Chapter 24

NARRATOR | Eddie James, District 11

TIME | Day 1

TRIBUTES REMAINING | 24

Pure terror grips my body as the floor opens beneath me, sending me falling to the ground below. For a moment, I am a motionless body, pulled by gravity into the Arena.

The boy from Five plummets past me, his limbs splayed as he lets out the most bloodcurdling scream I've ever heard. I can't tear my eyes away from the boy as his body falls beneath me. The first victim of these Hunger Games... when the rest of us reach the ground, there will be many more.

The wind whips past me, threatening to rip my clothes from my body as I spin midair. I hold my arms out, trying to keep myself steady as I fall. My brain can barely process what is happening - never in my life have I ever been this high up off the ground - but I have to keep myself focused. My life depends on it.

A girl shoots past me, moving twice as fast as the others. It's Verity; I notice that she's positioned her body vertically, with her hands over her head. Soon after, I see Judah follow her lead. I copy Verity's movement, and I feel the drag of the wind disappear as I slip through the air to the ground below.

Finally, I can get a good look at the Arena below me. The terrain is breathtaking - rolling hills dotted with sparse trees meet cliffs that climb up to the clouds, and waterfalls dot the faces of the sheer faces. The mountains seem to form a ring around most of the Arena; at one end of the Arena, a body of water cuts through the peaks, flowing all the way up to the metal cone of the Cornucopia. That's where the sapphire is held, and the sooner I get there, the better.

Luckily, Verity's trick has allowed me to be one of the closest tributes to the ground, but I quickly realize that I don't know what I'm doing. I need to open my parachute, but how...

I glance down at the straps on my shoulders, and I find a tag on one side. I can't read very well, but I recognize the one word on the tag: OPEN.

Below me, Judah's parachute bursts open, and he comes to a complete stop as he drifts to the ground. He's still far up, though, and I pass him in no time. Lesson learned - I have to use my parachute close to the ground if I want to be the first one to the Cornucopia.

Actually, the smartest strategy is to copy Verity, so when I see her parachute open, I grab the latch on my shoulder and pull.

I breathe a sigh of relief as my parachute opens. Glancing up, I see that many of the other tributes are close behind me, while others float high up in the sky.

The trees grow closer and closer, and I watch as Verity disappears into the treeline. A few seconds later, I do the same, drifting gently to the ground.

I know I don't have any time to waste. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I throw my parachute off and sprint in the direction of the Cornucopia. I stumble at first - my whole body is still shaking, and my knees feel weak - but I manage to pull myself together and keep running.

I expect to see the boy from Five on the ground somewhere, dead, but he must have fallen somewhere else because I don't see him. Still, a cannon shot booms in the distance as I reach the Cornucopia, and I fight back the feeling of nausea that it brings. Better him than me.

Already, I can hear the other tributes shouting to each other in the trees behind me; I only have a few seconds at the Cornucopia before they'll arrive.

Verity glances up at me as I arrive; for a brief moment, we're the only two tributes here. "Come on!" she shouts, gesturing at the Cornucopia. "The most valuable stuff is in there!"

I follow Verity's advice, jumping over crates and other supplies and ducking inside the Cornucopia. Inside, I find boxes full of supplies. I grab a large backpack from the ground, sifting through its contents. Rope, a canteen, some beef jerky... I can do better than that. I keep the bag open, looking through the other boxes for supplies, but I know I need to find weapons first.

The inside of the Cornucopia only has one rack of weapons, and I quickly grab a sword from the top of the rack. I pick out a knife as well, slipping it into my pocket. You can never be too sure. Grabbing a few more of the swords, I throw them behind one of the nearby boxes and out of sight.

It seems that the others have finally arrived because I start to hear the screams. Tributes sprint across the mouth of the Cornucopia; I watch as Minna from Three grabs a bag from the ground, not bothering to stop and check its contents. Behind her, Violet tackles Eliza to the ground, reaching into her pocket for a knife. I turn away, looking back at my supplies. I have to work quickly and get out of here as fast as I can.

I fill my bag as much as I can, and as I zip it closed, I hear someone approaching. I lift my sword, but it's only Heather from Nine. She raises her hands in surrender - she knows that I wouldn't kill her when I have more dangerous tributes to worry about.

I need to find my allies and get out of here, so I turn and run. As I reach the mouth of the Cornucopia, I nearly run into Vinny from Eight; he swings his axe at my neck, but I manage to duck under it. I turn to face him, but he runs into the Cornucopia, his eyes set on Heather.

Where is Ashlyn... I need to make sure she's alright. My heart nearly stops when I see Judah stabbing a girl beneath him, but after a few seconds, I see that it's the girl from Six, not Ashlyn. Where is my partner?

Before I have time to find Ashlyn, I hear footsteps approaching behind me, and I turn just in time to see Corbin launch himself at me, sword in his hand. Instinct kicks in as I lift my sword to meet his, and I grunt as Corbin slams his blade into mine. I'm so caught off-guard that I hardly know what to do; Corbin reaches beneath his sword, punching me in the stomach and forcing me to fold completely. The other boy grabs me by the neck, throwing me to the ground, but I manage to roll out of the way as he stabs down at me.

