The End of Innocence: The 72nd Annual Hunger Games

Vengance

I jump off my pedestal immediately, I lose my balance slightly as I drop to the hardened soil but I regain it quickly as I focus towards the Cornucopia. Sweat flies off me as I sprint. Everyone's focused on their prizes and not a single person - even The Careers -  bothers to attack anyone. I run faster than I did the first time I was forced to jump off the pedestals at the start of the Games. A tiny glow emanates from the inside of the Cornucopia as it radiates outwards, almost drawing us in further. The temperature begins to rise. I quickly look to my left to see that Lesa's in the lead, about two meters ahead of me. Ion must be behind me. Lesa's almost there. I see my bag clearly, it's almost in my reach, I can -

Suddenly, Lesa gets thrown like a rag doll in my direction, as does the girl from 12, and then myself. My feet get swept from under me and every Tribute gets thrown to the right. The ground has lifted on tilt and is now on a 90-degree angle, I don't even know how they made this possible. The air zooms past me as I try to cling onto anything I can get my hands on, but it's as if gravity has disappeared completely and we're aliens in space floating about. Time has frozen. We all fall at the same height as the treetops. District 12's male screams as he falls through the air. The ground suddenly stabilises, and in an instant, we all collapse back on the earth with a thump. I realise The Gamemakers did this purposely to make us fight and come together. We're all in one little pool, thrown back to the pedestals.

District 12's female gets up first and runs straight towards the Cornucopia. She's quicker than all of us because she's so tiny. When I regain a sense of focus, I notice I'm on top of Vickin, bad idea. I can see him more clearly than I could when he was standing. Disgust comes over me more than fear, I sort of don't want to even look at him. He isn't attractive anymore in the slightest. His entire face is ripped open, his facial hair cut down really sloppy. He was ripped apart by that bear. 

I immediately think to stand on his face because it's obviously the most sensitive part of him. In a fluid motion, I pull my boot from under me and throw it down onto his face. He lets out a sharp yelp as he tries to protect it again with his hands. In this moment of safety, I hoist myself up from the bundle of Tributes and make a run for it. When I look back, everyone else is still trying to get away from the unnatural gathering of Tributes. The run is hard as the ground jumps up from itself and slams back down again, the soil around this field tears from the earth with every slam. I look back again and everyone is up on their feet. Greyson is screaming at Ion and tries to load an arrow but he keeps falling and failing with every movement of the earth. I ignore the uneasiness, take out a knife and run towards District 12. I won't kill her, but if she attacks me first I won't hesitate.

I'm about ten meters away and will approach the Cornucopia soon. Each step I take, I feel the ground going more and more unstable. The ground keeps swinging back and forth like an earthquake, not letting us move. Why are they doing this? I look back once more and it is only now that every other Tribute is running towards me. Lesa's about two meters behind me, followed by Ion, then behind her is Greyson who has his bow in hand. He's going to kill her. I know he is.

District 12's female reaches the Cornucopia first and grabs a little rucksack that has the number 12 on it from within. She turns her back and looks at me. She stops. I run about five more seconds, ignore her and run towards my bag that lies at the very back of the wide table. Ah, memories. To the place where Ion and I almost died.

I pick it up and turn but instead of seeing the sight of her gone, she runs straight at me. She has a knife - bigger and sharper than mine. Out of instinct, I raise the rucksack to the level of my face to block her, but suddenly I'm jammed against the wall, and she follows. The Gamemakers are changing gravity again. I close my eyes and tense up because they're going to release the gravity and we're both going to be launched on the floor.