I sat in the empty room shivering with fear I could no longer control myself the fear had overcome me I had been acting strong around everyone else but now I can't do anything but cry I could never forgive myself if I let any of my friends die in there I promise I will protect them every one of them even though Finnick may of lied to me he did it to spare my feelings. Leyrah, Peeta, Katniss, Finnick and Mags how am I suppose to protect all of them as well as myself. Haymitch would almost destroy himself if he sore that I was not defending myself

"2 minutes remaining," said a voice my body began to shake even more vigorously I found it harder and harder to not show the fear that was slowly turning my soul black Kabel spoke for the first time since I entered the room "Nixie listen to me your strong any one would be a fool to try to hurt you plus you will probably have the most allies in the arena you have been so brave up until this point you just need to hold up a little longer you have three great friends getting you sponsors," he was rambling and didn't make any sense he sighed and tried again, "what I'm trying to say is that even if you don't make it out the Capitol will always remember Nixie Hallow from district 12 but make sure you're the one who leaves a spark remember that the Capitol is the enemy not the people in the arena they showed that last night that they will only be trying to survive the Capitol is the real enemy," he walked me to the tube as the voice Said "30 seconds remaining the glass separated me from him as 2 guards came in one grabbed Kabel by the arms throwing him onto his knees he tried to fight the guard of but he just wore himself out but continued fighting the other guard hit Kabel over the head with the butt of his gun his body went limp I was banging on the glass and screaming but there was nothing I could do he was gone and the plate beneath my feet began to raise and before in new it I was in the arena

it took several moments before my eyes adjusted 20 seconds said an announcer I looked at my surroundings the cornucopia was in the center with stretches leading away to the forest salt water lapped at my feet Peeta stood on his own platform only a few feet away we were separated by gloss Finnick was standing between Bettee from district 3 and Johanna mason from district seven I could not see Katniss or Leyrah they were probably on the other side of the cornucopia "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," the gong went off and Finnick and I were the only ones who jumped of our platforms I had been trying to teach the younger kids in the district the basic swimming skills like floating and letting the water calm them teaching them that it is not a big bad wolf that wants to swallow them, I was the second one to the cornucopia Leyrah was about 6 meters away from the Island and Katniss was on the edge Finnick was standing on the shore with a trident aimed at Katniss she had no hope Finnick had the best aim in all of district 4. a golden bracelet glinted on his wrist it was the bracelet Effie had given to Haymitch I could see the relief spread across Katniss' face as she realized that Haymitch trusted Finnick so she could trust him. Leyrah and I went around to defend the others from attacks from Behind.

Peeta was still on the platform he obviously couldn't swim. I had seen the same expression on the faces of the little kids in district 12 Finnick and Katniss had run around our side wielding weapons of all shapes and sizes, tridents, throwing knives, swords bow and arrows .Finnick handed me a vest of throwing knives and a dagger, he handed Leyrah a trident and another dagger leaving him with 2 tridents and a knife. Katniss dropped her 2 sets of bow and arrows and he sheath but Finnick stopped her before she dived back into the water with a brief word about her pregnancy he dived gracefully into the water barely making a splash he reached Peeta within seconds and was back at the cornucopia before a minute had passed that's when Mags floated by

She was never the best swimmer but she knew how to float even at her age. But then she indicated the purple belt around her waist " bob ," she said and I understood exactly what she meant the belt was a flotation device and other tributes were beginning to realize this as well one by one they entered the water slowly and carefully Brutus and Enorbria had already teamed up and we were on their hit list the female victor from district 10 grabbed Leyrah from behind without thinking I grabbed one of my many knives and let it fly it scraped the side of Leyrah's ear but stuck straight into the forehead of the attacker her teammate looked at me completely mortified I had made the first kill in the arena as it dawned on me two strong arms grabbed me and held me close I could feel a blade at my neck an arrow flew past my head sticking into the arm of my attacker he let me go and Leyrah wielded her trident and there was another body lying on the ground my attacker had been Scorpius the boy from district 2 he wasn't much older than me but he was big I wouldn't be able to take him out on my own.

We had stared the bloodbath.

"Girls, Peeta if you want any other weapons, now is your chance," Finnick barked Leyrah, Peeta and I ran around to see the weapons. Peeta grabbed a sword I grabbed a bow and some arrows and a knife I ditched the dagger it wasn't very sharp Leyrah seemed to be contemplating getting as scary looking mace or a net eventually she slipped the mace into her belt and ditched the net we ran back to the others before we got ourselves into danger.

"Duck," yelled Finnick he was beginning to act like the leader of our little alliance. Personalities would soon clash between himself and Katniss.

He speared an attacker this time it was Cashmere from district 1

We left the bloodbath making for the trees at First I would of described them as a forest but now I can only think of one word. Jungle.

