The Bloodbath:
Alexander Snow, 16
Son of President Sterling Snow
Alexander wasn't the kind of guy who liked to wake up early. He was very fond of his beauty sleep. But given how quiet the house was, and how unusual that could be, he couldn't stay in bed any longer. Plus, today was the very first day of the 9th Hunger Games. Now wasn't that exciting!
Today was gonna be hectic. Everyone Alexander knew would not shut up about the Games starting later this morning. Okay fine, he was a bit excited too. But he had only gotten up early thanks to his stupid little brother. Damn Coriolanus jumping on top of him so Alexander could make him breakfast. Just in case they missed the beginning of the Games. Which weren't going to start for another two hours.
Dang it. Alexander was really hoping to get some work done on his latest project today...
Well...maybe it could wait until the afternoon. After all, there was a lot going on already...
"Where is everyone?" Alexander asked, cracking his bedroom door open. Did his parents and older siblings leave already?
"I don't know! But I'm hungryyyyy! I want breakfast!"
"Alright, alright, alright! Give me a moment!"
After making a frying pan of slightly overdone scrambled eggs and dumping all the dirty dishes in the sink, the two youngest Snow children sat down in front of the television, airing some sort of Pre-Games special that Alexander did not care about the slightest. However, he still turned up the volume to avoid Coriolanus from chattering his ear off. Too bad Coriolanus wasn't one for taking hints.
"When will the Games start? I wanna see them cut off each other's heads!"
"Can you wait?"
"I don't want to! I wanna watch them fight with swords?"
Alexander rolled his eyes. Thankfully, the feed on the screen cut to a shot overlooking Weller's shoulder as he was slowly brought up in the glass tube. Alexander's jaw dropped as the little drone carrying the camera began to fly backwards to give him his first real look at the awaiting arena.
It seemed really simple in terms of appearance, just a simple series of flat stone islands, all connected to each other with flimsy wooden bridges. A shiny black geometric Cornucopia sat on top of the largest island. It was surrounded by small bags, crates, racks of weapons, tarps, dried food...everything the tributes would need to keep themselves alive long enough to kill the others. All twenty-four glass tubes led to platforms that went in a circle around the horn and its supplies.
There was a lot of food, Alexander noticed. Probably because the arena was just a bunch of giant stones connected to each other. There was no shelter, no vegetation, nothing. It was as if the Gamemakers were forcing tributes to take a chance at the supplies in the Cornucopia. Smart. It ensured that several of them would go for the kill.
He wondered how many tributes would fall too short.
Standing at the very point of the Cornucopia was Toren. On his left was Argen, then Red, followed by Zilla, Acacia, Clair, Stryker, Amelia, Darra, Gear, Veles, and Astrid. On Astrid's other side was Twill who stood directly in front of the horn's gaping mouth, then Bellona on his left, Corbyn, Lily, Stravos, Cleveland, Weller, Adella, Claodis, Charles, Haruhi, and finally, Elise on the right of Toren.
It seemed that all of the tributes had come to same conclusion as Alexander, because nobody was facing away from the Cornucopia, or prepared to run in the opposite direction. Even if some of these tributes had no intention of staying, nobody wanted to risk going into the Games with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Oh right, sponsors. But was it even possible to rely on sponsors the whole way through? What if the sponsor system was bugged, or the people running it were just stupid?
Oh, now that was something. Alexander decided he would write a letter to the Head Gamemaker to ask what would happen.
"The arena is soooooo boring!" Coriolanus whined, kicking his feet into his older brother's legs. "It's sooooo gray! And rocky!"
"Well, I think it looks cool! It also forces more tribute-on-tribute conflict because there's nowhere to hide."
"So more fights with swords?"
Dumb little brothers and their short attention spans.
"Yes," Alexander said through gritted teeth. "More sword fights for sure."
"Ten," Coriolanus said to himself as the countdown slowly climbed to zero. He began swinging his fists. "Nine. Eight. Seven, six, five! Four! Three! Two! One-"
And just like that, the tributes jumped off their platforms. The 9th Hunger Games had officially begun.
Several of the tributes hesitated, unsure of where to go. Only four bridges were connected to the main island, leading north, south, east, and west. The options were limited. meanwhile, Stravos was already the first person in the Cornucopia, where crates of supplies sat.
The weapons scattered on the ground were quickly scooped up. The cameras suddenly jumped to Bellona, who took a knife she had found and jumped at the nearest person, Corbyn. Twill gasped and ran in the opposite direction as Bellona stabbed Corbyn in the chest, then messily pulled the knife out. He was left to lie there, choking on his own blood.
