General Reminder: If you die this chapter (and quite a few will), there is no personal or hard feelings toward you. I just had a plot, and this was how I made it work.
Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Darren Memoria, 16
District 12 Male
I rise into the arena, and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. The trees are covered in the most beautiful fruit. The grass is some of the greenest I've ever seen, and there is an open field that surrounds the forest. In the center of that field lies the cornucopia. It's a sizeable shiny gold object with bountiful weapons and supplies pouring out of it.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asks Kathy.
I jump upon seeing her and almost stumble off the platform. "Go away, Kathy," I beg her as I look at the timer that has just started to count down. "Please."
"Did you think you could get rid of me that easy, Darren?! That you could just toss me aside as you did once before!" she accuses me as she steps onto my platform and thumps me on the chest.
56
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"Kathy-" I say as I edge closer to the end of the platform. "Please- St-op!"
She continues to shove me, and my eyes keep looking over at the timer that is ongoing to countdown. I only have to keep my balance a few more seconds, and I'll be okay to run.
34
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"I will not stop, Darren!" she screams, shoving me one last time. My footfalls off the platform and I do my best to swing my body around to fall back onto the metal surface, but I miss the landing and fall onto the grass.
10
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BOOM.
Kallel Norton, 17
District 8 Male
That kid just threw himself off of his platform.
That kid just threw himself off of his platform!
5
4
3
2
1
"Let the 60th Annual Hunger Games begin!"
The gong sounds, and like a riot, we all sprint off of our platforms. I look for Twine, who is busy grabbing a backpack and attempting to grab a weapon when an arrow flies into the back of her shoulder. She screams as she falls face forward into the earth.
"TWINE!" I scream as I run to her and drop to my knees. I pull the arrow out of her back, and she lets out a loud squeal of pain. She hands me her hand and uses me as a crutch to stand up. "We have to get out of here!" she tells me.
We begin to move as fast as we can when the pair from two stand in front of us. They look at me with pity in their eyes as the girl twirls her spear in her hand. "You really should have just run, kid." says the boy as he readies his sword and slams it into my thigh.
I let out a scream in pain as Twine falls to the ground and attempts to crawl away. The girl from two casually walks over to her and buries her spear into her head. "TWINE!" I scream as I do my best to crawl over to her. "TWINE NO!"
"Dude, you have way bigger things to worry about," says the boy from 2 as he flips me over onto my back and holds his sword above my chest. "And to think, you probably would have made it out alive had you just left your District partner."
He brings the sword down into my chest, and time seems to slow down. Everything is moving in slow motion as he pulls the sword out of my chest. Blood splatters out of my mouth as I cough gasping for air.
It's cold. It's freezing. Everything in my body feels like it's bathing in ice.
Just lie down.
I lie my head down and struggle to take breaths as the girl and boy from 2 stalks off to rejoin the battle. I reach out my hand and grab ahold of Twine's lifeless one, giving everything I had to do that.
"Sorry…" I mutter before I close my eyes.
Jenava Dally, 16
District 3 Female
"Grab the supplies!" I call to Celio and Patrick. "Get in, get out, and let's hide!"
We rush the food supply and quickly get a backpack full before we hear chatter coming behind us. The girl from 1 is standing by the cornucopia entrance with the girl from 4, and they look at us confused as the girl from 1 grabs Patrick by the hair and throws him to the ground.
"I'm sorry," says 1. "Are you taking our food? I'm confused," she looks at the girl from 4 and grabs ahold of a long piece of hair she twirls in her fingers. "Kilee, you know what we do to thieves?"
"Maybe you should tell them," the girl named Kilee says. Her voice sounds harsh, but her face looks sad as the girl from 1 stomps over to me and pushes me down.
"You should have just run. I don't know why you tributes think you can survive in the middle of a giant war, but you always have some that think they can," she fires an arrow at me that hits me in the shoulder and restrings before I even have time let out a yelp. "I normally wouldn't drag this out, but the Capitol likes to see a show when they're watching the bloodbath."
She fires another arrow into my other shoulder, and my arms are completely dead weight. I'm unable to move them at all as she gets closer to me.
"I'm sorry!" says Patrick as he gets up and runs.
"Kilee, stop him!"
The girl from four makes a half-hearted attempt to stop Patrick, but he gets away and disappears into the forest before she's able to stop him. Celio is just sitting on the stack of food watching, and my eyes narrow as it dawns on me.
"You're working with them?" I ask, trying to hide the pain in my voice.
"I had to do what I had to do," Celio says apologetically. "It's nothing personal, Jenava."
"Nothing personal?!" I ask him as I do my best to walk toward him. "You're leaving your District partner to die! Do you think that the District will have any respect for you after-"
I feel an arrow pierce the back of my neck, and I am unable to talk. I cough and turn, looking at the girl from 1 who casually walks up to me and pulls the arrow from my body. I sink to the floor and lie in a puddle of my blood that's getting larger and larger.
Rachel, I'm coming home.
Celio Ortzi, 15
District 3 Male
A twinge of guilt falls over me as I stare at Jenava's lifeless body. Her face is pale, and her entire body covered in blood as the puddle has expanded to her whole body.
