Chapter 7

A desert scene, blanketed in darkness. No light. Just glints of eyes and a flash of white teeth occasionally – although I couldn't even see those well. The camera view then changed to some sort of night vision and I could see Gale, still moving. Gale ran, mostly forwards, but after a while he veered off to the left, intentionally or not I wasn't sure. With speed and agility he leaped over rocks and odd trees, which had fallen and lay in misshapen sprawls on the ground. However these were few and I noticed that there didn't seem to be a bit of cover anywhere. A stone was catapulted at him from somewhere I couldn't see – it missed. Luckily. I wished I could see what the other tributes were doing, especially as I suspected whoever threw the stone was a danger to my tributes and I would need to know who that was. As if as genie had been there to grant my wish, Peeta tapped me and pointed forward. An oversized wall-length screen flashed with what I guessed were the scenes and clips which the public saw.

"Damn" I muttered, again for my benefit as no-one would hear my voice. My attention is drawn to a splatter of blood on the main screen and one of the men facing us but down the row nearer the door stood up and began banging his fists on the table in anger, the other buried his face in his hands. At least one death; I assumed. Others in the room looked smug, some horrified; others, nervous – I presumed reflecting their tributes' emotional state. My heart was racing – Peeta's hands were shaking in his lap. Out of pure terror, I grabbed his hand and squeezed hard, he returned this. My gaze never deviated from the image in front of me, yet I allowed my view to flitter between our screens of Emily and Gale and the main one. Gale's breathing was getting heavier – he was tiring quickly.

'Don't stop Gale' I thought, 'Keep going.' He did. However, it cost him; my stomach did summersaults as the sound of his pain filled my ear drums when he fell on a twisted root, his palms slammed hard onto the rocky, sandy surface. In mere seconds though he was up again. Only this time he was limping, but still putting distance between himself and the Cornucopia. I hoped he'd remember that if there are roots that must mean there was vegetation nearby and then maybe water, but I doubted he even saw what had caused his stumble.

Sparing a second to look at the main screen – another body hit the ground – how he died I'm not sure, but from the way has body was crumpled I knew he was dead. Twenty-two (at most) alive competitors. The battle had well and truly begun.

As cameras swooped across the arena, I could work out how far and in exactly which direction Gale had first run, then limped in. From the centre he'd headed north-west, had changed course slightly, and was generally going west from there.

Counting the tributes by scanning the pictures that were sporadically appearing on-screen, I estimated that there were maybe nineteen left, five lives gone in roughly twenty minutes. There were two going east, well away from Gale – I thought these might be district 11's Jacob and Stephanie, these two stood out for some reason…

A girl with short red hair was closest to the Cornucopia – I remembered fox face at the sight of her, but she didn't seem sly in the slightest, if anything she looked possessed. Blood was on her clothes and spread, drying quickly on her fingers. Along the screen rolled her name and district; Renee, 3. The strong feeling that she'd been responsible for at least one death clouded my judgement of her – she grabbed a few items and dashed off. Helicopters started coming down now, four in succession taking away those who had been unfortunate in their first few moments. Three girls and a boy. However there was still a body – an injured girl. She rolled onto her back, her jet black curls covered her face, each hair was stuck to her pasty white skin with a congealing scarlet liquid. She must have been hit with one of the stones which had been fired at unsuspecting victims. Her eyes flickered open and she heaved herself up, rather bravely I thought. Again her name appeared beneath the live footage – Zeena, 6. She was clearly disorientated but still alive.

As I was beginning to become intrigued by this strong character, the image swapped to one of a petite boy leaping at another male tribute, like a lion pouncing. As he had come from behind there'd been no warning as far as I could tell. Ray from district 1 was on his back, holding a jagged knife, the older boy spun around to try and knock Ray off his back – failing in his attempt. I could not watch this brutal attack, even though I'd seen it all live last year, I'd been in there. Hell, I'd been the cause of some people's pain and suffering. This, I wouldn't allow myself to see and I shielded my eyes. Peeta flinched; he became motionless, but patted my hand to inform me it was over. Five down for sure. Now the camera zoomed out for another aerial view, light was beginning to appear over the horizon and enabling me to see clearly where the main players were. Emily was lying flat along the length of a fallen tree, asleep I think, as tiny as she was I didn't think she'd stay unnoticed for long, yet she seemed safe for the time being. Gale. Well Gale had followed every word so far and found him self a good three or four miles from the starting point, but he had jus about worn himself out. After twenty-four hectic hours, with not a wink of sleep, poor Gale was exhausted. Still determined though as he managed another mile before collapsing in the middle of the desert, which was now bathed in an early morning glow.

Dramatic start.

Lucky for some.

Painful for many.

Fatal for five.

Five unfortunate souls. Their families will be grieving. Their districts praying they'll still have a chance. As far as I know, every district was still in with a chance of winning – except I wanted two.

Author's Note

Again, later than I expected, my apologies to those who have been waiting for another chapter but I'll update with more soon as I know this was a short chapter. Hope you like, and a big thanks to everyone for reviews etc! Please keep 'em coming!

Thanks for reading :) (coolbeaniostwilightrules7)

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or any of the characters, they belong to Suzanne Collins.