Chapter 35: Fiancé in Arena

Katniss's POV

As predicted, Riley wakes up before dawn. I rise, nurse her and then place her back at the foot of the bed before going to take a shower. By the time I return, Peeta is up. He showers and dresses in record time and then leads me and Riley out into the hallway.

"Now, remember: it's up to you whether you think you can handle the Cornucopia. If the bows and arrows are too far in - don't go for them. Run, find water. Then you can go from there."

I nod. "Got it."

"Katniss…. please win. For me."

"I told you, I've already promised! But, really, why worry? If I win, I can raise Riley, right alongside you. If I don't…. I trust you are more than capable, and you have more than enough money from your winnings to support the both of you."

"But what good is any of that if you're not around?" Peeta chides. "Please, Katniss. I can't lose you."

"I can't, either," I sigh, gazing into his eyes. "But we have to be prepared either way, don't we?"

Just then, Haymitch, Effie and Benny approach.

"I'm afraid it's time," our escort tells us.

I put on my bravest smile and look at my daughter lovingly. "Goodbye, Riley." I kiss the baby and hand the bundle to Peeta. Grabbing him, I pull him into one last, passionate kiss; I ignore Haymitch's snort. I nod to Benny and we march up to the roof of the Training Center, where Peacekeepers load us into the waiting hovercraft. Before I know it, the tracker is in my arm and we are on our way.

About 45 minutes later, I feel the plane land and the hatch opens. Benny, the other tributes and I are rushed into an underground tunnel and then split up into separate holding areas. In mine waits Cinna, my stylist, and he preps me in my arena jumpsuit. Then, on the breast pocket, I notice the mockingjay pin - a gift from Peeta for my birthday a month ago.

"Thank you," I whisper to Cinna. He must have recovered it from my Reaping dress.

"As a stylist, I'm not allowed to bet. But if I could I'd bet on you," he tells me.

"Ten seconds to launch!" an announcer's voice calls. I nod one last time to Cinna and step into the launch pod. Glass seals around me with a hiss and a click.

In only a moment, I feel myself beginning to rise. Up, up I go until at last, I emerge into light.

The first thing that registers is that the light is artificial, not natural. The second thing I register is a new, rattling reality.

I am in another cell.

A prison cell.

My new environment is probably no more than 9 feet by 5 feet, and maybe 7 feet high. Peering through the bars, I can see I am on a kind of catwalk balcony, a second level. Directly across from me, I can see six other tributes in similar cells, with another six on the first level below them. I figure that five others are in the cells around me, and six more below us. The Cornucopia is in the center floor space of the entire cell block. I see that my weapons of choice, the bow and arrows, are right in the thick of the weapons piled close together at the mouth of the horn. Guess I'm going to have to run away from the fight, like Peeta said, I think.

Claudius Templesmith's voice booms over what may be the prison intercom system: "Let the 76th Hunger Games begin! May the odds be ever in your favor! 10….9…."

I ready myself to be a player, eyeing my cell door and guessing that it will open automatically when the countdown ends. Claudius reaches 0, the gong sounds, and…..

The cell doesn't open.

But the others do; I can hear them opening around me, see them release the tributes on the opposite catwalk. Some race each other to the stairs that lead to the first floor, others just leap over the railings. Tributes that were held on the lower level get there fastest of all.

I run to my bars and rattle them desperately, trying to keep the panic from boiling up inside of me. Come on, come on…. open up, come on…..

I can see that the battle has already started by now. Tributes are hacking away at each other with whatever they can find.

I shrink back into my cell. It is obvious that my cell door has somehow malfunctioned. I'm trapped! I can't let any of my competition see me. If they do, I'll be a sitting duck.

I glance about my cell. Spying the cot to my right, I quickly duck under it and shrink back into the cell wall, attempting to blend in with the shadows. All I can do is listen to the screams of my fellow tributes for maybe the next hour.

At last, the sounds of battle fade away. I hear the cannons. BOOM. BOOM…..

When I finish counting, twelve have died. Twelve left to play.

I stay in my hiding place for the rest of the day. No one comes for me. I just watch the shadows grow longer and longer along the floor with each passing hour. Night must finally fall, for the Panem anthem begins to play. Indoors like this and with no windows in my cell, the faces of the dead tributes appear on the ceiling above the Cornucopia, not the sky.

Both from 3. The girl from 5. The boy from 6. The boy from 7. Both from 8. The boy from 9. The girl from 10. Both from 11. And little Benny. That's it.

I curl into myself to better keep warm and sigh. It's predictable that the Careers all survived. And I knew that my scared little district partner was doomed. The other survivors…. as far as Training Scores are concerned, it's actually a pretty mixed bag.

But before I can think about how to kill any of them, I know that my first order of business tomorrow is one thing:

Get the hell out of this cell.

A/N: And we will stop there for now. I bet a lot of you are wondering what prison Katniss is in. It will be alluded to in the next chapter, but see if you can guess. Don't worry, I will upload soon!

One other thing: thanks to all who have reviewed so far, but please, give me more, MORE! Seriously, let me know what you think! I've seen fanfics with literally hundreds of reviews on them. Where's the love, people?