Atonement Chapter 32: It'll Never Wash Off, a hunger games fanfic

(Pre-A/N- I HAVE HAD THIS IN MY DOCS FOR ALMOST AND ENTIRE MONTH WAITING TO POST IT... I was supposed to wait until Wednesday but I literally can't, I need to see all your reactions... so we posting it now! This means that the next update won't be for about a week because this has absolutely ruined my schedule but heyyy, we move.)

Well, here we are... the Bloodbath. In advance, I'm so sorry. Enjoy I guess (also don't hate me)...

Bloodbath

This year's arena was plain and simple, quite underwhelming for a Quell, the audience would begin to believe. But this year, the tributes were the focus. They were a more diverse bunch than ever before, divided by the Capitol, yet somehow still one.
As usual, the large silver Cornucopia sat in the centre of the even larger field. Next to it was a clear blue lake, the surface of which reflected the image of weapons and packs that lay nearby. The resources this year were plentiful, some may say more so than in any of the previous years. Axes and spears and swords and knives littered the ground like a child's discarded toys or sat propped against the inside of the horn shaped building. To the North of the Cornucopia, a mountain range stood, as far as the eye could see, the perfect place for hiding but perhaps the worst to be caught in an ambush. On the Eastern side, there was a desert, a few bushes and rocks and caves could be seen, but the vast open space would be sure to lead to some of the deadliest battles in the arena. Next to that, in the Southern sector, the area just behind where the tributes would emerge, was a forest. Thick green trees and shrubbery stretched back and seemed to almost go on for eternity, the hideout for any nimble tribute who wished to avoid the disaster of the Bloodbath, and the killing that would inevitably occur. And finally, to the West was pure white: snow and ice paved the ground, and all that could be seen was the few caves that would provide shelter from the inevitable storms that would occur here.

What was clear to see, in all areas, was the lack of fresh water sources. Aside from the lake in the centre of the field, and the few water bottles that could be found in packs there was nothing.

Twenty four people emerged onto the field, stepping out of tubes and onto podiums, all knowing the horror that awaited them. This year, they were in a line, the Cornucopia just a mere blob to the girl standing on the furthest podium away. They collectively took in a breath as the countdown began.

Florence allowed herself to look backwards. She knew it was a mistake the second she locked eyes with Ronin, the poor boy looking more broken and destroyed than she ever would have thought possible.

Vivian took a breath, a breath she wasn't aware would be her last and stepped off the podium. Instead of jumping into the loving arms of her mother, the girl's small body was blown into a thousand pieces, littering the floor, now unrecognisable as a human

The tributes stood stunned, no one sure what to say at the sudden loss of one of their own.

"Who was that?" Locke screamed shakily, from his place in the centre of the line. He knew the explosion had been in front of him, letting out a sigh of relief knowing that it could not possibly have been his daughter, but cursing himself for his own insensitivity.

"Vivian." Newton sobbed. He had seen every second of it, he had been leaning out the side to get a glimpse of what the Cornucopia held when the girl hand jumped. "It was Vivian."

Ronin sunk down on his knees, a mess of tears and snot, thinking that this was something he could never come back from.

"Shit, shit, shit. Oh my god." Cassia whimpered, the reality that she was one step away from death hitting her.

Dina looked in front of her, eyeing up the podium that Lilac was standing on, just in front of her own. It was far, but Dina was sure she could make it. She launched herself forward, her feet barely making it to the back of the podium.

Lilac let out a scream, praying that Dina wouldn't push her. The woman didn't, she hadn't even considered that, and she continued hopping her way across the podiums.

"Oh God, Lilac?" Flynt called, recognising the girl's scream after a few seconds, so scared that something had happened to her, something that was beyond his power to stop. He heard no reply, but also no canon. At least that was a good sign.

Salome was too far back, she hated it. All the action was happening so far in front of her, she could barely grasp what was going on. What she could grasp, however, was that she was no longer scared. Being here made it all so real, but it also took the fear away, it took away the hours of imagining they had all done, as they tried to work out just what was about to happen to them all.

Since Vivian's death, their line had been mostly silent, no one knew what to say, there was nothing anyone could say. She was gone. It was the silence, however, that allowed Jordan to hear Salome drumming her fingers against the tight leather of her suit. He turned round and smiled at her, an action that was reciprocated.

"You've got this." He mouthed at her, before facing the front and the back of Aila's head once more.

