Frosty air scraped across any skin left bare, turning it blistered and red. My eyes stung as I fought to stay awake, alert. I brought my knees to my chest, struggling to retain heat. Slowly, slowly, slowly I lost my surroundings. My eyes grew heavy and were sealed shut.
Blood, screaming and horror screeched through my thoughts. I couldn’t awaken no matter how many times I told myself to; my eyelids were stapled down. Each death reappeared before me. Twenty-one cannons make my eardrums ring. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
With a flash, I was back at my house. Waves of heavenly scent broke through the kitchen door, like a criminal breaking free from gaol, as I wandered through the halls to the room glowing white. My father was now sitting next to me with a half empty scotch glass resting between his quickly aging finger tips; his usual position for the evening. I could hear pot and pans clashing behind concealed doors. Warmth flooded through my chest; but the fire was not on.
The world began to distort around me. My heart thudded in my ears. I fell down, down, down into the earth.
I woke without air in my lungs as I lay in the cold, wet white. I propped myself on an arm and realised where the warm sensation came from. Before me stood a superior creature; baring its blood covered fangs.
The beast had put its front legs on the tree trunk and thrown me to the ground like a ragdoll; its teeth marks still embedded my side. The warm blood coated my chest; not the warm fireplace of my home before the games. How I long to return home; how I long to get out of this hell hole. Unable to get to my feet to fight, I drew my blade and pointed it to the horror before me. Curled horns propped on its head glistened as the snow fell onto it giving me a false sense of safety. In the blink of an eye it lunged into me. Stabbing pains shot through my chest as it withdrew its dagger. A huge gaping hole in my chest splattered blood onto the glistening ground. Red covered me. I lay dead but alive in the snow; here but gone; waiting for the end. With a sound of accomplishment, the beast turned and left for its next victim. As the life drained painfully out of the remains of my weak body, I could hear screams bouncing off the white ground.
Not my life, but the deaths of the tributes, flashed as the familiar darkness consumed the world I was leaving. The deadly horn had not only punctured my chest but had also torn my lung in two. Pain boiled through my bones but i did not move; if i did the predator will finish me off.
I didn’t show emotion; I will not give the Capitol that luxury. I lay breathless, emotionless, and lifeless. This time it won’t be me escaping with my life.