Charming Heartsong, 15, Second Male (District 1)
The countdown ends, and the youngest girl from District 2 flees the scene almost immediately, as does the redhead from District 5, but everyone else stays still, almost as though every other tribute is doing exactly the same thing that I am: waiting for somebody else to make the first move. Not including either girl who ran away or me, there are 24 other tributes - all of whom are now glancing expectantly at one another.
It's funny how even though most of us are hardened killers, we are all still nervous at times. It's our human side showing, and it is both fascinating and terrifying. Fascinating that a nice side to people like me still exists, that is... whilst terrifying in the knowledge that the nicer side of me could perhaps try to take control of my whole being. That would be a disaster indeed.
After what must have been approaching one minute, though, my troubling thoughts are pushed to the back of my mind by the sound of feet repeatedly touching the ground. I look up, and a girl in the colours of District 6 is running into the centre. She looks like she just wants to get it over with and to get out of there, but she clearly didn't anticipate the fact that her moving would trigger almost every single other tribute in the area to move also.
When the girl turns to face in my direction, I scowl. I recognise her easily now: she's the girl who ran away from Amber and I a few days ago. Sure, I killed a stupid boy instead, but she still owes me the greatest thing that anybody could ever owe. By fleeing that day, she didn't save her own life - no, all she managed to do was postpone her death. And right now, this is looking like the right time for her to pay me back her debt.
I gradually make my way towards her, and I'm almost at her when two other tributes get in my way to fight one another. Well... by 'fight one another', I mean that the young boy from District 4 is attacking the older boy who seems utterly defenceless.
Their 'battle' does not last long, but we all stare as it happens. When the more vulnerable boy drops to the floor, his whole body entirely motionless as it lies there in a puddle of its own blood, there is a brief silence. The survivor looks down at the body, and from here, he looks as though he may even feel slightly sorry for what he has just done. Then, there is total uproar.
The first bit of blood in this battle has been shed, and from now onwards the feast is bound to be pure carnage.
Amber Dawns, 18, First Female (District 12)
A District 4 boy is approached from behind by the creepiest Career girl, who I remember from the Capitol - I think her name might have began with a J or a P or something - and she stabs him in the back. Rest in peace, I think, though I don't physically show any pity for the fallen.
I turn around to see a trembling tribute caught up in the middle of it all. Though they look disgusted with themselves, they push another girl to the ground in order to run away. Unfortunately, the pushed girl falls on top of the psychopath from District 6's spiked mace, and the boy just looks at the corpse before shaking it off his treasured weapon and walking away from her.
A District 2 girl drags herself away from the corpse of another girl who she had been fighting. The dead girl has a spear protuding from her back, and I can imagine that somebody really skilled must have thrown it at her. The survivor is in a bad state, however, and she appears to be missing at least one limb.
All around me, there is death. To every side, children are losing their lives and I am just standing here, completely unaffected by all their screams of terror. I had to deal with depression for a long while, and now they too are getting a taste of what misery feels like.
It seems only fair to me.
I look at my ally and see that he is scowling. When I follow his gaze I realise why: it's the girl who got away from us, and I can imagine that he is extremely annoyed about her survival to this stage in the Hunger Games. Really, she should have died a long time before now, though I would never say that out loud. As an outer district tribute myself, I suppose that I should technically be in a situation as precarious as hers. It's only by pure chance that I found Charming and therefore began to get sponsors rooting for me.
Before I made an alliance, I don't think that anybody in the Capitol had any confidence in me whatsoever.
Conscious that I have been staring in one direction for too long, I briefly turn my head in the opposite direction. As far as I can see, nobody seems to be planning an attack on me, so I stay still, content with the fact that I am currently safe.
Well, as safe as I can be when I am quite literally trapped in the middle of a battle to the death, that is.
When a District 6 girl sneaks up behind a boy I don't recognise and stabs him with a shadow of a smile on her face, I smirk - all this bloodshed is occuring, and yet not one person has bothered to challenge me.
Ellia Reyner, 16, Second Female (District 2)
A boy approaches a smug girl from behind and kicks her to the ground. She gasps, but he puts an end to her cries when he hits the back of her skull with a spiked baton. I am still for a moment, totally stunned and horrified at his actions.
