Disclaimer: I do not own anything of or relating to the Hunger Games. I am not making money off of this.

Chapter Thirteen: And So the Games Began

The cannon may have sounded, but I certainly wasn't going anywhere. In fact, I stepped off the plate, watching as it disappeared, before I turned to see the Cornucopia off in the distance. In all honesty, I hadn't felt very protected by this arena…it was very open and though the bloodbath was several hundred yards away, I couldn't help but feel as though any of them could come running at me at any given moment.

Perhaps, that was the reasoning behind it…paranoia could be a strong element in this game.

Then again, I knew that the Gamemakers wouldn't be so boring as to simply make a maze. Why, the Games would be over too quickly. Surely, there had to be some sort of a loop hole; it was the Hunger Games for crying out loud. It was for this reason that I began running my hand along the solid brick wall that seemed to stretch for eternity into the hazy sky above. I had done one too many puzzles produced by the brilliant minds of those in the Capitol to think that they had simply made a mice maze for us to chase each other through.

However, before I could fully analyze the depth of this mental teaser, I looked just in time to see the boy from District Four standing several feet from me at the edge of my wing, just before the entrance to the bloodbath. He looked as though he had already slaughtered someone for blood stained his light-colored pants and dark green jacket we had been given to wear. Without hesitating, he pulled what I presumed to be his newly attained knife from his pocket and sent it throttling through the air toward me.

Take note that I was still relatively close to the end of the maze, and to this day I still do not understand how what happened worked out in such a manner. Swiftly, I hit the ground, looking up just in time to see his feet racing toward me. The knife, I looked back to retrieve from his poor aiming, but in the time that it took me to adjust myself, I saw a force-field type wall appear, buzzing a light blue color as it swallowed the knife. The boy stood in complete awe for a moment, but in a matter of seconds, the wall had regurgitated the knife and sent it hurtling back at the boy at twice the speed he had originally sent it.

I almost pitied the kid as his own blade wedged itself square in his chest. Blinking several times, I looked back at the wall, questioningly before pulling myself to my feet, slowly approaching the boy's body and dislodging the blade from his chest. It wasn't long before the line of cannon fire started, signaling all of the deaths from the bloodbath. By the time I had mustered up the strength to approach the middle of the maze, I had counted twelve deaths, which was usual for the blood bath. I was surprised it wasn't more due to the lack of being able to evade the battle. Even when I came to the Cornucopia, there were still other tributes there, but I noticed them to be the younger children from the outer districts. They simply glanced at me, doe-eyed and innocent before sprinting away in the opposite direction, another wing of the maze.

What lay before me was a sight unlike anything I had ever seen before. Bodies were strewn about the stone ground, someone had clearly already taken out these children as if it were nothing. Looking around carefully to be sure that their killer had already dispersed, I moved over, around the Cornucopia perched in the middle of this gathering spot. The only thing left of the weapons was a backpack laying atop of one of the dead tributes. I pulled the bag over my shoulder before respectfully turning the gory-mangled body over so that it was not as explicit.

The sight of a dead body was much different on television that it was in real life.

I do not know if words can even express the sight of all of them, sporadically thrown about with all sorts of gashes and cuts, blood still dripping (or gushing in some cases). The image would probably forever be engraved in my head. Never before had I been a very avid spokesperson against the Hunger Games, but for the first time ever I couldn't help but feel….a certain anger toward anyone who would organize a killing of these teenagers. As I stepped over the limp bodies, I couldn't help but wonder what they had ever done to deserve to be killed.

Sure, the Capitol claimed that it was to "remind us who was truly in power", as if we should forget. In my head, it made no sense that children who had nothing to do with the revolt so long ago should be murdered simply for being the weak link.

As I reached the edge of the cemetery, stepping aside as I saw a hovercraft overhead dropping down to pull up the bodies, one at a time. I knew it was dangerous to be standing about, simply watching and it was probably making for boring television, but I was rather enthralled by the sight of this, wondering how anyone could find entertainment from this.

It was after the last body was lifted that I realized how ridiculous my thoughts sounded and how I needed to get a move on if I wished to get an advantage over anyone in the Games. My alone time was my time to be able to decipher the maze itself, which might would be the difference in life and death. Already, it was a miracle that I had survived this bloodbath, it was time to move on and see what else lie in store.

First of all, I knew that if this were a maze, then it had several loopholes to it. It most certainly was not just a maze.

