Klaus Riviera- District Five male

Images of Arenas flickered in my head like pictures on a screen saver. A desert. A rainforest. A beach. A clothes store. A freaking different planet. In the dark of the tunnel, none of them seemed impossible.

I'll know in a few minutes, I thought. As soon as the platform reaches the top.

The platform reached the top. I didn't see anything.

Meenah Turbine- District Six female

Am I doing something wrong? I don't see anything.

It was pitch black. All I knew was the air was kind of moist. I heard an echoey thunk as something shifted in the platforms.

A red light appeared, and everything was clear.

This will be a massacre.

Grande St. Leger- District One male

The countdown clock blinked into existence. Its red light cast an eerie glow over the interior of the Arena. We were in a cave. We stood in a large circular chamber from which six wide tunnels branched out in various directions. In the center of the platforms stood a squat Cornucopia full of the usual weapons and supplies. All of this I made out in flashes by the instants of light generated by the blinking numbers.

58, 57, 56…

Othella Fline- District Eight female

We were all going to die. The Careers were so well-trained, they'd be able to tell where we were in the dark. They'd catch us all as we were stumbling around. And if they didn't, we would wander in total darkness until we died of dehydration. That took days, didn't it? Days of walking in an underground pit of blackness, unable to see and hearing only our own unsteady footsteps.

49, 48, 47…

Donnatella Brassas-Palassaqua- District Two female

I saw what they were doing. There was a crate labeled "night vision glasses" right in the mouth of the Cornucopia. There was a heavy rope all around it, and the lid looked as heavy as the top of a coffin. I saw exactly what they were doing.

40, 39, 38…

Apollo Courfeyrac- District Eleven male

It was a good thing I didn't have epileprosy or whatever. I wondered if anyone watching at home was freaking out over the flashing light.

I was in between Wisteria and Gavin. The closest Career was Elissa, and she was three platforms away. If the light went off when the Games began, I wouldn't be able to see them, but they also wouldn't be able to see me. I bet it would be safe to run in just a little bit and grab the backpack in front of me.

35, 34, 33…

Enzo Ranger- District Six male

This was no place for someone like me. I was a happy kid. I liked silly games and running around with my friends. This was the stuff nightmares were made of. It was darkness and tight places and being chased all at once.

When we die they won't have to bury us. We're already buried.

27, 26, 25…

Caio Sagres- District Four male

I was vibrating in frustration. In the time it took us to get to the Cornucopia and find a source of light, they would be gone. I'd waited for the Bloodbath all these years and this is what I got.

I looked at Coby on the platform next to me. Just a few feet away, but untouchable until the timer sounded. He was going to get away. It boiled my blood.

I looked at the gap between us. No he isn't.

17, 16, 15...

Coby Keyes- District Three male

I thought Caio was fuming as he looked at me with squinted, burning eyes. I realized while he was in the air that he had been calculating.

He slammed down onto the platform with me. I backed away and almost toppled over the edge in my panic to get away. But I couldn't get away. There was nowhere to go.

In a last bit of defiance, I tried to jump off the platform and blow us both up. Caio caught me by the collar and hauled me in. He wrapped his arms around me in a complicated move to get leverage. I looked up into his face, lit in spurts by the red glow.

In my defense I don't think this is really fair.

10, 9, 8…

Meenah Turbine- District Five female

The sound of a cannon almost made me fall over.

How can there be a cannon already? Oh my god the Games started and I don't even know. I gotta get out of here. I have to get off this platform. I have to get off but I can't the numbers are still flashing they're coming for me I won't even see them coming the Cornucopia is in the way I can't see any of the Careers…

7, 6, 5…

Sundew Keope- District Twelve female

Caio threw Coby's body out as far as he could, so it wouldn't set off the mines. I counted the seconds it took for him to do it. I only needed ten more seconds…

He looked up at me. His eyes flickered down to the ground as he calculated whether he was willing to take the risk again. I looked at Jezzbell on the platform next to me. Could I make it? Would it be a bizarre game of duck-duck-goose across twenty-four platforms?

4. 3. 2.

The last seconds ticked away. As Caio glanced at the clock in the corner of his eye, the last number winked out, plunging his face into darkness. The gong sounded. Without looking to see if he was already in the air, I ran.

24th place: Coby Keyes- Neck broken by Caio

I didn't kill him first because I didn't like him. I just had a lot of deaths earmarked and his fit without messing up the other Tributes that had requested placements. Coby was a last minute fill-in and I much appreciate the speed from the only submitter I forgot to write down. He was pretty popular, which is funny since he had like five lines of form. That happens a lot in my experience, since tiny forms give me free rein and I tend to make them into normal, happy people. We thank Coby for the sacrifice of dying first because the other guy I was gonna kill had a requested placement of 23. So his time's coming worry you not.

I know it seems like Caio is super cool and badass but actually I just wanted to do the platform jumping thing and let's be real he's the one cocky and dramatic enough to try it. These platforms are closer than normal since the cave naturally constrained the spacing for the ring of platforms.