D'ante's legs were shaking due to lack of oxygen as he held his breath. He wasn't allowing himself to move even an inch, the idea of dying before the whole thing had even started was too much. All he could think about was how Vivian's mother must have felt watching the girl get blown apart. There was no way he would put his husband through that. So he wouldn't move or speak or breath at all, until it was time.

By now, Dina was standing next to Luster, their toes touching, both inches away from falling off.

"This wasn't part of the plan." Luster whispered. They were so close Dina could feel the man's breath on her cheek they were so close.

"Neither was killing a child, but here we are." Dina spat back, edging Luster closer to the edge.

"Shit." Luster whimpered. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. No one was meant to know about Vivian, he and Dina were going to just run off and have a surprise alliance. But now, as the woman edged him closer to the side, he was so sure he was going to die here.

Dina swept her leg forward, fully intending to knock Luster off the side. She missed, as he dodged and instead felt herself slip backwards, losing her own footing.

Luster looked the girl straight in the eye, and pushed her.

The second canon sounded, Dina's body destroyed the same way the young girl's had been just mere seconds before.

Hypatia smiled. Already two tributes down and the Games hadn't even officially started. They were a weak bunch, she knew that much, but this was so much better than she could have ever imagined.

Alfred was a man of science, not a man of faith. Yet somehow he found himself praying to every God that was out there. He prayed for forgiveness for the sins that he had committed, he prayed that by some miracle he would escape the Bloodbath without harm. But most of all, he prayed that the death he would inevitably face in a matter of minutes would be as painless as possible. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

Lya clenched and unclenched the robotic thing attached to her arm. It had served her well so far, but then she had never had to use it in as extreme combat as she would shortly. For the first time, the worry hit her. What if it froze up on her? What if the reason that she died was because her body wouldn't co-operate? Whilst she knew the last thing she needed now was the unnecessary stress she was putting on herself, it was all she could think about.

Lana allowed herself to take a shaky breath and lean out to the side to get her first glimpse of the Cornucopia in full. They had done a bloody good job of making it look appealing. Lana herself wasn't afraid of the atrocities that awaited her in the Bloodbath, she was more scared of the lengths she would go to to make sure both herself and the rest of her alliance made it out alive. She was more scared about losing Aila, and how far she would go to avenge her death.

Doug had never thought killing himself would have been an option, but now, as the clock edged closer to zero, he began to think that jumping off might be a better option. But he had seen Dina slip, he had seen the way she was there one second, and then gone the next. Could Doug really put his young body through that?

Too fast. It was going too fast. There was only ten seconds left before Aila had to force herself to jump off of this podium and into the hell that awaited her. What if she couldn't do it? How long would she stand there before one of the other tributes simply killed her, or worse, the Capitol intervened?

Dory knew she wouldn't have coped had it not been for Nautilus on the podium in front of her. As stupid as it was, even seeing the back of his head grounded her. It gave her confidence and reassurance that although she may be standing by herself she really wasn't alone.

Vivian was gone. And whilst Nautilus knew he should be feeling so sad and heart broken over it, his mind was solely on Dory. She was the youngest tribute now, and whilst she wasn't the frailest by any stretch, the older man was beginning to convince himself that she would become a target, the smallest and easiest to pick off. He knew Lana and Aila were too far back, and D'ante was not strong enough, so if it came down to it, Nautilus would have to be the one to kill. To take a life to save himself and Dory. For the first time since he arrived, he felt ready to do just that.

Arbor hated how far away Cassia was. He couldn't see her, he had no idea who that second canon was, and short of screaming out, he had no way of knowing until they jumped off the podium and raced towards the Cornucopia. Unknowingly, Arbor had his fingers crossed, the only thing in his power that he could do to make sure Cassia was still alive.

Nervousness had long since passed Ezra. What will be, will be, he repeated over and over again in his mind, the repetition calming him slightly. He had no control over getting reaped, he had no control over whether he escaped this or not. Whatever happened, happened.

"Good luck, everyone." Ezra called, not having to raise his voice much, as an eerie silence had occurred across the tributes.

The fresh grass that the Capitol had laid just a day before was already tainted with the blood of two tributes. The only thing certain was that in the coming days, the stains there would grow.

Clem stared down at the tributes on his screen, the number already dwindling. He hadn't realised he had been crying, until the cold tear splashed against the back of his hand.

"Don't you dare die on me, Doug." The boy's uncle screamed at the TV in his hotel at the Capitol. "Don't you dare bloody die.

Diva's foot hung over the edge. This was it. Now. Everything had been building up to the moment where the zero appeared in front of them and they could set off running. Her eyes fixed on the back of Newton's head, a good few metres in front of her. Dina had always had his back, but now she was gone, Diva knew it had to be her responsibility.

