Last chapter left until the Bloodbath!

Aurora Xu, 18
District 2 Female

She had been asleep for about eight hours, though it felt like only a few minutes. For a brief minute after she woke up, she had forgotten about the date. Then it all came flooding back to her. She felt slightly nervous, but then shook it off almost immediately. An alarm beside her bed went off, and she nearly jumped at the noise.

Now was not the time time for last-minute jitters.

Aurora selected her breakfast carefully. Fruit and scrambled eggs, with a slide of whole wheat toast and two sausages, as well as a large glass of milk to wash it all down. Julius had just filled up his plate with pastries. She wanted to scoff, because chances were it was all gonna come out in the arena anyways, once her district partner saw how gruesome the Games could truly be. What kind of little kid could ever truly stomach the sight of his older allies tearing all the other tributes down like paper dolls?

But that would never bother Aurora.

She was born ready.

She hoped her family was paying extra special attention to her and how she was really worth so much. How she was the bloodthirsty, brutal Career they trained her to be. The Capitol was going to regret skipping her over in favour of Ember's supposedly moving confession, Void's pathetically sad backstory, Julius's age, Rosy's friendship with her mentor, and Amperia's status as an lowly outlier among Careers.

She finished her food and waited for the Avox to clear her plate. Then, she took a shower; Aurora figured it might be the last one she'd get in a while and it wouldn't hurt to enter the arena all fresh and clean. Nike was waiting outside her bedroom, perhaps hoping to talk strategy one last time.

"I've got it all memorized," Aurora promised. "I won't let you down."
Nike folded her arms. "You wouldn't be here if we expected to be let down. Stick to our plan and the Career code. District 2 needs another Victor."

Aurora gave her a little salute. "You can count on me. I'll bring another Victor home."

For a brief moment, Nike gave her the tiniest of grins, which faded as quickly as it had appeared. "I knew we could count on you."

Julius was unusually quiet. He grabbed Slate and pulled him into his bedroom, probably for a last-minute pep talk. Aurora supposed she felt a little bad for him. Hopefully, he'd be dead before she had the chance to kill him herself; some sort of honour code would prevent her form doing so unless the situation was dire.

"Isn't this exciting?" Sariah asked, sipping a cocktail on the couch. "I always love the spectacle of a Quell. And especially if I'm the one bringing home a Quell Victor myself!"
Nike gave a loud cough and Sariah began to blush. "Oh yes. You do have your mentor to thank as well."

Aurora nodded, not really in the mood to talk. A shadow of doubt crept into her mind.

What if all your training isn't enough?

She didn't have time to think these sorts of thoughts. Not with the Games just hours away.

Finally, the Peacekeepers had arrived to collect them. Julius was all smiles again, though he was clearly faking it. He kept chatting everyone's ears off, probably to mask his own fears. Aurora just ignored him, as she had been for the past few days.

"Are you ready?" Julius asked her. "Because I'm ready. I'm so, so, so ready! Come on, Aurora. We're gonna do so great!"

One of the Peacekeepers escorting them let out a loud sigh. "Silence, please."
Julius mumbled an apology. Aurora rolled her eyes.

But they were finally outside now, a large hovercraft looming over them. Aurora had never actually been inside one of them before. And she had never realized just how big they were. As she was helped inside by the Peacekeepers, she felt trapped in the belly of a mechanical beast that had come down from the sky and swallowed her whole.

There were twenty-four available seats, twelve on each side. It seemed that the seating had already been established because both Aurora and Julius were both pretty close to the end and across from each other as well. However, as the other tributes filled up the remaining seats, this appeared to be totally random.

Eventually, everyone had somewhere to be. Aurora had little Jonathan on her right, and Hera on her left. Across from her was Grey, who had Julius on one side and Powder on the other. They were all strapped in with what were pretty uncomfortable headrests to Aurora, but it was clear nobody was going anywhere.

Then the hovercraft jerked violently.

Everyone glanced around in alarm and Aurora realized she actually digging her nails into her headrest. The Peacekeepers remained stoic. Probably nothing.

Surprisingly, the hovercraft ride was very smooth and Aurora didn't feel any different. She couldn't see out the windows, still they could still be on the ground, for all she knew. But that wasn't true. They were still up in the air. And they were approaching the arena.

Again, she could do this. She could prove herself to Mom, and Dad, and Celeste, and Nike, and Sariah, and hell, even Julius, Void, Ember, Rosy, and Amperia. Fuck it, she knew that Apollo Karaigme, President Snow, Tallulah Jeweltonne and the entirety of Panem would be watching.

Aurora exhaled softly as her tracker was pressed into her arm with a needle.

If District 2 needed another Victor, then so be it.

They didn't need to ask her twice.

Powder Riddell, 14
District 12 Male

"This is so exciting!" Powder whispered to Jenny, who softly giggled in response. And it was. He had never been on a hovercraft before.

