As the Games begin, Katniss stands on her metal plate and studies the arena: the Cornucopia is full of vital supplies, a lake lies to one side, and woods stretch behind her. Haymitch’s advice is to run for the trees and find water, but Katniss is tempted by a visible bow and arrows. She nearly commits to sprinting for them, then loses her moment when she notices Peeta apparently shaking his head at her, and the gong sounds before she can decide.

Once the bloodbath starts, Katniss abandons the bow, snatches a sheet of plastic and a loaf of bread, then risks one more dash for an orange backpack. She struggles with a boy from District 9 for the pack, but he is killed by a knife in the chaos. The girl from District 2 targets Katniss with another thrown knife, so Katniss uses the backpack to shield herself, escapes into the woods, and keeps the knife lodged in the pack as a useful weapon.

Katniss spends the day putting distance between herself and the other tributes, switching between running and walking. She finds no water, though she does notice a rabbit and reasons that animals must lead to a water source somewhere. By late afternoon, the cannons finally sound eleven times, confirming the scale of the opening slaughter. Exhausted, Katniss stops to inspect her pack and finds a sleeping bag, food, iodine, matches, wire, sunglasses, and an empty water bottle; the lack of water alarms her because dehydration now becomes her most immediate threat.

As evening falls, Katniss keeps moving downhill through thinning woods, chews pine bark rather than eat her limited rations, and chooses caution over comfort. She sets two snares for future food, then climbs into a willow tree to sleep, securing herself with her belt so she will not fall. When the Capitol displays the dead tributes in the sky, Katniss counts eleven deaths and learns that Peeta is alive, along with the Career tributes, Foxface, Thresh, and Rue. She feels both relief and dread about Peeta’s survival, since his presence helps her family if she dies but also means she may have to face him later.

Hours later, Katniss wakes to the sound of someone nearby building a fire. She is furious because the flames will attract killers, and she realizes the fire maker has endangered anyone in the area, including herself. Before dawn, a pack of tributes attacks and kills the girl at the fire, then stops close to Katniss’s tree while arguing over whether the victim is truly dead. Katniss identifies them as a Career alliance and is stunned when the tribute who offers to go back and finish the girl speaks in Peeta’s voice, revealing that he is traveling with the pack.