Grande St. Leger- District One male

The boy was walking blindly down a tunnel, one hand on the wall. I couldn't tell who it was from the back of his head. He wasn't carrying anything. It seemed like most of the Tributes had taken supplies before they left, but not this one. He stumbled over a rock and made a little huffing noise when his hands and knees hit the ground.

They taught us stealth at the Academy. Some of us paid more attention than others, in proportion to our arrogance. I had a healthy respect both for death and for my opponents. I'd listened and taken in every lesson. I knew how to walk first on my heels and then roll my weight forward so there was no sound. I came up behind the boy like a whisper of win.

This isn't fair, I thought as I circled around the oblivious boy to look him in the face. His unseeing eyes glowed green. I could see the twisted, terrified expression on his face. He couldn't see me at all. Careers already had an advantage just by being what we were. This time, it seemed insurmountable. Trained killers were going against blind children. It wouldn't stop me from what I was about to do, but I registered the injustice of it.

Something good comes of this, I thought. They won't have to see it coming.

I threw an elbow strike directly into the boy's temple. I didn't have to worry about him blocking or dodging. He went down and didn't move, which meant he might have been fatally brain-damaged already. I brought up my foot and stomped the heel into his face. His head bounced as my foot ricocheted off after the impact. I could see from the dent that bone had given way, but I stomped thrice more to confirm. The cannon sounded as I walked away.

Argent Ore- District Twelve male

If I just kept moving, I might live. Not through the whole Games, but for another day. I couldn't hear anything. That had to be a good sign. I couldn't hear anything but the sound of my breathing. My hand slid along the damp wall and I kept moving forward.

I didn't see how anyone could win this. We were stumbling blind in an underground maze. Whoever "won" would be whoever happened to die last. I couldn't bear to think of it. Whoever won would have spent days upon days in total, endless darkness.

The darkness broke a moment later. For an instant, I saw a flash of stars.

Adair Oakson- District Seven male

I sat wedged between two rocks as I rifled through my pack. It was more a fanny pack than a real backpack. I'd been too chicken to stick around any longer. If I could just find something, anything, that would give off light, that was all I wanted. That would make it so much easier to find Coby. He'd been hidden from my view by the Cornucopia and then by obvious factors. One of us had to have gotten a flashlight or something. We'd find each other soon.

Someone punched me in the throat. I hadn't even known they were there. I tried to jump up, but instead I sort of pitched forward onto my face. It was suddenly much warmer in the cave. My neck and front were all wet. I thought I must have landed in a puddle. Then it came through what it was. I wasn't going to find Coby. He was on his own. If we ended up together again, I hoped there were trees there.

Sundew Keope- District Twelve female

At the Bloodbath I grabbed something small and hard. Not until I was far away from the Cornucopia did I sit down and run my fingers over it.

Please please please please...

My fingers traced out a rectangular cylinder that fit into my cupped hand. I wanted to cry when I felt a tiny metal wheel on one end. I flipped that end to the top and set my thumb on the little shelf that fit it perfectly. With a tiny flick, I could make light.

Frustrated tears pricked at me. I couldn't let that happen. Light might preserve my sanity, but it would end my life. The same darkness that choked me like smoke hid me from those who wanted to kill me.

There was a sudden scuffle of footsteps. In an instant, thought after thought shot through me. Someone was coming. They were coming fast. They were running. They were confident enough to run. They could see me.

I held out my arm protectively, the lighter still in it. There was a slash of pain all across my front. The air around me shifted as I lost my balance and fell on my back. From the cold lack of pain and the warm wetness, I knew I was dying. It didn't make a difference anymore. I flicked the lighter.

The girl from Four stood over me. She held a sword that might have looked like the Reaper's sycthe, but against her frame it looked more like a crescent moon. The light flickered around us like a tiny pocket dimension in a void.

The girl made no move to attack further. She left me to my thought and to die, and I did both.

I should have been a better daughter. I should have tried harder to be with Dad and tell him I loved him. I should have been a better friend, too. Bryony deserved better. I opened my mouth to whisper.

"I'm sorry, everyone."

Gasoly Wayfarer- District Six female

I hugged my arm tight to my chest and felt along the stone wall with my other one. At intervals I shot my bent hand up and fiddled with my hair or ear. It made things seem less scary.

There has to be light somewhere. There's always light. If I just kept going, there would be light.

Something clattered by my feet. I jumped back and gasped, looking all around at the ground and seeing nothing. Visions of spiders or horrible cave bugs popped into my head. I liked spiders and horrible bugs, but just this once I didn't want any.

