Thank you to everybody who reviewed/alerted/favorited this story! It's always great to have such a positive response!

I must also say now that this story may quickly turn into a Rated M story, depending on how violent I am feeling.

For now enjoy as we meet some more tributes! Don't get to attached to these tributes though, they will be going quickly.


Chapter 2 First Blood

The Capitol anthem rang across the arena as Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane's voice disappeared, the anthem so loud that the ground seemed to shake in some places. The music stopped and silence insued for a moment before the sounds of the forest returned, rather comforting if not for the constant fear of attack from a tribute or now this... monster.

Near the arena's waterfall stood the two tributes from District 1, neither of them particularly worried about another tribute attacking them. Nobody would be foolish enough to attack the two tributes, even if they did not have weapons with them, except another Career.

Sapphire, the typical blonde tribute with sparkling blue eyes to match her name, was the first to speak. "Well that was certainly a twist as they promised." She stated.

Her district partner, Jasper, gave his partner a look, telling her that we was not happy with the twist.

"I wouldn't worry to much about it though. So what if there's a monster? I'm sure that we can handle it." Sapphire said, misinterpreting her partners unhappiness.

Jasper still said nothing, making Sapphire uncomfortable with the awkward silence. Sapphire hated awkward silences.

Trying again to coax her partner to say something, Sapphire persisted. "And besides that, there can be more than one Victor this year! Can you imagine if we both won? What greater honor for District 1 than having two victors from the same game?"

This time Sapphire had found what had been annoying Jasper, though she did not realize it since Jasper was expressionless. Though underneath his calm exterior, Jasper was seething.

More than one Victor? What the hell kind of stupid twist was that? Jasper never doubted his ability to win the Games, not for a second, especially after he had seen his competition for this year. All his life, Japser had been told that he would win the Hunger Games, that he alone would bring glory to his family and District. The idea of sharing a stage with somebody else repulsed him, especially if it was his stupid partner, Saphire.

She was unbearable and a pathetic excuse of a Career in Jasper's opinion, the only one that matter to him. Sure she was eighteen just like he was and had spent just as long training in District 1 as he had, but she was soft and prone to mercy. Why, when they were in the Capitol's training center, Sapphire had actually helped that pathetic little girl from District 10 learn how to use a knife! An outlier receiving help from a Career! It was unprecedented and completely out of line! Even during her interview she came off as nice and cuddly instead of dangerous.

It disgusted Jasper to spend time with the Career wannabe, she was a failure in his opinion. Yet he knew he had to work with her, for a while at least. It wouldn't do any good for him to simply kill her early in the Games, that was no way to win fans anywhere. There was nothing worse in the Games than a tribute who kills their District partner, even that causes the Capitol to grow uncomfortable. Jasper had hoped that by some long shot she might die in the Bloodbath, but it seemed the universe had decided to mock him by having no Bloodbath, another point Jasper was rather annoyed about.

Putting on a persona, Jasper gave his partner a small smile. "That would certainly be one for the history books, wouldn't you say?" He asked.

Sapphire smiled her stupid dopey smile, "We'd make quite the pair wouldn't we?"

'Oh you wish.' Jasper thought, though he was still smiling kindly. "We really would." He stated.

Sapphire's eyes left Jasper and scanned the arena, allowing Jasper to relax his fake smile and contemplate on how much of an idiot this girl was to believe his performance. "We should probably work on finding some weapons or our fellow Careers."

'Well no duh!' Jasper thought, "Yes, we should start searching though maybe not to hard. I'd rather be someplace secure and defensible just in case the monster decides to pay us a visit."

Sapphire gave him a mocking look, "Scared of the boogyman?"

'The boogyman is actually real this time though you stupid girl! Didn't you hear the Head Gamemaker just announce that?!'

Jasper kept his calm face. "Is it unreasonable to be."

"I suppose not, I'm feeling a little worried too." Sapphire confessed. Jasper was considering asking if she felt worried about pathetic outlier children but decided against it. Best not to show the Capitol her weakness towards her supposed prey. Without another word, both tributes from 1 left the waterfall and silently moved along the river, searching for other tributes. Jasper, who was behind Sapphire, continued to contemplate the consequences of killing his partner this early in the Games, but ultimately decided against it. Without the Bloodbath sponsor gifts would be even more important and Jasper knew he'd lose all of his if he killed his partner. Still, if the right opportunity came, Jasper intended to kill her partner and any other survivors.

