Sapphire Riddle (15), District Four Female-POV

I walked over to a piece of driftwood, humming pleasantly to myself. It was an old song, one that wasn't exactly popular even then. According to the stories, people had programmed robots to sing—Vocaloids. I couldn't understand the song, as it was in mostly gibberish, but I liked to imagine it was about murder.

The nonsense words flew in and out of my head, and I glanced up, seeing Prodigy's watchful gaze. As soon as our eyes met, she flinched, as if struck by lightning. I felt heat rise to my cheeks and I looked away, focusing my attention on Emiliana.

"Why did this have to happen!" she groaned, as Avalon tied the bandages tight on her hand. It was a pitiful little stump, and rather unfortunate for someone skilled with throwing. Her mace was tucked into her belt, with a few knives up her sleeves. Well, now, just one sleeve—there wasn't much point having knives ready for a stump to throw.

"Because you weren't prepared enough," Prodigy answered coolly, gracing us all with her presence, "Now, at any moment they'll confirm the death count. I vote that we come up with somewhere to sleep."

"Perhaps not underneath the countdown of doom," I yawned, glancing down at the strange screen behind us. No one knew exactly what it did, or why it was there. All we knew is that with each minute, the time remaining on it grew less and less.

There was a silent agreement that no one wanted to find out what happened when the timer ran out. Most likely, once the countdown ended, so did our lives.

"This location isn't too bad," Ribbon muttered, looking around nervously. If he had been scratching at himself, I would have pitied him. He wasn't however. There was no reason for a Career to be using substances anyways.

It wasn't considered proper.

"I vote we stay here," Avalon grinned broadly, "Give the corpses a little bit of space, but the cornucopia is good shelter. None of the tributes would dare come here, anyways."

"True, they think we're creeps," I beamed. Prodigy was staring at me again, causing me to swallow painfully.

"Alright, we'll stay here," Prodigy nodded, her eyes now downcast. "The supplies have already been sorted, no? Then I believe all we need to do is come up with a strategy."

She paused, her pale face almost shimmering in the sun light. As if they had been waiting exactly for her to finish speaking, the cannons began to go off. It was a slow and painful process, as if waiting for your grandparent to finish a sentence—it's unbearable.

One….Two….Three…

Four….Five….Six….Seven…Eight…

Emiliana giggled a bit, interrupting the near perfect silence. It gained her a scolding glance from Prodigy, who, as the name suggested, was indeed just that. She was also, it seemed, a bit of a control freak.

"Wait," Prodigy ordered, causing silence to calm again, "It's not over yet."

Nine….Ten….Eleven….

Twelve….

Thirteen.

"Perfect," Prodigy beamed cruelly, "My calculations were correct. Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the bloodiest Hunger Games you've ever seen."

We all mockingly applauded, getting up and stretching our muscles a bit. I shouldered by trident, having already cleaned the blood off of it. It gleamed in the sunlight, one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. It was even more beautiful with the blood on it, of course. Yet even clean, it spoke of deep horrors—of vengeance.

"There are only thirteen of us left," Ribbon pointed out dully.

"Five Careers," I surmised, "Eight others. It's going to be a short Hunger Games, isn't it?"

No one dared to say a word. The tensions mustn't yet grow among the pack—in most games, this isn't an issue. No one had ever killed off half of the tributes before the game started before. The bloodbath was never this bloody. The game was almost over before it had begun.

It was unsettling, to say the least.

"We should go hunting tonight," Prodigy mused, tucking a strand of her hair back into her braid, "I'd like to send a few of you out to scout, but we'll give them a few hours first…Let them think that they're safe, even if it's just for a little while."

Emiliana's hand nearly shot up into the air—her singular hand, mind you. She was too desperate to be liked, to needy. It was the unspoken truth of the Careers that no outsider districts could ever really join. She would be kept around until she was no longer needed. Then, she would be disposed like yesterday's trash.

She was just another tribute to kill.

"Sapphire," Prodigy called out softly, "You're going to come scouting with me. I trust that you aren't a complete imbecile."

She chuckled softly, as if there weren't a bunch of volatile and easily offended Careers surrounding her. I smiled meekly at first, before joining in on her chuckling. It was all very strange, this interaction.

Perhaps she was planning to kill me.

