The Fifty Fifth Annual Hunger Games

The First Day

If it wasn't for the anticipation of the blood in the air, the feeling of the sun on their skin as the tributes rose to the center of the arena would've almost felt nice. Comforting even. But with the adrenaline coursing through their veins and their hearts pounding in their ears, the tributes could hardly think about something so trivial as sunlight.
Augusta surveyed the smattering of weapons and supplies laid out between her and the cornucopia at the center before making eye contact with Sterling. He jutted his head back towards the trees, gesturing to run as soon as the timer went off but she just looked at him before glancing at a pack directly in front of her. He didn't have time to react before the final 10 seconds began counting down. She readied herself to run and as soon as the timer went off, she felt her legs move faster than they have ever moved before.
The careers passed confident looks between themselves, readying to fight as the last seconds counted down. When the timer reached zero, they launched themselves off their platforms running towards the center to grab their weapons as quickly as possible.
The smartest tributes turned and ran for the woods as fast as they could. Among those were Jasper and Rosilee, as the plan for their alliance was to do just that, but the temptation of the items right in front of them couldn't keep the rest of them at bay. Newton from District 5 grabbed the pack nearest to him before taking off and Sterling and Augusta both managed to grab one, but as they were making their escape, a spear landed right in front of them but not before cutting open the side of Sterling's calf. The adrenaline wouldn't let him feel the pain or stop running so they both powered through and made it to the treeline just behind Newton. The three didn't stop running until they were far enough away where they couldn't hear the fighting any longer.
"Wait," Newton huffed between pants. "Where are the twelves?"

The fighting at the cornucopia continued and more blood was spilled. Once Prosper had grabbed his sword he was able to cut down both tributes from District 3, their thin legs unable to carry them to safety fast enough. Caster and his spear pierced the girl from 6 through the heart. The girl from 7 managed to get far enough to grab two axes lodged in the ground before lugging one at the first person she saw, which happened to be Holstein. But before the blade hit him square in the chest, it met another body instead. His district partner, the girl from 10, leaped in front of the projectile. It lodged firmly in the side of her head but in the heat of the moment, he couldn't get around her to get back at the culprit. He laid her to the ground, panting from the adrenaline rush and stood again to survey the land.
Ajax threw a knife into the ground, angry it didn't make it into a body and Prosper cursed at not being able to kill anyone else. "There's too fucking many left! Could none of you have pulled your weight for fucking once?" He yelled swinging his blade around.
"Shut up, Prosper. Everyone ran. We got everyone who's not a coward on our team, remember?" Lyssa quipped, folding her arms over her heaving chest.
Caster went to retrieve his spears as Chanel and Levie rounded up the rest of the packs and tossed them into a pile.

Jasper and Rosilee had gotten further than the rest of their group and they currently sat against a tree, catching their breath and considering their next move. They didn't grab anything from the center so they had no supplies, no teammates, and no idea where to go from here.
"We should find water," Rosilee breathed and Jasper nodded.
He stood and held out a hand to help her up when a twig snapped behind them. He pulled her up before pushing her behind him.
Their breath was frozen in their throats as more leaves rustled ahead. But when the familiar braceleted hand of their ally emerged from the trees first, followed by the rest of the group, their lungs thanked them for the release.
"Oh thank the stars!" Augusta cried but then covered her mouth when she realized she was being too loud. "We thought we lost you guys and it's almost dark out!"
Rosilee smiled slightly and dusted herself off as she came out from behind Jasper. "We're just thankful you're not anyone here to murder us."
Jasper nodded and let out a nervous chuckle.
"Should we set up here?" Sterling asked through a yawn. The fatigue was finally catching up to all of them.
Augusta nodded and sat down right there. "Who's keeping watch first?"

As the careers were finishing up separating the supplies and setting out sleeping arrangements, the Panem anthem began playing overhead. They all stuck their heads outside to watch the first nightly update. Only 4 faces flashed amongst the stars. Both tributes from District 3, and the girls from Districts 6 and 10.
"Her name was Tanner."
"What?" Jack turned to Holstein, not sure if he heard him say anything or not.
"She saved my life." He sighed, still looking up at the sky for a moment before ducking back inside the cornucopia.