Because their was only going to be one Victor to these Games.

And his name would be Jasper.


"Keep running Felton!" Pepper of District 8 shouted to her partner, who had no intention of stopping anyways. Pepper chanced a glance back and gasped when she saw how close the Careers from District 4 were to them, both looking eager for a fight. The boy tribute, Marlin, looked much scary than his partner whose name escaped Peper at that moment.

In front of them was a river and on the other side were patches of bushes, tall enough for people to hide in. An idea came to Pepper and she grabbed Felton's arm, dragging him to the riverbank. Felton quickly removed himself from Pepper's grasp but continued to follow her.

Along the riverbank was a fallen tree, rotten and covered in dirt and vegetation. Pepper dived underneath it along with Felton, both bodies splashed with mud and sweat. Pepper signaled to Felton to try and keep his breathing calm as they heard the Careers from District 4 come closer.

Both Careers seemed to have come to a stop and heavy breathing was heard. Pepper silently prayed to a higher power that the Careers would not find them, that they would fall for Pepper's trick.

Pepper's higher power must have heard her as she heard Marlin shout out, "They must have gone across the river through the bushes. Come on before we lose them!"

The cowering fifteen year olds from District 8 saw Marlin jump onto the riverbank and proceed to cross the shallow river, not followed by his partner. Pepper shuddered when she realized that the female Career was now standing above them, hunched over the log and staring along the bank. Pepper could feel her heart beating loud and fast, causing her entire body to shake. Felton was also shaking, his false aura of confidence gone now that he was faced with a Career.

Marlin shouted out for the girl, Sylvia was her name, to follow him. Sylvia sighed and jumped down from the log right in front of the scared tributes, Pepper barely able to repress her gasp, and run across the river to her partner who had already rushed into the bushes.

Both tributes sat in the mud underneath the log for another minute before Felton made the first sound, an cocky laugh. "Guess what they say about Career intelligence is true!" he said, his all to familiar prideful attitude coming back now that the danger had passed.

Pepper was far to annoyed to stay silent anymore, shoving her partner harshly so he hit his head against the log. "What the hell was that for?" he questioned.

"For being an idiot that's why!" Pepper said, failing to control her temper. "I told you I heard something coming from behind the trees but no, you didn't listen!"

Felton's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything in protest, realizing that he had almost gotten them killed. Pepper wasn't done with her rant though. "We almost died! Don't you get that?" she said, now shouting.

Felton turned to his partner, anger on his face. "But we didn't die, so why don't you just keep your voice down before you get us killed, freak!"

Pepper groaned in annoyance at the word 'freak', her name in school back in District 8, a name given to her due to her Albinism. Yep, Pepper was an albino. White hair, pale white skin, and pale colorless eyes matched with colorless lips Pepper was a certified freak to everybody in her District, thus alienating her from much of her District. Pepper's draw in life had never been great, and her luck only worsened when she was Reaped for the 4th Quarter Quell alongside Felton, her biggest antagonist.

Felton, since day one of meeting her when they were only eight, bullied and abused Pepper due to her condition. Where before Felton the other kids in Pepper's class would only talk about her behind her back, with Felton leading them they began insulting Pepper to her face. They called her freak and even a demon and pulled prank after prank on her, always to remind Pepper that she was different. Pepper remembered one snowy day that all her classmates had run away from her at recess, saying that they were being chased by an invisible demon in clothing since Pepper's skin blended with the snow. Pepper had run the bathroom with tears in her eyes as all the other kids, led by Felton, laughed at her.

Pepper was ashamed to ever say anything because deep down she hated all the pity that the adults gave her, many of them thinking that she might die early in life. Pepper had grown to be able to read people well, taking in all their pity with a martyr's attitude while knowing full well that these people wanted nothing to do with her. She felt alone in the world, though acted like she couldn't care less because to not act so would only cause more pity for her.

So when Pepper was Reaped she was filled with terror, though not for the obvious reasons. Pepper was terrified because deep down she felt a certain joy, a joy at the knowledge that there was no way that she could possibly win. Knowledge that she would die and finally leave this world.

Pepper was dragged out of her thoughts when she heard a beeping sound from above. Looking up at the sky, Pepper smiled when she noticed two parachutes, attached together, descending from the sky with a note attached to them. Pepper started to get up from the ground but was immediately pushed back down by Felton, mud splattering across her ungodly pale figure.