Emiliana practically groaned, "I suppose we can work on setting up camp a little bit more, get some food cooking and such…"

Avalon and Ribbon didn't look too thrilled at the prospect, but they consented regardless. No one wanted to cross Prodigy. Her scythe was still dripping with blood, as she hadn't bothered to clean it yet. Ultimately, it was bad for the blade, but good for striking fear into us all.

"I'm glad we've come to an agreement," she smiled, "President Gremlin would be proud of you all."

Everyone bowed their heads—it was an agreed upon stunt. We held a moment of silence, imagining the tearful Capitol viewers watching, cheering us on for honoring the memory of their fallen leader. It was necessary. It was simply good politics—everyone was emotional over it.

"Our kills today, our progress," Prodigy continued, as if she was a priest at a ceremony, "are dedicated to his everlasting memory."

Her eyes flashed strangely, and she opened her mouth, with slight hesitation. "We'll kill every piece of tribute trash we have to. Whatever it takes…we'll do it."

Everyone murmured agreements, not daring to raise our heads yet. It was like we were part of a cult, instead of part of the Career Pack.

Was there really that much of a difference, though?

Jeremy Carath (18), District Five Male-POV

They say that you can make friends in strange places. They never told me that you could make friends while running away from a mass murder.

I had been stumbling through the jungle, dazed and confused, when I found myself in a clearing. Two other tributes emerged from the bush, their faces etched with fear and panic. It was almost natural for the three of us to band together—to face the Hunger Games together. It didn't matter anymore what pacts had been made before, of who we promised to stick with—all that mattered was surviving.

We hiked for what seemed like ages, jumping and screaming at everything that moved. A few snakes appeared, and Soxalia assured us that they were quite poisonous. It made me feel so relieved to know that not only were the Careers out to kill us, but so was the arena itself.

"This is a good place to rest, right?" I asked, panting and struggling to carry my own weight.

Soxalia and Benjamin, for whatever reason, didn't appear to be nearly as tired. Benjamin wasn't a very talkative person—he looked more like a beast than a person, to be honest. He seemed like he was born to be in this arena.

"We can stop here," Benjamin said, surveying the area quickly. "No fires."

"I…Right…I guess….That makes sense, they'd see the flame…," I sighed, staring around in the seemingly endless jungle maze.

I couldn't wait to be out of this place already. Soxalia, on the other hand, was spreading out the two bedrolls that we managed to grab. A tarp was used as a blanket, and the three of us would all have to get a lot more familiar with each other. We had a few weapons—a few knives—and a meager supply of water.

Beyond that, we had nothing. Beyond that, we were simply waiting to be killed.

The cannons broke the heavy and tired silence—thirteen shots. There were already thirteen dead tributes. Were they Careers? Were they people we knew, people we had come to tolerate? We couldn't know. We all felt sad and happy—it wasn't us that the cannons were ringing for.

"Half of the tributes are gone already…," Soxalia pointed out, sitting regally on the tarp, "The games are already halfway done."

Benjamin nodded, walking off on his own. He might have mentioned something about hunting, about scanning the area. I didn't hear him. I awkwardly sat down, never before feeling so useless, so tiny, so fragile.

"If only those were all Careers," I joked, forcing a smile to spread across my face.

"I'd hope not," Soxalia giggled, "Then I'd have to wonder, who could kill all of the Careers at once like that?"

"True," I grinned, "That would cause us to have far more problems…"

Her eyes were beautiful, coy and curious at the same time. I'd never seen anyone before that looked like her, yet I found it rude to ask. Everyone looked different from all of the districts—yet no one ever looked like her.

"I saw one of the Careers lost a hand," she mentioned, almost absentmindedly.

"That could come in handy for us," I said, regretting the pun as soon as I said it.

Soxalia started giggling, and we fell into silence for a while. I didn't know how much time passed, but Benjamin returned wordlessly. He dropped a few squirrels in front of us, all of them freshly skinned.

"Now we can make a fire," Benjamin muttered, looking at me with a sense of purpose.

"Oh," I realized, "Yeah, yeah…I can make a fire."

He didn't seem to convinced; I winced. I went off by myself, leaving Soxalia and Benjamin behind, and I started to gather up wood. It was a little difficult at first, but then I decided to just pluck branches off of trees with all of the force I had. Each one came off noisily, but I didn't care. No one would be out looking for us yet—everyone was resting.

