Cornflower Fields POV

I didn't ever hope my Tributes would win. I always rooted for whoever was winning at the minute. That way I never got hurt. It wouldn't have surprised me if Calvary had won, and I knew if any of my Tributes did it would be her. She was so fierce, Jean was so sensitive, Bree was so harmless, Mouse was so young, Starling was so caring, and Felix was so sweet. Any of them would be better Victors than I was. I had trouble thinking of what to do with the book. In the end I penciled an asterisk by their names. Then the book wasn't even, but I wasn't supposed to like it.

District Ten POV

For some of the victims, we'd lived so long without them we'd learn to cope. Others were fresher, and they all hurt. Cash didn't connect with television so he was spared the sight of his sister dying again. The others saw it all over again. Even those of us who weren't related to them felt the absence of the lost children. That's what it felt like- like they were lost, like they wandered off into the fields and vanished.


Hunter Dubchen POV

It was almost time. Even with the cannons earlier, the mutt was almost certain to come for one of us. Maybe it was the same one that attacked us before, but I didn't think so. He never made that screech, and there were no owls around. It was something else, maybe something even more horrible.

The rest of the alliance sensed it too. Vera, Kazuo and Shogo were sitting by the weapons looking tense. Celestial was looking back and forth between them, seeking reassurance she wasn't going to find. Lyte was sterilizing bandages.

I was so nervous I wished I could just go to sleep up wake up when it was over. I knew we'd have to break up eventually. We were all dreading it and the question hung over the camp. A mutt attack might do for us what none of us could bear to start. I could only hope it killed Celestial and Lyte. I wondered if the other fighters were thinking the same. None of us wanted to do it, both because of the morality and the vilification that would follow. The mere fact that I considered that a factor meant I was already corrupted.

The wind picked up. Leaves swirled in the air and the night seemed to thicken. My hair fuzzed in the breeze and matched the chill running down my neck. We were prepared when the noise came, but none of us were ready.

A horrible bat mutt dropped out of the sky. It was like the Gamemakers couldn't find anything scary enough in this world and dipped into some other one. It drew itself up and leaped at the closest target, Celestial. As soon as it landed she had started running towad Vera and the others, but she wasn't close enough. It bowled her over and wrapped its wings around her, its body arcing over hers like a lion. I saw her blood splattering through its translucent wings as she gurgled like she was drowning. Her fingers scrabbled against the bloody marks as she thrashed. Her cannon went off before any of us could react. The mutt raised its head and looked for its next target.


Celestial Yeager POV

I loved animals. That wasn't an animal. It was a monster. It ripped the life out of me with a hatred no animal ever had. Animals, at least the best ones, are pure love. I was going back to wherever I was before. I didn't remember it, but I hoped there were animals to welcome me back.


Thompson Kirstein POV

The mutt's claws tore my throat to ribbons and I was soaked in blood before I hit the ground. I knew I wasn't getting back up. I never thought I'd make it so far, and death was easier when it came so quick. I did a better job this time around. I made it farther and made something of myself trying to defend Celestial and Vera. I didn't have a chance to win, but I played the Game as best I could.


Kazuo Braun POV

Vera was already halfway to Celestial when her cannon sounded. I was still behind her, too stunned to move. The mutt ran to meet her and she stopped him in his tracks by swinging her katana in a vertical strike across his chest. A devastating wound immediately opened, but the mutt barely reacted. It grabbed her in a horrible hug and its claws rent her hips and legs even as her sword was pressed between them, its blade sinking into the mutt. It opened its mouth to bite her, but it never made it. Hunter raised his sword and sliced it through the mutt's wing, shredding the delicate skin and leaving a trail of flesh and blood like a ripped doily. The mutt arced back and dropped Vera. She was covered in blood and could barely hobble out of the mutt's reach.

Without thinking, I leapt into the fray. If I left them to die, I wouldn't have a soul to survive the Games. I slid out my wazikashi and swung it at the mutt's legs as Hunter grabbed a handful of trailing wing flesh and yanked. Thompson cautiously stabbed its arm with his spear and the mutt grabbed him by the throat and threw him aside like a doll. It began to struggle under our weight and couldn't figure out where to strike first. An arrow flew into its chest and I saw Vera, barely upright and soaked in blood, holding her bow and getting another one ready. Hunter and I couldn't hold the mutt in place by ourselves. With one more person helping, Vera could get in the kill shot.

"Shogo!" I yelled. I tried to find him in the chaos. Lyte was sitting next to Celestial with his hands on her neck. That boy was hopeless. When I saw Shogo, he was standing at the edge of camp looking at us. What's he waiting for? I thought.

"Help us!" I yelled. He didn't seem scared or hesitant. If anything, he looked blank. He didn't even have his sword out. He looked at Vera, then turned and ran into the forest.

