A/N: Okay, this chapter is slightly darker than the ones preceding it, as you might expect. The descriptions aren't as vivid as they could be in order to maintain the T rating of this story. The tributes get narrowed down a bit in this one, but you can still review to vote for you favourite.

Just another reminder: the Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins. She owns all the characters except those which I create.

The Bloodbath

Suffra's POV

For a moment all I could feel and hear was my heart hammering in my chest. I shook myself as the announcement filled the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 68th annual Hunger Games begin!" the announcer said. Sixty seconds. That was how long I had to wait. If I ran prematurely, I would be blown to bits. There were landmines around the starting platforms. There was no screen. I had to count in my head.

60, 59, 58…

The arena was incredibly mountainous. Behind me there was a large cliff, with a vast grassy area about a hundred metres up. A waterfall splurged off the edge, forming a narrow fast flowing stream one and a half metres wide to my right which could be jumped across if completely necessary and resulted in another waterfall just a few metres behind the Cornocopia. As far as I could see, there was a lagoon at the bottom of that waterfall, at the bottom of another large cliff.

The two cliff directions were out. I could never flee those ways and climb fast enough.

41, 40, 39…

To my right over the stream there was a forest area. It looked very thick so it would be hard for me to go that way quickly, but it would also slow down pursuers. All I really had to do was get out of the clearing. In the bloodbath, it was unlikely that the Careers would follow me.

The Careers! Where were they? I was in the middle of a large arc of tributes, alternating between girls and boys. I was directly next to the boy from 12, who did not pose much of a threat, and the boy from 7. I would have to try not to directly cross paths with him. He was closer to the thick forest area.

To my left there was also forest, but the trees were sparser, but both Krystal and Katran were closer to that side. Still, there were more Careers on my other side. I positioned myself to run in that direction.

19, 18, 17…

Supplies. I needed supplies. The main supply of weapons were in the mouth of the Cornocopia, but there were others scattered around. I would probably not be able to get all the way to the mouth to get the better supplies before somebody grabbed a weapon to take me out. I was fast, not a bullet.

14, 13, 12…

I spotted a camouflaged backpack just ten metres from the mouth. If I dodged off sort of diagonal, I would be able to make it straight to the sparser forest in a slight diagonal line. It would leave me close to the cliff but the others were unlikely to follow me.

There was also some food scattered around. If I had time, I would grab some of that on the way.

8, 7, 6…

I prepared myself to run, narrowing my eyes on the backpack. I would have to be first. If I wasn't, I would just have to flee. Once the bloodbath was over I would return for some supplies. If possible. I looked back over at Krystal, not tracing my planned path with my eyes.

4, 3…

Pointing at the Cornocopia I held up two fingers with my other hand, then put both of my hands together in the motion for sleep. I did not focus on her long enough to ask her whether she understood. There was no time.

1…

I braced myself and the gong sounded right on cue. Without looking at any of the others I was off. I grabbed the backpack with both my hands and threw it over my shoulder. Somebody was screaming already, and I ducked just in case that affected me. Somehow my instinct had been right and a knife whizzed above my head. That had been sheer luck, but it overbalanced me. I fell forwards as I was not used to the weight of the pack on me, but I quickly righted myself. I did not stop when I reached the forest. I just kept running.

Only later did it occur to me that this was the first time I had ever seen trees in real life.

Krystal's POV

Suffra caught my eye. Don't pay any attention to her. She then pointed at the Cornocopia and held up two fingers. Two days? Don't pay any attention to her. The motion for sleeping? Two days at night? Admit it, she still looks sort of like Lacey.

I growled, reminding myself that I actually was in the Hunger Games now, and I could not screw up. There were a couple of knives just a few metres in front of me. It was almost like the gamemakers wanted me to kill people, take some out in the bloodbath.

The gong sounded. I barely had to move to get the knives, and I scooped them up and suddenly I was filled with rage at Suffra. She distracted me. I should be going for the decent weapons at the Cornocopia instead of just grabbing two lone knives which did not even have a serrated edges.

Holding the knives tightly I aimed one of them at Suffra. Wow, she actually was fast. She'd got close to the Cornocopia and was already fleeing with a pack that no doubt contained something decent. In fury I threw one of the knives at her, but she was too far away for my aim to be accurate. She probably would be fine if she had not ducked.

"Chasing after your little ally, Princess?" Katran mocked. He was holding a long sword and almost casually stabbed the boy from 6 in the stomach when he was trying to run past and get some decent supplies. The morphling victors from District 6 were usually not good at getting their tributes sponsors; he would have needed those supplies.

Much good it did him now. He was gasping for breath, still alive but not going to stay that way for long. For some reason he did not look scared, he just looked at peace as he faded away. I stared at him for valuable seconds before I shook myself out of my stupor.

Ray was midway to joining Katran before she fell forwards, a spear imbedded in her back. Anemone stood behind her, an angry expression on her face. She no longer held any weapons and realized her mistake as Katran charged for her. Garnet blocked off her only other path to safety; the forest. She was stuck between the cliff, the Cornocopia, and the two advancing trained tributes which used to be her allies.

