The Bloodbath

In the Control Room, there was mayhem. Gamemakers hopped from corner to corner, making sure everything was in place. A cool woman's voice echoed in the bright chamber, informing the gamemakers of the whereabouts of the tributes. Everyone was going from place to place as they looked for any mistakes and put necessary corrections on the arena. Only Franco Creswell, who stood on his place in the room, was still, his head high as the wide screen in front of him nearly blinded his eyes.

The screen focused on the Cornucopia and the twenty-four holes around it where the pedestals were about to rise any second then. The vast field that held the Cornucopia was rather colorful which did not match Franco's personality at all. It was rather odd to think that Franco Creswell had come up with the vibrant idea. But like any other arena of the Hunger Games, there was a twist.

The ground of the stadium consisted of a mix of pure white fully bloomed tulips and blood red ones. Soil was barely seen beneath the sheet of flowers over the earth. Their stems were not seen either as if they were fully covered by the ground. Strangely, there were more white tulips than red. The red ones formed a strange pattern amidst their white companions. Surrounding the Cornucopia and a little behind the pedestals, red tulips were grouped together in circles with the white tulips surrounding them. A large number of red spheres spread across the entire arena. What could these red spheres possibly do?

From the ground as well were fully grown trees with a wide variety of exotic flowers decorating its rich green leaves. These strange flowers could possibly do more harm than good, but the tributes did not know that. The arena was relatively flat. There was not a single hill or mountain in sight, though the ground would rise towards the edges to conduct the flow of the water in the streams running across the floral ground. Little did the tributes know that under this magnificently crafted arena might just be the cause of their destruction.

"Just hope none of them think you're a queer after seeing all this," Lewis suddenly snorted beside Franco, gesturing to the flowery arena projected in front of them.

"Oh, I'm sure they won't think it's too girly once they see the whole theme of this," Franco replied with a small smirk.

"Oh, yeah," Carter suddenly joined in, taking his place on Franco's other side. "The flower theme would totally show 'em how manly this year's Head Gamemaker is."

Before Franco could snap back his response, the cool woman's voice boomed in the Control Room, making everyone freeze in place.

"Tributes are rising on their pedestals. Countdown will begin in three, two, one–"

Pushing his fellow gamemakers to their places, Franco ordered everyone to stay in position as he jammed his thumb on the red button by the long, glass table before him. With a press of a simple button, the countdown began; the woman's voice echoed in monotone as she counted down from fifty.

Fifty… Forty-nine… Forty-eight… Forty-seven… Forty-six…

Each tribute stood readily on their pedestals. The Careers had their game faces on as they scanned the vine-made Cornucopia with unusual plants decorating its outer shell. Covering the walls of the inside were different kinds and sizes of weapons. On the pure white ground surrounding it were bunch of crates situated far from each other and scattered around. Rucksacks of different sizes and colors were also dispersed before the pedestals of each tribute.

While all the eyes of the Careers were trained on the weapons, Percy Eden stared wide-eyed at the arena, taking in every single detail from it. His eyes darted from the strange Cornucopia made of thick vines to the peculiar ground that consisted of flowers colored red and white. His eyes narrowed at the red spheres situated in an equal distance from each other as they were positioned by the borderline of the vibrant forest.

A few pedestals to Percy's right, Amelie Spaulding was too mesmerized by the beauty of the arena to think straight. Snap out of it, she would tell herself. She was one of the first from the outer districts to finally rip her eyes away from the hypnotizing beauty and her eyes focused on the Cornucopia like the Careers did. There were a variety of axes near the mouth of the Cornucopia. If she ran across the field fast enough, it would give her enough time to snatch one and a backpack or two. Slowly, a smirk grew on her face. These Careers would not know what hit them.

On the other side of the field, Relly Jay's eyes darted from Drew to Langston who were both gazing at different ends of the forest. She desperately wanted to scream for them and ask which direction they would be heading, but that obviously was not an option. She bit her lip in anxiety and shut her eyes tight as the woman's counting echoed in her head.

Eighteen… Seventeen… Sixteen… Fifteen…

Unfortunately for Burton Howl, Zach Quince's pedestal was situated opposite his. He concluded in his head that the gamemakers had something to do with this. Luckily, the pair already had a plan if this were to happen. Burton just needed to ready his legs, as he would do quite an amount of running.

