The Hunger Games (Writing Contest) [CLOSED]

Cassia's Version

↠↠↠ -littlestmermaid ↞↞↞

I panic as the ground begins to move around and produce cracks under my feet. I take a few deep, shallow breaths, then lunge.
I land on my stomach, slightly winded, with an axe clutched in my hand. I take a deep breath, lifting the arm with the axe in it and slamming the axe into a section of the ground where it's not cracked, a place where the axe just barely reaches. if it was a dagger, I would be dead.
I'm now clutching the axe desperately because I know that I'm dead if I let go.
I look down, seeing a girl just below my age, maybe twelve or thirteen. Either way, she is sinking and screaming. I reach my free arm out to her, swallow the lump in my throat and yell: "Grab on!"
She looks up at me, her face glistening with a thin layer of sweat. She squeezed her eyes shut, seemingly gathering her strength and reached her arm up to me. I bent my elbow, lifting her higher. I pulled her and me up to the stable ground, the axe holding steady on the ground.
The girl with the long black hair looks at me, breathing heavily. Although the crowd around the Cornucopia is large, they don't mess with me or her. They all know I'm a District Two, and that's what most of the Districts call a "Career District". Sure, most of us train for the Games, but ever since my uncle died, my father lost faith in the whole idea so I was only trained at school, where all my classmates were fast runners in track, so, with my competitive spirit, I strove to become one of the best. I did. "Thank you," she says. "You just saved my life."
"Not a problem," I reply, pushing my hair behind my ear. I pull her up and look around. The axe is still in my hand and her hand in my other one. I turn to her and hand her the axe. She takes it. I take off running, grabbing a large backpack and a dagger on the way. I sprint off into the forest with the girl trailing behind me.
We continue to run through the forest, distancing ourselves from the others. Our pace seems to deteriorate as we move along, and although I could probably go all night, she needs to stop.
"I never caught your name," I whisper, pulling the backpack off my shoulders and sitting down. She sits across from me.
"Nikaya," she utters "Yours?"
"Cassia," I reply, unzipping the bag. I pull out the contents one by one:
-A small knife
-A jacket that looks cold-resistant
-Dried fruits
-An (empty) water bottle
-A very small tent
-A scratchy blanket.
That plus the knife and axe we have is very good. We set up the tent in a clearing surrounded by thick, wide-trunked trees. We each have two raisins and fall asleep inside the tent, the blanket not even coming close to covering us both, so I take the jacket and cover it over myself while she takes the blanket.
The canons sound at dusk.
Five of them. That leaves nineteen in the Games. Nineteen people left. Against me, however? That's a mere seventeen. Not great odds, but better.
Better.