Felton rushed forward to grab the parachutes, turning back briefly to smile at Pepper. "Don't look so upset freak, I was just adding some color to you!"

Refusing to show her annoyance toward Felton, Pepper stood up again and began wiping off as much mud as she possibly could. Her clothing was already wet and sticky from sweat, causing Pepper to worry about colder temperatures. Hopefully nighttime would remain the same warm temperature as it was now in late twilight.

Felton had already read the note on the parachutes and had thrown it aside, looking rather annoyed with it. Grabbing it from the ground, Pepper smiled when she figured out why Felton was annoyed.

'To our Snow Queen.' The note read, 'From your loyal fans.'

Pepper, unlike Felton, was quite popular in the Capitol due to her condition and tough attitude and during her interview had managed to amass quite a lot of fans. Her solid seven in training, compared to Felton's five, also helped her out. Pepper smiled even wider when she realized that the contents of the parachutes were hers. A fact, however, that Felton seemed to care little for.

The first parachute contained a small pack with some wrapped bread, canned goods, and a jug of water. The second parachute remained unopened at Felton's feet.

"I believe that this stuff is mine." Pepper said. Felton ignored her, already unwrapping the bread and gobbling it down. "Felton!" Pepper said a little louder.

He spun around, crumbs running down from his mouth. "What?" he asked.

"I believe all of this," Pepper repeated, motioning to the two parachutes, "Is mine."

"Sure it is." Felton said, laughing cynically before devouring the rest of the bread. Pepper, annoyed that Felton was so carelessly wasting her rations, charged forward and grabbed the remaining bread from him. She grabbed the rest of the contents from the parachute, moving them quickly away from Felton. Felton however quickly grabbed the second parachute and opened it, smiling when he saw what was inside.

With a swift motion Felton removed a sword, a weapon that they both knew was Pepper's signature weapon, which she highlighted in her interview.

'My whole life I've been using a needle to sew clothing.' Pepper had told the Capitol. 'I like to think of the sword as my new needle which I will use to weave my way to victory.'

Pepper's face contorted into a look of rage, "Give me my sword, Felton!"

She started moving towards Felton to take it, but Felton pointed it at Pepper, stopping her in her tracks. "Not a step closer freak." He said.

Pepper laughed in shock, "Are you actually serious?"

"Do I look serious?" Felton asked, looking rather serious and slightly deranged to Pepper. "Give me the food."

"No." Pepper responded, looking Felton right in the eye.

Felton, face red, stepped forward and slashed out at Pepper who stumbled back shocked. The slash was clumsy and clearly not meant to actually harm Pepper, but the action had still thrown her off balance.

Felton laughed at her. "What? You think I'm afraid to hurt you because you're my partner? I don't care what anybody in the other Districts thinks or in the stupid Capitol. I only care about everybody in District 8, and knowing them they'll probably thank me for killing the freak! Now give the BAG!"

Pepper mentally cursed herself for actually thinking that she might be able to form a working relationship with her dumbass partner. Realizing what she had to do, Pepper stepped forward slowly, watching as Felton lowered the sword. Pepper hooking the bags straps firmly around her arms as she got closer and when she was in range she swung out with it, smacking it across Felton's face.

Felton shouted in in pain and stumbled back, slipping on the rocks on the riverbank. The sword, which he was holding loosely, fell from his grasp. As fast as she could move, Pepper grabbed the sword from the river and began sprinting away, though Felton's outreached hand grabbed her leg and caused her to fall. Pepper squinted in pain as she landed hard on some rocks underneath the water.

"You bitch!" Felton shouted after her, "I'm going to kill you! You hear-"

Felton was cut off though by Pepper's boot heel slamming into his face, breaking his nose. Felton shouted in pain as Pepper got up from the ground and continued running away from her partner, who was shouting curses at her.

Pepper wasn't hurt by his words since her entire body felt like it was on a high. After seven years of torture at the hands of that boy, the true monster, Pepper had finally stood up to him and in quite the spectacular way. Looking at the sheer amount of rations given to her by sponsors, and with her trusty sword in hand, Pepper felt the new sense of courage rush over her.

And for the first time, Pepper actually thought she could win the Hunger Games.


Heinz of District 5 was relieved when he found himself in a woodland clearing, a small log cabin in front of him. Night had finally fallen in the arena, the moon still low enough so it didn't provide too much light over the arena, and Heinz was tired of stumbling through the forest with only a flashlight. While the Games couldn't have been going on for more than four hours, Heinz felt like he had been walking for days. The thought of lounging comfortably in a log cabin, with walls and a solid door to protect him from other tributes and the monster, was all to enticing for Heinz.

