The rain suddenly ceases, the pounding on the roof of the cave was gone. I stand up and walk to the mouth, brushing aside the vines covering it. I stick a hand out and I confirm that the rain stopped. I am suspicious at first, but then I realize it's time. It's time to end this perpetual suffering known as the Hunger Games. There would be two victors this year and I'll be damned, literally, if Cato and I don't win.

Cato comes up behind me and looks over my shoulder, his face hard, but his shocking blue eyes show excitement. I gather my supplies, not bothering to take the once opened pack. I just grab a water bottle and my array of knives. Cato grabs his thick, short sword and a water bottle as well. I watch him gather his stuff and notice he still had the friendship bracelet around his wrist. I smile more to myself than to him and turn back around, looking at the creek that had seemingly dried over night.

We walk out of our little home and walk steadily through the woods, just as we were taught in training. We walk for several hours it seems. I am starting to regret not bringing food and more water. I look around helplessly and notice Cato's hard expression is still there. I sigh and walk more when I hear a twig snap. I look over at Cato and see him already walking over to the noise, sword in hand. I follow him closely and look into the dense underbrush. I make out two warm brown eyes. I furrow my brows and look closer when I hear snapping of teeth and a growl. I reel back and fling a knife in their general direction and hear the sound of it finding a home. Then a shriek of pity and pain, but not a human's.

I am about to tell Cato when he had apparently found out himself and he was powering away, leaving me stranded. I stand there, looking into the brush once more. I know I probably sound stupid, but my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

As I look into the eyes, I realize they look unmistakably familiar. Wylde. I am happy at first until I realize Wylde wasn't capable of shrieking in such an animalistic way. Then the eyes are shut, but then another twig snaps. Then another. And one more. I panic and turn around on a dime when I feel a sting in my lower right calf. I falter and nearly collapse because of the pain. I turn around, on my knees, and face a huge, wolfish creature. It snarls and snaps its powerful jaws at me. I try to get back up, but the sharp stings of pain in my calf prevent me from doing much.

I self-consciously run my leg up my calf and am met with blood. And lots of it. I am in a vague mood when I hear a strong grip on my shoulder. I am snapped out of my mood when I see Cato before me, slashing at the monster. He pulls me up by brute force and basically drags me away from the scene. I look around me and see more of the monsters, seeming to sprout out of the ground. Then Cato swerves to the side and throws something at me.

I look down, still a bit dizzy, and see it's flesh colored armor. I hear him instruct me to put it on and I quickly pull it on, ready to be dragged again. Then Cato surprises me and just sweeps me off my feet. I wrap my hands around his neck and look behind him, seeing the monsters starting to gain on us.

Cato carries me for a long while before finally breaking through the thick cover of the forest. I see Katniss and Peeta at the lake, apparently waiting for us. Katniss poises herself and sends an arrow our way. I flinch before realizing it just deflects of off me, falling to the ground. Katniss stares at us in question before realizing we were being chased. She stands up and runs after us, Peeta following her.

We get to the Cornucopia and Cato sets me down before starting to climb the structure, stopping and sticking his hand out for me to take. Everything was happening so fast it took Cato's hand closing over mine, quite forcefully, before I snapped out of the daze for good. I got into survival mode as Cato collapses on the side of the Cornucopia, completely out of breath. I hear clattering below and look down, seeing a huge mass of fur, teeth, and claws ripping into the terrain and even each other at times. Then I hear Katniss screaming commotion down to Peeta. Katniss.

In that moment, I remember what the Hunger Games was all about. Finishing my last target so I could go home with Cato. I didn't need him for this part. I pinpoint one of Katniss' vitals, knife in hand, and ready myself for the throw. I keep telling myself to do it, but my arms won't cooperate. Why? I look at her, shooting arrows and screaming at Peeta below, he bellows out a yelp of pain. Just end this, I tell myself. Just do it! But I can't! My inner-selves fight until I see Peeta's hand on the rim of the Cornucopia, having climbed up it.

I am in the middle of Cato and Katniss and Peeta. I look at Cato, but he's still doubled over, coughing and weezing heavily. I get up from my knees and feel my calf wound gush, the gash being opened more. It takes all my strength to not cry out in pain, and even then, tears stain my cheeks and silent sobs escape me. I hear Cato mumble something out, but I couldn't decipher it.

Then Katniss asks him, "What?"

Peeta answers, "He said 'Do they climb?'." That problem hadn't even crossed my mind. In all honesty, I had only been worried about Katniss that the growling, savage beasts below didn't seem to matter. But they definitely did.

I hear scratching at the base of the structure and I peer over the edge. They were testing their four inch razor sharp claws. Then one steps forward and scales the Cornucopia, but is stopped by a silver arrow piercing its side. It falls to the ground and the others start to pile in its place, discovering they could climb. I panic, what's going to happen?

