Chapter 11- Beginning

Sparrow jerked awake, a scream catching in her throat. She tried to still her trembling hands as she remembered what she had dreamed about. She had to sit by and watch Lichen being reaped for the Games and she ultimately watched as he died in front of her, unable to do anything to help him. She swallowed thickly as she watched sunlight filter through her window. How deceiving it was to feel look so peaceful when today was the beginning of the end. Today was the start of the Games.

After Salton's revelation the previous night, chaos had ensued from all sides. The crowd had gasped, Sparrow had nearly passed out, and Blight had accosted her so that he could question her. After everything that had happened, she never even got a chance to talk to Salton about what he had said.

Her pulse quickened as she pictured Salton's face and she couldn't believe that he had admitted that they had something between them. What was more, she couldn't believe that Blight was going along with it. He told her that a star-crossed lovers act could work as long as she only pretended to trust Salton. But there were two problems with Blight's idea: it wasn't an act and she already trusted him more than anyone else.

She sighed and rolled out of her comfortable bed for the last time, knowing that it was time to get ready for the biggest day of her life. After showering, she stepped in to her room to find her tribute outfit lying on her bed. She picked up the tight fitting pants and decided that they seemed to be made of a water proof texture. Next was a slightly looser fitting sleeveless shirt and a dark green military style jacket that had a lot of pockets and some sort of strange fabric on the inside. Finally, there were ankle high hiking boots that were surprisingly light for the way they looked. Sparrow had trouble imagining what the arena could possibly look like given this strange assortment of clothes.

After getting dressed she made her way into the dining area where all of the others were already seated. She took her spot next to Everest who had his head bent silently towards his plate. Blight's leg was bouncing up and down and his eyes seemed to be focusing on something far away. Their escort, of course, was simply filing his nails and humming to himself. This scene did nothing to calm Sparrow's nerves.

She began pulling food toward herself even though she had no appetite whatsoever because it was the last meal that she knew she would get. After several minutes Blight finally seemed to become aware of her presence.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her quietly.

"Spectacular," she muttered, trying to swallow a piece of toast.

"Eat as much as you can. We have to go down in fifteen minutes," Blight stood up and Sparrow noticed that for all of the advice he gave, he seemed unable to eat much of anything.

Everest looked up at her with such fear that she acted on impulse and wrapped him in a hug. He tensed briefly but then relaxed against her. "Thanks for being so kind to me Sparrow. I couldn't have asked for a better district partner," he mumbled quietly.

Sparrow felt her eyes welling up with tears and could only manage a nod of assent. She released him and they went back to eating, lost in their own thoughts.

0.0.0

Sparrow stood next to her stylist Arcilla as she prepared to enter the tube that would transport her to the arena. She was bouncing up and down on her toes and shaking out her arms, hoping that it would help her nerves to dissipate.

"Two minutes tributes, two minutes until launch," a voice sounded through the room.

"Good luck Sparrow. I'll be rooting for you all the way," Arcilla smiled shakily at her.

"Thanks. Really. You've been an awesome stylist," Sparrow said, feeling the tight ponytail that Arcilla had made for her.

Arcilla pulled her into a gentle hug which Sparrow gladly returned, knowing that this was probably the last time she would see her stylist.

"Thirty seconds tributes," the voice sounded again. Sparrow tried to get in some last minute stretching and thought about how the other tributes must be feeling right now. Poor Everest was probably barely conscious while Jade was probably already on the platform, eagerly awaiting the killing spree that was to come. Last of all, she thought of Salton and her fear seemed to double. Not only for herself but for him as well.

"Ok Sparrow you should get in now," Arcilla said quietly.

She took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform, fighting back tears. She simply looked into Arcilla's lavender framed eyes and wondered at how different their circumstances were. Shortly after that, the tube lowered over her and she could only manage a brief wave at Arcilla before she was out of sight.

As she was brought into the arena, she was not met with the blinding sunlight that she had expected. Instead she was met with clouds as dark as night with lightening etching its way across the sky. She tried to control her trembling hands as she looked at her surroundings.