Almost as if on cue, I heard another scream from off in the distance, high-pitched and blood-curling. Then, a canon fired and I gulped, realizing I needed to act at a semi-rapid pace since the Gamemakers seemed to be holding back little in their killing of tributes. Standing at the tip of the Cornucopia, I looked around to see the twenty four different paths leading off in different directions and…it was probably one of the most intimidating things I had ever seen.

Looking around, I noticed a stone, smaller than the other ones laying in front of one of the wings. I approached it quickly to see why this one was different from the others. Looking down, I noticed the letter "E" etched as tiny as it could have been into the stone. I furrowed my brow, looking around. Another stone of the same sort appeared to be the same distance away, but before I got off of the stone, I remembered that many of the puzzles I had before involved direction in some way shape or form. I counted my steps, passing each wing as I did so. When I stood upon the next stone labeled with an "N", I had traveled past six wings. I predicted what the next stone would read, but never the less, I took the six steps to stand atop of the "W" stone and then on to the "S" stone last.

Now, I had a general idea of direction, but I had no idea why direction would have been important. As much as I would have liked to dissect this a little bit more, I supposed that the Gamemakers were getting a little impatient and antsy for off in the distance, I heard loud, gregarious voices coming from the "N" direction. Laughter and loud talking were my cue to head in the opposite direction because the last thing I needed was a showdown with Flux and his cronies this early.

Making a quick note of which direction I was going (two to the left of the "S" passage), I quickened my pace and sprinted in the opposite direction of the group coming. I slowed whenever the wing turned several times and I knew I was a safe distance from the lot of them. I sat down against the wall and pulled the backpack I had obtained from the corpse at the Cornucopia.

After I unzipped the bag, I found a plastic bottle that appeared to be of little use to me. I sat it down before shoving my hand back into the bag, only to pull out a pair of rubber-type shoes that I hadn't a clue as to how I would ever use in my life. Out of disappointment, I stretched the rubber back before releasing it into the air. In desperation, I shoved my hand into the bag again and actually struck some luck. There was a small, utility knife sitting in the bottom of the, now-empty bag.

So, I had a bottle, a pair of rubber shoes, and a small knife that could barely cut through a piece of meat.

Before totally giving up, I unzipped one of the front pockets.

A pad of paper and pen.

"Seriously?" I muttered under my breath, shoving everything back in, wondering just how this was supposed to help me at all.

Again, I found that I had little time to figure anything out for a grumbling could be heard off in the distance. I slowly turned my head in the direction of the darkness farther back into the wing. Swiftly, I pulled myself up from the ground in pure fear of what was happening. I stared for several seconds before realizing that the ground was literally crumbling into oblivion and if I didn't move quickly, I would be lost into a black pit of darkness.

The sound of the crumbling walls was the one thing keeping me sprinting at the pace that I was. I knew that, unfortunately, this would lead me right back to the Cornucopia, where the Careers had presumably made camp. Already, it seemed as though the Gamemakers wanted to limit the amount of time I had to sit and think. I certainly was going to be in shape after these Games.

As I ran, I noticed that a blue force field was starting to form around the edges of the wing, just in front of me. The ground was rather scarce behind me and I knew that I had to get in front of that force field if I wished to survive. Feeling the sweat dripping from my forehead, I pushed forward more quickly, breathing more heavily than I ever had in my life. As I turned the corner, I could see the Cornucopia once again in the distance. The force field seemed to be traveling far too quickly for me to catch up, but I still pressed on, never the less. The wing was quickly disintegrating and I knew that I had very little chance of success; therefore, just as the ground below my feet was about to disappear, I threw myself through the air to just barely beat the force field in closing off the now destroyed corridor that had been two to the left of the stone labeled "S".

I may have made the jump, but definitely not unscathed. I looked down to my shoe and hem of my pants singed from the force field, now buzzing steadily blocking anyone from getting any idea of suicide from the new hole of darkness. There was a small scorch on my ankle, but it was nothing major and did not prevent me from jumping quickly to my feet. Standing up, I looked at the force field, or glared rather at its blue hue and steady buzz, reminding me of how close it was to destroying me. However, as I turned my head, I noticed that this was not the only wing that had been destroyed there were several others that were now bared off with a force field. Thirteen to be exact.

Were they trying to kill us all off in the first day? Did they have a television schedule to meet this year?

And for that moment, I forgot that I wasn't alone standing in the middle of this perplexing maze near the Cornucopia.

A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading! Writing the Games is going to be very interesting for me and this chapter was me kind of trying to get used to it so please let me know what you thought of it! :D