The Hunger Games

11

Sixty seconds. That was how long they had to stand in the metal circles, before the sound of a gong released them. If anyone were to step out of it before the minute was up, land mines would blow their legs off.

Sixty seconds to examine the arena around the Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which is at least twenty feet high, filled with things to help them survive the Games. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters...

Spread all around the Cornucopia were other supplies, their value decreasing the further they were from the horn. Only a few steps from Alec was a three-foot square of plastic. It looked like it could be useful in case of extreme rains. However, in the mouth of the horn there was a tent that seemed perfect to survive all kinds of weather.

If only he had the guts to fight the twenty-three other tributes for it... he had been instructed not to do so, though.

They were on flat ground. Behind the tributes across from Alec, he didn't see anything, not a steep downward slope or a cliff. To his right there was a lake and to his left, woods. That was where he had to go and where Magnus would want him to go to survive.

He heard his instructions in his head, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others and find a source of water, got it?

But it was tempting, so tempting when he saw the bounty waiting there before him. And if he wasn't the one to get it, someone else would or the Career Tributes who survived the bloodbath would divide it up.

Something caught Alec's eye. There, in between many weapons, lay a silver sheath of arrows and a bow already strung. It was waiting to be used. Mine, Alec thought. It was meant for him.

He was fast. He could sprint faster than any of the boys in his school, although some beat him in distance races. But this forty-yard length, that was what he was built for. He knew he could get it, but the question was, could he get out of there with his bow quite as fast? By the time he got to it, many others would too. Other tributes who could take him down with weapons or their own powerful fists.

Still, he wouldn't be the only target.

Magnus had never seen him run. Perhaps if he had, he would have told Alec to go get something from the Cornucopia. Get the weapon. Especially since it probably was Alec's only salvation. He could only see one bow in the whole pile.

The minute was almost up, so he decided on a strategy. He positioned his feet to run, not away into the woods, but towards the Cornucopia and its pile of supplies. He looked around and, suddenly, he saw Maia, about five tributes to his right. She was looking at him and he realized she might be shaking her head.

Puzzled, Alec didn't notice he had lost his posture, until the gong rang and he missed it! He missed his chance! Those couple extra seconds he had lost by not being ready were enough to change Alec's mind about rushing to the Cornucopia.

Confused for a second, Alec stood there until he realized his life was at stake there. He lunged forward, grabbing a piece of plastic and a loaf of bread. They were such useless items, and he was so angry at Maia for having distracted him, that he sprinted towards a bright orange backpack that could literally hold anything.

Another boy, from District 9, Alec recalls, reached for it at the same time as him and for three seconds they had to fight for it, until the boy suddenly spat out blood. Alec stepped back, holding the bag, disgusted at the blood that had reached his being. Then the boy fell to the ground.

That was when he saw the knife in his back. Without even thinking about it and well-aware of where that knife had come from, Alec ducked, avoiding the knife headed his way, pulled the knife out of the boy and ran for his life.