"Thank you for not killing me," I say to Vanity as I get up from the supply box and grab the backpack Jenava was holding. "I'll take some water and a weapon, and I'll get out of your hair."
"You're a bit of a snake, you know that?" asks Vanity as she bends down and grabs a water jug from the pile. She also grabs four water bottles and places it inside my backpack of food. "Get out of my sight before I change my mind. I'm only letting you go because our word is all we have in here."
I take off in a run with my backpack of supplies when I feel a sudden jolt slam into my from behind. The girl from 2 is sitting over me with her spear, and the girl from 6 is right behind her, looking around to make sure that no one is running up behind them.
"You see, Maeve if you want to kill someone instantly, you stab them here," she says, pointing at my jugular. "Especially if you slice it, the bleed out is fantastic."
"HELP!" I scream
"No one is going to help you, 3.," says the girl from 2. "Unfortunately that isn't how the Hunger Games-"
An arrow flies into her neck, and she lets out a wince as she falls over. Blood is pouring out of her neck, and the girl from 6 lets out a fierce roar as she sees her ally on the ground.
"NO!" she screams as she runs over to the girl from 2s body and sinks to the floor. Vanity is standing at the food supply with her arrow drawn. Her skin is pale as she stares at me in horror with what she just did.
"FUCKING RUN!" she screams as I take off in a sprint toward the forest.
The trees are getting closer, and my chances of surviving the first thirty minutes are drastically increased when I am once again tackled to the ground. This time it's by the boy from 2.
"You promised I'd get out of the bloodbath!" I scream.
"Vanity promised. And she'll pay for what she did to Hecate. I made no promise to you at all."
He takes his sword and slams it down onto my neck before I can say anything else.
Hecate Athens, 18
District 2 Female
No.
This is not how I will go out. I refuse to go out like this! I'm a power necromancer! I control death; it does not control me!
I use all my strength and get up to my knees. It takes me a long time, but I manage to get my foot to stand. I'm losing a lot of blood, but Vanity will pay for what she did to me.
I take a step forward, and Maeve lights up. "You're alright!" she says with her hand covering her mouth. "Thank God-"
I fall to the ground as the world is going dark.
A hex I call on thee, a hex on Vanity.
Maeve Alberich, 13
District 6 Female
"You bitch!" I scream as I get up from beside Hecate and run at Vanity. "She was your ally! She was someone that was supposed to help you succeed, and you pick a boy from 3 that you barely interacted with?!"
Vanity ignores me and instead runs at the boy from 2 in anger. She slams her fist into his jaw, and he stumbles backward. "What the HELL were you thinking, killing him like that! We made a promise!"
"No!" He screams back. "You did it! And that was punishment for killing my District partner!" he cries, pointing at the boy from 3. "His death is on you!"
She hits him again and again, and I'm dumbfounded as to what is going on. "You. Killed. Hecate." I scream at her. "YOU. KILLED. HECATE!"
I run at her again, this time grabbing the spear from Hecate's lifeless body. I am close to sticking into her when the boy from two throws his sword at me, hitting me directly in the chest.
"Can't have anymore careers going down right now," he says, yanking the cold metal object out of my chest. "No offense, I'm sure you understand."
I sink to the ground and do my best to crawl toward Hecate. I pull as hard as I can on the grassy fixture to propel myself further, but my body can't move anymore, and I'm still ten feet away.
My love, I'm sorry I let you down.
Alon Harlequin, 18
District 4 Male
"If we don't do something soon, our gig is up, Kilee!"
"We can't just go and kill someone, Alon."
I don't like the idea of killing an innocent person any more than she does. This whole thing is a mess, and I'm terrified, but I didn't make it this far to crap out now. I grab a trident from the stack of weapons and look at Kilee.
"We might not be formally trained, but we went through the same screening as the rest of the kids did in our District. We might not have done the advanced courses, but we still have a chance."
She nods as she grabs a belt of throwing knives and attaches it to her hip. "Let's go."
We run out into the battlefield, and it's mostly cleared out. There are a few stragglers who are attempting to fight each other. I run at a big kid and throw him down to the ground. He looks terrified, holds his arms up against his face to protect it. A giant five is printed on his jacket.
"I'm sorry I have to do this, dude," I tell him as I stab the trident into his chest. He lets out a loud yell, and his head tilts to the side instantly.
"Watch out!" screams an unfamiliar voice.
The sound of a blade whirling sounds through the air as it makes an impact on someone's body. I turn around and see the little boy from 11 standing behind me. In his hand is a knife ready to strike at me. A few throwing knives are scattered along the floor, but that's not what took him out.
"I helped you," says the girl with a giant nine on her chest. She takes her sickle out of the little boy's head, and he crashes to the floor. "I want to help you."
"Well, we lost a few allies in the battle," I tell her looking at Hecate and Maeve. Kilee runs over with her hand over mouth.
"Alon, I tried to stop him I didn't have enough time to make it over here-"
"It's okay," I tell her looking down at the two dead tributes. "I'm okay. Thanks to her," I say.
"My name is Dwindela," she says, extending her hand. "Happy to be of service."
