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If it wasn't for the pumping adrenaline and the strong winds that pushed the water up onto Greyson's plate, she would have thought she was standing next to Finnick. He reminded her of the sea. She stood as straight as could be, trying not to let anymore tears fall freely down her cheeks. Greyson heard the Capitol's favorite announcer, Claudius Templesmith, his voice booming around the entire arena. His calm voice rattled her bones. "Ladies and gentlemen, let the seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!"
They had to wait sixty seconds until they were allowed to move from their plate. Sixty seconds before the killing began. And if you stepped off that plate your legs were blown off by land mines. Greyson saw the Cornucopia in the distance, sitting at the center of the large body of water, and the disappointing thing was that all she saw was pointless weapons. Nothing there would help her stay alive.
She took in the people beside her. Strangers she never had the pleasure of meeting before stood on either side of her. One of them was an older man, maybe in his late forties. The other a dark skinned woman who Greyson recognized as Seeder, a friend of Haymitch. Seeder looked down at the water with a fierce confidence that made Greyson square her shoulders and lean forward, ready to dive into the water.
She was practically born in water. From the moment she could walk she was swimming. In her days at school one of their required classes was on how to swim and the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation; or for short, CPR. Some of the Victors have never gotten the privilege of learning how to swim. Some of them, Greyson didn't doubt, were going to drown.
Someone then caught her eye. He stood about two tributes away on her left and it didn't take long for him to notice Greyson as well. He took in her shaken state and flashed her a concerned glance, shifting his feet to get into a similar position she was in.
Five seconds were left on the clock. Five seconds until the Victors that were holding hands last night were going to be slashing each other's throats open. Greyson knew that she didn't have a choice, but she didn't want to be one of those people. Too many people had died because of the Hunger Games.
And the gong went out, sending her into full survival mode. The one intact thing about her.
Greyson sucked in a large breath of air and plunged into the water. She tried opening her eyes only to be met with stinging salt water. Lucky for her, she was used to the feeling and only had to close her eyes every few seconds. She paddled against the waves that threatened to pull her under, just hoping that there wasn't any sharks in the water below her.
Greyson dragged herself up onto a strip of rocks, ignoring the sharp pain of them digging into her skin, and hauled herself over. She took a glance in front of her to see the District 6 man running towards the Cornucopia. If he got there first and saw her, he would have the advantage of blocking her from getting away. She also needed to find Katniss and Peeta, two people that she hadn't seen so far. And Finnick, a small voice reminded her.
