Seni Gold, District 1 (17)

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

I crossed my arms and glared down at the two girls lying on the flat rock in front of me. Both of them had stripped down to their underwear and were lying on their backs, their faces tilted up towards the midday sun.

Sierra's eyes snapped open. "We're tanning dumbass," she sneered, closing her eyes again. "Now move, you're blocking our sun." When I didn't go anywhere, she opened one eye and said, "Why are you still here?"

"It's bloody day 7!" I roared, startling both girls whose eyes quickly opened. "We've been here for a week, and how many tributes have we managed to kill since the bloodbath? None!"

"Correction," stated Naomi, propping herself up on her elbows. "I killed Brax. Remember?"

"That doesn't count," I snarled. "It's not like we hunted him, and he was a complete moron anyway. Kind of like you guys! What the hell is sitting here on your asses going to accomplish? I say we go kill some tributes!"

"So go kill some then," sighed Sierra, settling back down on her rock. "Oh and go re-fill the water bottles while you're away. We're running a bit low."

"You're lucky that I haven't decided to kill you!"

Naomi snorted and Sierra turned to her and said, "Cute, he thinks he could take us."

"Oh I know I can take you."

The girls raised their eyebrows at each other and burst into another fit of giggles.

"Sure you can, Seni."

"Yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night."

There was a sigh from nearby and I turned to see Nic sitting on a higher rock, sharpening his sword with a flat rock.

"Best not to get involved," he said, nodding towards the girls. "They're in a strange mood today."

I rolled my eyes at him and walked off, annoyed. I really hated Sierra and Naomi's new-found friendship. Where had that come from anyway? It was like Naomi had flipped a switch on her personality and suddenly transformed into this vicious, bitchy teenaged girl. I won't lie, it is quite hot, but I definitely preferred the old Naomi a whole lot more. This new one isn't as much fun for me.

"Well don't you look happy," Maddie said sarcastically as I sat down opposite her. The small girl was cooking some kind of bird over the hot coals of our dying fire, occasionally blowing on the embers so that small flames engulfed the meat before simmering down again. She seemed to know what she was doing.

"Shut up," I muttered, watching her blow on the coals once more. "What you got there?"

Maddie shrugged. "It was a spotted chicken-like thing before I got it," she said. "Hopefully it tastes like one."

"You should crumble some of those green nuts over it."

Maddie looked up, eyebrows raised. "You're giving me cooking advice? Wow, I would never have expected that."

Now it was my turn to shrug. "I have four sisters," I explained as Maddie blew on the fire again. "It's hard not to pick up things like this."

"It's strange how little I actually know about you," Maddie said thoughtfully. "You are my district partner after all. Plus you'd been picked as this year's male tribute whilst the 48th Games were still running. I should know you."

She had a point. It was strange that she didn't know who I was. I'd always thought that everyone in the district knew about me. I mean, I'm top of the Training Academy at the moment and there was a big announcement last year when they finally decided that I would be this year's male tribute. I always thought that girls knew who I was, especially since I'm so easy on the eyes.

Maybe it was because she wasn't from the Training Academy. The rules there are pretty strict, especially when it comes to volunteering and anyone under the age of sixteen (well unless they had special permission) would be severely punished if they made it back from the Games alive. I thought it was a pretty stupid rule, but it made sense to have it there to ensure that only the best tributes ever got the chance to volunteer. Maddie had been trained by her father and had probably never even stepped foot inside the Academy, so this rule wouldn't have applied to her anyway. The girl who was supposed to volunteer, Octavia, was quite pissed off though.

"So tell me about your sisters," Maddie said after a long pause. "I'm an only child, though I would love to have a younger sibling."

"Oh trust me, you wouldn't," I said dryly. "They can be quite annoying."

"I'd still like to know about them."

I sighed. "Well the second eldest in my family is Gulianna," I explained. "It's spelt with a "G" but it's pronounced with a "J". Stupid right? Anyways, she's 15 and looks a lot like I do, except more like a girl. She's at the Training Academy, but probably won't be a volunteer. Her head is too full of air for that."

I stopped speaking as images of my younger sister filled my head. I couldn't decide if I was relieved or not that Gulianna wouldn't be a volunteer. Sure it was a great honour and everything, but would it all be worth it to risk her life?

