5...4...3...2...1...Bong! The gong sounds and we all run off our plates towards the Cornucopia. No! I tell myself, You run away from here! My legs don't listen and keep pulling me towards the now ensuing bloodbath. I see the Careers have no problem killing other kids, as five dead bodies already lay by them. The girl from District 1 is sitting on top if the boy from District 5, hacking at him with her blade. The boy from District 4 stabs the girl from 10 with his sword. The boy from 10 then slits the boy from 4's throat. I see a black pack and grab it. Run! I tell myself but I keep going towards the heart of the Cornucopia. I hear the girl from 3 beg the boy from 1 for mercy but he laughs and stabs her in the throat, allowing her to drown in her own blood. I see someone else, ruthlessly slashing at the younger tributes. I can't see their face but they seem to see me and bolt towards me. My mind seems to send the message to me legs to get out of there.

I run towards the trees and for some reason, the tribute is still pursuing me. I tripped over a rock and they land on top of me. I wrestle them and I am pinned on my stomach. "Ready to die?" the tribute asks.

The voice sounds so familiar, it scares me. They laugh and I hear them pull out a knife. They roll me over and I see their face. My eyes widen as I realize who's about to make my cannon go off and then they stab me. I scream and the last thing I see is myself laughing manically on top of me.

I woke up in a cold sweat and heard Marcy pounding on my door. "Get up Kristen! It's nine thirty! You have to be at the Training Center at ten!" she yelled through the wood.

I groaned and pulled myself out of bed. It was raining, like it has been for the past few days. Isn't this entire thing the Training Center? I asked myself while walking out of my room. I rubbed my back, it still hurt from being thrown last night. When I walked into the dining room, everyone was already seated. Aft looked up when I entered the room and said, "Hello Kristen, nice of you to join us."

I grunted out a hello and sat down. I put eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and a pancake on my plate. It was silent for a bit, and I was beginning to wonder if Aft told anyone about what happened last night. "So, for your Training Center outfits, Forta and I decided to keep you and Spencer close to alike but slightly different," Aft said, breaking the silence.

"Oh?" I said with a slight hint of curiosity.

"Yes, you see Spencer is wearing orange shorts with a black shirt."

"Wasn't really paying attention."

"Well, you will be wearing black shorts and an orange shirt."

"Cool," I replied before taking another bite of my eggs. I was trying to stall, because I really didn't want to go. I finished what was on my plate and reached for more bacon before Marcy slapped my hand.

"It's nine forty-five, go get ready," she said.

"But I'm still hungry," I said.

Spencer snickered and mumbled, "Of course you are."

I shot him a look then turned my attention back to Marcy. "Shower, now," she said sternly.

I got up and walked out murmuring, "Whatever..mom."

The shower in my bathroom had a lot of different options. They ranged from chocolate scented shampoo to dye for your skin. I picked a vanilla scented shampoo and a berry body wash. After the shower, I dried my hair and put on the shirt and shorts Aft left out for me. At nine fifty-five, I was dressed and out in the living room. Marcy was mumbling about how we would be late but Aft motioned me to come towards him. I grudgingly did so and he put my hair into a ponytail, like I suspected he would. As soon as he twisted the tie for the final time Marcy said, "We have to go. We're going to be late!"

Spencer and I were the last ones to arrive at the Center's gymnasium. Once we walked in, we had a square cloth pinned to our backs. In the center of the gym, the head trainer Atala, saw us and started her speech, "Welcome tributes. After the Games, twenty-three of you will be dead. That's the hard truth. You all have three days to train here to try to make sure you are the one who doesn't die. The stations are archery, axes, blowguns, boxing, camouflage, climbing, insects, plants, fishhooks, fire, the gauntlet, hammock making, hand-to-hand, knives, knots, ropes. shelters, slingshots, snares, spears, swords, tridents, weightlifting, and wrestling. Don't ignore the survival skills. The majority of you will die from natural causes instead of a weapon. Do not fight with the other tributes. If you wish to spar, we can provide a partner for you. Lunch will began at twelve. That is all."

