The First Day
Iris Solaric, District Five Female, 17
Beauthg03
The first thing Iris did after the interviews was head to the privacy of her bedroom so she could shrug off her purple dress in peace. She wasn't sure what to do with it, but she felt bad just leaving it crumpled on the floor. Instead, Iris picked up the dress and carefully folded it and laid it over a chair. Then, not knowing when she'd ever have a chance to be clean again, Iris stepped into the shower and just stood there for a few minutes, letting the warm water cascade down her body.
Once refreshed, Iris shut off the water and changed into the same pair of pajamas she had worn for the past few nights. She crawled into bed, knowing no one would come try to talk to her. Her mentor, Akila Mo, was quiet and skittish and only spoke to Iris to offer advice. Silex talked enough for the both of them, but even he was letting Iris and Avery have space tonight. Belphoebe, their grandmotherly escort, had hugged both tributes goodnight before retiring to her own room. As for Avery, he was nice enough, but Iris was sure he probably wanted to get some rest as much as she did.
Try as she might, Iris just could not fall asleep. Her mind and body were restless, and her eyes would not stay closed. She glanced at the glowing alarm clock more times than she should have, and each time she did, she was reminded of the precious sleep she was losing. Finally, at about two in the morning, Iris gave up and decided to stretch her legs. Perhaps a change of scenery would help her fall asleep.
As Iris opened her door and was surprised to see the glow of the television. Venturing out to the living room, Iris saw Avery curled up on the couch, knees drawn up to his chin.
"What are you watching?"
Avery jumped. "Oh, um, some romantic drama. Lily Belle is in love with Pablo, but Pablo is cheating on her with Scarlet Love, who's pregnant with Romeo's baby, except she thinks Romeo is his identical twin brother, Julio Mario Castilo Ramirez."
Iris snorted. "How do you keep track of that?" she asked, flopping down on the other end of the couch.
Avery shrugged and gave her a small smile. "I have no idea."
"It seems dumb." Iris stared at the screen anyway, not really paying attention to the dialogue or plot. She never thought she'd be spending her last night before going into the arena watching a Capitolite soap opera, but here she was.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Avery asked. "Or, for later today, I guess."
Iris scoffed, not caring if the Capitolites' cameras were watching every word or picking up every sound. "Of course not. Why would I be ready to enter a death match?"
"Good point," Avery said quietly. "I'm scared. Are you?"
Iris nodded, not holding back her feelings. What was the point? "Yes. Who wouldn't be, other than the Careers?"
"Maybe even some of them are scared. They're people too."
"I doubt it. They volunteered for this."
"Just trying to be optimistic." The conversation died for a few seconds, but Avery couldn't stay quiet for long. "Hey, Iris?"
"Hm?"
"I don't want to kill you in the arena."
"I'm glad," Iris said dryly.
"I mean, of course I don't, but I don't want my allies to kill you either. And I don't want you or Nerrah killing any of us."
"Well, I don't exactly want to kill you either, Avery, but if it's me and you in the finale, or me and Rowan, or me and Milo, I'm going to make sure it's me that goes home. If you valued living, you'd have the same attitude for yourself." Whether or not she could actually kill when the time came was up for debate, though. She was fairly sure adrenaline would kick in when it mattered, but who could be certain in the moment?
Avery frowned. "Right… It won't come to that though." He paused. "Hey Iris?"
"What?" Iris asked, growing annoyed.
"Do you think we can make a pact?" Avery asked, his voice small and hesitant. "If our alliances run into each other before the finale, we have a truce. My allies and I won't hurt you or Nerrah and you and Nerrah won't hurt me, Rowan, or Milo. You can tell Nerrah and I'll tell my allies."
Well, what was the harm in that? "Alright. Deal."
Avery smiled, despite their situation. "Great. I think I'm going to try to get some sleep. Should I leave the TV on?"
Iris shrugged. "Sure."
"Okay. Goodnight, Iris."
"Goodnight."
Avery disappeared down the hall, and Iris continued to stare mindlessly at the drama on screen. Eventually, she must have dozed off, because suddenly she was startled by bright lights flickering on and a high-pitched, yet gentle voice speaking to her.
