Arachne Weber, District Eight.

Arachne had seen a lot of Hunger Games before. They were mandatory viewing, after all, and she could only look away for so long before someone noticed. There were certain things that always happened. The tributes were always placed in a circle. There was always a countdown. There was always a cornucopia. As she rose out of the ground she searched for these familiar things as a way to get her bearings.

The tributes, like always, were standing on individual platforms in a wide circle facing inward. She could see their green clothes even through the darkness. That darkness was the first strange thing. It was the day time, she could tell. The sun was almost in the center of the sky, and Arachne could feel the heat on her neck. Yet it was dimmer than she was used to, a deep red-orange that gave the arena a dark oppressive feel.

That feeling was influenced by the second strange thing: black sand. Usually in an arena, you were able to get a sense of the different environments just from looking around on your platform. But the only thing that Arachne could see was thick black sand. It stretched on in every direction, gathering into jet black dunes that prevented her from looking much farther. She turned around to look in the direction she would probably be running. At first she thought it was the same as all the other directions: nothing but large black sand dunes. But then she realized that out in the distance there was something that seemed more solid, even though it was the same color as all the sand around her. A mountain.

No, not a mountain, she suddenly realized. A volcano. And the sand wasn't actually sand, but ash.

Arachne heard an electronic beeping noise above her and looked to the sky. Projected there was a countdown clock with thirty seconds to go. Thirty seconds to decide if there was anything near her she wanted to risk taking. Thirty seconds to plan her escape. Which meant that she could no longer ignore the third strange thing.

She truly wished she could. For some reason the heat and the discolored sun and the sand that wasn't really sand didn't bother her as much as what she saw in the center of the circle of tributes. There were changes in the formula for the Games of course, but there were always constants. Arachne clung to these constants, used them to clear her head and form a plan. But what little composure she had was quickly beginning to slip away.

Because instead of a cornucopia, there was only a large hole.

Demetri Donovan, District Five

It didn't make any sense. There were various supplies scattered around the area, as was standard for the Hunger Games. Demetri caught sight of a bright blue case near him, and a couple of weapons and bottles of water he could get to without too much risk. But the cornucopia itself, where the best supplies and weapons were, didn't seem to exist.

Or maybe it did. Demetri knew that the Capitol liked new things, but there were some ingredients to the Hunger Games that you just didn't mess with. The Cornucopia existed. Why wouldn't it? Most likely, it was down inside the pit, where no one could see it. If anyone wanted to reach it, they would not only have to brave the other tributes, but whatever lay inside that pit.

As Demetri was thinking, he heard someone yelling directly to his right. Elixane was on the podium right next to him, and she had one hand cupped over her eyes, scanning the area and spouting off a series of numbers and letters that Damian didn't know the exact meaning of.

However, the more he watched her the more he understood their purpose: she was giving instructions to the careers. It reminded him of when some neighborhood boys tried to make a football league. Whatever those words were, they were connected to a play that the careers had already planned out. All Elixane had to do was pick the right plan for the situation.

Demetri felt a pit grow in his stomach. The careers were using tactics this year. The careers won almost every year without an organized system of attack. He dreaded to find out what would happen now that they were coordinating with each other.

The timer continued to count down. Fifteen seconds left. Demetri had originally planned to leave the bloodbath without any supplies. But now that seemed like a terrble idea. They were in the middle of a desert, and it was hard to say just how much water would be available. Demetri couldn't rule out the possibility that these supplies would be all there actually were. He had to get something, even if it wasn't much.

Except Elixane was right next to him. Going for anything might be risky. He looked over to his left. The boy from Twelve stood there, trying to signal to his district partner. Most likely Demetri wouldn't need to worry about him. So perhaps he would just go to the left…

Five seconds left. Demetri took a deep breath, then looked around the arena one last time. He accidentally locked eyes with Elixane, who smiled at him. She took something out of her pocket, her token presumably, and tossed it over towards Demetri. It landed in front of him right before the timer reached zero.

There was a bright flash and a loud roar as the mines near him triggered.

Violet Beckingridge, District Eleven

For a split second, Violet thought that a cannon had already gone off. That was impossible, the cannon was always disabled during the bloodbath. But it was the first thing she thought of when she heard a deep boom loud enough to make her ears ring. Then she noticed that on the other side of the circle, one of the mines had activated. One of the tributes must have gotten too eager. It was a shame, but it wasn't something she had time to focus on right now. The timer had wound down and she was stuck right next to the boy from Three.

