Thank you so much for reading and your continued support, I hope the latest chapters are keeping you on your toes even though you know the story! Any reviews you may have are always welcome and I read every single one of them.

I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.

Chapter Forty

I get about three hours sleep before I have to rise and face the day. I know that Katniss and Peeta are long gone by now and on their way to the arena, which fills me with anxiety, dread and terror as well as one hundred other emotions. The last time I was this nervous was when Chester was a tribute but, dare I say it, I think I feel worse this time around.

Almost all of the mentors are at their stations when I walk in to the Control Room and Chaff is waiting for me with a shot of liquor and a grim smile.

"I think we're going to need more than one this year," I say after we've knocked it back. Chaff smirks and fills up the glasses again. We wish each other good luck and take our seats.

The screens are already showing the arena and I can see that there are lots of trees and places to hide as well as a large lake and a few small ponds with what seems to be a large wheat field on the other side. At least it won't be difficult for Peeta and Katniss to find water.

Finnick and Johanna both come over to wish me luck, although Johanna isn't as talkative as Finnick.

"That's a clever strategy you worked out for them," says Finnick, "He looks like he really does love her."

"He does," I say, "He'll do anything to get her home."

Both of their faces instantly turn to a state of shock and I think it's then that they begin to think that Katniss may just have something special about her. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I don't have wait long before the tributes are rising in to the arena and surrounding the golden Cornucopia. Katniss and Peeta are a few tributes apart but close enough that they can see each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!" Booms Claudius Templesmith and the sixty second countdown begins.

I can see both of them scanning the area for weapons and to see where the other tributes are; I can see that Peeta's eyes have found the Careers whereas Katniss' are locked on to a bow and arrows that have so clearly been placed to entice her into the bloodbath.

My heart starts pounding, worried that she's going to make a foolish mistake and then I see that Peeta is looking at her, shaking his head. He knows what she's thinking and he's trying to stop her, which only makes my heart sink.

The gong sounds and they're away, Peeta is heading straight for the weapons, which I would usually advise against but I know that he's trying to prove himself to the Careers. Katniss doesn't move as quickly but when she does she manages to grab a loaf of bread and a piece of plastic. I'm urging her to run but she's heading for an orange backpack. Why doesn't she just get out of there?! Surely she knows she'll have sponsors lining up in no time!

Peeta has grabbed a spear and a knife and has distanced himself from the fighting, unsure what to do. He needs to decide quickly before another tribute comes at him.

Katniss gets to the backpack at the same time a lanky boy does, they fight over it before the boy falls forward with a knife in his back. The menacing girl from 2 has thrown a knife in his back and it doesn't take Katniss long to realise that another one is heading her way. I'm almost yelling at her as she runs, thinking that all of my hard work could be over in minutes. The girl from 2 throws her knife but Katniss lifts her bag over her head and the knife wedges itself in, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

I look back to Peeta who is now wrestling with the boy from 1, somehow they've both lost their weapons and Peeta's strength is winning out. He's doing well but if he wants to get in with them he needs to kill this boy and without a knife I don't know how he's going to do it. He pushes the boy over and is sitting on top of him, lifting his fist in readiness to punch him.

"Marvel!" The horrible looking boy from 2 shouts, bounding over towards Peeta and the boy.

"Cato! Behind you!" Peeta shouts and the boy, surprised, turns around to see the boy from 4 running at him with a knife but when he reaches Cato he's greeted by a sword being plunged into his abdomen.

All three of them are still for a moment. Peeta has just saved Cato's life, something none of us could have imagined and is probably an even better way of getting into his good books than by killing one of his allies.

"Get off him!" Cato yells at Peeta, who reluctantly obliges. It's hard to tell if he's going to thank Peeta or stab him with his sword, his face is filled with confusion.

"I want in!" Peeta says before anyone else can do anything. "I want to be in your alliance. I know you want to kill Katniss and I want to help."

Both of the boys smirk and have now been joined by a blonde haired girl holding the bow and arrows. She sees a male tribute running away and clumsily fires an arrow at him, it lands in his lower back but she just leaves him to bleed out.

"You really think we're going to believe that?" Says Cato after he's lost interest in the dying boy.

"It's true, all of that lovey dovey stuff is a lie. Haymitch knows she has no chance of winning so he just wanted me to help her look good but I'm not going along with it. I'm not dying for her." Yes you are, I think.

They all think it over for a moment, the screams of the last victims of the bloodbath surrounding them before Cato speaks, clearly he's assigned himself the role of leader. "Okay, you might be useful."

"We should just kill him, Cato," says the girl.

"If he steps out of line just once, then we will," he says, looking directly at Peeta who just nods. Cato picks up a knife and hands it over to him before introducing him to the rest of the alliance. Seconds later the girl from 2 strides over, her knife at the throat of a boy who can't be more than fourteen.