For a second nobody moved. It seemed as though it wasn't real, like they had all been preparing for something that wasn't going to happen. The clock hit zero, and that was it. There was nothing more, no fighting, no death, no Games.
Florence forced her shoulders to relax, Alfred believed his prayers had been answered, Lana let her mind wander to going home, Cassia looked up to the sky in thanks, Ronin dried the tears streaming down his face.
For a second, everything was perfect.

And then an arrow flew through the air, piercing just above Doug's heart. The boy coughed, doubling over, before his body collapsed to the ground, dead in an instant. A canon sounded.

"Move tributes. Or this will happen again." A female voice echoed through the arena. That was all they needed, and almost in unison, the tributes were off of their podiums, sprinting towards the Cornucopia.

Unsurprisingly, Newton made it there first. Although the boy wasn't fast himself, it didn't take much to sprint past Luster and D'ante, who despite being closer to the Cornucopia, were considerably slower than him. Once there, he looked around, confused. He had already lost Dina, now he had to wait until Diva and Alfred made their way here and told him what to do. Newton was convinced he would have run off in the other direction, but his feet had not allowed him too, and he stood, surveying the equipment in front of him, knowing that for the moment, he had the pick of it all. Instinctively, he grabbed the nearest pack, and swung it on his back, before taking a spear he never had any intention of using.

Newton wasn't alone there for long, as slowly more and more tributes reached the centre. Next to join him was Cassia and Dory, closely followed by D'ante, Luster and Nautilus. Luster was running alone, he had already killed two tributes today, and even if most of the others didn't know Vivian was his fault, they had seen the way he had pushed Dina when she slipped. His plan then had been to head for the forest, but there was one more thing he had to do first.

Amongst the chaos of it all, most of the tributes now were in the Cornucopia, scrambling for supplies but still holding off killing one another, Newton managed to find his allies, Diva was standing to the edge of the silver horn, fastening a collection of knives to her belt. Alfred stood rather uselessly to her side, shaking. Newton felt exactly the same, but unlike the District Three boy, adrenaline had overtaken him, and he felt the constant need to be moving. He dodged the weapons others were grasping, and claimed two more packs from the ground, the last he could see, as well as another spear and a machete. He approached his friends, handing them a bag and weapon each.

"Not to alarm you." Diva spoke, before greeting him, her breath still inconsistent because of the run. "But someone is stealing something from your bag."

Panic struck Newton. It wasn't the fear of losing supplies, it was the thought of what was to come. What if he was robbed and then killed, before he had even left the clearing? There was nothing he could do now, there was no way he could ever kill. Newton felt a sharp tug downwards, finally spurred on to take action, and he spun round quickly, fully intending just to take the person by surprise. What he didn't account for, however, was the spear still in his hand. As he turned, the sharp head slashed against the body of another tribute, an instant stream of blood covering Newton.

"I just wanted a first aid kit.." The tribute mumbled, her speech so slurred it took Newton a few seconds to work out what she was saying.

"Cassia no!" A male voice screamed, as Arbor lunged forward, frantically grabbing at the body of his wounded wife as she fell to the ground. "If you've killed her, I will make sure you're next." He spat, his hands plastered over the long gash covering the centre of Cassia's chest. Despite all the effort Arbor was making to lessen the effect, nothing was working, she was losing blood too quickly. The boy could have sworn he saw Cassia smile, as her eyes closed and the first canon of the official Bloodbath sounded, a Bloodbath that Newton had unknowingly started.

"We need to go." Diva called frantically, tugging on Newton's sleeve. The boy was frozen to the spot, unable to move. "Now Newton, come on." Panicked, Diva brought her hand back, and slapped her ally across the cheek. "Now!" She repeated once more, clawing at his arm. Newton turned, now weaponless, and sprinted after the District Three pair, leaving the Cornucopia and the destruction he had caused behind.

Arbor saw red. He knew Newton's actions had been an accident, but he was too angry to even think straight. Picking up the spear that had just been used to murder Cassia, he ran forward a few steps, before launching it through the air at the running trio, praying for it to find Newton's back. His aim was off, but not by much.

The spear hit Diva straight between her shoulder blades, and came out in the centre of her chest. She was dead before she hit the ground, a crimson stain appearing beneath her.
Alfred and Newton never stopped running.

The fifth canon of the Games sounded.

Arbor searched around for another weapon, but it was too late, the boy he was after had disappeared off into the forest. Instead, he went back to Cassia's side, holding the girl close to him one final time.

