"You hold your child as tight as you can, and push away the unimaginable."
-Lin Manuel Miranda, "Hamilton"
The tributes rise up from their metal plates and it's immediately clear that these Games will be strange. Stranger than usual. The tributes aren't dressed for survival, but for fashion. The girls are wearing knee-length layered pink skirts, white blouses, white tights, and patent leather shoes. They all have their hair neatly curled and tied up into a ponytail with a pink hair ribbon, their cheeks red with blush. The boys are wearing short white overalls, pink button down shirts, black leather shoes, gray newsboy hats, and white knee socks, with the same blush as the girls.
Porcelain dolls.
The tributes survey the arena, taking in every visible inch. North of the Cornucopia lies a life-sized dollhouse, its southern wall completely missing. The dollhouse has a kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms, and appears fully furnished. Next to the dollhouse, a perfectly circular lake, about a mile in diameter. On the other side of the Cornucopia lies the dollhouse's backyard, complete with a swing set, sandbox, and outdoor furniture, that stretches for about three miles towards the south. The end of the backyard fades into a dense forest, the contents of which are unknown.
The timer starts counting down from 60, and it's clear that every single tribute is starting to get agitated. Some, like the ones from Districts 1, 2, and 4, are positioning their feet towards the Cornucopia, ready to run into the thick of things for weapons and supplies at the drop of a hat, or, in this case, the sound of a gong. Some have immediately turned around to run away without taking any supplies. Others still are still trying to decide. Are they going to fight, or are they going to run away?
Oneka Scalia, the girl from District 9, is standing on her platform, silently mouthing words to herself and playing with a small wooden cube puzzle. Quickly, before anyone has a chance to react, or she has a chance to change her mind, she takes the puzzle apart and throws pieces of it at the tributes on either side of her— Heather from District 3, and Adelaide from District 11— before throwing the last of it at her own feet. Everyone sucks in a gasp, waiting for three explosions, and the ends of these three girls' lives. Nothing. The landmines under the tributes' pedestals have been reprogrammed after last year, when two people died before the Games even began. All three girls seem to realize this at the same time. Heather's face turns white, and she looks like she's about to cry. Oneka takes on a look of sheer terror. Adelaide clenches her fists, face turning red, and speaks the first audible words of this year's Games.
"You tried to kill me!" she screams. "You fucking coward! You couldn't just take yourself out, you had to kill other people too?"
At this point, Heather actually does start crying. Tributes on the other side of the Cornucopia are craning their necks, trying to see what they missed. Adelaide shakes her head, clenches her jaw, and repositions her feet to head straight towards the mouth of the Cornucopia.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1," the mechanical voice says. "Ladies and gentlemen, let the 227th Hunger Games begin."
As soon as the gong sounds, Adelaide sprints directly into the crowd, grabbing the first knife she sees. She quickly turns around and runs for Oneka, still standing shell-shocked and as still as a statue on her platform. Adelaide shoves Oneka to the ground, sits on her chest, and slits her throat. Just like that, the first blood of the Games is spilled.
Adelaide gets up and looks around, panting. She clearly can't believe she just killed someone, or understand why she did it. Out of nowhere, a butterfly knife finds a new home in Adelaide's chest. She makes eye contact with Alecto, the girl from District 2, before falling to the ground. Once Adelaide falls, Alecto runs around to the other side of the Cornucopia to find another victim.
Once the coast is clear, Adelaide's District partner and ally, Coy, comes out, touching Adelaide's wrists and neck, looking for a pulse. Silently and without warning, Julius from District 1 comes up behind Coy, takes him in a headlock, and snaps his neck in one fluid motion.
Cyno, Brian, and Edison, the boys from Districts 3, 6, and 7, respectively, are searching for their fourth ally, Heather, but she's on the opposite side of the Cornucopia from all of them— they had agreed to all meet and head in the direction that the Cornucopia was pointing in.
"She's probably gone," Brian says. "Come on, we need to go!"
Meanwhile, Heather is also looking for her allies, but shaken from almost dying at Oneka's hands and watching Adelaide kill Oneka, she's running around the Cornucopia with no weapon and no real purpose. Wiping tears from her eyes, she runs straight into Rowan from District 10. They make eye contact for just a moment before Rowan says "I'm so sorry," and stabs the dagger he's holding into her abdomen. He gulps, looking at Heather's lifeless body on the ground, then runs off with Tessa from District 12, towards the backyard, with three daggers, a hatchet, and two bags between them.
Clio from District 5 takes this moment to run in, grab the closest bag, and immediately sprint off towards the tree line.
