Cullen Harrison, 17
District 7 Male
If I never hear another cannon again, it'll still be too soon.
Last night, I saw three people in the sky. Today, this morning, I'm hoping for none. I know with every cannon I hear means that my life is closer to being saved, but I just can't sit with what they mean and have a good feeling about it.
We've been increasingly had good luck when it comes to the games, and now that we are at the top nine, and a substantial chunk of that nine is in the alliance, we need to start coming up with a plan. All this mushy stuff we keep doing is nice, but we haven't seen a lick of combat since the bloodbath.
The Gamemakers won't be pleased.
"I have to take a leak," I say, getting up from our circle.
I walk a distance away from my alliance of all females and start to pee. I hear a crackling in the bushes as I'm finishing up and turn around to see nothing. I take a deep breath and shake my head. "You're imagining things, Cullen," as I walk away. "I wish I had some sort of hand sanitizer."
The rustling happens again, and I turn around to see a skeleton standing behind me. It has a knife in its hand, and it's creeping closer and closer, and then full sprints at me from the bushes. "GUYS RUN!" I manage to scream out before the skeleton is on top of me. Three more dashes out from the bushes at a surprising rate, and I take a deep breath letting out the loudest scream I ever could. "GUYS RUN NOW! MUTTS!"
The skeleton hits me across my face with the knife, and I do my best to fight them off. You'd imagine a skeleton being easy to take down, but this isn't a normal skeleton. This is a Capitol engineered one. What's worse? A Capitol engineered one without ears.
I let out a high pitch scream, but it doesn't even flinch. Instead, it shoves its long boney hand into my mouth. He reaches farther and farther down my throat as I try to get him off. I'm unable to breathe the farther he reaches; his arm is now in my mouth until I suddenly feel a pain in my chest as they violently rip something up.
The last thing I see is my heart being placed into the skeleton and falling onto the floor.
Chrysanthemum Suiki, 14
District 11 Female
"GUYS RUN! MUTTS!"
"Cullen!" screams Hazel as she tries to get up and run toward him. I grab ahold of her and nod my head.
"Perfect place, remember?"
Tears well up in her eyes, and the mutts we will be battling make their way to our campgrounds. Their white skeletons with long skinny limbs. As they come into plain view, they attempt to surround us, but I grab ahold of Hazel and Emerson's arms and take off.
Oh, hell no.
Tributes swinging weapons around trying to kill each other to be the last survivor? I can almost handle that. Survival instincts and all. Tributes running from skeletons with knives and swords in their hands? Not something you see every day.
"This is going to end badly," I tell the girls as we run. "They are running surprisingly fast, and we aren't in the best shape. We have to split up. Maybe we can hide from them,"
"Wait, that's such a bad-" says Emerson, but I turn to the right and continue to run as fast as I can into the forest. One of the skeletons change it's direction and follows me through the trees, and now all I can hope for is when one of Hazel or Emerson gets caught the cannon sounds.
There's no loyalty in the Hunger Games except to yourself.
As I run, I hear the skeleton catching up with me as I become more and more winded. I run until I trip over a branch, and the skeleton leaps on top of me. It sticks its hand into my mouth and rough digs deeper and deeper down my throat until I feel it digging around in my chest cavity.
No. Please no.
He grabs ahold of my heart, and I feel a pain shoot throughout my whole body as they rip it out of my chest and up my throat. They attempt to place it in their chest, but they're unable to make it stay.
Please let there be a perfect place.
Dwindela Aluchi, 18
District 9 Female
He left me.
He ran off with that stupid slut and left me to fend for myself in the arena against that pigheaded monster from District 2. Does he think she's better than me? She's dull and boring, and she can never challenge him as I could.
He doesn't know who he just messed with.
The sun disappears behind the treeline, and once again, the arena changes into a dreary graveyard. I don't mind the aesthetics of what it looks like. Reminds me of what I would do back home.
I've been hunting them since they left me. They know how to cover their tracks, but they don't know that I hunt people down all the time in my District. I'm the scariest mass murder that District 9 has ever seen, and one of the last girls in this game willing to kill. And he picked that dumb blonde bimbo?!
Maybe it's not his fault. Perhaps she forced him into it, and I'm overreacting. Alon can't be the problem. That kiss...that kiss...no. It's that bitch, Kilee, and I will find her.
