During my panic about Cinna and the arena, I've missed most of the countdown. My mind only surfaces in my head when ten is being counted.

There was no pool in the arena, no chance to learn how to swim. This, obviously, gives District Four (the fishing district) a massive advantage.

"Austin..." I slowly whisper under my breath. I desperately look around for him, but he's nowhere to be seen. He must be round the other side. So I focus myself on getting to him.

I know how to swim. My father taught me at the very same lake I met Bonnie and Twill at. And, judging on the fact that not many of the tributes will know this, I decide I'm going for it. I poise myself, ready to dive.

I set my sights on a set of axes, piled up amongst the cornucopia's loot. This is what I'm going to get. Last year I was anxious, I wasn't going in. This year, I know what I'm ready for.

Three.

Two.

One.

A ring goes off in my head and I plunge into the water, cutting through it with a fast front crawl. The water freezes my body and seizes my limbs but I keep going determinedly. I'm headed for the stone strip on my right, to climb up it and head for the cornucopia.

But when I get there, I see I'm not alone. Gloss has left his plate and is climbing up onto the strip now. I know I must beat him before he gets to the weapons.

I climb up out of the water, the stone marking my hands and run full pelt towards the cornucopia. Gloss pulls back when he realises he's not going to be the first.

I see Finnick on my other side, who, from Four, obviously is a fast swimmer like myself. But he trips whilst looking at me so I'm certain I'm going to be first.

When I get to the cornucopia I instantly pick up the axes, then turn to my enemies. I see Brutus approaching, and throw at him. The axe does a minor damage to his thigh.

I aim for Enobaria, who is also nearing land, straight to the heart. Releasing my hand, I look away, kind of scared to kill again. I can't help feeling relief when she dives into the water, safe from my shots.

I turn around, seeing Finnick, and I'm about to throw, to end him-

"Good thing we're allies, right?"

"What the f-"

This completely throws me off guard, but then I see he's holding his wrist up. And on it is Haymitch's bangle.

Haymitch has given this to Finnick, as a sign for me to trust him. To become his friend. Or his ally. Even still, I ask. "Where did you get that?"

"Where d'you think?" He retorts, and I know he's telling the truth. "Duck," he tells me, taking a trident out of its holder. This is his specialist weapon.

I do as he says and watch the weapon flit over my head. I hear the man from Five's grunt when it hits its target.

Finnick's already picking out his next weapon. "Don't trust One and Two. I'll take this side, you hold them off, I'll go find Austin!"

Stunned though somewhat relieved at my new ally, I follow his orders, throwing an axe at Gloss who has got a little too close for comfort.

"Willow, Mags found him, he's over here!" Finnick shouts to me. I quickly run over to where he's pointing.

Mags stands half way along a stone strip when Finnick and I arrive, wordlessly pointing to the combat going on in the water. I hear grunts and splashes, then see Austin in combat with another tribute, up against a metal plate. Suddenly, I know he can't swim. Of course he can't. Well, there's me thinking only of myself again.

But, another reason why Haymitch should choose Austin over me.

Anyway, Austin tries to climb the plate him and his assailant are fighting against, but the person he's up against grabs him and pulls him, full force, back into the water. I raise my axe to protect Austin, but they're both fully under by now. A few more seconds. They don't surface.

Then a body floats up.

Finnick's in the water by now, and I'm about to follow him when I see that body. This sends me almost delirious. Austin, Austin, Austin... is flashing round my head.

Finnick's fast approaching the plate as I watch the water. Then, before my supposed ally can reach the plate, somebody surfaces.

It's Austin.

To say I am relieved is an understatement. I can't breathe for a few seconds out of it as Finnick helps Austin back to the stone strip.

But then... confusion. They confuse me so much, my... feelings. Because I felt so scared when I thought Austin might be dead. But I... I hate him... so I can't have been scared... right?

I look along and see the careers as Finnick and Austin arrive back. They're up at the cornucopia, clearly planning something. But not brave enough to take us on.

I fall into Austin's arms when he's up, he kisses me on the forehead then we gather our weapons (I got a sword for Austin) and run.

But all of that is acting. Because we're back in the arena...

Finnick carries Mags on his back and Austin and I run. "Willow, go, go, go!" Finnick urges me on as we run through the foliage and into the very tropical world behind. "Okay, hold up! Hold up!" He shouts as we find a rather secluded part and sit down.

"God, it's hot," Austin comments. "We gotta find fresh water."

The fighting at the bloodbath must've finished early, with most groups heading to safety as quick as possible, because the cannons then go off. I count them. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.

Silence.

Eight dead. Sixteen left to play.

Finnick laughs as they go off. "I guess we're not holding hands anymore."

This outrages me. "You think that's funny? Because I'll show you something that's fucking funny, mate-"

He leans forward, silencing me. "Every time that cannon goes of, it's music to my ears. I don't care about any of them."

"Good to hear," I draw out one of my axes and look towards Mags. I would never kill her, but Finnick's getting on my nerves.

"You wanna face the career pack alone?" Finnick raises his eyebrows at me. "What would Haymitch say?"

"Haymitch isn't here," I maintain my eye contact.

"Let's keep moving," Austin says, in an attempt to stop the tension between Finnick and me. I roll my eyes and get up.

Austin takes the fore in the group, slicing through all the foliage so that we have a clear path. I follow with my axes, ready to strike if trouble arises. Finnick and Mags are behind me.

We go on and on, the only noises are the grunts Austin makes when he cuts the stuff in our path. About a quarter of an hour later, we're climbing.