"Nowhere for you to go," Katran sneered. Anemone looked backwards off the cliff, judging the distance and the amount of sharp rocks.

"Not true," was all Anemone said before she launched herself off the cliff. All I could see were her arms wind-milling. I did not know whether she hit the water or how injured she was, but if she stayed conscious, being from District 4 she would have a fighting chance. Katran had obviously come to the same conclusion as he swore.

Suddenly I was thrown backwards and I turned to see Walton behind me. He did not have an axe just yet, which was lucky. All he had was a mace which I was not even sure he knew how to use. He was not that good at it, as he had a great shot and it only skimmed my forearm.

It hurt a lot, but it was nowhere near as bad as some of the injuries I'd got in training before. The only rule: never scar somebody where it could not be easily covered up. The Capitol like pretty tributes.

I screamed at him angrily and threw my knife with my injured arm. My arm did not feel quite like it should and it only hit his shoulder near the base of his neck. He ran, not liking being injured, with my knife still lodged in the wound. I looked around panting, searching for more weapons. There were none in the immediate vicinity, but I saw that the girl from 12 had not moved from her starting platform.

Without thinking I ran to her. She ran as well but did not get far. Even with a week of proper food she still looked sickly and thin.

"P-please," she begged and I punched her hard in the face. Her head snapped backwards as I pushed her down to the ground. She looked so pitiful and I hesitated for a moment. The world seemed to swirl around me as I held her down.

"Sorry," I said, my voice sounding extremely cold. That's not how I had meant for it to sound. It's like I had no more control over myself at all as I did what I had been trained to. I just kept beating that poor girl from 12.

Dina's POV

The gong had sounded about thirty seconds ago and again and again I tried to move. Run. Nobody had come for me, which was a miracle. Maybe I had a bit of luck on my side after all. It Mimi that finally pushed me into action. Literally.

"Run!" she hissed, and then she did what she had told me. She was not as fast as she usually was as there was a long bloody gash at the bottom of her leg. I followed her, somehow still slower despite this. Mimi had been right at the end, just two tributes down from me. The boy from 8 was between us and he had gone straight for a bunch of spears in the middle, but the boy from 1 had stabbed him in the back before he could. She probably had not gone far and just hidden, but come back to get me out of my stupid non-moving state.

That had got her injured. She had been injured because of me.

"Is Bert alright?" I asked.

"I watched him before I ran. He was right in the centre, and hid himself in a crag by the cliffs. It isn't safe there but it is safer than having him move," Mimi said. She ushered me along. "Run. I'll find you."

Then she climbed up the tree like a squirrel and I did what I was told. I just ran, tripping over all sorts of plants and tree roots but still going, probably leaving a massive big trail behind me, but it was the best I could do.

Krystal's POV

There was blood on my hands, and all over my face and clothes. I kept telling myself to stop until finally I listened, slumping to the side next to the girl from District 12. Was she dead? Apparently I was soft as well. I had no heart to check, and as the fighting was still continuing there was no cannons. There never were until the bloodbath was over.

Almost everybody had fled. The girl from 6 and the boy from 9 were fighting each other without weapons, scratching and biting. Katran was watching them with an amused expression on his face, and I knew he was waiting for one of them to come out victorious before slaughtering the other. No matter who won out of the two of them, neither of them would survive. Perhaps they knew that. Maybe that was why they kept on fighting.

The boy from 5 was in the Cornocopia, probably thinking that nobody could see him. Obviously he was wrong. I got up and stepped towards him, being as quiet as I could. Then I heard a scream. That strange girl from 7 was looking right at me, perched in a tree about twenty feet up. The boy from 5 heard and his neck snapped around.

"Guess who is trapped!" I yelled, pointing at the boy from five as he searched desperately for an escape route. There was none to be found. He had been the unlucky one, chosen to search for supplies for his band of allies big enough to rival this year's pack. They would not be getting them.

I grabbed a machete as I ran, enjoying the feel of it in my hands, stabbing the boy from 5 deep in the heart. He didn't have a moment to react before he slid down the Cornocopia, blood oozing from the wound. The girl from 7 screamed again, and this time it was a scream of pain. She didn't stop, even when Katran ran to the tree. There was no way to get up to her, but I doubted it mattered because she was going completely hysterical.

Spinning back around again I saw that the girl from 6 and the boy from 9 lay dead, and Spear held a bloody sword in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Final two of the bloodbath. It's better if I did this instead of Katran."

Because with the way Katran was yelling at the girl from 7 now, I guessed that if it was left up to him he might have tortured the two of them to death. Final two of the bloodbath. There was no further need to do it quickly.

That was when the cannons fired. I counted. One… two… three… all the way up to eight. That was slightly less than average, but I saw nine bodies lying in the ground around us. Pulling my machete back out of the boy from 5, I walked over to the girl from 12. I had to check, and when I saw her I dropped to my knees.

She was still alive, only just. I stabbed her in the chest, feeling completely numb, the bracelet seeming to burn a hole in my arm although I knew that it was just my injury from Walton. The cannon fired once more.