- Atticus. ATTICUS! - I could hear someone knocking violently at the door. - Wake up! - that horribly strong District 10 accent... ugh, Dallas... why wouldn't he let me sleep more?

- Five more minutes, please! - I yelled back.

- I hope you're fucking kidding me, young man. - he answered.- You just can't be late for the Arena.

The Arena... oh my God. THE ARENA! I swear, I forgot about that for a second. I imediatly got up and opened the door.

- Eat something and go, now. Your stylist is already waiting for you! - Dallas said. I ran up to the living room and grabbed something before meeting my stylist.

- Thought you wouldn't appear - he commented, with an evil grin on his face. He was holding this really big, wide robe, which I assumed would be my Arena oufit.

- Is that... - I started.

- Your outfit for the Arena? Yeah. - he grinned. He handed me it and a pair of boots, similar to the ones we used on 10. We used them to protect us from snake and other venomous animals bites, so I'm guessing the Arena will have some venomous lil' guys.

- Okaay... - I said, putting my clothes on.

- You'll do fine, boy. - He tells me with his creepy grin. "Uh, thanks", was my answer.

"10 seconds to launch," I hear a mechanical voice saying. It was time.

I stepped into the plate with no big goodbyes.

"9, 8, 7, 6 seconds..."

I felt myself feeling more and more nervous.

"5, 4, 3..."

Oh my. What if I died at the Cornucopia?

"2, 1, 0". The glass closed and I felt the plate lifting up.

The first thing that hit me was this big wave of heat. Not like, District 10 heat. I was talking about REAL heat. My vision imediatly became blurred, as if I already needed to drink an entire lake to feel normal again.

Sand was EVERYWHERE. There was absolutely no place to hide. You could see a Tribute miles away. But around the big structure of the cornucopia there was water. Probably not clean water, they wouldn't make it that easy for us. The supplies seemed to be... floating? Even the ones which are NOT supposed to float...

The countdown was at 47.

This was weird... how they float like that?

40.

They didn't even seem to be moving...

33.

I couldn't spot Ebony; the girl from 9 was by my side and Atlas was on her other side.

25...

Oh boy. What should I do? I wasn't even that good of a swimmer...

10.

I had zero chances of getting something from the Cornucopia.

5...4...3...

Maybe I should just try to get a bagpack or something.

2...1...0.

I missed the starting point just in time to see Atlas attempting to jump to the water, but end up with is head stuck on sand.