And that's when I notice the air is slightly shimmering where Austin is just about to cut. But I notice too late-

"AUSTIN, NO!"

He's already slashing his knife towards it-

There's a shower of sparks as the knife makes contact with the forcefield, and Austin gets thrown back onto the ground five metres away. He knocks me to the ground too, but I get up just in time to see the force field regenerating. It's still as strong as ever.

"Austin?" I ask in panic, getting up to see that he still hasn't moved. "Austin!" His eyes are closed, from his mouth, he emits no breath. From his heart-

There's silence.

"He's not breathing! He's not breathing!" I shout. "He's not breathing! Austin!"

Finnick shoves me off him as I shout his name. Then I see him start to pump his heart, and kiss him-?

No, he's not kissing him, he's performing CPR, an act I have only seen done once, by my mother. An act to try and get someone's heart to start again.

"Come on, Austin, come on!" Finnick shouts in pure frustration, trying to hear Austin's heart again and not getting anything. "Come on!"

"Austin?" I'm crying now. "Please wake up, please..."

Finnick does another round of mouth to mouth before beginning to pump the heart again. Austin remains still and silent with his eyes closed.

"Come on!"

Suddenly, Austin's mouth opens and he takes a breath in. And out. Finnick shoves over as I kneel beside him. "Austin?"

As he opens his eyes, I exclaim. "Oh my god!"

He only seems relieved that I wasn't taken out too as he smiles. "Be careful, there's a force field up there."

I laugh and laugh then lean forward and kiss him, trying to convey how happy I am that he's alive.

Why do I feel like this-?

"You were dead! You were dead! Your heart stopped!"

"It's okay, it's working now."

I laugh again and kiss him once more, stopping sobbing and calming myself down. "Do you wanna stand up?"

I get off him and let him up, where I hug him, clinging on like I don't ever wanna let go-

Except soon I realise that I actually don't want to let go. I-

That thought scares me even more.

A few minutes later, it also comes to mind that Finnick was the one that saved Austin. This makes me outraged because I want to hate him, to despise him, even, but I can't. Not after what he has done today. I owe him an unpayable debt.

After that fiasco, I go at the front, and we throw rocks at anything we judge to be a forcefield.

But I want to know why there's forcefields in the arena, when there was none, to my knowledge, last year. Is it a trick? A trap?

"Hang on," I say, stopping by a nearby tree. I'm going to climb it and see what's happening.

When I do, I see that I'm high enough up to basically see most of the arena. I see the cornucopia, at least, with its twelve wedges splaying out around it. I also judge it to be basically in the middle of the arena. This isn't unusual, it has happened before. But I can't help but think there might be a reason this time.

Then I see the sky, and it's shimmering as well, confirming what I have long since thought to be true. But to prove my theory, however, I throw an axe into the sky. It too sparks and rebounds.

"The forcefield, it's a dome. We're at the edge of the arena, sorry, I couldn't find any signs of water," I say a minute later, once I'm down the tree.

"It's gonna get dark soon, we'll be safe with our backs protected, we should set up camp," Finnick suggests. "Take turns sleeping, I can take first watch."

I smile sardonically. "Not. A. Chance."

I leant closer to him so that only he can hear what I say next. "My so-called mentor may have chosen my allies for me but I can still choose whether I like them or not. And you're not off to a very good start."

Finnick stands up, stabbing the bottom end of his trident into the water. He's clearly done with me. "Honey, that thing I did back there for Austin? That was called saving his life. If I wanted to kill either of you I would've done it by now."

"I'm not your 'honey'," I retort back scathingly as I turn to Austin, not wanting to deal with Finnick Odair's crap. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll take first watch."

So Finnick and I sit awake as the sky darkens, we're both too stubborn to give into the other. "How's Austin?" Finnick asks me in an attempt to clear the air.

"He's okay, I think just... dehydrated like the rest of us," is what I say.

Suddenly, the anthem plays and the faces appear.

The man from Five, the one Finnick took out, is first. The man from Six. Both from Eight and Nine. The woman from Ten. Seeder (my heart drops) from Eleven.

"Eight," I say glumly, as I don't want to start another argument with Finnick. He hums in agreement as I hear something.

I recognise that sound, it's the same chiming noise you get when you receive a parachute!

Both Finnick and I watch as the parachute floats down lazily, landing with a thump on the ground. I run forward to open it, seeing the not from Haymitch in the top.

Drink up - H

"Drink up?" I ask, very confused when I see the instrument in the box. It's a small tube with a lip on the end.

"What is it?" Finnick asks in confusion.

"It's from Haymitch," I answer. And when I hold it, I know.

I remember once, when I was young, Gale, my father and I went out into the woods and we used one of these. It's called a spile and if you tapped it into a tree, sap would come running out the lip. But it won't be sap that's in these trees, it'll be-

"I think it's a spile," I say confidently, choosing a tree to tap. I take up a stone as the other three stare at me weirdly, and tap it into place. There, I wait, hoping and praying I have this right. Then I gasp and plunge in as water starts running into my mouth.

I hear the others' shouts of amazement as I drink, finally feeling alright again. Austin and Finnick get a shot, washing their faces and gasping in shock.

When I get a turn again, I let it fill up my hands, soaking my face in it. Fresh water. "I'm gonna get some for Mags," Finnick says as he holds two leaves together as a bowl.

Mags is also pleased with the water, and I can't help but notice that Finnick doesn't now seem like a pompous man from the District's that turned into one of the Capitol. He looks like someone who would save any life, no matter who it was.