a circle had appeared in the sky. I hadn't counted the gun fires, so I looked at the sky in interest. It started with the boy in Enobaria's group; the one that drank the poisoned water. Each headshot had their mentor's name listed at the top, their name listed near the bottom, and their parent's position before the rebellion listed below that. I calculated the mental statistics as each person dead was shown. There were eleven dead total: one from Enobaria's group, two from Beetee's group, five from Annie's group, and three from Johanna's group. Nobody I knew had died yet. So far, this was going to be a short Hunger Games.

Thankfully, I had a good view of Enobaria's group from my tree. They had a fire going in front of the Cornucopia while they scurried through their haul. Using the firelight to see, I saw the circularity of the arena. The Cornucopia was the center and a forest surrounded it. The trees were a conglomeration of pine trees, oak trees, and bushes, with barely any leaves on them (save the evergreens). The poisoned river surrounded the outskirts of the forest. How am I going to get water if all I have is poisoned?

My stomach growled, but I was too cold to deal with it. My legs where frozen in their spot. A numbingly cold wind blew, causing my coat and pants to hug my body closer. There was nothing to be done in this weather but bring my legs closer and hope for warmth again in the morning. I reached behind my coat for a hood. Good, there it was. I pulled it over my head and brought my knees closer to my chest, and my head fell forward as I concentrated on keeping my heat alive. My hand found my anklet, which soothed me back to sleep.

There was sure to be a frost in the morning.

I woke to a fresh breeze and a bead of sweat trickling down my leg. Instead of a frost, the place was glazed in dew. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, and it wasn't cold anymore; it was just brisk, as if it would warm up soon. And all the trees had their leaves back; some bushes even had some blossoms.

I stretched and almost fell off my branch. I gripped the sides of the branch to steady myself and felt the knapsack still on my back. I couldn't know what I had in here while still in the tree, and I guess now was a safe a time as any to be on the ground.

I slowly maneuvered my way down the tree. Gracious was I sore, seemed I couldn't even blink without hurting. But, this was the Hunger Games, so I just gritted my teeth and focused on climbing down the tree. Once I had tumbled to the ground, I hurried deeper into the forest, looking for a place to open my treasures. I found a nice circle of trees, leaving a space of grass just big enough to hold a sleeping person (if they bent their knees). Also, some nearby bushes provided excellent cover.

The knapsack was colored to match the bushes. I pulled out each thing individually and set it to the side. I had a generous week's worth of food, two knives; one short and one long, a cooling pack (which used any kind of water to operate), some cushions that fit under clothes, a cream that could be used for allergies, a rope, and, most important of all, a water bottle. But this wasn't just any water bottle; it had an inside lining which would purify any water, even poisonous water, in an hour.

"I'm saved." I muttered under my breath. I felt the bottom of the bag. It was so big for the amount of stuff it held. Then I saw its use. I took off my coat and (after returning all my stuff to the bag) put it on top. I left my pants on and went off to find the river, water bottle in hand. I was topping off the water bottle when the Enobaria group's scout started stirring the others. I quickly screwed the lid on and ran back into the forest.

Back in the clearing I got myself ready for the tributes. I took a few minutes to lay on the ground, properly stretch, and rub some of the ache out of my muscles before placing the cushions underneath my t-shirt and shorts where they would stay. I wrapped the rope around my waist and placed the two knives in it like a belt. The rope made climbing up trees easier and soon I had mastered throwing a rope around a branch and climbing up it, with my legs walking up the tree, while holding the two knives. I could do this at half the speed if I kept my knapsack on my back, but I left the bag up in one of the trees in the circle, which I marked with two cuts from the knife. Then I heard a snarl to my left.

How stupid am I? How could I have forgotten about the animals the Gamemakers placed in the arena? One glance to my left and I got a good idea of what I was dealing with. Large, grey fur, fuzzy tail, low growl. A wolf. A whole pack of them if I knew the animals (or the Gamemakers). I reverted to the deer's defense: freeze until the danger comes straight towards you. The wolf snarled again as did some of its buddies. My heart pounded so hard they could probably hear it.

Then they were distracted by something else. Someone, several people, were trudging through the forest. The wolves chased this new distraction while I scampered up my tree, pulling my rope up behind me. With a better view, I saw who had saved me: Enobaria's group.

Unlike me, they saw the wolves before they heard them. I saw the whole bloody battle, but would rather not retell it. But by the end two of them were mortally wounded and all the wolves were dead. I noticed that although they had more weapons than I did, they only had knives that were just as advanced as mine. This was another of the Gamemaker's tricks; only one kind of weapon.

I slowly reached for one of my packs of food; I was starving. But the Es (that was what I was calling the members of Enobaria's group now) were coming my way. Thankfully the pack didn't make a sound as I opened it, tore off a piece of dried meat, and chewed it. What I was more worried about was if any of my stuff fell. Thankfully they passed without as much as a glance towards my grove of trees. But I still heard them.

"–going to be a short Hunger Games."

"Which is good; I'd like to escape this hell as soon as possible."

"What makes you so sure you'll escape it?" There was a bit of uneasy awkward laughter at this.

"And we should keep going for the others tonight. We need to keep the public entertained."

"Or the Gamemakers will make us entertaining."

"I still can't believe Noss let Rosalynn escape from the Cornucopia."

"Nobody knew she was there, we weren't looking for her!"

"Can we just get back to the Cornucopia? I want to see if we have any bandages." One of the tributes who was bleeding badly said.

They agreed and started discussing their load of stuff until they were out of earshot. I kept a tab on them through the humidity of the day, hidden in some shrubbery near the poisoned river, occasionally munching on the food I had slipped in my pocket. I had a close call once, but the E seemed too distraught when she gathered water from the river only meters away from my position. A few moments later two canons sounded for the two injured Es, seemingly poisoned by their own alliance. By evening, another canon sounded as the trees' leaves began to change colors and fall, though I had no idea who had died, or how. As the Es prepped to go hunting for tributes, I went back to my grove of trees to be ready myself.

Ten of us were left, and at least one more would die tonight; and it sure as the sun wasn't going to be Morton.