In This Together (The Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 7: Let the Games Begin

"One minute until launch."

"Sona?"

"Yes?"

"I'm scared."

"Thats understandable. But you have a strong alliance. Just make it through the bloodbath alive and you'll be fine," she hugged me.

"30 seconds until launch."

"I'll see you on the Victory Tour," Sona guided me toward the glass tube.

"20 seconds until launch."

"What if I don't win?" I screamed, horrified. "I'm only eleven! I'm too young to die!"

Sona's eyes shone with tears. "You have sponsors who will help you. Don't talk like that! You will live, you will."

"10 seconds until launch." With a little help from Sona, I stepped into the launch tube. The door slammed shut behind me, and I jumped in surprise.

"It's okay!" Sona mouthed, but I couldn't hear her words. Feeling the tube slowly start to rise, I caught my last glance of Sona.

And then my first glance at the arena. All around me it was dark, no sign of the sun. The metal cornucopia was about 200 metres in front of my platform. Above the cornucopia, a large screen was counting down the seconds until the games began.

49, 48, 47...

To my left I saw Tristan, on my right was Diamond. They were about 20 metres from me on either side.

I tried to find the sun, but it was no where to be seen.

We were in a cave.

There were 12 tunnels off of the large cavern the cornucopia was located in. They were pitch black, and I couldn't see anything inside of them.

25,24,23...

Tristan caught my eye, and gave me a reassuring smile. But I could see in his eyes that he was scared. I tried to slow my beating heart...

The last ten seconds were the longest of my life.

5,4,3,2...

1.

The cannon went off, the first of many I'd hear over the next few days. I sprinted towards Tristan, and he ran towards me, scooping up a backpack as he ran. I ignored the chaos around me, simply focusing on reaching him.

"WATCH OUT!" he screamed, and I ducked and somersaulted forward. The knife that Diamond had thrown barely grazed my hair and I yanked it out of the dirt it lodged in. Tristan pulled me to my feet and we sprinted away from her.

"Which tunnel?" I asked breathlessly.

The closest one!" he answered, guiding me to a tunnel that looked like all the others. I watched the boy from District 7 fire an arrow at the girl from District 3. I turned away before I could see where it landed.

I could still hear Diamond's footsteps behind us, and I knew it wouldn't be long before her district partner joined the chase. Tristan was a few steps ahead of me.

"Hurry Celia!"

"I'm running as fast as I can! You have longer legs!" I was almost out of energy, and I could hear Diamond behind me...

Tristan and I entered the tunnel and I struggled to quicken my pace, but it wasn't enough. Sensing how far behind I was falling, Tristan turned around and scooped me up so he was giving me a piggy back ride. I turned my head to see Diamond behind us turn back towards the bloodbath fray when someone whipped a dagger at her ear.

"We made it," I sighed.

"Not quite yet," Tristan corrected. "We still need water." He lowered me gently on to the ground and we began to walk side by side down the tunnel.

"What about Emilia and Declan?" I realized suddenly.

"Don't worry," Tristan assured me. "I talked to Declan when we were in the hovercraft, and he was on the platform nearest me on my left. I'm sure he saw where we went."

"If he's still alive!" I pointed out angrily.

"Well, if he's dead, there's nothing else we can do," Tristan insisted.

"How can you say that? They're our allies! There's plenty of things we could..."

"Shhh!" Tristan interrupted. "Listen."

Echoing through the tunnel was the deep, rumbling sound of rushing water.

Water!

I began to sprint down the tunnel, not caring how loud my footsteps echoed. I hadn't realized until now just how strong my thirst had become. "Celia!" Tristan called in surprise, but laughed a second later and ran to catch up with me.

Minutes later, we found the source of the roaring, and the dim light that filled the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, there was a shallow pool of water that was filled by the waterfall that poured through the opening in the stone about 20 feet above our heads.

I made a cup with my hands and filled them with water. Before I could sip it, Tristan slapped it out of my hands. "Hey!" I snapped.

"It could be poisoned! We need to purify it first," Tristan took out a thermos and a bottle of iodine. I filled the thermos and he squeezed a few drops into it.

"We have to wait a little while before we know it's safe to drink," Tristan reminded me.

"Okay," I agreed begrudgingly.

We had both just sat down to wait out the time when we heard them. Four pairs of footsteps, heading our way.

My first thought was, it's the Careers. They've found us. And we're at a dead end.

..............................................

We started from the bottom now we here. Ya we started from the bottom s-s-started from the bottom...

But seriously. We made it to the first day of the Games. There was a point when I thought the day would never come...

Just kidding I pre-write my chapters so I knew this was coming for a couple weeks now.

Remember to vote, comment and follow if you like my story! I always check out your stories in return and will do the same if I enjoy it!

xoxo Emmalynn ;)

edit: picture to the right is Tristan Billard :) Finally figured out how to post pictures lol! Look back at Chapter 6 to see a picture of Celia :)