Leven Granert, 14

District Five Female


Leven tries not to knock herself out against a tree as she wanders through the dark depths of the forest, flailing her hands in front of her like a ghoul trying to grasp for human flesh. The sky is pitch black without any stars that could possibly help form a path for the lost girl. The dusty, grey clouds have formed an impenetrable wall in front of the full moon. So, basically everything and everyone is screwing her over right now.

'Ah, shit!' Leven shouts after bumping against a tree stump. She awkwardly reaches for her forehead with her fingers, feeling the warm blood oozing out. No matter what happens she won't show these idiot gamemakers any signs of fear. She's a strong, independent girl and if they want to throw her into this forest, thinking she'll lose her mind as the hours go by she's got a big surprise for them coming. This is nothing. If she crumbles due to the current situation she won't last two days when the real battle begins.

Leven continues to grab on to the various tree stumps - some thicker, some slimmer - pushing herself forward. The wet leaves on the floor make a moist squishing sound when she steps on them. She almost tripped on a few roots, raging out of the earth but she never showed any signs of surprise. Her strategy is to remain cool, calm, and collected. If they're watching her on a monitor right now, she has to prove to them that she's the survivalist she was born to be. Leven's calm demeanor vanishes, however, when she hears the sound of howling a few feet away from her.

Her muscles freeze. She moves down slowly, perching her weight on her thighs in a squatting position. As soon as she goes quiet, everything else follows the stillness as if the forest is watching her every move, making sure Leven knows her place; making sure she knows that she's utterly insignificant compared to the rooted might of her surroundings. The only possible explanation to the sounds she's hearing is that there are wolves nearby… very nearby.

Leven dares to tiptoe away from the dark pit that stares menacingly at her from her right field of vision, still maintaining her crouching position. The huffing and puffing of the hounds cause shivers to crawl over her skin. She mustn't make any sound. The only issue, of course, is that she can't even tell what's on the floor. As far as Leven can tell, she's put quite a bit of distance between herself and the sounds now. She relaxes and takes a step forward.

Snap.

And silence. Brutal silence. And then she hears it; the flurry of paws jolting in her direction from in between the forest cracks. There's no time. Leven has to make a run for it. And when her instincts take over, that's when Leven notices how she manages to avoid all the tree stumps in her hectic attempt to put some distance between herself and the predators. It's like her body has taken over the steering wheel, completely dismissing the logic that her brain is trying to present. And when the growling and howling starts to haunt her from behind it just pushes her to run even faster.

Sure, through some miracle she might have managed to avoid the trees blocking her path but there was just no way she could have foreseen the giant pit spread out nicely by the gamemakers in front of her.

As she falls she remembers the feeling of desperation when her train derailed on the way to the Capitol. The same sheet of darkness covers her eyes before she hits the dirt beneath her.

Leven can barely make out anything within the dark pit of dirt that she landed in. Using her palm of her hand, Leven blindly feels the area around her, trying to make out something, anything. It doesn't take long, however for her eyes to get used to the darkness and when she finally manages to spot the piled up skeletons in the corner, she falls on her back and screams. So much for displaying a confident exterior. Leven's screams, however, also confirmed that the wolves hadn't abandoned their prey, instead, growling above the pit, not really wanting to jump down and join Leven in her humble abode but hoping that she makes it out so that they can feast on her when she makes it to the top.

Leven told herself she wasn't going to show weakness. Throughout this whole journey, ever since her name was called out during the reapings she promised herself that she wasn't going to let the Capitol get to her, however, at this very moment when Leven leans against the wall of the pit, throwing her head back and sighing she can't help but let the tears fall. And they fall gracefully, her face displaying an utterly blank expression. She, herself, doesn't understand why that girl from Seven, Phoenix, had been so kind to her… but something about that kindness makes her mistrust the girl even more than all the other tributes and whenever Leven thinks about how she let herself be vulnerable with her ever so foolishly, she wants to bash her head against a wall. Maybe that's how Leven ended up in an alliance she doesn't even want to be a part of. The boy from Ten, Aditya, doesn't trust him at all. The two of them have previously never established any kind of relationship and now all of a sudden Pavlov invites him into their alliance. The only thing tying her and Aditya together is Pavlolv and that's most definitely not a solid foundation for an alliance.