It looked to be a most vile way to die.
After shaking just the tiniest bit of the poor girl's flesh off his baton, the boy sets his eyes on me and slowly makes his way in my direction. I gulp, realising his intentions and not wanting the girl's fate to become mine also. I've probably got a minute, maybe a minute and a half at most until he reaches me, and that's only if I'm fortunate enough that he doesn't decide to start running.
I try to get away, but when you only have one arm, and only one of your legs is actually functioning, and you're losing a concerning amount of blood, you can't exactly move very fast. It's a very stressful situation for me, and it's one that I really wish I hadn't landed myself in.
I turn my head, trying to see a shorter yet safe escape route, but I cannot see one. I gulp - this is it, Elle. The end of your miserable little life.
The thing is, I'm not ready for it to be over just yet. Around my allies, I felt needed... and it was nice. In Hell, I'll be alone, and just the prospect is enough to make my stomach churn.
That's when I see Seb, and an idea quickly forms inside my head. It cannot save me, for I am beyond able to be saved now, but it could save me the pain of the spikes crushing my skull... It is a cruel plan, but it is my only other option at this point.
"Seb!" I yell, and he turns to face me. His eyes fill with horror as he sees the state I am in: missing arm, butchered leg, and all.
"Elle?" he chokes. "Elle?" He runs towards me and grabs my good arm, trying to drag me away.
"Seb," I hiss, "Don't." Because no matter how much I want to survive, I'm already gone and he is endangering his own life by trying to save me.
"B- but Ell-" he stutters, but I cut him off.
"No, Seb. You can't save me. But you can help me..."
"How?" he asks, his voice frantic, and it makes me feel guilty about what I am about to ask him to do.
I have to gulp before saying the horrific words: "You could kill me."
He gets a stunned look on his face and neither of us make a noise for what can only be a few seconds but seems like an eternity. "What? I, um... I think I misheard you, Elle..."
"No, you didn't. Kill me."
"Never." I glare at him, though I understand where he is coming from. If he had asked the same from me, I doubt I would have wanted to do it either. But right now, it is my best option, and I am desperate. Sure, it is probably not fair on him in the slightest, but I am sure that anybody else who was in a situtation like mine would act the same way that I am right now. It's only natural, though that doesn't stop me from feeling guilty about the situation I'm forcing him into. "You're my friend, Elle," he begs, but I just shake my head at him.
"Then help me, Seb! I don't want to have to feel my face getting bashed in, or my brain being torn apart by the spikes on that thing! Please, Seb - I'm begging you."
"B- but..." His eyes well up with tears, and it sets me off too. It is not right of me to ask this of him, not in the slightest. Regardless of my morals, though, I cannot back down now. I don't want my final moments to be as torturous as that other boy would almost certainly make them.
"Just fucking take your knife and stab me!" I scream, tears streaming down my face. "Just do it and save me the pain, won't you?" I reach out to take his knife myself with my remaining hand but he places his own hand over the much needed weapon protectively.
"No," he says, his voice trembling. "I- I can't do it, and I can't let you do it either. You're my rock, Elle, and I need you. I can't let you die - I just can't!" His voice is full of desperation, almost as though he thinks that pleading with me could make a difference to the outcome that we are both so scared of - almost as if this is my own choice. But I don't want to die now - in fact, the fact that it is inevitable is more terrifying to me than even my worst childhood nightmares, and some of those were quite horrifying indeed.
I briefly look behind me to see the crazed District 6 boy still approaching, and it makes me shudder. I stare at Seb, being sure to not lose eye contact even when he flinches.
"Seb," I whisper, my voice strained and the word almost painful.
Sebastian Renier, 16, Second Male (District 4)
"Please... I don't want to suffer."
Her words hit me in the most powerful way, almost like a stone wall collapsing right above of me and trapping me among the rubble. Though I have seen her point each time she has asked me to end it for her, I've been trying to ignore it and see a happier outcome. Now, however, I am finally having to accept that there is no happier outcome. She is going to die right now, and the amount of pain she is in when it happens is all down to me.
I should have never expected to be able to stay happy for long, it was stupid of me. I'm in the Hunger Games, after all.
