‘Come on Niall! We need to move.’ I ushered him out of our hiding spot as night fully came. We headed deeper into the ruined town until we could no longer see the cornucopia.

The Careers were being stupid really, lighting a fire for everyone to see? They were just asking for trouble. I could see them sitting in their couples. That curly haired one, Harry, with the big ego and thought very kindly of himself snuggled up to the blonde bimbo, Emily, who only liked Harry for his looks and the fact that he was a strong contender and could protect her. Then there was the ever changing hair boy, Liam, who was the one thinking he was sensible but was actually stupid by making the fire in the first place with his arm round the one they call Danielle, who some liked to call Pizza because of her lack of communication with anyone who’s name didn’t start with ‘L’ and end in ‘iam’ and probably because her last name sounded like pizza. And then there was Louis, the mischievous 18 year old who always got drunk who had his lips locked with Eleanor, the tall brunette who had legs like a giraffe.  

Yes, all the Career tributes this year were stunning which contributed to my lack of sponsors.

We hunted for a good spot to sleep further in the ruins and made camp, about 100 metres from the forest if we needed to hunt or to escape too if we were to be found by any of the other 10 tributes who were lurking about.

We had just settled down to sleep when Niall groaned ‘I’m hungry.’

‘Well that’s what you’re going to be in the games Niall, you’ll get used to your stomach grumbling all the time. Now shh and go to sleep. We have to find a proper camp tomorrow and hunt for some food, maybe deal with a few other tributes along the way.’

He started shivering as we had no cover. As if on cue, a silver parachute landed right next to my arm and inside was an insulator blanket that covered both of us.

Thanks Angela.

‘Mrmph’

‘Niall!  Shut up!’

‘What? What?’

‘I said shut up! I can hear something!’

For once, Niall was actually quiet. Something or someone was making their way towards us; I covered Niall’s mouth with my hand to stop his heavy breathing. I gave him a look of death with my eyes and very slowly and quietly brought the blanket and sword in to behind us.

The footsteps grew fainter and I heard Niall give a sigh of relief.

‘That was too close.’

click.

‘ZAYN! RUN!’ Niall grabbed onto me, quickly picked out our stuff and ran towards the forest.

BOOM!

Our hiding spot from last night had been blown to pieces.

Something to my left caught my eye, a tribute, running.

‘THE LITTLE FUCKER!’ Niall cursed. We ran full speed towards them, weapons at the ready.

We ate 2 thin slices of bread each, in silence, and saved the rest for later.

Niall broke the silence once we had finished and said ‘So, Zayn, right?’ I nodded. ‘Tell me a bit about yourself.’

My head went into sly mode. Was he asking me this to use it against me in the upcoming days or was he genuinely interested in my life. I scanned his face for any hint of devious actions but he seemed authentic. His fluffy blonde hair and bright blue eyes confirmed my thoughts so I bashed on.

‘Well, my name is Zayn.’ I started and he laughed. ‘I’m 17 years old and I live in Bradford which is in District 6. I have an older sister and 2 younger sisters. My dad is Pakistani and my mum is English so I’m mixed race.’

‘I’m Niall.’ He gave another hearty laugh. ‘I’m 16 years young and I’m from District 9. Mullingar to be exact. It’s quite small but I really like it. My dad works on a potato farm and my mum, well my mum’s my mum. She tries to get out of everything. I have an older brother who is my mentor as he won back in the 6^th Hunger Games when he was only 14.’

‘Your brother is Greg Horan?’ I asked him, shocked. Greg Horan has been my idol ever since he cunningly out-smarted all the other tributes by carving a giant whole in a tree and shooting the tributes as they walked past him.

Niall looked proud of his brother; he looked off into the distance as though he was thinking about him. ‘Yeah, he is. What he did was really clever. My whole district is going to expect great things from me too but I can’t do anything like he did. I mean look how you found me, my foot was sticking out for all to see then I screamed. I wouldn’t have survived a day in here if it wasn’t for you making me your ally.’

‘The only way to survive is to work together.’ I reassured him.

‘Yeah, thanks buddie.’

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Six people dead from the blood bath.

‘I wonder who’s gone. Hope it’s not Kelly from my district.’

‘Or Jessica from 6..’

We looked up to the sky to see who had been killed. Kaylee and Edward from District 7; Marta from 5; Sam and Doug from 12 and Alfie from District 3.

‘That’s sad.’ Niall said to himself. ‘Both Districts 7 and 12 are out.’

‘At least Jess and Kelly are still out there, right?’ I tried to comfort him but didn’t know what to do with my body so sat there awkwardly rubbing his shoulder as he let out a small tear.

Darkness was falling and I decided we should move further away from the cornucopia as the Careers were setting up camp there and I could directly see them, which means they could see us. 

‘Let the 14^th Hunger Games begin!’ The voice said overhead whose name in which always slips my mind. By the time I’ve reached the cornucopia to get some essentials, everyone else is there and running off with various weapons and survival kits. The only people who are still there when I reach it are the Careers from districts 1,2 and 4. Louis and Eleanor from District 1; Liam and Danielle from District 2; Harry and Emily from District 4. Nobody from District 6 joins the Career tributes so I quickly grab what I can get and run towards a town in ruins, hopefully seeking cover.

Footprints.

Someone has been here or maybe still is.

The only think I managed to pick up was a blunt sword, a pistol with no bullets and a knuckle duster. Along with a first aid kit and some bread. With all of this slung over my right shoulder I made my way away from the foot prints, towards the small group of trees next to the ruined town. Once I reached there, I looked around to figure out my surroundings. Straight opposite me was a desert with massive sand dunes with the unknown behind them; to my right was what looked like an ocean and to my left was the town. Further behind me was a thick rainforest with bright green, healthy vegetation. The Career tributes were still at the cornucopia snooping around looking for any scraps. I was right in there sight so I moved closer to the town.

The only way to survive is to be sly.

This kept replaying in my head, it was the last thing my best friend, Angela, said to me before I had to leave. She was to be my mentor as no other tributes from District 6 had ever won, I got to pick my mentor and I decided that she was my best bet, knowing me like the back of her hand had to come in handy, right?

Sly, sly is what I had to be. How could I be sly? The solution came to my head when I saw his foot sticking out from underneath a caved in house.

I had to make an ally. 

But first of all I had to gain his trust.

I ran back to the trees and used my sword to cut out a piece of bark, I picked up the sharpest stone I could find and wrote him a message:

the only way to survive is to work together

I cut off another very thin bit from the tree and attached a piece of bread to the larger piece of bark. I tiptoed over in order to not make a noise and get myself killed and threw the bark at him.

He screamed.

A very girly scream.

I had to ask myself why I was trying to ally with him but the only answer I came up with was Angela’s advice. So that will have to do.

He rustled about in his cover before sticking his head out, slowly. I extended my hand to him.

‘Zayn’ I said.

‘Niall.’ He shook my hand then invited me into his cove, he had a weird Irish twang to his voice that made me smile.

I had just made my first ally.