Then I hear Katniss and Peeta talking, but it is sketchy for me to hear at best what with Cato's heavy breathing and the monsters below. I do pick up eyes and a few names and numbers. So I guess I wasn't the only one who knew about our fellow tributes among us, just in muttation form.

The next part happens rapidly, with just me sitting there. I whip my head to the side as I hear struggling and see Peeta no longer on the horn with us, but dangling from Katniss' hand. I can hear her yelling at him to kill it and he must've because he is back on the top with us once more. I turn my head once more, noticing Cato's breathing has decreased. He makes eyes at me and points towards the weakened Peeta and he makes a cut throat gesture. I understand it perfectly fine, but I was worried about how I would formulate the plan. Sure, Cato could grab Peeta, but how would he be sure to get a hold of him? And then, Katniss would surely just shoot him in the head, leaving me as easy pickings.

Cato lurches forward and grabs Peeta, constricting him in a headlock. Peeta claws helplessly at Cato's strong arms, slowly choking to death. Katniss stands there, completely helpless. I clear my mind, as I had been trained, and ready myself. I curl my lips into a wicked smirk and go in for the kill, landing on top of Kantiss, taking her down. Her bow goes to the side, nearly falling over the side of the Cornucopia.

She gives an animalistic scream and throws me off with sheer force. I definitely wasn't expecting that and when she threw me, I nearly toppled over the edge. I regain my composure and balance, trying hard to not let my temper get the best of me.

I check back up on Cato and he is still jerking Peeta's neck around. Peeta looks faint and weak. He is still helplessly clawing at Cato's arm, leaving small streaks of blood on Cato's forearm. Katniss is aiming her bow at Cato's head. Panic rises in my chest until I realize what Cato is saying. Something about if Katniss shoots him, both he and Peeta will go over the edge, making a tasty buffet for the monsters below.

I throw a knife at Katniss' leg and it plants itself deep in her calf, the blood rushing out. I smirk with evil satisfaction. She blindly turns back to Peeta when I see Peeta draw a bloody X on Cato's hand. I call out to him, but it is too late. Katniss shoots a silver arrow and I watch momentarily, as if everything is in slow motion: the arrow twirling around, catching some light from the moon and reflecting and bending the light. I watch as it pierces Cato's hand and he lets go of Peeta, giving him the opportunity to take his shoulder and push Cato off the edge.

I stand in shock for a moment before a shriek has awoken me. I look at Katniss as she and Peeta assess each other's wounds, ignoring the fact that a perfectly able-bodied Career still amongst them. I am about to go up and stab them to death when I hear a shriek again. Cato!

Impulsively, I jump off the golden structure, my legs wavering slightly as I hit the hard ground. It takes the monsters less than a second for them to sense another human near them. The pack turns on me and snarls, slobber dripping from their killer jaws.

I back up and watch as one seems to wave the others on. I didn't get the time to see which tribute it was, but I had sickening feeling it was Marvel. I take a deep breath and get my knives out, assessing the pack that was running my way now. I didn't have much time left.

I count too many. There are too many of them. I won't be able to take them all down. I am about to panic again when I see an arrow shoot before me. It lodges itself in a mutt's forehead and I watch it go down, stumbling and faltering before hitting the ground, tripping some of the others. I look up at Katniss and raise my eyebrows. Why did she do that? She just shakes her head and starts sending the few arrows down to the pack. I watch some of them fall, but there are still too many.

I get into action and push my jacket out of the way, revealing my knives. I take a random one and fling it at the mutt before me. The knife impales its neck and it falls, spitting out blood. I take another deep breath and throw another one in the huge mass of bulk that must've been Thresh. I watch it go down again and start to throw faster, like my life depended on it, because it did.

Katniss shoots arrows from above until all of her arrows are gone. I look down at my belt and see that there are only about four knives left. I look back at the pack, now going back to trying to scale the Cornucopia, thinking Katniss was the bigger threat. This ticked me off slightly. Those things should be more scared of me, right?

The remaining mutts, about seven, turn when I whistle at them. I throw one and it goes through one's eye, through the brain, out the other eye and into the mutt next to it. They both fall, leaving me with five mutts left. They snarl at me and start to form a circle around me, preventing me from leaving or having any chance of escape. I bet the Capitol was getting quite the show.

I fling a knife at one and it yelps in pain as it severely injures it eye, but not fatally. It just growls and takes the knife out, throwing relatively close to me. I ponder what to do next and decide on grabbing the knife. I grab it and regret it immediately. The one closest to me bites into my arm, leaving huge gashes and teeth marks. I panic and try to reel back. I feel a searing pain rip up my whole arm as I feel it loosen its grip in the socket. Wonderful.

The mutt refuses to let go, but I take my other arm and bring it down as hard as I can on its head. It lets go momentarily and I get another knife, stabbing the thing in its head. I watch its eyes roll back in its head as it sinks to its knees, another mutt down.

