10...9...8...

Dion Lupei crossed his arms and looked at the scene laid out in front of him. 30 Gamemakers seated in a circle, their hands a blur of motion as they add the final touches to the arena below them. In the middle of the circle is a small platform with a 3D view of the arena.

"All systems online?"

"All on Mr. Lupei!"

"All tributes' current location know?"

"Ye-wait, one second!" The young Gamemaker types a few things into the computer in front of him and presses a button to his right. There is a buzzing noise, and the symbol 10M lights up in the cluster of tributes.

"Okay, all set!"

"Good. Now set up some cannons, and give me a close up on Area A1, Cornucopia."

7...6...5...4...

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the boy from 10 wince and grab his arm as though burned. I look back at the cornucopia and put one foot in front of the other, prepared to run for it as soon as the gong sounds. I squint to make out the items. I see a crossbow, a gleaming suit of armor, and a large bag. The rest is hidden in shadows.

3...2...1...

Dion smiles grimly. "Showtime."

I jump off the platform and dive as a Career jumps over my head. I desperately want to grab something, but stop as the boy from District 2 takes the girl from 12 and snaps her head back.

I hear the bang of a cannon that means someone has died. That changes my mind.

I shift paths and run into the tall grasses on my left. Behind me, there are screams, but I do my best to ignore them.

I gasp as the ground suddenly turns to mush and I am waist high in mud and swamp water.

I can't help but feeling happy as I look at the water sloshing around me. Dehydration won't be a problem this games. But my happiness doesn't last long. I kick my legs, but I'm stuck and I can't scream for fear that someone finds me. I grab at the reeds, but they are slick and slide out of my grip. I freeze as I hear shouts and heavy footsteps behind me. What if the careers find me? I would be an easy target.

All of a sudden, arms wrap around me and a large hand covers my mouth. I try to scream and pull myself out of their grip, but whoever it is has strong arms and refuses to let me go.

I give up, feeling useless and done for. I'm a failure, I didn't even last half an hour in the games. I bet the Gamemakers already have a cannon ready for me. Suddenly the person behind me whispers,

"Stay quiet if you want to live."

It sounds like a male voice. I do as he says, not like I have much choice. To my immediate right, blocked by only a few layers of grass, I see the outline of a body, and a girl's voice.

"Velvel! Pius! Let's check for them over here! And watch out, the ground gets muddy over here!"

She moves ahead, followed by 2 or 3 people.

Then there is silence, broken only by a series of cannon shots. My heart is beating too fast to count them all.

The person behind me takes his hand off my mouth. I turn my head around and find myself face-to-face with the boy from District 4. He's laying on the ground right before the mud.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?" He says. "Now, how about I get you out of there."

He wraps his hands around me and with a huge pull, manages to tug me out of the water. The ground barely shifts and then freezes, looking innocently like solid ground.

"T-thanks," I say.

"No problem. Hey, you might want to clean those pants."

I look down to find the bottom half of my body covered in mud.

"Oh, right. How do you suppose we-"

"Like this."

He dips his hands into the mud, waves them around so the water surfaces, and cups his hands so that the water fills them. He puts his hands over me and lets the water spill out. It washes away a surprising amount of the mud.

I reach over to help, but he pushes me back.

"No, it's fine, I can do it. Just relax."

I lean back and sigh. We don't talk for a minute, then he says,

"My name's Faris, by the way."

"I'm Ruby," I reply.

Another minute of silence. We both look up and say at the same time, "Allies?"

He smiles.

"Sure, why not? Oh, hey, I think I'm done."

My pants and shoes are clean, but soaking wet. It's extra weight, but not as heavy as dragging along mud.

"Thanks," I say again, before standing up to look around. He stands up beside me.

"I'm pretty sure they're gone. Did you get anything?"

I shake my head and Faris swears.

"Damn. As far as I could see, that kid from Seven, Ivan, got the bag of food, at least I think its food. And the Careers got everything else."

"Then what are we supposed to do for food here?" I ask.

To my surprise, he points to the reeds.

"We make nets."

"To catch what, dragonflies?"

"I guess you forgot where I come from."

He clenches a group of reeds in his fist, wrenches them out of the ground and stuffs them in my arms.

"Hope you like fish."

After walking around collecting sticks and looking for things we could use later. (I had found a curved rock that we could use for collecting water) We set up camp in a small area where the ground was at least fairly dry, and the grasses are long enough to cover us up. We sacrifice a few of the cattails for fuel, and create a small, barely smoking fire. The sun in the arena is starting to go down. I tend to the fire while Faris weaves. The net is huge, and it's only half finished. It's amazing how fast his fingers move, and every now and then, I stop to watch.

"So, how many dead?" I ask, trying to keep my voice casual.

"As far as I could hear, about nine."

"Only nine?"

Faris looks up. "You wanted to enjoy more slaughter?"

"No! Of course not! It's just, usually more people…" My voice trails off, but he knows what I mean.

"Yeah, I guess they're just getting smarter. Most of the kids knew they had no chance of getting those items and ran for it. One of the kids from…Eight I think…got stuck in the quagmire, so when I saw you trapped there, I knew I had to save you."

"But why me? You could have paired up with the other Careers, you're from District Four."

He snorts. "No way. When I was talking to them in the Training Center, I could tell we wouldn't get along. The other girl from my district, Patricia, she's with them."

Faris looks down bitterly.

"Never liked her," he added.

"And you chose me because-?"

"Because my mentor Anne told me to make allies. Even if you have got to kill each other in the end, a duo is better then a loner. So I looked. And I saw you, flinging that knife across the room and hitting straight on target, spending most of your time on survival when the kids from one and two only cared about how many dummies they could behead by the end of a training session. I knew that we could help each other."

There's another bout of that uncomfortable silence.

"And so we can, at least, for as long as possible," I say.

Faris smiles and his aqua eyes gleam, even in this dim light.

"I knew I picked right," he says.

Suddenly I hear the Capitol anthem, and distinctively look up in the sky. The Capitol symbol shines for a moment, and then shows the faces of the dead tributes. Faris was right, nine dead.

The girl from District 5, both from 6, both from 8, the boy from 9, both from 10, and the girl from 12. All dead, all gone.

"Status update?"

"Night has fallen. Most of the tributes are in zone B2, but we have two in A2, and three in F1."

"Let's see how they deal with this. Activate Tundra Night Mode."

"Yes Sir, Mr. Lupei!"

There is the clicking noise of keys being pressed, then a red light above the 'temperature' switch turns on, and the giant thermometer begins lowering.

"Tundra Night Mode engaging," says a computerized voice, "ten degrees in 5 seconds."