Chapter One:

The Beginning: White, Black, and Red

Eve Alyssum, District Seven

I'm running for my life. I'm freezing cold, and I don't want to be here.

It's chaotic and dizzying, and my hand is numb.

I lost my mitten at the Cornucopia. And I can't feel my hand.

I have absolutely nothing with me except for the clothes on my back. I didn't manage to snag anything. People are still back there, fighting for everything. Clothes, weapons, and food. Things that will save their lives.

Things that I don't have.

But I can't afford to be this pessimistic. I have to think forward and keep moving. I focus on my running, pumping my arms back and forth steadily. I squint my eyes to keep the amount of snow on my eyelashes minimal. My throat stings from the cold every time I breathe in.

But I have to keep going.

I don't know where I'm going. I just need to get away.

I am thinking like this when I run straight into a tree. My face smacks into it first, and then my whole body hits it. My head is pounding terribly, and I feel a searing pain in my forehead. I feel a warm liquid drip from my nose, but it almost immediately freezes in place. I bring my numb hand to my nose and see the deep red blood on my deathly pale skin.

I notice another color.

A brown, blackish color spreading through my fingers.

Frostbite.

No. I might lose my hand. I can't let it get worse.

How do I stop it?

Without thinking, I rip the hat off of my head and jam my hand into it, wrapping the warm hat over my numb hand. I still can't feel anything, but I think this is a better solution than just letting it freeze.

But now my head is cold. My ears sting and burn from the whipping wind and snow. I remember that heat leaves quickest through the head and feet.

So I'm hurting myself more by doing this. I put the hat back on my head, and just stuff my hand into my jacket. I feel overwhelmed and frustrated and I want to be back home.

I want to go home.

But I can't. I have to run forward. So I do. I keep running, and I slam into more trees. I have to drop my pace. I slow down to a walk, and try to weave my way through the blackened trees. The wind doesn't abate or stop, either. It stays steady and strong, and nearly pushes me over. My lungs still sting when I breathe in.

Kaitlin Collmnec, District Four

Seconds after the gong sounds, I am off of my plate, sprinting into the middle.

I have no intentions of joining the brute from my district, Ryan, and the other bafoons that follow him around.

I just want to get in and out with no problem. People will know better than to mess with me: a skilled girl with a weapon.

I have no problem sprinting into the Cornucopia. I get as close as I possibly dare, and grab a gigantic grey backpack. Sliding it onto my back, I grab an axe near my foot, and come back to my feet.

Just as I stand up, a silver knife whizzes by, and just barely misses my forehead. I duck down as quickly as my body will allow me, but the knife still grazes my hairline. I gingerly touch my head, see the blood, and turn angrily to the direction in which the knife flew from.

That ugly boy from District Six. He is standing there, frozen, as a battle goes on around him, staring at me with stupid looking brown eyes. I narrow my eyes at him. He tried to kill me.

I am not a bloodthirsty person. Sure, I trained at home, but that's because I liked the thrill of the fight, the rush from fighting and winning. I would never want to intentionally harm someone. I'm just not that type of person.

But he tried to hurt me.

And that's one thing about me.

I have a very short temper.

And this jerk-hole tried to kill me!

So, I take my axe and rush at this boy in anger. I slice my axe through the air. He ducks quickly, and springs back up once the axe is away from his head.

He silently grabs the bloody dagger that flew by my head and thrusts it at me. It just barely punctures my stomach, but I react immediately. I fly to the side, and take a swipe with my axe at his thigh. My aim is a bit off, but it still hits him in the knee. That'll be enough to disable him for a while.

I fasten the pack around myself, and take off into the dark looking forest, the freezing wind biting at my pink cheeks.

I have made it this far.

I'm ready.

Lexy Elbit, District Two

I'm smirking when the gong rings around the beautiful arena. I run in to the Cornucopia, giggling from glee as I see the wimps from the outer districts taking off.

I laugh even harder as I see the slightly brave ones come into the battle grounds and get murdered. My district partner, Aryan, grabs a spear in the mouth of the red Cornucopia and thrusts it into the stomach of some skinny blonde girl. Her cannon booms right away, and I see a boy that looks just like her turn around and look at us with fear. I bet they're brother and sister. Well, not anymore.

The cannons are continuous as we chop down the weaklings. My alliance partners Aryan, Ryan, Nic, and Kyja are strong and faithful. There's also that other District Four girl, Kaitlin, but she ditched. She seemed like a good fighter from what I saw, but she doesn't look loyal.

I grab a black backpack and sling it onto my slender shoulders. My white boots slightly crunch on the snow as I cross over to Aryan to help him with this one boy that's putting up a pretty good fight.

I can tell from the color of his coat that he's from Nine. He's got short blond hair and bright green eyes. He looks a lot like Ryan, but Ryan is taller.

Aryan grabs the boy's collar, and brings him face to face with himself.

"So, Nine, you thought you could get in here and get away?" Aryan barks.

I stand behind him and smirk. I'll let him have this kill.

"I did, Two," the boy yells back. He's got some fight left in him.

"What's your name, kid?" Aryan says, narrowing his eyes.

"Why should I tell you?" he replies, perfectly calm.

"Because your damned life depends on it!" Aryan screams.

"Whoa, there, buddy. It's Lukas. Jesus," the boy, Lukas, says.

"You're with us," Aryan grunts. "Come on."

"What if I don't want to 'be with you?'" Lukas asks mockingly.

"Then you're dead meat, right here, right now."

"Fine, fine."

So with that, we had the weak boy from Nine with us.

"Aryan, are you sure you want him with us? He might be some pussy weakling," I say, trying to reason with Aryan, although it was pretty much useless. Negotiating with Aryan was like negotiating with a feral cat: impossible.

"Yeah, I'm sure, Lexy. You got a problem with it?" Aryan snaps.

"Uh, well, no, but I don't know if he's the best choice for an ally."

"Just shut up. You're a girl, you don't know anything."

That asshole.

Chase Bondrush, District Three

She's gone.

Lindsey's gone.

She's dead.

My sister is dead.

I see the gigantic brute standing over her body, smiling.

Her cannon fires.

The spear drips my innocent sister's blood.

I stare in horror, and then the short girl with thick brown hair looks over at me, a look of almost understanding in her eyes. But then it is erased as she joins the murderer.

I have to go on now, for Lindsey.

The red blood is on the snow.

The black trees sway in the distance, beckoning us to join them.

And there's the glistening white snow, eluding us with its deathly beauty.

Will I survive in this terrible world without my sister?

I don't know if I will.

A/N: Okay, so I started this story. I know, neither of my other ones are finished, but I just got this idea, and I really wanted to execute it, and I just started writing it.

The characters in this story are all loosely based off of my friends. The names I came up with are total anagrams of their real names. That took me such a long time to do! But I finally have all of their names down, and the sound halfway normal!

This isn't all of the characters covered yet. I will probably have two more chapters about the Bloodbath each with four points of view.

I like the idea of starting without the Reapings, so then you guys don't really know the characters yet. It makes them a bit mysterious, and I also didn't want to write the Reapings and the Capitol stuff. So I started right here, at the beginning of the Games!

Please read and review, and tell me who you like! Tell me who you hate! Tell me if you like this story, and want me to continue with it!

Au revoir! (Until later, French.)

Thank you!