Priscilla Piscot POV

Night was falling. The Tributes would be getting tired, and they might be getting careless. All of the Careers were hunting except Alex, who was guarding the camp. They all knew where I was headed, and there was honor among hunters. If any of them found Castiel, they'd let me know.

I tried to get inside his head and calculate his strategy. I knew he was smart, and his alliance was the strongest except the Careers. He'd be somewhere flat, but surrounded by hills. Somewhere he could see an attacker from a long way off and fight with his allies watching his back. There were no night vision goggles in the Cornucopia this year, only cracked sunglasses, so I squinted as I stalked the night.

My senses were on edge from nerves and years of training. Someone was talking on the other side of a range of garbage mountains. It was a girl, but didn't Castiel have one girl in his alliance? I strained to hear.

"When will they all be there?" the girl said. "They hunt at night."

"Do they eat together?" a male voice answered. It was my quarry, and I tensed.

Wait. What are they talking about? I stopped myself.

"Do you think it will kill all of them?" A third voice asked. Castiel's alliance seemed to be entirely intact. I'd have to tread carefully.

"There won't be enough for the hovercraft to pick up," the girl said. "Good riddance."

That's not very nice. She must be aiming for a really nasty bunch of Tributes, I thought. Oh, shoot! Nasty bunch of Tributes? That's me! I don't think so!

It was hard to sneak when the ground shifted underfoot, but they didn't seem to hear me as I crept over a mound of rubbish. Sure enough, when I poked my head over the edge, I saw Castiel and his two allies at the bottom of a shallow basin. If they'd been watching the borders it would have been impossible to sneak up on them, but instead, they were almost relaxed. The girl was looking at a coffee can she was holding. Castiel was laying out a towel, and the other boy was looking at the stars. He was between me and my target. I tried to sneak around him, but no dice. His eyes caught my movement and he sat up.

"Look out!" he yelled. He got up to block me as I darted toward Castiel.

"Move it," I growled at him as I drew nearer. He wasn't my problem.

"We can take her together!" the boy cried. He jumped into my path and I almost fell on top of him. I tried to dissuade him with a kick between the legs, but he grabbed me around my shoulders and threw me to the ground. He was stronger than I expected, and my courage wavered. He and Castiel would be hard to beat together. I looked up at my quarry and saw he was staring at me with more emotion than I'd ever seen him show. In a split second, he turned and bolted.

"Out of my way!" I repeated as I kicked both legs at the boy's chest. He was getting away. He was the only reason I was in this mess and he was getting away. I snarled at my opponent and pushed him back with renewed strength. The boy looked over his shoulder and I saw realization hit him a moment too late. My knife was already sawing across his throat, and he fell to the ground trying to breathe through a throat that was no longer connected.

I would have let you go if you'd just moved, I thought as I got up. It was too late anyway. Castiel was gone. The girl had taken one look at the whole situation and fled ahead of him. I felt a little sorry for the boy I'd killed. He was trying to be a good ally, and look where it got him. He would have died anyway, but I probably wouldn't have done it. All I wanted was one thing, just one dead Castiel. Was that so much to ask?

Asper Fin POV

Castiel left me. Why would he do that? Was he that scared of Priscilla? I was going to die, but that just proved I was right to take Allen's place. He never would have lived. I saved his life, and it was all worth it.

"My name is Asper," I tried to whisper through my slashed throat. Priscilla could tell I was trying to say something, and she cocked her head. Before I knew if she understood me or not, she and everything else was out of sight.

Whyte Roberts POV

"What are you going to do if you win?" I asked Vera.

"I never even thought about it," she admitted.

"You have to make friends, okay? I know you'll be sad I'm gone, but you need someone. I won't be there, and you can't have the world as your enemy. You have to make yourself happy," I said. I didn't know where it all came from. I just got started and it all came out.

"You make me happy," she said. There was something sad in her voice, like I'd hurt her.

"What about you?" she continued. "You have to do what you want if you win and you have to be happy."

"I'm already happy. I have a perfect life. But can you take care of my family if you win?" I asked.

"You're not happy. Your life isn't perfect. I know you're upset. Stop being a man and admit it," Vera said. She started to cry, and then I did too.

