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Sixty seconds That&039;s how long we&039;re required to stand on ourreleases us Step off before the s off Sixty seconds to take in the ring of tributes all equidistant froolden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, theover with the things that will give us life here in the arena Food, containers of water, weapons, arments, fire starters Strewn around the Cornucopia are other supplies, their value decreasing the farther they are from the horn For instance, only a few steps from my feet lays a three-foot square of plastic Certainly it could be of some use in a downpour But there in the mouth, I can see a tent pack that would protect froo in and fight for it against the other twenty-three tributes Which I have been instructed not to do

We&039;re on a flat, open stretch of ground A plain of hard-packed dirt Behind the tributes across fro either a steep doard slope or even cliff To ht lies a lake To my left and back, spars piney woods This is where Hayo Immediately

I hear his instructions in my head "Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of water"

But it&039;s te there before et it, someone else will That the Career Tributes who survive the bloodbath will divide upcatcheson a mound of blanket rolls, is a silver sheath of arrows and a bow, already strung, just waiting to be engaged That&039;s mine, I think It&039;s meant for me

I&039;irls in our school although a couple can beat th, this is what I aet it, I know I can reach it first, but then the question is how quickly can I get out of there? By the tirabbed the weapons, others will have reached the horn, and one or two I ht be able to pick off, but say there&039;s a dozen, at that close range, they could take me doith the spears and the clubs Or their oerful fists

Still, I won&039;t be the only target I&039;irl, even one who scored an eleven in training, to take out their more fierce adversaries

Haymitch has never seen o for it Get the weapon Since that&039;s the very weapon that ht be my salvation And I only see one bow in that whole pile I know the minute y will be and I findforests but toward the pile, toward the bow When suddenly I notice Peeta, he&039;s about five tributes to ht, quite a fair distance, still I can tell he&039;s looking athis head But the sun&039;s in s out

And I&039;ve missed it! I&039;ve missed my chance! Because those extra couple of seconds I&039;ve lost by not being ready are enough to changein My feet shuffle for a moment, confused at the direction e forward, scoop up the sheet of plastic and a loaf of bread The pickings are so s e backpack that could hold anything because I can&039;t stand leaving with virtually nothing

A boy, I think from District 9, reaches the pack at the sarapple for it and then he coughs, splattering er back, repulsed by the warround That&039;s when I see the knife in his back Already other tributes have reached the Cornucopia and are spreading out to attack Yes, the girl fro towarda half-dozen knives I&039;ve seen her throw in training She never eneral fear I&039;ve been feeling condenses into at iht killthe pack over one shoulder and run full-speed for the woods I can hear the blade whistling toward me and reflexively hike the pack up to protect es in the pack Both straps on irl will not pursue me That she&039;ll be drawn back into the Cornucopia before all the good stuff is gone A grin crosses my face Thanks for the knife, I think

At the edge of the woods I turn for one instant to survey the field About a dozen or so tributes are hacking away at one another at the horn Several lie dead already on the ground Those who have taken flight are disappearing into the trees or into the void oppositeuntil the woods have hiddenthat I think I can maintain for a while For the next few hours, I alternate between jogging and walking, putting as much distance as I can between le with the boy froed to stuff my plastic in my sleeve so as I walk I fold it neatly and tuck it into a pocket I also free the knife - it&039;s a fine one with a long sharp blade, serrated near the handle, which will s - and slide it into my belt I don&039;t dare stop to exa only to check for pursuers

I can go a long time I know that from my days in the woods But I will need water That was Haymitch&039;s second instruction, and since I sort of botched the first, I keep a sharp eye out for any sign of it No luck

The woods begin to evolve, and the pines are internize, son toI may have to defend myself, but I&039;ve only startled a rabbit "Good to see you," I whisper If there&039;s one rabbit, there could be hundreds just waiting to be snared

The ground slopes down I don&039;t particularly like this Valleys h, like in the hills around District 12, where I can see

Funny though, I don&039;t feel too bad The days of gorging h I&039; I&039;h it&039;s an illusion, because I&039;ht now Not consistently but off and on There are sothrough the woods isn&039;t h to let people know I&039;m alive, uninjured and on the , when the initial casualties come in But that can&039;t compare to what happens as the field shrinks to a handful of players

It&039;s late afternoon when I begin to hear the cannons Each shot represents a dead tribute The fighting must have finally stopped at the Cornucopia They never collect the bloodbath bodies until the killers have dispersed On the opening day, they don&039;t even fire the cannons until the initial fighting&039;s over because it&039;s too hard to keep track of the fatalities I allow , as I count the shots One two three on and on until they reach eleven Eleven dead in all Thirteen left to play My fingernails scrape at the dried blood the boy froone, certainly I wonder about Peeta Has he lasted through the day? I&039;ll know in a few hours When they project the dead&039;s ies into the sky for the rest of us to see

All of a sudden, I&039;ht that Peeta may be already lost, bled white, collected, and in the process of being transported back to the Capitol to be cleaned up, redressed, and shipped in a si home I try hard to ree I can conjure up is Peeta shaking his head as the gong rang out

Maybe it&039;s better, if he&039;s gone already He had no confidence he could win And I will not end up with the unpleasant task of killing hiood

I sluh it anyway before night falls See what I have to ith As I unhook the straps, I can feel it&039;s sturdily e will practically glow in the dark Itomorrow

I flip open the flap What I want ht at this moment, is water Haymitch&039;s directive to im without it For a few days, I&039;ll be able to function with unpleasant symptoms of dehydration, but after that I&039;ll deteriorate into helplessness and be dead in a week, tops I carefully lay out the provisions One thin black sleeping bag that reflects body heal A pack of crackers A pack of dried beef strips A bottle of iodine A box of wooden lasses And a half-gallon plastic bottle with a cap for carrying water that&039;s bone dry

No water How hard would it have been for them to fill up the bottle? I become aware of the dryness in my throat andall day long It&039;s been hot and I&039;ve sweat a lot I do this at home, but there are always streams to drink from, or snow to melt if it should come to it

As I refill ht The lake The one I sahile I aiting for the gong to sound What if that&039;s the only water source in the arena? That way they&039;ll guarantee drawing us in to fight The lake is a full day&039;s journey fro to drink And then, even if I reach it, it&039;s sure to be heavily guarded by some of the Career Tributes I&039;m about to panic when I remember the rabbit I startled earlier today It has to drink, too I just have to find out where

Twilight is closing in and I am ill at ease The trees are too thin to offer much concealment The layer of pine needles thatanimals harder when I need their trails to find water And I&039; downhill, deeper and deeper into a valley that seery, too, but I don&039;t dare break into my precious store of crackers and beef yet Instead, I takeaway the outer bark and scraping off a large handful of the softer inner bark I slowly chew the stuff as I walk along After a week of the finest food in the world, it&039;s a little hard to choke down But I&039;ve eaten plenty of pine in my life I&039;ll adjust quickly

In another hour, it&039;s clear I&039;ve got to find a place to ca out I can hear the occasional hoot or howl,with natural predators for the rabbits As to whether I&039;ll be viewed as a source of food, it&039;s too soon to tell There could be any nu ht now, I decide to make my fellow tributes a priority I&039;ht Those who fought it out at the Cornucopia will have food, an abundance of water frohts, and weapons they&039;re itching to use I can only hope I&039;ve traveled far and fast enough to be out of range

Before settling down, I take my wire and set titch-up snares in the brush I know it&039;s risky to be setting traps, but food will go so fast out here And I can&039;t set snares on the run Still, I walk another fivecamp