The platform rose and the darkness dissipated. I stood on a metal plate, one of twenty-four around the cornucopia. Serena was located three spots away from me. To the north of the arena I could see a mountain range. It was tall and covered in trees, it seemed like a good place to go. To the east there was a lake; it was large and inviting, but had little place to hide, so I ruled it out. I turned to look behind me and saw that a small forest covered the south and southeast area of the arena. It was good for cover and probably had plenty resources, but I worried about the water; at least the mountain had a stream visible. Finally, to the west side, there was large, barren, grassland. There was no place to cover at all, and I knew I was definitely not going to go there.

I looked at the Cornucopia, whose opening faced me, and I scanned the pile of goods and weapons for a trident, or a net… but there wasn't any. I decided I would run for supplies, I was very fast, and I was certain I could fight my way out. There wasn't a trident, but I couldn't leave empty handed.

We had thirty seconds left. If anybody stepped out of their plates before time, they would be blown to bits. I looked at my wrist, with Annie's bracelet tied around it. I'm going to win for you, I thought to myself. I was technically considered a career because I was strong and skilled. I had had practice before the games, but I was not part of the pack, which was strange. I knew that they would have welcomed me in, but I would have been the first to go, since Jem hated me.

Twenty seconds, and I readied myself. My hands where shaking slightly, it was the adrenaline. I scanned the faces of the other tributes, and their emotions ranged from scared, to excited, or confused. I saw the pretty girl from district eight to my left, and she looked lost. Willow stood to my right, ready to run for the cornucopia. Finnick, this is it. Ten seconds. You need to survive.

"Five, Four, Three, Two, One!" and then the canon went off.

I ran towards the cornucopia like my life depended on… because my life depended on it. I made it after Alesi, the girl from eight, but she only grabbed a sword and a backpack and ran towards the forest. I did not expect her to be that fast! I grabbed a backpack, and a net! I actually found a net! I slung the backpack over my back and grabbed two spears, a dagger, and a long rope, for climbing, and dashed out of the cornucopia as more people started to arrive. The girl from two tackled me to the ground and tried to stab me, but I pushed her off and stood up hurriedly. I ran in the direction of the mountains, turning to look back every so often to make sure I wasn't being followed. I stopped when I was about halfway there, leaning against a tree to arrange my supplies. I stuffed the net and the rope into the backpack and slid the dagger in my belt.

I had been running for a while, but I wasn't tired at all. I could swim non-stop for an hour without getting worn out, my heart rate was very slow, so I had a lot of resistance. I continued to run towards the mountain, until I reached the bottom, where a forest began. I turned around and looked towards the cornucopia where I could see tiny specs in the distance. There were also two figures moving in my direction. I sighed and continued to move deeper into the forest. I hiked for about an hour, moving higher up the mountain, until I found a good place to rest. It was a small cave, but large enough to sleep comfortably. I picked that place because thick bushes covered it, and it was barely visible from a distance.

I sat down on a fallen log near my cave and took off my jacket, because I was sweaty from all the running. I unzipped my backpack and emptied it on the ground. I arranged the content on the ground and made a mental list of what I had. I had the rope, which came with some hooks, which would be very useful for climbing. I had the two spears and the dagger I had gotten from the cornucopia, and I also had the net. I spread it out, and it was decently sized. It reminded me of the nets Mr. Cresta sold in his shop. Inside the backpack there were several smaller items. There was a heat-reflecting sleeping bag, which would really come in handy, up the mountain. I had three bags of dried fruit, and a plastic, water bottle. I also found some matches, night-vision goggles and a bottle of medicine.

"Not bad," I said to myself, and put everything away, except the sleeping bag, which I stretched out in my cave. I looked up at the sky, and calculated it must be around one or two in the afternoon, judging for the sun. I figured the bloodbath would be over soon and the canons would go off to let the other tributes know how many of us were left. About ten minutes after that, the first canon boomed. The picture of each tribute was displayed on the sky as each canon went off.

There were a total of ten dead tributes in the first two hours of the games. The girl from District Two had died, which was strange since the careers usually made it past the bloodbath. Also, the girl from three, both from five, the boys from seven and eight, and the girls from nine, eleven and twelve had been killed.

"Thirteen to go," I muttered.

I set up some traps around the area, to get food, and drank my bottle of water, and then went to the stream that I found near by, and filled it again. I slept until the next morning, though I kept waking up, I was scared the careers would find me. I was very surprised that there had been no other deaths, the careers where usually quick to kill. I got bored of waiting around in my cave though, so I spend the next morning trying to search for higher ground, to get a better look of the arena. I made sure that my backpack was well hidden, and took only a spear and the rope with me, just in case. I climbed up a steep slope, almost falling twice, but I managed to get a good view of the arena. I spotted a river, about half a mile from where I had set camp. I could see the lake in the distance, where a large fire was burning. I knew it was the careers. They were arrogant, they knew nobody would dare hunt them down because there were four of them, and they were all stronger. They were close to the cornucopia where they had all they needed to survive, and they guarded their treasure well, because the less food and water the other tributes got, the easier it would be for them to win the games.