Nothing so far seems to have worked out for her. Well, at least she got to bash her fists into Aditya's face in the combat trials. As far as Leven's concerned, she's done a pretty good job of scoring as high as possible. She doesn't care if some tributes score low on purpose to fly under the radar but she won't. Leven will prove to the older tributes that she's a beast and if she really wants to do that she'll have to score high in this trial as well.

There's a reason why the gamemakers plopped a skeleton into this pit with her and not only a pile of bones but also a pile of wood. What she does with those tools is up to her and Leven might have a plan…

She drags one of the skeletons to the center of the pit, dislocating the joints of its limbs and tearing them away from the body. She proceeds to tear the various limbs into even smaller subunits. Quite frankly, Leven isn't even sure how she managed to muster up all that power and drive but for some reason the wheels in her head are turning and they're turning fast. Leven uses the pelvis that she yanked out of the body to start shoveling holes into the wall, not too big so the earth doesn't give in but large enough for her hands and feet to fit in. When it starts getting a little too high for her to reach, Leven digs her feet into the holes to elevate herself and continues to dig. However, now she needs to use the skeleton's severed forearms to bore the holes since she can only use one hand to dig now, the other holding on to the dirt holes. Slowly, Leven manages to build a staircase of some sort.

However, Leven's also aware of the fact that a pack of hungry wolves is waiting for her at the top. Swiftly the girl climbs back down and grabs a hold of the pile of food. Remembering what Leven learned during the training days, she rubs the pieces of food together rapidly, creating a point of friction. As she continues to rub the pieces against each other the first signs of smoke appear. She slows down and starts to blow on it. When she catches sight of the embers, Leven blows on it to maintain the flame but she doesn't want it spreading out too much so she shoves the pieces of wood into the eye socket of the skeleton's skull, creating a luminescent orb.

Now it's action time. She has to act quickly before the flame goes out and her plan fails. She uses the small dirt holes that she dug in the wall to climb up but she doesn't want to go too high so the wolves don't catch sight of her. Leven then tosses the glowing skull as far as she can, hearing the wolves chase after it like the brainless creatures that they are. Her window of opportunity has presented itself. Now, using both her hands, she crawls to the surface, almost losing her footing a few times, and makes a run for it.


Colin Kurz, 16

District Six Male


'Now remember, this is just a simulation so nothing can actually happen to you,' one of the gamemakers tells Colin as he gets comfortable in his armchair, cracking his neck on both sides. 'There are no specific rules you need to follow. Our goal is simply to observe how well you can survive in a given situation.' Colin nods. The lady presses a few buttons on her tablet as Colin's chair slowly moves down into a horizontal position. 'Are you ready?'

'Sure am,' he says, closing his eyes and letting the woman attach the headpiece to his skull. After that it doesn't take long for his surroundings to morph into something it wasn't supposed to be. And yet Colin only really starts to understand his situation when he's got the scorching sun smiling menacingly at him from the clear blue sky.

And so they decided to stick him into a desert wasteland. A small part of Colin just wanted to throw his hands up but he also understands the weight he carries in this trial. After having completely bombed the least combat trials, there's really only one option left for Colin. He needs to give the careers a reason to keep him. Sure, he's managed to play his psychic card a couple of times now, serving as an oracle of sorts to the trained killers but there are only so many times he can rely on his essence skills to get him out of trouble. There's nothing worse than dragging along another mouth to feet and if they realize that they could have it so much easier without him; that's when his game is over.

It's not like the careers have just let it fly past them that he messed up the combat trials. Standing there in front of Urid, knowing that the kid from Eleven was intending on skewering him with his blade was a terrible feeling that Colin couldn't get rid of in the heat of the moment. When he's at home, calculating tributes odds, predicting how long a tribute will last and telling himself how he'd have done it differently and how he'd have probably managed to survive better was a completely different experience than being there in the moment. Perhaps he had been a bit too hard on the tributes in the previous games...