She reaches up and grabs my wrist tightly, and I can feel her trembling with fear. It's not fair of me to keep her like this - it's selfish, and to let her go in the most horrible way would be inexcusable. If I'm not by her side now, then can I really say that I was ever truly a good friend to her? I don't think I could bring myself to, knowing that her painful final moments were all my own damn fault.
I close my eyes to hold back the tears that I cannot show - not now, as I need to be strong. For Elle, I tell myself inside my head. "Okay," I whisper, practically choking on the word. "I'll do it."
I open my eyes, and a solemn smile is gracing the face of one of the best people I have ever had the honour of knowing. "You're a good guy, Seb - never change. Can you do that for me?" I nod, and though I want to wrap my arms around her and tell her she's going to be fine, that there's a perfect place in Heaven already waiting for her, I know that there just isn't time. I place my hand on her shoulder, and I smile at her one last time.
"Goodbye, Elle. I'll miss you," I say as I take out the blade with my remaining hand. Then, in what is by far the most dreadful second of my life so far, I plunge it into her chest. Elle's eyes go wide, but then the emotion leaves them and her body drops to the floor.
Her body. Even though it's not quite as harsh as 'corpse', it is still too much for me to deal with. I drop the knife, not wanting anything to do with it after what it has- what I have done, and sprint away from the area, away from the boy who wanted to end her life so painfully, away from all the bloodshed... but most importantly, away from her. Elle is gone from my life now, and it feels as though a part of my heart has been torn away from my body. She was there for me, a reason for me to stay strong even when I felt like breaking down... but now? Now, I have nothing to keep me grounded, and it hurts.
Only when I am far from the fatal feast do I allow myself to properly cry, and once the tears begin to fall I start to doubt if they will ever stop.
Ally Johnson, 14, Third Female (District 4)
Did he just- I shudder at the realisation of what I just saw. Seb - my seemingly kind and gentle former ally - just killed Elle in front of my very own eyes. Not through a screen, even - right in front of me.
I feel a tear roll down my cheek in mourning for the sweet girl who just lost her life. Elle was caring and she looked after me back when the alliance was still together, and I'm not willing just yet to accept that she is gone - especially not considering the way it happened.
Even if I survive, I doubt I'll be able to forgive Seb for what he has done. It was inhumane, and it was uncalled for. I don't even know what to think about him anymore - I mean, was he just leading us along from the start? Was he ever the boy he seemed to be, or was it all an act?
Both of those are questions playing on my mind right now, and one significant thing that they have in common is that I doubt I shall ever receive answers to either of them.
The head of one of the boys from District 2 flying past me simultaneously makes me gasp and pulls me out of the trance I was beginning to enter. I turn my head to look at his body and see his younger district partner standing above the headless corpse with the guilty weapon. He is smirking, and it makes me feel like throwing up all over the bloody grass.
A boy with a spiked mace hovers over Elle's body, and I want to scream at him to get away, to leave her beauty alone even though she is dead, but I can't make the words leave my mouth. Thankfully, he gets distracted before he can mutilate her... her corpse, and he chooses to instead end the life of the young girl from District 1. Though I pity her, I am grateful for her sacrifice. It means that my former ally - okay, so she wasn't just my ally, she was close to being my friend - is going to stay whole.
As long as her body is still one, I can relax in the knowledge that she is once again safe, that she can have a proper burial. To me, that is important.
When I see a girl not much older than me get her stomach pierced by Monique, however, I realise that I cannot fully relax. Where I am standing, I am in danger. To stay here would be too much of a risk for me to take, and just being here is making me upset regardless, so I turn around and leave the area. I never really wanted to go to the feast anyway, and now I am wishing that I could unsee all that it brought.
Today has just reminded me exactly how brutal the arena is, and I want nothing more than to get away from it. Maybe when I sleep later, it will help... if I can actually manage to sleep ever again, that is.
Leone Strauss, 16, Second Male (District 6)
Just seconds ago, a boy was taunting a girl, claiming her death was his right or something like that - I was a bit too far away to hear him clearly, see - and he looked as through he was about to kill her when two girls, both Careers, silently crept up on the distracted pair and stabbed them almost simultaneously, though the girl dropped to the floor before the boy did. As she dropped, I saw that the dead girl's clothes were the same colour of mine, meaning that she was likely from my district. It doesn't particularly bother me, no, but I am slightly shocked that anybody else from District 6 actually made it this far. Perhaps that's why I am unable to get it out of my head as immediately as I'd have hoped.
