The Boy from One

Chapter Eleven: The Cornucopia

As I rise up on my plate into the morning sunshine, I feel adrennelaine coursing through me. This is the moment I've always dreamed of-the Hunger Games are about to begin. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the 74th Hunger Games begin-and may the odds be ever in your favour!" booms the voice of Claudius Templesmith. The countdown of 60 seconds begins. I feel so excited and I quickly look round at my surroundings. 

Stretched before us is a gravel plain with the Cornucopia at its centre. To the right of me, is woods, to the left a lake and what appears to be a field of corn. That's good-if we run low on resources, at least we have a lake for water and potential food in the woods and corn field. I've never tasted wild food so it probably tastes disgusting, but at least it's a last resort. 

I scan the pile of resources round the Cornucopia. I can spot numerous spears-brilliant, I'm going to be in my element, and I can see some tents, which we'll need for sleeping in. I angle my feet towards the spears, and have a look at who I can see around me. 

I see Glimmer a few tributes away, Clove who's angled towards a set of knives, and almost opposite me, I can see Marina. 

I get myself ready to race towards the spear. 

The gong sounds. I hurtle towards the spear and I'm just about to pick it up when a boy reaches it the same time as I do. He's a similar size and stature to me so instead of wrestling with him I grab a kukri (a type of knife) lying nearby. I stab him with it and he falls to the ground, dead. 

I take a deep breath-it's the first time I've ever killed someone, even though I've trained my entire life for the Hunger Games. I feel a bit nauseous and then suddenly, before I know it, I'm on all fours, retching. The moment it subsidies, I quickly wipe my mouth with my sleeve and shakily get back to my feet. Anyone could kill me like this and this is not  a good look in front of the audience. 

I look down at the poor kid I've killed and I'm about to throw up again when I hear a voice inside me, which says, '1 down, 23 to go.'  And I realise the voice is right-I'm one step closer to winning the Hunger Games. And I'm able to push the thought of the boy aside as adrenaline courses through me. 

I see another spear lying a few feet away and snatch it up eagerly. I'm about to go for another one but I see Marina fighting over a trident with a girl. I grab my spear and hurl it at her. 

Just like the targets in my training, it hits her right in her chest. Sickened, I turn away so I don't have to see the expression on her face as she slumps to the floor. But I know she's dead and that Marina's got the trident because Marina yells a 'thanks'. 

 I continue to grab spears and then after a few minutes, it's all over. There's only me, Cato, Clove, Glimmer and Marina left standing over a pile of bodies. We re-group at the Cornucopia, and survey the resources we've got: 5 tents, a multitude of weapons and great big pile of food. 

We're working out how to lay out our base, when Cato spots something behind the Cornucopia. He picks up a sword and motions for us to follow as he stealthily creeps round the Cornucopia. Then he holds up a hand for us to stop and carries on walking whilst we stand armed and ready. 

There's a startled cry and shout of triumph and Cato drags out a terrified Murdoch from his hiding place, pulling him by his hair. 

"Murdoch," cries Marina, evidently relieved that he survived the fight at the Cornucopia, "Let him go Cato. He's with us."

But Cato shakes his head, "You have to have a training score of 8 or more to be in our alliance, " he says ominously and before Marina can react, he lifts Murdoch up, stabs him in the stomach and throws him against the Cornucopia. 

There's a short scream of terror from Murdoch which is abruptly cut off as his body hits the hard shell of the Cornucopia. Ok, now I definitely do feel queasy and I have to clamp my hand over my mouth to stop myself from throwing up again. Killing someone in a fight is fair enough. But killing someone who's defenceless? 

That's barbaric. It's...

But then a voice inside me says 'His death means you're one step closer to winning the Hunger Games.'  And I rationalise with myself and realise that Murdoch living would have meant by death and besides, he died fast. At least he wasn't put through a lot of torture. 

There's a cry of rage from Marina. She snatches up a sword and turns to face Cato. And then, before any of us can even blink; they're fighting. 

Cato is literally a giant compared to Marina but she's much faster and their swords clang and clash together like a quick dance as they step back and forth, with me and the others giving them space. 

There's a tense few minutes as it's unclear who's going to win. But then Cato's strength overpowers her and her sword goes flying out of her hand. He shoves her to the ground and presses the sword against her throat. 

"Not bad, Four, "he says coolly, then retracts the sword. She scrambles to her feet, her hands balled into fists, ready to fight.  

"You aren't going to kill me?" she says defiantly. 

"Not this time. You're pretty good," he responds, and then he turns to the rest of us as if nothing's happened, "Let's get the tents organised."

We move the tents into a line, facing the woods and set them up. We distribute the weapons-I naturally get all 10 of the spears, Marina the trident and a couple of swords, Clove all the knives, Cato and few swords and Glimmer a bow and arrow and a dagger. 

We're just moving the food into a pile when we hear 11 canons. Eleven. We've killed eleven kids so far. Part of me is sickened by that but another part of me says '11 down, 13 to go'.

"How many did you kill?" Glimmer asks me. 

"2" I reply. 

She's a bit disappointed, "same."

"Hey I killed 2 people too," says Marina. 

"Same, including the District 4 kid," says Cato, which earns him a scowl from Marina. 

"His name was Murdoch." she says

"Whatever, " he shrugs. 

"How many did you kill Clove?" I ask, trying to change the subject. 

"One, " she says. Glimmer snorts so she quickly adds, "But I did almost kill Katniss Everdeen." This gets Cato's attention. 

"Almost? " sneers Glimmer, "How close did you get?"

"My knife almost hit her."

"What happened?" asks Cato. 

"It hit her backpack instead," mutters Clove, then seeing us all staring at her, she says, "She lifted her backpack up in the nick of time. It was heading straight for her, I swear."

"It's a shame she's got your knife, " I say. This makes me worried-the plan was to make sure Katniss Everdeen did not lay her hands on a weapon. Her skills with a knife could be how she got her 11. 

Glimmer laughs unsteadily, sounding almost hysterical, "Oh this is ridiculous, Clove. She's got one of your knives too?" She rolls her eyes. 

Clove explodes, "Look at least I tried to kill her! None of the rest of you did!" She turns her rage on Glimmer, "And I doubt you would've even hit her backpack with your  archery skills!"

Glimmer is about to retaliate but just at that moment we hear a branch crack behind us. Spinning round, I raise my spear, Glimmer manages to nock an arrow to her bow, Marina raises her trident, Clove grabs one of her knives and Cato raises his sword. Wow, we make such a great team. 

And then, from behind a tree, out steps Peeta Mellark with his hands in the air.