I knew I would have to face them eventually, but not while there was so many of them remaining. I stood there and thought about what I was going to do. I knew I was going to have to kill… a few hours ago that thought gave me goose bumps… I really didn't want to take anybody's life away, but then I heard Mags in my head telling me that somebody needed to die, and that I might as well win.

I was a career… the sponsors expected me to hunt, not to hide, but I was at a disadvantage. I was working alone, so I couldn't afford to be arrogant like the other careers. I'd start hunting down the other tributes, the ones that I knew posed less threat, since, I wasn't as confident with my spear as I was with my trident. I was handy with a couple weapons, but my trident was different… when I held one, it felt natural, almost like a part of my arm.

I continued to scan the mountain but I felt some movement behind me. I turned around quickly, and dodged instinctively as a sword missed my head by an inch. The sword finished its trajectory, which made her loose balance, so I tackled her to the ground and kicked away her weapon. It was the girl from ten who had allied with Willow and Alesi. She screamed and tried to break free, but I kept a tight grip on her.

"Let me go!" she yelled.

"Yeah, that's going to happen," I said. "Where are your little allies?" I asked, hoping I would get some information from her. She snorted.

"Willow ran off with my supplies," she said, "Alesi kept hers but only because she's fast and managed to get away… I'm on my own."

"Nice try," I said, and picked up my spear. I pierced her chest, and blood gushed out of the wound. Her face went pale, and the canon went off within the minute. I didn't get a chance to stand up when Willow had rushed out from her hiding place to attack me as well. She had a handful of throwing knives in her hand, and she aimed one at me. I ducked as one of them flew past my head. She grabbed another and threw it at me, but I took cover behind a large boulder and the knife bounced off. I stayed there, but I heard footsteps. I gripped my spear tightly and jumped from behind the rock, aimed at her chest and threw it.

She had already released a knife as well, which made a shallow cut on my left arm, but I could hardly feel the pain with the adrenaline rushing through me. Willow yelped in pain and I looked up to see my spear sticking out from the left side of her body. She had dropped her knives on the ground and was scrambling to get one, but I ran towards her and pushed her back. My spear was still sticking out of her body. We both knew that if she pulled it out she would loose too much blood, but I gripped the shaft and struck once more, this time, hitting her heart. Willow looked up at me with tears in her eyes and she whimpered as the blood covered her chest. I looked at her as the color left her face, and her eyes slowly closed. Then the canon went off and Willow was dead.

"Eleven to go," I whispered, and looked away from Willow's pale face.

"Alesi, I know you're hiding somewhere," I said, turning to face the wall of trees were Willow had been hiding.

"Please, Finnick…" came her voice from behind the trees.

"You're not even going to try to run away?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"What's the point?" she asked, as she stepped out from behind the trees. I raised my spear and examined her cautiously. She stood in front of me with her hands facing me, unarmed and unprotected.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I don't want to fight," she said.

"If you weren't going to fight, why didn't you just let them kill you in the bloodbath?" I asked, rolling my eyes at her. "You're probably hiding a knife there, to kill me when I'm unprepared." She looked at me, her large, blue eyes full of sincerity. She must have been around my age. She wasn't particularly tall, or strong, or skilled with a weapon, I had seen her in training. She was very smart, though, that was the only reason Willow had allied with her.

She shook her head. "I'm not killing anyone because I know that I don't have a chance of winning, and I don't really think it's worth it."

"So why did you ally with Willow then, if you didn't want to win?"

She shrugged. "I had planned on trying to make it back home. I thought I stood a chance, if I was smart enough, but now I realize I was just being silly. Willow was one of the strongest tributes, and look how quickly she died." I sighed and shook my head to clear my mind. She was trying to distract me. She seemed like a very nice person, and it would kill me to take her life away. She was very smart and beautiful, her face was stunning… but I was here to win. I remembered my Capitol façade, and I raised my spear again, I had lowered it unconsciously.

"It's a shame I have to kill you, Alesi… you're very beautiful," I said with a grin.

"It is a shame that you have to kill me, Finnick… I know that you're better than this. This is not how you really are. Of course I don't blame you… it is a game after all, but I'm sure you're a great person deep down. I really hope you win… don't let the other careers win again, alright?"

"I wasn't planning on it," said, doing my best to keep a straight face. They couldn't see me in pain. Then I raised my spear again and aimed at her chest. She was closer than Willow had been, so she died quicker. The canon went off once more. That had been three deaths in less than an hour. I didn't feel victorious at all, though… it didn't exactly give me confidence. They might have killed me if they had attacked together… and Alesi might as well have killed herself. I knew I didn't stand a chance if the careers found me.

I grabbed my rope and my spear and carefully made my way down the slope and back to my cave. I stopped at the stream first to wash the blood off my weapon. Everything seemed very surreal… I had killed three people… three human, girls, in less than an hour. I wondered what my mom and dad thought of me back home. I wondered how Annie felt. Annie, who cried whenever a tribute was killed… how would she feel now that I was doing the killing.

I felt the tears coming, so I hurried back to my cave and slid into my sleeping bag, though it was very warm outside, and I just cried. I let it all out, though I tried to keep my voice down… I was pretty well hidden in the cave, it would be hard for the cameras to find me there, but I didn't want to be heard. Jem and the others could be out there hunting me, and I had no energy to fight.