"Who's next?"

I blinked hard, clearing my head of the thoughts of my sister and continued. "Well next is 14-year-old Serenity, though she's far from peaceful. She prefers to go by "Ren" and is probably more like a guy than I am. She even cut off most of her hair last month! She's also at the Training Academy and will probably be the female volunteer in a few years. She's very skilled with a sword."

Pictures of Ren danced across my vision and I stopped speaking once more. Out of all my siblings, she was definitely the one that I was the closest to. We would often train together, cheered on by Gulianna before she got bored and went out with her many friends. Ren poured her whole life into her Career training and one day it would pay off. There was no doubt in my mind that she would win her Games."

"I remember her. Wasn't she the girl who did that Career demonstration in Town Square last month?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she and my friend Zana were part of the sparring section."

"She was really good," Maddie said with a smile, poking the fire again. "I'm sure many kids wanted to sign up for the Academy after that."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."

"Yeah, I'm not too sure either."

We lapsed into silence after that, Maddie turning her roasted bird over the fire while I stared deeply into the embers. There was something relaxing, almost therapeutic, about sitting there in silence, but it was broken too soon by Maddie asking about my third sister.

"Her name is Satin," I answered, snapping out of my trance, "and she's eleven. Wants to enter the Career academy next year like the rest of us, but I don't think she'd be able to handle it."

"Why not?"

"Because she's Satin," I said, shrugging. "It's not her thing. She's super smart, but she doesn't seem to have that killer instinct that the rest of us have. And that's saying something since Gulianna hardly has any!"

"She seems sweet."

"She is," I agreed, "and beautiful too. She'll probably end up being crowned Miss District One instead of becoming a tribute in the Hunger Games." I paused. "I can't really explain it. This," I gestured around us, "just really isn't her thing."

"I get it," said Maddie. "Just not her thing. So who's the youngest?"

"Soon to be second youngest," I corrected her. "My mom's about to have another daughter."

Maddie raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"Anyway, the youngest at the moment is Pearl and she's eight."

"Pearl?" said Maddie, frowning. "Isn't that more of a District 4 name?"

I nodded. "Yeah it is, but my mother noticed a girl with that name in one of the Games and she'd liked it ever since. She wanted to name Gulianna that and when my father disagreed, she tried to name Ren and Satin that too. I guess he just had enough when Pearl was born and agreed to it."

"She sure has perseverance," laughed Maddie.

"Well she was in the Hunger Games, so I guess she needed it to survive."

Maddie looked up. "I never knew that your mother was a victor."

"I didn't think it was important."

"What Games?"

"Twenty-sixth."

Maddie's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh I know that one!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes bright with excitement. "My dad has a whole lot on DVD and we used to watch them together when I was younger. I didn't realise that your mother is April Dusk."

"April Gold now," I said with a grin. "But yeah, that's her. I've never seen her Games though. She wouldn't let me."

"Weird, my dad made me watch his all the time." Maddie paused. "In fact, Daddy makes me watch the Games every year. Seni, is Gold a common surname is our district?"

I frowned, surprised by the question. "No more common than yours," I replied. "Why?"

"Because there was a boy by the name of Luster Gold in the Games a few years ago. He won."

Hearing Luster's name was a huge blow to the heart. I felt like someone had taken a brick and wacked me over the head with it. I hadn't heard his name for a very long time, since my family never talks about him anymore, and it sounded weird for someone I barely knew to say my big brother's name.

Luster had won his Games at eighteen, killing the boy from District 2 in a brutal fight at the end. I was only twelve at the time and I completely idolised my big brother. He was everything that I wanted to be, everything that I had become now. But just as I started to make a name for myself in the Career Academy, Luster died. He was only twenty one.

To this day I still don't know why it happened. All I know was that the Capitol found him guilty of something and he had to pay for it with his life. There were rumours of course, many saying that he'd been involved with some kind of anti-Capitol movement, but I never took any of them seriously. Luster loved the Capitol. They're the reason that he became great. Right?