On the other side of the Cornucopia, Brian is still trying to convince his young allies to leave without Heather, but Cyno is refusing to leave without his District partner.
"Fine," Brian says. "Edison and I are leaving. If you want to stay here, you're more than welcome."
Brian and Edison run away from the Cornucopia and the dollhouse. Edison risks a short look over his shoulder, and sees Christopher from District 2 raising a spear.
"Cyno, look out!" he shouts. It's too late. The spear goes flying out of Topher's hand and lands in the back of Cyno's neck.
Elijah, Alayne, and Lydia, from Districts 5, 6, and 7, have found each other, and they each have a bag and a dagger. They're about to make a safe retreat before they're stopped by Julius and Penny, the girl from District 4. The three outer District tributes look at each other, trying to quickly and silently communicate with each other.
"Alayne, run," Lydia says, raising her knife to the Careers.
"But—"
"Go, now!"
Alayne sprints off, leaving her two stronger allies to fight the Careers while she heads for safety. Julius approaches Elijah and Penny takes on Lydia. Elijah is able to hold Julius off with his knife against Julius's sword for a couple of moments, but inevitably, Julius stabs his sword through Elijah's heart. Lydia is doing a better job of holding Penny off, but when Julius joins the mix, she loses the upper hand quickly.
"Do you want this one?" Penny asks.
"No, I've already had two," Julius says. "All yours."
Without further hesitation, Penny shoves the end of her sword through Lydia's neck.
While the Careers are occupied, Calico takes a calculated risk and grabs a bag barely ten feet behind them, before running off as fast as she can.
Back at the mouth of the Cornucopia, Adrian from District 12 has finally made an appearance, figuring it would be safer to try to get supplies after some of the chaos had died down. Unfortunately for him, the extra time just gave the Careers time to get organized, and Dustin from District 4 is poised at the mouth with a spear. As soon as Adrian is in his sight, he throws a spear at him. The spear catches in his stomach, and he doesn't die immediately. Dustin runs for Adrian, removes the spear from his stomach, and slits his throat.
Linda and Terry, from Districts 1 and 10 are together, and they're the only Careers that have yet to make a kill. Luckily for them, Conn and Marsellus from Districts 8 and 9 are both running from the Cornucopia with swords, shields, and bags. The girls look at each other and nod. They each take a throwing knife from their packs, Linda aiming for Marsellus and Terry aiming for Conn. Linda's knife lands in Marsellus's temple, while Terry only hits Conn's arm. Marsellus falls to the ground instantly, and once Conn realizes that there's no saving him, he runs off toward the lake.
"You are such an idiot!" Linda whispers, voice full of venom. "How hard would it have been to—"
Terry's head whips around, making sure no one is within eyesight, before she charges Linda, pushes her to the ground and slits her throat.
Dazed, Terry takes a deep breath and looks around. Nobody saw. She composes herself then heads over to the mouth of the Cornucopia, where about half of the Careers are waiting, sitting on crates. One by one, the rest of the Careers come back to the mouth until, finally, ten cannons go off.
24th: Oneka Scalia, District 9 female, killed by Adelaide's knife, lulubell2495.
23rd: Adelaide Simon, District 11 female, killed by Alecto's knife, Annabeth-TheTributeThatLived (you didn't think my own tribute would last past the bloodbath, did you?).
22nd: Coy Levionne, District 11 male, killed by Julius, Gunny979.
21st: Heather Frayman, District 3 female, killed by Rowan's dagger, DobbyTheFreeElf1290.
20th: Cyno Holding, District 3 male, killed by Topher's spear, Mykindleisawesome.
19th: Elijah Stork, District 5 male, killed by Julius's sword, Alcremie.
18th: Lydia Collins, District 7 female, killed by Penny's sword, minhosgirl.
17th: Adrian Burrow, District 12 male, killed by Dustin's spear and knife, minhosgirl.
16th: Marsellus Hopson, District 9 male, killed by Linda's knife, Yesmylordciel.
15th: Linda Hemmings, District 1 female, killed by Terry's knife, DobbyTheFreeElf1290.
Well, there's the bloodbath. The next chapter will be the second part of Day 1, but the majority of the rest of the days will just be one chapter. There's a new poll up on my profile! Go vote on it!
1. Who that died are you going to miss the most?
2. Who are you rooting for?
3. Have you read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes yet?
My legacy should be me being uncertain about my endsign, because I'm actually going to move the theatre quotes to the top of the document and have those be the quotes that set the tone for the chapter.