Sixty seconds. That's how long the tributes were required to stand on their podiums before the gong would ring out and the landmines would become dormant once more. If they stepped down before, they'd get their lower half blown off.
That was the first thing Caesar had to worry about, and before the cameras even started rolling, he was willing Willow to not panic, not to leap away in fear.
When the image of the arena flashed up in front of Claudius and himself, he was so intent on finding her amongst the competitors that, at first, he didn't notice the circle was a hundred percent bigger than usual.
With her bright red hair - why had they not put her back to her original colour, Caesar wondered? She stood out like a sore thumb against the muted green and brown background! - she was easy to pick out, and he saw her looking to her right, an expression of horror clouding her delicate features.
And when Caesar followed her gaze, he knew why.
Mutts.
His blood ran cold, his hands started to tremble, and he looked across at Claudius with wide eyes, suddenly hating the excitement he saw in the announcer's face at the unexpected extra challenge the tributes would be facing, and he abhorred himself for all the times before that he'd sat here with that same look of anticipation.
Caesar forced himself to breathe slowly as the countdown began, knowing he was now broadcasting live right across Panem. The entire country was watching him, and he had to be as he had always been in the past.
Twenty-four mutts. One for each tribute? Were they designed to only pick off one tribute only, or was anyone game?
He knew Delta would have told Willow to run, that she wouldn't survive the Cornucopia bloodbath, but that was without having any idea about this new threat.
Get to the Cornucopia, Willow, he begged her silently. Get yourself a weapon, anything that will help you defend yourself against everything in there...
One minute, Willow thought, one minute to decide what to do, where to go. She glanced towards the forest, wondering if there would be safety within the trees, and dismissed the idea immediately. Delta and Vinnie had told her and Ash to run, but the tribute knew she needed a weapon. That mutt was looking at her like she was lunch, and she had no intention of letting it get that close to her.
So, the Cornucopia it would have to be. She was quick, light on her feet, she could make it, Willow told herself.
And that thought persuaded her to take a good look at the giant golden horn that was the Cornucopia. It's curved tail was to her left, and the mouth of it was packed full of everything that the tributes needed to stay alive in the arena. Water containers, food parcels, weapons of all shapes and sizes, medicine tubs, to name just a few things. Scattered around on the grass beyond it were other items like tent packs, outer clothing, plastic sheets, their value decreased the further away from the cone they were, but all of it could be considered useful in the right circumstances.
"Stay away from the Cornucopia, Willow."
The tribute could hear Delta's voice in her head, but she had to have a way of killing this mutt, and muttation aside, the spoils were so very tempting.
That was when Willow spotted it. Right in the mouth of the Cornucopia, nestling against a large backpack, the sun glinting on the razor sharp metal, was a black handled axe.
That's mine, Willow thought. They put that there for me, knowing I'd be able to see it.
She looked around for Ash, trying to ignore the mutt that was still leering at her, and she found her counterpart a few tributes to her right.
He caught her eye, indicated to the Cornucopia, and she knew that he was telling her to go for it.
Boing!
Willow dived off the podium as soon as the gong sounded and sprinted towards the golden horn, not stopping to look if the mutt was already on her heels, keeping nothing but the axe in her line of vision. If she could just reach it, she had a chance against anything.
She made it to the weapon first, wrenched it free, spun round with it clenched in her right hand. Most of the other tributes had followed her towards the Cornucopia, even the timid ones, but the odd one or two had taken off for the dense forest behind them, unwilling to be caught up in the bloodbath.
Someone shoved her, and she stumbled backwards, already swinging the axe defensively. The offender shrieked and cursed at her, but she used the opportunity to dart past them and back out into the openness of the field before the Cornucopia. Whoever it was didn't follow her.
A shaking hand grabbed her, and she jerked round again to see Ash beside her, a bow and a sheath of arrows slung over his shoulder.
"Come on!" he yelled, and the pair raced away towards the forest, slowing when they saw the mutts were still pacing impatiently on their podiums.
Why had they not moved?
Boing!
The gong sounded again, and then Willow and Ash knew precisely why the mutts hadn't given chase: They had been required to wait an extra minute on their podiums, to give the tributes a head start.
The District 7 tributes both took up defensive positions as they watched the mutts who had been placed beside them leap off their metal plates, but they did nothing more than start pacing the boundaries of the Cornucopia circle.
"They can't come inside," Ash breathed. "We're safe from them here."
"Yeah, unfortunately everything else in here wants to kill us."
They stayed as close to the perimeter as they could get without being anywhere near the mutts, and paused briefly to watch some of the other muttations charging away towards the forest, heading after the tributes who hadn't stuck around to claim weapons.
An unearthly scream rang out around the arena, and Willow glanced over in time to see the insect-ape spring onto a retreating tribute, and bite through their neck. Blood spurted out, and then the boy dropped limply to the ground. The mutt backed up, pawed at the fallen figure, and then vanished.
"They disappear when their tribute dies," she said. "That must mean there's one for each of us."
"Can they be killed, d'you think?"
Willow glanced back at the horn. The fighting was still in full swing, and several bodies were spreadeagled on the ground. No one was taking any notice of them yet, but it would only be a matter of time before the bloodbath ended and those who had avoided it would become the hunted.
"Let's find out, shall we?" she said, sounding far braver than she felt. She held the axe in the way she had seen her father do on the occasion they had been faced by a bear in the woods back home. This creature looked far more agile than the grizzly had been, and twice as deadly, but she had to start somewhere, Willow reasoned.
"Here, use this." Ash pushed the bow into Willow's free hand. "That way we won't have to get too close."
He turned to offer her an arrow from the leather sheath on his back, and she passed him the axe to hold whilst she took aim at one of the mutts.