She had intended on holding back a bit, letting the career rush the pit that most likely held the cornucopia and picking up the supplies that he neglected in the meantime. However, that didn't happen. He ran off his platform at the same time everyone else did, but seemed to stop halfway between the circle and the pit. He grabbed a dagger on the way there and took a defensive stance. Violet tried to step to the side, but Ashlar followed her, keeping himself between her and the giant hole in the center. Violet realized that he wasn't the only career who hadn't rushed the cornucopia; Titania, Elixane, and Zella had also taken a defensive stance, preventing any non-career from getting to the center while the other four headed there unchallenged.

Violet watched as Diamond disappeared down into the dark pit, then emerged moments later with a glaive, which he threw to his district partner. Titania caught it, then swung at the boy from Seven, slashing through his stomach. The blow was so vicious that Violet could practically feel it herself, a sharp wet feeling in her lower abdomen.

It took her longer than she was proud of to realize that she wasn't just imagining the wound. There was a dart sticking out of her side, not enough to do any damage but certainly enough to hurt. Clearly these had been among the scattered supplies outside of the pit, and were probably meant for Diamond. But Violet had been watching him the entire time. She turned and saw Astra staring straight at her, about to throw another dart.

There was no time to think of a plan. Violet charged the girl. She was a good deal bigger than her, so the girl from Six fell onto the ground, dropping the brown messenger bag that she had been picking up. Violet grabbed the bag, and picked the direction that seemed to have the least tributes fighting in it. It was too risky to stay here. So she ran as fast as she could, leaving the bloodbath behind.

Issa Williams, District Eleven

Issa was between a rock and a hard place. He hated that he could only think in idioms right now. If there was ever a time for original thought, he believed it was probably in the middle of a fight for his life. And yet there he was, thinking about how he was between a rock and a hard place.

He could still smell the mixture of smoke and burnt flesh from the mine that had gone off near him. Elixane turned, smiling in triumph, and walked slowly towards him. They were in the middle of a battlefield, yet she didn't seem rushed at all. Issa was sure she was doing it just to mock him. To make it clear that she could kill him, and she didn't even have to move quickly to do it.

It was a rotten bit of luck that he had come out of the underground chamber next to a career. He hadn't been trained like her, and he was far less eager to kill. But suddenly something overcame him. His skin became hot and his vision dimmed, as if it was filtering out everything that wasn't important. All he was aware of was his will to live, and the girl in front of him.

His token had been a rather unique one: a sky blue colored pencil that he had salvaged from the street one day. One of the capitolites had tried to take it from him, claiming that it could be a weapon. But the other people near him had found it perfectly harmless and allowed him to hold onto his item.

Time to see if that capitolite was right.

He dug into the pocket of his shorts and pulled the pencil out, jabbing at the career with as much strength as he had. He felt something give as it sunk into her neck and she screamed from pain and rage.

Issa turned to run, but found himself staring right into the eyes of Arachne Weber. Her eyes were innocent and scared. Was he what had scared her? Issa had never thought he would be able to intimidate anybody.

Carlotta was walking towards the both of them too, but there was no fear in her eyes. She wrapped an arm around Arachne and whispered in her ear. The younger girl relaxed slightly and whispered something back.

That's when Carlotta snapped her neck.

Issa let out a scream of shock and horror, and backed up a few steps before he remembered what was behind him.

A rock and a hard place. That's where he was, and it was all he could think about.

He decided that his chances would be better with the girl who wasn't trained, and ran past Carlotta as quickly as he could. The girl didn't pursue him.

The dark black dunes were difficult to get his footing on. They slipped and shifted as he ran. Just as he was almost across one of the dunes, out of range of the bloodbath, he twisted his ankle and fell all the way back down.

It was rotten luck, really. Who could say if anyone else in his position would have done any better? As he looked up at the discolored sky, Titania Topaz came into view. She raised her glaive up high, then everything went black.

Seaward Waters, District Four

Things were going according to plan, which made Seaward uneasy. Plans never went perfectly, that was just the way of the world. Yet even with something as unexpected as the cornucopia not even being visible, the careers had managed to perform their battle plan perfectly. The edge of the pit had stairs carved into it made out of dark obsidian rock. They were slippery and easy to miss, but it was a clear way down. As the other careers fought to keep people off of his back, Seaward and a couple of the other faster tributes in his alliance went to retrieve weapons from the cornucopia.

