The Very First Hunger Games

Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Cornucopia Bloodbath

My sweating palms leave little handprints on the glass tube. This is it. After weeks of anxiously waiting The Hunger Games, it's finally here.

I turn back to see Sapphire crying hysterically. Her mascara leaves black streaks on her powdered face, and for probably the first time in her life, she doesn't seem to care.

"You'll be okay, you'll be okay, sweetie" She says over and over.

I think she's trying to reassure herself more than she is trying to reassure me. It's strange how close I have gotten to Sapphire and her husband, Indigo over the past couple of weeks.

I can still remember a time when I believed that all people from the Capitol were the same. It was preposterous of me to think that way. Of course all the Capitol folk weren't clones of each other. They had personalities, interests and hobbies, just like everyone else. They're just...different.

The metal plate below my feet starts to rise, pushing me into the arena at an astonishing speed. As the plate ascends further, I realise that the tributes are standing in a semi-circle, looking as perplexed as I am.

I take a few shaky breaths and try to analyze the situation, think before doing something for once. Right now is not the time for panicking. I have a minute (or so I was told) before a bell or some other sound will signal the start of the Hunger Games. A minute to figure out what the hell I am going to do.

60...55...50...

I'm going to need water and food. There is probably food in the golden horn up ahead. What was it Sapphire had called it again? It had strange name but I can't remember it now.

50...45...40...

I can't see any source of water. I scan the arena again more thoroughly this time and... nope, no sign of water anywhere. Wait why would there be water in desert? Is it a desert? If it is a desert, then why are there trees up ahead?

40...35...30...

Most of the other tributes are eying up the horn full of goodies. Cornucopia! That its name. I won't run towards the cornucopia. I'll run towards the trees in hopes of avoiding some of the scorching heat (and the other tributes). The jackets we wear trap the heat rather that let it escape.

30...25...20...

BOOM! An ear-splitting explosion temporarily deafens us all. Once the smoke clears, I spot half a leather boot about ten feet in front of me. I look to my left and notice that one of the tributes is no longer standing on their podium. Bits of what once was the male tribute from District 11 are strewn across the area between the Cornucopia and the tributes.

20...15...10...

Everyone looks completely horror-stricken. Especially the District 11 girl, who seems to have gotten most of the sand and other residue from the explosion. The sound of Alexis vomiting makes it harder to swallow the bile creeping up my throat.

10...5, 4,3,2,1.

The sound of a gong echoes throughout the arena, signifying the start of the Hunger Games. I leap over the dead boy's tattered boot and speedily run in the direction of the woods.

I don't know what's pounding louder: my heart or my head. I'm nearly past the Cornucopia, when someone pushes past me and I land flat on my face.

Get up, get up. Stay on your feet.

I quickly pick myself off the ground and try to shake the dizziness caused by whacking my head off the not-so-soft sand at shocking speed. Some of the tributes lie dead on the ground already. I feel a pang of guilt for their families which quickly turns into sheer terror when I realise someone is attempting to kill me with a throwing knife.

I can tell by the way she is running towards me, with a glint of sadistic joy, in her cold eyes, at the thought of murdering her first victim, that she intends to make my next few minutes a living hell.

I give the girl a startled look, hoping to make her feel remorse about even thinking about killing a girl younger than her but it's no use. She is a raving lunatic.

This is where fight or flight instinct kicks in. I know I can't fight her. She is older, stronger and has a weapon. My only option is to sprint in the other direction, but I know in my heart I won't make it.

The knife swishes past me, ricochets off the cornucopia, then losses momentum and drops to the ground. Still running, I twist my head round and see that Luca has tackled the sadist to the ground.

"WILLOW RUN, GET OUT OF HERE" Luca shouts, as he attempts to pry the small knives from the girl's hands.

"NO" I scream back at him.

I can't let Luca be murdered by that monster. I run back into the bloodbath to aid Luca but I stop abruptly at the sight before my eyes. Kids who had their whole like in front of them, brutally murdered by their peers. Their glassy eyes staring back at me will be permanently engraved on the back of my eyelids.

I stand there frozen, unsure of what to do. The girl has Luca pinned to the ground and has her knife to his throat. In one quick motion, she could end Luca's life. I search frantically for a weapon and in my hunt for a weapon; I find my old friend, the spear. I quickly snatch it up before any else has the chance to. The spear is heavier than the one I used to set the training centre alight but it's the only one I have.

I'm just about to throw the spear at the sadist, when Mason intervenes, throwing the girl over his shoulder like she weighed no more than a loaf of bread. Like the coward I am, I started to run. Luca could be hurt, but I'm still selfishly running away. I can still make out Luca, Mason and some other tributes in the distance.

"You're laughing now but you won't be laughing when you're dying the most painful excruciating death imaginable" the girl screams as she limps away, like an injured cheetah. Still fast and ruthless, but maybe less of a danger now.

I don't doubt she would carry out her threat.

"Well it won't be today, will it, April?" Mason retorts.

April. What a lovely name wasted on such a nasty girl.

Luca picks up one of April's knives, throws it up in the air and catches it, taunting April. I have to let out a little laugh as it is just so-very-like Luca. April doesn't find it quite so funny, if anything it angers her further.

"You'll pay for this Luca. You and your little girlfriend. I'll skin her alive! I'll gouge her eyes out and make you watch!" she says, with an evil cackle.

Luca's face pales. He said he would never let anyone kill me, and I believe he would if he could but Luca's not invincible.

Anyway, maybe April isn't talking about me. Maybe she has mistaken Alexis for Luca's girlfriend. Yeah and maybe a pig will fly down and rescue me from this nightmare.