He's been grilled by Barracuda more than anyone and has received quite a lot of stares from Nastya and Raja as well. The only career who's really been comforting or at the very least going easy on him was Goud and Colin knew why. The District One boy knew that he and Pamela were a very reliable source for him to build an opposition of sorts to combat Raja's plans. Pam and Colin have spent a lot of time entertaining the idea of various outcomes that this rivalry could lead to but both he and she were aware of the fact that they needed to use this crack in the alliance to their advantage because at the end of the way a boy from Six and a girl from Nine will never fit into a traditional career pack.

Well, if it's a desert wasteland they want him to survive in that's what he'll have to make do with. Colin, realizing for the first time now that he's got a backpack attached behind him, drops the bag on the floor and opens it, looking for anything he can use. A medkit, a piece of rope and a knife… no food or water. Fantastic. Colin chuckles a little. They really aren't going to make it easy for him, are they? Colin can already sense the emptiness in his stomach and the dryness in his throat as a thick sheet of sweat begins to form on his forehead. He needs to find a source of water quickly.

Immediately, Colin notices a bee making its way past him. Seems like the gamemakers are dropping hints. Colin has read enough books to understand the behavior of bees. Bees tend to fly in a straight line from in between a water source and their hive. Although Colin can't tell if the bee is heading towards the water source or its hive, it is a gamble he's willing to take. He runs after the bee, trying not to get too close as not to disturb the busy creature. He goes on to do this for about ten minutes, the wet film in his trachea having dissolved almost completely now. His body goes into auto-pilot as he blindly follows the bee to what he hopes to be a blooming oasis. Perhaps the devotion Colin displayed for the bee is what led him to step on the viper crossing his path.

Before the reptile manages to dig its fangs into him, Colin falls over in shock, hitting his leg against a rock and causing a big gash to form. With all the power he can muster, he kicks with his legs, pushing himself away from the serpent. The creature doesn't bother following him, instead disappearing between a pile of rocks. Colin unzips his backpack and grabs the first aid kit. He splashes the alcohol on his leg, biting at the collar of his shirt in pain. He then ties the bandages around the wound and clips it all together before slinging the bag over his shoulder and continuing.

Well, Colin has lost the trusty bee but luckily he spots small flora starting to grow on the ground. He follows the little patches as they become bigger and more frequent. And when Colin lays his eyes on a group of prickly pear cacti his mouth begins to water. Not many people would know that the colorful fruit this cactus carries is actually edible. Colin runs towards the plants as fast as he can, almost dismissing the soft and slightly moist sand at his feet. He stops in his tracks, looking below him. It's fun when the gamemakers give him little things like these; little opportunities for him to show off his knowledge. He starts digging a deep hole in the sand, making sure it's wide enough.

For now, Colin leaves the hole behind, making his way to the cacti. He takes out the small knife and starts cutting down the cactus fruit, not minding the thorns poking his skin. He gathers the pear-shaped orbs of deliciousness in a pile and cuts off the prickly thorns. He proceeds to skin the fruit one by one, biting into its juicy flesh and accidentally squirting some moisture on his shirt.

After half an hour he runs over to the pit he dug earlier and smiles at the sight of the water puddle that had formed in his absence. Colin takes off his shirt, dipping it in the puddle and twisting it above his mouth, letting the cool freshwater drip down his throat smoothly. He throws himself on his back and smiles to himself. For some odd reason he'd rather be here right now under the scorching sun than back in the dull training facility with a group of kids just waiting to find all his flaws and use them against him.

Yes, he'd much rather like to be here.


Barracuda 'Arra' Bannister, 18

District Four Male


Barracuda claws at a nearby tree, trying to pull himself closer as the waves hit against his body, splashing his face with water and temporarily blinding him. He wraps his thighs around the trunk of the tree, resisting the pressure that's tugging at the rest of his body, trying to tear him away and pull him downstream. A small eureka moment inspires Barracuda to climb up the tree, gaining some higher ground. And so he begins to ascend the oak tree and yet around midway, about to reach the crown, he senses the tree tilting a little bit. And then tilting more. And more. And before he could let himself fall into the violent current, the tree does the job for him, slamming him into the stream.

