The Hunger Games - Peeta Mellark (1)

}11{ - Blood Bath

Livia knew the minute must be almost up and she would have to decide what her strategy would be.

She found herself positioning her feet to run, not away into the stir rounding forests but toward the pile, toward the discs.

The gong rung out.

Her feet shuffled for a moment, confused at the direction her brain wanted to take and then she lunged forward.

It took her half a second more to catch up with the rest.

By then It was a bloodbath, so many people fighting to the death then and there.

As she ran her eyes searched for Peeta.

He dodged as another, much larger boy, charged at him.

Within the moment, Livia reached the glimmering steel discs and before she could blink they were  between her fingers.

Without a second to waste the disc implanted itself into the back of the head of Peeta's attacker.

The boy stumbled to a stop, before his body went limp and he tumbled to the ground in a pile of body parts.

Peeta's eyes met her own and as fast as the look of relief appeared on his face, it vanished.

Instead terror filled his expression he gestured exasperatedly behind her.

"Duck."

Livia did so without so much as a second thought.

Jumping back to her feet only after she heard the explicit slice through skin.

She whipped around ready to fight, only to be met with Cato behind her- his sword imbedded in the stomach of her attacker.

He ripped it out as the boy collapsed to his knees, hands grabbing for the wound as if to stop the pool of thick red blood that oozed out at a rapid pace.

By the time the bloodbath ended, it was just the tributes from one, herself and Cato, Lacey, Peeta, and a dozen bodies.

For now, they were allies.

It was late afternoon when they heard the cannons.

Each shot represented a dead tribute.

The bloodbath bodies would stay until the group dispersed.

On the opening day, they never fired the cannons until the initial fighting was over because it was too hard to keep track of the fatalities.

Eleven dead in all.

Thirteen left to play.

Livia couldn't help but imagine what her brothers were thinking as she appeared on their screen- a career.

But maybe they'd be more focused on knowing she was alive and uninjured.

They would show everyone briefly to set the playing field and show the starting of the events.

Especially since one of the heaviest days of betting was the opening, when the initial casualties came in.

But it couldn't compare to what happened as the field shrunk to a handful of players.