"This one said he can help us," she says. "He wants to dig up the explosives from the plates and place them around the supplies."

"That could be useful," says Marvel and Cato agrees before detailing the gruesome death that the boy faces if he doesn't do exactly as he says.

"Why is he still alive?" Spits Clove, the girl from 2, nodding at Peeta.

They all begin to explain and my focus shifts to Katniss, safe in the knowledge that Peeta is alive for the time being. Katniss is walking through the woods, hopefully looking for water. I feel like I've been holding in a breath for the last hour and it's only now that I can let it out.

Finnick walks over and slaps a hand on my back. "That Peeta has got more balls than I thought," he says.

"He sure does. I can't believe your tribute turned against his own alliance, did you know he was going to do that?"

"No, he didn't really say much to me, to be honest. I'm going to check on Annie, do you need anything?" I shake my head and he leaves. This is probably the first year that his tribute has been killed on day one.

I can see that Katniss is checking her supplies whilst the Careers talk tactics with Peeta. She has some food, although she's lost her bread, and a few supplies but no water, which I specifically told them both to look for.

I tap the icon on the Tribute Screens to see if we've got any sponsorship money and both of them have a decent amount to start with but I'm not going to use it until they're desperate. They seem fine for now and Peeta has his pick of the supplies.

As night falls Katniss sets a snare and finds a tree to settle down in whilst Peeta sits down to eat with the Careers. The boy from 3 has completed rewiring the mines and I'm wondering how long it will be until they all turn on him.

"Yours are doing well," Chaff says to me and I have to admit that I've completely forgotten he was there, let alone been concerned with how Rue is doing. I haven't been able to take my eyes off the Tribute Screens.

"Yeah, how's Rue getting on?"

"Surprisingly well," he says, "She's hiding in the trees, looking down on Katniss."

He points to the screen and I can see that just above Katniss sits a little girl in a very high tree, watching everything below her. I can't help but smile, she's not as innocent as she looks.

One of the Capitol attendants brings us food as the anthem plays and recaps who died today. Eleven in total. Katniss starts to fall asleep and it's only then that I realise how tired I am but dropping off now seems like a betrayal somehow.

I stare at the screen for an hour, Peeta and the Careers are trudging through the arena looking for victims whilst the boy from 3 stays behind to guard the supplies. Cato wants to look for Thresh, a huge boy from 11, but apparently he's run in to the wheat field and no one wants to follow him.

"Haymitch," a soft voice says in my ear and I turn around to see Mags pulling up a chair. "Why don't you have a nap and I'll keep watch?" I want to say no but fatigue wins out and I'm soon drifting off. Typical Mags, always looking out for me.

I wake up two hours later and Mags tells me that a girl was lighting a fire near Katniss, which caught the attention of the Careers and now they're heading her way.

"No!" I gasp. "No, no, no!"

"It's okay, they haven't seen Katniss," says Mags, "But she can hear them and she knows Peeta's with them. He's gone to kill the girl because she was slowly bleeding to death."

When I look at the screen I can see the cold expression on Katniss' face as the Careers talk below her. Peeta, meanwhile is holding the dying girl's hand as he places his knife in her heart. I know that must have hurt him, even if it was a mercy killing.

"Why don't we just kill him now and get it over with?" Says Marvel.

"Let him tag along. What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife," replies Cato. "Besides, he's our best chance of finding her."

"Why?" Says Clove, "You think she bought into that sappy romance stuff?"

"She might have. Seemed pretty simpleminded to me. Every time I think about her spinning around in that dress, I want to puke." I have to admit, this makes me laugh. That's my girl!

"Wish we knew how she got that eleven," says the blonde haired girl, I think I heard someone calling her Glimmer. She reminds me so much of Cashmere, looks like butter wouldn't melt but you can bet that she knows a thousand and one different ways to kill someone.

"But you Lover Boy Knows," says Marvel but he doesn't say anymore as Peeta returns.

"Was she dead?" Asks Cato.

"No. But she is now," says Peeta, followed by the cannon. "Ready to move on?"

They all nod and are soon running off into the woods as the dawn light breaks through. The camera on the Panem Screen switches to Katniss who gives them a cheeky smile, she's playing with the audience perfectly! It's only then that I notice the pin on her jacket, how could I have not noticed that before?!

She's wearing a gold pin that encircles a small mockingjay; it's the same pin that Maysilee wore twenty four years ago and I can't help but wonder how Katniss came to own it. Did the Donners give it to Clara after she died? I can't imagine so, Maysilee told me it had been in the family for years. I suppose it doesn't really matter. I don't believe in signs but if ever I needed one, this is it.