Katniss lead us through the jungle first uphill and then she followed the force field that surrounded the arena she explained how she had been completely deaf in one ear in her games from an explosion she had set of and that the implant the Capitol had given her buzzed whenever we were near the force-feild

It was getting dark quickly, we decided to set up camp for the night. Mags, Finnick and Leyrah started weaving together a tightly bound nets one as a mat the other as a shelter Mags weaved together some bowls she put nuts she had collected in one and Katniss looked to see if she could find any meat toasted nuts could only keep us supported for so long.

I sat next to Finnick, being in an arena with nothing but trees and beaches would have been only too easy for Finnick to win if it hadn't been for me or Leyrah. If he didn't care about anyone in the arena like he did ten years ago he would of been set for life he would of been back in district four within 3 days tops all he would have to do was hide on the edge of the beach and wait for each person to come down to the water to get water to boil or fish to eat. The careers might even want to bathe. But with Leyrah and me both being here he wants to stay with us and protect us. If he had it his way we wouldn't even be near any of the fighting but he knows we are too stubborn to let that happen and we were also some of the youngest in the arena we were small easy kills we would be targets.

"Nix? What are you thinking about?" Finnick's voice broke through my thoughts
"How easy it would be for you to win these games, if it weren't for Leyrah and I," I admitted
"I guess it would be team up with Johanna and we would both be in our home elements the beach is mine these trees hers," he laughed "but I couldn't live with myself if you two got hurt, I don't think Annie would live with me either she loves both of you,"
"You sure? The last time she saw me she screamed and told me I couldn't be there,"
"She meant in the Capitol, competing in the games, she was getting so much better, until the reaping,"
"I understand its the same with Haymitch's drinking it always gets worse around this time, sometimes he gets so bad he is willing to drink medicinal alcohol,"
"Did you ever wonder what would happen to you if he did drink it I mean it would of kill him,"
" it really depended on what kind of mode I was in sometimes I was like fine drink it then I get to move back to district 4, but I knew that if he died I would move in to the community home and all those children looked miserable,"

Just after I explained that we all fell silent as a faint beeping grew louder and a silver parachute broke through the trees it landed next to Peeta and he opened the canister. Inside was a small cylindrical object that reminded me of a tap. It only emphasized how unbelievably thirsty I was. I hadn't drunk a drop of water since Kabel almost forced it down my throat. the thought of Kabel bought tears to my eyes i had known him for less than 2 weeks and I already considered him a friend. I shut my eyes tightly I would not cry I would not let the Capitol break me.

We passed the tap like object among the group none of us had any idea of what it was. "Maybe it's a joke parachute, one sent from another mentor, you know to be like ha-ha my tribute has water, they did that to you Finnick remember?" Leyrah suggested

"Oh yeah they sent me a box of burnt matches, with no striker I ended up using them for kindling for my little fires, and it also told me that a tribute or a group had a fire so I looked for smoke I found the careers asleep,"
"What did you say Leyrah,"
"That they sent Finnick a dud-package,"
"No, no about the water,"
" she said that it could be another mentor sending it to us saying another tribute has water because it looks like a broken tap,"
"It's not a broke tap, it's a spiel,"
"A what?"
" a spiel my father and I used to use them to get syrup out of the maple trees in the meadow, like the one you always climb, Nixie, when you had an argument with Haymitch,"
"My tree is an oak," I said indignantly before realizing what she was doing
" never mind that Haymitch must of sent it to use because one of these trees must have water,"
Finnick stood and went to push the spiel into a tree but Katniss stopped him ripping it out of his hands "you have to drill a hole in the tree first otherwise you'll break the spiel,"

She used her knife and drilled a small hole in the trunk of the tree it's rubbery texture made it easy for the knife to pierce. We all watched as Katniss placed the spiel into the tree, drops slowly stared to drip out. I was kind of underwhelmed I guess I half expected it to gush out like when you accidentally turn a tap on to hard. As we watched we started to get a steady stream we took turns holding our heads under the spiel getting our fill of water. Mags bought over some of the bowls over and filled them with water for later. The seal played and showed the deaths of today 17 in total that left 19 most of them seemed to be previous victors in fact Leyrah, a girl from district 7, another girl from 5 and me were the only family members left.