I marched back half an hour later, my arms filled with twigs and leaves, and I got to work. Within fifteen minutes, a messy fire had been put together, the smoke coming off of it in waves. Benjamin eyed it warily, as if tempted to destroy it. Instead, he started to cook the squirrels over it, against his better judgment.

"I was just saying, Jeremy," Soxalia began, "I should take the first watch tonight. You two should rest up, get your strength."

She smiled sweetly, as if she believed every word that she was staying. It bothered me slightly, the notion that we needed rest more than her, but I nodded. I hated myself for it instantly, wishing that I could have protested and refused, but instead I sat down next to the fire.

"We should probably make camp somewhere else, tomorrow," I said, tracing small patterns in the dirt. "Just to keep on the move and such."

Soxalia nodded, seeming slightly put out. "Always on the run, aren't we?"

"There's an awful lot of running in these games," I chuckled, eyeing Benjamin warily. He was too quiet for a tribute, for someone running for his life. He looked too comfortable, too calm.

A thought struck me suddenly, sending a chill throughout my entire body. There could very easily be a reason for why he was so calm. It would explain how we all sort of fell into this makeshift alliance—he was a spy for the Careers. Tonight, when we're sleeping, he might cut our throats. No one would ever know.

Maybe he'd already killed other tributes, ones before the two of us found him.

I laughed nervously, watching him out of the corner of my eye. "So…Where are you from, Benjamin?"

He looked at me as if I was the most idiotic person he had ever met. "I'm from District Seven, stupid."

Oh. Right. I knew that. "I mean, you seem like you're pretty a home here…"

"We have a lot of woods," he answered gruffly, "Jungles aren't too much different."

"Right," I swallowed. "I'll just shut up now."

Avalon Argo (17), District Two Female-POV

Prodigy and Sapphire's figures appeared in the distance, and I grinned, putting down my bow and arrow. I sprinted over to them, bouncing up and down almost. Finally, there would be some excitement again! Ribbon and Emiliana were rather boring characters—they didn't understand the thrill of the games, the blood pumping through your veins.

I almost considered killing them, just for something to do.

"You guys took forever!" I groaned.

Prodigy shrugged, with Sapphire's face seemed tinged. She was fair skin—it was probably sunburn. She must not have gotten out in the sun too much, which was odd for a Career, yet not terribly unusual. Private gyms for training had become rather popular in the last decade or so.

"There's a group of tributes not too far from here," Prodigy reported, "The idiots made a fire—there's tons of smoke. Should be an easy kill."

"How many?" I asked, as we walked back over to Ribbon and Emiliana.

"Three of them," Sapphire chuckled, "Two boys, one girl. Should be fairly easy pickings, but…"

"They've got Wolf Boy," Prodigy explained, "If I didn't know any better, I would say he was a mutation."

"What's to say he's not?" Emiliana pointed out, gingerly touching one of her many knives.

Prodigy nodded in acceptance, before grabbing her own weapon again. "I say that we kill them now. They're making food. It's a free meal."

The rest of us shrugged in agreement, except for me. I jumped up slightly, a crazy grin spreading on my face. "Alright! Let's go cream some tributes!"

"Calm down!" Sapphire giggled, but I could see her eyes lighting up as well. This is what we were born for, what we trained for.

This was my happy place.

The rest of the Careers assembled their weapons, and then we strolled out to the jungle. We left Ribbon behind, as someone had to watch the supplies. Emiliana refused to stay behind to do it, despite obvious reasons—it didn't matter too much though, in the long run. Both of them were disposable and weak.

"Two people will attack Wolf Boy," Prodigy whispered, as we were about a quarter of a mile away from the tributes. "That'll be Sapphire and I, since we've already scouted the area."

I nodded, "I'll take…Who else is there that's decent?"

"You might as well take Soxalia," Prodigy shrugged, "The other one there is Jeremy Carath—he doesn't seem like all too much. A real Peeta throwback, if you ask me, but he lacks the strength."

"Perfect," I grinned, just like the Cheshire Cat, "I might even be able to get both of them!"

Emiliana opened her mouth to protest, yet quickly realized that no one would care. With each minute, she was catching on more and more. She hasn't earned her place yet. It's one thing to kill tributes. It's another thing to have the birth right of being in the pack, of being groomed for it—that's what makes you a Career.