I try to ignore what just happened, though, because right now, there are two other potential victims waiting for me. Once again, instinct takes over and I start to make my way towards the killers, fully prepared to end the life of at least one - if not both - of them.
Though I don't know why, I lose my gaze and quickly glance around. Maybe it's to check that nobody is trying to hunt me - I'm really not sure - but when I do, I see Rowan staring at me.
Rowan. My sweet and innocent former ally - who has probably just seen me brutally end the lives of so many tributes - is just staring at me, his jaw wide open. It's enough to bring me out of this weird and murderous trance and see myself for who I am again: a cold-hearted murderer.
It makes me feel sick with myself, like I want to detach myself from who I am. I've never been stuck in it for that long before, and I suppose that it must have been the effect of the arena, but I hate it regardless. It is vile... like the rest of me, too damaged now for me to just think of myself as a carrier for the murderer within.
A warm tear trickles down my cheek, and my whole body trembles.
Rowan just stares at me. "L- Leone? Are you o- okay?" he asks, his voice trembling slightly. "Why do you have that... that weapon?"
I look down at my hands, both covered in sticky, red blood, and I glance at the cruel killing machine, so gruesome with its combination of fresh and rotten flesh stuck to it. It is gross, and I feel ashamed of myself for even being in possession of it now, not to mention the extreme guilt I feel for using it up to this point, which is too much to measure. I have let the monster in me take over, and I hate that - I hate that.
And even though I really don't want to have to say it, I feel as though I have left myself with no choice but to cry, "Get away from me! I don't want to hurt you!"
Rowan looks shocked, likely because of my baton, but I just shake my head furiously before turning and running away. As I do so, however, I forget to look at the ground and I slip up on a puddle of blood - likely a result of my own actions, ironically.
As I fall to the ground, I lose my grip on the deadly weapon and it goes flying upwards. Well, perhaps flying isn't the best word for it, due to its weight and the fact that it never actually goes that high, but considering that I have mere seconds left to live, it'll have to do.
I shake my head once again, unable to make any other movement. "I'm sorry," I whisper, knowing that they shall likely be my final words.
The last thing I ever see is my own spiked baton falling on my face, and I can't help but feel as though I deserve it.
27- Bug Huxley, D3m1 - Darryn Allain
26- Troye Pacifica, D4m1 - Petra Silverwood
25- Radia Redix, D9f2 - Lennon Chai
24- Giana Acacia, D7f3 - Tiara Holden
23- Risetto Thorsten, D9m1 - Rhoena Lyter
22- Amber Dawns, D12f1 - Leone Strauss
21- Ellia Reyner, D2f2 - Sebastian Renier
20- Glair Clermont, D2m2 - Invictus Nero
19- Opal Mahogany, D1f3 - Leone Strauss
18- Kiora Plessant, D6f2 - Monique Zale
17- Charming Heartsong, D1m2 - Tiara Holden
16- Leone Strauss, D6m2 - HIMSELF
KILL COUNT:
Leone: 9 (Trigg, Tech, Florian, Astra, Barley, Aestus, Oliver, Amber, Opal)
Charming: 4 (Sylvie, Riley, Jake, Sherman)
Mason: 4 (Vernon, Scoria, Eucalyptus, Scintillaea)
Tiara: 3 (Platinum, Giana, Charming)
Petra: 3 (Charity, Pepper, Troye)
Monique: 3 (Fiyero, Taylor, Kiora)
Rhoena: 3 (Thomas, Brietta, Risetto)
Opal: 2 (Luka, Lee)
Arminta: 2 (Persimmon, Orchid)
Invictus: 2 (Natalie, Glair)
Giana: 2 (Azalea, Hugo)
Lyndon: 1 (Malachi)
Ellia: 1 (Stevie)
Glair: 1 (Therese)
Ally: 1 (Centra)
Sebastian: 1 (Ellia)
Darryn: 1 (Bug)
Lennon: 1 (Radia)
Rowan: 1 (Kozuki)
