"YOU GO KNOCK 'EM DEAD!"Somebody hollers from behind. I turn my head to see a person who really looks far too enthusiastic about violence.

"Show them! Show all of them what you're made of!"With one glance I turn back around in fear of the power and dominance that looms about him.

Clarisse looks to the direction of the caller and returns a smug smile before walking over to the tribute line with her own air of arrogance and superiority. I resist the urge to roll me eyes at the district 5 contenders but then I have to remember that they at least have something to be proud of and brag about. They were born as fighters, warriors. They have that competitive traits and set-minds that only make them focus on one thing and one thing only-

Defeat with no mercy.

Katropis is strapped at my belt and I put a hand over it as if protectively. This is my only weapon, is it even a good one? Everybody else has swords, even Katie from 4, who I had pictured as such a bright and bubbly girl and not a dangerous, deadly one.

Annabeth has a knife though and she seems pretty good, considering she has only been through a monstrous arena and was one of those who reached the doors for the exit. Yes, 'pretty good' is just the perfect term to describe her.

I have to frown at that. If the victors are only good then what on earth am I?

I admit, I have been getting better at fighting skills and I have gotten familiar with most of the faces. The ones that I talk to more are probably Leo and Annabeth and maybe even Percy, though he gets along with everybody.

I actually had forgotten what we were in this for all along, to be killed. To be entertainment and amusement. Spending an entire week here must have made me fail to remember.

Aphrodite gives me a pat on the back before muttering some reassuring words. You'll be fine. You'll be brilliant. You are amazing.

I can see the other mentors nodding at their tribute and giving them encouraging words 'good luck' or something along the lines. But before she leaves, she leans in closer and says "Don't let them see how nervous you feel."

The one thing that comes to my head after her comment is Pretend you are not nervous at all. It worries me a little when she tells me not to be nervous, which means that she knows it will be big too. I try to swallow down my fears as she gives me one more 'good luck'. Examinations are here, I will need all the luck I can get. And I am certainly not looking forward to finding out what the Organisers have in store. I was never good at challenges or tests; I doubt I am any better.

All of us are in one line-Leo is on my right and the district 11 boy is on my left. I try to compose myself as I see Chiron coming out to the front. He clears his throat for our attention.

I can feel Leo nudging me slightly, but my eyes never leave the sight of the trainer in front of us. Chiron greets us, goes through the introductions and says that we will be placed into two teams.

"The challenge requires you to work together. So I don't think I need to remind you that you are not to attack members of your own team." He looks at us to confirm if we have that clear, because it seems that it has happened before. "Further instructions will be given once you have reached the area and have been placed into the selected teams."

I only wish that Clarisse isn't on the opposite team. I am hoping that neither of the victors or career tributes are put against me. But I know I cannot come out with such a team and advantage. No, instead I just have to pray that I shall not encounter any of them.

"Each team has been levelled out to what is thought to be equal judging by the standards you have met during the previous training sessions." Chiron continues. His comment relieves me from my previous thoughts. It will be fair; they have tried to make it even.

"All in all, I wish you the best of luck," he smiles. "And please try not to kill one another." I can hear a snicker coming from one person at the statement. It is safe to assume that the challenge will be a violent one, but then we are here after all.

It is also safe to suggest that the challenge will not be safe.

A screen appears and flashes to a face which I recognise to be the district 1 boy. Chiron nods at him "First member of the blue team."

Then other faces appear, and mine does also. I am in the red team with Leo, Annabeth, Dakota, Percy and the district 13 girl who I finally know the name of, Hazel. Once everybody is settled and grouped in the appropriate teams, Chiron spoke again. "Here is your information sheet and you may go off to discuss with your team.

Annabeth takes the envelope and leads us over to one side of the base. Her gray eyes examine the sheet thoroughly, reading every single detail and small writing. She looks up at us "I hope you're good at stealing and running away."

Ω

'...Capture the flag is an examination to test your ability to work well as a team and knowing your role as well as playing it right. Each team is consisted of six tributes that must be able to protect their flag and retrieve the other team's as quickly as possible. You must place the opponents' flag onto your territory in order to win the challenge.

