Doris POV
Eltara's death was a big shock. She had what it takes to go all the way. Even Two can't win them all. One thing was sure. We had to expand at the Academy. Students came out of there knowing how to kill, but they didn't know how to live. Could Eltara even tell her left from her right? That was all it took to do her in. As for Nero, the less said about him, the better.
District Two POV
We've felt so teased these last few years. Shale was second and Venus was third. We were hoping this year would finally be our year. Things just keep getting worse. Eltara wasn't even in the top five. At least she got a few kills to her name to show we aren't total cowards. Our male Tributes have been disappointing ever since Crag won. We took a chance sending Nero to get him out of the way. We hoped Eltara would pick up his slack. We won't make that mistake again.
Laeila POV
I found myself drinking more and more water. Half of it was in hopes of filling my empty stomach, and the other half was because I was just so thirsty. It was a good thing my bottle was so big, the way I was drinking it. I think my stomach was on to me, though, since the sight of water was starting to sicken me. My mouth was full of thick spit from all the water I kept putting in it.
Just hold on. It's only a few more days, I told myself.
Yeah, a few more days. You say that like you're ever going to get home, I thought. You don't have a chance. Even Eltara couldn't make it here. Why don't you just lay down and die?
Where did that come from? I wasn't here to quit. I tried to shut the thoughts up, but they didn't pay any attention. A breeze blew some sooty air into my mouth, and my throat clogged up. I'm choking! I thought, and my heart skipped. Then I coughed it out and pressed on. I wiped at my cheek and felt wetness.
Are you crying? Stop being a baby and get home! It doesn't matter if your legs are sore. It doesn't matter if you just want to take a nap and never get up. It doesn't matter that your stupid friends never send any food. It doesn't matter if your stomach hurts. Suck it up and win!
My jaw tightened and I glared out at the Arena before me. I was sick and tired of this. I kicked at a clump of tall grass and clenched my fists. There was only one way out of here. I'd just have to kill everyone else. They were trying to kill me. If I wanted to get home I'd have to kill them first. So be it.
Frankie POV
The fire was out. Peppermint wouldn't mind if I moved now. I gathered my things and moved back to the center of the Arena. It was time to stop running and remove the competition. I stuck close to the rocks as I went to get some cover.
Assuming I somehow win the Games, exactly how am I going to go about freeing Panem? I thought as I went. I should start small. I need to learn about war, and politics, and law. There are never any books around about those things. Now I know why. I can't ask older people what things were like before the war. That would be suspicious. Much as I dislike them, maybe I should talk to the Victors from the Career Districts. They obviously know war.
One thing is for sure. I will have to be more charismatic. People like rousing statements. What kind of thing should I say? "Districts of Panem, we must break free of our walls to reunite in worlds we have yet to map…" Wait, I'm telling them to fight, not go start a new country.
A parachute interrupted me. I took out some cooked rabbit and another bottle of water. I looked up at the sky and smiled.
"Thanks," I said. What an empty, cold smile. I am a living corpse. I didn't know whether rabbit kept, so I sat down and ate it. As I was eating, I noticed movement in the distance. I immediately flattened against the ground to make a smaller target. I made out a male figure picking his way over the rocks. He was holding something. When I squinted, I could see it was a sword.
It's not Dath, then, I thought. It's either Erwin or Xzavier. Erwin didn't seem like the weapons type. It's Xzavier. I slid an arrow out and knocked it.
You're going to bring change to Panem by killing people? I thought. I paused with the arrow still ready. Could Xzavier help? He definitely doesn't like the Capitol. I watched him move and wished for a scrap of emotion to help with my decision. All I had was one final piece of logic. If he lived, I would die. I loosed the arrow. The cannon came, and the fight went on.
Xzavier POV
I lay on my side with an arrow in my ribs. It didn't hit the heart, but it sure hit my bloodstream. I didn't know I had that much blood in my body. I tried to press the wound, but the blood just gushed out between my fingers.
I don't want to die. I'm not even twenty years old. Why do I have to die? I thought of Gio and tried to put on a brave face. I'm sorry, Gio. Keep trying. You'll train a winner someday. I'm sorry it wasn't me. I hoped he wasn't disappointed in me. I hoped if Acee was watching she had the soul to mourn for the child she never loved.
I didn't need you. A lot of good you were to me. Why did you ever bring me into the world? You're not my mother. The only family I have is Gio. He's the best father I could have had.
I slipped my fingers around the necklace he gave me. The last of my blood slipped out, and my life went with it.
First, a note. Order of death definitely doesn't exactly correlate with how strong a Tribute is. Sometimes you just get hit by a meteor. I do, of course, take into account that stronger Tributes are far less likely to die early.
8th place: Xzavier Thomas
I honestly don't know if Acee was Xzavier's mother. I never planned her that way, but it's the only way it would work. Draw your own conclusions. Xzavier was pretty much a Career, even though he was from Three, and as such he went a long way. There wasn't much he could do about getting shot by someone he couldn't even see. I thought Xzavier was a pretty strong Tribute that could have won, especially another year, but there were too many strong Tributes this year. Thanks DestinyFinder for a Tribute with a really cool backstory who added a question to this universe that may never be answered.
Now that we're actually at the final Eight, I can go back and remove two interviews from the Interview chapter if you'd like. I thought I'd just leave them there because they give a little background info and it's not really an important error. We can just say that the top ten were interviewed instead since it was the Quell.