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I pick my tree carefully A , not terribly tall but set in a clu, flowing tresses I clier branches close to the trunk, and find a sturdy fork forin a relatively co, then slide in after it As a precaution, I removebag, and refasten it at o crashing to the ground I&039; over ht falls, the air is cooling quickly Despite the risk I took in getting the backpack, I knoas the right choice This sleeping bag, radiating back and preserving my body heat, will be invaluable I&039;est concern right now is how to stay hereas I et a few hours of sleep If only I wasn&039;t so thirsty

Night has just come when I hear the antheh the branches I can see the seal of the Capitol, which appears to be floating in the sky I&039; another screen, an enormous one that&039;s transported by of one of their disappearing hovercraft The antheoes dark for a e of each and every killing, but that&039;s thought to give an unfair advantage to the living tributes For instance, if I got my hands on the bow and shot someone, my secret would be revealed to all No, here in the arena, all we see are the sa scores Simple head shots But now instead of scores they post only district numbers I take a deep breath as the face of the eleven dead tributes begin and tick theers

The first to appear is the girl from District 3 That means that the Career Tributes from 1 and 2 have all survived No surprise there Then the boy from 4 I didn&039;t expect that one, usually all the Careers uess the fox-faced girl made it Both tributes from 6 and 7 The boy froht for the backpack I&039;ve run through o Is it Peeta? No, there&039;s the girl from District 10 That&039;s it The Capitol seal is back with a final musical flourish Then darkness and the sounds of the forest resume

I&039;et killed, his winning will benefit my mother and Prim theeratitude that he gavehis love for er at his superiority on the roof The dread that we may come face-to-face at any moment in this arena

Eleven dead, but none from District 12 I try to work out who is left Five Career Tributes Foxface Thresh and Rue Rue so she h the first day after all I can&039;t help feeling glad That ure out tomorrohen it is dark, and I have traveled far, and I ah in this tree, now I must try and rest

I haven&039;t really slept in two days, and then there&039;s been the long day&039;s journey into the arena Slowly, I allowI think is it&039;s lucky I don&039;t snore

Snap! The sound of a breaking branch wakeshave I been asleep? Four hours? Five? The tip ofon? This is not the sound of a branch under so froe it to be several hundred yards to ht Slowly, noiselessly, I turn myself in that direction For a fewThen I see a spark and a sins to bloom A pair of hands warms over flames, but I can&039;t make out more than that

I have to bite my lip not to scream every foul na? A fire I&039;ll just at nightfall would have been one thing Those who battled at the Cornucopia, with their superior strength and surplus of supplies, they couldn&039;t possibly have been near enough to spot the fla the woods for hours looking for victi, "Coet me!"

And here I aest idiot in the Gaeneral location has just been broadcast to any killer who cares I mean, I know it&039;s cold out here and not everybody has a sleeping bag But then you grit your teeth and stick it out until dawn!

I lay s for the next couple of hours really thinking that if I can get out of this tree, I won&039;t have the least problehbor My instinct has been to flee, not fight But obviously this person&039;s a hazard Stupid people are dangerous And this one probably doesn&039;t have ot this excellent knife

The sky is still dark, but I can feel the first signs of dawn approaching I&039; the person whose death I&039;ht actually have gone unnoticed Then I hear it Several pairs of feet breaking into a run The fire starter must have dozed off They&039;re on her before she can escape I know it&039;s a girl now, I can tell by the pleading, the agonized screaratulations from several voices Soets a round of appreciative hoots

So they&039;re fighting in a pack I&039;m not really surprised Often alliances are forether to hunt down the weak then, when the tension becoin to turn on one another I don&039;t have to wonder too hard who hasCareer Tributes froirls The ones who lunched together

For a irl for supplies I can tell by their coood I wonder if the victiht She&039;sa fire like that

"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking" I&039;m almost certain that&039;s the brutish boy from District 2 There are mur toward me They do not know I&039;m here How could they? And I&039;m well concealed in the clump of trees At least while the sun stays down Then e to trouble If they just keep one in aabout ten yards frohts, torches I can see an arh the breaks in the branches I turn to stone, not even daring to breathe Have they spotted me? No, not yet I can tell from their words their minds are elsewhere

"Shouldn&039;t we have heard a cannon by now?"

"I&039;d say yes Nothing to prevent the in immediately"

"Unless she isn&039;t dead"

"She&039;s dead I stuck her myself"

"Then where&039;s the cannon?"

"Soo back Make sure the job&039;s done"

"Yeah, we don&039;t want to have to track her doice"

"I said she&039;s dead!"

An argument breaks out until one tribute silences the others "We&039;re wasting tio finish her and let&039;s move on!"

I als to Peeta