It is not a timed examination. There will be no obstacles, no monsters to battle. You will be scored at the end on how well you demonstrated combat skills and agility...'

Five minutes is the time given to us for planning. Only five minutes.

I'm glad that we have Annabeth on our team. She is very good with battle strategies; I will never know how her mind works so quickly. Already, she knows what positions we should be in and where to hide or plan to attack. I understand that she is much smarter than I am, but I cannot help questioning the spot she has put me in.

"Why am I on the attacking side?"

Annabeth looks at me in such a way that I feel as though I shouldn't have asked such a question. She raises her eyebrow as if to see if I am inquiring how smart her plan really is, which isn't a good thing to do. But she must sense how intimidated I feel because her eyes soften a little and she says "I know you are pretty fast, you can outrun the others."

It's Percy's turn to object to Annabeth's decisions. He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes at her, which gives him such a childish look, and says "Why can't I be put on attack? What is so good about defending?"

I can see Annabeth shooting a look, daring him to say more. He doesn't seem to be affected by the glares though. "There is so much more excitement in attacking, Annabeth please change it!"

The blonde girl purses her lips tightly. "We'll discuss this later Percy, but for now please stay as the defence. I am put there too, so it's fair."

But I can see what she is trying to avoid saying. Stronger tributes should be placed to protect the flag since it is more likely that there will be a lot of fierce people sent out to retrieve it. If they get their hands on our flag because of the lack of strength from the defenders, we won't be scored very highly.

Leo, Percy and Annabeth are the defenders. Hazel, Dakota and I are the retrievers. The other don't argue or question any more about the choices made and it all seems fine. I actually wonder if Annabeth might think that I am rather skilful or that I just need to be placed there for no reason. Hazel seems very discreet and quiet, so she will have no trouble snatching the flag. I don't really know much about the district 12 tribute but he has been known to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter as if he ought to be restrained. The quiet, the crazy and the clueless.

"Just try not to be seen, I recommend you to sneak up rather than launching a big attack," Annabeth says. "Try not to get lost and stay on a certain path. And if you need it, use distraction."

And then that's it, we are not given any other advice or further details. To put it in a blunt way all we have to do is retrieve, dodge and run back. That plan has many things to think about but I think we're not supposed to be thinking about our actions. That's what the Gamemakers want, for us to think quick and fast out of the danger zone.

I only have one more thing to ask. "What happens if the other team wins?"

"Still make an effort to seem worthy of the best score." She says. A trainer indicates that it is time we leave and we're led into an open space. We are given breast plates and other armoury for protection. It's heavy; I want to take it off because it will weigh me down.

Annabeth looks at all of us once more as we get ready. "If you get caught, remember to try and escape and immediately turn back here for help with defence if you can. Encounter anybody? Run." And then that's it.

I look to see that they all are already positioned to either go ahead or hide away and I don't really know what to do. Dakota suddenly turns to me. "So we just go straight ahead?"

He seems to be asking as if Annabeth has put me in charge. I try to pretend that I am not inexperienced, that I am not doubting any skill of mine. I turn to him, "Yes."

Dakota looks ahead for a little while then turns back around. "Do we need to look out for certain people or what?" I wish Annabeth had been a little more clear on that because I don't know myself. Or maybe she did mention something along the lines and we are just not smart enough to follow what she had been saying. I bite my lip and shake my head. Thankfully he doesn't ask any more questions.

Percy grips his sword and has a grin on his face, he mutters "Any second now..." and Annabeth nods too. I swallow hard and turn back to the sight of the woods in front of me. "3...2...1..."

The cannon sounds and all I hear are voices yelling "Go, go, go!" So I obey and try to run as fast as I can. I don't know where I am heading-I only have a vague idea. But then, what did Annabeth say again?

Stay on the path.

What path? All I see are fallen leaves on the shrub layer of the forest. An actual path or an imaginary one that appears when you know exactly where you are going? I wish I did know where to go, I wish I knew what direction to head in. Am I supposed to know where to go?

Yes.