It was true that Luster wasn't the same person he was when he came back form the Games. He became distant and withdrawn and, though he tried to hide it, had terrible nightmares at night, always crying out for a girl names Pearl. I guess it was this girl that my mother names my sister after.

Pearl was one of Luster's allies in the Career pack; a pretty little thing from District 4. She and Luster grew quite close during the course of the Games, spending a total of twenty-eight days together before Pearl was killed in her sleep by their 'ally', the District 2 boy. Luster made sure to get revenge.

"We don't talk about him," I said sharply, looking away. "Ever."

"Okay, sorry I asked."

We fell silent again. I was almost thankful when I heard a shrill squeal from the direction of where Sierra and Naomi were laying tanning.

"Oh look Sierra! Someone has sent us some knives! Maybe we should take our clothes off more often!"

Sierra giggled, a strange sound when it came from Sierra who hardly ever laughed. "Imagine what we'd get if we undressed completely."

"Don't you dare!" I heard Nic shout from nearby. "I swear Sierra, if you do-Oh God Naomi! Put it back on!"

Vee Clesta, District 12 (15)

This takes place three days before the previous POV.

I was on a boat, bobbing gently up and down as the sea swelled underneath me. I had never been on a boat before, let alone seen the sea, but I figured that must be what it felt like. Where else could I be then? I opened my eyes.

The hard ground rushed up to meet my face so quickly that I had to blink a few times to get my vision to focus. Okay, so I clearly wasn't on the water. But where was I then? Even though I was on solid ground, I felt as if I were moving. And the ground was moving too! Up and down and up and down and up and down in a steady rhythm. Was I dreaming?

As the feeling started to come back to my body, I felt the strong pair of hands against my legs and I soon realised that I was being carried over someone's shoulder. I screamed.

The person holding me got such a fright that they released me instantly, sending me crashing down, headfirst, towards to ground. I make contact with a thud, my mouth filling up with dry sand and I coughed.

"Lara, that isn't very nice," said a small voice. A figure bent over me, silhouetted against the hot, midday sun. "Hi," she said, extending a hand. "I'm Shay. Are you okay?"

I sat up, blinking hard. The girl standing over me couldn't have been more than twelve, with light brown hair and bright, sky-blue eyes that looked down at me with concern. I recognised her as the girl from District 10. Which meant that the angry girl from Eleven must be nearby. And so she was, just a few feet away.

"I still think we should have left her there," Lara said irritably, crossing her arms. "She's more trouble than she's worth. She's already used up half our water supply alone!"

"Um, I'm right here," I said, annoyed. "And I didn't make you take me. I didn't even ask! I don't even remember drinking your water."

"That's 'cause you were asleep," explained Shay pleasantly. "I had to drip it down your throat."

"Gee thanks."

Shay crossed her arms. "You know," she said, "you should be a little more grateful to us. We saved your life."

"Fat lot of good that is since I'm going to die anyway," I muttered.

Lara bent down until her face was right in front of mine. "Listen here, District 12," she spat, glaring at me, "if it was up to me, I'd have left you right there in the middle of the fire. But no, Shay made me run in and save your sorry ass! So show her some respect!"

Usually, I would have got right up and punched the person speaking to me like that right in the jaw. But Lara wasn't just 'some person'. That girl was scary! Plus, she did save my life after all. I owed her.

"Got any food?" I asked, looking from her to Shay with what I hoped was a hopeful expression on my face. "I'm starving."

Shay's little face broke into a smile. "Yeah!" she said in her usual cheery voice. "We have some bread if you'd like?"

"Please."

Shay shrugged the pack she was carrying off her small shoulders and unzipped it quickly, taking out about half a loaf of bread tightly tied up in a see-through packet. She tossed it to me, warning me not to take to much as I ripped it open.

"Wait!" she cried suddenly as I was about to take a bite into the bread.

I nearly dropped it in surprise. "What?" I asked. "If there a bug on it? I don't really mind, you know."

Shay shook her head. "It's not that," she said. "Aren't you going to pray first?"

"What?"

Shay looked at me in surprise. "I said, 'aren't you going to pray first?'"

"No I heard you," I said, shaking my head. "I'm just surprised, that's all."

Shay looked even more confused. "At what?"

"That you want to pray. I didn't realise that people still did that."