He's leaving us, I thought. I shouted after him and the mutt struggled under my grip. It threw me and Hunter off and we ran to Vera to regroup. She shot an arrow into its leg and pressed her hands to her wound.

"Run!" she yelled. We followed after her and Lyte ran after us. The mutt squealed and started to hobble at a terribly fast rate. I heard it breaking branches and shrieking behind me as we fled into the night. I looked back again and saw Lyte, who had been in the back, was in the middle, and he was looking back at Vera. She was stumbling and barely staying upright as blood oozed from her wound. At least one of us wasn't going to make it, and I knew who it was.


Lyte Anderson POV

The mutt was barely out of sight. In the dark of the forest we could lose it and escape. Then I could take care of Vera. She was critically wounded, but if I stopped the blood she might still live. I looked back to check on her. She cried out and fell to her knees. I ran back and knelt by her.

"Get away!" she said, waving me off with one arm as she held the other to her leg. She kept protesting as I ripped my shirt and starting tightening a tourniquet around her leg. She was too weak to sit upright anymore and sagged into a reclining position, which was ideal to conserve blood. I elevated her foot on a branch as she struggled to sit up.

"It's still coming. It'll find us," she said. She tried to pick up her sword and it slipped in her bloodstained hands. I knew she was right. She begged me to leave, but I couldn't. Even if I didn't have a day of training, I was a doctor. Life came first, and there was nothing that could make me abandon a patient.

Vera was getting pale. I heard the mutt thrashing in the forest and knew it was getting closer. It might overlook us, but it didn't matter. I took some gauze from my bag and wadded it over her wound, leaning against it and pressing the blood in place. I felt the flow grow lighter and stop. There was a flurry of motion in the nearby branches and I saw the mutt break through the darkness.

"Get out," Vera whispered. She'd die if I did. I held the bandage in place and watched as the mutt swung its head and its gaze fell on us. I stared back at it and watched it come. Death was the enemy of every doctor, and I was ready for it.


Vera Busattil POV

He wasn't going to leave. If I had any strength left I'd have thrown him away, but there was nothing left. He was bound and determined to stay with his patient and I couldn't save myself, much less him. Even as the mutt ran at us, I felt secure. It was like Lyte was protecting me and nothing could hurt us. All through my life, I'd felt isolated and alone in my strangeness and my inexpressible thoughts. It was comforting to have someone with me as I died. I took Lyte's hand, and he clenched it like he was holding the life inside never let go.


A lot of you have been wondering when the Big Fat 17-Member Alliance would break up and speculating that it would be brutal. This was brutal, but not like you expected. The alliance is still somewhat intact, though, since Hunter and Kazuo are still together. They also might meet up with Shogo at some point, and that will be tense.

10th place: Celestial Yeager- bitten by the camazotz

Celestial really only made it this far due to the insulation of her large alliance. Her group was so large it wasn't attackable and the only way she could have died is if someone like Gordon picked her off. I always liked Celestial and tried my best to figure out a way for her to win the first time around. She was too nice and innocent, and the Gamemakers should have left her in peace.

9th place: Thompson Kirstein

It may be obvious, but I just forgot I didn't kill Thompson. He got lost in the mix and I only noticed he wasn't dead when I listed the final ten. He was never a strong Career and I intended to kill him in the Ah-Puch attack but overlooked him. I think he did some growing up and came a long way from the arrogant playboy he was at the start. He went from a crying mess to someone who made the best of what he had.

8th place: Lyte Anderson- killed by the camazotz

Lyte died before Vera, for obvious reasons. I'm delighted by how popular Lyte was and how much you all wished he could win somehow. I let him live way longer than I intended and planned this death for him long before I solidified it into a camazotz attack. When I gave him enough time, Lyte turned out to be (pardon my language) a badass. I'm sorry he had no chance here, but Jayman's using him in a story and he will eventually get a one-shot Victory in my compilation featuring every Tribute I've ever written. I'm sad to see him go and I mourn his determination and his selfless mission.

7th place: Vera Busattil- killed by the camazotz

Vera was less popular than I expected the first time around. I worried I wrote her wrong and did my best to give her a good chance here. I was glad to see she grew more popular and a lot of you were rooting for her. She matured a lot as she realized her mistake, came to terms with Whyte's death and faced her own. She was thoroughly human and had real flaws and gifts. She's welcome back into the next All-Stars Games and she has some fics written by her own author, so she lives on.

There go the last girls. It wasn't entirely intentional- I did want a male Victor since I've done so many girls, but the girls remained eligible to keep things fair. Vera and Calvary were both huge contenders (if Calvary wasn't ineligible), but this time around a boy is going to reign supreme. Who's it going to be? Time will tell.