The Alliance Of Six: The 29th Hunger Games.

                                                               CHAPTER ONE

                                                                CYN'S P.O.V.

I knew from the moment his name was called that I didn't stand a chance.

I couldn't kill my best friend.

As usual, the girl's name was called first. They'd been doing that for years. Twenty-nine years to be exact. My cousin's name was called. She's family, of course I volunteered for her. I am a tribute in the twenty-ninth Hunger Games, along with my district partner and best friend, Princeton.

Standing on the reaping stage, we look at each other. I notice his boyish blonde hair and big brown eyes, his long eyelashes and fair skin. He's taller than me and is very strong. I take a good look at him and take in details about him, before the Capitol changes all of those things.

They tell us to shake hands and we do, grasping a little too tight, holding for a little too long. Because I everything I want to say to him is passed through our desperate hold on each other.

When we board the train to go to the Capitol, all I could think about was my family coming to say goodbye. My mother came, of course. She was worried about me, but when my cousin Elsie, the one who I volunteered for, came to visit me she brought me a small square of white cloth with a flower stitched onto it in pink thread.

“I was saving it for your birthday.” Elsie tells me. My birthday is on the summer solstice. I gave Elsie a square of white cloth with a blue snowflake stitched on it for her birthday, which is on the winter solstice. After that we stood in silence, there wasn't really much to say. She hugged me for a long time and gave a heartfelt 'thank you' until she was forced to leave. That was probably the last time I’d ever see her.

“Adecyn.” Princeton says my name, bringing me back to my senses.

He usually calls me Cyn, he only uses my full name when it's serious.

Which of course, it is.

“Have you ever heard of a victor from District eight?” He asks.

District 8: Textiles. Our district. We've never had a victor. The victors usually come from District 1, 2, and 4. Though District 5, 7 and 10 have victors as well.

I always thought as a kid that if I ever got chosen to participate in the Hunger Games, I would become the first victor District 8 had ever had. Now that I'm here, with my best friend as another tribute, I don't want to win. I don't want to die, but I don't want Princeton to die either.