"I can't believe you would do something so stupid!"

I wince as Damien berates me. Ahead of us, Clay and Sienna awkwardly look at the trees around us, pretending that nothing is happening behind them.

"You were going to be killed, Damien," I argue feebly. I know he's right - I could've gotten us both killed, and I didn't even have a weapon in my hands when I threw myself into the chaos of the Bloodbath.

"Well, I didn't, did I?" Damien says with a huff. "And what about the plan, huh? Everything about the plan, the plan, the plan. You were the one obsessing over it, and then you were the one to break it in the end."

My face burns. We've been in this Arena for less than a day, and I've already screwed everything up. All of my worries entering the Arena are being confirmed; I'm just a hindrance to Damien in here.

"Hey, guys," Clay calls from ahead of us. "I think we should camp here for the night. Good visibility of the surrounding area. It's getting pretty dark."

Damien nods, taking that as an opportunity to join Clay as he clears branches and leaves from the small clearing we've stopped in.

I need space to myself right now to deal with my emotions from this morning. Part of me wants to hide myself away for a while, to tell the others that I'm going on a walk. That part doesn't win, though. It's overpowered by fear - darkness begins to creep up the tree trunks of the grove, and shadows begin to take over the Arena around us. It's impossible to tell what could be lurking out there, and I don't want to find out.

Sienna approaches, standing beside me as I watch the boys work.

"It's not your fault," she says, leaning close to my shoulder. "You were just looking out for him. He'll see that eventually."

"Thanks," I sigh; I'm glad that the darkness of the night is hiding my face, which I'm sure is turning red. "It was stupid, though. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't even have a weapon."

"It was brave," Sienna says. "You knew you needed to save him. I don't know if I would've done the same for Clay."

I pull Sienna closer, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Thank you for making me feel better," I say with a small smile. "You always know what to say."

"Well, that's what I'm for," Sienna murmurs. "I need you to keep your head on straight or I'll go insane too."

I glance down to see Sienna's face, smiling up at me. She looks... hopeful. And red. Very red, like she's been bathed in a pool of blood.

Sienna gasps, glancing up at the sky. I do the same, and my heart drops. The moon, which I assume was white just seconds ago, is now red. It feels like the Gamemakers are shining a deep, red flashlight down on us; it's so unnatural that it makes my skin crawl.

All of a sudden, the Arena goes silent. The bugs chirping in the distance, the rustling of the trees above us, Sienna's breathing next to me... as if the red moon is a vortex, all of the sound in the Arena has vanished. In its place is silence.

A hand grabs my arm, and I look down to see Sienna, who looks just as panicked as me. Her mouth forms words, but no sound comes out, and her eyes widen even more.

I glance over at the boys to see that they're motioning to us. I pull Sienna with me into the clearing, where the boys are standing. Damien looks more freaked out than any of us, looking around wildly with his knife at the ready.

"The Gamemakers are up to something," Clay mouths slowly to Sienna and me, and I nod in agreement. Helvius is trying his hardest to scare and confuse us, and it's working on both fronts. I shouldn't have expected any less - he clearly wants to put on a show, and that's what he's going to do at our expense.

"Let's settle down," Clay mouths to us. "But keep a lookout."

I hold onto Sienna's arm as we both sit against nearby tree trunks. A few feet away, Clay manages to catch Damien's attention and get him to do the same. Still, though, Damien's eyes dart around us even after he sits.

My heart is pumping; without any sound in the Arena, we could be attacked at any moment without knowing what's coming. Anybody - or anything - could be lurking in the shadows just beyond this clearing... the harsh red lighting of the moon isn't helping, either.

I try to take deep breaths - I need to calm down. This is what Helvius wants; he's hoping that we'll panic, and he wants the lack of sound to make us paranoid enough to go crazy. I need to keep myself and the others calm if we want a chance of surviving this.

Our clearing lights up again, and for a moment, I think that Helvius has unleashed another twist upon us. After looking in the sky, though, I realize that it's just the fallen tributes. It's time to find out which tributes didn't make it out of the Bloodbath... I know that there's no way any of the Careers were killed so early, but part of me is still hoping to see Midas' face in the sky.

The first tribute to appear is Jax from District Three, and my heart drops. I watched Jax die this morning, and now he's gone. I knew he never stood a chance, but still... to be gone already...

I don't feel any better when I see that Lindsay is next. The first friend I made after arriving in the Capitol. I don't have enough time to face my emotions before the next tribute appears - Lily, the strong girl from Four. She's followed by the brother and sister from Six. After them are the two girls from Eight; I shudder when the face of the younger sister appears. Mere hours ago, that girl was standing on the pedestal next to me crying, and now she's dead.

The girl from Eight fades, and a chill runs down my spine as Casper's face appears in the sky. For a split second, I think that my eyes are playing tricks on me. How could someone like Casper already be gone?

One of the girls from Eleven and one of the boys from Twelve are the last two. Ten children died today, most of them at the hands of the Careers.

As the last face fades from the sky, I solemnly return my gaze to the others. I expect to see them as mellow as me, but Clay and Damien are celebrating. This is the happiest I've seen Damien since his Training Score was announced, and it makes my blood curl. How could he be so happy to hear that these children have been murdered?

Out of all the tributes who are gone, I'm the most unsettled by Casper's death. Sure, he wasn't as strong as Colby, but Casper was still a competitor. Lily from Four was, too, and she's gone now as well. I don't have unfinished business with Lily, though. I do with Casper. Whatever he wanted to tell me on the hovercraft before the Games began was clearly important, but I never got to ask him about it. The last time I spoke to him was right before the Assessments when I asked him to try and get between Sienna and Colby, and that will be the last time I ever spoke to him.

I close my eyes and try to sleep, but the faces of those who've died haunt me. Lindsay, the first person to actually care about me in here. Casper, who I've grown oddly attached to without ever realizing it. The girl from Eight, the one who cried at the injustice of it all before it had even started.

It's sinking in now that this is real. Ten of the tributes are gone, and they will never return. If only I had spent more time with them before their lives were cut short...

Maybe it's a good thing that I didn't, though. This hurts enough as it is. I can't even bear to think of a reality where I have to lose Damien or Sienna like this. Maybe that means that I'll be the first to die, who knows. Maybe I should be celebrating like Damien - we have ten fewer competitors now, after all.

More than anything else, the main thing I feel as I fall asleep is relief. It's not every year that the tributes from Five survive the first day. Despite some near misses, Damien and I have survived unscathed so far, and that's certainly something to be grateful for.

A/N - Helvius is holding nothing backkk what do y'all think about this crazy Arena?