The arena is a forest. The leaves on the trees are purple. To my left is a lake which must be the main water supply. The sky is grey.
The Cornucopia is silver which throws off an eery shadow.
I look to my left and right briefly. I was beside Phoenix and the boy from 8.
The countdown begins and I focus on the Cornucopia. I look desperately for a trident and see none. I spot a bow and arrow just outside the Cornucopia and a jacket with throwing knives inside the Cornucopia.
I decide to go for the throwing knives and then run and claim the bow and arrow. The breeze blows the loose strands of my hair and I'm glad Dusk tied it up.
I'm brought back to my senses when 10 seconds are left. I get into a running position and the minute the timer hits 0 I leap off my podium.
I race towards the Cornucopia and I am the first one there. I've secured the jacket and picked up the bow and arrows by the time most people have grabbed a weapon. I slip on the jacket and look for my first target.
I see the boy from 5 come at me with a sword and turn around and shoot an arrow at him. It punctures his shoulder and I shoot another arrow and it catches him in the heart. Killing him instantly.
I wince. I've never killed anyone before.
The boy from 8 foolishly creeps up behind Amber, who is trying to kill the girl from 5. I throw my knife and it lodges in his back. He spits out blood at Amber who kicks him away. She spots me and does a thumbs up.
I run into the Cornucopia and see the girl from 8 cowering behind a crate.
"Please don't kill me!" she begs, attempting to run away. I hold her back with my foot and smack her hard on the forehead with the bow which forces her to fall down. I load an arrow and it penetrates her throat.
I run away from the dying girl and crash out of the Cornucopia. I see Willow approach me and throw an axe. I duck as it sticks in the metal of the Cornucopia behind me. I throw a knife but she deflects it with the axe. It still lands in her thigh.
She growls at me and runs off into the wood. I yank the axe out of the Cornucopia and put it in a slot in my belt.
As the remaining tributes clear off into the woods I look around at my allies who are all still alive. Amber has a bloody nose and Dion is holding a piece of fabric up to it. Artemis and Bryce are picking over weapons. Someone is missing.
"Where's Dylan?" I cry.
We all realize he's missing and look around until he reappears from behind the Cornucopia, his face splattered with blood. He throws his sword up into the air and catches it again.
"Boy from 12 thought he could camp out behind the Cornucopia unnoticed." says Dylan wiping blood off his face.
I go inside the Cornucopia and throw the out the body of the girl from 8.
"We need to clear out," I say. "So they can collect the bodies."
We move temporarily in the corner of the plain. We still have a clear view of the Cornucopia though. We see a metal claw go down and collect the bodies. When it's done the canons begin. We count them on our fingers.
"Nine dead," I say. "Not bad.
"Besides us 6 there's nine more left." says Bryce.
"Who's even left?" asks Dion.
"I don't know," I say shrugging my shoulders. "I guess we'll see tonight."
We go back to the Cornucopia and pick over what's left. I pack a backpack with food, iodine, a 2L water bottle, a med-kit, night vision goggles and a sleeping bag. I search the Cornucopia again for a trident but find none. I grab another spare quiver and sling it over my shoulder. I take some spare knives and keep them in my backpack although the vest I have has 30+ knives of all sizes.
I meet up with the others outside.
"Should we stay here or go find camp somewhere else?" asks Artemis.
"Stay here for tonight," I say. "Until we can think of a way to guard the supplies."
"3 of us should go hunting." says Bryce. "And three can stay back at camp."
We all agree.
Me, Bryce and Artemis set off to go hunting since we volunteered to go.
"Did anyone actually pay attention at the edible plant station?" says Bryce, running an unfamilar berry in his fingers.
"Yeah," I say. "That's poisonous don't eat it."
It's funny how fast he drops the berry from his hands.
I laugh.
"It's fine to eat it's just blueberries." I say picking one up and popping it into my mouth.
In 5 minutes, when they are sure it isn't poisonous as I'm still alive, they pick some up and eat them.
I grab some reeds and weave a basket tightly to put them in.
We put the berries in and keep on moving.
I see a rabbit scurry past and shoot it. I pick it up by the ears and carry it. We split up to cover more ground and when we return back to our meeting place Bryce has taken down two squirrels and Artemis manages to find a groosling. I've taken down another rabbit and plus a wild turkey who wandered in my path.
"We have enough to last us for ages." says Bryce. We soon realize we have strayed far into the forest and it takes an hour to get back to camp.
"Look who got game!" I shout.
They all turn around at us, weapons raised.
"Calm down," says Artemis. "If you shoot us you don't get food."
They lower there weapons, realizing it's us and we go back to camp.
"Does anyone have matches in their pack?" asks Dion as we all skin and gut the animals.
"I think I do," says Amber, leaving the wild turkey she was gutting as she reaches over for her bag. She grabs a box of matches and passes them to Dion.
"Can someone get wood for a fire?" she asks.
"I can't go back to the forest again." I say, yawning.
"I'll get it." says Dylan.
"Same." says Amber.
Soon they return with wood. We toss it into a heap in front of Cornucopia. Since Dion can't do it, I light the match and toss it into the fire. The wood lights ablaze. We cook the food over it and wrap the excess in plastic. All together we only finish a groosling and a turkey.
After the meal we are all thirsty after the greasy meat. We go over to the lake.
"Are we sure it isn't poisoned?" asks Dylan anxiously.
"Someone take a small sip." I say.
Bryce takes a small sip and when we see no effects we all chug down the water. I fill my water bottle and add a drop of iodine and wait for it to purify. Night has started to fall over the arena as I look at the stars in the sky.
We lay out our sleeping bags inside of the Cornucopia and me and Dylan get to work covering the Cornucopia with vines so we have a bit of cover.
"Who's going to guard first?" asks Dylan.
"I'll guard first," I say. "I can't sleep anyway."
"I might aswell stay up aswell," says Amber. "I'm well rested."
Me and Amber grab two foldable chairs from the Cornucopia and sit outside. The anthem begins to play and we call out the others.
The first casualty is the boy from 5, meaning all the tributes from 1-4 have survived. The boy from 5 is followed by the girl from 5. The boy from 6 makes an appearance. The boy from 7. I killed the pair from 8. The boy from 10 and the pair from 12.
The anthem ends and the sounds of night begin again, as if they never stopped.
I have my bow loaded beside me and Amber has a spear ready. We relax and munch on a few berries since they are easy to find.
"It's weird to think I'm actually in the arena," says Amber. "I'm so used to preparing when it actually happens it's werid."
"I know," I say. "It's so different."
We talk throughout the night but in a couple of hours we are forced to wake up Dion and Bryce to take our place.
I sleep with my bow still loaded and throwing knives accessible. It was a bit uncomfortable at first sleeping so close to the ground after sleeping on a bed my whole life but I got used to it after a while. Overall my first day in the arena wasn't that bad. But today's only the beginning. Who knows what on earth tomorrow could hold?