Did someone say UPDATE SOON?


Emmeline Blythe POV

I knew what was coming. It had been another day with no deaths yet. That was always when the screeching started. Whatever the Gamemakers let loose came out when they hadn't seen enough death. They were determined that not a day would go by without blood.

The forest dropped into silence when the sun disappeared. I strained my ears and looked over my shoulder constantly as I waited. It didn't sound like anyone targeted had escaped, and that included three of the most trained fighters in Panem. My best shot was if they picked someone else.

I heard the sound and sprang into action. I didn't know what the mutt was, but I knew some things. The sound came from the air, meaning it was probably a flying mutt. It was large enough to kill three Careers at once, so it was probably as large as a human. Anything that large would have a massive wingspan. I darted into a thick patch of bushes under a wide, tangled tree and started to crawl.

I wasn't a moment too soon. A shadow fell over me as the mutt hovered overhead and blocked the moonlight. It shrieked and scratched at the branches as it strained to reach me. I broke off a branch and struck upwards at it. I wasn't going to kill it, but I might drive it off. Its claws shredded the wood above me, leaving ragged grooves in the tree. It bared its teeth at me and I knew what I was dealing with.

It's a Death Bat, I thought. I wasn't familiar with the legends but I knew humans had a primal fear of vampire bats. I was so focused I didn't seem to have any room for fear. I calculated coldly as the bat strained to reach me.

It was going to get me. If I left the undergrowth it would be able to reach me. If it stayed here it would claw through the branches eventually. I'd spend my last minutes as a rat in a trap, watching the cat come closer and closer. I chose differently.

I reached a hand toward the bat. It seized it with both arms and tore into it with its fangs. I drew it back, leaving a trail of flesh where its grip had been. Blood gushed from the wound and I knew the bat had severed the arteries, just like I'd hoped. I didn't try to stop the flow. By the time the bat got to me, there wouldn't be a drop of blood left in my body.


Shogo Hara POV

As suddenly as the malaria came, it was gone. We hadn't lost a single member, and I wondered how many of the recent cannons had fallen to the disease. We were all still pretty weak, and we sat around the fire sipping soup we'd cobbled together from leftovers.

"What's your talent going to be if you win?" I asked Vera. She looked off into the sky.

"I think I'd like to help people who don't fit in. People like me, Frankie, and Gua," she said. "The Capitol has all sorts of medicine and technology. Maybe they'll let me take some to the Districts. It will make them look good. How about you?"

"Shoot, now I feel bad. I was just going to say acting," I said. Vera cracked up and we all started laughing. I may have made it up for Kanu's sake, but I always did like clowning around. I'd seen the footage of my last interview and I would have been fooled if I'd been in the audience. I might have some real talent.

"What about you, Lyte?" Vera asked.

"Meat carving," he said with a straight face. The thought of Lyte holding dual carving knives and slicing up some fresh cow was about the strangest one I'd ever had.

"How about you?" I asked Hunter.

"I never thought about that," he said with wide eyes. "They should really teach that in the Academy. We're all supposed to be Victors."

"I never thought of one either. Maybe... dancing," Kazuo said. Thompson drew himself up grandly.

"I've had mine planned for years. I was going to be a stud," he said.

"That's nasty," Vera said. Thompson said.

"I'm gifted," he said. That just left Celestial. We all looked at her.

"What, me? I guess I would have been an animal trainer," she said. Hers was the most honest and heartfelt of any of us. Give her a single otter and she was happy for life. A stud, a butcher, an actor, a dancer, a psychiatrist, and a dancer. We sounded like the start of a joke.


13th place: Emmeline Blythe- blood loss

If the camazotz wasn't nigh invincible, Emmeline would have been one of the few who could have fought it. As it was, she was the only one smart enough to thwart it. She died on her own time and escaped death by mutilation. She was also the first to figure out its attack pattern and the Gamemakers' motivation. If her strength matched her intellect she'd have been unstoppable.

Doggonit, I knew I'd mess the placings up. Calvary, Rapture, Jay, Apollo, Chantel, Shogo, Hunter, Vera, Lyte, Kazuo, Thompson, and Celestial are left. For some reason I forgot Thompson in the list and I miscounted the rest.