I halt to a stop, remembering that Hazel and Dakota are also with me. Their footsteps are behind me and I turn to signal them to be quieter, mainly because I don't want them to attract the opposing team. But I try to hope that Clarisse and her team will make an awful racket to lead us to their territory. So I stand there and look for any sounds of battle cries or other footsteps nearby.

Hazel and Dakota both stop and watch me with compliance and sudden curiosity. They seem to see me pickup on what I am trying to do because they stop to listen too. When I know that there really isn't anything to listen to, I give them a look as if we expected this. Hazel raises her eyebrow and I nod. I don't really know what she is inquiring, but she is probably trying to make it seem like we have a plan, and I have confirmed that we commence in it. The Gamemakers are watching us, we should make ourselves mysterious and prepared.

My palms are sweaty, but I put on a tough face as we continue walking through the forest. Hazel is as quiet as a mouse and I almost forget that she is even with me, but Dakota is the complete opposite. He insists on being heard, shown when he carries on with crunching every leaf on the ground, the grunts he makes as he adjusts his armour...It really irritates me, but I'm afraid that if I turn to give him a look it will make it seem that the approach we are going for is to 'keep quiet' but we are failing at it terribly.

So Dakota's loud footsteps continue on, and I pretend that I am not at all bothered. Besides, we might be able to make it seem as if we are trying to attract attention and lure the other team out. But then what if the noises do attract the other team? The problem is we actually don't have a plan, we're only pretending that we do. If they catch us it will be all over and then we'll see who gets the most sponsors, I guarantee it won't be us.

I conclude that we should just keep moving forward until something eventually does happen. Hazel and Dakota don't know this, but they follow me much to my own discomfort.

The loud crunching noises behind me stop and I know that it is Dakota who has halted. I see him look uncertainly around us and I feel very tempted to turn back around and continue moving because we don't want to waste any time. But he still doesn't move forward so I have to wait along with him.

"What?"

He scrunches his nose as if in deep thought, his face deadly serious. It's a little strange to see him so solemn. Wasn't he supposed to be the boy who couldn't contain himself at the hilarity of things?

"Why haven't we encountered anybody?" he says.

I want to scream at him for making it seem like our 'plan' is not working because now the Game makers will assume that we do not know anything. We do not, but we certainly do not want them to find that out. Fortunately I resist the urge of yelling at Dakota, because I know that would have made everything much worse. Instead, I stare at him blankly-waiting for a reason to not hit him out of frustration.

"Don't you remember what Annabeth said?" I hear Hazel's voice say in a half-whisper half-shout at him. Dakota looks at her with a strange look on his face, for a moment I myself do not know what she is saying either. She gives an exasperated sigh before muttering something of ignorance and people not listening.

For a split-second I can see a pointed look directed at me. I try not to look too relieved at the idea that she has just saved us. I need to remember to thank her later.

I huff in response to Dakota's bewildered expression. "Never mind him," I say to Hazel, as if stating that he doesn't know anything. Dakota opens his mouth as if to say something, but he closes it again. I purse my lips "Just follow us, alright?"

Now he is completely out of it. He narrows his eyes at me, obviously not knowing whether to play along or to say something aloud. Fortunately he is smart enough not to say anything else about it. We continue to go along, when I consider his statement before.

Why haven't we encountered anybody?

It's actually starting to worry me because I know we must be getting closer to the Blues' area. And somebody must have heard us by now. Who wouldn't be able to hear us? I start to turn to the two of them again. "Alright, we better keep mo-"I see something move fast and I immediately jump back.

An arrow has been shot, just narrowly missing the top of Hazel's head.

Dakota's face is as white as a sheet and I feel beads of sweat on my forehead. So somebody had heard us.

"I knew it!" I can hear myself say. I didn't know, not really, but they don't know that either. They also don't know that I am pretending all this.

Two more arrows are shot into the tree nearby and I realise that we really should not be standing in that spot. None of us argue with the idea of running away.

They have Zoe Nightshade and Will Solace-if they're the brilliant archers I saw every training session then I know that they won't have trouble trying to shoot us down from a distance.

