'I'm hungry' Mika said. This was the tenth time. The sun had just disappeared behind the waves and the sky was darkening. It was twilight.

'Me too. Stop whining and drink some water to fill your stomach' I said harshly. Our fire was burning a little too bright and I was worried someone might see us, although I doubted it with this dense forest behind us and an endless sea in front of us. My stomach was begging me for solid food, but the apple we had was long gone. It appeared that water couldn't ease the hunger pains for this long. And we were only in these Games for half a day!

'We'll go into the jungle tomorrow' I said 'there has to be plenty to eat'

'Why not now?' Mika asked.

'Will you stop being a baby? Who knows what's creeping around there!'

'It will still be there tomorrow' he answered. I was silent and knew he was right.

'We'll just rest, ok? I've slept with an empty belly before. You'll survive the night. Maybe we can roast a scorpion' I said.

'No, we would die from its venom' he said wisely and kind. Then he stared into the flames again. He was younger than me, but more mature. I was irritated but at the same time impressed by it. I sat down next to him and Timothy and looked at the empty spot that was destined for Kara. Where would she be? If she died, we hadn't even had a proper goodbye.

I still had to tell her so much.

'No cannons since this morning. It's quiet' I murmured.

'We'll see the portraits soon. And if you get anxious, you can listen to the jungle sounds or the waves crashing. It's really relaxing.' Mika advised.

I don't know for how long we did that, until the stars appeared and we put out our fire. It was a pity, because although it was still warm, the temperature was going down. At least we could walk around the beach freely now, because the sand wasn't that hot anymore.

Finally we ended up lying on our backs, staring at the countless stars. I had never seen this many stars in my life. The sky was gravely polluted in District 1, so you couldn't see anything. I couldn't believe I was in the Games. Aside from the hunger pains, I was relaxed.

At last the anthem started playing. The sky lit up a bit and my heart started beating. If Kara had died, she would be the very first to appear.

I held my breath…and it wasn't her. It was a girl, but she was from 16.

Next was a boy from 20. Then a girl from 21. Boy from 24. Another boy from 24, he was the one whose arm I sliced. Apparently he didn't make it. Juliet from 30, my victim. It was weird seeing her face and name and knowing I was the one who made it appear up there. The last one was another girl, this time from 34.

'…and that makes eight' Mika noticed, after the anthem stopped playing 'there are twenty left. Eight to go until the next round, nineteen until the victor comes out.'

'Nineteen' I repeated, and before I knew it I fell asleep.

I had no dreams that night, and sleeping was remarkably easy. When I woke up I kept my eyes closed for a while, listening to the waves crashing on the sand. The sea that surrounded District 1 was grey and stormy. But this sea sounded peaceful.

When I opened my eyes the light stung in them. I scratched my sandy hair, looked around and ignored the slightly uncomfortable feeling of hunger. What time was it? Judging from the heat and the position of the sun, it had to be around midday.

Midday. Shit.

How many cannons had gone off? Was Kara alive? Where were Mika and Timothy?

Oh, there they were. Lying in the full sun. They were pretty sunburnt; they looked awful.

I drank some water and shook the last sand off me. After my allies woke up, we couldn't have breakfast because we had no food.

'Today we're going into the jungle. We won't last long without anything to eat.' I said.

They agreed. We had two knives and Mika knew how to set traps. The only problem was we didn't know what kind of edible things there were.

I was dizzy when I stood up. It was probably from the hunger. I hadn't eaten anything in 24 hours. We had to go, now.

'Let's hope the monkeys don't take our stuff' Mika said, and I laughed. We took a couple of things we might need and left the beach for the palm trees.

It was another world. I had never seen those plants before. Colorful flowers, deadly and beautiful at the same time. While Mika was setting a trap on one of the rare small open spaces, I examined one of the flowers more closely. A butterfly landed on it, but right a few seconds its wings stopped moving and seconds later it fell on the ground, dead. Better keep away from the flowers. Almost nothing was safe in this place.

'Done' Mika said 'The beach isn't far away, so we should regularly check if we have caught something.' I looked at his trap. 'What do you expect to trap?' I asked.

'I do not know a lot about this sort of landscape, but maybe rats or birds' he answered, clearly doubting it.

'Well, it better work' I said 'What about these berries?' I pointed at a bush.

'No' Timothy said, standing behind me 'You'd be dead within days. They kill you slowly, but painfully'

'Ew. I'm glad you all know this. I wouldn't have lasted a day without you two' I assured them.

'And I would be dead without you, Abbey' Mika said 'The bloodbath, remember?'

'Right' I said, thinking of the blood that was on my hands. Reflecting on it, it was horrifying, but if I had to I would definitely do it again. 'Let's set another trap'

We moved about fifty meters to the left and Mika started to build another trap. I wandered around, looking for something else – nuts, berries, fruit, but there was nothing I trusted. My shoes were soaking wet again from the muddy ground. My skin was burning from the heat, so sometimes I relieved the pain with some water.

