The Hunger Games: Clove's POV

[10] The Arena

I wake up panting with sweat trickling down my forehead. A nightmare, thank goodness. It was just a nightmare.  

*** 

There I was, at the Cornucopia. Blood dripping down from my face to the ground, me running after Katniss, with a bow in her hand and arrows in a long, thin bag on her back. I saw something else in Katniss' hand. A bag. A black bag with the number twelve on it. I threw my knife and it slit a part of Katniss' forehead, and she fell to the ground. I ran to where she was and landed on top of her, and the next thin I knew, she was on top of me, trying to get up and run, but I tackled her and emerged on top of her again, with a sharp knife in my left hand.  

"Where's lover boy?.... Oh I see, you came here to help him right? Well that's sweet. Too bad you couldn't help that little girl, what was her name? Rue?.." A gagging noise came from Katniss, as she tried to turn my knife from my hand to stab me. "Well we killed her, and now, we're going to kill you." I said. Who's Rue? Who's lover boy? What was in that bag?  

A huge hand grabbed me by my jacket, forced me to the ground. He took a rock the size of a loaf of bread and hit it against my skull, and the next thing I knew.... I was..... Gone...  

That's how the dream ended. I don't get it. What if it's a sign? What if my mind's playing tricks on me? Stressed, I take the outfit that's already left on my bed and head to the bathroom. Today is the day I enter the arena. After what I just experienced in my dream... I don't feel confident anymore, but I have to. I have to get Katniss first. I have to kill her the moment I'm at the Cornucopia bloodbath.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Okay, so the minute you enter the arena, make sure you grab the knives, and Cato, make sure you get hold of a very powerful sword." Brutus briefs us.  

"Right," Cato and I nod.  

"It's time to get going. Enobaria, come on," says Brutus in a rush, tying his shoelaces.  

Cato and I are not going to be seeing Eustacia anymore. Well unless we win, of course. Unless one of us wins. I go over to Eustacia saying my goodbyes and how it was a pleasure meeting her. "See you after I win!" I add, with a mild smirk.  

Cato does the same, he hugs Eustacia and says his goodbyes. Eustacia really is a great escort, and I'm happy to have had her this year.  

We head out the door and into the elevator and press 'ground' which indicates the ground floor.  

"Don't forget what we told you. Form an alliance. Be smart. Both of you," says Enobaria, hugging Cato and I. Crucis is going to be with me while I prepare to go into the actual arena.  

We finally reach the ground floor, and as we step out of the elevator, we are in an open area. I see the huge hovercraft waiting for us that will take us to the arena. I say goodbye to Enobaria and Brutus and walk with Cato to the hovercraft, but I just walk slightly quicker, leaving him behind. There's no more time to think about love. It's all strategies and focus, just like Cato said during the interview.  

As I enter the hovercraft, I see all the tributes sitting on this weird seat, with a lady injecting something in their arms. Right, the trackers. Ouch. They look really painful, but whatever. I have to look fine about it.  

I take my seat. Beside Katniss. Of all people, Katniss. I reach out my arm as the lady injects the tracker into my arm, and it blinks a blue light. Wow, this really hurts. I have to resist touching it... ouch. 

About half an hour of sitting still, we finally arrive at out destination. We have to prepare underground... 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Crucis!" I cry, and give him a big hug. He was waiting for me. I pull away and see a transparent tube. A glass tube. I'm guessing I'll be going in that tube... 

"Good luck, Clove. I believe in you, I really do. You have a really great chance of winning. I know you can win," says Crucis, giving me a friendly kiss on my forehead. 

I mouth 'thank you' as I hear a robotic voice, the same voice as the one in the training center, saying "Ten seconds". I have to go into the tube now... This is it.  

I hug Crucis one more time and wave goodbye, entering the tube. The tube then starts moving up, as I turn around in horror. Why am I afraid? This is not like me. What is wrong with me? I have to win. I have to.  

My vision blurs as the tube opens up, and finally, I see all the tributes around, in the shape of a semi-circle, facing the Cornucopia. I see several orange bags with weapons beside them, and immediately spot the bag with huge knives. That's it, that's the one.  

I see a timer on a huge screen, ticking. '15.....14.....13.....12.....' a gong will sound as soon as the timer shows '1'. 

'5.....4.....3.....2.....1.....' The gong sounds. I run as fast as ever, and quickly grab the back with knives. I take a few knives in my hand and shove the rest in my bag. I see a few targets, a blonde girl and two boys. I throw three of my knives at them, and in seconds, they're dead. I see another boy trying to kill Katniss with a huge sword. I don't even know him, but I throw my knife to his back and he falls to the ground. Another one dead. I see Katniss on the ground. I throw my huge knife at her,... and she defends it with her bag. What?  

She makes a run for the forest and I immediately run in a different direction, into the forest too, before anyone else tries to kill me.  

After ten minutes of running, I see Cato, Glimmer and Marvel sitting on the ground, checking their bags to see what they got. My allies. One thing I notice though,... is that Glimmer is unusually close to Cato. Forget Cato. One night on the rooftop didn't change anything.  

"Hey!" I say to my allies. They all look up at me and say 'hey' with smiles. Well that's good. I just know we're going to kill so many people together. We're strong.  

I hear thirteen booms from the canon, that means thirteen gone in the first day. So far.  

I sit down with my allies and check out what's in my bag too. I'm just getting warmed up.  

***