Zilla, who had been gathering supplies for her and her ally, quickly spotted Corbyn's corpse. As Bellona ran at her, she jumped out of the way and took off towards the south bridge.
Other tributes were now picking up weapons, some looking to defend allies who were gathering materials. Lily spotted a large axe leaning up against a rack of spears and she reached for it, but Darra grabbed it first. The two girls began to tussle over the weapon, until Darra gave Lily a nasty kick to the gut, then ran off, only to collide with Gear. Poor Gear didn't even get a chance to stand up, before Darra slashed open his stomach with the axe.
Red was easily running around and dodging the carnage that came with Veles throwing himself at a crate Zilla was trying to pick up, but he slowed down so Argen could catch up. The older boy from 10 had frozen up at the very edge of all the carnage. Clair bumped into him as they took off, heading north. Alexander noticed that they had no supplies whatsoever.
"There's too many people!" Argen said fearfully. "Let's get out of here."
"But we need supplies!" Red protested! "I'll just quickly jump in and-"
The camera zoomed to behind Red where Alexander could see Toren gathering up a bunch of knives. He eyed the arguing district partners and cackled to himself. Alexander smacked his forehead with the back of his hand.
Argen suddenly began shaking his head frantically, before he suddenly froze up and collapsed into Red, with a knife sticking out of his back. Toren threw a second knife. Red screamed and picked up his dying ally's body, blocking himself from the attack. The knife landed in Argen's corpse with a sickening thump.
"How many died so far?" Coriolanus asked.
"Um...three, I think?"
"That's boring!"
Alexander begged to differ. Then again, he actually knew how to be more mature. "Well, then shut up and watch!"
Red was already gone, running east. Stryker, who was carrying a sleeping bag, began frantically searching the island for any surviving members of their alliance. Next to em, Lily was lying facefirst in the ground, a knife sticking out of the back of her head. A quick pan upwards showed Stravos sneaking away, another bloody knife in his hand.
Styker bumped into Weller, who was carrying a shiv. He easily towered over Amelia, ducked down behind a crate. It looked like the two of them were about to get into a fight, allowing Amelia ample time to hurry away. Stryker charged at Weller, using the sleeping bag as a weapon, only for Weller, with a single arm to straight up throw Stryker over his shoulder. Ey landed hard on eir back.
"Come on." Amelia helped Stryker to eir feet. She was carrying a small bag. "Let's get out of here."
"But Cleveland! We'd be leaving him behind!"
"Forget it! We're gonna die!"
Stryker tried to protest as Amelia dragged em towards the southern bridge. Twill and Claodis, each carrying a bag stuffed to the brim, were already on the bridge, trying to cross. "Move!" Amelia yelled, shoving the pair from District 8 out of the way. Twill stepped in front of Claodis, grabbed the rope handrails of the bridge, and shook it. Hard. Amelia nearly tumbled off and plummeted to her death, had Stryker not been there to pick her up.
As for Weller, he had no time to pay attention to the other skirmishes. He and his alliance was busy regrouping. Nearby, Elise was carrying a spear and chasing Stravos around, yelling a fancy string of cuss words at him. Stravos darted past the District 4 partners, who were struggling to lift a crate. Weller saw them coming and threw his shiv.
Stravos responded by smacking Haruhi out of the way, then grabbing Adella and tossing her in front of him. The shiv landed in her forehead and blood trickled slowly down her face. Haruhi froze up in shock as Stravos tossed the dying Adella at Elise to slow her down.
Alexander cringed as Elise kicked the body off her.
Stryker and Amelia were heading west this time, careful to avoid the other skirmishes as the Bloodbath raged on and tributes began to clear out. Alexander noticed they were being followed by two girls. Astrid was armed with a single spear, while Acacia had a sickle and a backpack. Stryker and Amelia wouldn't notice them.
"Charge!" Astrid hefted her spear and Acacia groaned. Yeah, Alexander couldn't blame her. Because now, Stryker could hear Astrid and ey jumped in front of Amelia, blocking eir boy with the sleeping bag. Ey ran at Astrid who paused, staring at the tiny tribute in front of her. The second Stryker bumped into Astrid, she tripped over her own feet and lost her balance.
Acacia screamed as Astrid tumbled over the side of the stone island and into the clouds below. "Astrid! No!"
Stryker threw eir hands to eir face. Amelia elbowed them. "Come on!"
Acacia turned to go north while Stryker and Amelia continued over the north bridge. The cameras turned back to the Cornucopia. Cleveland had finally gathered up all the supplies he wanted...just in time to catch his allies running away, leaving him behind. The younger boy's pace slowed, just enough for Veles to reach out and grab the back of his head. Cleveland had no time to react before Veles slammed him into the nearest pedestal, once, twice...