Turning off his flashlight, Heinz made his way for the house. Unlike in the forest, the moonlight lit up the entire clearing giving Heinz I direct view to the cabin, his anticipation of the comfort of the cabin would provide increasing with each step.

He had been on the move for a long time, stopping for nothing except a quick drink from the river he had run across. He was at first worried that it might be polluted with something like most of the rivers back in District 5, but ultimately gave into his thirst and drank a lot. He wasn't crapping out his guts two hours later or feeling weak so Heinz made a note to remember roughly where the river was so he could return at some point. He'd have to be careful though sine other tributes would no doubt come to that river too.

Thinking of other tributes made Heinz think of his partner, the two years younger Vera. She was very smart and if she wasn't Reaped she would have probably gone on to become on of the smartest people in the District. Unfortunately life was cruel and young Vera was Reaped and now running around the arena somewhere, probably scared out of her mind about fellow tributes and now a monster.

Heinz was obviously scared when he first heard about this monster, no doubt some horrible mutt created in some District 3 lab. Heinz had no wish to come across this creature and he had resigned himself to the fact that this creature would find him before Heinz found it. All the more reason to get in this log cabin, which would at least provide some defense between him and the monster.

Reaching the cabin now, Heinz moved quickly up the stairs onto the elevated porch. The cabin itself was dusty and rather broken down, making Heinz briefly worried about diseases or mold that had built up here. The door itself was hanging off rusty hinges, but still looked rather sturdy. Reaching for the handle, Heinz pushed hard against it and opened the door, revealing a dark room inside with only outlines of furniture from the moonlight coming in from the single window.

Suddenly Heinz felt the wind being knocked out of him as something hit his stomach, followed by a strong blow to the temple. Heinz fell back, hitting the porch with a loud thud following by some moaning on his part. He struggled against the overwhelming urge to black out as everything became fuzzy and disorienting, the very ground itself shaking. Cool blood ran down from Heinz's temple, it's metallic taste hitting his lips and causing him to cough.

There were sounds coming from the doorway, sounds that sounded like somebody talking in a mocking tone. Forcing his head to stay still and eyes to focus, Heinz made out the blurry figure of District 2's female tribute, Olivia.

Fear spread through Heinz's body as he struggled to move his disoriented body back away from the Career, who was smiling brightly. She continued to speak, her words becoming slightly clearer and the fog lifting from Heinz's sight.

Heinz held up a shaking hand, "Puh-Plea-please!" he managed to get out, still attempting to back away from Olivia. She laughed though, the sound echoing through Heinz's head. Heinz had now backed up to the porch stairs and he had begun moving slowly down them. Olivia didn't seem to be in any rush to attack Heinz again, simply enjoying watching the cowering tribute. She raised her weapon, a rudimentary club with Heinz's blood splattered on it, and walked slowly towards him.

Heinz opened his mouth to begin pleading again, but was silenced when he was hit again, this time underneath the chin. Heinz screamed out as his lower teeth bit through his tongue, filling his mouth with his own blood. Heinz slid down the rest of the stairs, his entire head throbbing and mind unable to think properly.

Meanwhile Olivia was looking over at her District partner who had just attacked her prey. "What the hell was that Trajan? He's mine!"

Trajan casually lifted his club up, readjusting the strings around the rock. "You were moving to slow."

"Sorry for wanting to enjoy the moment." Olivia responded over the District 5 boy's moans of pain. "Oh shut up!" Olivia shouted, no longer enjoying his suffering. She slammed her club into his side twice which was followed by the sickening crack of one of the fifteen year olds ribs.

Olivia continued to smash her club into the boy, hitting everywhere that wouldn't put him into a coma or kill him. The boy continued to shrivel around on the ground, crying out in pain followed by tears, which mixed with the blood pouring from his temple and mouth.

Olivia delivered another strong blow to the boys face, breaking his jawbone with a loud crack. Olivia's stone slid from it's place, the binds having become to loose from constant and vigorous use. Swearing, Olivia turned from her victim to reattach the stone, blood smearing her hands. As she turned back to her victim, Olivia screamed out in anger when she saw Trajan deliver a blow to the boy's temple, crushing his skull and ending his life. A canon went off, signaling the death of a tribute.

