I was only frozen for a split-seconds before I was thrust into action. I leaped off my platform and grabbed everything I could- The belt and the water purifying pills were right next to each other, I put those in one hand and I was about to grab the water humidifier when I saw one of the 'Careers', Ajax Vamos, who was two platforms away from Phox, look at me with a smirk on his face. My heart pounded and I decided to leave with the belt and the pills.

Django was a really cruel man. The arena was the Capitol, but it was... different. It was like it had been abandoned and the forest that used to be neatly trimmed had grown wildly, inching towards the towering apartment buildings and carefully moulded marble fountains. He was making us die in our homes.

But this isn't your home, I reminded myself fiercely as I ran. I was lucky enough that my platform was in the middle of the forest and city- So I ran straight away from the Cornucopia and into the dense wilderness. Phox. I stopped suddenly, and turned to look behind me. I immediately wished I hadn't.

The Games had only started for a few minutes but the Cornucopia ground was already pooled with blood. To my relief I couldn't see Phox anywhere- on the floor or on his feet. But I could see Magnus Duncain running full speed towards me. I turned on my heel and sprinted across the springy forest underbed, not daring to look behind to see how close Magnus was to me. I didn't know him, but I knew he was a fifteen year old boy from the outskirts of the city, and his area was one of the last to be attacked.

I screamed as I tripped over a vine from a tree. My knives scattered over the floor, but at least my bottle of pills stayed closed. I could hear Magnus's pounding footsteps getting closer. I scrabbled for the closest knife, which unfortunately, wasn't the biggest one. I grabbed onto the blade and turned around, the blade pointing upwards just as Magnus reached me- except, he didn't really reach me. One of the vines suddenly came to life and wrapped itself around Magnus's ankle, dragging him backwards, but not before he dug his knife into my thigh. I sat up and watched Magnus with horror- the vines had spikes dripping with black ichor that looked like a scorpion mutt's poison. Now I understood why the forest was here- it was easy to hide in it, but it was easy to get killed. The forest was killing us too.

Magnus screamed in pain as the vine dragged him back and flung him towards the Cornucopia. I was close enough to hear the crack of his bones when he hit the shining gold surface. He fell to the ground, but he wasn't dead- he stood up again, a strange blankness in his eyes. His bones were all at odd angles, and he looked half-crazed with bloodlust as he used his hands to start clawing at the remaining tributes. I was so caught up in what was happening with Magnus I forgot about the knife, until I realised I was in pain. I had to get away from the Cornucopia. I gritted my teeth, bit my lip and took the handle of the knife.

Even the smallest movement made a low whine escape my lips. I gasped through the pain, and before my nmind could register what I was doing, I yanked the blade up. Even more blood spilled from my thigh- My pants were ripped, and soaked with the sticky red stuff. I didn't know what to do, Katniss hadn't told me what to do. I grabbed a bunch of leaves and stuffed them in the rip of my pants, hoping it would help, somehow. I then grabbed whatever knives I could find, put them in my belt and wrapped the belt around my leg like a tourniquet.
I took the water purifying pill bottles and then focused back onto my leg. I used one of my knives to cut the vine that still held onto my ankle, and then stuck the blade into the bark of a tree, using it to help me stand up. The horrible screaming noises behind stopped, and what happened next made me freeze in terror. It was unmistakably Raff's voice saying, "Come on! Let's go, everybody else has escaped."

Panic shook through me like waves. I hobbled as quickly as I could to the next tree, then the next, then the next, groans escaping my lips every couple of steps. After a while, I realised that Raff and his gang weren't following me, and they had gone in a different direction so I slowed down, but I still kept moving. I could imagine Katniss and Peeta watching me on the mentor monitor, muttering advice, hoping I would realise what to do. It was getting dark, I needed to find somewhere to rest and tend to my wound. It was right at the beginning of the Games, I probably didn't have any sponsor money and I was already injured and leaking blood.

Goddamnit, I sighed. And I actually thought I had a chance to survive at least the first day.

I found a cluster of three trees that had grown together, standing over ten metres tall. I looked up at the tree, considering which way up would be the easiest for me. I put my water purifying pills in my coat pocket, then started to climb as well as I could. My right leg was starting to feel numb. I reached up with my arms and pulled myself up, then pushed up with my left leg. I did this over and over again until I was halfway up the tall tree. I could see clearly all around me and below me.

I sat down on a thick branch that didn't even tremble under my weight and started focusing on my leg. My trousers, which used to be a dark olive green, were now stained dark reddish brown and crusted with dried blood. I took off the belt and used the tip of a dull knife to remove the crusty blood from my trousers. I winced when I accidentally touched the cut.
The cut was quite deep, and I think it was a bit infected. But there was nothing I could do. Not until I got a sponsor present anyway. Unless... there was no chance Katniss and Peeta wouldn't give me a gift because I had the answer right in front of me? I looked around, but I couldn't see anything.

"Any hints? Clues? Signs?" I whispered to the air around me. "How about a gift? Please?"

