On my right is the girl from District one and on my left is the girl from twelve. I look around, trying to locate my allies. From where I'm standing, I can only see Anthos; the others are too far to be seen. We are spread around a huge metallic structure that immediately catches my attention.

The Cornucopia.

It's right in front of me. It's way more imposing than I imagined it. This year, it's further from us than it usually is; we will have to run for a longer time. The other unusual thing I immediately realize is that instead of popping up in an arc in front of the opening of the Cornucopia, the tributes make a perfect circle around the metal structure. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones; I entered the arena right in front of the opening, which means I have an advantage on the tributes that are further on the sides or behind. Like Cedar. What if he doesn't make it? What if I don't? We told the others not to wait for us which means we won't get any help. No time to think about it; I need to focus. I take a quick look to the countdown that is projected on the Cornucopia, a big mistake that I regret immediately. I have thirty seconds left. Now twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven... I shake my head, trying to get my attention back on my goal. Even if it's far, I can see what's inside: knives, swords, backpacks and small containers, no spears. I was right. Suddenly, the ground starts shaking and a powerful blast almost throws me off my platform. I turn to my left, where the explosion came from. The girl from twelve isn't there anymore. Well technically, she still is, but all over the ground. One of her arms, or what's left of it, is a meter away from me. I hear a faraway scream, but I don't know where it comes from because of the loud sound of the explosion partially took away my ability to hear. The high pitch sound starts to fade away and I recover just in time to hear the gong go off. The Games have started.

I run towards the entrance of the Cornucopia faster than I've ever ran. From the corner of my eye, I can see the girl from one catching on to me before someone tackles her violently, but there's no time to think about it. I try to accelerate, but it's not enough; I arrive second, right after the girl from three. She's standing there, holding a bag and a knife in her hands. She looks exactly like a deer in highlights. I realize she's not an immediate threat and run past her as she bolts out of the Cornucopia. I grab two backpacks and I'm about to grab a third one when someone pulls me away abruptly. I fall to the ground, bringing my assailant down with me. He's now on top of me and I realize how bad this situation actually is. The boy from two puts his hands over my throat and start strangling me. As I try pushing him off of me, his blood starts pouring all over my face and finds its way into my mouth. I spit it out in disgust and before I know it, the sword that went through his neck is savagely removed and his body kicked away. I close my eyes, wishing that the person that killed him is going to finish me fast.

"Let's get out of here before the others stop fighting over those bags and decide to kill us! Now!" scream Cedar with urge.

I reopen them and grab his hand. In less than a second, I'm standing on my feet, ready to run. On our way out, we each grab another bag and he takes a sword. Outside, it's a real bloodbath. I guess that's exactly why they call it this way. Just as we planned, we run in the direction where the end of the Cornucopia is pointing, both hoping that the rest of the group is still alive. We didn't see their bodies lying on the ground, which is kind of encouraging but doesn't mean anything. Cedar trips on something and falls on the ground. I stop and look back, only to realize with horror that he didn't trip on something but rather someone: the boy from twelve. His neck is leaning on his chest at a very unnatural angle. It's broken. I help Cedar get up and we continue to run until we hear the first cannon shot.

"Where are the others? They were supposed to run in that direction and we must be around three and a half miles from where we emerged. Why haven't we met them yet?" he asks me, out of breath.

"I don't know. I don't think they're dead yet, maybe we should continue in the same direction until we meet them."

"Yeah, but let's divide the weight of the bags and the weapons equally before continuing."

We drop everything on the ground and start separating our findings. The urge of peeking inside the bags is hard to resist, but we don't have time for this; we have to find the others first. We each take two backpacks and he grabs the sword. He offers me the two knives that he had the time to take before getting to me, an offer that I gladly accept, happy to have something to protect me with.

"Wait; did you see that?"

"See what? What are you talking about?"

Cedar starts walking toward the closest tree, tilting his head to observe something only he can see.

"There! It did it again!" he says while pointing at the vines hanging from one of the branches. "It moved!"

As he finishes his sentence, I finally see it. It's not a big movement, but there's definitely something unnatural about it. He slowly reaches out to the strange plant. As he's about to touch it, a branch cracks behind us and we both turn around at the same time, ready to face whatever danger is sitting in front of us.

"Finnick! I thought you were dead!"

Viviana jumps in my arms and hugs me before I can say anything. I see the boys looking at each other with a smile on their faces. Back at home, I would have been feeling so ashamed that I would have pushed the person away, but right now, I can only embrace it because I know it might be our last day on earth and if it makes her feel better, well so be it.

"Okay you two, break it up, we have to keep moving."

"Anthos is right. The bloodbath is over, the other tributes are either going to start hunting or hide and we don't want to be the hunted."

"Eight tributes are already dead, including one of the Careers. There are sixteen of us left, which means we currently have eleven people against us."

We all know what Cedar is trying to say. Once those eleven people will be gone, we will have to kill each other. I wonder if he still hopes to make it that far after what happened during his interview. I guess he has a bigger chance of making it than the kids that are already dead, but I don't think he'll reach the finale even if he does his best. It's crazy to think that we have been in the arena for almost thirty minutes and already eight families are grieving the loss of their lost ones. Not long ago, they were still breathing and their hearts were still beating. Just like us, they were probably hoping to go home and find a way to get out of this nightmare. Unfortunately, in just a matter of seconds, all that was taken away from them; their life ended in the most inhumane way: the Capitol's way. At least, most of them didn't suffer long and for a moment, I almost envy the fact that their time in the arena was so short.

Short and sweet. 

*The games have officially started!! What did you guys think of the beginning? I tried to add some details that Katniss mentioned in the books.*