I Won't Go Down Easily

The arena was different than expected - not that anyone knew exactly what to expect, but still. Rising up what appeared to be 25 feet, were giant stone walls , enclosing the center which contained the Cornucopia and temporarily all of the tributes. What confused everyone was the fact that is was so small with nowhere to run to. At this rate, the games would be over a few minutes after beginning.

And that's when Aria knew that couldn't be right. The Capitol loves the games, and they'd want to drag them out as long as possible; not end it abruptly. So she began looking closely at the walls that were covered with thick green vines and saw the dark slots in them - entrances to the other parts of the arena. Suddenly it all began making sense. The arena appeared to be a maze this year - with the Cornucopia being the center of it.

Aria wished she had more time to get her mind sorted out but there were only a few seconds remaining until the games officially began. So she took notice of the various objects scattered everywhere. Closest to her was a small grey backpack with a canteen hooked to it - perfect.

Three seconds left. She looked up and made eye contact with Ryan from across the arena. They both acknowledged each other with a nod and looked away - not wanting to witness if the other would be killed in the beginning blood bath.

One second remaining. Everything seems to be in slow motion. Every tribute in the running position; game face on. This is where it all actually begins. This is where your fate is determined. This is where you fight or flight instinct kicks in.

And Aria is flight. As soon as that countdown ended, she was off of her pedestal, racing to the grey backpack. Thankfully she was fast enough and grabbed it before anyone else did. As she threw it on her back she made her first mistake, and turned around, witnessing all of the fighting. Cameron and Thalia were, well, doing what Careers do best - killing, while Jamie and Emerald were busy gathering weapons from inside of the Cornucopia. Aria swallowed the bile in her throat and turned from the scene before she was the next victim. She ran across the muddy grass to the nearest opening in the wall - but it was too late. Someone had caught up to her and was tackling her to the ground.

After smacking her head on the ground, which caused her to be quite light headed, she looked up into the light blue eyes of District 5's tribute whose name she couldn't remember. He smiled at her and pressed a knife he must've already found against her neck. He pressed the tip of his knife into her neck, drawing blood.

So this was it. This was how it was going to end. Aria was at least hoping she'd make it in a few days - not die in the first few minutes; let alone at the hand of someone whose name she didn't even know. At least she didn't feel the pain, she was on much too high of an adrenaline rush to be able to focus on it.

Aria struggled, she wasn't going to give up easily. But that only made the boy press his knife harder against her, creating a steady flow of blood; which really wasn't helping the whole light headed thing. But suddenly, just as Aria was on the verge of blacking out, the boy was thrown off to the side. Dizzily, she sat up and saw Ryan on top of the boy right next to her, plunging his own knife into his chest. Quickly he withdrew the knife and stood up, grabbing Aria's hand and helping her up from the muddy ground.

"We need to go," was all he said, before leading her through the opening she was running towards previously. The two of them sprinted as deep into the maze as possible, not daring to stop and take a rest. After numerous twists, turns, and dead ends they reached a corner of the maze - which is what they were aiming for; temporarily anyway. From what they've seen of it, the entire maze was the same. But that's couldn't be - no supply of food or water didn't make any sense. Regardless, that corner of the maze felt the safest.

"Why'd you do it? Save me, that is...one of us is going to have to die eventually anyway." Aria finally asked/ wincing as she did so due to her neck wound.

Ryan sat against the wall next to her, examining it. "Simple. You would've done the same for me." Aria wasn't so sure about that; she hadn't even thought about checking to see how Ryan had done after the countdown ended, and as of now she felt incredibly guilty about it. But she was even more thankful.

"Well, thanks," She mumbled, not daring to speak any louder.

"Let's see if there's anything in that backpack of yours that we can use for you neck," He said, grabbing it off her shoulders and unzipping it. Inside was Iodine, some kind of herb - more than likely used in healing- a small blanket, packages of dried fruit, dinner rolls, and thankfully a pack of bandages. There was even some water inside of the canteen. Ryan quickly opened the bandages and cleaned her neck for her before wrapping it up and putting everything back in the bag.

"Better?"

She nodded before saying, "So, what are we going to do about us? This whole 'alliance' thing?"

"I'm thinking we stay together until the final 5. No turning on each other, unless it comes down to it at the very end, but I highly doubt that it will."

Aria nodded slowly, processing the proposition. "Yeah, that makes sense. It's going to be hard no matter what happens, so why not get each other as far as possible?"

"Exactly. One of us will make it out of here alive, I just know it. It's time an outlying district beats the Careers."

She managed to actually smile at that. It sounds like a nice of change. The Careers will no longer run the game starting this year. Aria stood up and began examining the wall. They all looked to be about a foot and a half thick, with big green vines spreading across the entire proximity. Cautiously, she pulled on one of them, testing how strong it was. Sure enough, it didn't budge. Smiling Aria pulled harder, testing her weight with it and once again they didn't budge.

With that, she began climbing the wall. "I'm going to try and get a better view of the arena," She explained to a confused Ryan. "Maybe we're near some water, or even a tribute."

"Then I'm right behind you," He responded and began following her up the dangerously high wall.