SEYCHELLE DEVRIES- Caio Sagres

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'd heard the cannon, but I'd assumed one of my allies or another had made a kill and felt a flash of jealousy. For a moment I thought the Careers must have broken up while I was hunting, but that couldn't be. It was too early. We were dominating. Someone out there really killed a Career. I looked forward to that fight.

Enzo Ranger- District Six male

Gavin and I rifled through the packages and crates in the Cornucopia. It didn't take long to ferret out a first aid kit. It was funny how the red cross symbol looked gray with the goggles. I opened a tube of antiseptic and started smearing it over my wounds.

I did that, I thought, replaying how I laid the plan that killed Seychelle and then drove Elissa away using her body. I made a Career retreat in horror. Elissa ran away, looking over her shoulder like we'd always looked for her. Maybe that should have made me feel like I'd crossed a line. It made me feel powerful. I was strong enough to drive away a Career. They had such power over us. They owned the Games, terrorizing and killing us. We were so scared we hardly ever even fought back. I'd taken one of their own and made the rest of them think twice about attacking me. They wanted this fight. I was just finishing it.

I could win this. This was what I had to like if I was going to survive. I could do this again and again. Careers who deserved it and outliers who... just couldn't live if I was going to. I regretted that, but it couldn't stop me.

Then the knife hit my chest. The high of achievement and the dreams of what could be vanished in an instant. I fell to my side and saw Gavin leaving me behind as he fled. I would have done the same.

Atticus Scipio- District Two male

The girl from Five darted down the tunnel in front of me. She couldn't outrun me. I was just giving her some time to think she could. That would make it all the better when I picked up speed and ran her down like a wolf on a fawn.

She changed directions like a rabbit and dove at the wall. Instead of crashing headfirst, like I'd expected, she disappeared into a hole I hadn't noticed. I reached the tiny tunnel and knelt by the entrance. She must have been down it before, since the mud was disturbed and had signs of digging. She'd made herself a little hidey-hole. If she thought it would get her away from me she was wrong. I'd follow her into what she thought was her sanctuary and kill her as we were almost on top of each other in the tiny space.

As I hauled myself along the tunnel on my hands, I could see the bottom of the girl's shoes as she wriggled ahead of me. She was quick, but she was only delaying the inevitable. However far she went, I would be there.

The girl was maybe twelve feet ahead of me when she flipped onto her back and scrabbled at the roof of the tunnel. When she sat up, I realized we were close to the other side. That made me happier than I wanted to admit. The tunnel was small. I didn't like the feeling of being in a stone corridor so tight I could hardly raise my arm.

The girl wiggled upwards. When she was out of sight, she revealed a stone blocking most of the tunnel exit. I shoved against it as I turned myself onto my back and started pushing upwards. I could see the girl perched ten feet above me, bracing herself with her legs against the cave wall to stay aloft. She looked down at me for a moment, then resumed her upward climb toward a ledge at the entrance of a larger tunnel.

Enjoy your last few minutes, I thought. I pushed at the last few inches that separated me from the open tunnel above.

Nothing happened.

I shoved harder, impatient to go after the girl. No dice. I gave a frustrated grunt as I yanked at one of the rocks protruding from the tunnel corner. Then the anger drained like water from a bullet-ridden glass. I tried backing up, and that's when the space left behind by the anger was filled with cold horror.

Caio Sagres- District Four male

Atticus hadn't come back from hunting. Nothing to be upset about. The most likely scenario was that he'd gotten caught up in his sadistic travails and lost track of time. The second most likely was that he'd decided to light off on his own. If anything he did could be called "light". In any case, there hadn't been any cannons. Perhaps that very frustration was what kept him hunting for so long.

Seychelle was gone. Atticus was probably gone. Elissa, Grande, Donnatella and me. A pair joined since childhood and a friendship forged in the Capitol. Without the two wild cards to unbalance us, there was tension. So far the Career alliance was lasting because of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of this Arena. If we stayed together just a bit longer, we could finish wiping the Arena of outliers that might otherwise outlast the Career alliance and then outlast the individual Careers. If we kept our egos in check just a bit longer, we could get rid of them all. Then it would be just each other and the glorious battle that would entail. If I won, let it be against the most valiant opponents, ones that could face me and fight me and prove that I earned my reward. If I died, let it be one of them that bested me.

Atticus Scipio- District Two male

No. No. No. No.

I couldn't move. I couldn't go back. I couldn't go forward. I was pinned below my ribs by stone heavier than I could imagine.

The third hour, I started to cry.

Stone over my head. Nothing but stone over me and under me and around me as far as I could conceive of.

What might have been the second morning, I screamed.

What might have been the second evening, my voice gave out.

I thought of home.

I cried for my mother.

I licked the damp cave walls.

I sat as my filth began and increased, until the stench filled the air.

What might have been the third day, I thought of a way out.

By the time I tried, I was too weak to grip the spear.

I prayed for a mutt to come.

What might have been the fifth day, it ended.

13th place: Enzo Ranger- Knife thrown by Elissa

Enzo's form said it would be interesting if there was development. Among a couple of ideas, there was one saying he could become a straight-up villain. It's almost cliche that I tend to see the best in Tributes and develop them upwards. This time, I decided to finally develop one downwards. I tied it into Enzo's ghoulish but pragmatic plan to pretend to be a ghost and the note in his form that said he might try to use a dead body as bait. Enzo marks one of very few times I ever ventured into pure psychological warfare. That's not why I killed him, either. I just needed to keep things moving. Thanks Reader for Enzo, who started out such a light soul and showed what the Games can do to a boy.

12th place: Atticus Scipio- Dehydration

I knew as soon as I planned this Arena that I was going to do this to someone. Once I got a hate sink character like Atticus it was obvious. There were a few characters who requested nasty deaths and I do plan to do that if they die, but this particular one went to Atticus. Partially out of logic, since he's the only one dumb enough to keep trying to squeeze down a tunnel Meenah could barely fit through. Anyway, Atticus was one of those nasty characters we all know won't win and is there to kill people and eventually die. I could have maybe found something sympathetic in him, but this time I left him as the one to hate. So thanks Liamml for taking one for the team and sending that kind of character. I was gonna do a really long detailed description of his death to flex my horror muscles, but I was afraid I wouldn't be up to it and took a minimalist approach instead. We'll see what the readers think.

NOTE: That was a really small POV for Caio so he'll be getting more soon. He's going to be important in some events coming very soon, but I had to kill a few people before I got there, so I gave him a small POV to tide everyone over until he gets a good character developmenty one.

OTHER NOTE: I have a bit of a weird situation with Caio. He was originally submitted as a Two male and that was the reserved slot. Due to MY disorganization, I double-booked and his submitter was kind enough to move him to Four to help me out. HOWEVER, I saw soon after that that would affect his chances, since there aren't any reader-submitted Two male Victors and there's Shane for Four. In hindsight I should have moved Atticus instead of Caio, since Atticus wasn't designed to win. Caio's chances for victory got hurt because of my disorganization, and that's not fair. It was too late to change as long as Atticus was alive, but now that he's dead, I want to retcon Caio to be the Two male like he should have been (Atticus being the Four male instead since it doesn't conflict with his form). I don't know who the Victor is yet but reader opinions are a huge part of it. I don't think Caio would have gotten reader support to win as a Four male. I don't know if he will now either, especially since there's a lot of story left, but this way he will or won't on his own character, not because of my mistake.