(Earlier version) Flowerborn Part 1: The Arena

Chapter 10: The beginning

My palms were sweaty and my knees are wobbly like jelly. I was barely able to speak because of the big lumps in my throat. Also I kept fidgeting with my clothes. I wore our teams' uniform. It was red with white, but I already knew that the white wouldn't stay white for longer. All 500 players were walking through the halls towards the arena. When we arrived there I looked uit to the huge fence that was in front of us. There was a table with backpacks on top besides the enormous gate. In a daze state each of us grabbed one backpack with our name on it. I could see even Anna shaking a little bit. The two guard that were there opened the gates. 'Why are you all still standing there? Run!'

We started running. The fastest players slowed down for their slower teammates. The entire team had to finish unless one of them died.I tried to look out for my team to prevent I would lose them. I saw people falling on the ground and getting trampled left and right. I could grab Willows hand just in time. We ran for ten minutes, and then about five minutes walking, and then ten minutes running, and then walk again, etcetera. I thanked god that we did not lose anyone from our team in the chaos.

After a few hours we came across a small forest. It had a small lake in the middle. The sun was already gone. We were too cautious to check our backpack earlier, because we could still see other teams an hour ago. We took shelter under a few pine trees. With my shaking hand I zipped open the backpack. The first thing I saw was a bottle filled with water. Second thing was half a piece of bread. I immediately ripped of a half of that and ate it. I had gotten very hungry from all the running. I also drank most of my water, because I had been feeling dizzy and light-headed for the past half hour. Then I took out the weapons. First there was a small dagger, and the second one was a simple handgun. I didn't take the class for guns, but I wish I did. There was also an apart holder for both of them. I tied it around my upper leg, and around my waist, so I could grab them in a few seconds when needed.