So they're making it nearly impossible for him to survive this simulation. Barracuda's sure of the fact that they'd never throw this kind of shit at the outliers. They'd have died at the pure sight of the fucking dam collapsing.

Barracuda covers his face with balled fists, trying to avoid the rocks, gravel, and other sediments flying towards his face from every which way. When Barracuda tears his eyes open underwater, still holding his breath, lungs starting to burn a little, he notices the downward slope that's forming ahead and the pieces of wood being dragged down by the gravitational forces. A waterfall. He tries to swim diagonally in the hopes of reaching land in time but it's no use; he's too slow. Barracuda readies himself for the free fall that's awaiting him at the end of the cliff with a gnarly smile.

And just as he's about to swim back to the surface he catches a glimpse of a root sticking out of the earth at the bottom of the stream just before the cliff. With all his might, Barracuda wraps both his hands around the stem of the root, feeling the immense force of the tide pulling him back. The root, however, seems sturdy, able to keep him from plummeting to his doom. Barracuda dives back underwater, scanning the area around him for useful items that might help him escape the waters.

With no plan, he dives back up for air, failing to catch the bulky log, soaring towards him, in time. The log smashes against Barracuda's face, he feeling his teeth leaving their rooted position and the metallic taste filling the cavity of his mouth. His reflexes kick in as he lets go of the root, grabbing on to his face in horror and pain not even caring that the tide has now engulfed him and dragged him away. All he can think about while he falls helplessly is the immense pain he's feeling.

This pain…

'Bullshit!' Barracuda shouts, ripping the headpiece away from himself as soon as he wakes up in the real world. 'This is bullshit!' he hops off the armchair before storming out the room ignoring the gamemakers' attempts to calm him down and get him to stay. They had no leverage over him. What were they going to do? Kill him? Of course they weren't going to do that… they still needed him for these fucked up games.

'Everything right now is just so fucked up!' he slams the door open, walking past the tributes who are still awaiting their turn for the survival trial. He catches the boy from Five raising his eyebrows at him. 'What are you looking at?' he hisses at him, not waiting for a response before he opens the door to the main training hall and stepping out.

This was embarrassing. His performance was horrendous. How… how is he supposed to lead a whole career pack of seven people when he can't even take care of his own ass. He feels the same empty pit forming in his stomach, telling him to stuff every crevice of his body with food. It'll make him feel better. Surely it will. It must…

'Barracuda, what the hell was that?' He lets go of his hair, realizing that he'd been gripping them tightly, instead, turning around to face a distressed Raja, hands resting on her hips. 'You can't just lose your cool like that in front of the other tributes,' she says as she gets closer to him not breaking off eye contact once.

'You don't understand, these trials are rigged against us, careers,' Barracuda says. 'They'd never put an outlier through this shit... ' Barracuda struggles to find the words, instead, gesturing with his hands. 'I had stuff flying at my face from all directions and… and I couldn't do anything.' He squeezes the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his index finger. 'It's just not fair, alright?'

Raja sighs. 'Arra, I don't think they're rigging these trials to make it harder for careers.' she brushes her hair back. 'Have some faith in the system,' she adds to which Barracuda simply wants to roll his eyes until they reach the back of his head. Besides, it doesn't give you a gateway to get all riled up like this and turn all the attention towards yourself. It was stupid.' Barracuda feels like letting out a loud groan at that but knows to shut up. As a leader he has to be able to keep his cool in situations like these. He npds at Raja but notices the girl's demeanor changing when she spots Goud and Colin walking over to them.

'If I may intervene,' Goud says, raising his finger and taking a step closer. 'Honestly, I think Barracuda has a point…'

'Thank you, Goud!' Barracuda sighs in relief, gesturing towards the boy from One while looking at Raja who seems to be getting more frustrated by the second.

'It would make sense for the gamemakers to try and put us at a disadvantage in order to make it fair for the other tributes and, obviously, that shouldn't be the case.' he shrugs. 'The most successful career victors have had perfect scores so why must we be put at a disadvantage because some outliers can't keep up?' he says, followed by another shrug. Barracuda's just glad to see that he's got someone defending him right now… someone who doesn't make him feel like he's being delusional.

