The Volunteers

Chapter 4~ The Savior

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!"

Sixty seconds. That's all I've got before the gong sounds and I'm released into a war. Anyone who steps ff early gets penalized with death by having their legs blown off immediately.

For the first fifteen seconds, I frantically whip my head around, seeing things, but failing to observe them intently and absorb every detail in my brain. For the next five, I calm myself and my already rapid breathing. Then, with what little composure I have left, I scan the tributes and find Gale who is all the way across from me on the other side. He meets my eyes and mouths to me the same words he always did at the reaping,

You okay?

My breath hitches in my throat as I turn my head aside, breaking our gaze because I know I'm not, and right now is not a time to start lying to each other.

We are currently on a flat, open stretch of ground. To my right there is a wide lake, something that is necessary for my survival and which I take careful note of. Behind it, I cannot see anything, and it's possible that beyond this lake there isn't anything. When I whip my head around to look behind me, I again see nothing that will make the direction special which indicates there is a steep downward slope -or possibly a cliff- which could be a dead end. I know one thing, I won't be going there. Looking to my left, there is a large piney woods which wraps around the back of the Cornucopia all the way to meet the far edge of the lake. I can't help but feel relieved because the woods seem much like district twelve's. That, I think to myself, is where I'll be going.

The Cornucopia is even larger than I always saw on my puny television screen at home the past years. And more intimidating, to say the least. It's a beautiful gold color. The kind of gold my mockingjay pin is. The hue of the sky when the sun is setting while Gale and I sit and watch it at home in the meadow. And I wouldn't doubt for a second that this thing of death is real gold because that's something they would do. The Capitol. They'd do it to remind us of how fortunate they are as a large handful of "pieces" in their games die a slow, painful death.

The shape of the Cornucopia is sort of interesting. The best way I can describe it is a giant horn-shaped cone with a curved tail. Inside it lies supplies that are extremely useful. Each tribute is equidistant to the Cornucopia and our places where we stand were chosen by random draw. That way, no one gets an unfair disadvantage since the deeper you get into the Cornucopia, the more valuable the weapon and someone closer to the Cornucopia would clearly get to it faster. Though, I only have myself content on getting one particular thing. And right there, in the spotlight of the sun above, I see the glint of silver sparkle. After examining it quickly, my mind processes that it's just what I need. A beautiful bow and its sheath of arrows.

I look back toward Gale and his attention is already on me. I then quickly look toward the Cornucopia and back so that he knows it's where I'm going. He flashes me a fallen expression. One full of pity and worry and sorrow. But it only last for a second before he replaces it with a bold, strong, courageous expression on his face. He looks so brave standing there, and striking too as his black hair blows sharply in the light breezy weather. And the black clothes he's dressed in suit his olive skin. Though this is no time to start admiring his handsome features. I need to focus.

I watch his eyes as they travel downward to look at his metal plate before he looks back up at me. He's showing me where he will go as well. Nowhere. I start to shake my head slowly and as calmly as possible. It's as if I think this is actually going to change his mind. That's when the gong sounds.

Everyone takes off a second before me. I curse myself immediately for getting distracted and am even a bit peeved at Gale for being the distraction. From now on, every second counts. But, it isn't too hard to catch up with everyone else and eventually I'm ahead of them. My heart is pounding rapidly in my chest and my mind feels like it's fogging up, but I just concentrate on the one thing I need.