Olivia continued to scream in anger until her breath was gone. Regain air in her lungs; she lunged at her partner who deflected her blow. "What the hell!" she shouted, "HE WAS MY KILL!"

"Again, you were taking to long." Trajan said.

Olivia wanted to continue to attack her partner but knew it wouldn't do any good. Trajan was much stronger than her and could kill her easily. Olivia forced herself to calm down, taking deep and quick breaths. After a few seconds, Olivia once again faced her partner.

"He was your kill. Clean him up yourself." She said, storming back to the log cabin and slamming the door behind her.

Looking out from the window, Olivia say Trajan throw the boys body over his shoulder and moving him to thicket of bushes, rage still boiling through her body. It was her kill, her kill damn it, and she had been robbed. THE VERY FIRST KILL OF THE GAMES!

Olivia forced herself to calm down again. She couldn't lose control. Her temper was always the one thing that held her back in training, the one thing that her mentors could never beat out of her. She had to be smart and not listen to the crazed voice in her head that wanted her to punch Trajan for his actions.

Feeling calmer now, Olivia took a seat on one of the stools that were arranged around a small table. There were three of them along with the table, which took up an entire corner of the cabin. On the opposite wall was a fireplace that would not get any use from either Career while they were there, and a single person bed propped on the wall opposite of the window. Hardly comfortable, but workable for a night or two.

On the table was a piece of paper, one page out of eight Head Gamemaker Crane had talked about. While both Careers were happy about finding the page, both of them quickly learned that there was nothing special about it or containing anything that told them how to deal with the monster. It was a simple sheet of paper, big enough to be found yet small enough to be folded to fit into a pocket. The only thing on this sheet of paper was pencil marks, oddly done pencil marks that were scattered across the paper. Olivia though they might be trees, though one of the marks was different from the rest.

Instead of the pointy top of the other marks, this one had a round head and a weird body that seemed to be reflective of a crudely done human torso. The body was very skinny though and the arms and legs were to elongate in comparison.

The door to the cabin opened and Trajan stepped back in. He closed the door and walked to join Olivia at the table, taking a stool across from her. Olivia refused to look him in the eye, instead staring intently at the page as if she was trying to find a clue.

Trajan sighed and leaned closer to Olivia. "I'm sorry for taking your kill." He said.

Out of all the things Trajan could have said, this surprised Olivia the most. Nobody in training ever apologized for anything they did to another trainee; it was all strictly part of the program. The strong survived while the weak did not. Olivia simply sat there, unable to get any words out since the whole idea of apologies was too foreign to her.

This also brought up something that had been bothering Olivia for a while now, the possibility of multiple Victors. Would Trajan want that? Or would he be too prideful and only allow one, himself. Trajan, always the stoic, had not revealed any of his thoughts on the matter since neither of them talked about it. Still… Trajan and her had trained for many years together, although separated by the one-year gap, so the idea of him dying was something that Olivia actually felt like avoiding. Besides the possibility of two Victors from District 2 was something truly amazing, something that only District 2 should have the honor of.

There was a loud beeping noise outside, followed by a crashing sound, and both tributes were on their feet with weapons in hand. Trajan moved swiftly to the door followed by Olivia, who nodded to Trajan that she was ready. Trajan flung the door and was outside faster than his size let on. Olivia was right behind him, hoping for another fight.

Instead they were met with a rather large container, which had already opened itself. Both tributes approach it slowly, their caution turning into joy when they saw the contents.

Inside were two sets of armor, both tailored to the tributes sizes. Next to Trajan's set was a large ax, his signature weapons, and next to Olivia's set was a spear and shield, her weapons of choice. Besides that there were also packs of military food supplies and jugs of water, allowing for easy movement of resources.

Olivia was giddy, like a little girl receiving presents on her birthday. She removed the armor as quick as possible and began to arm herself, eager to test out the sponsor's gift. She was pleased when it fit well, the armor was simple yet light too. It only covered her chest and stomach region, along with some wrist guards, but it would stop a lot of melee weapons. Trajan hefted up his ax and began spinning it around, obviously impressed with the gift.

"This will do nicely." Trajan said, allowing himself to smile.

Olivia grabbed her spear and spun it around, impressed with her weapon too. It was finely crafted and of superior quality. She looked at Trajan again, smiling herself.

With this weapon on hand, Trajan wouldn't be stealing her kills anymore.