"Welcome to the careers, Dwindela," I say.
Saiz Ardenes, 17
District 10 Female
"They just killed a little kid!" I scream as Othniel drags me away from the fight. "Let me go! We have to go see if there's a chance they're okay!"
"NO!"
The girl from 5 comes running out of the forest, but the girl from 11 tackles her to the ground. "You can't do anything for them now!" she says, holding the girl from 5 down. "Get up and run with us, so the careers don't get you!"
"Spike and D!" she screams as the girl from 11 drags her. The pair from 7 is now running up to them from the bloodbath and helping the girl from 5 to her feet.
"Get up, Emerson, we don't have time!"
"They're someone's friends!" I scream as I shove Othniel off of me and run back to the battlefield. To my horror, dead bodies are scattered everywhere. I kneel next to the little boy who can't be more than 12-years-old and cry as I watch him. "You weren't supposed to be in here," I say, closing his eyes. "None of us were."
"What the actual hell are you doing!?" screams Luster as he runs and grabs me by my arm. "We don't have time for this! Run!"
He grabs me by my arm, and I start to run, and I resentfully get up and follow him. We are almost back at the forest when an arrow comes whizzing by us. A couple of seconds later, I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and fall to the ground.
"SAIZ!" screams Othniel.
"Run!" screams Luster and Madison as they run away from the scene and into the forest.
"SAIZ!" screams Othniel as the world starts to go black.
Wow, we really made it. Thank you for reading and reviewing up until this point. Alliance update will come next chapter. I'm in a bit of a rush, but wanted to make sure you guys got this today.
Eulogies:
24th Place: Darren Memoria, District 12 Male, Killed by the platform- Darren was a character who I thought I had a lot of ideas for, but the more other people started to develop I realized I didn't have a place for him in the arcs I was making. He was a great tribute, and thank you for submitting him.
23rd Place: Twine Sanchez, District 8 Female, Killed by Hecate Athens- Fox, please don't hate me. I toyed with this for a while, and I had a lot of mixed emotions about killing Twine, but I just felt, like Darren, there wasn't a whole lot of room for her in the big arc I had planned. She was fun to read in her form, and I liked writing her. I just couldn't fit her in.
22nd Place: Kallel Norton, District 8 Male, Killed by Gerard Deluca-Moretti- I didn't think he was going to die in the bloodbath until last night. Last night I had a sudden revamp of bloodbaths and placement as I officially decided on my victor and how I would get there. That, unfortunately, meant bumping Kallel down to where he is currently.
21st Place: Jenava Dally, District 3 Female, Killed by Vanity Mendoza- Bye girl.
20th Place: Celio Ortzi, District 3 Male, Killed by Gerard Deluca-Moretti- Okay, this was a tribute which could have gone either way. The truth is Celio was a victim of the Maeve vs. Dwindela debacle I had in my head. One had to go, but I'll get into that later. Basically, depending on which one of those girls lived, certain tributes were going, and Celio was unfortunately on that list.
19th Place: Hecate Athens, District 2 Female, Killed by Vanity Mendoza: This was also a victim of the Dwindela vs Maeve debacle. I had to weigh the pros and cons, and unfortunately what it came down to was I couldn't figure out a way to keep Hecate without Maeve being there and still having an arc. I kid you not when I said I had a whole ass second arc that I could have picked from. I just went with this one. Sorry, Red. I didn't mean to do your girl dirty.
18th Place: Maeve Alberich, District 6 Female, killed by Gerard Deluca-Moretti- Damn, honestly the Maeve and Dwindela thing was such a big storyline, and I wanted to come up with a way to incorporate both of them. None of it was realistic to me. Dwindela was the one that didn't make sense to die in the bloodbath out of the two is what this came down to, but this little psycho had a big play in my games. Thank you for submitting her. She was great.
17th Place: Spike Spires, District 5 Male, Killed by Alon Harlequin- I'm so sad. I loved Spike. I did. He was amazing, and he was great, but these types of stories are all about choices, and I had to make this one against him. You'll hopefully understand why later, but I promise this was not a thing I took lightly.
16th Place: Djuvicko Leighton, District 11 Male, Killed by Dwindela Aluchi- This hurt. I loved D. I thought he was such a little cutie, but I didn't ever want a Rue in these stories. I'm sorry to say that, but I try to ALWAYS not accept a young kid from 11 just for that reason. At the end of the day, I just couldn't turn down his form. But this sweet little SMOL Bean never had a chance against all these crazies anyway.
15th Place: Saiz Ardenes, District 10 Female, Killed by Vanity Mendoza- This is probably going to suck to hear, but Saiz was originally my victor. For the LONGEST time I had her planned victory, and then suddenly I didn't see that story anymore. I started to really care for these characters, and once again Saiz fell victim to not fitting in the plot. Even though she was the original plot? But I want to make this a series, and I couldn't see Saiz doing what I needed later. But I knew if I kept her around I'd be tempted to write her to the end.
Thank you to everyone who submitted. I hope you don't hate me. I got a lot of spam reviews a long time ago over this crap and it just doesn't sit right with me, but I hope everyone in here can be understanding.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Caleb