The light was dim, which made it hard for me to see the gravestones. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know, but I knew I had to. I took a deep breath and crouched before the head-stone.
District 8
Jeanine
Died 8:06 Day 1
Killed By: Maris, District 4.
Some of the tension in my stomach eased. The gravestones were obviously ordered by when people had died, and at least the first person to die hadn't been one of my allies. Although Jeanine of District 8 obviously hadn't lasted too terribly long, considering the games had only started a minute before she died...
I moved on to the next gravestone, crouching before it.
District 6
Henderson
Died: 8:08 Day 1
Killed By: Blaise, District 1.
I grimaced. Two dead within the first three minutes of the Games, and both killed by a Career. This wasn't looking too good.
District 11
I stopped reading the gravestone, my heart in my throat. I closed my eyes and prayed that the name I was going to see below District 11 wasn't Thray's. Thray was so sweet, I couldn't handle the idea of him lying in a pool of his own blood. I opened my eyes and forced myself to read the rest of the stone.
District 11
Jeremiah
Died: 8:08 Day 1
Killed By: Onyx, District 1.
Relief flooded me and I let myself smile. Of course, that didn't mean Thray was alive... But it did mean that he wasn't one of the first three to die. I noticed that Onyx and Blaise, both from District 1, had killed someone at the same time. It made me wonder if they had teamed up, and if they had... well, it proved they were very deadly. I moved on to the next gravestone.
District 3
Belladona
Died: 8:09 Day 1
Killed By: Tanner, District 5.
I didn't know either of the names, but at least Belladona wasn't one of my friends and Tanner wasn't a career.
District 13
I paused. I knew all four of the kids from District 13. I grimaced and closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath. I wondered who would kill such a young child before it became necessary, and I felt sick. At least I didn't know the four children well; it was better than seeing District 12 on the gravestone.
District 13
Fillie
Died 8:12 Day 1
Killed By: Maroon, District 2.
I sighed. Fillie had been such a sweet little boy. I stared at Maroon's name, and remembered that day in the training grounds. I remembered her words. You've made your first and worst enemy. I wondered if that was why she had killed Fillie; because she knew Fillie was one of my allies. The thought made me grimace. I wondered why my allies had still been in the arena seven minutes after the start of the games; I had been hoping they would have been over the wall and gone. Maybe Fillie had been too slow... Or maybe Maroon took her time killing him. I shook the thoughts from my head and moved on to the next stones.
District 9
Alice
Died 8:13 Day 1
Killed By: Grace, District 10
Grace of District 10. Apparently, that was the first name of one of the Benson twins. I shook my head briefly and moved quickly through the remaining stones. Judging by the time stamps on the stones, the blood-bath had ended at 8:20, fifteen minutes after the games had started. Nine people died in the blood-bath, which included the girl from District 3 (Belladona), a boy from District 5 named Peter, Henderson from District 6, Jeanine from District 8, Alice and Nathan from District 9, Jeremiah from District 11, and Fillie from District 13.
There were four more gravestones from later in the day, after everyone had scattered and left. There was a boy from District 8 on the gravestones, who was killed by Maris. The time that he died was 16:35. My stomach churned as I remembered the mangled body I had seen while walking around the Colosseum, and I wondered when I had been walking around the Colosseum... Had he still been alive when I walked by? I pushed the thought away and looked at the other three gravestones. They were all names I didn't recognize; one of the boys from 7 and one of the boys from 10, and then a girl from 6. I stared at the gravestone for the boy from District 7 for the longest time.
It wasn't because of the kid who died, though.
It was because of the kid who killed him.
Ty, District 2.
I wondered why Ty had had to kill him. I wondered what the story was. I wondered if he had been protecting himself, or if he had been protecting Ash or Dianna or someone else. I wondered what would have happened if I had been there, like I was supposed to be.
I got to my feet and brushed the snow off the knees of my armor. I didn't feel like walking too far, or walking much at all. I felt tired, and somewhat overwhelmed, so I just walked until I could no longer see the graveyard and then I climbed a tree. I found a spot where the tree forked into three separate branches and tucked myself into the gap, using one of the branches as a backrest and putting my legs between the remaining two.
I thought I would never get to sleep that night, but it only took my a few moments to fall into a dreamless sleep.