Blood squirted everywhere and Cleveland twitched violently before Veles finally dropped him.
Coriolanus began to bounce up and down excitedly. "More blood, more blood!"
"Ew. That was really nasty."
"No it wasn't! It was cool!"
Alexander begged to differ. But the supplies, and living tributes, was slowly thinning out. Veles ran north. The trio of Charles, Darra, and Weller had just crossed the south bridge. As a matter of fact, the only people left at the Cornucopia were Elise, Toren, Bellona, Stravos, and Haruhi.
The boy from 4 was in a really bad spot. After his district partner went down, Stravos had targeted Haruhi as another easy kill. The second he was free, Stravos tackled Haruhi to the ground. The older boy threw his hands up, trying to knock Stravos off him. As they fought, Elise waved her allies over. She picked up a sword and slowly crept towards the skirmish. Toren and Bellona did the same.
Haruhi punched Stravos in the jaw as hard as he could, causing both Alexander and Coriolanus to wince. And as retaliation, Stravos drove his knife into Haruhi's stomach. He whipped it free and stabbed Haruhi again.
At that moment, Elise jumped over a crate and slashed her sword through the air, tearing through Stravos's clothes and leaving a thin red gash across his back. Stravos finally took it as the right time to run and he jumped to his feet, leaving his knife inside Haruhi's bloody gut. Bellona confronted him but Stravos clocked her in the head with the backpack he was carrying, and ran for the west bridge.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Coriolanus threw his fists in the air. "Cut his head open!"
"They're not gonna, Cory," Alexander muttered.
"Why!?"
Sure enough, the alliance of Elise, Bellona, and Toren gave up the chance and went back to the Cornucopia. The seven bodies littering the ground (plus the eight one located somewhere far below) were completely still. The Bloodbath was now pretty much over...
"Huh?" Alexander scratched his head as the cameras cut to Stryker and Amelia, safe on a slightly smaller island. They had made good distance and could finally catch their breaths. Stryker fell to eir knees, panting heavily. "We...we shouldn't have done that."
"It's too late now."
"We abandoned them! Gear and Cleve, we..." Stryker glanced down at eir hands. "Holy crap, I killed someone!"
"Stryker, shut up! Give me the sleeping bag." Amelia removed a dagger from the bag she had.
"Did you see what I did? I didn't mean it, I just wanted her to leave us alone and I-"
Stryker was cut off as Amelia shoved the dagger into eir chest. She gritted her teeth as she struggled to yank the weapon free. Stryker tumbled onto eir side, coughing up a few drops of blood and phlegm. Amelia simply picked up the end of Stryker's light grey tunic and used it clean the blood off her dagger.
"I'm sorry."
No you aren't, Alexander thought.
The cannons finally rang out over the now silent arena. There were nine in total. Wait, nine!? It felt like there had been way more kills than that. Nope, the math checked out. Alexander just leaned back and folded his arms. Hmmm.
Coriolanus swung his legs. "How many people died?"
"Nine."
"That's it!? That's so small!"
"No, not really. In an arena of 24 people, that's over a third of them. Much more than past Games, where like five or six people died on the first day. Now that's small."
"Humph. I don't care. I wanted more dead guys!"
"Can't always get what we want, kid," Alexander groaned. "Now, are you gonna complain, or are you gonna let me watch the rest of this in peace?"
"You're not my daddy," Coriolanus complained, but he finally shut up and continued to stay that way as the start of the 9th Hunger Games concluded, and the rest was soon under way.
Current Alliances:
Cornucopia Damage Control: Elise, Toren, Bellona
One like of like three alliances still intact: Charles, Darra, Weller
Team District 8: Twill, Claodis
Straight up betrayed her entire alliance: Amelia
Look, he's a bastard, but at least he didn't kill his ally: Stravos
Acacia and No Daredevil Duo: Acacia
Run Zilla Run! Zilla
If you're traumatized and you know it, clap your hands: Red
Why use a knife when I have my hands? Veles
Here I Go Again On My Own: Clair
Kills:
Stravos: 2 (Haruhi, Lily)
Toren: 1 (Argen)
Bellona: 1 (Corbyn)
Amelia: 1 (Stryker)
Veles: 1 (Cleveland)
Darra: 1 (Gear)
Weller: 1 (Adella)
Stryker: 1 (Astrid)
24th place: Corbyn Reid, District 5. Stabbed in the chest by Bellona.