Erizelda Morrison on the other hand was getting quite impatient. Like her district partner, she had a plan for the bloodbath. She did not plan on going through these games alone. Her desire to join the Careers still stood, and she did not realize how desperate she was until that last ten seconds on her pedestal. She needed to join them. It was the only way of survival for her. They held the upper hand and Zelda absolutely refused to settle with someone lower than them. She was always on top, and she would continue being there in the Hunger Games.

Nine… Eight… Seven…

Most tributes had gone out of their hypnotized state that was caused by the beauty of the arena. Some tried making eye contact with allies, some were simply itching to finally run and some were going absolute mad already, their heads wildly spinning around to find the quickest way out.

Five… Four…

The grin on the faces of most Careers seemed so out of place amidst the looks of absolute terror on the faces of the tributes from the outer districts. The training in their lives led up to this moment. In three seconds, they were about to show the whole world what they have been spending their lives on for the past years in their district.

Three…

Two…

…One

It had been a blur. Ears seemed to have been blocked off by the overwhelming fear the tributes felt. Legs had minds of their own as they ran in any direction possible for safety. Unexpectedly, the tulips that made the ground did not make it harder for the tributes to pass. In fact, it simply felt like they were running through a grassy field. Unfortunately even though it felt that way, it was not that easy.

Burton, Olivia and Colleen almost immediately jumped off their pedestals but as Olivia and Colleen ran west, Burton proceeded north towards the Cornucopia. Many would think he was absolutely insane, but he knew what to do. He zoomed past Beckham Lester from Three who had been standing in the middle of the field with no idea what to do. After a split second of thought, Beckham bolted after Burton towards the Cornucopia, tailing him.

"What the hell?" Burton cried in annoyance when he spotted Beckham following him. The curly-haired fourteen year-old picked up the pace, but did not manage to shake off the younger tribute.

Meanwhile, Olivia and Colleen sprinted towards the forest, crushing tulips after each pounding step. They neared the edge of the forest and Olivia could feel the adrenaline pumping inside her. She was going to make it out. She and Colleen were going to be safe soon.

Very suddenly, Olivia, who had been running ahead of her older companion, stepped on one of the red spheres made of blood-colored tulips. With a strangled scream, Olivia completely sunk in the circle as if it were an enhanced version of quick sand. Colleen let out a wail of shock, stumbling back just in time before stepping into the red sphere herself. Before she could fall back, Rowen, who had been following the two girls, caught her by her arms and dragged her around the sphere to run deep into the forest.

In the Cornucopia, Necali had been the first to reach it. He glanced at the scene before him and smirked when more than half of the tributes were still present. The field of the Cornucopia had been bigger than he thought. Without hesitation, Necali picked seven knives, holding them all with one hand. Seven had been his lucky number and it never failed him then. He turned to scan the field of his first victim and spotted Braeden Rexler from Nine who was taking all the bags he could carry. With one swift movement, Necali's first knife soared through the air and sunk in between his eyes, ending his life in a second.

Sapphire had reached the Cornucopia after him and grinned at his presence.

"Good luck." Necali grinned back at her and tossed her one of the broadswords he had seen her use back in the Academy of One.

After one last nod as she caught the sword, Sapphire chased after Miles Palmer from Seven who had successfully stolen two backpacks. Necali was caught off-guard when Burton Howl slid past his legs in the Cornucopia. The boy from Eight tumbled once over the tulips and was back on his feet in record time. He escaped through the back entrance of the Cornucopia and darted towards the forest, opposite the pedestal he had been standing on a few moments ago. Necali barely had time to lift his hand with a knife to kill him. He had been too quick.

At the front entrance of the Cornucopia, Beckham Lester foolishly followed Burton into the weapon-filled shelter. Before he could step in though, a hand grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back. Ares Hammersmith effortlessly tore a loose vine from the walls of the Cornucopia and wrapped it around Beckham's neck. Pulling fiercely at the ends, Beckham was choked to death, falling forward at Ares' feet.