"For a moment there, I was doubting we would ever get a Bloodbath." Hypatia snickered to herself, all intentions of joining Ezra and Ronin in running into the woods had been abandoned the minute Cassia's body had hit the floor. "But thank you Newton." She hummed, nearing the spot where Arbor crouched. "Might as well finish the job." Hypatia nodded, tacking a forgotten knife from the floor, and creeping up slowly behind the boy from Eight. "Say goodbye." She whispered into his ear, bringing back the weapon and slitting his throat in one movement.
Arbor had heard the girl retrieve the weapon. Arbor had felt her breath on his neck and knew what was coming. Arbor could probably have taken down the girl if he had wanted to. But he hadn't wanted to. He hadn't seen the point. And now, he saw nothing.

"That was the sixth canon. What the hell is happening?" Florence exclaimed, as she made her way away from the arena, her hand firmly joined with Lya's. Flynt and Lilac were a few meters in front of them, and the girl's were doing all they could to keep up with them. They had taken what they needed, and escaped as quickly as they could. None of them had expected any killing to have taken place, but they were reluctant to stick around just in case, now quietly glad of the decision they had made.

"God knows. All I saw was Newton stab a girl." Lya replied, pulling up the straps of a bag that had begun to slip down her arm. The fear she had felt on the podiums was slowly starting to leave her. They had all escaped the Bloodbath without so much as a scratch, that had to be a good sign. They had supplies, enough to last then for days and they were thankfully all still together. The plan now was to head for the snowy terrain and find a nice cave and hide out for as long as they could. There, they could start a fire without being seen and avoid the conflict between the more bloodthirsty tributes.

"You okay back there?" Flynt twisted his head round just as his foot made contact with the first bit of ice.

"Holy shit." Lilac gasped next to him, voicing exactly what Flynt was feeling. It was cold, so cold, something they hadn't anticipated. It was so close to a desert, they hadn't expected the temperature to have been a huge factor.

"We need to settle down and start a fire. Soon. Or the other tributes won't be our biggest concern." Flynt led the way.

Lana and Aila had found each other, and despite everything, that fact was enough. Across the Cornucopia, stood Nautilus who was currently fastening a pack in place on Dante's back. It was considerably heavier than they had been expecting, and D'ante was already weak from the running, he was trying to spread out the weight as much as possible.

"We need to clear out of here soon, we have no idea who will come back and when." Lana planned, as the girl's walked over to greet the other half of their alliance. Deep down, Lana was surprised they had all survived. She had known that both her and Aila would be okay, but the fact that the other half of their alliance had survived, was some kind of miracle.

"We can't, we need to find Dory." Nautilus protested. He hadn't seen the girl since she had overtaken him on the way to the Cornucopia. That had always been the plan, she would get there first, get what she could and then the other's would join. Nautilus knew she wasn't dead, there had only been six canons, and he knew who each of them belonged to. Where the hell was she?

Red hot pain seared through Dory's body, unlike anything she had felt before, stronger than she thought was possible. Her arm hung on by a thread, sliced repeatedly by Luster, who now stood behind her, the weapon above her neck, ready to end it all if Dory dared scream. She wanted to scream, she wanted it all to be over, but oblivion scared her so much more than anything she was experiencing now.
They were on the edge of the clearing, where the field met the mountains, the back of the Cornucopia, where all the action was happening, pointed towards them, shielding them completely from view. Luster had grabbed a weapon and started chasing Dory, as soon as she had reached the horn. Of course she was younger than him, but she was already worn out from the run from the podiums, and when she tripped and fell on a rock, shattering her ankle, she had known it was over.

"You were supposed to fucking jump." Luster hissed at her. "We wouldn't have been here, if you had just jumped off like Vivian."

"You killed her? You told her to jump?" Dory gasped, for once more from the shock of the realisation than the constant nagging pain that consumed her body.

Luster laughed, a deep laugh. His plan was coming together, all the guilt he had ever felt meant nothing now. He had succeeded, and soon, Dory would be left here dead, and no one would ever know what he had done. He paused for a second, wondering what he should do next. It would be easiest to go to the mountains, but Luster wasn't much of a climber, the chances of him slipping and falling was high. The forest was his best option, but that would mean running back through the Cornucopia. He could risk that. No one was going to kill an innocent old man.

"You little bitch." Luster cried, as he felt his kneecaps shatter, his body falling to the ground. In his thought, he had taken his eyes off of Dory, and the girl had built up enough strength to kick him full force in his shins.
She was up now, her arm hanging uselessly at her side. Luster took the sword, unable to stand and chase after her, and threw it towards her. It slammed into the back of Dory's legs, hard enough to draw blood but not hard enough to cause any lasting damage.

