See I never thought that I could walk through fire.
I never thought that I could take the burn.
I never had the strength to take it higher,
Until I reached the point of no return.
And there's just no turning back,
When your hearts under attack,
Gonna give everything I have,
It's my destiny.
-Never Say Never Justin Bieber feat. Jayden Smith

"Serenity Starr!" I faintly heard Calypso's voice growl. "Serenity Hope Chasity Starr if you aren't up in the next sixty seconds may God help your soul." Her Capitol voice threatened menacingly.

My eyelids were harder to lift than my attempt to pick Blue up three days ago. Before I could even see the daylight I propped myself up on my elbows. "Mmmm." Any words I tried were slurred.

"This will have to be the hard way then." Calypso grumbled to herself. She nearly ripped the shirt off my body. "Why are you so tired? It's not natural." I didn't have to see to know she found the empty bottle on my nightstand. "Sleeping syrup? You used sleeping syrup?"

"I couldn't fall asleep." I said groggily, defensively.

"So you drugged yourself?" Calypso hisses dissaprovingly. "Get up, you need to change your undergarments and I'm not going to pull you out of bed."

I hear myself groan. Calypso tosses me the under-wear, still saying something under her breath about drugs. I expected somewhere along the lines of a simple pair of panties and a sports bra but the black fabric was different. Almost resistant. Water resistant.

"Calypso, this is a bathing suit." I tell her.

"I know exactly what it is." Calypso replied calmly. She was still very upset that I used sleeping syrup. I don't know what the big deal was; I couldn't be tired in the arena.

I grumbled and put on the bikini. "What's next?" I asked with sarcastic enthusiasm. I had to put on a flex shirt and a pair of flex shorts before Calypso showed me the next set of clothing.

"Heavy sweats." Calypso held the pants open for me to jump into them. Then she held the jacket wide for me to fold my arms inside. She put my hair into a high ponytail. I could already feel the sweat forming all over my body. She quickly fastened a belt around my waist.

An Avox placed a platter full of breakfast foods in front of me. My stomach rumbled but I felt too nervous to eat, even if I was eyeing the croissant. "Eat. You'll need the energy. Sad to say, we don't know when your next meal will be."

She was right. I snatched a piece of toast and started nibbling on the edge. I finally gave in and poured some orange juice. I'm not that stupid to indulge myself in the rich foods. I'm almost ninety nine point nine-nine percent sure that's exactly what Jessa and Cristan are doing. But then again, they're probably excited not nervous.

"There will be a time in the arena you'll desperately need something." Calypso starts and I feel a lecture coming. I groan inwardly. "What do you think that may be?"

"A knife." I answer almost immediately. "A five inch blade, with a curve." I begin to desrcibe the kind I used in training. "Why?"

Calypso purses her lips. "Because, while I'm confident you have tons of sponsors sometimes it isn't enough." Her sharp cobalt eyes look me dead center. "When your times comes give me some sort of signal and the knife will appear."

I stare at her. For a second I don't completely understand what she's saying. "You don't need to spend your money on me, Calypso."

My stylist smiles. "There's a fine line on needing and wanting. Sometimes you must respect ones desicions even if you disagree."

I frown, feeling defeated. "But what if I don't want it?"

She laughes. "Then you definitely need it." She ends the discussion as a Capitol doctor dressed in all white walks in the room carrying a silver tray with a single syringe.

"The more still you stay, the more effective the chip will be." She said in a monotone, pricking the needle against my skin. The adrenaline washed away any pain I could have or possibly should have felt.

"Time to get you on the platform." Calypso sighed, teary eyed. She pulled me in a long embrace. "I know I'll see you alive, Serenity."

I gulped and nodded. "Thank you." I paused. "For everything." I added, choking on my own word. I stepped on the gray platform. An invisible tube appeared immediately and I was quickly racing to the arena.

I saw the sheer bend of air erase, and the tube was gone. I looked down istinctively. Tiny circles were glowing bright scarlett, indicating the mines were activated an ready to explode. I had to stay still.