Katniss volunteered to take the first watch and let everyone else fell asleep fairly quickly only I didn't sleep for long I woke up with a wide eyed Katniss and Finnick staring at me. I had been having one of my nightmares and I had been screaming Finnick had shaken me awake after he had waken to my screams my dream was so vivid probably because it had actually happened less than 4 hours earlier I had killed a person, in cold blood with no second thought only in my dream Scorpius had been Jacob and Cashmere had been Haymitch

"Katniss I will take the watch," I volunteered
"I won't be able to sleep either," she said
"Do you two want some company I don't scream in my nightmares, but they are as vivid as anyone's," Finnick offered

Finnick Katniss and I sat in the entrance of the shelter. A light rain poured down muffling the others deep breaths. A mist rose around the trees in the distance at first I thought it may of been because of the rain but it moved to fast it was solid like, it moved in a straight line and never stopped it was defiantly made by the game makers. That's when the smell of acid hit my nose. We stared at each other with wide eyes and woke the others we gathered up our weapons Mags clambered onto Finnick's back and Peeta onto Katniss' we started running down the hill towards the beach Leyrah and I were in the leaf Katniss tripped and could no longer carry Peeta. "Can you take him Finnick?" She pleaded

"I can't carry both of you," he said
"Make a decision that mist is coming on fast,"
"Mags... I'm sorry,"
Mags kissed Finnick and hugged both Leyrah and I before walking towards the mist. I stood standing in shock as her silhouette entered the mist willingly it began to fade her body dropped and a canon went off she was gone.

Mags was dead

We kept running the mist licking at our backs I ended up on my face and in could feel the acid stinging my legs Leyrah pulled me to my feet and we crashed onto the beach an collapsed getting a face full of sand I couldn't feel my legs I couldn't see or hear anything everything was black I was in the meadow with Jacob we were messing around just being ourselves and I ended up in the river as he sat on the edge holding my arms. He stood waist deep in the water as I floated on my back. His hands gently forced my head underwater. My eyes shot open the hands that were holding me under weren't Jacob's but Finnick's. I forced his hands away from my shoulders and stood up my feet hitting the sand below the water. He wasn't wearing a shirt and I looked down I was in nothing but my underwear and my bra. I pushed him away from me if he wanted to kill me there were much faster ways than drowning I started to cough and water came out of my throat.

"What the hell Finnick," I yelled once I had stopped coughing
"I'm sorry but the water removes the poison from your body I wasn't about to let you die,"
"and that involves drowning me and did you seriously have to remove my clothes,"
"I didn't I was trying to get all the poison out of your system and the mist disintegrated your clothes but it had no affect on this," he handed me the vest of throwing knives and I slid it on it thankful that I could cover myself up at least a little bit I did not want all of Panem to see me in my underwear it was bad enough that they had publicly humiliated me enough. The vest was just long enough to cover my butt.

I sat on the sand beside Leyrah. She looked like she was wearing a bikini like she did in district 4 she suited it a lot better than I did.

"Do you miss the old days?" she asked as I sat down
"The old days?" she had confused
"Before Finnick went to the games,"
"Honestly, Rar, I don't remember back then I mean I remember my mother and father and my brother but the only memory that is real of them was the night of Finnick's interview,"
"I guess that's the only thing I remember to but all the time we spent together as best friends,"
"More like sisters,"
"I wonder how life would of turned out if you stayed,"
"Well we wouldn't of been in relationships we were too weird for that and I guess I wouldn't be here it would be prim or Jacob,"
"Do you regret it, volunteering I mean,"
"Not really I mean I had the thought in my head since the quell was announced I promised myself I would be coming into the arena,"
"Why?"
"The same reason Katniss did last year, and Peeta and Mags did this year,"
"To protect the people you care about,"
"Exactly I couldn't live with myself if prim or Jacob were the ones in the arena,"
"Haymitch is having a hard time with you in here,"
"He is always having a hard time especially around these times, I guess I might of added to that,"
I knew what Haymitch would be thinking I guess I had known him that long we could predict what each other would do in certain situations right now he would be telling me to shut up before you make me sound like I actually care.

"It's either that or he will be too drunk to function, which is the more likely of the two options," I said to keep him happy
"He's not that bad, is he,"
"You've got no idea,"
"Explain,"
"He drinks all night, and sleeps all day usually on the kitchen table with a knife in his hand if you wake him you either have to jump out the window or pull the knife out of his hand, even then you should jump out the window because he has a pretty big temper he almost killed Katniss the day of the victory tour and almost killed Peeta on the train,"
"Wow, I don't know how I would cope if Finnick was like that,"
"Like what," Finnick asked sitting down beside me
"Like Haymitch," I sighed, I had never been able to lie to Finnick he could always see right through me. as if I was a pane of glass
"You've got to cut him some slack after what happened to him in the arena,"
"Yeah I know, something like that shouldn't happen to anyone," I sighed again Peeta had made both Katniss and I watch Haymitch's games because it was the only video we had of a quell. Twice as many victors went, the arena was a poisoned paradise and Haymitch's girlfriend had gone to the quell as well, Haymitch had one by using the force-field around the arena (at the bottom of the cliff to be exact) I do not know how I would of reacted if I was stuck in the games with Jacob and he died and I didn't. We fell silent as the waves lapped at our feet, Peeta and Katniss were off to my left katniss was teaching Peeta how to do simple swimming strokes. You could tell just by how he acted that Peeta truly did love katniss. About as much as Finnick loved Annie. About as much as I missed Jacob, but nowhere near as much as I loved Jacob Merllark.