"Iris dear, why are you out here? With the TV on?" Belphoebe said gently, her eyes full of concern.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here. I guess I did manage to fall asleep at some point though."
"Well, I'm glad you did get a little bit of rest, at least. You can start eating breakfast while I wake up Avery, alright dear? Make sure you eat a large, hearty meal. You don't want to go into the arena on an empty stomach."
All too soon, breakfast was over and Belphoebe lead Iris to a hovercraft, where her stylist was waiting. A man wordlessly inserted a tracker into Iris's arm before moving on. The arena must not have been too far away from the Capitol, because the windows darkened within twenty minutes. The hovercraft soon landed, and Iris descended down into a tube leading underground, her stylist close behind.
Iris's stylist was a cold man of few words. Creep that he was, he stared at her wordlessly as she stripped from her pajamas into a plain white t shirt, gray pants, a black jacket, and sneakers. It was a simple outfit, one that gave no hints about the arena. When she was done, her stylist pointed to a tube that Iris could only assume would launch her into the arena.
"In there," the stylist said gruffly. Iris did as direct, tilting her head back to see what she thought was a sky, though it was not the blue or gray sky she was used to seeing.
The door of the tube closed behind her, sealing Iris's fate. It was time.
Blaine Buchanan, Head Interviewer
This was definitely the part of his job that Blaine liked the least. After having such a good time just last night getting to know the tributes, now they were going to be thrown into the Arena. Each of them would see death face-to-face for the first time, if they were lucky enough to survive through the constant killing.
It was hard to watch young children die, of course it was, but sometimes it was harder to watch the children that survived watch their world crashing down. At least the casualties didn't have to suffer.
It was never easy, but it was something that Blaine was used to. Sometimes he didn't know why it was him out of everyone in the world that had to fight cancer. Especially not such a dire case, that left him in the hospital for years, sharing rooms in his youth with kids just as young as himself that didn't make it through the treatment. He wondered why he constantly had to fear for his life, and why he had to watch as people he knew got weaker and weaker before giving up the fight. Why had he survived? He often thought this. But he also knew that it was necessary, as morbid as it was, to desensitize him to watching it on the screen. He had lived that life many times before, so nothing shocked or outwardly saddened the man. He'd already been through it many times. He was just worried that Simone wouldn't be prepared for it.
Thankfully, the announcers got to watch the bloodbath off-camera. There was so much action that there was no way the announcers would be able to keep track of what was going on without being a distraction to the crowds. After the Bloodbath, while the tributes were experiencing the typical lull of the first day, the announcers presented a highlights reel to be sure the crowds saw all the action. That would give Simone a chance to recover from the initial shock of watching it all at once and realizing that she would have to talk about it to the crowds. All they had to do was comment on the Arena and hype up the countdown, then their job was done for the morning. She seemed like a strong woman, but she was also kind, and kindness was unfortunately not a good attribute when you have to talk about death this way.
"How are you feeling?" Blaine asked the woman gently.
"It's so strange," Simone replied. "I've been waiting for this day since I was a kid. I'm excited, but also a lot more nervous than I feel like I should be. Is that typical?"
"Of course it's typical. In fact, I still get nervous to this day."
"Rolling in ten," the man behind the camera said. Blaine, as was usual, felt his heart pick up. He wished he could say that he got less nervous over the years, but there was still that flutter of nerves that he would say something dumb and be laughed at. Plus, he was nervous on Simone's behalf this year. He wanted her to succeed and was sure she felt terrified. This was the moment of truth.
He glanced over at the young woman, who looked nervous and excited all at once. She was smiling from ear to ear and tapping her feet in her seat.
"Before I present a Games, I always like to take a deep breath," he says. "You can take it with me if you want."
"Okay!" Simone squeaked.
Blaine took her hand, which she squeezed tightly. "Inhale," he said, taking in as much air as he could in his lungs. He held the breath for just a few seconds. Then, along with Simone, he let it out slowly. She grinned, eyes alight.
"Here we go." Blaine smiled his largest as the light turned on to show that they were live.
"Hello Panem!" Blaine said.
"And welcome to the official live broadcast for the Ninety-Sixth annual Hunger Games! I'm Simone Silver…"
"And I'm Blaine Buchanan, and it's an honor to be watching the action right here with you!"
