Delaney Rogers-Stone- District Ten female
I could die. I could die at any time. I'd known that was true from when I got Reaped, but seeing Carmelle showed me. It was real now, not just a vague danger that could happen. It wasn't even that I could die. It was that I almost certainly would die. Everyone in the Arena was thinking it, except maybe the Careers. But none of us really thought it would happen. We felt how close it was and felt like we were being realistic, but when we died, we'd still be surprised. Right up until the end, I bet Carmelle thought she'd make it. Just like me.
"I'm going to check our traps," Toshiba said, referring to the little things we'd made with scraps of thin seaweed. They were more of honeypots, really. We'd caught a hermit crab just by scooping it up, then smashed the shell and used it as bait. Every now and then a crab or some crustacean came by and was slow enough for us to catch. Toshiba looked over his shoulder at the top of our crack, then swam away.
I have nothing else to do. I'll go help him, I thought a moment later. I poked my head up into the open, and my heart sped up and broke all at once. The Careers were swimming toward us, and Toshiba was swimming straight away. He'd seen them, saw he'd been spotted, and left me. He left me for the Careers to kill and buy him time.
I knew there was no hope of getting away, but I tried anyway. I swam after Toshiba, maybe thinking just a little bit that I wasn't going to lead them away from him. It would only take one of them to kill me. The rest could keep hunting him, all across the ocean if they had to.
It was eerie how quiet it all was. The water was calm and cool around me. The only sound I heard was my own breathing. The sun danced on my outstretched arms as I pulled myself along. Anywhere else, it would have been beautiful.
Toshiba Boltwire- District Three male
There's only one winner. Everyone says they would stay the same and never let the Games corrupt them. Some of them even think it's true. But if you win the Games, that means twenty-three kids died in your place. Somehow or other, you got to the end. I didn't see any of us saying they didn't want to win. You have to put yourself first. Anything else is quite literally suicide.
The cracks underneath me narrowed and thinned out, revealing patches of sandy ocean floor a foot underneath me. It made no difference, since I couldn't have hidden anyway. They were too close. Any minute now they would catch Delaney. One would stay, and the others would keep coming. I'd bought myself only a slim chance.
Kodiak Alward- District Two male
As we reached the start of the sand, Siren and I broke off to make sure Delaney couldn't escape to either side. We were nearly on her, despite the last burst of energy she'd put out. Toshiba wasn't far ahead, either, at least not for the Fours. With any luck it would be me, Lyon or Diamonique who got to Delaney first, so she wouldn't slow Havelock or Siren down.
The sand underneath me erupted. Through the explosion of silt and murk, a staggeringly wide mouth appeared, all white teeth and extended pink gums. The jaws closed on my leg, biting it through. A massive, curved gray body tossed and wrinkled as it forced my leg into its throat, and blank white eyes stared emptily at me.
Shark, I thought distantly as blood flooded from my leg, clouding the water. The shark opened its maw and bit into me again, its jaws clamping across my waist and chest. I didn't even feel the sharpness, just the instantly bone-crushing pressure, like being pinned underneath a truck. My ribs crumpled like twigs and my head snapped painfully as the shark jerked its head back and forth.
In my last moments, I surprised myself by hoping my allies got away. Then, out of nowhere, I laughed, and blood gushed from my mouth. Put this on my gravestone. Put "Kodiak Alward, bitten into pieces by a shark".
Delaney Rogers-Stone- District Ten female
The ground trembled as something burst out of the sand. A huge form rose up right behind me, knocking me aside like a careless bull. In all the silt and muck and blood, I couldn't even see where I was going. Then a huge blow smacked me through the water, spinning me wildly.
I opened my eyes in a daze. I was still moving, spinning as I hung nearly upside-down in the water. I was maybe ten feet from the shark, back over the cracked part of the ocean floor. Mere feet from me, a beast as long as my house thrashed, tearing Kodiak into pieces. I couldn't even process how large and deadly the thing was. I only knew it would have Kodiak shredded in seconds, and then it would look for its next meal.
Siren Kaecko- District Four male
Nope.
That was a definite nope. Toshiba and Delaney were out of the equation. Kodiak was out of the equation. There was a great white shark ten feet from my face, and that meant one thing. Get out.
I doubled back, into the cracked part of the Arena. As I reached the nearest crack that I could fit into but a shark couldn't, I looked over my shoulder. My allies were close behind me. Behind them, the shark rampaged, surrounded by Kodiak. There were three main pieces of him. The shark was swallowing one, the muscles in its throat rippling with its brutal power. The other two pieces floated above it. The gray shark was surrounded and highlighted by Kodiak's blood. And everyone knew what blood and sharks meant.
Toshiba Boltwire- District Three male
Just like that, the Careers and Delaney were gone. I'd turned my head at the screams, expecting to see Delaney die and already feeling guilty, but it wasn't her making that high-pitched noise. Seconds later, there was no sign of any living human. Just a shark surrounded by blood. In the distance, I could still see its white eyes, rolled back in the hunt and reflecting the light. They flickered, turning black, and two doll eyes focused on me.
I could outswim Delaney. I might be able to outswim some of the Careers. But not a shark. I knew that, and even then, it surprised me how swiftly the apex predator came for me.
Delaney Rogers-Stone- District Ten female
Everything was chaos, and that gave me one chance.
The Careers were waiting for the shark to leave, and then they'd come for me. There was only one way I could possibly get out of this.
I poked my head out of my hiding place. If the shark followed the blood-scent in our direction, it would be all over for me. If he went after Toshiba, I had hope. Please, I prayed to an animal. Please go that way.
I prayed I didn't have any of Kodiak's blood on me as I swam up into open water. The shark was turned away from me. It shot forward, leaving me behind as it went for the only prey it could see. The Careers were still hidden. They weren't stupid enough to swim in open water with a shark. That was only me.
I didn't look back. It didn't matter what I saw. If the Careers ventured out too early, there was nothing I could do. All I could do was swim for the coral reef, where I could elude them i the thick cover. I swam with all my strength, expecting at every moment to feel a Career's hand on my ankle. When I reached the reef, I clawed into a thick coral patch, finally looking behind me. When I saw nothing but open water, I cried.
You know those flat sharks that lie in the sand until you step on them? It would be way scarier if they were Great White sharks.
16th place: Kodiak Alward- Eaten by shark
I had this in mind for a while- the shark surprising the Careers. Only one got eaten, though, which is nice. There was nothing wrong with Kodiak. I just didn't really have a victory set up for him, and nothing came to mind. Getting eaten by a shark is a pretty metal way to go, though. Thanks JAJ for Kodiak, who had his own demons even though he was tough and did his job but never reveled in it.
15th place: Toshiba Boltwire- Eaten by shark
He was kind of villainous, so he wasn't going to be popular enough to win. His form said he would be willing to betray his allies, but it ended up backfiring when he left Delaney for dead. Imagine that, me having a villainous plan backfire. Toshiba never got his strong anti-Career alliance, but one Career did die trying to kill him, so chalk one up for Toshiba. Thanks Galaxy842 for sending someone who is actually selfish and wants to win even if someone else has to die, just like most people would be in real life.