Mitsuko tripped on another root when the blast of the canon went off, the fourth root she had tripped on that night. She was getting tired of the effort of lifting her body up from the ground, tired of the walking, tired of the Games in general.

Yet she got up, she had too. Mitsuko was never one for giving up no matter how much the world might be against her. At least, that's the way everything always seemed to Mitsuko. In Mitsuko's life back in District 6, family was everything. Her entire family, extended an all, lived together in one giant house that was actually a small apartment complex. Everybody in the family had an important role to play, something that Mitsuko herself had never seemed to fit into.

She wasn't an academic, she found school to be largely boring overall. She wasn't hard working; she didn't see the point since everybody else around her always worked for her. She wasn't even pretty enough to be married to some rich or smart boy, she was told often by her older sisters and classmates that she looked quite a bit like a boy herself with her short black hair and pudgy appearance. No, compared to everybody else in her family when they were sixteen, Mitsuko had nothing to show for.

Still, despite her difficult attitude, her family still loved her dearly. Every single member had come to say goodbye to her and had offered sincere wishes of luck in the Games. Her cousin even said that if she managed to win than that would trump all other accomplishments her family had achieved in District 6.

Mitsuko wasn't so sure that she could win the Games, yet didn't let her family know that. She simply promised that she would try harder than she ever had in her life, which was saying something since Mitsuko never really tried for much. However after some training she was shocked to find that she was rather good with a bow, even managing to pull of an eight for a score.

Still, that meant little now since Mitsuko had nothing with her except a flashlight that she wouldn't even turn on in fear of being attacked by anther tribute or worse… that monster. She had been stumbling through the trees ever since nightfall, hoping for some sort of break.

When she looked up from the ground Mitsuko noticed a pleasant change from the normal forest line, an actual clearing. Mitsuko was eager to sprint into it and escape the confines of the forest, but stopped herself when she realized how stupid that would be. What if there were other tributes around just waiting for somebody to charge out into the opening, just waiting to attack that person.

Mitsuko walked slowly to the tree line, standing far enough back so she was still covered in shadows, and looked around the clearing. There was nobody in sight that she could see and was shocked by what stood in decay at the center of clearing.

It was an old van, a kind that was around way before even the Dark Days. She only knew about it since their were museums in her District which showed these vehicles, a kind of history listen for the District of transportation on far the world has come in terms of transportation she supposed. It looked pretty banged up, actually missing one of its tires and sliding doors.

Looking around one last time, Mitsuko decided to make a run for it. She charged at the van blindly, simply praying that there was no tribute with a bow around that could kill her. She made it to the van and jumped inside with such ferocity that she actually slammed against the other side of the vehicle. Mitsuko let out a gasp of pain, unable to hold it back, and began rubbing her injured shoulder to ease the discomfort.

Her pain was quickly dispersed when she noticed a picnic basket in the back of the seat-gutted van, an aroma of foods being given off from it. Mitsuko crawled towards it and was happy when she found wrapped sandwiches inside along with what looked like gallon of milk and cookies. There were also a set of throwing knifes tucked in there nicely.

Mitsuko went for the milk first, knowing that it would go bad the fastest. It didn't taste to great after hours of lying out in the open, but it still got the job done for the tired girl from District 6. She then grabbed one the cookies and savored the chocolate flavor in it, a new taste she had only recently acquired after being first introduced to wonderful sweet while in the Capitol. It was only another thing that Mitsuko was jealous of the Capitol for having.

Mitsuko finished the meal without any thought towards rationing, enjoying all the food. When she was finished with her meal, Mitsuko let her body slump against the side of the car. She was ready to close her eyes for a moment when something caught her attention.

On the steering wheel was a taped paper, which Mitsuko instantly recognized to be one the pages mentioned earlier.

Mitsuko moved to it quickly, ripping the page off the steering wheel to examine it. On the side facing up Mitsuko noticed some scattered markings, which seemed to be nothing but gibberish. 'Guess she would need the other seven pages to figure out what it means.' She thought. Mitsuko noticed that there was stuff written on the other side of the paper too and turned it over to check it out.

She was disturbed by what she saw.

On that side of paper were over exaggerated letters, seemingly written in a hasty fashion by a deranged person, and read as such.

DON'T LOOK…

OR IT TAKES YOU!

Mitsuko shuddered when she read the note, noticing how in the corner there was a slender like figure drawn crudely. But none of that compared to sudden cold feeling she felt. The air itself actually got colder to the point that she could see her breath, rapid and unsteady. Mitsuko also got the disturbing feeling that she was being watched by something that was very close.