She quickly saw that Everest was almost exactly opposite her and that Salton was about five tributes away from her on the right. He must have felt her staring because he turned his serious expression towards her and smiled slightly. Despite her situation, she felt the familiar tingles through her body and managed a smile back.

The next thing she noticed was that this arena was very strange indeed. Directly in front of her was the Cornucopia in the center of a field with the tributes forming a circle around it. To her right was more of the same field, stretching until it met what looked like scrubland with some scraggly trees. To her left was a rocky slope which went on and on as far as she could see. Behind her, the scrubland and rocky slope met in an odd sort of way with some shrubs and trees growing on low cliffs. Beyond the circle of tributes in front of her was a large marsh which faded into a lake on the horizon. So there was no real forest to speak of then. Her one advantage was gone in the blink of an eye and she could only wait and watch as the clocked ticked down to zero.

With a burst of sound, the tributes were off and racing towards the Cornucopia. Sparrow hadn't even looked too closely at the supplies because she had been too busy looking at the arena around her! The first thing Blight had said to her was to never get distracted and she had gone against him at the very start. She glanced wildly around her as she ran and noticed a small pack with a knife propped against it not too far away and decided that she would go for it.

The next few seconds seemed to last forever as she ran towards it; expecting a tribute to knock her down at any moment. Somehow she made it to the pack and swung it over one shoulder in one smooth moment and grabbed the knife in her other hand. She quickly looked around her and watched as the small boy from District Eight was speared through his chest and was thrown flat onto his back from how forceful it had been.

Her breath caught in her throat and all sound around her seemed to quiet as she stared at his lifeless form. She knew that this would happen; that she would see death. But she never knew how quickly a life could be snuffed out just like that. Her eyes travelled to the left where she saw the pair from District One high-fiving before the girl walked over and carelessly ripped the spear from the boy's body.

That sight shook Sparrow back into the gravity of her situation and she quickly turned and ran towards the rocky slope, figuring that not many tributes would choose that location. As she ran, her shock and sadness turned into anger. At Jade, at the Capitol, at everyone. She found herself wanting revenge on Jade for what she did. At the same time, she knew that it was stupid for her to have stood there for so long and knew that it was lucky that she wasn't dead yet.

She continued up the steep slope, stumbling occasionally and panting for breath before long. She found a small alcove that would provide a hiding place as well as shelter from the elements, as it had begun drizzling rain the further up the slope she went.

She crawled into the opening and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. As she lay there staring out at the almost black sky, she imagined that she could still hear the screams and clash of metal but knew that it was impossible. The image of the District Eight boy flying through the air replayed over and over in her head and she decided to see what her pack contained to distract her.

She found a small flask which contained water, a pack of crackers, some dried fruit, a coil of rope, and a rolled up thin waterproof mat. Overall, it was a very good pack to get because she had everything she needed for the time being. Although she wasn't too sure what she would use the rope for.

The rain picked up, as did the rain and occurrence of lightning. She could barely even see out of her alcove anymore because of how foggy it had gotten. Hopefully that meant that no one else would try climbing the slope. She backed herself as far into the corner as she could and decided to cover herself with the mat to keep the rain off of her.

The sound of canons made her jump and she stuck her head briefly out of her alcove to barely make out the anthem playing in the sky. She had counted eight canons and sure enough, eight faces appeared in the sky. First was the District Three boy, Lea's district partner. Next came the girl from District Six and both tributes from Eight. Everest was still alive! But her burst of happiness faded as the boy from Eight's face flashed across the screen. Sparrow swallowed convulsively and again pictured the spear entering his chest. The boy from Nine was also shown. Sparrow breathed a sigh of relief when District Ten was skipped and she immediately felt guilty for it. Both tributes from Eleven were killed as was the girl from District Twelve.

Sparrow rested herself back into the alcove once more and thought about who was left. There were all six of the Careers, Lea from Three, both tributes from Five, the boy from Six, her and Everest, the girl from Nine, both from Ten, and the boy form Twelve. That was a surprisingly high number of tributes, normally ten or eleven died in the bloodbath.

Sparrow sighed and rested her head back against the rock wall, slowly slipping into a surprisingly deep sleep.

A/N: So what'd you guys think? The Games have finally begun! Any suggestions? What did you like/ didn't like. Please tell me!