Nene Palmer, District Six female (18)

I guess it made sense gunpowder came in huge bags. You'd need a lot of it if you were going to go out and shoot a hundred buffalo all at once like people used to. Kind of funny how it seemed like the Careers never actually put gunpowder in their guns, though. Almost seemed like the Gamemakers put in modern guns that didn't need gunpowder because they didn't want the Careers to have to deal with that, then also put in gunpowder for the sole purpose of someone finding it and using it for explosions.

"How strong is this stuff?" Skada asked as we dragged the bag back to our blacksmith shop lair.

"I honestly have no idea," Lester admitted. "I have no idea how big an explosion this would make."

"I bet Richard would have known," Tabitha said.

Back at our shop we started to pour the gunpowder into the biggest bottle we had. The innocent-looking dark gray powder piled up until it reached all the way to the mouth of the jar. Irina sacrificed a small strip of her shirt and we coated it in some oily greasy stuff we found in a bowl underneath an anvil- probably some sort of tool grease or something. We'd managed to find a lighter behind the counter of the gun shop so that was everything we needed.

"And now for the elephant in the room," Irina said.

"What elephant?" I asked. I knew it wasn't a literal elephant but I didn't know what question she was talking about.

"Who's going to throw it?"

The plan was that after night fell we'd sneak up to the general store and throw the cocktail, blowing up the general store and Alice and Talise. I'd pictured it as all of us doing it but as soon as Irina said it I realized how little sense it made.

"Molotov cocktails are Russian, so Irina should," Tabitha pointed out. Her smile faded as for once her joke fell flat. She knew the same thing all of us didn't want to admit. Whoever got that close to the Careers and to the blast probably wasn't coming back. This was more or less a suicide mission.

Well I'm not volunteering. If the others picked me I'd cross that bridge when I came to it but I wasn't going to put my name out there. I loved my new friends but I wasn't ready to die.

"I'll do it," Lester said. "This was my idea and I'll do it."

Tabitha gasped. Skada looked like someone had slapped her. Irina suddenly looked forty years older. I didn't think any of us had thought any of us would really do it until Lester volunteered himself. Tabitha looked from face to face, knowing if she volunteered Lester would stop her. Lester wouldn't look at her. Irina's face went stony and I could only imagine the swirl of emotions in her head. Even I could tell that she wanted to volunteer too but knew we'd all die without her.

You don't have to, I could have said. I didn't. If we did nothing the Careers would hunt us down and pick us off until we were all dead. If no one else volunteered then it wouldn't happen. No one else was volunteering. I wasn't about to. If I told Lester he didn't have to it would just be empty words, like when someone asks you for a favor and you accept but say "only if it's not too much trouble". No, I was going to live with my choice. No covering it up or trying to bury it under phrases meant to distance myself from the ramifications. Lester had volunteered to die and I was going to face that.

The alliance had never been so quiet as the hours waiting for night to fall. Someone more poetic would have said it was metaphorical how the light leaked from the air and the shadows grew longer until they merged with each other. We sat around uneasily, Tabitha pretending she wasn't crying and Irina pretending she was strong and stoic.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Skada said, heading for the back room. No one looked up but me, so I was the only one who saw it. But a choice is a choice, and I didn't say anything. Not even when Skada took a molotov cocktail to the bathroom.

Skada Socket, District Five female (15)

My nerve failed me twice, first when the call went out for volunteers and second as I watched Tabitha looking at Lester for what she thought was the last time. I loved life. But there were other things I loved more.

Just like the book says, I thought with a mix of gladness and fear. It said something about the greatest love a person could have. I walked toward the general store under the cover of darkness, stones crunching under my feet in the dirt. It was a pretty sound. I was glad to be able to appreciate it.

The sound of a gunshot was less welcome. I wasn't surprised the Careers had spotted me. I was trying to be sneaky but I was no match for someone who had trained for this all their life. I was about twenty feet from the double front doors of the general store. Since I hadn't heard the breaking of glass I assumed that was where the shot had come from. If I broke away I might possibly be able to escape with the darkness and the unreliable firearms. Or I might get shot in the back and end up dead for nothing, or worse, the Careers might follow me to the others. So I put my head down and ran.

Talise Cicero, District Four female (16)

Even though the figure was still some ways off when I saw it, I still shivered. It didn't matter if I was a Career or if there were two of us and one figure. Anything could happen in the Games. It didn't matter who was stronger in a fight. It only mattered who survived.

I wasted no time aiming my gun at the shadowy form. I missed but the shot still gave the intruder pause. They hesitated, clearly deciding whether to abandon their plan, and then went all in. I aimed again as the figure rushed at me. A tiny shower of sparks winked into life, its sheer incongruity surprising me so much it threw off my aim. A little flame spread out onto what my eyes slowly registered as a scrap of cloth. Thoughts of shooting the intruder fled from my mind and I sprinted out of the door and away from the building.

Alice Mason, District Two female (17)

A gunshot snapped me to instant readiness. I leaped up, swinging my knife reflexively in a circle around me. I looked toward the noise and saw Talise shooting out the front door. Beyond her there was a little flicker of light like a will-o-the-wisp running at us.

Talise disappeared out the doors. The light burst through and in its aura I saw it was Skada holding a bottle with a scrap of fabric in it. My mind put all the elements together and I jumped backwards as she threw the bottle. It exploded in midair. Blinding light cut off my view of the scene. I felt a flash of heat like a fire slapping me across the face. Then there was a thumping pain in my back. I rolled over, blood on my tongue from where I'd bitten it, and found myself just outside the rear door of the general store, my face feeling like it was covered in fire ants. I sat up and looked at the raging fireball shooting out of every window of the burning general store. The sounds were muted in my ringing ears.

Beside me, my mask lay on the ground. I put a hand to my face and realized the numbness across half of it wasn't numbness at all. Half my face had been shielded from the flames. Our camp and supplies were going up in flames and to top it off, my mask was now for the exact wrong side.

8th place: Skada Socket- blown up

Alice and Talise may have lived but their base is destroyed and they weren't unscathed. Skada's form mentioned this sort of death so when the votes came for her (luckily, the hidden PMs just made her go lower and I didn't have to change the chapter) I was able to work that in. Skada could have been the hero of a different story with her cool background and skill set but here she fell afoul of voters who had other ideas. Not many people are willing to do what she did, and for that we commend her. Thanks Silver and sorry the ride had to come to an end.