After snatching a dagger, Terra made her way to the field, chasing after the girl from Nine, Payton Garner. The petite thirteen year-old was fast, Terra could admit that, but she must have been dreaming to actually think she could escape without Terra's dagger sinking in her throat. Just as Terra was finally gaining on her, a knife from Necali soared past the fifteen year-old's running figure and sunk deep into Payton's arm.

Surprisingly, Payton managed to stay standing with the knife in her arm but her speed lessened greatly. Smirking, Terra finally caught up with the girl, gripping the handle of the used knife and twisted it harshly. Payton screamed in pain as Terra chuckled darkly. The girl from Four finally let her dagger sink in her chest with another twist and the thirteen year-old fall forward on the tulips, her blood staining the pure white of the flowers.

Near the middle of the field, Macy Zimmer and Rose Adams fought over a blue rucksack. It was one of the few that were left a good distance away from the Cornucopia and neither of the two girls even thought of taking the risk of stepping nearer the inner circle.

"Give–it–to–me!" Rose hissed through gritted teeth, pulled harder at the rucksack. For once, Macy stood her ground and did not give up. She shook her head furiously at the blonde.

The bags cover flipped open in the struggle and Rose spotted the handle of a knife popping out of the rucksack. Eyes glittering with an idea, Rose tugged the bag to her once more and pulled the knife out of it in the process. This remaining unknown to Macy, she pulled the bag towards her once again but this time, Rose let go. The older of the two fell back on the ground with the rucksack in hand. Her eyes widened when Rose towered over her with the knife in hand. She was going to be killed, and she could do nothing about it. Squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to block out the voices in her head, she waited for Rose's knife to sink in her.

Gasping, Macy felt Rose fall forward on her. The sixteen year-old quickly pushed herself backwards and let Rose's unmoving body fall on the white tulips. Macy's heart skipped a beat in complete gratitude when she saw Percy standing before her with a bloody flail in hand. He breathed heavily and his face was coated with sweat as stared down at his kill. Suddenly, his eyes snapped up to meet Macy's and if possible, his face had gone paler.

"What are you still doing here?" he screamed over the noise of the bloodbath. "Go! Go, Macy; just go!"

Macy returned to her senses and followed Percy's orders. Picking the knife up from Rose's grasp, the sixteen year-old sprinted into the forest. Little did she know that while Percy stayed rooted on his spot, silently hoping she'd make it in the forest alive, Necali had seen the whole exchange. Fuming, the blonde Career from One whipped his arm forward to throw his third knife. It soared past Percy's head, but Macy had been too far already. The knife sunk in on the ground, a few meters from Macy's running figure. She continued to run until her foot landed on one of the red spheres and she sunk in almost immediately, her screams for help muffled by the blood red tulips.

Hunter Vale had seen Macy Zimmer sink in the ground. He did not know where it led to, but it was a much better option than getting skinned alive by one of the Careers. Hunter sprinted to one of the red spheres by the edge of the forest. He had gone so close that he almost thought he had a chance. Unfortunately, it was not as easy as it seemed and Terra Johansenn appeared in front of the sphere he was about to jump into, her ally and district partner Reif by her side.

"Oh, look here," Terra taunted, her dagger glinting dangerously in the sun. "We've got Eleven trying to run."

"Cool," Reif said, unconcerned as he examined the end of the javelin he held.

"Shall I kill him?" Terra grinned.

"Uh, why are you asking for my permission? Can't you do it on your own?" Reif replied with a roll of his eyes. His district partner growled at his antics.

Hunter was frozen. He had lost hope so long ago already. No way would these Careers let him make it out alive. Suddenly, he felt a searing pain in his right thigh. Gasping in agony, fell forward on all fours, trying to block out the pain the best he could.

"Partage, what the fuck are you doing?" Terra growled at the brunette from Two who was a few feet away with her bow and arrows.

"You were taking too long," Kellisa shot back. "Now kill him before I decide to."

Muttering curses under her breath, Terra sliced Hunter's stomach open with a sadistic look in her eyes. Blood rushed out quickly and Hunter's face had gone pale from blood loss.

"Don't worry, Eleven," Terra whispered in his ear. "I'll still take you where you wanted to go in the first place."

