I watched out the window of the helicopter as long as I could before they covered them. I tremble at the thought of the Games. I feel the vehicle descending. 

I'm led to the area where I get dressed in a green shirt, leather pants, and a heat-reflecting jacket along with leather boots.  

When I'm about to go into the tube, Katniss grabs my shoulder and pine her bird pin onto my jacket. "Thanks." I say, hugging her. 

"Good luck." She smiles. 

Then it happens again.

Everything blurs together and I'm in a white room with the quiet beeping. This time, a light shines brightly overhead. I'm able to squint. After a minute, I began to see details of the room. But I can't really process them. The beeping grows louder.

Suddenly the gong rings out and I'm back in the Games. I catch up to the other tributes and collect a small pink bag and run into the woods with it. I keep running until I get to a stream, where the first words Katniss spoke to me back on the train ring in my ears. "Find water." 

I bend down and cup my hand and bring some water up to my lips. Fresh. I sit against a tree and decide to check my bag. Inside I find two knives, a tiny bag of dried bananas, an empty water bottle, a sleeping bag, and a small box of band-aids. I fill the water bottle, stuff it all back in my bag and stand to go. 

Then I hear footsteps. Close by. I swing my bag over my shoulder and climb up the tree, which provides a good hiding place. I peeked through the leaves and watched two injured boys limp to the stream and sit down. The blond-haired one splashes water on his face while gripping his side, where a lot of blood seeped out. The black-haired one pulled off his boot and examined his ankle, which looked like it was sprained. Both boys' shirts were torn up and bloody. The blond one had a bunch of knives, from what I could see, and the black-haired one had a bow slung over his shoulder and a quiver full of arrows. A brown sack sat next to the blond boy. I squinted and saw that the black-haired one was Nico. He wouldn't hurt me. But the blond one was facing the other way so I couldn't see his face. As I waited for him to turn around, I heard four canons. Four tributes are dead. Twenty left. I wonder who died. I guess I'll find out in about an hour, because the sun is starting to hang low in the sky. 

When the anthem started playing, the first face that appeared was Tim's. How he had died so early, I don't know. Then came Rachel from District 7. That didn't particularly surprised me. I was kinda surprised that Calypso hadn't died. After Rachel's face disappeared, Hazel's took its place. Hazel. Dead. She was the youngest person in the Games at thirteen. I glanced down and saw Nico sobbing. I looked back to the sky just in time to see Clarrisse's face disappear into the night. So two people I had originally wanted as allies were dead. I looked down and realized that the boys must be Nico and Dallas. 

I built the courage to climb down the tree.

"Hi there." I say softly.

Dallas looks at me and says, "hey its Twelve!"

"What happened to you guys?" I look them over. I see now that both of them have scratches on their faces, arms and chests. Dallas had a clean cut in his side.

"The Hunger Games happened." Answers Nico.

"Could I see your cut, Dallas?" I ask.

He lifts his fingers without letting go so I can see it. Although I can't really see the wound because of all the blood. I grab my water bottle and pour the liquid on him. He winces. The cut is deep and jagged. 

Nico taps my shoulder. "I tore this out of a plant." He hands me a thin string with a sharp barb at the end. I take it. It looks like a needle.

"Could you do it, Nico? I can't." I hand it to him. 

Nico nods then starts stitching Dallas' wound. Dallas bites his lip so hard that a string of blood forms along his teeth. 

I look at Nico's ankle. It's a deep shade of purple and its swollen up to the size of a grapefruit.  I you have it and the black-haired boy yelps.

"There. Done." Nico leans back on the tree. "Sydney, there's a roll of bandages in our sack. Could you get it?" 

I nod, go to the sack, find the bandages, and hand them to Nico, who sets his ankle then wraps the bandages around it. 

"So are we, like, allies now?" I ask.

"Yeah." Nico says before Dallas could interject. 

The three of us settle in my sleeping bag for the night.

______________________

Should I do an unseen death scene for the bloodbath?

Love ya!

CC