ARCHIBALD PELL- Porsche Romeo

Archibald was thirteen years old. I had thirteen-year-old friends who still slept with stuffed animals. I'd also seen thirteen-year-old friends licking the bottom of a dumpster because someone running from Peacekeepers dumped some meth there. And now a thirteen-year-old boy was murdered at the government's order. People tell me I don't understand how bad things are. They never think that I'm trying my hardest not to.


MAZIE RYE- Dionysus Bacchus

The Hunger Games did a lot for District One but I did wish they'd make some changes. Every District should be allowed to train and we'd get the best from all over Panem. It would be a much better show to see twenty-four young adults who all trained for this all their lives. It would mean a lot more for someone to win against two dozen of the nation's finest instead of a bunch of hungry poor kids. I'd like that a lot better.


OMAR BEATRIZ-CALVERT- Cheyanne Talor

He was the smart one from Ten, right? He was going to be a scientist. Someone told me that- I didn't remember who. I wished we'd switched places. He could have lived in Three and had all the science he could want and I'd have lived in Ten with wide-open fields to run in. And if that one thing was different in the world probably neither of us would have been Reaped. That was statistics or something. Someone like Omar would have known.


Rybbon Marboox, District Eight mentor

I told Pell there was always hope. I meant it and I still did, even though he'd died. Hope was strongest when it was against the most odds. Anyone could hope for a Career to win the Games. It took fortitude to keep hoping that the little guy would come out okay, or that someday this country would be a better place. I had hoped that Pell or Kjole might come home and next year I'd hope again.


District Eight

Pell's father got a new job, in a place that didn't have silkworms. His mother stayed behind. She liked to watch the moths burst out of the cocoons. Like people had for thousands of years, she looked at them and thought of resurrection. Maybe not in the same world, but new life all the same. The Schmiecel football games used to be decided before they started- whichever team had Kjole won. Now it was a toss-up.


Nyra Pickering, District Ten mentor

I really hadn't known much about the Arena before the Games started. I was glad to see it was a greenhouse. I knew how things would probably end and it was nice seeing Omar enjoy the wildlife. I'd thought Bess would last longer but after I got over the shock I told myself it was all right. Once they were gone you told yourself they wouldn't have won anyway and it was a mercy the family could start to mourn.


District Ten

Omar would have been the first of his family to go to college. If he hadn't died, he would have been one of maybe a dozen District kids to win a seat in a Capitol university and he would have graduated. It was one-in-a-million for a District family to lift themselves out of poverty and the one time it would have happened, the Capitol ended it without even meaning to. As for Bess, she would have been proud to know her bale-throwing record stood for twelve years. And a girl like Bess would have cheered on the girl who broke it.


Allure Beldam, District One female (18)

It was almost time for bed and I was looking myself over in the reflective top of an empty can of soup. It wasn't a perfectly clear reflection but I could still see if I had any unsightly stains or blemishes from being out in the humid, dirty Arena. Everything looked pretty good- a bit baggy under my eyes but we all looked like that right now. I ran my fingers through my hair to get out the snarls, frowning at the greasiness. I'd been pouring some coconut water on it before I washed it and it seemed to be working as far as glossiness and softness went, but it wasn't getting all the sweat out. Ew.

Oh, there's something. I looked closer and saw a little smudge of dirt at the corner of one eye. I brushed it away and blinked when my finger touched my eyeball lightly. Ew, imagine getting an eyelash in your eye and having to dig it out with dirty fingers.

A few minutes later I noticed my mouth was watering. We'd already eaten dinner, so that seemed weird. And I wasn't hungry, it was just... drooly in there. Probably I'm dehydrated and my mouth is compensating, I thought. No matter how much I drank I always felt dehydrated, what with how hot and muggy it was. But that wasn't good for my health or my skin, so I took a good chug from my canteen.

It's so obscenely hot in here I can hardly breathe. Sometimes it felt like I was breathing through a straw. I breathed in deeply and felt a tightness in my chest like I couldn't quite fill my lungs right. I put out a hand to steady myself against the ground and instead I fell flat on my side. In disbelief, I put it together that my hand had been on the ground all along. I just hadn't felt it.

Something's wrong. It didn't take a genius to see what it was. Nailah poisoned me. She was the only one of us who worked with poison and poison was the only reason I'd be foundering on my side trying to get my numb arm underneath me to sit up. There was medicine in our first aid kit. I didn't know if it was the right kind but it was my only chance. But I couldn't even sit up...

Nailah and Anthony were arguing above me. I hadn't noticed them come but now I saw Anthony looking down at me in concern and Nailah looking away guiltily. I tried to say something to her but I couldn't get the breath.

Nailah doesn't deserve this. I should have prayed to be able to breathe but instead I was praying just that it wouldn't be Nailah who won. I looked up at Anthony and tried to send him a mental plea to bring this one home for me- him or anyone else. With each passing moment it felt more like I was made of plaster and not flesh. My limbs were distant and I couldn't even feel them, much less move them. I was trying harder and harder to breathe but each breath was smaller and fainter. My head got light, like that time I didn't hydrate properly before a six-mile Academy run and fainted. It's not fair to be a poisoner. Even if Nailah won no one would be proud of her.

I started to gasp and choke as my lungs froze up. After a moment of heaving, I composed myself and closed my mouth. I didn't want my tongue to be sticking out after I died.


12th place: Allure Beldam- poison dart frog

RIP Allure, who fell victim to seeing cute lil pet frogs in One and not knowing that with their natural diet they're deadly. Seems early for another Career to die but it's because Allure was mine and I didn't want her taking time away from other people's characters. Allure was a hilariously on-the-nose One stereotype, which was fun for me because most people like to NOT be ridiculously stereotypical with their submissions. I enjoyed showing that basic superficial ladies also have inner lives. Oh for a world where someone like Allure could just put on makeup all day and be happy. But no, the Capitol could not let her have her simple desires to be super-rich and wear diamonds every day. Thank you to me for the prettiest Tribute of all.

TIMELINE: Evening of the seventh day