"I don't want to die," I confessed. "I wish none of this happened. I wish we weren't born like this."

"I always thought it had to happen to someone. At least I wasn't born with one leg," Vera said. She tried to smile.

"I wish I was. Maybe then I'd be home," I said. "You should be too. You'd be such a good mother. You should have lots of children and you'll never be alone."

"After all I've been through, I have too much pain to give anyone a good life," she said.

"That's a shame. If you have one, you should name it after me," I said. Vera didn't say anything for a long moment, and her voice had more pain than I'd ever heard when she spoke next.

"If you get out of here, marry Belle, okay? She's a lovely woman. She'd be a great wife or mother. You'll be a great dad," she said.

"What if I turn out like my father?" I asked.

"You'll understand. You'll know what your children are going through and you'll help them. Just stay away from drinking and drugs," Vera said. Out of nowhere, she started to sob so hard she shook.

"Don't leave me. You're my only friend. I'll never find someone else who understands," she cried. I hugged her and we knelt on the ground.

"We messed up," I mumbled. She knew what I meant. We were born in a District of riches and security. We threw it all away by volunteering for a war we never needed to fight. I volunteered knowing that if I won, my best friend would die. What kind of person was I? Vera and I could have been anything. Why did we choose this? Was it because we were freaks?

Vera stood up and held her arms around herself as she walked away. She looked up at the sky and the moon illuminated her agonized, tear-stained face. I wanted to make things better for her. There wasn't any way I could, but I needed to try. I stepped toward her to comfort her. Something caught my foot and I fell forward. It felt like something punched my stomach and a million splinters lodged into my flesh. Vera saw me go down and bent to help me up. She looked at my back and screamed.

"What is it?" I asked. I tried to get up, but something held me in place. Vera's face was bone-white and she turned back to the sky.

"Shelle!" she begged. "Shelle, help him!" I twisted my neck and saw I was lying across a chair. One of the legs was sticking out of my back, its broken end spattered with blood.

"Vera," I moaned as I started to panic. No, no! I don't want to go. I want to stay with Vera and Belle and Gua. I don't want to go. What's over there? I pulled at the wood and Vera grabbed my hand.

"You'll make it bleed more!" she cried. "Please, no! Someone help!"

It was getting hard to breathe. My lungs seemed to be deflating. I took Vera's hand. She felt so warm.

"You promised. Be happy, okay? Only you can make yourself happy. Don't doubt yourself. I know you can. Please," I whispered. My head felt light and I felt myself drifting away. A crazy smile tugged at my lips.

"For cripes' sakes, if this wasn't me, I would laugh," I said. I was still smiling when it came. Vera was still alive, and if there was a chance for her to be happy, that was all that mattered.

Wow. I planned to kill three people this chapter, but I think we can all agree this is enough heartbreak.

15th place: Asper Fin- windpipe severed by Priscilla

I take any story, even if it's outlandish. Asper's Sydney Carton move wasn't that bad, but it would have been hard for him to be a Victor without the Capitol ever finding out. More damningly, he was too nice to win. He trusted Castiel to back him up, and Castiel's sort of a snake. Thanks Jms2 for Asper. He was a great guy. He was compassionate, loyal, faithful, self-sacrificing, and noble. That made him an awesome person, but a terrible Victor. At least you still have horses in the game and I'm writing dozens more stories. Your time will come.

14th place: Whyte Roberts- killed by a chair

Sorry for the sudden mood whiplash. Whyte was supposed to die by some one-in-a-million mishap. I had the chapter all written when his submitter asked for a soulful conversation. I thought about giving him a stay, but instead I wrote the cruelest POV I've ever done. I knew Whyte had nearly no chance to win because his submitter also submitted Vera and I had a feeling she was slightly preferred. Besides, that kind of death is too good to pass up. Whyte was tragic and compelling. He showed how mental issues can impact so much of life, even if they're not as high-profile as schizophrenia or sociopathy. He confronted things no one his age should have to know, and he handled them with maturity beyond his years. Thanks YesmyLordCiel for Whyte. I hope I handled his struggles with sensitivity and showed he both was molded by his weaknesses and transcended them.