Lara sighed from nearby. "Here we go..."

"If you don't have God you have no one," Shay said confidently, straightening up. "He's the whole reason why we're alive. The whole reason this earth is in existence! We need to give thanks to Him and put our trust in Him-"

"-I just think He has a lot of explaining to do."

It was out before I could stop myself. I didn't mean to say it, but hearing Shay speak so highly of Him just touched a nerve. I've never been religious purely for the fact that God has never done anything good for me. Isn't He supposed to love everybody? If he existed, why was I born into this horrific world in the poorest district and then sent off to be killed in an arena with twenty-three other children for the amusement of the wealthy? In my opinion, God better have a good excuse to why there's so much suffering around me.

I expected Shay to be upset, but she just shook her head, a sad smile on her face. "Poor girl," she said sadly, "you never had the chance to find Him, did you?"

I looked up at her. That was definitely not the answer I was expecting.

"It's alright, Vee," she continued. "Not many people have. Here," she gently took the bread out of my grip, "I'll give thanks for you." She took a deep breath. "Dear Lord, thank you for the food we are about to receive. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen."

Shay passed the bread back to me with a smile. I took it gratefully and began to eat.

"Leave some for us," snapped Lara. "And get a move on. We need to keep moving."

I had no idea where Lara was in such a hurry to get too, but I wasn't going to argue. I was alive, I had food and I had water. That was all that mattered.

Zachary Swift, District 5 (14)

I was leaning against a tall tree, holding Evelyn in my arms and watching the sun set over the long, yellow grass. Evelyn was asleep, a side-effect of the morphling I was giving her, but she'd be awake soon and crying out in pain again.

I took the small tube out of my pocket and examined the small amount of clear liquid inside. There was no question that the morphling was running out. They was only about enough for one more dosage and then...well, we'd have to cross that bridge when we got there.

Evelyn was not getting better. In fact, she was getting worse. The wound on her ankle still refused to close for more than a few hours, and when it did re-open, her blood had thinned to the point where it was almost impossible to bandage up the wound again and stop her from bleeding out. I guess the thin blood was the reason to why the wound wouldn't stay closed in the first place.

There was no doubt that the blade that had gone through her leg had been poisoned. The thin blood, the pain and the vivid hallucinations were proof enough. With what though, I had no idea.

I lifted my face towards the sky and whispered, "Please. I know you can hear me. Please, help her!"

I didn't realise that I was shouting until the small birds resting in the tree above my head flew out of the branches in a huff and off towards the setting sun. That was the only reaction I got from my shouts. No matter what I said, no parachute carrying Evelyn's much-needed anti-venom came floating down.

"Zach?"

Evelyn was stirring in my arms again, this time tilting her face up towards mind. I smiled down at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. How are you feeling?"

Evelyn grimaced. "I've been better," she said, trying to put on a brave face even though I could clearly see her pained expression. "But I think it's starting to heal."

She was lying, anyone could see that, but I went along with it anyway. It was what she needed most at that moment.

"You could be right," I lied, gently stroking her hair. "The morphling is almost finished, so its job should nearly be done now. One more dose and you'll be all better."

More lies, but there really wasn't anything else I could do at that point. Evelyn was dying and we both knew it. I should have over-dosed her with the morphling when she first started showing symptoms, just like Lexi had said. It was too late for that now.

"Can I have some more?"

It took me a while to register what Evelyn was asking for. She wanted the last of the morphling.

"Of course."

I flicked the cork out of the small bottle and eased the last of the liquid into Evelyn's mouth. She swallowed it gratefully and sighed in content. I knew this bliss wouldn't last long. The effects of the morphling would ware off in a few hours and after that, the pain would come back, even worse than before. It broke my heart to see her like that.

"Thank you," Evelyn whispered, taking my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm so glad to have you with me."

I didn't reply. I just squeezed her hand back and continued watching the sun drop lower and lower in the clear sky.

"Zach, do you have a happy place?" she asked suddenly, closing her eyes. "You know, a place where you feel content."

I nodded, even though I knew that she couldn't see me. "Yeah," I replied. "You?"

"The meadow outside our district. I used to go gather food there for my family. I'm imagining myself there right now."