It was maybe fifteen or twenty feet down, in an underground cavern. But the cornucopia was one of the most beautiful things that Seaward had ever seen. It was a dark blood red, and absolutely overflowing with all manner of supplies. He grabbed himself a bow, then got a sword for Elixane and began to climb up the stairs again.

It was a strange experience, coming back to the main battle after reaching the cornucopia. In the underground cavern, things seemed quiet. Peaceful even. But outside of the pit, everything was chaotic. As he looked at the battle, he realized why all of the tributes were dressed in green. In this forsaken wasteland of an arena, there was no green anywhere. No trees, no flowers. That meant that if he saw green, he could assume that it was a tribute. The capitol had equipped them all with an anti-camouflage.

He called Elixane's name and slid the sword in her direction, then scanned the area to determine which tribute he would target. His eyes landed on the boy from twelve. Not particularly a threat, but Seaward had the feeling that he could be a bit of a dark horse. Plus he had a rather well known alliance already with his district partner. He drew back his bowstring and fired.

He didn't hear the thud of an arrow connecting. The fighting was too loud for that. He did hear a shriek nearby, but there were screams all over the bloodbath. It was only when he felt hands on his chest that he realized the scream had anything to do with him. Anthracite Amber Weitz had been closer than he had realized. Much closer. With tears in her eyes, she shoved him.

It was a weak shove. The kind of shove that came from someone who clearly had no combat experience. An attack that he would have deflected or dodged if he hadn't been focusing too much on lining up his shot. Even then, he barely faltered. It was only enough to make him take two steps back.

Those two steps were enough. He caught on the edge of those sleek obsidian steps, and before he had even truly processed everything he was falling backwards. As he fell all he could think about was how unfair it all was. He had trained for years, and now stairs were going to be his undoing.

Stairs, and the girl from Twelve.

Raleigh West, District Six

Raleigh tried to gather his breath, but it continued to come in jagged gasps. He wasn't sure how, but he had made it. He had survived the bloodbath. It had been everything he feared it would be, but now he was in a cave about a ten minute run from the pit. He probably wouldn't be safe here forever, but he was one step closer to getting out of the games alive.

He unzipped the white fanny pack that he had managed to grab before leaving to see what was inside. This pack was the reason he had a large gash on his forehead, so he was desperately hoping that whatever was inside wasn't useless.

The first thing he found was a small water bottle, empty and only about the size of his fist. Then there was a canister of chalky tablets that had the letters 'water treatment' on the side. If he found a source of water, at least he knew he would be able to drink it. Finally there were a handful of pre-soaked alcohol wipes and a needle pre threaded with medical thread.

Raleigh's eyes lit up as he realized he had everything he needed to treat his head wound. Most tributes died from natural causes. He remembered hearing that. Dehydration. Starvation. And infections caused by untreated wounds. His injury wasn't serious, but if he left it untreated it would be.

He grabbed an alcohol wipe then paused. Perhaps it would be better if he waited a little longer. The cannons from the bloodbath would be sounding soon, and he didn't want to be caught off guard with a needle in his hands. So he prepared everything that would be necessary, then waited for the inevitable sound of death.

It didn't take much longer. The cannon was loud and deep, sounding almost as if it came from everywhere at once. Raleigh counted as each blast resolved.

One.

Two.

Three.

Then silence.

Raleigh couldn't believe it. He had been in that bloodbath, he had seen how ruthless the careers were, how even the outer district tributes got desperate for supplies and turned on each other. It seemed completely impossible that only three people had died.

Yet the cannon didn't sound again, and it was never wrong.

This was not terrible news, at least not to Raleigh. More people still alive meant there were more people for the careers to hunt down, most likely in worse condition than he was. All he had to do was lay low and wait.

His breathing had finally calmed down, so he took one of his alcohol pads and opened the package.

AN: Welcome to the Ashlands, everyone! Sorry for the slight cliffhanger at the end there, I'll resolve who has died in the next chapter I promise. We're in the Hunger Games! It's been quite a journey so far hasn't it? I love all of these characters and it's going to be really tough killing them off. I thank all of you so much and hope that you enjoyed this. Also! I made a discord. It is really small and messy right now, but it exists. The link is: z54AHgT (just get rid of the spaces.) I hope to hear from you!