I grab onto Corbin's legs, pulling upward with all my strength. He grunts as he hits the ground, and I crawl over him, trying my best to pin him down. I can feel him worming out beneath me, though, and I remember that he's a wrestling champion. Thinking quickly, I pull my knife from my pocket, holding it to the other boy's throat. Corbin finally goes still, his eyes wide.

Don't hesitate, Eddie, I think, pushing my blade against Corbin's neck. Finish the job...

"Eddie!" I hear someone call, and I snap my head up to see Ansel running towards me.

"Let him go," Ansel pants, waving in Corbin's direction. "We need to find Ashlyn and get out of here!"

Beneath me, Corbin just stares in disbelief. I beat him fairly, and now I'm sparing him.

"Remember this," I spit at Corbin. I pull my blade away from his neck, giving him one last shove before sprinting away.

Ansel grabs my arm as I approach him, pulling me around the Cornucopia. "We have to keep him in here," he explains, glancing over his shoulder as we round the corner of the metal cone. "He's a threat to Judah, and I want to keep it that way."

I trust Ansel - he knows more about this strategy stuff than I do - but I can't get the look on Corbin's face out of my head. I nearly killed him, and I would have if Ansel hadn't stopped me. But isn't that what we needed? One less competitor to face later?

Finally, I spot Ashlyn around the back of the Cornucopia. She's holding a bag open as Verity stuffs it with supplies.

"Oh, good," Verity says, standing as she sees us approaching. "You both better be ready, because we need to leave now."

Ashlyn grabs onto my arm, her fingers squeezing tighter than I thought was possible. The sweet, friendly face I know her by is gone, replaced by an expression of pure, crazed terror. I let her cling to me as we follow Ansel and Verity through the chaos. Only one question remains: where is Safira?

Safira isn't on this side of the Cornucopia, so she must be on the other side. As we run around the outside of the metal cone, we pass Judah stabbing down at the boy from Three; as we hear his screams, Ashlyn's grip on my arm tightens.

"There!" Ansel says, pointing into the lip of the Cornucopia, where Safira is frantically digging through a bin of supplies. She pulls out a small wooden box, wasting no time in throwing it open and removing its contents.

Safira cheers, a smile breaking out on her face. She scans her surroundings, spotting our group and holding her hand out in victory. In her hand lies a blue bracelet. The sapphire.

I'd completely forgotten about the powerful sapphire in the chaos of the Bloodbath. With my life on the line, I didn't even think to search for it, but Safira is clearly less terrified than I am. Now that Safira has found the sapphire, the power is in our hands.

I'm so focused on the glimmering bracelet in Safira's hands that I don't see what happens next until too late. Ansel breaks me from my trance with a desperate scream, but it's no use.

"Safira!"

Safira starts to turn around, but her fate is sealed. Violet runs up behind her, wasting no time in plunging her sword deep into Safira's back.

I've seen people die before back in Eleven, more than I can count. Mostly at the hands of Peacekeepers, but occasionally by the field overseers if the beatings got out of hand. The lashings were the worst, watching someone painfully fade away until there's nothing left. Hangings had the potential to be more gruesome, but the platforms were usually raised high enough to make them quick and painless.

None of the executions in Eleven were as bad as this, watching my friend getting ripped away from me and being unable to stop it. Safira's eyes lock with mine as a horrified expression grows on her face, and then she collapses to the ground, stolen from us in a split second of violence.

Ashlyn screams from next to me, and I have to hold her to stop her from falling to the ground. Violet lets out a deranged scream as she pulls her blade from Safira's back, driving it back in again and again. I feel a sharp pain in my chest that makes it feel like I'm getting stabbed myself, and I can feel my knees going weak.

Next to me, Verity is still frozen in shock. Ansel seems to recover, pulling his knife from his pocket and running in Violet's direction.

Before I know it, I'm sprinting after Ansel, grabbing him by the shoulder and dragging him away from Violet. I still can't make sense of what is happening - Safira can't be dead - but I know that we need to get far away from here.

"The sapphire," Ansel screams, tears streaming down his face. "We can't let her get it!"

So that's what this is all about. Power. Violet may have won this battle, but she hasn't grabbed ahold of the sapphire yet. It's only a matter of time, though - all she has to do is grab it from beneath Safira's body.

But Violet doesn't even try to grab the bracelet. She flashes Ansel and me a smile before sprinting around the Cornucopia; almost immediately, four or five tributes spring out of nowhere, clawing over one another to reach Safira's body first.

"Come on," I say, pulling Ansel behind me. The faster we get away from the Cornucopia, the sooner we can try to forget that none of this happened, that it was all just a horrible nightmare.

By the time we reach the girls, Verity has helped Ashlyn to her feet, and the two follow me as I drag Ansel from the Bloodbath.

A/N - Let the Games begin :)