I've checked pretty much everywhere I'd think they'd be except the original campground, but are they stupid enough to go back there? For her sake, I hope not. Because when I get my hands on her for stealing him away from me, she's going to wish Gerard killed her.
I slowly creep up in the clearing with the cornucopia. As I creep around, I hear the light sound of breathing, and my heart enrages as I poke my head around the giant golden structure to see them sitting around a fire whispering back and forth.
I begin to step out, but then instantly retreat. If I'm going to get revenge, I'm going to draw this out. I'm going to get them when they least expect it. This is the long game. And I'm going to give the Capitol a show they won't soon forget.
"Hello?" asks Alon
His sweet voice fills the air around me, and I can't help but want to run to him. To throw my arms around him and tell him that I forgive him! We can still be together. Even if one of us has to die, he'll forever be in my heart.
"Is someone there," he asks into the dark.
Yes, but don't worry, my Prince, we will be together soon enough.
"Alon, this is freaking me out," Kilee, the whore calls out from the cornucopia. She reappears behind him and uses his beautiful body as a shield for whatever is out there. "We didn't see her face in the sky after left. What if she's coming back? Did you see the way she just stabbed a twelve-year-old? The girl is not sane."
"There's no way Gerard didn't kill her before he died," Alon assures her, and they disappear back into the cornucopia.
The way he talked about my death with such assurance and no hint of sadness in his voice breaks my heart. How could he be okay with me dying after the love we share? We had it all. We could have been great.
Now. I'm mad.
I sit down on the ground quietly and wait until I see the fire inside of the cornucopia extinguished. Waiting in the shadows, I look up at the sky and smile. "You want to see something dramatic?" I whisper into the clouds. "I need a club, a pen, and paper. Send it down quietly."
I half expected nothing to come down, but soon the parachute falls right next to me with a giant nine written on it. I open it up to reveal the club, a pen, and a piece of paper. "Thank you!" I whisper to the sky as I pull out the document and use the light of the moon to scribble a note down.
Soon after my sponsor gifts lands, the sound of snoring fills the air, and I sneak up to the cornucopia to see Kilee sitting with her back facing the exit like an idiot. I creep over to her and quickly wrap my hand around her mouth. She screams, and I lean down and whisper to her. "Scream again, and I'll snap your neck right here."
She remains quiet, and I stay still until Alon is snoring again. I take the note and toss it over near him and drag Kilee up by her hair.
"You're going to regret ever crossing me," I tell her as I drag her along the field. "I will not tolerate you stealing my man."
"How are you alive?" she asks me as I drag her. Her winces of pain giving my joy with each sound.
"I'm a shark, Kilee," I tell her. "Sharks don't die."
Luster Alders, 17
District 6 Male
"You have to talk to me at some point, Madison."
She hasn't spoken more than a few words since we saw Othniel in the sky last night. I heard her crying as we went to sleep, and all day today, there's been nothing. I'm getting tired of talking to a brick wall. If this is our potential last few days, I'd at least like to enjoy it.
"You've been sitting here all sad and depressed for a whole day. People are going to die, and you have to get over it. You just have to at this point."
She looks over at me with an ugly expression, and it takes everything in me to tell her to wipe that nasty look off her face. Yes, people are dying. Yes, people are having their lives cut short, but it isn't her.
And if she's still lucky enough to be alive, then she needs to buck up buttercup and put on a pair of big girl panties. This is the world we live in. Every year people go through this. This is a 60-year-celebration for the Capitol. She's not special because she lost a friend.
"How dare you talk about him like that," she says, looking back at the fire. The anthem plays, and we are once again looking at the fallen tributes in the night sky. Maybe we will get lucky and see another career up there tonight. I was excited to see both the girl from 1 and the boy from 2.
The Fallen
Appears written across the sky, and my heart sinks when I see that it isn't a career but the boy from seven and the girl from 11—bad luck.
"Why do you look annoyed?" asks Madison with a defensive tone. "Are you so heartless that you don't realize that these kids that are dying are people? That they have families and friends back home that they are hoping to get back to?"
"No," I tell her. "I do realize that. I just don't care."
