Disclaimer: Still don't own the Hunger Games.

I know that I've been traveling uphill. The water has been decreasing in height, signifying that I had been moving in an upward direction. The arena seemed to be a basin. The water surrounding the island that we started on must be the lowest point. They are probably trying to drive away any who still linger there, split them from the supplies they fought for, and make them survive of instinct and skill. They might also be trying to submerge those of us who are moving among the trees, trying to get away from both the Cornucopia, and those that defended it. Then they will probably drive us back down to the center. From past experience of watching the Hunger Games, I know that they tend to do ridiculous time consuming things such as that to keep us irritable, and to keep our blood moving. That is to ensure that the death rates and gory fights keep coming so they don't get bored watching us survive in peace, without killing each other. Wouldn't want that, would they?

I put the knife through a slip in my belt, in case I have to reach for it quickly, put on my back pack, and ready my bow with an arrow, in case I have to fight off other tributes at a moment's notice. I hope that the opportunity never presents itself. Anyway, now is the time to reach higher land so I don't drown.

I'm still in the mangrove forest. I remember that the other major part of the arena is the cypress forest. That is on the opposite side of the arena though. It has tall, practically un-climbable trees, along with other trees with thick branches that are easy enough to climb. The one of the only good parts about that portion of the arena is that the trees are incredibly dense, making hiding an easy task. But if someone finds you, you're dead.

I start jumping along the roots of the mangrove trees, going as quickly as I can without losing my footing. I've gone along for about ten minutes when I hear a blood curling scream. I raise my bow and slam myself against a tree with inhuman speed. Either the girl could scream really loud, or she was really close. I had a feeling that whatever got her was coming for me next. I take three long leaps, and then heave myself into the top most branches of the mangrove tree I just cornered myself against and wait to see if the attacker will come my way.

Concealed among the branches, I see it. This massive seven-foot alligator carrying the mangled body of a fifteen-year-old girl swims threw the water. My eyes widen at the sight of it. Her hand was trailing limply by the side of the alligator. Blood was staining the path that the gator was moving along.

I was right about the alligators being a threat. This one was even larger than the one that I had run into yesterday when handling the baby alligator. I really need to be much more careful, any more stupid stunts like that and I will be dead before I realize. The alligator was moving through the newly raised water with ease.

I could see that the girl was still alive; her breathing was hard and rapid. She didn't have much longer. The alligator's jaw was enclosed around her abdominal, piercing through her lungs probably. There was nothing I could do to save her. All I was able to do was watch in as this event unraveled before me. I wait three more minutes. Then her breathing stops.

I hear a cannon fire. Everything silences, the alligator even stops moving. I move uncomfortably and impatiently in my crouching position. A hovercraft appears out of nowhere a few seconds later. It spears the alligator through the stomach, killing it, and then loosens the girl from the jaw with a rope. They then drop down a metal claw and move it around the girl and bring her up, leaving the gator just lying there. Then, as quickly as it came, it leaves. I listen as the noise continues once the hovercraft is gone.

The alligator is still there though. Did they mean to leave it just lying there? Maybe they poisoned the spear so that we wouldn't be able to harvest the meat. That was a rather tempting carcass. It was seven feet of food, and nourishment provided from this one alligator, sitting there, having everything but a golden platter. My dried fruit won't last forever. And I doubt the Games would be that short. I hop out of my protective spot in the tree, and dash to where the alligator lie dead. Only when I got there, I learned that it wasn't dead.

Its breathing was shallow, and it didn't appear to be moving. Being me, I instantly thought that it was trying to trick me. I stopped so suddenly I almost lost my balance and fell into the swamp. I barely managed to catch myself on a branch and regain my stability. Only a yard away from where the alligator lie, I cautiously lifted my bow and shot an arrow through its eye, piercing its brain, and stopping the breathing forever.

I retrieved the arrow, and with yet another sudden adrenalin rush, I flipped the creature over so that its soft, vulnerable belly was facing upward. I took out my knife and began to work quickly. I knew that the others had probably heard the cannon fire, so they were most likely on their way here, in hope to kill the 'tribute' that killed the girl. I slit the gator with a vertical line from the tip of its skull, to the beginning of its tail. I started to cut out meat. While I did this a strand of loose hair fell out of my ponytail. I figured there was no use trying to put it back there. I put it behind my ear. What I was able to cut out of the gator, I wrapped in my cloth. It wasn't much, but it should last three days of meals. It was a start; I just needed to find a way to cook it without signaling the others of my location.

