Chapter 2
"Good luck," Marline pats my arm affectionately.
"Thank you," I quietly reply, my words calm and smooth.
Marline looks at me sympathetically, then smoothes out my hair one final time.
"10 seconds left," the monotone voice says on the loudspeaker.
"You'd better get onto the platform," Marline softly says to me.
I nod goodbye to my stylist, and slowly walk onto the platform where I will be lifted into the arena.
"5 seconds left," the voice speaks again.
Marline gives me a half-hearted smile as the transparent, glassy door closes behind me. After a couple of seconds, my platform begins to rise. Rising up higher, and higher into the arena that awaits me.
Welcome to the 52nd hunger games.
As I ascend into the arena, I think of all of the people watching at home: Haymitch; my mother, Sea; my father, Tarin; and maybe even Sarah.
I arrive in the arena, and the transparent walls that were trapping me inside of them slowly sink into the complex underground tunnels below. I take the 60 seconds before the games begin to survey my surroundings. The ground in this area is dirt, and several run-down houses litter the place. Farther behind me seems to be the entrance to a large, black coal mine with a wooden mine shaft. The sky above me is clear blue, with the exception of the high tech grid pattern. It doesn't take me long to realize what this arena is: District 12, or at least a smaller replica of it. To my left and right are chain link fences, charged with electricity. Straight forward is more of the electric fence, but with an opening like a large door centered in the middle.
It becomes clear to me the motive of this hunger games, even before everyone's favorite Claudius Templesmith says it over the loudspeaker.
As the timer clock located in the cornucopia at the center of the arena, where it is just a grassy meadow, reaches the number 30, Claudius's voice rings out loud and clear, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 52nd hunger games! In this arena, the tributes will be placed in a smaller version of their own district, with all of the comforts from home. The districts lie in order from 1 to 12 along the edges of the arena, and the cornucopia is located in the center. If one tribute is growing hungry, and they wish to eat, they could risk their life running from their district, to District 4 to eat fish as an example. Also, be careful not to touch the fences, you'll get quite a shock!"
The clock now reads 5.
"And on that note, may the odds be ever in your favor, and let the 52nd hunger games begin!" Claudius finishes.
As soon as the timer buzzes 0, I see tributes from all districts leaving their platforms and rushing to the cornucopia in the center. The girl beside me, Violet Abernathy, quickly leaves her place to join them.
The capitol generally ensures protection from the hunger games on the victor's family, but after the stunt with the force field two years ago that Haymitch pulled off, they 'accidentally' drew Violet's name at the reaping. The capitol apparently is fine with accidents, because they kept poor 12-year-old Violet in the games.
To avoid the initial bloodbath that the beginning of the games brings, I don't immediately go to the cornucopia. Instead, I go to the place that comforts me most, the woods outside District 12, which they have surprisingly recreated.
I dash into the woods as fast as I can and climb the rough bark of a tree. It doesn't take long until I hear the sounds of cannons going off. I count 12 cannons, which means that already half of us are dead. As I sit in the tree, I wonder if Violet was among them.
I smile to myself, thinking about my plan. Once the initial bloodbath at the cornucopia is over and the other tributes are gone, if there's anything left worth taking, I'll grab it. Probably most of the tributes that survived were careers, which might be a problem considering that they might flee their districts right away and use the cornucopia as a base camp.
I don't know how long I wait, but it is a long time for sure. After a while, I close my eyes and listen to the distant hum of the electric fence, probably not too far away from me. I slowly open my eyes once I think it is time that I can go to the cornucopia. The sky still bears the grid like pattern, but now it is slowly being dyed gradient shades of blue.
I slowly dislodge myself from a crevasse in the branches and climb down the rough bark of the tree. I nearly fall to the ground halfway through climbing, because the capitols anthem starts playing loud and clear around the whole arena. We all know what this means, and we all dread it. Now after the capitol's seal burns its image into the sky, we will all see the faces of the tributes that have died today.
The capitol's seal appears in the nighttime sky, an eagle with its wings spread high and boldly, in a ring of blue light that is emblazoned with the word PANEM over and over. Suddenly, the faces of our dead competitors appear one by one.
The boy from 2, Garrett; The boy from 3, Drake; the boy from 4, Talon; both tributes from 5, C.J. and Cara; the boy from 6, Fred; both tributes from 8, Zephyr and Andrea; both from 9, Jake and Mila; Sandra, the girl from 10; and the boy from 11, Fidelius. The tributes are listed in numerical order from district 1 to 12, and I have counted 12 faces out, which means Violet is still alive.
The seal appears once more, then the anthem fades out and the eagle vanishes from sight. Stars begin to twinkle in the arena's sky, one for each dead tribute. This makes me hate the hunger games even more.
As I quietly finish climbing the tree, I think about the eleven remaining tributes that I'll have to fight against. Suddenly, I hear a scream coming from my left, District 11. A cannon blares loudly. Make that 10 tributes who are left to fight. The person who was just killed was probably Flora, who was only twelve years old and probably wasn't expecting some career to sneak up behind her and stab her in the back just so that they could get District 11's specialty, agriculture.
I quickly sprint across the forest floor, where moonlight streams in from between the branches overhead. Finally, I am out of the forest and running down the dirt roads of my home district. The path is fairly straight all the way to the district entrance. As I reach the electric fence, I slow down and come to a halt in the doorway. The field and cornucopia seem free of tributes, so after quickly arming myself with a sharp stone lying near the fence, I head out into the field.
I run at a moderate pace across the cold grass, my footsteps very quiet. I am almost at the cornucopia when a silver arrow whizzes past my chest, just missing me by an inch. Careers! I think to myself. I duck and roll to the side just as another arrow just misses my face. The cornucopia is just a stones throw away, and that's exactly what I do. My hand releases the stone in an arch, and after so much practice with hunting, I never miss. There is a dull thunk as my weapon hits the head of whoever is inside the cornucopia.
I didn't throw the stone hard enough to kill the person, and I'm partially relieved when I arrive at the cornucopia entrance, where I find Violet lying in a small pool of blood, my stone lying not far away. Haymitch will never forgive me, I can be sure of that. He was even upset when he found out his sister would be a tribute with me, the best hunter in District 12. Clutched in Violet's small hands and a bow and several arrows that she could defend herself with. She is surrounded in various packs that when I open, see contain many days worth of food and canteens of water.
I feel sympathetic, Violet had gone off to a great start, she had probably hoped that she could survive by warding off the other tributes with her bow, and survive until we all killed each other off.
I pull the arrows from her fists, and take the bow as well. Once I have this, I can feed myself, and one of the districts is bound to have freshwater. I take whatever medical supplies lie in the various bags around Violet and apply them to her head, leaving her with the bags of food. She'll live. I know she will, because Sarah taught me how to treat most wounds. I give Violet a final glance, and then quickly exit the dark cornucopia.
I run across the grass once more, heading for District 12. This time I am not intercepted by anyone or anything. Quietly, I sneak back into my district and take shelter under some bushes. I wish Will Mellark were here, he worked as a baker with his father in district 12. Will was excellent at frosting cakes, and he could do a mighty good camouflage to anyone who wanted to escape the peacekeepers in 12.
I curl up into a ball to conserve body heat; the gamemakers will probably send some cold wind on us tonight. Suddenly, the distant hum of the electric fence stops abruptly. This could only mean one thing, that someone has disabled the electric fence and found a way to move silently from district to district without waking anyone. They will creep up on us to kill us in our sleep.