I waited for a moment, half expecting something to happen but nothing did. I sighed under my breath. Underneath me, a twig snapped. I froze instantly, and looked underneath the tree. A dark, lone, shadow was walking around. A dark shadow that had a bulge on its back- a backpack. I allowed myself a small smile, and very silently pushed myself into a crouching position, with my infected right leg dangling over the edge of the branch. I waited in the silence until the figure settled down for the night, right near me.

I nearly fell out the tree when I heard cannonfire. One, two, three, four.. I reminded myself to count. I needed to keep track of who died. Seven, eight, nine.
Nine people died in one day. Just as soon as the last cannonfire was shot, the Panem anthem started playing. My eyes turned upwards towards the sky, where holograms of the dead showed up. Validia Kelder, District 1. Leonis Keene, District 4, was also killed. He was supposed to be with the Careers, I wonder what happened. Silver Selkirk and Baron Skrim, District 5. I wondered if they killed each other. Septimus Erdvine, District 7. Merope Herriot, District 8.
Magnus Duncain, District 9, must've died either from the mutt poison or somebody else killed him. Nim Ardlace was also District 9- I looked at her 13 year old face, which was far too serious for someone her age, and thought about her older sister- Noelle Ardlace. She was 19, and too old to be in the Reaping. I wonder what she was thinking now. Finally, Grodin Baye, District 10.
I found that to my relief, Phox's face didn't show up. Neither did Roman's, which wasn't that surprising. He was strong, fast and smart, unlike Mallory, who was silly and girly and fainted at the sight of blood. She would have been an easy target, though it seemed she managed to escape the Cornucopia killing spree.

Surprisingly, it seemed Thistle and Ottilie had managed to escape the bloodbath. That left fifteen people. I wondered who was the person sitting below me, leaning against the tree, ready to go to sleep. I listened to the person's breathing, waiting until they became slow steady, meaning they were asleep. When I was sure whoever was below me was sleeping, I tied my belt around my waist and then crept down as silently as I could, until I was hanging off a branch just above their head. The person was sleeping with a thin blanket covering them, a gun in their hand. Their backpack was a dark green colour, and it looked full to the brim with things.

Should I take it all, or just what I need? I asked. I lowered myself onto the mossy ground I gingerly lifted the strap of the bag up.
"Whose there?" The voice was female, and definitely awake. I panicked and ran away, the adrenaline drowning the pain in my thigh. I felt bad for robbing the girl- whoever she was- of the stuff she risked her life for, but I would rather steal then get killed. I stopped when the adrenaline wore off and the pain in my thigh returned. I found another tree- not as big or as good as the first one, but it would do. I found the thickest branch I could- which was about two feet wide- and put the backpack down on it. My eyes adjusted to the dark and I took everything out of the backpack and looked at what I had.

Waterproof, heat reflecting coat that folded out into a blanket with sleeves, rope, a firestarter, a water bottle full of water, a couple of dehydrated food packets and a food hydrator, a small spraying bottle with liquid in it, a flashlight and something stuffed at the bottom of the bag, but I couldn't tell what it was. I packed everything back into the bag except the squeezy tube. I held up the firestarter close to the spray to read what it read. Wound healer with skin regrow.

I quickly turned off the firestarter off, impatiently packed everything but the spray bottle and water bottle into the bag and then turned my attention towards my leg. I poured a little of my precious water onto my leg to unstick the blood. I used my fingers to pry apart the stiff material on my thigh, revealing a two inch cut that had greenish looking stuff around it. I sprayed the wound healer onto my cut. I winced and hissed in pain when the spray hit my leg. It felt like burning- the spray was burning the infection to kill the bacteria, and it hurt so much I gripped the branch so hard my knuckles turned white.

Thankfully, the burning was quickly replaced by blissful cool as the spray started reforming my flesh. I looked down to see the spray had also burned off the blood without damaging my clothes. My newly formed flesh was baby pink, and it looked almost pale white against my tanned skin. I took long gulps from the water and then reput everything into my backpack, ready to sleep. It would be a while before I reached the City to find a place to sleep, so I would have to stay in the killer forest.

I didn't mind much, though- The pain was finally gone, and without it to keep me awake, I suddenly felt really tired. I took the rope out of the bag, and tied it three times around the tree trunk and myself, used my bag as a pillow and settled down for the night. Elijah and Makenna had made my clothes well- leather knee high boots with fur on the inside and a grippy sole, cotton shirt with long sleeves and fingerless leather gloves, then dark olive trousers, and long leather coat with fur on the inside.

I was snugly warm, though I suspected if none of us died from the cold soon enough, Django would turn the arena thermostat down until it reached -27, the coldest Capitol winter in fifty years. I fell asleep within minutes, quicker than I expected.
And just before I fell asleep, when I was half awake, I thought I saw a group of people walking around, even though it was really late. They had fire torches held high above their heads, and they kept looking around, looking for something.
But I was too sleepy to be frightened by a dream, so I just slept on...