A moving target who knew she was preparing to shoot at it. This was a new challenge, Willow thought, as she relaxed into the shooting stance that had served her best during training: knees slightly bent, feet planted firmly. Breathe in, breathe out, slow, steady, ready.
She let the arrow fly.
The mutt leaped to one side just before the tip was about pierce its muscular arm, and it grinned at her, baring its yellowed canines menacingly.
"Let me try something," Ash said, as she plucked another arrow from the sheath, and with that he dashed away from her.
"What are you doing?" she screamed at him, suddenly fearing that she'd badly misjudged him, that he was going to leave her there with two mutts and a single arrow.
"Willow, it's following me, look!"
And indeed, he was right, one of the mutts was completely ignoring her now, bounding around the perimeter of the Cornucopia circle, its attention firmly focused on its own target, and Willow knew what she had to do.
She aimed again, this time at the mutt which she knew to be Ash's - he could return the favour just as soon as his was dead, she decided.
The arrow flew, embedding itself straight into the mutt's heart, and Willow felt a hidden hand tug at her chest when it cried out in agony, but, despite the seemingly fatal wound, it didn't die. It dropped to its knees, it's gaze still fixed firmly on Ash, totally oblivious to the person who had delivered the injury.
The two tributes looked at each other.
"Maybe they can't die," Ash said, gnawing at his lower lip.
Willow looked over her shoulder again, her eyes widening as she saw someone by the Cornucopia pointing their way.
"They have to be able to be killed, surely, otherwise we're all going to end up being picked off by mutts instead of one another... Not much excitement in that..."
Think, Willow! the tribute said to herself, with another glimpse at the career pack.
She could see Jewel and Bourne selecting their weapons now the five remaining career's had secured the Cornucopia as their base. Everyone else was either dead or had fled.
She watched as the hulking boy from District 11 launched a spear through the pacing mutt on his tail, and the creature disappeared before it hit the floor.
"Ohh... Ohh... Ash, they can die," Willow got out. "You have to kill your own mutt, but they can die!"
Ash stared fearfully at the writhing body before him.
"Use the axe, we can't afford to lose anymore arrows with my mutt still alive."
Shouts were ringing out from behind them now, the career pack was on the move, and Willow just knew she was destined to be Jewel's first victim outside of the bloodbath.
"Hurry!" she urged Ash, knowing they were currently still caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Ash paled, swallowed, charged straight at the creature. The mutt tried to clamber to its feet, clawed out at him with its giant digits, but Ash swung the axe back and smashed if forward at precisely the right moment, severing its hand. It howled again, noticeably more weakly this time, and it vanished when the blade of the axe lodged deep in its neck.
"It's gone," he gasped. "We did it!"
Willow gave him a small smile, and handed him the bow, retrieving her bloodied axe from his shaking grasp, all the time very aware that the career pack was closing in, and that soon knives and spears would be hurtling in their direction.
"Now, run, get into the forest!"
"What about you?" His eyes took on the panicked look of prey, although whether that was fear for her or terror at the thought of being left alone, Willow couldn't tell. Either way, it wasn't safe for him to remain with her.
"I need to get rid of this mutt, and there's no time to do it together. You have to go, before the careers get here. Their mutts will keep them from chasing you. Go!" Her tone was urgent, and Ash knew that in order to preserve his own life, he had to do as she said.
"Ok."
"If I make it, I'll find you in the forest," she promised, and she shoved him away, out of the Cornucopia circle, and swept round to face the advancing careers.
They were around twenty feet away from Willow when she heard Jewel holler, "She's mine!" in a tone that brooked no argument, and the District 7 tribute knew that Bourne, Mace, Ava and the D4 male would let her have her way. She also knew it would be her salvation; a plan presented itself as soon as she saw the sword clutched in Jewel's hand - the District 1 tribute would have to be close to attack, and watching the pack thunder towards her, Willow could see she was faster than them. All of them. As far as this instance went, having enough food their entire life was going to be a disadvantage. Their solid bodies might sustain them longer, but it made them more lumbersome, heavier, slower.
The others held back a little as Jewel charged at Willow, and the District 7 tribute heard the high-pitched whistle as the sword flew at her, but when Jewel looked again, Willow was gone, darting across the now unprotected Cornucopia circle. She fell against the mutt who had been pacing about behind Willow, and scrambled to her feet, but the creature did nothing more than snarl at her and take off around the edge of the circle in pursuit of the escaping tribute.
Again Willow didn't stop to glance behind her, so she had no idea how far away her either the pack or the muttation was, she saw an opening on the far side of the circle and simply ran for it.
"I'll come back." The promised words thudded through her head even as her feet pounded over the grass. She had sworn she would go home. She had to keep her vow, and that was the only thought in her head. The angry voices of the careers had faded, and she risked looking back to see where the mutt was. It was to her left, still behind her, bounding excitedly around the semi circle that separated it from her.
She had to get out of the circle before it reached the other side, that way she could be ready to fight it when it pounced, and, so long as she survived, she would then be safe from the careers as well.
She made it.
Through the perimeter, out into the open grassland beyond, but Willow could feel the mutt gaining on her, and she swung round whilst she was still running, the axe arching with her.
The mutt grabbed at her, it's great slashing fingers grazing her abdomen through the khaki jacket and the t-shirt, but she managed to back away before it could take hold of her. She crouched down, truly frightened now, the axe held out in front of her - should she be offensive or defensive, she wondered, wide-eyed as the creature's eyes pierced into hers.
It clawed heavily at her again, knocking her backwards, and she ended up sprawled on the ground, winded, the axe sailing from her grasp. She stretched up to try and fend it off with her hands, and as it ducked down to clamp its teeth around her throat, Willow's eyes closed, and the last thought that shot through her mind was an apology to Caesar for not making it home...