Her jaw drops as she stands up and looks at me with a crazed expression. "What are you even talking about?! How can you sit here and not care that innocent blood is being spilled, Luster?!"
She reaches into her pocket and pulls a knife and runs at me with it. I am unable to sidestep as she places it to my neck and glares at me. "So you wouldn't care if I placed this blade into your neck? You wouldn't care if you died right here?"
"You're misunderstanding," I tell her. "I care about my life. But I only care about my life."
She looks at me with a smirk and rolls her eyes. "I can kill you right now, Luster. I can take away everything that you ever cared about in just mere seconds. You're a selfish pig, Luster."
"You won't kill me," I assure her. "You won't kill me because you do care. You feel guilty that we are so close to the end, and you are alive. You feel guilty that you're probably the first Victor that District 12 could see in ten years. You feel guilty that Othniel is dead."
"Yes!" she screams as she pushes me away. I swallow hard as I feel the lack of the blade on my skin. She walks up to a tree and stabs it. "Yes! Yes, yes, I feel guilty. It's disgusting. This whole thing is disgusting, Luster!"
She sits down and sobs on the ground. It isn't a sad sob, though. This sob is full of anger. She's upset at her current situation, and she doesn't know what else to do but to cry. "Do you want to know what I was doing before the reapings, Luster?" she asks me.
Not really.
"What were you doing, Madison?" I humor her.
"I was choosing what dress I was going to wear for a date that they had planned right after the reapings. I was so shallow that a dress was the number one thing that I worried about! Now I'm having to deal with the complexity of being grateful that I'm alive, and also hating myself because of it! So, yes, yes, I'm disgusted by you, Luster."
"Get over yourself!" I scream at her.
Her jaw drops and she walks over to me very calmly, and then without warning, slaps me in the face. My jaw drops as I ball a fist and punch her in the stomach. She lets out a wince in pain as she grabs me by my hair and drags me to the ground.
"Get over myself?!" she screams.
She starts hitting my head on the ground, and there is a jagged rock that has repeatedly been piercing the back of my head as she hits me over and over. It's hard for me to stay awake, and when she finally gets off of me, she looks at me and covers her mouth.
"Oh my gosh, Luster," she whispers. "I'm so sorry! No!" she says as she starts pushing on my chest, but the more she struggles, the more blood squirts out of the back of my head. The world around me starts to fade, and I'm drifting off into the blackness.
Eulogies
9th Place: Cullen Harrison, District 7 Male, Killed by Skeleton Mutt- Cullen was a treat! He was unlike anything I've ever seen in an SYOT. Part of me considered giving him a megaphone last minute before he died just as an homage to him, but that seemed a bit cruel tbh. He was enjoyable to write, and thank you for sending him to me.
8th Place: Chrysanthemum Suiki, District 11 Female, Killed by Skeleton Mutt- Chrysanthemum was supposed to be a bloodbath, but after I wrote the scene in the bathroom with D...I just couldn't do it? She was fun, and the depth that I found in her was magical. She was a beautiful character, and I hope you don't hate me too much for killing her. Thank you for submitting.
7th Place: Luster Alders, District 6 Male, Killed by Madison Parsons- I hated Luster. I hated him, but I also loved him, and I think he's the most polarizing character in this story. It's stupid how much I've changed his trajectory from what I had initially, and I just hope that at the end of the day, people see him for what he was: he was an ass. But an ass that just wanted to survive. Rest in peace, little buddy.
Congratulations to the final six and their submitters.
Emerson Gepler submitted by FabulousAbby
Hazel Fowl Submitted by Annabeth-TheTributeThatLived
Madison Parsons submitted by JayFC
Dwindela Aluchi submitted by LordShrio
Kilee Seaton submitted by The Love of my Life (my wife for those who are looking for a user.)
Alon Harlequin submitted by Jms2
I won't lie, at this rate, any of these six can win. Buckle in; the next few chapters are going to be a wild ride!
Announcement: Submit to squintz SYOT Vying. It's going to be awesome.
Also Announcement: Faded Memories my next SYOT will be posted tomorrow. It's an All-Star games. I'll have the traditional 24 tributes in their spots, but be ready to submit a dead tribute. The form is being made, and the prologue has been written. I hope to see you there!
Hope to hear from you soon,
Caleb