I walked towards the shelters station but I noticed the Careers from 1 and 2 went off to the swords while the Careers from 4 went off to the tridents. They always try to intimidate the other tributes, bit I wouldn't let myself be intimidated. Their arrogance is going to get them killed, I told myself.

At the shelters station, I learned how to make a shelter out of tree branches and leaves. After I made a perfect shelter, I walked over to the hand-to-hand but the girl from one hit my shoulder while walking past me. I brushed it off as an accident. "Watch where you're going Six!" she yelled at me.

I didn't have a chance to have my morphling and I was starting to experience withdrawals. One symptom is irritability. I turned around and yelled back, "You bumped into me, you watch it!"

"Do you know who I am?" she asked while walking up to me.

"An arrogant, self righteous bitch from District One?" I answered.

"Really? At least I'm not a morphling addict from District Six."

"I'm not an morphling addict."

"Liar. Tell me, how does your mommy feel about raising a worthless addict?"

"How does your mommy feel about raising my first kill?"

"You can't kill me. You're nothing, even your partner hates you. You can't even commit suicide properly."

I snapped. I punched her so hard that blood squirted from her nose. I got on top of her and kept punching. "What did you just say?' I screamed at her and kept punching even when the Peacekeepers tried to pull me off. She eventually was unconscious and it took a group of five Peacekeepers to finally get me off of her. They held my arms back and I shrugged them off. "Get off of me," I growled.

They didn't grab me again but they led me into another room off of the gymnasium. While walking into the room, I saw two Peacekeepers pick up the girl from one and take her to the elevator. The room had a conference table and chairs. Two Peacekeepers stayed in the room with me while two others guarded the door. After about ten minutes, the door opened and Aft, Marcy, and Loriana walked in. "Kristen Ward! What have you done?" Marcy yelled.

Here we go, I thought to myself. "Is she dead?" I asked.

"No, she's fine, except for a broken nose and a concussion," Aft replied.

"Pity," I said while I traced a pattern on the table.

'Why don't you tell us what happened?" Loriana suggested.

"I was walking to hand-to-hand-," I started.

"Clearly, you excel at that," Marcy interrupted.

I shot her a look and continued. "I was walking to hand-to-hand and she bumped into me. I brushed it off as an accident but then she yelled at me for not watching where I was going. I'm in a bad mood and I didn't feel like being pushed around. I yelled back at her, since it was her that bumped into me. She started getting all 'holier than thou' on me and called me an addict. I told her she was first target and she said something about not committing suicide properly."

I stopped for a second then looked at Aft. "How did she know?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he answered then he focused his attention to one of the Peacekeepers. "So what's going to happen?"

"Well, if Miss Ward can keep her temper in check, she can go back to training, otherwise, she can spend the rest of the day here and go back to her floor tonight," the Peacekeeper replied.

"I'll go back to training," I said.

I stood up and Aft walked me out behind Loriana and Marcy. Back on the training floor, the girl from one's blood was cleaned up and everyone was training. Ignoring the hand-to-hand, because I had to agree with Marcy, I excelled at it, I walked over to the knife throwing station. It was no use to make myself seem weak because I already proved I could hold my own. I waited in line behind the girl from District 5 while the girl from District 4 went. When it was my turn, I picked up four knives. One serrated, one smooth, and two both serrated and smooth. I hit two of the dummies in the heart, one in the head, and the other in the shoulder. Satisfied, I walked away.

A bell sounded for lunch and we were led into a dining room off of the gymnasium. There was carts full of food. Orange chicken, rice, creamed corn, bread from each district, sandwiches, and chicken soup were available. I sat alone at a table while the Careers all sat together. They laughed loudly, trying to intimidate others. A few of them glared at me, especially when the girl from one came back in with a bandage on her nose. I snickered into my soup and left to train again when lunch was over.

During the second day, while I was at the archery station, I noticed the District 9 boy watching me. I wasn't sure if he was following me or if it was just coincidence until I saw him watching me at the edible plants and the gauntlet. I couldn't remember his name, only that he was the boy who volunteered to take his friend's place. He had light skin and dark brown hair. Up close, he looked anywhere from ten to twelve. At the stations he participated in, I learned he was good in camouflage and wrestling. He couldn't be more than 120 pounds, which worried me about how wrestling would work if he was up against the 210 pound male from 1. Why do I care so much, I asked myself as he pinned Spencer.

