We'll never get free
Lamb to the slaughter
What you gon' do
When there's blood in the water?

Xavier Ivuluh

District 3, Male, 14

(8 Months Prior the Reaping)

...

"Three, two, one..."
"Go!" Everybody shouts in unison as I jump from the cliff and topple 40 feet down. The wind soars as I near the small pond that I'd jumped for, it is going to be close but I don't let out a scream - my usual grin stays on my face as I reach the water. The impact is hard and I feel my hip pop out of place, I wince a little but the pain is nothing compared to the surge of excitement running through me.

"Xavier? You okay?" Elina shouts as she climbs down the mountain but by the time she reaches me, I've already popped my hip back into place with a couple of butterfly stretches.

"That was amazing!" I shout at the top of my lungs, my eyes are wild and exhilaration is bursting out of me.

"You're crazy." She scolds, rolling her eyes in a joking way before shouting back up. "He's alright - physically. I'm not sure about mentally."

"Shut up." I chuckle and begin climbing back up the cliff to my friends, Elina follows behind me and we soon reach the top. "Who's next?" I ask my friends as I pull myself up and then help Elina up.

"No way dude, you're insane." Marcus laughs and the others are quick to agree with him. We make our way back to town so we can get some food and relax in our usual spot. I make a couple of jokes about the cliff jumping and grin madly as everyone laughs at them, I've always loved the feeling of bringing others joy. A lot of my neighbours call me a comedian and I can't disagree!

As we reach the district centre, my friends head over to the market to buy us some food. Luckily, they buy me an orange too - I don't have any money and even if I did, I would have to use it to help my family. We aren't the most wealthy and while we usually have something to eat, it's been hard ever since my father contracted an illness and had to stop working.

I've always wanted to help work for my family but my mother refuses and tells me my education is much more important than the extra income. I disagree but I know to respect her when she tells me something and so I have. My mother always says 'as long as there's food on the table, we'll live.' Just as I'm thinking about my mother and how hard she works, I hear my name being screamed.

I blink a couple of times to get myself out of my head and as I turn around, I see my mother running toward me. Her dark skin is covered in tears and her hair is in it's usual messy bun. "Mom? What's wrong?" I ask, quickly standing up as she approaches me. I know what's wrong, father's disease must have gotten worse. I've only seen mother cry like this once and that's when father was diagnosed, she loves him so much and I know he is the reason she keeps on fighting.

"We need to say our goodbyes." She whimpers through her sobs and grabs hold of my hand, I don't even say goodbye to my friends as I run off with her. What does she mean goodbye? It can't be that much worse, he was up and walking yesterday. I thought he was getting better! I trip over and scrape my knee due to being blinded by tears and clueless about my surroundings.

"Mom..." I whisper as we carry on running. My house is usually around a 15 minute walk from the district centre but we make it there in 5 minutes and I burst through the black, rundown door. I sprint to the room at the back of the house and see father's body laid out across the bed, lifeless. "He's dead..." I murmur and my mother drops to her knees, head on her hands.

I feel as if I'm about to faint but instead I kneel beside him and grip his hand. It's cold and limp but it's still him. The father that told me every day that we can make it through this, that we will survive but now...

But now he's gone.

Kathryn Mallerd

District 3, Female, 16

(Reaping Day)

...

The punching bag bounces back in my face and black dots appear in my eyes from fatigue as I fall back, my body slamming to the floor. I lay there for a few seconds before I'm forced back up.

"Come on Kathryn! You'll be in the arena in just over a week. Under no circumstances can you pass out in the arena so I expect the same from you here." My brother shouts at me and pulls me back up. I fight the urge to pass out and continue punching the bag in front of me, with each punch I feel less and less awake.

Normally, I'm used to these morning training sessions but lately my family has been pushing me hard. This whole week I've been going to sleep at 3am and waking up at 5am, the rest of the hours I've been forced to train. My family have always brought me up to volunteer for The Hunger Games. My brother had won the Hunger Games a year before I was born. 9 months later, my mother gave birth to me and I've been training ever since.

