Paloma Bennett- District Ten female
We needed a plan. I had sixty seconds to come up with something that would save our lives. If we didn't find each other in the Bloodbath, we would never find each other. The tunnels would swallow us up and the next we heard of each other would be our cannons.
Jezzebell was two platforms away. Beyond her, Yttria was four platforms farther. Othella was hidden from my view by the Cornucopia. A plan popped into my head. I had no idea if it would work or get us all killed, but I didn't have time to think of another. It was act and risk it all or not act and not even have a chance.
I waved until Jezzebell looked over at me. I made little running legs with my fingers and swept my hand sideways, praying none of the Careers were looking or at least that they'd think I'd lost my mind. I pointed at myself, then Jezzebell. After that I pointed at Yttria. Then I pointed behind the Cornucopia.
Through it all, Jezzebell had been looking at me with a cocked head and screwed eyes. Then her face flooded with understanding. She hesitated, shrugged, nodded, and turned to relay the message to Yttria. I could see Yttria shaking her head. Finally she nodded and turned to Othella, wherever she was.
When the last number disappeared, everything went pitch black. I stood frozen for a minute, wondering if one of the Careers had memorized my position and was coming at me, making some of the running noises I could hear as Tributes fled. After maybe five seconds, I stepped off my platform and started running toward Jezzebell's, feeling from one platform to the next so I wouldn't get lost. I found Jezzebell by bumping into her and was relieved she didn't slug my by reflex. We found each other's hands and grabbed on.
Hand in hand, we continued to Yttria's platform. I sensed her heat the instant before I felt the weight as she joined our chain. We found Othella when I tripped over her, since she was huddled on the ground by her platform. Once we were all four connected by our hands, we picked a direction and started walking until Jezzebell smacked into a wall. We moved sideways until a tunnel opened, and then we fled.
Apollo Courfeyrac- District Eleven male
I couldn't see anything, but I didn't need to. I kept one hand on the platform and stretched out with my leg. Anything I touched I hooked in. As long as I could hear the Careers scuffling around with the night vision box, I could keep harvesting. I even had time to clear the area around my platform and move to the next one over. I stuffed whatever I found into the backpack I'd grabbed, nicking my finger on a hunting knife I hadn't recognized until it cut me.
I hadn't heard any cannons. I guessed all the Tributes must have run away, unless there were others doing what I was doing. That turned out to be the case. My leg collided with what felt like another leg. We both quickly recoiled. I wondered if we were staring at each other blind in the dark. Who was it? They didn't attack, so not a Career. Someone young like me, maybe? Someone like Othella who was as scared as I was and hoping I wouldn't attack just like I was hoping she didn't attack? Whoever it was, neither of us attacked. I moved on the other way and she must have done the same.
As bold as I was, luck could only be pressed so far. I put on my backpack and beat it. I'd tried to memorize where a tunnel was, but I got disoriented in the dark and plowed into a wall instead. I felt my way sideways, rubbing my hands on the wall.
A minute later, I started to feel panicked. I wasn't feeling any tunnels. Was I going in circles somehow? I could be there for hours, until the Careers came for me. But then my hand shot into nothingness. I slipped down the tunnel and didn't look back.
Atticus Scipio- District Two Career
I tore at the knots with blinding rage. Beside me, the other Careers worked at other knots or felt around for blades to cut them. As soon as I heard someone scrabbling for a weapon, I abandoned the crate and looked for my own. These next moments were a loaded gun. We could own the Games or we could all die here. The first one of us who got it into their head to find a weapon and start attacking by sound would trigger a feeding frenzy.
It might have happened if Grande hadn't gotten the last knot and torn the lid off the crate. We all stuck our hands in, grabbing for whatever felt like a pair of glasses. I slammed a pair onto my face, almost snapping the plastic band.
The Arena went from nothing to everything. Aside from the green tinge, it was like a normal day. I bellowed and slammed my fist on the box in frustration when I saw the Tributes were gone. In the time we took to open the box and ensure none of them got it, they'd cleared out half the supplies and gotten away.
"We'll find them," Caio said, responding to my frustration. He smiled and his teeth glittered through the glasses. All around us, Careers were gathering weapons and sorting supplies.
"Hold on," Seychelle said. She pointed at a platform half-hidden by the edge of the Cornucopia. There was a Tribute huddled next to it. I didn't understand how anyone could be that stupid, but they wouldn't be stupid much longer.
Wisteria Rose- District Eleven female
It was dark. It was dark and cold. There was nothing. There was nothing to do but die.
I stepped off the platform and it took all my energy. I sagged to the ground, sitting leaned against the platform. What did it matter where I went? I would die there just the same. I was tired, and there was no hope.
My baby. Marie. I'd never expected Wicker to be there for us, but he was a good man. He would take care of her until he found somewhere for her. She would have someone to love her more than I ever did. It wasn't fair she got me as a mother. Whoever came next would do better.
Someone was walking up to me. I could hear several sets of footsteps. I lifted my head, not that I could see anything. I wondered who I was looking at.
I'm going to die, I knew. I couldn't make myself care. I regretted leaving Marie, but she would go on. She never even knew me to miss me, just like I barely knew her. I didn't mind dying. I was ready to lie down and take a chance at what came next.
Donnatella Brassas-Palassaqua- District Two female
Wisteria's eyes gleamed green in the dark. She was looking right at us, but she looked through us. It made it easier to do what I did next. Even easier was knowing that I did it because I didn't trust Atticus not to take out his anger on her. From me, it was one arrow, through her skull and out the other side before her brain knew it was there.
Holy Tiny Bloodbath Batman! I know I'm notorious for small ones, but here we have the record-setting Bloodbath in which, during the actual Bloodbath proper, only one person died. FAIL! Even for me that's surprising.
23rd place: Wisteria Rose-Shot by Donnatella
Wisteria was submitted specifically as a Bloodbath, or she wouldn't have died either. The main point of her development was to showcase postpartum depression, something I've never seen in an SYOT, for obvious reasons. So that's why she didn't seem to love her kid. She had some raging mental illness that was totally overlooked. So shoutout to AmericanPi for remembering something that doesn't have as much awareness as it should and having compassion for women that often get demonized. Wisteria was a beautiful person, and what she ended up as shows how devastating postpartum depression is. As much as an SYOT compares to actual real life women, that is.