The 73rd Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 10- The Bloodbath

I rose up into the arena, and blinked the sunlight's harsh glare out of my eyes. I adjusted my shark tooth necklace and gathered my bearings. I looked around. We have 60 seconds to take in the arena, the gong sounds, and you start fighting. If you step off of your plate before the gong sounds, you get blown to kingdom come.

I didn't move a muscle. The 24 tributes were all on their metal plates, surrounding the cornucopia, a golden horn sitting on the ground, at least 20 feet tall. It was the same shape as a Harvest cornucopia, near fall, where we all eat like kings and queens. Cyrus was at the exact opposite side of the Cornucopia from me. He looked at me, and motioned with his head to the forest....

I looked how the arena was set up. There was a tropical-looking forest, with palm trees, and tropical looking plants. It was dense, stretching for miled. There was a large river separating the tropical forest to the forest with pine trees. The pine tree forest had dead leaves on the ground, like fall, but the palm tree forest had fresh glistening leaves like the beginning of spring or sumer. But the river channeled into a large lake. Think of it like this- The river is in the shape of a Y. Where the bars meet on the Y was the cornocopia, about in the middle. On the right side was the pine forest. On the left side was the tropical forest. In the small section was a mountainous region. I eliminated the mountains from my choices immediately. Along the river of the Y was sand, like an ocean coastline. Basically, the sand traced the Y. I looked around for weapons. There was a bow and arrows right beside me, but, of course, that was next to useless to me. Unless someone evil was standing next to someone named "Useless," and I tried to hit Useless, I'd actually end up hitting the evil person who was standing next to Useless. That way, the arrow would definitely be next to Useless, but the bow would be about five feet in front of Useless. And, the bow and arrows wouldn't be next to useless anymore, because I'd have shot an evil person. Which in my case, makes the bow and arrows next to useless because there's nobody in this arena that's evil and standing next to someone names Useless, so I can't kill someone next to Useless, but I can kill someone that's next to useless, but I can't shoot the bow and arrows, making them next to useless, yet they're not lying on the ground next to someone names Useless, unless I'm useless, not Useless, that's obviously not my name, then, it's still next to useless. Leaving the reader's, mine, and the computer's brains fried from trying to understand what I just said about the uselessness of a small bow and a simple quiver of arrows.

Anyway, I nodded to Cyrus, and knew that we'd head for the tropical forest first. It seemed like it was less threatening.

Then, I caught sight of a beautiful sea green trident beside the Cornucopia, meant for me. I looked up. I was the fifth closest to it, so I'd have to go against Finnick's better judgement and go for it.

But it all happened too fast. I was waiting for the gong to souns, and I looked over and saw the girl next to me, from District 11, Robin, playing with a small wooden ball. She smiled and smelled in like it reminded her of home. I smiled, knowing she was homesick too.

But the ball, as known for its circular shape, rolled out of her hand, maing her mouth form an O of surprise. But it was too late. She started to cry out, but the wooden ball rolled off of her plate and touched the arena ground, on the cool sand.

The sight came before the sound. I saw a blast of smoke, and a chain of quick, fiery explosions. It was all over in two seconds, the quick flash of light before the deafening sound of a chain of explosions. Robin's legs were blown off first, then the rest of her body. I made a choking sound in my throat, knowing that she was eliminated from the Games before they even began. I thought I'd heard a voice, or an outside sound amidst the wreckage, but it was hard to tell.