I put the wrapped up meat into my backpack and took off. After ten minutes of walking, I heard birds chirping. Birds. There was other food here. I looked up into the trees and saw a nest in the higher branches. I climbed up the mangrove tree in which the nest was located with ease. Once beside it I examined its contents. There was one hatchling, the one that was making the chirping, and two other eggs. I didn't know what type of bird, but I figure all birds would be defensive if you get by their nest. I didn't see the mother, but she wouldn't be far. I've had enough experience with messing with the offspring of the animals in the arena. I took only one egg and climbed back down before my theft was detected.

I stopped running for now, and slowed down to a walk. I poked a hole into the egg and sucked out the insides, still in fear of my location being shown if I light a fire. Even though the egg wasn't cooked, it still satisfied my hunger, and even some of my thirst. It had a unique taste to it.

I notice haven't seen any of the other tributes in a while. The rising of the water seemed to stop, which probably meant that the gory death of the girl mauled by the monstrous, seven-foot alligator gave them some satisfaction, to relieve them of their boredom. Maybe that was their goal. Submerge someone in water so that an alligator would get them.

As I was walking, it started to rain, hard. I took out my water bottle, to collect water, but I only managed to collect about a fifth of the bottle. It only rained for about ten minutes, yet I was totally and completely soaked. It was weird. When it rains in District 9, it rains for at least an hour, sometimes more, but it is either light and consistent, or heavy and consistent. Here there were short burst of heavy rain at sporadic moments.

Even after it stopped, I was still thirsty. I still had half a container full before it started to rain, but since I added some of the rain water, I probably had to purify it, so I don't become sick. Who knows what is in the water? Since I collected so little though, I didn't want to waste my iodine. That's when I saw a puddle of water that collected in the roots of a mangrove, and quickly ran over there. I scoped up enough water to fill my container back to the top. I added enough iodine to purify it. I placed the lid back on, put it back in my backpack, and waited for the iodine to do its job. I figure that I might as well do something productive while I wait, so I continued to walk for thirty minutes. Enjoying the beautiful scenery the arena had to offer. Then I took out my bottle and drank some of my water, then continued, once again, on my way.

I was genuinely surprised that nothing bad has happened yet. Well, to me anyway. I couldn't say the same for any of my fellow tributes. I especially couldn't say the same for the girl killed by the alligator.

I personally was still surprised that I was still alive. I didn't expect to live past the first day. I wonder if my father is surprised by my short-lived success. I haven't seen any one else in a while. I wonder if those who had control of the Cornucopia had their supplies flooded. It would probably be the Careers if anyone. I wonder if they were hunting now. They seemed the type to do so.

Then I heard a cannon fire. I guess I was right; they had started to hunt the others. Either that or whoever it was that just died had been killed by an alligator as well. As a precaution, I retreated into a nearby mangrove tree, in case the murders were close by. It was almost dark, an hour until sunset. I would see who just was killed soon. I'd also see the district of the girl killed this morning.

An hour and thirty minutes after I retreated into my tree, the anthem played. After the capitol's symbol flashed, I saw the face of the girl who was killed by the alligator. She was the tribute from District 10. The second face to flash was the boy from District 8. He must have been the one who was killed recently. I wish they showed who killed the tributes, and where, but it is thought that if they did that it would be an unfair advantage…I don't really agree with them on that one. Then again, I don't agree with them on many things. One of those things being the senseless murder of twenty three teenagers. Oh well, only twelve tributes to go. Half way done.

I decided that I might as well sleep in the tree that I positioned myself in earlier. It was dark, and I would be easy to sneak up on if I kept moving, plus I was tired, lazy and didn't feel like moving. As I drifted off, I felt as if someone was watching me. I was too tired to question or investigate though. I heard laughter in the distance before falling into my dream, literally.

I dreamt of falling again. It was really starting to annoy me. These dreams had an ominous felling to them. Once again I fell and landed on my neck, all before I could scream. And once again I heard the cannon fire right before I awoke. The only thing that was different this time was that I awoke to the splashing of human feet navigating quickly through the forest. I had a feeling they were hunting, not being hunted. They were making too much noise if they were trying to escape. I needed to run. I lifted my backpack to my shoulder. I turned around into a crouching position on the branch, ready to jump to the ground and run for my life. That is when I saw the person perched on the branch next to me, knife raised, ready to strike.

Thanks to the three people who have reviewed so far! It makes me feel like I'm no longer talking to myself. Anyway, I know that this isn't the best chapter. If you think different, do tell. But if you agree with me, don't worry, it'll get better, I just don't want to skip any days in the Games. Thanks for reading. :D