"There's a pair of glasses at your feet." It was a girl's voice. She was a bit away from me and hadn't attacked or anything, so after the first shock I wasn't scared. I bent down and felt around until my hand landed on something smooth and manmade.

"Put them on," the girl said. Of course I was already doing that. I slid the glasses on and the Arena came to life. I saw the walls and the floor and the girl aiming an arrow at my heart.

As I sat with my back to the wall, the arrow sticking out of my and my hand curled around it, the girl sat lowered her bow to the ground.

"I didn't want you to die in the dark," she said. "I'm sorry it's like this."

"Don't go," I said quietly. I reached out to her. Even if she was the one that killed me, I didn't want to die alone in the dark.

"I'll stay." the girl sat with her bow across her lap. "I'll stay until it's done."

She wasn't all bad. Even people who grow up all messed up like the Careers aren't all bad. Even they have a little good. That means the world still has a chance.

Apollo Courfeyrac- District Eleven male

I had so much stuff. I had so much stuff I had to shift some of it around because it was clinking together. Just let me be the one that still gets caught by a Career when no one can even see anything.

Speaking of... I probably had something that gave off light. Once I got far away enough from the Cornucopia, I could use it. I couldn't imagine living here for days on end in darkness. It would drive me nuts.

I never heard the spear coming. It caught me in the leg and I went down crookedly. Whoever it was didn't bother covering up the noise as they ran at me and kicked me in the chest so I fell on my back. When I tried to sit up, the Tribute stomped me in the ribs. Pain bloomed like a bursting sun. I lay back and didn't move again.

"Want to see how far down I can cut before I hit brain?"

It was Atticus' voice. I looked wildly from side to side, knowing he was right in front of me but unable to see him. At any instant my life could end and I had absolutely no warning.

The first blow sheared off most of my scalp. I felt the blade catch and drag at hairs. I turned to one side, but it didn't stop the next cut, or the next, or the next. The sword cut deep troughs in my arms as I tried to defend myself. It started to bit into skull, and then it burst through it.A wet, soft part of me was exposed to cold air. This was what the Games was. The people who enjoyed watching it, this was what they enjoyed.

Porter Crane- District Nine male

Okay, it's pitch black, I have some random stuff I scooped out without any idea what it was, I have no idea where I am, there's no food or water, and I'm in the Hunger Games. Things are looking up.

I'd heard people talk about a "sixth sense" that someone is watching you. It was especially creepy when no one could possibly be watching anyone. Yet it persisted- a niggling impression that there were eyes on me that drove me to swivel my head. I didn't see anything, of course. There was nothing to see and not a sound.

Still, I thought I heard something before the spear hit me. It hit me like a punch, knocking me onto my backside like I'd suddenly decided to sit down. It was like playing blind man's buff, except instead of tagging me, the other guy straight up speared me.

"At least buy me dinner first," I wheezed as my hands curled around the spear. It wasn't that I was brave or not scared. I was pants-wettingly terrified knowing that I was being killed and I couldn't even see my faceless attacker. Some people scream when they're shocked, and some people joke.

"Guess you must be able to see me," I whispered, since it was getting harder to talk. Like an answer, I could hear scuffling as my killer nonchalantly moved closer.

"See this, then." I knew I died without an audience, since no camera would show the gesture I made.

Klaus Riviera- District Five male

I shoved my stuff back into my backpack and got up to keep moving. Probably the best strategy in a place like this.

A dog howled behind me. Supplies littered my legs and floor as I dropped the bag and whipped around.

Oh my god they sent a dog mutt and I can't see it it can smell me.

Human brains are amazing. After that split second, it registered that wasn't a dog. It was a human imitating a dog.

I turned and bolted as footsteps started. There was a clatter ahead of me. I wheeled around again, near-panicked at how much faster the Career was than me. The footsteps started again. In the echoing of the stone walls, I had no idea where they were coming from. I started to run again and my head slammed into a wall. The Career howled again, right on top of me.

My arm came undone. The flesh ripped and it slid free like a popped seam. The scream that came out of me was unlike any noise I'd ever heard. I slid down the damp cave wall and lay against it like an embrace.

The Career howled again, this time more like a laughing hyena. There was another bite of metal, and my leg hung loosely by a thread. The Career didn't have much longer to enjoy his game. Two severed limbs bled out mercifully fast.

Yttria Noxus- District Three female

We need to think of a way out. Fast. Every second we don't know what we're doing, the Careers could find us, and there will be no hope. But there isn't a way out. How can there be a way out of this?