I can see arrows shooting on every tree we pass, which means that the person has started moving along too. The shots are so close to us that I would have assumed that they were trying to kill us.

But they can't. Surely they can't-it's against the rules...

"She's trying to kill us!" Dakota yelps. I grit my teeth at how ridiculous we must look, not that it matters, and he also isn't very agreeable. But then again, we are being chased by some fierce tribute, what's not to agree on? I try to focus on his words again.

"She?"

He looks distressed as we dodge the trees and arrows. "The district 8 girl, I saw-it's her!"

That obviously does not surprise me. "We have to lose her,"

"No kidding!"

I have to grunt as I adjust the armour which, as I suspected, is giving me a hard time to run about. All I see are trees...trees...trees...

"Let's change the direction of where we're going," I say, almost breathless. I don't know if they nod, or say anything in response because I can't focus properly right now. I can hear Dakota shouting "Keep going!" My heart is beating fast, like my chest is going to explode. I turn right into a bush and attempt to hide.

I crouch down and I think I can see a mop of curly brown hair; I know that Hazel is beside me. We stay like that for a while until we're sure that nobody is out there. I try to catch my breath and calm myself down.

When we get up I still see Hazel, but not Dakota. Where is Dakota? I immediately spring back and I look around in panic.

Where is Dakota!?

Hazel sees my expression, "He ran the other way; he's going back to the base. He-he told us to keep going...like we planned."

I nod and try to push my worried thoughts away. Still, being chased down by Zoe in the dark woods knowing that she might bring some other teammates on with her-

She might have signalled the others to where we are!

I want to shout this out to Hazel, but I just try to stop my voice from shaking and say "The others-they might come."

She looks like she's trying hard to stay strong too, and I still admire her courage. Her own voice sounds hoarse, "Yes." She fiddles with the sword in her hands which, I might note, is much bigger than my own small knife.

I clear my throat and continue walking slowly through the forest. "So you're from district 13?" Hazel nods, her brown curls bouncing up and down. "Isn't that mining underground?"

"Yes. And you're from district 10, textiles," she offers and I nod too. We don't say anything else but I suppose that Hazel's nature is very quiet, so I don't press her anymore for a conversation.

I am getting very tired of the trees.

I am getting very tired of everything in general. This is all rather uninteresting, except for the brief encounter of Zoe Nightshade-but still. I feel drowsy with every step I take. Every single step...-

"Stop." Hazel's voice snaps me out of my reverie. "We're here."

I follow her gaze and I can see the blue flag, placed into the ground. The spot is empty, and nobody seems to be insight. I bite my lip as I study our surroundings once more, "Too easy."

It is too obvious of a trap, and Hazel knows it too. To prove our point, Katie Gardner pokes her head out from a place up in a tree to see if there are any intruders around. She doesn't see us, so she climbs back up to her lookout spot, waiting. We stay near some bushes and I rack my mind for any solutions to retrieve the flag. I know that we cannot run out to get it, because Katie might call on more team members. That theory is very likely because there will probably be more tributes hiding around since we've only identified one.

"We need a distraction," I whisper to Hazel, but my eyes never leave the flag. "Somebody will have to keep Katie busy, the other one will get the flag and run."

Hazel shifts in her spot. "What if Katie isn't the only one out there?" My thoughts exactly.

"Then run." She looks uneasy so I add "I'll be the distraction, okay?"

Hazel looks at me with hesitance in her eyes. I'm nervous too because it's a very quick plan and it could fail. She scratches her head as if still unsure, but then averts her gaze back to the blue flag waving to us, as if beckoning for us to come forward. We need to get it.

She nods, "Okay." We slowly get back up, I grip onto Katropis tightly. Looking at Hazel I silently count 1, 2, 3...

I move apart from her spot and casually walk across to the territory.

I can almost feel Katie Gardner's eyes burning at the back of my head and I am already imagining what must be going through her mind.

How dare this tribute come into her territory? And so carelessly and freely! She isn't expecting an attack, is she? How dare she expect to not be punished?!

