| THE LOVE HE HATES | HUNGER GAMES | COMPLETED

7 | THE BLOODBATH

     SHE DIDN'T EVEN realise what she was doing until she had done it, but the next thing Athena knew was that she was hugging Aeschylus, on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The man was hugging her back tightly.

"Thirty seconds." An electronic voice sounded.

Athena pulled away and quickly took off her chain and pendent, she shoved it into Chy's hand.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

She looked at him. "My mother doesn't watch the games, never has., she won't watch this one. If I don't make it, send it to her. Please." She pleaded.

He looked down at the object in his hand. "What if you do make it?"

She looked down at the pendent and back at him. "Then give it back to me when I'm out."

The doors behind them opened, it was time for Athena to do into the arena. She glanced at the doors and back at Chy, who was putting the chain around his neck and pulling something from his wrist. He grabbed hers and placed it on. She looked down at it, seeing the familiar face of the God Aeschylus, the God of Survival.

"To protect you." He spoke. "And so you can give it back to me when you win."

"Ten seconds."

Athena slowly walked away from him, her hand falling from his as she got closer to the elevator. She stepped inside and the doors shut behind her, she turned to see Chy through the glass, watching her as he held onto the pendent. Her own hand reached for the bracelet as the elevator began to rise.

A light shone brightly into Athena's eyes, causing her to raise her hand to cover them. Then a wave of heat hit her, it was actually quite a nice heat for her as the room she had been in with Chy was cold. Once her eyes were situated to the bright light, Athena looked around.

She, along with the other tributes, were stood atop a large sand pit. In the middle of it was the Cornucopia, filled with weapons and supplies. Behind her, Athena saw small Oasis's scattered around behind large trees and bushes.

"Athena." A voice called.

The girl turned to see Jason, he already looked prepared to run. But he seemed to be planning to run away from the Cornucopia. The lack of supplies he would have was worrying but she was afraid that if she went into the Cornucopia at the bottom of the pit, either her or Jason would end up being in the bloodbath that was known to happen at the beginning of the games.

She gave a small nod of her head, directing Jason to run towards an Oasis as she planned to head to the Cornucopia. She would get them supplies, she would try and get out alive so Jason could win the games. He was young and had his whole life ahead of him.

"Ten...nine...eight..."

Athena glanced at the steps nearby, they were a much safer way down but it could easily turn into a trap and it wasn't fast.

"...three...two...one."

Her ears seemed to ring as the games started, she saw Jason running away as she slid down the sides of the pit as carefully as she could. The sand was hot but she didn't care as she kept her eyes on the Cornucopia.

Other tributes had followed her movements, but many ended up stumbling as they attempted to stay on their feet.

However, a couple tributes headed to the stairs. Tamara has been pushed down the stairs and ended up snapping her neck on the way down, she was the first to die in the games. Holly and Monte followed suit in a similar manner, all being pushed down by Jann and if they didn't die on the way down, Stella killed them as she had gotten to the Cornucopia first.

Athena used their distraction to sneak into the Cornucopia. The first thing she grabbed was a couple survival bags, light enough for her to carry but knowing they had what both she and Jason would need. Her eyes then landed on a sword which she quickly grabbed. It was lucky she did so, as as she turned to leave, a machete was swung at her.

She ducked and swung her own sword at the legs of her attacker, she hit him and it cut his leg deeply. She used his moment of pain to get past him, heading to the now empty staircase. It seemed Stella and Jann had disappeared from the Cornucopia.

She raced up the stairs, but felt something whiz past her head. And arrow landed not too far in front of her, she looked back and saw one of the girls holding a bow and pointing towards Athena. Athena ran faster, glancing back to dodge arrows.

She managed to make it to the Oasis, slowing down slightly to see if she could spot Jason. A whistle caught her attention and she looked upward to see the boy in a tree. He waved for her to climb before the other tributes caught up to her. So she did, she climbed the tree as fast as she could, weapon in hand, and she quietened her breathing as she heard voices come closer.

"You sure she went this way?"

"It's the direction I shot at, I'm sure she went this way."

Jason and Athena stared at each other, hoping the tributes wouldn't notice them and just walk past. And that's what happened, the pair had managed to hide. Athena pulled off one of the bags she grabbed and handed it to Jason, who immediately looked through it to see what the bag contained.

A water bottle, empty. Rope. A small army knife. Matches. And what seemed to be a blanket.

Then came the cannons, but only three went off. The bloodbath was the the smallest there had ever been. It seemed like many of the tributes had simply decided to run away from the Cornucopia.