Mitsuko spun around quickly, raising one of the knifes she had grabbed, expecting to be attack by… something!

But there was nobody there.

The air grew warmer and Mitsuko's breath disappeared from sight.

Mitsuko grabbed the page and the rest of the knifes and sprinted from the van back into the forest, praying that nothing would take her that night.


Carver was very worried.

Not for himself though, he felt safer than he should for being in the Hunger Games, but for his twelve year old District partner Rowan.

She so confident in herself, too much so for a twelve year old from District 7 in the Hunger Games. Carver, five years her senior, didn't feel nearly as confident as his partner did. Yet she had weaved a web for all of Panem, casting herself as the first twelve year old to win the Hunger Games.

Yet Carver could see through Rowan, and he knew that she was scared. Scared and in need of his protection. Yet she refused to acknowledge it, thinking she could survive the Games by herself.

'It's that type of thinking that's going to get her killed.' Carver thought.

So when he heard the first canon blast of the Games, Carver had gone ridged with fear. Was Rowan killed? Was she near the fighting? Had the monster the Gamemakers had promised them found her?

Carver refused to think so, thinking about how pointless it would be to send your mutt creation after a twelve year old. Why not a Career to really inspire fear?

At least that's the thinking Carver was hoping the Gamemakers would follow.

Carver wouldn't even be worrying about all this if Rowan had stayed where Carver had told her too. The two of them had been separated by the waterfall, their plates starting on separate sides of it. It was too intense for Carver to swim across it, but Carver had shouted over to her to stay where she was until he made it over to her. Rowan looked at him like he was an idiot, but obediently stayed on her plate waiting for him.

It had taken him quite a bit of effort to get down since the cliff couldn't be climbed down from, but he had managed to find a cave system that took him to the other side of the waterfall. He had to pass by some oddly shaped tree but didn't stick around to investigate it.

When he got to the other side Rowan was gone, Carver being able to see her figure running away into the distance. He had angrily chased after her, hoping to find her before nightfall but had been unsuccessful. He had however found a rusty ax buried into the side of tree with a note attached to it.

"You'll be needing this." It read.

Now after about hours of searching, Carver was about ready to give up when he heard screaming nearby, screaming he instantly recognized, although never hearing it before.

"ROWAN!" Carver shouted, running off in the direction of the distressed sounds. He kept running, turning his flashlight on to see better. Another scream, this one sounding more distressed and more to the right, and Carver changed direction to follow it.

The trees cleared up and Carver saw little Rowan running in fear from some unknown enemy. "ROWAN!" Carver screamed again, getting her attention. Rowan looked up, her red and tearstained face illuminated by his flashlight.

"CAR-" she began shouting back, before letting out another scream as she fell to the ground and began to be pulled away by an invisible force. Carver ran to his partner who was holding onto a root, her entire body floating off the ground. The root snapped and Rowan was pulled into the darkness just as Carver reached her.

"NO!" Carver shouted, "ROWAN! ROWAN COME BACK!" He lifted his flashlight up so he could look into the blackness, but saw nothing there but trees. Charging in after his partner, Carver continued shouting her name as he brushed past bushes and low lying branches. Carver continued this for a few minutes before he ended up right back where he started.

Sinking to his knees, Carver fought back the emotions of guilt. He should have protected her, he should have been faster, he should have tried harder!

Something cool ran down Carver neck, landing lightly on it like raindrops. It was followed by another drop and then stream of the liquid, causing Carver to jump back in shock. Carver turned his flashlight on again and examined the liquid.

It was red and coming down in quick streams. Carver, hands shaking, raised his flashlight up and screamed out in horror and anger at what he saw, followed by the second canon of the 100th Hunger Games.

Hanging from the tree branches by her intestines, which were wrapped around her waist to support her, was Rowan, her face red from blood and contorted into a look of absolute horror.


Yes Ladies and Gentlemen the Games have begun. Two dead, twenty-two left, two pages found, and good ol' Slendy is on the loose!

For you purists out there, I know that there is no log cabin in Slender. Just an add on like the waterfall is.

Also one thing that always surprises me about Fanfiction writers is how people don't give the tributes armor. Cato in the 74th Games was given armor to protect him from Katniss's arrows, why can't other tributes get some? It would certainly help tributes survive and make fights last longer for the Capitol's amusement.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Stay tune for more!