"We've just gotten word that the tributes are as we speak, final touches have been put on the tributes' uniforms and they are being loaded in their tubes to be transported to the Arena!"
Simone gave a small squeal of excitement. "This is just so thrilling Blaine! What do you think the Arena will look like!?"
"I don't know what Celestia has planned, but I've heard that the crowd is betting on a replica of the President's Mansion!" The announcers could hear the crowd cheering outside.
"That would be so cool! And fitting, as her grandfather, Corionalus Snow, was one of Panem's highly-esteemed and honorable presidents."
"But, I'm sure whatever it is, Celestia wouldn't have created it without a few tricks up her sleeve."
"Celestia keeps everyone on their toes, including us! That's why she's such a popular Head Gamemaker!" The crowd cheered more at that.
Blaine's headset beeped and he put on an excited-looking beam. "Oh! I've just received word that the tributes are right now about to see the Arena for the first time! And that means that so will we! Let's cut to the live feed!"
The screen that was built into their table showed a generic shot of a tube rising so that Blaine and Simone could conveniently see what the crowds saw.
The Arena was dimly lit, the sky glazed over copper, dark clouds looming in the sky, obscuring the sun. Destroyed sidewalks, rubble, and buildings that were smoking and torn to pieces were scattered around the area. It was far from the beautiful President's mansion, in fact the complete opposite.
"Well, this certainly defies the crowds' thoughts!" Simone said, to get it started.
"It looks like a wasteland," Blaine said. "Torn apart by war."
"Oh!" Simone said, "I see. Yes, that is what it looks like."
Blaine watched as the tributes blinked and squinted before realizing that the Arena was murky and squinting to see the Cornucopia, which was laid out in front of them. The horn was full of supplies, with just enough sprinkled outside to tempt those that were on the fence about running towards the action or away.
"The countdown has begun!" Simone said happily. "Just sixty seconds until the action begins!" The announcers watch as the sky lights up with the numbers counting down from sixty.
"Let's see the tributes!" Simone said, turning over to the footage of the Games. Both of them looked to be sure their mics were off and then hurried to the break room where they would watch together. Blaine could feel the nervous energy radiating from the TV screen. He felt it in his heart, too. He watched as the countdown reached Five, and heard the crowd yelling out the countdown with them excitedly.
Blaine winced as the gong rang and the Careers burst into action first. Ares was a particularly brutal force. He lunged at the tribute that was standing next to him, Avery from District Five. Before the boy could turn around and run away, Ares grabbed him and violently kneed him in the face before forcefully snapping his neck. The boy collapsed to the ground before he could scream, twitching until his body stopped.
By the time Avery was killed, the other Careers were at the golden horn with their weapons of choice. His allies, though shocked, weren't frozen. Milo, tears in his eyes, got shoved by Nerrah of District Six, who was running to Iris, her ally. Milo scrambled to his feet and grabbed a small bag from the mouth of the horn before he and Rowan of District Seven turned around and ran into the smoking rubble.
As Iris ran towards the bags on the outer ring of the horn, temptation got the best of her and she was impaled by Soren's war scythe. Nerrah, who was running to meet her from being across the group, froze in shock when she saw it, but Blaine saw her resolve harden as she kept running towards the Cornucopia. Blaine was worried for her, but couldn't change her mind as she charged in towards the stock of weapons.
Nerrah was pushed out of the way by Pyra, who was going for a weapon also. The confident twelve-year-old was stabbed by the dagger of Zircon, who was defending the Cornucopia's supplies. Her ally, Katarina, gasped in shock, but she also didn't stop.
Another tribute was killed quickly, Everett of District Ten. When she realized that there were no swords left in the Cornucopia, Tay of District Four grabbed her secondary weapon of choice, throwing knives. While Everett was escaping, Tay threw a knife, which cleanly hit him in the back, putting him out of his misery quickly.
While that was happening, Dinah Cambric of District Eight was charging towards supplies. Thoreau from District Eleven was already there, and when she approached, he attacked. Thor swatted her in the face, causing Dinah to screech and try to run away, but Thor was relentless. Dinah covered her face and kicked her long legs, which caused Thor to groan. At the sound, Mav, Thor's ally, came running. Before he could see it was his own District partner, Dinah was killed by a knife he picked up and the boys got away, each with a backpack.
