PLATINUM • THE HUNGER GAMES ²

| 18. THE WAR BEGINS

BOOK TWO
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

( THE WAR BEGINS )

     BREATHE IN. BREATHE OUT. BREATHE IN. BREATHE OUT. Don't die. Don't fail. Live. Stay alive. One, two, three. One, two, three. Control your eyes. Don't blink. Focus. Where's Corey? Where's Johanna? More importantly, where's Katniss?

     Sixty seconds before I was dead, this time the chances a lot less likely — and perhaps a little too frightening. It was obvious. Everyone else was weaker than I. Everyone else new each other's minds, their thoughts; everything about them had been broadcasted all over the television before. My only weakness was this water, and the unknown that lay below it. From then on, I hoped to be safe. For know.

     Thirty seconds ended with each breath, quicker than I thought and the anticipation rising rapidly. My heart joined my head along for the ride, beating rhythmically in an ancient chant. My eyes were wondering this time with the music, watching the Victors rise in fear and destruction and their goals erratic and unplanned. I noticed the looks of District Two and One, vicious like last time and the temptation to slaughter vivid in their emotions. Somehow, their flares were less taunting, less ferocious. A hint of them were remorseful and caring in a way. After all, we were their friends and now we were mortal enemies.

     They suspected a target of me, so weak in my choices and fearful in my actions. But they didn't know me, they didn't know what was happening behind the scenes. Hopefully, I would be rescued and the rest of them would fight like savage dogs. That was, if Haymitch and Bradley stuck to their plan to save us all.

     Twenty seconds left, my heart slowing its irrational behaviour in an attempt to make sense of the perilous situation. The Cornucopia was strategically located, possibly surrounded by snares and traps. Water that weaved below my feet seemed innocent enough, but too deep to hold nothing. The jungle, a little denser than the last I witnessed it's colour, stretched back across the landscape, yet my mind argued that I was not that immense. We're there any safe places to go once I had retrieved Corey? I couldn't tell, as my eyes were clouded with information I couldn't bother to decode or analyse. The Gamemakers had been crafty this time, most likely deceiving us in every way possible to make spilt blood the most entertaining treasure. But, of course, spilt blood was the most entertaining treasure for a good reason too; it was too precious to waste sparingly, and I was sure the Capitol would be so malicious to follow that desire.

     Ten seconds was an understandably short time. Why would anyone throw away a moment so precious to such a short time? Indeed, they would crave longer. A hundred or thousand, perhaps. Who in their right mind would cherish an incident so quick? Although, a countdown made it undesirably longer, relishing the moment in pure anticipation of its finale. What a wretched way to think that was.