I smiled. "Is it just like how you left it?"

"Even better. My family is there too. I can see them all; Mom, Dad, the little ones. Even Joanna and Wesley are there, which is nice because I hardly get to see them since they moved out. Oh, and you're there too Zach."

My hand snaked out from underneath her warm body and unhooked the small knife from my belt.

"Oh, and what exactly am I doing?"

"You're picking flowers for Estelle. Somehow you know she only likes the red ones."

My grip on the knife was shaking as I pulled it to my side. I knew I had to do it, no matter how much I didn't want to.

"I like the red ones too," I said softly, trying my best to keep the tears from my eyes. "Estelle and I have that in common."

"Konrad and Carter want to race each other," Evelyn said, suppressing a laugh as she gazed at the images only she could see behind her closed eye-lids. "They've asked you to watch to see who the winner is."

"Do I have to count to three before they start?"

"Yeah, otherwise Konrad will cheat. You'd better watch him carefully."

I lifted the silver blade above Evelyn's body. "Would you like to give the count with me?" I asked, the tears now flowing freely from my eyes."

Evelyn smiled. "Yeah. One-"

"-Two-"

"-Three."

I plunged the knife into her chest. Evelyn's eyes fluttered open and she stared up at me, her big brown eyes gazing into mine. Her mouth opened as she tried to speak, but all the air had already left her lungs and no words came out. I couldn't look away and I watched tearfully as the life left her bright eyes, leaving them cold and empty. Then I felt her grip on my hand go slack and her cannon rang out.

"I'm so sorry, Evelyn," I sobbed, my tears staining her peaceful face. "I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve this. You didn't deserve any of this."

I just sat there, holding Evelyn's dead body and rocking her back and fourth against my chest, the tears falling down my face and into her brown hair.

"I'm glad you're not in pain anymore."

I kissed the top of her head and gently pushed the body off my lap. Evelyn rolled slowly onto the sandy ground, appearing to have just moved in her sleep. I crossed her hands over her chest and closed her eyes, planting another kiss on her cheek as I did so. Now she really did look like she was sleeping.

I stood up and, casting one last look at the quiet figure, slipped away into the darkness so the hovercraft could come and collect Evelyn, returning her to her family.

General POV, Career camp

The camp was dark; the full moon illuminating the surrounding trees and casting shadows on the four sleeping figures on the ground. The air was quiet, save for the small sounds the dreamers made as they breathed in and out. An owl hooted from nearby, startling a small mouse from its hiding place and causing it to go scuttling into the Cornucopia. Apart from that, it was quiet. Deathly quiet.

The small, blond girl made no noise as she left her position as watchman. As quiet as the mouse that entered the Cornucopia seconds before her, she moved towards the furthest of the sleeping tributes. Looking down at him, Seni looked so angelic in sleep, almost like a child that could do no wrong. But the girl knew better.

As quietly as she could, she drew her knife from its sheath in her belt and held it over the sleeping boy. Without hesitation, she brought it down again, straight into his heart.

The boy felt nothing. He was dead in seconds. His cannon sounded, but by the time his comrades had realised what was going on, the blond girl had already disappeared from the camp and into the night.

She had gotten her revenge.

Again I'm finding myself apologising for a late update. This really is a hectic time of year for me. I hope these two deaths made up for it. And here's some more news I hope you'll enjoy.

I've decided to write a sequel to this story, which means I'm going to need some tributes! I won't be doing the 50th Games since we all know who won that one...I'll be writing the 51st. I've already decided that I'm going to have eight of my own characters for the bloodbath (four boys and four girls) so only sixteen spots are available. District 1 has already been booked and I want both District 12s to be bloodbaths, so other than that you can submit anyone. PM me with the subject line as the tribute you'd like to create (eg: District 5 male) and I'll send you the form if that spot is available.

I'm also having a lot of trouble replying to reviews. There's something wrong with the reply link that gets sent to my email, so I haven't been able to send you my comments on your wonderful (and much appreciated) reviews. I love getting replied for the reviews I send out and I'm sure you all do too, which is why I'm apologising for my lack of replies... I will definitely start replying again after the reviews from this chapter.

Thanks for reading!