Just as Hunter died, a tear slipped out of his left eye as Terra ordered for Reif to throw him in the red sphere. Unfortunately for her, Reif had gone somewhere else and she was forced to do it on her own.

A trio who like Hunter who had been making their way to a red sphere caught Reif's attention. The trio consisted of Relly, Drew and Langston. They had seen how the red spheres worked, and they decided to try it out. Drew mentioned that the gamemakers wouldn't just kill tributes that easily. If anything, these spheres would take them somewhere else, which was why tributes kept disappearing once they stepped in.

"I don't like this," Langston said uncertainly as he approached one of the red spheres.

"Come on!" Drew said looking rather excited. "I'll go in first, but you two have to promise me you'll go down after."

Relly and Langston exchanged looks, but nodded anyway. With a grin, Drew hopped into the sphere and she sunk in as if someone had pulled her from below. Within a second, Drew was gone and Langston gulped in anxiety. What if Drew was already dead?

"Go Langston," Relly urged him on. "I'll go after, I swear."

Nodding slowly, Langston hesitantly lifted his leg and lightly placed his foot on the red tulips. Like Drew, he immediately sunk in. He let out a yell but it was soon quiet as his head disappeared down under as well.

It was only Relly now, and she was thinking of just running into the forest that was just behind the red sphere or jumping in after Langston. Drew and Langston would definitely hate her if they were still alive and she left them because she was just a coward. For a moment, Relly wished she were as adventurous and free-spirited as Drew who could take risks.

Shaking slightly, Relly pushed herself off the ground with her small feet and jumped into the hole. Mid-air, a javelin came soaring out of the corner of her eye and sunk in her thigh. She screamed painfully just as she sunk in the hole and after a moment, the screaming was gone and Reif stood nearby looking pleased with himself.

On the other side of the field near the edge of the north forest, Sapphire dueled with Miles Palmer with a wicked smile on her face. All Miles held was a short, blunt knife he had pulled out from one of the rucksacks he had gotten. Sapphire was having far too much fun to kill him so easily, so she pretended to duel him first.

"Wow, you're so good with that!" Sapphire cackled as she gestured to his weapon. "Where did you learn to be such a good knife-wielder? You're like in Necali's level now, aren't you?"

"Just kill him, Sapphire," Ares suddenly called out from the back entrance of the Cornucopia where he held his own sword. "Kill him now, or I'll do it myself."

Pouting, Sapphire finally sunk her sword in Miles' chest and he fell back with blood seeping through his soaked tee.

"You ruin all the fun, Ares!" Sapphire snapped, turning from the dying boy to face her blonde ally but instead of Ares, she found herself staring open-mouthed at another blonde, particularly the blonde from Seven with an axe in hand.

"Necali!" she managed to scream out in desperation, her sword slipping out of her grasp.

The last she had seen of Amelie Spaulding was her sudden whip of her right arm and the axe spun through the air and sunk in Sapphire's stomach, making her fall on the ground of tulips beside the boy she had just killed.

"Sapphire!"

The moment Amelie decided to kill the Career; she knew what consequences she would suffer. But watching her district partner die in front of her had triggered something in Amelie and it made her act without thinking. It was a very rash decision, and the moment Sapphire called for her district partner, she immediately regretted sneaking in the Cornucopia when Ares ran out to join the killing once again. She should have just sprinted in the forest like everyone else. It was too late for that though, and Amelie knew it.

The blonde district partner of Sapphire appeared looking disheveled and worry etched on his bony face. His eyes darted from his groaning partner on the ground, to Amelie who stayed rooted on her spot, her limbs completely stiff. The moment Amelie's eyes met Necali Reinerston's green ones, she just had one thought in her head: run.

"Come back here, you filthy piece of District Seven scum!" Necali, absolutely enraged, pulled out his fourth knife and threw it with deadly accuracy at Amelie who was sprinting into the forest. If Amelie had not ducked, the knife would have sunk in her blonde head.

Yelling out a curse at his miss, Necali threw his fifth knife. Amelie was almost there. She was only a few meters from the first tree. Before running further though, the knife zoomed past her ear and slashed her cheek making her fall forward on the ground. A loud cry of anger filled Amelie's ears and in instinct, she immediately rolled to her side and Necali's sixth knife sunk in the ground where her body was positioned a second ago before she had moved.