During the fight, a blood-curdling scream rang out across the field. Blaine had to cover his eyes as the sweet Brooklyn was brutally struck down by Ares's giant sword-like claymore. Her ally Russ was running towards the threat to save her, but before he could help her, he was also struck down by Ares. Blaine winced as Apple, their ally, appeared on the camera. She was able to nab a hatchet and looked around in the chaos for her last ally, Ali.
It was too late at that point. Ali was among the bodies collapsed and bleeding on the ground, after Bliss hit her with the mace she'd collected from the Bloodbath. Apple hurried up and ran away, now officially alone. She ran past her District partner, neither of which acknowledged each other. Marco was sporting a bleeding nose, from a minor scuffle with Devon of District Six for supplies. Eventually the boys left each other and ran. Marco was carrying a bag of apples and a backpack, while Devon, who probably had a wicked bruise on his chest from a tough blow, had only a tiny bag to speak for.
Amalissa of District Two had taken a more defensive position. Instead of going for a big threat that was in her grasp like Marco, she decided to wait after she had her sword and team up with an ally. Soren came over to her and they didn't have to talk to know what the other was thinking. They went for a strong threat that was still in the Cornucopia, Katarina of District Ten. She'd just found a weapon that she could use when she was targeted by the formidable Careers. Soren and Ama were closing in on her when out of nowhere, Soren was struck between the legs by Nerrah from behind. The boy from District Four let out an unmanly shriek as he grabbed his crotch and fell over.
"Not cool dude!" the District four boy yelled from the ground at the District Six tribute.
Nerrah hurried to Katarina. She could have had revenge for her ally, but with Ama around and other Careers turning their focus away from those who are fleeing, it was now impossible.
"Come with me," Nerrah said, holding her hand down to the District Ten girl. Katarina didn't hesitate, taking the hand of the other girl who had lost her ally, and they hurried out together. On the way, while Ama was frozen in shock and helping her ally up, Tay saw the scene, hurrying over and throwing some knives at the girls. One hit Katarina's ankle and the other painfully buried itself in her arm. Nerrah helped both of them get away from the Careers.
Tay yelled as the pair got away. None of her allies were great at range weapons, so there was really no one to help her target the girls unless they were willing to put up a chase, which nobody was up for after that.
It had happened so fast, with so many events overlapping each other, that Blaine had no idea if he'd seen everything right. Next to him, Simone's eyes were wide as she tried to take everything in. Thankfully, there were specialists that made the recap, all he and Simone had to do was read off what was written for them to say.
The Careers regrouped after that, all of them sighing and smiling at each other, quickly and excitedly recapping what they'd done. But, from the back of the Cornucopia, Blaine could see that one tribute remained. Mar snuck quietly around the horn, looking out for the Careers. Slowly, they reached around the lip, to grab a small backpack from the ground. Without any notice, Tay whipped a knife at them. The metal clanged against the horn, having missed. They quickly started running. Ama, having not killed in the Bloodbath, was shoved towards the fleeing tribute. Ama, knowing she didn't have a choice anymore because the world: and her allies: were watching, hurried after them. Mar was getting away, so Ama gave one last throw of her sword. The weapon cleanly impaled its target, and Mar collapsed with a yelp.
Ama, hidden from her allies, slowed her pace. She kept a brave face, but Blaine could see her world shattering in her eyes. It was so hard to watch.
"I'm sorry," Ama murmured, putting her foot on Mar's back and pulling the sword out of them with a great tug. She took a deep breath and hurried back to her allies.
"Did you get them!?" Tay yelled, grinning. She was obviously having the time of her life.
"Yeah," Ama said, giving them an unconvincing smile.
Ares narrowed his eyes, but gave her a pat on the back. "Nice one," he said, giving her a smile.
A few seconds later, the cannons started. Blaine counted on his fingers and realized that there were nine. Nine deaths. That's a fairly big Bloodbath, so many dead tributes… Children. Blaine sighed and glanced over at Simone, glad it was over.
"How are you holding up?"
Simone's smile was sadder, her eyes were hollow. "Never better," she said. But Blaine could see the truth.