Confession time: originally, I disliked Corbyn more than any other tribute in this cast. To me, he was just too similar to Charles and I wasn't big on his personality. But he grew on me and I more or less liked writing his bluntness, his strategic thinking and unique perspective on the situation at hand. Again, he and Charles were very similar, but I think Corbyn's social kills were a little less tactful. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a place for him that wasn't just him running circles around Charles. S. H. Reke, thanks for Corbyn!
23rd place: Gear Griswald, District 3. Stomach slashed open by Darra.
I love little kids alliances and I love the one in TMH because so many of its members acted very mature for their ages. Gear was a little kid at heart, but he also had a bit of a rebellious streak to him and a tendency to test the rules and limits. He sadly got caught in a pretty bad spot the second he ran into the Cornucopia and into Darra. RIP little buddy. Thanks for him, districtfours!
22nd place: Argen DeAquilla, District 10. Knife thrown into back by Toren.
Argen, to put it, is an old soul. He was one of the oldest tributes, but so consumed by his self-doubt and his insecurities and the fear of being the Games without the support of his loved ones. I tried my damn hardest with him to make him more than just the "token transgender character" and to delve into more aspects of his personality than that, but I always knew he'd place here. Red will miss him greatly. Thanks for Argen, Mars!
21st place: Lily Baudilair, District 9. Knife to the head by Stravos.
Risk was not on her side, as it seems. Lily was so much fun to work with. As much as I stand for valid volunteering reasons, having a tribute like her who just things on a whim (or in this case, on a dare) and happily throws all caution to the wind can really add some humour and entertainment into the story. But at the same time, I knew she was severely underprepared for what the Games were like. Thanks for Lily, abcdefghijklmnopqrstvwxyz05!
20th place: Adella Kerrick, District 4. Shiv thrown into head by Weller.
This one I feel really bad about. Because as much as I loved Dell, I really couldn't find a place for her. The format I chose didn't really give her story much of a chance and at first, the best I could do was have her die to propel Haruhi's arc, before I changed things around. Then I began to try and even out the gender balance of the Bloodbath and unfortunately, this is where she fell. Thank you so much for her, MessyModgePodge!
19th place: Astrid Balan, District 3. Shoved off the island by Stryker.
Despite her vulgarity, attitude, and drinking problems, Astrid was a hoot to work with because she just didn't care what people thought of her. She always had a sassy comeback prepared with some extra snark too. However, she suffered from the same problem as a couple of tributes here, and that was a lack of response from the submitter. Plus, she was a bit hard to squeeze into some of my other plans. But etheralepiphany, thanks for Astrid!
18th place: Cleveland Garfield, District 9. Head fatally slammed into a pedestal by Veles.
The first alliance member Amelia screwed over. Cleve was a lot of fun because I could really relate to some of his personal problems as the eldest in the family, wanting to break out and get some independence. Too bad that independence came in the form of the Games. He did nothing wrong, but was just abandoned by an ally only moments before his death. Thanks for him, 20! #CleveDeservedBetter
17th place: Haruhi Maki, District 4. Stabbed repeatedly by Stravos.
Gah this one really hurt! Look, I love Haruhi. I ranked him the second least angstiest TMH tribute in my server. It wasn't until I started writing this eulogy out that I finally made up my mind with his death. I realized ultimately, I had no idea what to do with him once he survived the Bloodbath and I couldn't just have him wandering around until he eventually died. Thus, I sadly placed him here, as the technically-last Bloodbath kill. Thank for you much for this boi, Pi!
16th place: Stryker Ember, District 5. Stabbed in the chest by Amelia.
Once I got an idea for Amelia's arc, I knew that was just too spicy not to to poor Stryker. Like Cleve, ey got betrayed by Amelia. I know that an older tribute who looks after the young ones can be a hit or miss, but with Stryker's size and age, I thought it was actually pretty funny. And instead of being the knight in shining armour and the saviour of alliances, ey instead die at the hands of betrayal. Thanks so much for em, goldie!
So, the 9th Hunger Games are now in full swing! Did any of the Bloodbath deaths surprise you? How about the ones who made the kills?
Anyways, it's sponsor time! Sponsor time! Get your sponsor gifts here! That's right, every single TMH reader is allowed to send two gifts per chapter, to any tribute of their choice. You can either send both gifts to the same tribute, or to different tributes, but the gift can only be dedicated to one person. Some exceptions will made in the case of bigger or more expensive items, which may cost you multiple gifts.
If you want to sponsor someone, reach me either via PM or DM on Discord to send the gift! Additionally, you can also ask to see what each tribute has and adjust your gifts accordingly to help someone with less supplies out. have fun!
Enjoy the chaos and I'll see you all next chapter.
-Vr