We walked in silence for the rest of the way, splitting up before we come into view of the tributes. I crept up a tree noiselessly, scaling it as best as I can. From the best as I can tell, there shouldn't be too many violent surprises up there for me, but I'm still wary. This arena looked like a venomous spider horror story waiting to happen.

I lept across the treetops, ending at the very tree above the three tributes. A couple of snakes and spiders seemed to be in the tree with me, but I paid them no attention. They didn't seem to mind my presence, for the time being.

"I told you, it's not a good idea to…"

I could hardly make out their voices, but I extended my arm, knocking an arrow into my bow. Aiming at the neck of the speaker—Prodigy was right, it was the Peeta lookalike—I released the arrow silently. It almost seemed to sprout in his neck, and his face turned into an expression of surprise.

Before Soxalia had a chance to react, a knife appeared in her throat, also as if it came from nowhere. Emiliana, I realized with a grin—Stumpy is good for something after all.

Wolf Boy, however, started to go into a sprint. I aimed my arrow at him, ready to kill, when I see Prodigy and Sapphire appear out of seemingly nowhere. Sapphire knocked him to the ground, and Prodigy, she laughed a bit. She was saying something to him, but I couldn't make it out.

A moment later, Prodigy's scythe embedded itself into his back. It wouldn't kill him instantly. It'll be slow. It'll be painful. I grimaced as she pulls it out, and Sapphire kicked dirt into his face. His companions, Soxalia and Jeremy, foolishly pulled the weapons out of their necks—they wouldn't last long.

Prodigy waved her hand, signaling for me to come down. I nodded, gracefully jumping out of the tree, rolling when I hit the ground.

"Benjamin says that they were alone, and that the other tributes weren't anywhere near," Prodigy explained, her sentence accented with two cannons.

Sapphire giggled wickedly, stepping onto Benjamin's back. He screamed, feeling the pressure on his wound. His face turned white, and every inch of it is covered in pain. Snarling, he attempted to get up, but it was no use. He was trapped, wounded, and dying. He was powerless.

"We could always keep him as a pet," I offered, giggling along with Sapphire.

Prodigy rolled her eyes, as if we were little children playing with a toy. Perhaps we were.

"I say we leave him here to suffer," Prodigy murmured, "Don't you think?"

I laughed, "Oh, that's evil of you! He's going to be in so much pain, and there's nothing he can do about it!"

Prodigy shrugged again, as if nothing could ever make her feel. She picked up one of the squirrels that they had roasted and began to nibble on it. "Mmm," she muttered, "This is delicious."

We all dug in, feasting on the squirrel. It was rather amazing. Every now and then, we glanced down at Benjamin, watching him slowly bleed to death. At some point, his cannon sounded off.

We hardly even noticed.

Prodigy Mallord:

Ribbon Layfayette:

Avalon Argo:

Scipio Masca: knife thrown at the heart by Emiliana Vincere (D3)-BB

Emiliana Vincere:

Mika Litz: skull shattered with a mace by Emiliana Vincere (D3)-BB

Sapphire Riddle:

Caspian Cavaliere: killed with a knife to the back, thrown by Avalon Argo (D2)-BB

Marlene Rosenthall: stabbed in the stomach with a trident by Sapphire Riddle (D4)-BB

Jeremy Carath: shot with an arrow by Avalon Argo (D2)

Soxalia Chia: killed with a knife to the neck, thrown by Emiliana Vincere (D3)

Morgan Blake: neck slit with scythe by Prodigy Mallord (D1)-BB

Aria Mallows: hit repeatedly in the head by Natalie McDoe, skull broke (D8)-BB

Benjamin Romulus: stabbed in the back with a scythe, left to bleed out by Prodigy Mallord (D1)

Natalie McDoe:

Jaspe Hallindale: head cut off with a scythe by Prodigy Mallord (D1)-BB

Ivy Montina: stabbed by River Wolfsbane (D12)-BB

Emyrus Lapworth: stabbed by River Wolfsbane (D12)-BB

Amya Kessim: beheaded with an axe by Ribbon Layfayette (D1)-BB

Jango Trian:

Abrielle Miyo: stabbed with a trident by Sapphire Riddle (D4)-BB

Lotus Hakoda: slaughtered with a trident by Sapphire Riddle (D4)-BB

River Wolfsbane:

Shiloh Iscani: speared with a trident by Sapphire Riddle (D4)-BB

Cylana Ellis:

Arko Bleu: