I already had my strategy when the gong sounded.

Practically throwing moss out from under me, I darted into
the clearing. I knew what I needed to do, which was getting in, get an ally, get
out. My eyes scanned the area briskly, looking for the perfect ally. A few
stood out to me, but I pushed the thought aside. They were all tle="Powered by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_0" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=VVM6MTcxNTE6MTEzOTpjYXJlZXJzOmFkMDkwYjJkNzQzYmZhMGFkYzViMmEyZWIwNDg1MTZlOnotMTA2My0xNTIyNjp3d3cucmVzY3JlYXR1LmNvbQ%3D%3D">Careers, and
asking them to be my ally would certainly get a knife in my back. Finally, I
dashed forward, spotting the perfect one. He was a very tall, well muscled, dark
brown hair sixteen tle="Powered by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_1" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=VVM6MTgxNTg6MTIxOnllYXI6YmUyM2NlYmM3MmI4NzI4NjNmMzk2YWExYjNiMDJhMmE6ei0xMDYzLTE1MjI2Ond3dy5yZXNjcmVhdHUuY29t">year old boy who I think scored a ten in tle="Powered by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_1" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=VVM6MTQzNTM6NjgwOnRyYWluaW5nOjY2MTFmZDgwNjNiZTM4NTBiODlkZDQ1ZjM0NzliMTI5OnotMTA2My0xNTIyNjp3d3cucmVzY3JlYXR1LmNvbQ%3D%3D">training. Once I’d
managed to collide with him, he spun around, a dagger clutched in his fist. As
he brought it to my neck, I screamed for him to stop, and slowly, he let his
arm drop. “Will you be my ally?” I squeaked, sure he’d say no. I mean, here I
was, a fourteen year old girl asking a professional like him. I heard he
actually won the tle="Search Link by Surf Canyon" style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; text-decoration: none; ">games once. He mulled it over a moment, and finally waved a
hand. “Sure…fine.” He mumbled, checking me over. “What are you good at?” I shrugged,
“I’m decent with a dagger?” He nodded slowly, then put out a hand. “Aaron. You
are?” I shook his hand eagerly, “I’m Madi.” Suddenly, my eyes grew round. “Aaron!”
I screeched, pointing at a blond male ready to drive a knife into the back of
my new ally’s head. He’d obviously already seen the boy, and within a couple of
split seconds, the poor boy lay limp and twisted on the ground, and sudden
cannon fired, making me jump slightly. The first death. I thought grimly, staring
at Aaron, who’s hand were covered in our dead enemy’s blood. He killed the boy
with…his hands?

Still staring at the dead boy, I murmured, “Let’s go…make
camp.” Aaron slowly tilted his head, “alright. Let’s still so many living
people…I should take out one more.” He slipped a single knife from his jacket,
then winding it like a baseball; he thrust it at a nearby redheaded girl, who
screamed for a single second, tle="Powered by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_2" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=VVM6MTgxNTg6MTIxOmJlZm9yZTpkMTI0YTlmNWNmM2VjNmVhODZiOTg0ZjBlZWE5Y2RkOTp6LTEwNjMtMTUyMjY6d3d3LnJlc2NyZWF0dS5jb20%3D">before she tumbled to her knees and eventually,
her back.  She lay twitching for a
second, before the cannon fired, and I stood gawking in awe. Shaking my head, I
grabbed Aaron’s hand and pulled him along. There weren’t any trees that you
could climb, so I ruled out setting up camp in a tree. Besides, trying to
imagine a giant like Aaron confined in a tiny tree, almost terrified me. A cave
might tle="Powered by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_2" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=VVM6OTM0MToyMzp3b3JrOjY3ZjQ0ZjBlY2M0YWY3NGZiYmY2NTQ1NGM2YTViZjRjOnotMTA2My0xNTIyNjp3d3cucmVzY3JlYXR1LmNvbQ%3D%3D">work, but were there any? I flashed at look at a pile of rocks I’d
noticed, and tromped toward them. Aaron had pulled free, and was already
looking for food. I suppose a big guy like him has to eat a lot, right? I
called after my new partner, “once you’re done, I’ll be in those rocks, okay?”
I motioned to the rocks I was about to explore, while Aaron gave a brisk nod
and plunged into the foliage. I searched in every crevice and crack, but none
looked big enough to tle="Powered by Text-Enhance" id="_GPLITA_1" style="text-decoration:underline" href="#" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=VVM6MTg0NzE6MTQxOTpzcXVlZXplOmYxNzIzYmVjMjUwOTRhMzk3MWQwYjI5ZTY5YjE1ZGY2OnotMTA2My0xNTIyNjp3d3cucmVzY3JlYXR1LmNvbQ%3D%3D">squeeze into, let alone live in. Finally I discovered a
crack wide enough to wriggle into, and once inside, although small, could be
lived in. It would be a tight fit, but Aaron and I could make it work. This
reminded me of the giant stumbling through the trees, so I called out, “Aaron?
I found somewhere!” Might as well yell to the other tributes my location, too.

Within moments he had appeared at the entrance, with a bit
of instruction from me of course. He examined the area, and shook his head
almost instantaneously. “I can barely stand up in here. Are you sure we can
live here? There isn’t anywhere else?” I frowned, “this is it.” Aaron, although
doubtful, just shrugged and dropped a still bleeding rabbit at my feet. “All I
could find. I stabbed it with my knife-It practically ran over my feet.” He
smiled at the memory, but was soon snapped back to the present. “I’ve never
cooked, so what do we do? Like…just put it on a fire?” I giggled at the
obviously oblivious person in front of me, and quickly told him that you needed
a spit, and you need to gut the rabbit, and skin it. He seemed fascinated by
how instructions it took just to eat. While he fumbled with the fire, I began to
skin the rabbit and mused to myself, he’s a pretty good ally. But then I
frowned, and thought to myself, of course, before he murders me.

After enjoying the tiny bit of meat, he spread out a scraggly
blanket he’d managed to snag from the Cornucopia and we laid down on it, our
bellies warm and full. He glanced at me, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of
his lips. “You know,” he said, “this has been a surprisingly good day. You’re a
good ally.” He stopped abruptly, and I realized it was because he knew where
the conversation was going.  Murdering
each other was the obvious thing on both of our minds. He tried to make me
forget it, by saying, “you’re a great cook.” I gave him a feign smile back, “thanks!
I couldn’t do it without you’re awesome hunting skills!” He shrugged, then
turned away. I slowly closed my eyes despite the sun still being up, and then
drifted off.

When I thought life couldn’t get easier, it became impossible. I opened my eyes to a gray, wet world beyond the cave entrance, which meant we were confined to our cave all day, with no food, unless I already had a sponsor. That was pretty unlikely, but Aaron might have one or two. Everyone was probably betting on him, he was the favorite by most people in Panem, my guess. I could see Aaron was fretting about the rain as well, stuck in such a tiny place all day. With me, nothing the less. He gave a fake smile, and said, “It will die down.” But it didn’t. We were two fools, curled up together in the darkest area of the cave, shivering in the cold and hunger making our stomach ache, all day. When night finally washed over the sky, it brought no relief. It was raining as hard as it was earlier, if not, harder. Finally we gave up on trying to make small talk, and both of us fell asleep to the sound of rain drumming on the roof above our heads.

I opened my eyes carefully, realizing two things the second I woke up. One, it had stopped raining. Two, there was an arrow held to my head. The owner of the arrow was actually the boy from my district, his name was…Lucas? He was smirking, but glaring at me all the same. Aaron was curled up on the blanket, but asleep. How he managed to sleep through this, I had no idea. Suddenly, I noticed a bruise on his head. Aaron was on guard, and so Lucas must have knocked him out. But, why not kill him? I didn’t like to feel so selfish, but I was curious. Lucas answered before I had the chance to ask. “I wanted to make sure you were awake, so when you died you felt the pain I’ve always felt!” My mouth gaped, “Lucas, what did I ever do to you?” Lucas pulled back his bow. “That’s not important. Now close your eyes, and count to ten.”

When Lucas crashed to the ground, I figured Aaron had woken up. Aaron had no weapon, and with a shock I realized neither did I. Aaron’s special knife had been taken by the UFO, stuck in the body of the dead girl, and I’d never grabbed a weapon. But Lucas was armed with a bow and arrow; did Aaron even have a chance? Yes, I thought, Aaron was on top. But would that matter if Aaron was dead? I figured not. Lucas had wriggled free, and I prepared myself for the moment he shot Aaron, then me. But all he did was shoot a single arrow (and miss pitifully) then dash out, as if he had tracker jackers in his pants. The arrow hit the stone walls, and then made a small cracking noise, and fall to the ground in two pieces. Aaron looked utterly bewildered, and I suppose I looked the same. After I got over a bit of minor shock, I glanced at the bruise on Aaron’s forehead. Nothing serious, so I just let it be. Aaron glanced at me, his dark hair ruffled and his eyes troubled. His voice nothing more than a whisper, he said, “well…it stopped raining.”