Claudius Templesmith's voice suddenly breaks the almost perfect silence. "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Forty Ninth Hunger Games begin!" And the horn blasts.

I have sixty seconds to devise a plan. All the tributes are staring at the Cornucopia that's overflowing with supplies. But that was the only thing you could see. It wasn't like I couldn't pry my eyes away from the golden horn, because I could. Everything else was covered completely white with some sort of substance.

Oh right, snow. In DIstrict Four we don't have snow, it's too hot to freeze our rain. Great. I have to think they did this on purpose to me. They're putting me in a climate I can't survive in. And they know I despise the cold, I made a point of that in my interview yesterday how much I loath the need of a jacket.

I quickly analize all of the tributes and the order they were put in. About eight spaces away from me on my left is Blue, who is gawking at the Cornucopia. Four spaces to my right is Trey. It wastes about ten of my precious seconds to get his attention. When I finnaly gain it I make a point to make sure he doesn't go to the Cornucopia. That battle is reserved for me.

Twenty three, twenty two...

I stare down at the mines for my remaining time. People miscalculate the time almost every year. Once the mines turn black they're de-activated and it's alright to flee. It startles me how quickly the seconds fly and the mines aren't visible any more.

I take off sprinting straight ahead. I have to save my speed for getting away. Nearly half the tribute run in a totally different direction, eager to get away from the Careers. Trey goes to the left as planned, spiraling high up in a tree.

Jessa is the first to reach the Cornucopia, followed by her district mate, the twins, Blue, and the boy from Six. Odd. I size him up quickly. Although he might be scraggly because of his homeland he's tall. Huge. And he has a demonic look in his eyes, it looks crazier than the boy from Ten.

Then the first cannon fires.

I reach the Cornucopia next but I stop momentarily. The ground beneath me seemed to change texture. Softer. I fight the urge to vomit seeing that I stepped on the boy from District Five. Blood trickles out of his mouth and I quickly turn the direction before I'm too sick. The cannon fires again.

I see it happen this time. It happens almost as if in slow motion. The girl from Eight falls backwards, plummeting into the snow, with a knife sticking out from her stomach.

It's like Jessa sees me but she actually doesn't. She looks in my direction and sends a spear flying in the air. It hits the boy who died's district partner. She falls face first into the white mush and the spear is popping out of her back.

I grab a purple backpack immediately, the largest one I can find. Not caring what might be in it I start taking knives a putting them in. I'm satisfied with the four I get and now I'm contempt with leaving. It's only a matter of time before Jessa spots me.

I freeze. An arrow soars past my ear and hits the female from DIstrict Six on her left temple. Blood spills from the wound. She screams and the sound is faint, she's already extremely weak. Another arrow zooms and hits her in the mouth, while it's open. I don't need to look to see who shot them. There's only one person here with that kind of precision. And that person is Faith.

I start speeding as fast as my legs can go. With the distance I'm reaching my feet are throbbing and my ankle is burning. I trip a little over my step and have to hop on a leg a few times just so I wouldn't fall. That would be my death sentence. But just as I'm getting closer to the tree Trey settled in my biggest fear comes alive.

Jessa spots me. It's as long as a nano-second that I realize this might be my final minutes. Jessa is indescribably fast and she's about twenty feet behind me, knife in her hand. Trey sees the commotion and he climbs down a few feet. I toss the bag to him. He gives a small cry of pain. A knife that was sticking out jabbed him in his palm. I leap onto a branch and swing my legs up. I keep climbing the pine tree until I meet Trey at the very top.

I'm breathing heavily. "Nice try, Jessa!" I shout down.

Trey nudges me and points to a nest full of robin eggs. The mother wasn't there. "What?" I hiss.

He chuckles and makes a few motions with his hands and I finally understand. Jessa was still fuming when I picked up and egg and drop it directly above her head. She was talking angrily to Cristan when SPLAT! the egg smashed down on her hair. White gunky liquid dripped down her face.

