Grace Price's P.O.V. (D11)

I take a deep, steady breath as I step onto the metal plate and the glass tube starts to close around me, cutting me off from the outside world. I exhale when the tube closes completely. I look up and see a blue sky with strange, light-green clouds through a small hole.

Then I look down at my arena clothes. I'm wearing a white tank-top under a warm, black jacket. Dark pants, and finally, boots. Weird boots. They are silver and have two buttons on the side of each boot. Each boot has one green button and one red button. Weird.

Suddenly, the metal plate beneath me begins to rise. I take another deep, calming breath as it climbs higher and higher to the surface.

Once I get up there, I need to figure out what kind of arena it is, then look for Delinia and Tai, then run for the horn.

Light blinds me as I emerge from the ground, head first. By the time the ground beneath me stops, my eyes have fully adjusted to the light. The first thing I see is the glinting gold of the cornucopia in the middle of the ring of tributes. Then I see the grass, not tall grass, but not trimmed either. It's about two inches deep and it's a beautiful green color. Various objects, from weapons to packs to socks, scatter the ground and opening of the cornucopia. The items become more and more valuable the closer you get to the cornucopia. I look to my left, where Cally Blue stands. On my right is Blake Richard.

Suddenly, a voice booms through the air, "Welcome, tributes, to the final round of the fifth Quarter Quell. You have sixty seconds before the gong. May the odds be ever in your favor. Let the one hundred and twenty-fifth annual Hunger Games...begin!"

As soon as the voice disappears, a computerized voice starts the countdown.

59...

58...

57...

56...

I look behind me. There is a bit of a field behind the pedestals, then a ring of trees circle the field. I can't see past the trees, but something feels different.

48...

47...

46...

45...

I look back at the tributes. Most of them are preparing to sprint to the horn. I position myself the same way.

35...

34...

33...

32...

31...

Finally, I spot Tai, about five pedestals to my right. And Delinia is seven pedestals to my left.

20...

19...

18...

17...

16...

15...

Remaining calm, I lock my eyes on a grey pack about twenty meters away.

10...

9...

8...

7...

6...

This is it...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

GONG!

In the blink of an eye, everyone leaps from their plates and races for the cornucopia. I jump from my own and sprint to the pack.

My legs carry me much faster than most of the other tributes, and I reach my destination before anyone else does. Clarice reaches the horn next, followed by Jean and Liam.

I dive for an axe nearby and snatch it. Someone shoves me as I do so. I stumble backwards and fall over, still holding the axe and pack.

The person, who turns out to be Dean, forgets me and runs straight into the mouth of the cornucopia.

I stand up and swing the pack over my shoulders. When I look up, Tai is standing there asking me if I'm alright. I nod and he helps me up.

"Where's Del?" he asks as he looks around.

"Dunno, just grab some stuff and move!" I shout as I push past him.

I grab a trident and toss it to him. He catches it and continues looking around. I find two more packs and throw them at him also. At this point, fights are raging all around us.

I shove him, "Come on! Let's go!"

He draws away from me, "Not without Delinia!"

I sigh, "Fine!"

Tai and I run around the cornucopia, but still see no sign of her. "Now what?"

"Guys!" Delinia suddenly yells from the pedestals. She is running away from Brendan Hankson without any weapons.

"Del!" Tai shouts as he dashes to her aid. I follow him closely with my axe.

There is a scream behind us as Jean makes a kill. We don't look back, we just keep running to Delinia.

Once in range, Tai throws himself at Brendan. They both tumble to the ground and start throwing punches at each other. I run to Delinia and toss her Tai's trident he had dropped.

"Tai, come on!" I shout.

He kicks Brendan off and climbs to his feet, just to get pulled back down. I rush over and punch Brendan so hard in the jaw that he falls back, stunned. I offer Tai my hand and pull him back to his feet. Then we run away from the fighting and the screams.

Clarice Amberton's P.O.V. (D1)

I slash my dagger through the air and land it on Sage Salereno's shoulder. She screams angrily and slices her knife at my stomach, only succeeding in tearing the jacket. I swing my dagger at her again, but she ducks.

By now, her whole shoulder and arm is bathed in blood. She steps forward to strike again, but when she swings her knife, I block it with mine. When the blades make contact, Sage's slips out of her hand from all the blood. I take that as my chance and drive my knife into her gut.

I smile as she falls down, coughing up blood. Then I turn my attention to the others.

I see Jean pulling her sword from Luke Wiley's blood-soaked back. Brendan is sitting on the ground near the pedestals, shaking his head and blinking. And Liam is locked in combat with James Oxford.

All the other tributes have cleared the area. I lean against the cornucopia and watch the fight taking place.

James Oxford's P.O.V. (D10)

Liam arches his sword over his head. I drop to the ground and somersault to a sword laying in the grass. I grab it and immediately raise it to block his attack.

I stand up and lunge at Liam with my sword. He sidesteps it and I fall where he was standing.

I turn to see him pointing his sword at me, "Get up," he orders with a smile. So he thinks this is fun, huh?

I grab a handful of dirt and throw it at Liam's face. He drops his sword and starts wiping it out of his eyes. I take this as my chance to get up and attack, so I stand up and drive my shoulder into his ribs so hard that he falls over. He shakes the rest of the dirt off and looks up at me. Now I have my sword pointed at him.

I smile and nod to his sword in the grass, "Get up."

He reaches for his sword and climbs to his feet, taking a fighting stance. I wait for him to get prepared, before I throw an attack at him. He blocks it easily and strikes his sword at my arm so quickly that I didn't even notice it until I felt it. His blade slices a clean cut across my upper left arm and blood immediately starts running down my arm. I rip my jacket off because it is getting heavy from the blood. Then I turn back to Liam. The tip of his sword is dripping with blood.

I yell and slash my sword at him clumsily. He easily steps aside and calls for me to try again. Before I can strike again, he slices his sword at my leg. It digs into my shin so deep that I think he scraped the bone. When I try to put weight on it, I feel a warning pain shoot up my leg, so I shift all of my weight onto my right leg.

I see the sorry look in Liam's eyes as he looks at me. I almost think he won't do anything else until Clarice suddenly shouts from the cornucopia, "Well, Liam? You gonna finish him?"

Liam looks at me, then at Clarice, then back at me again. He knows that if he doesn't kill me now, Clarice will do it for him and she'll probably think he's weak.

My leg suddenly buckles and I collapse to the ground. I struggle to get up, but to no avail. Liam looks down at me as I toss my sword away.

"What are you waiting for?" I say as he stands there.

Liam looks back at Clarice, who is watching him carefully. Then he looks back at me and whispers, "I'm sorry."

Then he raises his sword over his head and plunges it into my heart.