It takes a second to register in my brain but as the flames get closer I start running for my life. I frantically whip my head around. We're all scattered, running in different directions, but one voice, Cato's, directs us to a general destination. "To the lake!" He screams, his voice hoarse because of the smoke. I whip my head around, trying to gauge where the other Careers are and Glimmer, who I've decided now to trust, grabs my wrist and pulls me on the path the others are taking. I stumble as she pulls me but I'm rapidly back on my feet and crashing through the woods. I have marks on my wrist from where Glimmer gripped me and now my hands, face, and legs are getting cut up, but I can barely feel the pain with all the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I try to escape a slow and painful death.
We must have been far from any other tributes if they had to pull us back together like this. It's not the most original thing I've seen over my twelve years of watching the Games, but now I'm experiencing how well it works. The fire starts spreading around us and I follow the rest of the Careers, leaping over the burning logs and keeping an eye out for the glistening blue water of the lake. My throat and nose start burning and coughing fits slow down my running and the fire threatens to engulf me. My lungs feel like they're being suffocated, no air can get in and no air can get out.
I start to slow down when I see a burning branch being hurled straight at my head. I run as fast as my poor aching legs will carry me. We're far from the lake and it's all I can do to keep from kneeling over and vomiting everything in my stomach. I swerve over to the side behind a large tree root and fall to my knees. I hear running towards me as I lose everything that has entered my stomach since the Games began. Glimmer winces and holds my hair back as I retch until there's nothing yet. Glimmer looks green and quickly hands me my water bottle and I take a big gulp and it burns as it goes down. I take as much water as I can, with every gulp burning more, making me want to retch again and again until I kneel down and let death take over me.
Glimmer's screaming at me to run and I stumble to my feet and begin to run again. A wall of flames blocks my way and a shriek escapes my throat and I turn again, but not fast enough. The corner of my jacket catches fire and my eyes widen in fear. I rip it off my body and stamp out the fire. It doesn't seem to work and I panic and try to stuff it into my bag, hoping the lack of oxygen stifles the flames. I can't see Glimmer, or any of the Careers, for that matter and I run to the left, hoping I'll catch up to them soon.
Fireballs start whizzing past my face. It angers me, a Gamemaker sitting in his cool, spotless room with a control panel, aiming for a direct hit at me. I run faster than I ever had before, I never knew I was able to go this fast, I'm stronger now, faster too. I might just be able to outrun the flames. I hear hissing as a fireball flies past my head, and I smell the scent of singed hair but I can't stop to examine it now. I hear the shouts of the other Careers and I must be close to the lake. I keep running, trying to breathe through my mouth because my nose refuses to let any air through and it's hard as it is to get it through to my lungs. My eyes have been watering this entire time but they start spilling over and I can't see. The fire seems to be receding but I can't trust my judgment anymore, I can barely see.
Smoke and tears cloud my eyes and my brain feels fuzzy. I can't do it anymore. My knees give out and I curl to the floor, surrounded by dead grass and trees. No one has come to find me, no one cared enough. Everywhere is burning, my throat, my hair, my nose, my lungs. I close my eyes and succumb to the sweet escape of sleep and flames.