Panting heavily and a side-stitch burning a whole in her stomach, Amelie forced herself to get up and continue sprinting into the forest. Necali had only one knife left. He could not miss. This was his last chance at this moment. His eyes watched as she finally managed to enter the boundaries of the forest. Desperate to kill, Necali threw his arm forward and the knife cut through the air. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. A string of sweaty, blonde hair swayed tauntingly before his eyes as the knife aimed directly for her head.

Before the knife sunk it its target, Amelie sidestepped a tree and ran in a completely different direction as she delved deeper into the forest. The knife sunk in the tree Amelie avoided instead with a loud thud.

Necali angrily buried his face into his hands. "Fuck!" he screamed in absolute anger.

He missed this chance to kill the girl who had killed one of his best friends. Her blonde head was no longer seen from where stood but he vowed he would find her and kill her in the most cruel and sadistic way possible. Amelie Spaulding would not escape him again.

"Guys, she's dying."

The sound of Percy's slightly worried tone snapped Necali's head up and he briskly walked to his old friend who still breathed with much difficulty. Blood poured out of her stomach and stained the pure white tulips she laid on. The entire field was quiet except for Sapphire's heavy breathing and muffled sobs. The bloodbath had finished and dead bodies of tributes were littered around the Cornucopia. Behind the back entrance of the vine-made shelter and near the boundaries of the north forest, the Careers gathered around their dying ally.

"Necali, you better kill that bitch," Sapphire said weakly through gritted teeth.

Necali knelt beside his friend, nodding his head firmly at her words.

"I can't believe I'm dying in the bloodbath," she whispered, slowly losing consciousness.

"You killed her district partner, Sapphire," Kellisa suddenly spoke, her eyes filled with grief as she stared down at her ally. She was not all that bad, compared to everyone else. She was much better company than Ares or Terra. She didn't want Sapphire to go so soon.

"'Suppose I did," Sapphire chuckled to herself but immediately wincing at the pain in her stomach. "I got one kill."

"You did get one kill," Necali nodded furiously, his hands gripping Sapphire's tightly.

Just as Sapphire opened her mouth to speak again, cannons boomed in the distance making the Careers jump in surprise. They each counted in their head the number of cannons.

One, two, three, four, five, six…

There was a sudden pause and finally, the seventh cannon boomed. Seven was Necali's lucky number. Quite ironic as the only person he could actually trust and his old friend was the seventh and last kill in the bloodbath.

After a while, the Careers began to leave one by one and examined their resources in the Cornucopia. Only Necali was left seated beside the dead body of his district partner as he began to think of ways to kill that stupid blonde from Seven. Little did he know that in a distance, a beautiful brunette was peeking behind a tree, watching the scene before her in awe.

She did not realize that Necali of all people would actually show that kind of grief over a person. He was human, just like everyone else here. She wanted to reveal herself so bad already, but she figured it would be too early for a new member. If she suddenly walked up to them, Necali would probably pull out an eight knife and kill her in a heartbeat. She didn't want that, so she decided to stay behind the tree, sitting on the flowerbed of white tulips as she watched the Career tributes from her spot.

"Later, Zelda," she whispered to herself. "Talk to them later."

So I got excited and I was in the zone of writing... Here's the bloodbath everyone! Yay! As this starts the games, I'll give you the results of the poll. Ares and Zelda get three votes each. Next with two votes are Kellisa, Percy, Burton, Rowen, Colleen and Zach. Necali, Reif, Terra, Amelie, Hunter and Olivia have one each.

Hope you liked this chapter. I know two of the characters here were not BB tributes but I needed more to die in the bloodbath and they were the ones I chose. Hope you guys like the arena as well. I'm going to go into more detail with this in the next chapters.

RIP extra tributes made by me, Rose and Hunter. I'm going to miss Sapphire... Till next time, everyone! :-)

EDIT: Just a question. What do you guys think of the theme Franco was going for in this chapter? No, it's not just flowers. It's mentioned in the chapter though quite subtly. :)

~jess