Sometimes I think the only reason my parents wanted me was so I could gain them more fame and more money, they crave attention more than anything else and it's my responsibility to get them that victory.

"Alright, stop. We have 10 minutes to get to the reaping, let's go."

I let out a huge sigh of relief before I'm reminded that today is the day I have to volunteer. The training wouldn't stop here and soon it would be put to the test. My brother and I rush out the door, I'm still dripping in sweat from the training so I quickly make myself look a little more presentable. The Victor's Village is only a 2 minute walk from the reaping so it doesn't take us long to walk there.

The whole way, my brother is testing me on fighting techniques and survival strategies. He is viewed as one of the best Victor's of all time for gaining 6 kills and only being 14. He's now 31. I know all he wants is for me to follow in his footsteps and I know I can do it but it's really hard sometimes. I let out a small sniffle and try to stop myself from breaking down into tears.

I'd been really sensitive this week but all it gained me was a scolding from my parents that I was weak. I'm not weak, though, I'll show them when I win finally win The Hunger Games and will be able to live my life.

"I'll see you at the goodbyes." Dawson says and pushes me lightly into the line to get my finger pricked. I hold my head high as it's pricked and I make my way to the 16-year-old female's designated area. I have to wait a few minutes for the reaping to start and by the time it is, my hands are sweating a great deal. I wipe them on the bright blue training jumpsuit as the escort begins.

A small and chubby man with bright pink hair stands on the stage, smiling profusely. "Hello, hello District 3! I am Ashley Schneider and I am in fact your escort." He gives the crowd a little wink and waits for some applause but none comes. He clears his throat. "Now, I am proud to announce...your mentors! Tara Skeen and Dawson Mallerd!"

I clap politely, as do a few others, for my brother and Tara. Dawson is always telling me how the two of them don't get along so I'm not looking forward to the constant bickering that will go on between the two of them. Tara won the 15th games, she had one kill was right at the very end of the Games and she mostly got by using survival skills.

"Let's not waste anymore time folks! It's time to see who our tributes are." He quickly plucks a small slip from the bowl and, winking yet again, reads it out. "Mallorca Pears!" He cries and a small girl, around 12 or 13, appears on screen. She shuffles a little before starting to make her way to the stage. I take a long and deep breath before shouting the words,

"I volunteer!" I make my way up the stage as quickly as possible and stand beside Ashley as I make it there. I hear a lot of murmurs and gasps of surprise.

"Well, well, well! Looks like we have a volunteer. Your name, Miss?"

"Kathryn Mallerd." I reply, keeping a stoic expression as Ashley's face registers a connections.

"It seems we have a Victor's family member here! Is this your brother, Dawson?" The screens quickly shift from me to Dawson, who nods slowly. "Very, very fun! Well, let's see who will be joining you, Kathryn."

Ashley is quick and reads out the name of the tribute that will be joining me, somebody I may have to kill. "Xavier Ivuluh!" He cries and the screens show a boy around the age of 15 or 14. His dark face is full of shock and terror, he is tall and slim with short black hair and I also notice a tattoo of what looks to be a circle on his right arm. He stares straight ahead, not moving and it doesn't take very long for the Peacekeepers to pull him back into reality.

He twists his way out of a Peacekeeper's grip and slowly makes his way up the stage, I feel bad for him, he hasn't had as much time as I have to prepare for this moment and the likelihood is that he's going to die in the next week. Poor kid.

"Our tributes from District 3, Xavier Ivuluh and Kathryn Mallerd everybody!"

A/N: Here you are, District 3! I hope you like Xavier and Kathryn, I had a lot of fun writing them. Thank you to FizzNBoo for Xavier and kenzieq15 for Kathryn, they were both a lot of fun to write and I hope you enjoyed reading them. As always, shoot me a dm if I misinterpreted your tribute.

I also just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, it means a lot. Also, a quick mention that there is a blog on my profile, it includes sponsorship things and the tributes/mentors faceclaims.

Who do you think will make it further?

What do you think of Kathryn? Xavier?

Are either of them your new favourite tribute?

- Neb