Dory ran. And she ran. But she didn't seem to be going anywhere. She was moving at such a slow speed, her arm leaking blood, her ankle clearly broken.
And then she saw it. About twenty metres in front of her, a lake. At first she had thought it was a mirage, in fact, as she neared it, she still thought it might be. But it was her only chance of survival, in the water, she was safe. She launched herself into it, hitting the surface with such force, sending a tidal wave of water stained red with blood into the air.

The splash alerted Salome who had been stuffing bottles of water into her backpack. She grabbed onto her father's arms beckoning him over. "Someone's in there. We have to help them."

Dory began to splash about, the pain in her arm stopping her from swimming. She was dying, being killed by the water, the one thing she loved and trusted more than anything. It was pulling her under, the snatch of breath she had been able to take was slowly being used up. This was it.

"Salome. No. you have to understand, this game isn't about saving." Locke strode round the side of the Cornucopia, intending to see just who it was in the water. He didn't have time to look, as the figure of a mangled Luster pulling himself from the floor captured his full attention.

"I will kill you, Dory." Luster screamed to the wind. That was all the strength he had, moving was no longer an option.

Locke advanced on the older man, running at a sprint, retrieving the sword he had thrown at Dory and knocking Luster to the ground. Without hesitation, he used all his strength to plunge the weapon into Luster's chest.

The sound of the canon was loud against the now silent arena, the tributes scattered in all different directions. Salome turned to see the struggle in the water was over, the girl's slender body floating to the service, lifeless.

"You could have saved her, dad." Salome approached where Locke stood, standing tall over the withering body of Luster. "And instead you chose to kill him." She shouted over her father's protests. "That girl's blood is on your hands. Remember that."

The final canon of the Bloodbath sounded, confirming Luster's death.

Tributes Graveyard

24th Place: Vivian Wilden (D10F)- Ahhh, there we go. We all knew it would happen, didn't we? It breaks my heart to see her go, but Luster's manipulation was too strong. Also I find it really hard to write a five year olds POV….

23rd Place: Dina Issacs (D5F)- Poor Dina, she was one of my tributes that I submitted to get the bit about District Thirteen in, and I really grew to like her although initially she wasn't a very well thought out character. At one point I had her surviving all the way to the final five, but I felt like her recklessness would lead realistically to a Bloodbath death.

22nd Place: Doug Miller (D9M)- Oh Doug, the boy that broke Clem and led to his first big Capitol betrayal. I loved the relationship that he had with Salome. I have no real reason for killing him in the Bloodbath, I think he was just the tribute I grew to like the least.

21st Place: Cassia Zimmerman (D8F)- One half of the lovers, she was always going to be a Bloodbath death for me, she was sweet and I didn't want to kill her brutally, so I used her death to build an interesting story line for Newton…

20th Place: Diva De Bellarose (D3F)- WHEN I SAY THIS BROKE ME! Diva was one of my favourites, but… she was submitted as a Bloodbath tribute, and so I had to oblige :( I'm just glad I got to write her character for as long as I did.

19th Place: Arbor Skove (D8M)- I wasn't going to have Arbor die here, but he was so in love with Cassia, there was no way he was ever going to leave her, it had to be here.

18th Place: Dory Krillgood (D4F)- Dory was a firm favourite as I saw through the reviews although I never really saw the appeal of her character… I was tempted to keep her alive for a while longer, but when it comes down to it, she simply had to go. I feel bad about killing her, especially as she managed to escape Luster's plan. I wonder how Nautilus will cope with the news of her death :(

17th Place: Luster Ardor (D1M)- I'm not going to even humour this dickhead with a conclusion. Burn. (I know he's not real but you know…)

TWO DEATHS! THIS BLOODBATH WAS MEANT TO HAVE TWO DEATHS. That was the plan but then I started writing, and people just... died. I think this is my favourite chapter so far, I'm really excited to start writing more action based chapters now we have a better understanding of who the tributes are. Less excited for killing people off, but it's gotta be done :(

I hope I didn't kill anyone's favourite off really early, and if I did, then I'm sorry. Hope you are all doing well and thank you for all the love!

Until next time,

Alice xxx

(OKAY WHEN I WAS READING BACK THROUGH THE ENTIRE STORY A FEW DAYS AGO I REALISED THAT I END EVERY CHAPTERS A/N THE SAME WAY WITHOUT KNOWING OMG)