Powder was still dreading what was to come. Trapped in this little room with tributes that were nearly twice his age, all ready to practically tear his head off...that was beyond terrifying. When the Peacekeepers came to collect him, he thought of running away screaming. Taking Jenny with him and hopping on the next train back home to 12.

But he was out of time to change his fate.

Powder had done all the training he possibly could. He performed his darn best in front of the Gamemakers, hoping to walk away with the highest possible score he could hope to achieve. He mad allies, quite a few of them too, and he tried to appeal to everyone during his interview. He became a little kid one more time riding the roller coaster with Jenny, before running back in line.

Then, the Games had only been in the back of his mind. He was too focused in the now; he needed to train, to score, to ally, to please. To do everything to maximize his chance of survival. he and Jenny squeezed as much info as possible out of Henri, Louisiana, and Bunting, when he wasn't passed out in his bedroom.

Now, there was nothing left to do but wait.

Wait for this hovercraft to dump him off in the arena that could potentially become his grave.

Powder could no longer avoid the inevitable at this point. He could die. Or maybe, he'd watch Jenny die, and all of his allies fall alongside her. He had seen the Careers in training; he was older than Julius but the boy from 2 was still pretty scary and ruthless. Some outliers, like Grey, Arwan, and Synth also worried him because they were clearly capable of coming after him too. Other tributes were wild cards, like Aldair, Autumn and Deloris, because maybe Powder could take them on, or maybe they'd be the death of him.

And then there were the children, the young ones, such as Ace and Merona. Too sweet to harm a soul. Would they be manufactured into stone-cold killers like the adults? Would the arena break them and rob them of all their innocence? Would it break him?

"All you alright?" Jenny asked in a low voice and Powder nodded, forcing a smile. He didn't want to worry her too much. Then again, it was the Hunger Games. Everyone was battling the same shit, the same fear of not escaping alive.

At the very least, they were all in this together.

The hovercraft lurched suddenly as it came down against the pavement and Jenny was thrown up against Powder. They both laughed to themselves. Powder began to feel uneasy as the humour faded. He felt tight, confined, and claustrophobic. He wanted out of the hovercraft and he wanted it soon.

Thankfully, the Peacekeepers started pulling them off. One beckoned for Powder to follow him out of the hovercraft, into a dark hallway, then through a tunnel. His footsteps echoed softly as he quickened his pace to keep up with the Peacekeeper.

The tunnel led to a little room where his stylist was waiting with a new outfit. A large clear tube stood open at the other end. There was also a little bit of food and water available. Powder nibbled on a sugar cookie while his stylist shoved off the outfit.

It was pretty simple a grey T-shirt with a darker jacket that had his district number printed on both sleeves. There were black boots with laces and a pair of cargo pants. Powder dressed himself up and everything fit rather nice. He awkwardly shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

The rest of the food looked pretty appetizing, but Powder didn't think he could stomach anything else right now. He thought of Jenny, and wondered if she was wearing the same clothes as him. His thoughts drifted to the rest of his allies. Rachel, Elana, Palatino, Johnathan, and DJ. Oh yeah, DJ Verona was officially part of the crew now. Powder supposed it was nice that they and Rachel finally made up.

The pants were a little stiff and annoying, so Powder hobbled around a bit to try and get used to them. As he completed another lap around the table, a sudden announcement could be heard.

"TRIBUTES! PLEASE PROCEED INTO YOUR TUBES!"

The uneasy feeling returned to his stomach as Powder stepped inside the tube.

The glass door quickly shut behind him, sealing him inside. Powder jumped, smacking the pal of his hand against the wall. He felt like he was going to throw up as he looked up at the bright light above him. No matter how much training he went through or how many sponsors he secured, he didn't feel the least bit ready.

There was a faint humming noise and he felt the ground below him shift.

And then he began to rise.

Powder just watched as everything below he disappeared and the light above him grew brighter, blinding him almost completely. He heard the humming noise get louder, as if it had multiplied suddenly. It had to be the noise of everyone else rising at the same time as him.

Eventually, the ground below him clicked into place and the humming stopped.

And Powder finally got his first good look at the arena around him. The knot in his stomach just continued to grow. He and the other tributes were standing in a circle around the sleek, silver Cornucopia, supplies scattered about.

"Oh shit," Powder muttered to himself.

The Hunger Games were about to begin.

And now, we're finally the the Bloodbath! And no, you're not getting any arena information here because that would be a spoiler, wouldn't it?

However, I will say that the Bloodbath for Psycho Circus will be uploaded on FEBRUARY 15TH to give readers a few weeks to catch up and because I'm going to be bit busy with school and working on TMH as well. So set your calendars!

Last chance for any predictions! Who do you think will go down on the first day and who do you think will survive? I'm actually pretty curious as to what everyone thinks, because we have a pretty mixed bag of tributes here.

See you all next chapter!

-Vr