Finally... WE ARE IN THE ARENA NOW GUYS. Enjoy :)

I don't own the Hunger Games.

The sun was blinding and disorientating. My foot slipped and I nearly fell off the pad, but I caught myself before I fell. You idiot! I screamed at myself. You could have just killed yourself. Get it together, now!

Somehow my eyes adjusted to the light and I could see. The Cornucopia is about fifty feet away from me. Directly behind it was a grassland area, and about a hundred yards to my right there was a clearing with a giant lake. Directly behind me there are woods.

After I get my bearings my eyes start to comb through the bounty that lies before me. There is a sheet of plastic about ten feet from me, and a backpack and a water jug about twenty feet in. There are a few other things close to me, but I quickly start to search the Cornucopia. Weapons, tents, first aid supplies, food, a person could survive the rest of their life at ease with the bounty that lies in the golden horn. But what I can't find is a bow.

What the hell? I showed my skill, why isn't it there. I got an eleven with it dammit! Then a terrifying thought slips into my brain. They hid it, so you would be forced to stick around.

The gong that signals the start of the games is about to ring and I'm out of time. I guess I'll be forced to do without.

I position myself to run, and only then do I look for Gale.

He's about five plates to my right, searching the pile with his eyes. I guess he felt my gaze because he turns to me. I shake my head slightly and I mouth, "We need to just run."

He nods, and shifts his stance so that he's angled more toward me. My eyes leave him, and in the same second, the gong rings.

I bolt for the backpack I saw earlier, and pick up the sheet of plastic as I run. I yank the backpack off the ground and throw it over my shoulder, and I snatch up the water jug. I stop for a second, wondering if I should keep heading in.

Gale runs over to me and yanks me around by my shoulder, "Move!"

I feel a sudden force and I turn around to see a knife in my pack. We both start to sprint for the woods, but no other knives pursue us. I'm guessing it was the girl who specializes in throwing knives, the female from District 2.

Its almost an instant relief when we break through the tree line, but we both keep running. He's always within ten feet of me, and we don't stop until we both can't run anymore.

I'm bent over with my hands on my knees, trying to get air back into my lungs. I look up to see Gale leaning against a tree, a black pack on his shoulders. "Should we check them?" I ask. "Or keep moving?"

"No," Gale says as he's still breathing heavy. "We have... to keep moving. At least till... the cannon shots."

"Alright."

We set a steady pace, alternating between running and jogging. After about forty minutes we start heading downhill into a valley. It makes me nervous to be at a lower altitude then our competitors, but we will need water so I don't complain. We continue another ten minutes before the cannons start.

We both stop and listen to the canons till we count to eleven. Eleven people dead, thirteen left to play.

I look over at Gale, "Lets search the packs."

We sit underneath a tree and unpack the bags. I have a a pack of crackers, a pack of dried beef strips, a bottle of iodine, a box of wooden matches, a bit of coiled wire, sunglasses, an empty half gallon water bottle, and a black sleeping bag. Gale's has some rope, a lighter, bandages, a couple packs of fruit, a blanket, and a pocket knife. We decided that the supplies were already well distributed so we kept everything the same except we split the wire and i give him the water jug I picked up at the Cornucopia.

We keep moving until night fall. At dusk we both know it's time to stop. "There," Gale points to a tall willow. 'We can sleep up there."

We climb about thirty feet up before Gale's weight becomes too much and we are forced to stop. I lay out the sleeping bag and sit on top of it with my back against the tree as I wait for the Anthem to start. Gale is in a similar position one branch below me. Eleven names appear in the sky, but all the careers have survived.

"Should we set up watched?" He asks me.

I look down at him, "no lets just get some sleep."

I can feel the temperature dropping so I quickly climb into the sleeping bag. But it isn't five minutes before I can hear Gale's teeth chatter. I look down at him as he wraps himself in his blanket and say, "geez Gale just get up here."

He looks up at me startled. "W-what?"

I roll my eyes, "You're not going to freeze while I'm in this sleeping bag. We'll be squished but we can both fit. Get up here."

He practically jumps up to my branch as I climb out of the sleeping bag. The cold hits me so fast that my body starts shaking. "Hurry up it's freezing."

"Tell me about it," Gale says as he climbs into the sleeping bag. I crawl in after him and zip up the bag. His cold skin is a shock to me. "Wow they're really screwing with the temperature in here. You're freezing, and the anthem hasn't even been over for five minutes."

He yanks my body close to his and practically moans through chattering teeth, "You're so... warm." After a couple minutes his body stops shaking and he relaxes. He tries to move away from me a little but the sleeping bag is too small to let him move much. "Sorry," he flashes me a grin. "We're kinda stuck this close together."

"It's fine," I say as I close my eyes."It doesn't matter."

As I start to fall asleep I fell his arm wrap around my waist and I can feel him move closer. It's a small sleeping bag so I don't think much of it, and his skin is warm so I don't object. I feel a temporary sense of peace as I fall asleep in his arms.

Katniss is so... innocent. This isn't my best work but I'm satisfied with it. Please comment and tell me what you think.