A little hope is effective.

Play the part.

The night drags on, the screens plays out the eagle-eyed Katniss watching over the sleeping Peeta, her face is unreadable and so is Haymitch's. Since telling me his tale we have sat in an almost comfortable silence, just watching the darkened scene playing out. I can tell neither how he's feeling or what he expects to come; but in my gut I know beyond anything that she'll be lucky to live. Between Finnick, Blight and Johanna we have knowledge that the two from One want to ambush her; and will be waiting for her arrival- I saw Haymitch's face when the information sunk in and the knowledge was like an ice bath to me as I realised that if Katniss does not survive this trip neither will Peeta. The medicine is of the highest value, from what I was told off Johanna and Liv and that from the few comments Haymitch has said over the past hours; I've found out blood poisoning in the districts is a death sentence, it's draining yet the Capital have a formulation that is so very state of the art but is top price even at the very beginning of the games, let alone at such a late point. It's as the sky begins to brighten she takes off with one lingering look at Peeta's face. Haymitch sits forward in his chair, the long night can be seen from the blackness under his eyes and the wrinkled clothes; I look no better.

'What we waiting for?' I ask Haymitch, as he touches some controls and a third screens lightens split into segments; showing the other tributes already surrounding the area; and a towering Cato watching the woods.

'That.' He breathes. I look to where he's pointing, his attention is wholly on the small section of the screen that shows Cato.

'I don't understand.' I whisper, not wanting to speak in anything louder as the silence is growing, as the moment nears; the moment that could potentially shape a whole new millennia in The Hunger Games; the moment that could be the crux of our history... which could potentially change everything...

I do not breathe the words, as I can't help but think it could Jinx the moment.

'He thinks he knows her.' Haymitch says after a moment of pondering my question.

'He thinks she's hiding in the forest?' I say, although it's all clear in my head now.

'He saw her climb the trees, and knows she's surviving; when he hurt Peeta he saw her running off into the woods- he's clever but she's full of surprises...' Haymitch's voice is awe filled, as if he can't quite believe how much this girl is out-smarting this trained killer and if I'm honest neither can I. I too would of believed her to have taken refuge in the forest, up the trees even if that had meant leaving the boy alone in the cave but miraculously she hadn't and a nurturing side of her had been revealed one I wouldn't have suspected lived inside, but one that is gripping the Capital with what they suspect as true love, between the fabrication of the star- crossed lovers.

Katniss moves away from the cave, down the river, through the rocks and on until she's just outside the ring of the cornucopia; hidden in the intense greenery, that I expect only too well has been created for this exact purpose. The sun still isn't fully risen, and the cornucopia is unchanged; no sigh of that gifts but I know they'll come, know Seneca Crane will be watching, waiting for the perfect moment when his pawns are in the perfect position for a blood bath, for quality programming. From the screens, I can see all too well the other tributes, sitting in waiting. Eleven over to the farthest side, hidden in the long wheat grass; Five hidden in not far from Katniss, nearer the back of the Cornucopia; and then there is Two she is just watching from the spot closest to the Cornucopia, waiting with a death glare already in her eyes.

The sun starts to lighten the sky so very slowly, and a sick part of me realises as it does that this is what the Hunger Games is about, for any Capital resident this is the moment; this waiting with the anticipation of what is to possibly come. The who is going to die? Who is going to live? Is this leading to the finale? It will be a source of excitement, the power that is leading to an inevitable bloodbath; they will be watching and they will be betting and the Capital will again have won the ongoing battle of the games.