The Eighty First Hunger Games «MAJOR REWRITING, REEDITING, AND REVISION»

:12: Into The Light

We all have those moments where time seems to freeze around you. Whether it's good or bad, the world just stops so you could take in what's happening and process it. In some cases, usually the good cases, it's easier to recover and react. In other cases, most commonly the bad cases, it takes longer to respond to the event, which could critically disadvantage you and put you in worse case scenario.

It was the latter for me.

As my head popped out of the tube, the arena was nowhere near visible. The sun was blinding after the hours of dark I had just witnessed. It was a world of a stark white until my eyes adjusted and the countdown began.

60...

59...

58...

I was thankful to see large oaks almost directly behind me. There were pines as well, but it was more of a bursting-with-life forest than a dark-and-gloomy forest.

47...

46...

45...

Across from me was a largely spanned desert. Cacti lie all over the barren land. Next to that were large dirt rocks that formed a large mountain. I had a feeling quite a few tributes would head there, thinking a spring would trickle from the top.

32...

31...

30...

I looked at the cornucopia and the treasures lying around it. A brown backpack was sitting nearby, maybe two yards away, and I knew that would be my best chance. There could be knives there, since they were everywhere in the Hunger Games, and knives where my best resource.

24...

23...

22...

I looked around for Ze and spotted her a couple tributes over. She looked at me at the same moment, probably sensing my gaze on her. I slightly tilted my head toward the forest, and she nodded, showing she understood my plans.

11...

10...

9...

8...

Things were about to start.

7...

6...

5...

4...

Link was staring holes into a knife right next to the cornucopia. Thank goodness for that distraction, now I could leave.

3...

2...

1...

"Let the Eighty First Annual Hunger Games begin!"

I ran for the backpack, literally springing off of my post and landing a yard away. I swung it up and over my shoulder as the boy next to me failed to grab it. I didn't look at the contents. I didn't look at the boy. I didn't look at the bloodbath. I looked at Ze. She had a strange sword in her hand and easily stabbed a boy who charged her with an ax. She looked back and we ran. We ran to the one place where we both were able to sustain our lives.

I could navigate the forest in my sleep. I was so used to running on and over roots and underbrush I could do it barefoot and not get a scratch.

Stupid shoes were slowing me down.

The forest was beautifully rippled, so we were running up and down. Ze half tripped twice, and I'm sure she almost sprained her ankle.

We ran for hours before I heard the trickle of water and directed her to the right. I knew she couldn't climb trees as well as I, so I took her bag from her and slung the bags and myself over a large oak branch as she rested by the stream with her weapon. I pieced through the bags and counted our supplies.