'And do you have any proof of such shenanigans?' Raja asks, the anger really apparent in her voice.

'Well…' Colin steps in. 'I found it odd that in my trial, for example, I simply had to cross a swampy pond before they pulled me out of the simulation.' He narrows his eyes a little. 'I mean, I'm not a career so it would make sense that they didn't throw me down a volcano the way they did with Goud.'

'Fine, but all I was trying to say is that Barracuda shouldn't make such a fuss, especially as our leader.' Barracuda notices Raja putting a lot of emphasis on the last part of her sentence as she tilts her head coyly at Goud.

'Oh, well, if we're on the topic of making a fuss may I remind you that, just yesterday, you were reluctant to defeat a 13-year-old girl in a simulation for whatever reason. It would have easily gotten you a high score but… why didn't you do it again?' Goud asks.

Raja stays silent for a while, her eyes showing nothing but distress. Barracuda can tell that Goud had caught her off guard since her normally cool and calculated demeanor had vanished so abruptly. 'It's none of your business…' she says quietly before heading back inside to await her turn.

'Seems like someone's got some unpacking to do,' Goud adds, elbowing Barracuda on the arm.

'Seems like it…' Barracuda says absentmindedly.

'Anyway, I'm just glad you, Colin, and I are on the same page,' Goud adds. 'It just seems like Raja's always trying to put weird shit in our heads, right, Colin?'

'Yeah,' the boy from Six answers. But Barracuda doesn't bother with a response, instead, picking up a spear and charging at a dummy. Right now all he wants to do is eat…

Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat…

Eat his sorrows away…


Aditya Fields, 18

District Ten Male


It was a shame, such a shame that so many souls had to leave their empty bodies behind, simply because a secret couldn't be kept. It wasn't really Aditya's fault they all wanted to sleep with him. Sure, he would usually be the one to initiate and to lure his prey into his lair but they consented. It was never rape. Rape wasn't classy. They adored him. They wanted him for his charms, they wanted him for his money, they wanted him for the 'good causes' he organizes in the District.

If all these charities get him the sexual satisfaction he desired, he'll gladly put on a big, bold show for these primates. He'll tell them stories of how he saved the lives of entire families consumed by famine through the money he managed to collect with his charity. Then they'll start to bat their eyes at him and he'll know. He'll know that he's won and he'll have a grand time with his sexual partner.

However, things do tend to get a little tricky when some of the girls end up pregnant… twelve to be exact. Especially, if they are… well, prostitutes. It would ruin the family name and he could forget the idea of ever taking over his family's meat packaging company. Aditya's parents have no idea that he's a crazed sex-addict and he doesn't plan on letting them know anytime soon. His parents have enough to cover up already, especially with the working conditions of their employees. If that ever got into the limelight, oh boy, they'd be in big trouble.

And the thing is, usually Aditya would manage to shut the girls up when they'd rush to him, sharing news of their pregnancy with worry, sometimes even glee. He'd give them money. He has a lot of it so he made sure the amount was satisfactory for the girls to pay off their abortion and keep some for personal need. And usually, it worked… but when it didn't, that's when Aditya had to get his hands a little dirty.

He liked Jessy; he really did. She told him about the bright future she had ahead of her. She graduated from her class with highest honors and was going to take the world by storm. She always had interesting facts in store that she'd pop out whenever it was fitting and Adiyta would always be delighted by it. In fact, Aditya would be delighted by anything she said as long as she got into bed with him later on. He probably stayed in contact with Jessy the longest but today she came with the news… the news he'd feared so greatly.

There was a creature growing inside her stomach.

And so he offered to pay up but all she did was shout at him, cuss at him, expressing her disappointment in the way he reacted. And at that point it all clicked together for Aditya.

There was no saving Jessy.

'Well, someone's going to have to get that cleaned…' Aditya mumbles to himself as he wraps the sheets of the bed around Jessy's lifeless body, lifting her over his shoulder and getting into his car. It was going to be a long night.