'You're like a boiled lobster' I said to Timothy, who had come with me. He shrugged his shoulders, which were red too.

'Do you recognize anything we can eat?' I asked, but before he could answer my question I looked at his thin right leg.

'There's a spider-a spider on you' I stumbled, pointing at a black, long-legged thing on his leg. Timothy became pale and slowly looked down. When he saw the vermin, he screamed and kicked around.

'Shh!' I said, quickly looking around 'It's gone' I noticed.

'Phew' he said, still pale 'and no, I don't recognize anything. If this were last year's arena, I would, but not now.'

'How old are you again?' I asked. 'Fourteen' he answered. I nodded, and turned around 'We should get back to Mika'

Mika had just finished his trap. When he heard us he looked up 'Was that you? That scream?' he asked Timothy.

'Yes' Timothy said 'Spider on my leg' He scratched the place where the animal had been.

'Well, it bit you' Mika said, pointing at the spot. It had become red.

'That's just from my nails' Timothy said 'Just go set another trap'

'Right' his District partner said, and we got our stuff, but then we heard another scream, really, really loud, and rather close. We heard the sound of cracking branches.

'Go. GO!' I whispered to Mika and Timothy, who were trembling. They ran and quickly disappeared. My heart was beating fast and I duck. Who was that? Judging from the sound, it was a boy. I had to admit to myself I didn't dare going there. I heard more branches crack and another painful, terrifying cry. If someone just got killed, then there was a killer in the neighborhood. I started running too and I found the beach in my blind panic. I was out of breath and energy when I arrived, probably from hunger.

'We need to be quiet and hope someone doesn't come here.' I whispered.

The other two were clearly terrified. We heard another scream of pain I put my fingers in my ears. I sat down in the sand, trembling. What if Alexandria was near? The thought of her thin features scared me even more.

Then a cannon went off. It couldn't have been Kara- the injured person in the woods was a guy. Maybe it was Fabio. No, Fabio probably wasn't dumb. He was more likely to be the killer than the killed. All I could do was hope it was him.

We waited for a while, but nothing happened. No one came, no strange sounds, nothing.

'When are we going to check on the traps?' I asked.

'We'll have to wait a few hours, at least. That person scared away the animals.' Mika answered.

It was hard to imagine, but we were really bored. It was hot, we couldn't go into the sea because of the fish and we had to stay in the shadows because the sand was too warm to walk on. Timothy couldn't stop scratching his leg. The spider had definitely bitten him, although he still didn't want to admit it. His skin had become even redder on the spot.

Mika spent his time scribbling in our little notebook and I just sharpened the tip of a branch I'd found with my knife. Maybe I'd come in handy.

When the evening fell, we dared to go into the jungle again to see if we'd caught something. The orange evening light shone on our faces while we made our way to the green world.

'Guys, this is bad.' Mika said, when we reached our first trap. It was untouched.

'Don't worry, maybe the second trap holds something' I said.

However, the second one was as empty as my stomach. I bit my lip. No food yet. There had to be something to eat, because the Gamemakers wouldn't want a game with tributes just starving to death. There had to be something we constantly overlooked. But what?

'Let's get back to the beach. Look out for that snake' I murmured, and carefully avoiding the orange reptile, we got back to the beach.

Night was falling over our first whole day in the arena. So far nine had died, eight at the bloodbath and one today. Seven kids wouldn't make the next arena.

I looked at the faces of Mika and Timothy. It had never been my intention to kill them and I knew it would kill me. The thought of them dying was painful, but unavoidable if I wanted to win. I had to win. I didn't care how crappy my life had been before, I still wanted to live it.

The main concern was not to starve. Why hadn't Charlotte sent us food yet? I had plenty of sponsors and the prices were still low. She'd promised me she would be a good mentor. What if she gave in and let Laika rule everything again? Then I wouldn't get anything, because I 'didn't give him what he wanted'. Well, as soon as I come out of this arena, I will bring you down- was all I could think.

Moments flew by, and suddenly the anthem was playing again, just like yesterday. I waited anxiously for the dead. Someone appeared – and it was a boy named Chris, from District 33.

I didn't know why that name sounded familiar, but after a few minutes I remembered he was one of the people I had annoyed during the interviews. I had asked him if he was going to kill me, and he said no. Now he himself was dead. He was from 33. It wasn't a wide-known fact that children in District 33 were scarce. Only people from District 1 were taught that, all because of the 1-33 war. After all the battle there were almost no men in 33 left, so there was very little offspring. The odds of being reaped were probably way higher than in any other District, even higher than in 35, where my allies came from.

Although the hunger bugged me and made me uncomfortable, I was able to fall asleep.

New chapter soon, although school is starting in a few days so I'll have less time to write :( thanks for reviews & your patience :)