Later that night on District 6's floor, Johan, Loriana, and Marcy interrogate us about training. They wanted to know what we've done that did not include beating the other tributes' faces in, who watched us, and how the other tributes look. Spencer said nothing and concentrated on his drumstick while I told them about how the Careers didn't seem to get over yesterday. 'You beat up one of their group, of course they're going to hold it against you," Marcy said to me before turning her attention to Spencer. "Why are you so quiet?"

"He's just mad because the fourteen year old from Nine pinned him in wrestling," I said with a smirk.

"Shut up," Spencer snapped.

I laughed and took another bite of my shrimp. Marcy had the mixed look of surprise and humor in her eyes. After a few more minutes, she said, "You know tomorrow is your last day. They'll be taking you out during lunch by district order, starting with One. The guys will go first, which means you, Spencer, will be going before Kristen. Since you guys are right in the middle, they should be in a relatively good mood when you two go. Now off to bed!"

The next day, we spent the morning training. I went over to the snare station first. There, I learned how to make a snare, that when triggered, it would leave the offending tribute hanging upside down by one leg. I made a mental note to try that snare if given the chance while walking to the insect station. Halfway there, I noticed the District 1 girl bothering the boy from District 9. Seriously, I asked myself. I walked over to them and asked, "Problem?"

The girl from 1 glared at me. "Mind your own business."

I raised an eyebrow in amusement. I did my morphling injection before I came to training so she really couldn't anger me. "I would, if it seemed like your lesson worked two days ago. Do we need a review?"

"I said to mind your own business."

I gave the boy from 9 a look to go while I had the girl distracted. "And I asked if you need a review of your beating?"

"You better watch yourself."

"Oh nos, I'm shaking in my shoes," I laughed. "What are you gonna do?"

She said nothing and walked off. I went to the knot tying station and learned how to tie an axle hitch. After I finished up there, I noticed the time was 11:50. We had ten minutes to lunch and until our private sessions began. I decided to go to the insect station. I didn't know what kind of insects the Gamemakers would throw into the arena. Over the course of ten minutes, I was told about tracker jackers and how to identify them. I already knew, so did everyone in Panem. Tracker jackers looked like wasps but were ten times more aggressive. Their stings were extremely painful and caused swelling, hallucinations, and eventual death. There was another insect that made a clicking noise. It was dangerous in swarms and possibly carnivorous.

At 12:00, the lunch bell rang and we were ushered into the dining room. For lunch, we had rice, lobster sushi, and crab meat. I guess they like seafood, I thought while piling rice and lobster sushi on my plate before sitting down. After about ten minutes, they called the boy from One. Every ten minutes, they called another tribute. I was feeling anxious and by the time they called Spencer, my anxiety level was through the roof. Just stay calm, it'll be fine, just pretend the targets are Spencer, I kept telling myself.

They finally called me and I finished the last bite of my rice before walking out into the gymnasium. Keep calm, I tried to tell myself. My palms were sweating and I felt lightheaded from all the anxiety. I was coming down from my morphling so it couldn't help. When I walked out into the center of the gym, I noticed about half of the Gamemakers were actually watching me. The other half were fixated on food. I shrugged it off and went over towards the throwing knives. I hit the button to make the targets turn around. I picked up four knives, the same as I did on the first day, & threw them. Since I was actually trying to do my best, I hit two of the targets in the heart and two in the head. I glanced over at the Gamemakers and a few were nodding in approval but most were paying attention to the food. Frustrated, I walked over towards the swords. I need to get them to pay attention to me, I thought and I knew just the way.

I walked over to the plants instead and grabbed a handful of berries. Then I went over towards the swords. I squeezed the berries and used the juice to write "District 1" on the dummy. I took a small sword, sat on top of the dummy and just kept stabbing it, but not enough to make the "District 1" disappear. After I was finished stabbing and cutting, I took some rope from the knot tying station and created a noose. I hung the dummy and threw a knife at the feet of the Gamemakers. They looked up at me in shock then at the dummy with widening eyes. I smiled sweetly at them before the head Gamemaker dismissed me.