'What do you guys think is going to be in there?' the girl from Four, Zo, asks the only two people left in the waiting room which would be Pamela, the girl from Nine, and himself. Aditya did not expect to converse in banter right now but he can't simply ignore the question.

'I guess something that might kill us,' he shrugs with a smile causing Zo to giggle a little.

'I mean, yeah, probably,' she says with a smile on her face. 'You know, I didn't expect these simulations to be so… realistic.' Zo's eyes grow wide as she raises her eyebrows in amazement.

'I agree with you. It's quite terrifying but I suppose that's what we will be facing in a few days anyway,' Aditya says. It's odd speaking so casually with a career; even he has to admit that. Aditya isn't quite sure if the girl is playing him or if she really just is as open as she's letting on. He does notice, however, Pamela being rather quiet in the corner.

'Yeah, totally,' Zo answers with complete benevolence. Her gaze flashes towards the monitor hanging from the ceiling. 'Oh, that's me!' She jumps up, tying her hair back. 'See you guys later.' the girl disappears behind the door happily.

Remaining are him and Pamela. Aditya isn't sure if he's supposed to continue conversing in banter now that Zo has left the room. The natural charmer in him evokes the need to speak up but he resists, staying quiet instead.

'Are you scared?' Pamela's voice pipes up causing Aditya to flinch. The question had caught him completely off guard. He turns to the last remaining person in the waiting room.

'Sorry?' he asks. He heard the question just fine but wants to make sure he's understanding the context of the question.

'Nevermind…' she turns away and the two of them go quiet again. However, this time the silence becomes more agonizing than tranquil. Aditya isn't sure what this girl is expecting from him; that he just put down his guard and reveal all his weaknesses to her so she can use them against him in the games? He isn't that stupid.

'Are you scared?' He reflects her question. He pinches himself a little for asking her this. He doesn't really want to talk to her but for now there's nothing else to do so he'll have to engage in some sort of discussion, he supposes.

'Yeah, I guess I am.' Aditya's eyes widen a little at the sudden vulnerability and openness Pamela is displaying. He can't help but turn his head in her direction, scooching a little closer. 'I can put a coy smile on my face all day…' she drifts away, drawing her hair back behind her left ear. '... doesn't mean I'm not terrified every second of my existence here.' she doesn't look at him once.

'I'm scared too.' he says. He bits down on his tongue hard, punishing himself for what he just admitted to her but he words keep tumbling out of his mouth like they never wanted to be sequestered in the first place. 'I don't want to die.'

'Me neither... ' the solemn expression never leaves her face even as she's finally called in for her trial. She gets up, twisting her head from side to side. 'I'm telling you this because I needed someone to hear that… to hear it from me. If we ever cross paths in the arena, I have every incentive to kill you,' she adds, Aditya catching the corners of her lips tilting upwards.

'Likewise,' Aditya says with a smile. A genuine smile.


Hey guys! I'm back, this time with the survival trials! I know the actual trials were only featured for three tributes but I thought it would get repetitive and boring to feature the same thing for everyone and, besides, we got some very meaningful tribute interactions here. It may or may not contain some foreshadowing if I may add hehe...

I'm not displaying the survival scores or the essence scores because I want the final scores to be a reveal which will happen during the interviews which is like two chapters away so shouldn't be that long. I'll display all the scores and the mean scores at the bottom so you'll have a great overview of everything! :)

But, yeah, I don't have that much more to add. I'm just really happy with how things are going with this story. Like a lot of shit is going to go down, believe me. And I'm just so excited to show what I have been planning for so long. I try to build up relationships and developments slowly. So slowly that you might not even notice hem but trust me when I tell you that most of the stuff I do is for a reason.

We are now four chapters away from the bloodbath... that's insane. That's so crazy. I was going to add a very, very significant subplot chapter in between but I think I'll just squeeze that in after the bloodbath because I'm just excited to finally get to killing these character off... as much as I love them of course.

Anyway, that's it! See you with the essence trials sometime soon hopefully!

(didn't proofread the chapter btw so don't come for me xD)