Just like all those children on that screen, Simone's face looked different now than it did before this started. She'd seen raw death with her own two eyes.
Like them, she was now broken beyond repair.
A/N: As you might have noticed, we skipped the night before chapter and jumped right to the Bloodbath. That means that a couple tributes were slacked of one POV, but Dreamer and I decided that after so long of writing this story, we just want to kick it into high gear already. We hope you understand.
And we hope you enjoyed the Bloodbath, if you're still reading. After years of this story, we've decided that we are going to make the Games go by quickly, in just a few chapters. We chose to speed things up because the number of people reading is small and this story is low on our priority list with significant life events approaching and other stories to think about. We hope you bear with us and enjoy the action-packed Games as they go by. Thanks for your support!
Eulogies:
24th place: Avery Haley, District Five, Killed by Ares Hardy, District Two
Avery was a really sweet boy and really fun to write. He was unfortunately placed right next to the most powerful and bloodthirsty tribute, and there would be no way that he could possibly get out alive. He will be missed dearly by his allies. Thank you for him OodleStroodle, hope you enjoyed seeing him.
23rd place: Iris Solaric, District Five, Killed by Soren Cantarell, District Four
Iris was a really interesting character that went beyond the typical District Five girl with her lively daring attitude. Sadly, she was lured in by the bags at the mouth and unfortunately paid the price for it. Thanks so much for her, beauthg03, she was a lot of fun.
22nd place: Pyra Leyland, District Seven, Killed by Zircon Smith, District One
Pyra was a different take on the twelve-year-old in a time where many of them were innocent and sweet. Pyra was ambitious and confident despite her young age, but she ultimate fell into the temptation of trying to get supplies and, like the others, paid the price for it. Thanks for her Kate and I'm so happy to hear that you're doing well!
21st place: Alisha Morwelder, District Eleven- Killed by Bliss Michalson, District One
Ali was a really fun District Eleven girl! She was inquisitive and thoughtful, and she had good thoughts and observations. She made good allies that fit her well, but their optimistic plan to get supplies was ultimately the death of them. She will be greatly missed. Thanks for her LostItAtSorry!
20th Place: Everett Dyer, District Ten- Killed by Tay Fairingdale, District Four
Everett was actually the only character that was submitted specifically to be a bloodbath. But it was actually really sad to kill him on the first day because we loved him so much! He was a good boy and we were really thankful to have someone submitted to be a BB death, as sad as it was. He tried his best to escape, but Tay's long-range weapons got the best of him in the end. Thank you so much for him EjBeaumont!
19th place: Dinah Cambric, District Eight- Killed by Maverick Nash, District Eight
Dinah was another character that was very thoughtful and made to fade into the background because she's just a normal girl really. But, she has a family that loved her very much and that will really miss her now that she's gone. She was fun to write and will be missed. Thanks for sending her in Meg, and we hope you stick around to see how Nerrah does!
18th place: Brooklyn Bay, District Twelve- Killed by Ares Hardy, District Two
David, I think we all knew this was coming. She was just too sweet and good to possibly have a shot outside of the bloodbath, especially because her alliance decided to go in for supplies. She was very sweet and a very normal thirteen-year-old kid, which made her a lot of fun to write. But, sadly, it was her time. She will be missed greatly by her remaining ally, family, and friends. Thanks for sending her in David and we hope you stick around to see how Mav fares!
17th place: Russet "Russ" Hem, District Twelve- Killed by Ares Hardy, District Two
Celtic actually really wanted Russ to live past the bloodbath when we were planning out the story because she loved writing his reaping so much. Unfortunately, Dreamer had to be the voice of reason and make Celtic see that there's no real way he could have made it out alive because he and Brook were so close. It is painful to see him go this early, but there was really no way to avoid it. Thank you for him Anna, he was so much fun!
16th place: Amaranth "Mar" Smith, District Nine- Killed by Amalissa Blackthorne Vesallius, District Two
This was the one last death to top a very crazy bloody Bloodbath. This was hard for us because Mar was so different and just a lot of fun to write because of their spunk and sassy comments. They are unashamed about who they are, which let us really run wild when writing them. It was hard to kill them this early, but with the strategy, there was not a really good way for them to get out unscathed. Thanks so much for them, Criss!