Lancia Audren, District Six mentor
I never knew it would be this hard. The mentors that came before me certainly showed how stressful the job was, but I wasn't like that. I was older than Toby when I won, and my childhood wasn't like Lena's. I wanted to chalk it up to my mentees not being up to snuff and getting themselves killed, but I wasn't fooling anyone, least of all myself.
District Six
Sofia and Rory were opposite sides of the spectrum. Sofia was missed by everyone, and Rory was missed by... Rosen. Reckon, meanwhile, very quietly and politely threw a party.
DAREN GERARD- Jessie Cabello
I didn't think it would happen like that. One minute he was joking around, helping me back to my room when I could barely walk, and the next minute he was dead. Life was as simple and start as turning off a light. I would never understand how some people valued it so little.
SOFIA FERRARI- Hades Rodriguez
I remembered her from training. She was really pretty, and she talked pretty, too. I was hoping the people my age would last longer. Being the last young Tribute wasn't a good sign.
RORY FENDER- Calvin Harris
I tried to kill the person I would feel the least guilty about. I didn't know how I would feel about killing someone until I actually did it. In the end, it didn't matter who it was. I felt terrible. My District deserved all the riches I'd bring home for them, but it wouldn't make up for what I did.
JACOB MORALES- Zibby Spooly
Oh, my partner's dead. I hadn't known him, but he seemed like a nice guy. Honestly, I didn't care as much as I might have. I had the intellectual knowledge that killing was bad, but it was hard to really feel anything about someone I hardly knew. Sorry, dude.
SOYA TORES- Lilei Sparks
Philip and I squished together into one bed that first night. We were scared and alone and we just wanted someone else to be there. We held on even tighter when Soya's face showed up on the ceiling. She was scared and alone too when she died.
DAYLEY HARRVIS- Appaloosa Stockholm
Maybe I should have allied with the little squirt. I didn't need dead weight, but I didn't like watching kids die, either. Dayley should have been at home running around and getting milk mustaches. He shouldn't be dead on a ship hundreds of miles from home. Our entire country was run by bullies.
Mell Hedley- District Ten female
It couldn't have gone better. When the Games started, I ran in for the crossbow. I scooped it up and started running. My chances weren't the best, but sometimes you have to go big or go home. Daren saw me and looked up, but then an axe nailed him in the side of the head. I ran back out of the danger zone and saw both staircases were blocked. I didn't have any time to make a plan, so I just acted. I ran alongside the edge of the ship toward one of the huge smokestacks. The only Career who used a ranged weapon was Amphilia, and she had her hands full, so I was able to duck behind the smokestack. If I couldn't get down the steps, I'd just stay on the top deck. There were plenty of places to hide.
I'd been on the top deck ever since. I waited until Jessie and Fable went after the others, and then I had the top to myself, as far as I knew. I expected Fable and Jessie would come back to the Cornucopia eventually, even though they'd taken the supplies they wanted and tossed most of the rest overboard. I crouched behind a lifeboat across from one of the staircases and waited, hoping to ambush them, shoot the first to come out, and run while the other was still getting around the body. But they didn't come back at all, not all night.
They're not coming back, I conceded. At least not for a long time. I checked the ransacked Cornucopia for anything I could use. I took a sheet of plastic I could use to catch rainwater and a single water pouch they'd overlooked in a pile of debris. A new plan started to come together.
Even if they weren't coming back for a long time, that didn't mean I should rush down into the narrow staircase and get myself killed. Instead I would get to high ground on the top deck- the ladder on one of the smokestacks, maybe- and set up a sniper hideout. If it rained at all, I could keep myself going for maybe a week, and by then the playing field would be narrower.
I started toward the nearest smokestack. As I reached the end of one of the raised pavilions that dotted the top deck, I saw someone poking around an overturned lifeboat. I ducked out of sight beside the wall and loaded my crossbow.
Patrick Donegal- District Four male
I didn't want to take my chances with Fable or Jessie. They were both strong, and I'd made enough risky decisions already. I'd just stay on the top deck, hopefully finding some supplies somewhere and staying away from the others. I had most of Four's support, since I was the only chosen volunteer. They might send me some stuff. In the meantime, I had my sword and a backpack, which had a bottle of water and two MREs.
It was hard to tell what tipped me off that I was being hunted. There might have been the tiniest noise from an arrow nock ticking onto a bowstring, or maybe it was just that sixth sense some Victors swear by. In either case, I looked up suddenly and turned around to see Mell peeking around a corner.
There was no time to run. I threw up both arms, still holding my sword. The arrow that otherwise would have gone straight into my head went through my left arm instead. It felt like nothing more than a forceful poke. My pounding heart and the tightness in my chest evidenced the adrenaline that flooded me as soon as I saw Mell.
Mell saw that she'd missed the kill shot and lowered her bow an inch. She knew I had to go after her. If I let her go, she'd find high ground and snipe me at her leisure. She disappeared around the corner as I charged toward her.
When I rounded the corner, she was ahead of me but still in sight. She was heading for the nearer staircase. If I'd let her go, she might not have come back. But she might have, and I couldn't take that risk. I could risk my own life, but I couldn't do that to Shane. I picked up one of the folding wooden deck chairs clustered under a canopy and slung it like a discus at her feet. She fell forward heavily and landed flat on the deck. She flipped over like a cat and jumped up, turning toward me. She couldn't get away anymore. We were too close, and she'd lost her momentum. She grabbed another arrow, even though she couldn't load fast enough. She held it out at me like a spear.
I held my sword in both hands as I reached her, even if one was injured. It punched through her chest like paper and shoved her back when the hilt met her skin. I pushed it even further, forcing her feet up off the ground until she dangled over me. I didn't even hear the cannon sound, not that it mattered. I lowered the sword and she slid off it, thumping onto the deck. Then I dropped my sword, since I finally remembered I'd been shot.
18th place: Mell Hedley- Impaled by Patrick
This is the one time where having a ranged weapon might be not so great. On a cruise ship, it's hard to get a long shot. Mell's early death does not mean she wasn't a strong Tribute. I shook things up and had her die early exactly because it would be surprising. Now you know how she (and Patrick) escaped the Bloodbath. Everyone else either got to the stairs faster than the Careers or died. Anyway, Mel was really cool. It was cool to have someone with firearms experience, and had it been a different Arena and a different batch of Tributes, she might have won. Patrick's not going to forget that crossbow bolt in his arm again, that's for sure. Thanks Josh for one of the more unique without being overly quirky Tributes I've gotten.
A few unanswered questions answered:
How did they get to the top deck? I didn't really make a good answer. The tubes went all the way up and then somehow went back down without leaving a huge hole in the ship...
Is sleeping in a boiler a bad idea? Normally yeah. Honestly it's a reference to The Navigator, a silent film with my favorite actor Buster Keaton. It was set in a ship like this one so I used it for reference. Cool though it would be, it shall not spontaneously turn on and incinerate Zibby and Tatsuya.
Why the weird title? Because you'd have to be the literal Kurgan to lift someone over your head with a two-handed sword. Patrick is not the literal Kurgan and will not be showing this superhuman strength in general. It was just a really cool image so I put it in. He will be showing the effects of his injury. He was just all hopped up on adrenaline.