But I am expecting it, I'm just pretending I'm not. I brace myself, waiting for her blow. I hear her angry growl as she is about to. I duck and whip around.

Sure enough, there is Katie with such ferocity in her eyes, her fists clenched in anger at me-the intruder. The impostor.

The enemy.

I stare at her, she glares back. It's hard to believe that this was the girl who beamed at me cheerfully in the training sessions. But I guess people will do anything to make a good impression. All for the cameras, isn't it?

Katie yells out and swipes her sword at me and I simply turn and do it back. She huffs and continues swinging her weapon at me, hoping that I will fall down and surrender. I reckon this is a way of making the tributes turn on one another before the Game actually starts-and judging from the hatred and vicious glint in Katie's eyes I know that it must be working. From a distance I see Hazel's curly hair and little figure creeping up to the flag.

Katie is awfully skilled at this and, being distracted by Hazel's actions, she trips me over so I fall on my bottom.

I look up, but the sun rays block my vision and I can see what I think is her silhouette. Panic fills me as she raises her sword, perhaps to knock me in the head so I can fall unconscious. I know that she would because she cannot kill me, so making me pass out is just the second best option here. Yes, that would be lovely, the whole time of the examination I would be laying there doing nothing. I would certainly get the best score. But I suppose Hazel would have already captured the flag and tried to return back to our territory-so I'd be happy for her. I'd be happy for our team. And Leo would like to win, so there. Maybe I wouldn't get some supporters but they would, hopefully.

I feel as if I am going to faint before she can even hurt me. I can see Katie's face a little more clearer now, and the tentative expression on her face. But then determination sweeps over and she raises her weapon-

I feel something hit me to the ground.

So this is what it feels to be unconscious? I frown as I feel something tugging my arm, and Hazel pulls me up. She helps push the heavy thing off me. I feel completely and utterly confused at I get up and dust myself off, I realise that the 'thing' was actually a knocked out Katie who fell on top of me. It scares me a little to see her limply lying there and how it happened so quickly. Hazel looks at me somewhat sheepishly and points to the tribute that is on the ground. "I-I saw her about to hurt you so I ran over."

I feel baffled at the whole situation. But I still send her a smile to show her how grateful I really am. "Thank you." She gives a small smile back before shyly holding up a blue cloth. My grin becomes wider, obviously undeniably happy. We could win this. We turn to go back to our base, but still I feel somewhat sad at the sight of the district 4 tribute lying on the ground unconscious. But it has been done, and once it is done you cannot go back. I would know. But Hazel was so courageous. I tell her so and she blushes; I really like her modesty.

"I suppose we just try to get there quickly now. We might not have that much time left," she says. I have to agree with her, the others can't hold them off for long. We try to pick up a faster pace as we venture through, trying to remember which way we are headed for. The Gamemakers must make us confused on purpose, to see how well we 'adapt'. Hazel wipes the beads of sweat on her forehead and sighs as we continue jogging through. The armour really is a bother for me, and I hate it. But then I remember that I probably have a better chance at surviving with it.

I stop for a minute just to catch my breath and Hazel leans against a tree too. The flag is tied securely on her wrist. "You better keep that safe," I say gesturing to it and she grins.

"It would be horrible if I suddenly lost it," I laugh quietly and strap Katropis back to my belt.

Hazel ruffles her hair and straightens her armour. "Let's continue on," I nod in her direction as she stops leaning on the tree, but then I see something else behind her. It's in the shape of a person. The silhouette's movements are like the ones Katie had made when she was about to-

I run towards her side shrieking "Hazel! Behind you! Duck!" She jerks forward in panic and I try to pull her back from her spot. But I know it's too late when I hear the thump of a sound.

Her body slumps onto the ground, unconscious.

Cliffy much? ;)

And I do recall saying Jason would be in this chapter, my apologies-it's the next chapter (which will come next week)

So sorry, this chapter took a long time to write (almost 5000 words O_O) I was a bit sceptical on the fact that it isn't a traditional game of Capture the Flag and yes-there aren't usually 6 to a team, but it works alright I think :)

See you all next week! And thank you to all those who constantly review, every one of them make my day :D