We went hunting, catching nothing but a squirrel, and almost a rabbit. The rain had taken its toll, I decided. All the animals were deep in their burrows, still afraid the rain would come back. We walked back to the cave silently, damp moss squishing beneath our tle="Search Link by Surf Canyon" style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; text-decoration: none; ">shoes. The only thing Aaron said was “are you okay?’ when I tripped on a rotting log and tumbled onto the grass, my face deep imprinted into a pile of dirt. I simply said, “Fine,” stumbled to my feet embarrassedly, and brushed the dirt and grass from my face and tle="Search Link by Surf Canyon" style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; text-decoration: none; ">clothes. Now we were at the cave, so I skinned the rabbit while I hummed quietly, the gutting was silent. Finally Aaron broke the silence by saying, “what was up with that one guy? The one who held the arrow to your head, saying he wanted you to feel his pain or something?” I opened my mouth to speak, when a cannon noise made both me and Aaron jump a bit. I hoped it was Lucas, but then I realized that I almost wanted him to win. Maybe he would benefit our district, with his winnings and such. No, I decided if I lost I wanted Aaron to win. He deserved it, with his superior strength against everyone else. But, on the other hand, maybe I would win. I shook the thought, and realized in all my surprise at the cannon and my thinking made me mash the rabbit to a pulp with my thumbs. Grumbling, I’d tossed the carcass out the entrance, completely to Aaron’s dismay. I remembered the question he’d asked, and considering I just tle="Search Link by Surf Canyon" style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; text-decoration: none; ">pulverized his breakfast, I decided he deserved an answer. “I actually don’t...know.”

Aaron’s mouth only a tight line, he said quietly, “that was helpful.” I kind of shrugged, “actually, I know him a little. He’s in my same district; I think his name is Lucas. Since he didn’t deny that, I’m actually sure his name is Lucas. He said he wanted his revenge, but I never really even said anything to him. Waved to him at school, passed him without elbowing him, and we had a conversation once, but…” I trailed off, as Aaron looked at me expectantly, “but what?” I stifled a giggle, “but what. It rhythms.” I mumbled through my attempt not to laugh. Aaron rolled his eyes, so I ceased the laughing as soon as I caught his eye rolling. “Well, it was so long ago I thought he’d forget by now. Well, my dad kind of murdered Lucas’s father.”

Aaron’s eyes widened, “your what murdered his what?” Aaron obviously wasn’t coping well. I nodded carefully, “well, technically, yes. But not on purpose. For unknown reasons, my dad set of some dynamite in the mines, which in the end, managed to kill Lucas’s dad. He confronted me about it, slapping me, and nearly stabbing me. I didn’t wave anymore. I suppose Lucas thinks killing me, would avenge his father’s death, but how did I get caught in the mess?” I shook my head. “I’ll never know.” Aaron shrugged as well, but actually seemed to be more confused than I was. Aaron tilted his head slowly, his confusion turning more to blame. “Uh, what about breakfast?” My cheeks flushed red, and I smiled sheepishly, “let’s just say, for the time being we’re going to need to be vegetarians.”

“I hate this.” Aaron mumbled through a mouthful of berries. I only nodded agreement, wanting to be the least bit polite. We were trudging down the path that lead through the forest, eating which berries I thought looked edible and once and a while, plucking roots to boil once we got back to the cave. My manners left after I found a patch of delicious berries-Like some kind of scavenge I plucked the berries in almost handfuls and stuffed them in my mouth. I saved some for rainy days, (I’ve suffered the experience of having no food on a hungry day) and decided to dry them on a rock once we got home. As we turned to back to our cave, a blond headed girl leaped from the bushes and grabbed my throat, clogging the berries that had nearly slipped down my throat. “Time to die…” she hissed.

Gasping for air, I fumbled for a weapon, suddenly realizing I had none. But she does…I thought, noticing a knife hanging limply from her belt. I carefully slid my hand over to the knife, and once I had it, cradled it gently. Gripping it as hard as I could with no air, I drove it hard into her chest. Making an unpleasant gurgling noise, she coughed out a bit of blood, and then crumbled to the ground, her own knife still lodged in her chest. Her chest let out a final, straggled breath, and then she lay limp. Seconds later, cannon could be heard from miles away, and my face grew grim. I had felt bad but…that’s how you win the games. Taking my new knife from her motionless body, I scrambled up the rocks and landed in a heap near the entrance.