Jessa screamed in anger, it was quite funny. I was so distracted by laughing I didn't see the spear head hurling at my arm. But I did feel the impact on my shoulder. I made a sound of pain before ripping it out. I took the whole nest and dumped it down. It landed all over her and Cristan.

I could see that she wanted to do so much more but restrained when Faith called her over, saying all the supplies were gone and they can start a camp. I knew she knew I was here but she didn't say anything about it. She cracked a small smile on her face. I mouthed a thank you before shifting my attention to Trey.

I took two of the knives and enclosed them in my belt. I layed the other two for him. I dig through the pack until I find what I was searching for. I sprayed the antiseptic onto his palm. His face tightened in pain. I followed by wrapping the wound in medical cloth.

"Thanks." He gave a sound of relief. It's almost hard for me to believe that we haven't even talked before this.

"No problem." I said dissmissevely. "This may be sudden but we need to leave as in now."

He looked at me strangly. "What for?"

"Blue told me that Jessa believes in night hunting. We have two hours until dark and after that episode she wants me dead more than anything." I said, still eyeing Jessa, who took a break from glaring at me.

"You sure?" He asked. I never noticed before but his eyes were green, an abnormality for a native of District Twelve.

I nodded. "More than positive." And with that being said I started climbing quietly down the tree. Trey stopped me, grabbing my hand.

"Bad idea." He shook his head. "I suggest we tree jump."

I crawled back up to join him at level. "Pardon?" I raised an eyebrow.

He pointed to the huge branches covered in pine needles. "They're all connected. If we're careful we can cross by trees until we're far away from them."

I took in a breath of air slowly. "Okay, you first." He snatched the bag and started walking hesistantly across the huge chunks of wood. I followed him, mimicking all of his moves.

"Is it me or is it starting to get hotter?" I asked after we crossed about twenty trees. I felt beads of sweat pricking my arms.

He nodded and peeled off his jacket, revealing a black flex shirt like the one I was wearing. "I think it we should get down no and go by foot, the altitude is interfering the temperature up here." He said matter-of-factly.

We climbed down after I took off both my jacket and pants, revealing the flex outfit. Even though it was starting to get dark outside the light reflected off something blue, and it wasn't the sky. Then something off-white. Those two colors represented something and before I could stop myself I was running.

Trey followed close behind, not understanding my excitement. "It's a beach!" I trilled happily. This had to be the best part of my day. "A beach!" I repeated,.

"They made it half and half." He murmured to himself. "I'm taking it this is where you want to settle?"

"Yes!" I cried overjoyed. "But not in a place this conspicuous."

We travelled another thirty minute before we settle beneath a palm tree. The pack I grabbed only had one sleeping bag. I gave it to Trey, saying I'd rather sleep on sand. He gave me another strange look but reluctantly agreed.

The Capitol anthem started playing moments later. The first face that appeared in the sky was the girl from District Three. I have no idea how she died but it wasn't in the bloodbath. Both faces from Five appeared next, telling me that Blue was still alive.

The girl from Six, the one Faith shot, was next. Both from Seven remained alive but tragically both from Eight didn't. Ebony and her partner are still alive and so are both tributes from Ten and Eleven. Last to make an appearance in the sky was Trey's partner. The song ended with a picture of the Capitol seal and the last bit of light diminished.

"I'm going to kill him." Trey muttered.

"Who?"

"The pretty boy from One." Trey was obviously taling about Cristan. "While you were at the Cornucopia Danica battled him but when Jessa called him over he left her. She must have died while we were moving."

I could barely see his face in the darkness but his voice said it all, he was upset. "I'm sorry." I tried to change the subject so his mind wouldn't dwell on Danica. "Hey, do you know what happened to that girl from Three?"

"Janie?" He asked rhetorically. "I heard her screaming and saw that guy from Six near her." I could almost feel his shrug.

"What's his name again?" I yawned, snuggling close to the hot sand, making myself comfortable.

Before I fell asleep I'm pretty sure I heard him say, "Titus. I think his name is Titus."