"Let It Begin"

Liv's POV

Dressed in an all white jumpsuit that covers me from my neck to my ankles and white boots with my hair pulled back into a ponytail, I prepare myself for whatever this arena may be.

But when my plate stops moving up and my sixty seconds begin, I'm not exactly sure where I am.

All twenty-six tributes stand on their plates in a large circle. Every plate sits on a round pedestal of ground, about three feet in diameter. There is nothing around the pedestals. Every tribute will fall into the giant hole that surrounds them. Wherever that hole leads to, that's where the arena must be.

A circular cement wall that surrounds us makes sure the tributes don't try to avoid the hole. I know this because as soon as the gong sounds, the wall begins to close in. Some tributes jump right into the hole without hestation. Benson's one of them. I stay on my plate. I don't want to know what's down there. But I know I'm going to have to find out.

Doe and some other smaller tributes are also still on their plates. The wall reaches us all at the same time. I don't hear any signs of battle below. In fact, I don't hear anything from below. I struggle against the wall that's pushing me toward the hole, fighting back tears.

I have to be strong. For Katniss. For District Twelve. For everyone I love. I have to do this.

And with that, I take two steps forward and jump off the edge. Someone above me screams. The wall must have pushed them.

I brace myself for impact, but I'm still falling. I continue to fall for about ten more seconds. Then a sudden blast of air from below be slows me down. As I fall farther the air becomes stronger and soon it seems as if I'm just floating down. The air isn't getting stronger now. If it does get stronger I might be blown back up.

A light from below begins to fill my vision. What a strange arena this is turning out to be.

Soon I can see what's below me in full. The beautiful garden. The bright, lush forest. The blue, cloudless sky all around me and the burning sun that I know are fake. But it's like a dream, how perfect this place is. I figure it must be poisonous. All of it.

I spot the Cornucopia right below me. The initial bloodbath battle goes on where I'm about to land. Where I'm about to land! I begin to squirm as I get closer to the ground. I'll land right in the middle of the fight! The ground is only a few yards away. My toes are just inches above their heads. I lift my feet up, But it's no use. I land with battle all around me. Doe lands next to me. I can see she's just as frightened as I am.

The tiny twelve year olds from nine land at the same time, just to be killed immediately by Glow. This reminds me where we are and I begin to look for an opening in the battle. All of a sudden my hand is being pulled away. I quickly grab Doe's hand and pull her with me, as she is my ally. When I look to see my rescuer, I find that it's Benson. He pulls us into the forest.

After running for five minutes, Doe begs for a break. We all stop, panting.

"Okay, here's wh- what you do," Benson says between breaths. "Stay hidden. Whatever it takes. Just don't get seen. And don't tell anyone about this. This was a one-time thing, okay?" We both nod. Then he runs back toward the bloodbath.

Doe and I run farther away, ignoring the need for food and water. We just get as far away as we can before the bloodbath ends.

When the cannons begin to sound, I stop Doe and we count.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Nine. Nine deaths so far. I guess it'll be a while until we find out who died, since the sun is right above us, telling me that it's noon.

"Come on," Doe says, and we continue walking.

Benson's POV

The Cornucopia is ours. We set up camp a few meters away and are having a lunch of dried apples, bread, and water. Since there's plenty of food, we eat until we can't swallow another crumb. Then we look over the weapons and other supplies and spread them out among us.

We lost Russel in the bloodbath, so there are six of us. I get a spear, two knives, and an axe. I put one knife in my satchel that also holds extra food and matches. Everyone's making a "safety pack", just in case we're seperated or stranded. At least, that's what everyone else is preparing their's for. I'm getting mine ready just in case I have to leave the pack on short notice.

By now it's almost sundown, so Hall starts a fire and we settle in for the night. Asher and Onyx take watch. I gaze up at the sky just as it lights up. And then the faces appear.

The girl from Three. Russel. The boy from Six. Both from Seven. The girl from Eight. Both from Nine. And the girl from Ten. All of them gone.

I roll onto my side and try to fall asleep, but I can't. I don't trust these people. But I guess I better get some sleep, since I will get little to none in the next few days, when we'll be hunting 24/7. Even if I'm not out hunting, I'll be back here watching the camp.

Just thinking about all the time that'll be spent awake makes me exhausted, and I fall asleep within five minutes.

I dream of flying through the air. There's nothing around me but clouds and the occasional bird. It's peaceful. Calming. And then it's not.

I'm awoken by the sound of a crash. The large boy from Eight is wrestling with Asher near the mouth of the Cornucopia. Onyx and Mica come up behind him, ready to kill, when they both recieve a dart in their necks. I snap my head toward the attacker to see the girl from Five holding a dart gun. When she sees she's been spotted, she runs into the woods. Onyx and Mica slump to the ground, unconcious. The boy from Eight runs in the direction the girl went.

"Get them!" Asher yells, waking up Hall and Glow. We all scramble to our feet and chase them into the woods.

After about an hour of searching, we give up and head back to camp. But when we get there, we find most of our food, weapons, and supplies are gone. We search all around the Cornucopia. Nothing.

"Dammit!" Hall yells, kicking a rock.

"Someone must've come while we were gone," I say.

"You think?" Asher snaps.

"There's a third in that alliance. Or a fourth. We just have to figure out who they are," Glow says.

Hall walks over to Onyx and Mica. They begin to stir. When they're fully awake, we explain the situation.

"Crap!" Onyx says.

"Calm down, all of you," Mica says. She lights a fire, illuminating all of our faces. "Apparently, they want to play games. Fine. We can play games, to. So let the games begin."

Yes, I think. Let it begin.

A/N: Hello, dedicated readers. I would just like to ask you all to check out my Forum, If We Burn, You Burn With Us. We could use a few new faces! And please leave a review to let me know what you think!