I turn around and feel claws ripping into my already injured calf. The blood that had dried was now flowing freely again. I scream out in undignified pain. I feel tears in the corner of my eyes. I let them flow. I grit my teeth and start to accept that this was not a good idea. I don't even know if Cato was still alive…

I drag myself back up and watch the amused mutts start to circle around me again. They were playing with me. With their food. I hated the idea. I take one of my last knives and throw it with great force at a mutt. It falls and its claws shred through the mutt next to it. The blood starts flowing.

It howls back with more anger or pain: I don't know. I approach it quickly and stab it in several places, feeling the contact of the thing's organs against the blade of my knife. It strikes at me and tries to bite me, but I evade. Then I realize I'm not being attacked by the others. I turn around and realize they're not there. Neither are the other bodies that had fallen. I turn back with a puzzled look at my mutt and realize it's gone too. What the hell?

I look up and around me, side to side. After accepting they had either been abducted or just disappeared out of thin air. Then I remember my original objective: Cato.

I walk over with wobbly feet. My arm hung limply and my leg was on fire with blinding pain, especially when I walked. I walk over to the other side of the Cornucopia, covering my mouth at the state of Cato. Tears threaten to make a reappearance.

I approach his mangled body and lean down, pressing my ear to his bloodied and battered chest. I am relieved to find a heart beat. A weak one, but still a heart beat. I look down the rest of his body. The thin mesh-like armor had done nothing to prevent any injuries. He has tons of scratches, which would be an understatement. These things were like red abysses cut into his skin, right down to the bone. How he survived, I have no idea. And that wasn't even the worst of it. On the left side of his neck, there was a huge pool of blood, from being bitten.

I look at his face. His eyes were blissfully shut, as if he was perfectly content with his state of body. I rip a shred off my clothing, the remaining shreds of material I had left, and wrap a poor tourniquet around his neck. I watch hopelessly as the blood just shows through the thin material. I put my bloody hand on his face, realizing that he wouldn't live long, that is if we didn't get to the Capitol soon.

I turn my back on him and spot Katniss on top of the Cornucopia, staring at me with a look of grief on her face. She motions for me to climb up. I am hesitant. What if this is just an attempt to kill me? I look back down at my mangled leg and run my finger over the gaping wound in disgust. It hurt so badly.

I weakly take a foothold on the structure and climb slowly to the top, where Katniss and Peeta await. As I cautiously pull myself with one arm on the top of the Cornucopia, Katniss keeps a knife pointed at my chest. I smirk.

"What?" I ask nastily.

Katniss sighs and relaxes slightly, and leans in to whisper in my ear. "We don't give them a winner this year."

"What?" I ask again.

"If they don't have their winners, then what do they do?"

I nod and decide to play along. "Okay, well what do you suggest we do? Cato doesn't have much longer," I say, looking over the side to see Cato.

Katniss takes my wrist and I pull back instinctively, but relax. It's not like I can get out of the death grip she has on my wrist anyway. Then she pours some berries in my cupped palm. "Eat them," she says, closing my fingers over them. Then she digs around the bag she has with her and gives me anther handful, in my half functioning hand. "Give those to Cato. Just make sure the juices get on his tongue and down his throat." I nod, then start to descend the structure, along with Katniss and Peeta.

We get to the bottom and I lead them over to Cato. I kneel next to him and look at Peeta and Katniss. They nod and start to put the berries on their tongues, so do I. Then I hear static crackle over the arena. "Stop! Stop! May I present to you the winners of the 74th Hunger Games!" I spit the berries out and open Cato's mouth, with great force, and claw the berries out. I look over and Katniss is frantically asking Peeta if he ate the berries. Then I start to wonder. Wasn't there only supposed to be two victors? And why did Katniss want to end this thing if she knew she stood a chance of winning? All she had to do was let Cato and me get eaten by those mutts.

I crawl over to her and ask, "Why did you want to do that?"

"Because they said there wasn't going to be two victors anymore, didn't you hear?" she answers, a look of confusion on her face.

I thought about it. I guess I hadn't heard the change. I was too busy fighting for my life and Cato's against those monsters. She just turns around and points to the sky, spotting the hovercraft. I look at Cato, whose eyes were open, the bright, shocking blue staring into mine.

The hovercraft lands and we board. Immediately, they take the others into surgery, but they say they only had two operating rooms so Katniss and I would have to wait. We sit in the comfortable chairs and she just looks into something, avoiding my eyes.

I must've dozed off because I am awoken by a subtle shake on my shoulder. They lead me to a pure white room. I don't remember anything after that, just that Katniss had seriously fucked up. The Capitol was extremely unhappy with all of us, but Katniss more so. And the reason was simple: she defied them, a sign of rebellion.

END OF FIRST INSTALLMENT

So, what did ya think? I will be writing a second one. Hopefully I'll have the first chapter out for you guys soon and please review and favorite. SEQUEL IS AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME please take a looksie!