If we could just survive the first few hours we could make it. The Gamemakers had to have some way for the rest of us to have a chance. No one wants a Games that takes two hours. But based on the cannons we'd heard back to back to back, that was exactly what was happening. Children were dying in droves. The corridors were lined with corpses.

"Hide." Othella's voice was tiny and frail in the darkness. She stopped and the rest of us were pulled to a stop with her.

"What?" I asked.

"Hide." She crouched down, tugging me along. I heard the soft scrape of nails as she started feeling at the walls. I caught on and started in with her. Paloma and Jezzebell branched off, close enough to hear us but far enough to cover more room. We advanced down the tunnel on our hands and knees.

It was Othella that found it. There was a crack in one of the walls, a crevice barely wide enough to fit me. Othella slid into it like an eel.

"It goes back pretty far," she whispered. Paloma squeezed in along with her. I followed after. The silty ground was damp and soft and must have covered my pants like paint.

I didn't think Jezzebell would make it. She twisted and folded herself until she was finally wedged in along with us. There was room to stretch further into the hole, but the sides pressed in like vises. The rest of us awkwardly tried to help Jezzebell push up the soft dirt into a pile that would hopefully disguise our refuge.

But we won't know, I thought helplessly. We had no idea if we were hidden or if our crevice was nakedly visible to the strolling Careers. We'd either hear them pass by, or we'd hear mocking laughter as they walked right up, pulled us out one after another, and murdered us. Jezzebell would hear one scream. I'd hear two. Paloma would hear three. And Othella would hear four.

Surprise! I was dying to give it away but I had to take the criticism of a small Bloodbath in order to set up this shocker.

22nd place: Argent Ore- stomped by Grande

Argent was a filler made by my sister so I could keep going. Since she just had Randy, Argent wasn't submitted to win. I killed him quick so all the reader-submitted Tributes would place one rank higher than otherwise. Thanks Silver for Argent. People liked him for his relatability and his real-workd struggles.

21st place: Adair Oakson- Knife thrown by Elissa

Adair was requested to place 23rd or 21st, so here he is. He was another last-minute addition so I could move fill-in dude for a solid, fast Tribute. Adair was also pretty popular, since he and Coby fit together so well and were just plain decent people.

20th place: Sundew Keope- stabbed by Seychelle

I set my mind to kill a ton of Tributes and that meant no waffling and showing mercy. I picked Sundew among many others just because she was middle of the pack and didn't seem like a victor right off the top of my head. It could have happened, but it didn't this time. I appreciated her complexity, though. She wasn't sunshine and righteousness and "no man left behind". She was selfish and had real personality flaws. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't nice, either. So thanks for a balanced Tribute.

19th place: Gasoly Wayfarer- Shot by Donnatella

Gasoly went on and off my second Bloodbath list a few times. I liked her so much and wanted to show more of her. But I hardened my heart and made the cut I would have had to make eventually anyway. I liked Gasoly for being overweight, which should be a problem in Panem with the processed food low-income people often turn to, and not being smart, which most submitters shy away from, and for being positive. She totally would have eaten bugs and met mutts, but she died here before that could happen. Thqanks flammifera for a bundle of joy.

18th place: Apollo Courfeyrac- Butchered by Atticus

This isn't a smear campaign against Atticus so much as Apollo's form requested a violent death and Atticus was the one that would do that. I picked Apollo because I so often spare the little Tributes because I like underdogs. This time I went for the kill. Apollo was a normal kid who wasn't cutified or evilified. Thanks Aceswims for a realistic kid who shouldn't have been here.

17th place: Porter Crane- Speared by Grande

Grande was originally for a Survivor Games so he didn't have a weapon listed. Javelins (easy mistake for Porter to make since he just got impaled) are pretty easy so I assume all Careers can throw one. I added Porter to the mix because there wasn't that much I fixated on for a Victor arc. Like anyone else, it could have happened, but I picked otherwise. Thanks Manny Numbers for a Tribute who was well-rounded, not too much of any one thing, and solidly realistic.

16th place: Klaus Riviera-Dismembered by Atticus

Klaus' form called for an interesting death so Atticus took the fall again, since readers prefer Tribute-committed kills. Klaus had a heck of a backstory and I think he also had a solid personality, though some readers thought the past overshadowed the present. He was cynical, a little jaded, and prideful. Basically a teenager, though many of us refuse to acknowledge it. Thanks R.J. Lupin for a Tribute who probably lost some popularity because his flaws so match a lot of Fanfic users, tbh.