Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Here we go into the bloodbath!


He had a sudden thought that he should have listened to Luciente that the bloodbath would be in water and taken his boots off, but they seemed to be waterproof and held against the knee high water.

At least they didn't actually have to swim.

Blood in the water, she had said, but that kind of thing was rarely exact.

He splashed through it, struggling against the wet sand and weight of the water. Azrayk was staggering against it and the boy from Three was having an even worse time, being shorter so the water came halfway up his chest.

Thank fuck he was tall.

So too was the girl from Two, and she reached the shallower water and then the shore a moment before him, taking off sprinting for the cornucopia.

He was close behind.

The water went from knee high to around her shins and then ankles and then feet and then she was on the sand and running. The sand made it hard, her boots sinking into it with every step she took, slipping and sliding under her. The boy from Four was a little ahead, and past him she could see Ilenia a little further up than him, followed by the boy from Two and Bad Vibes from Twelve. The boy from Two reached out and wrapped his large hands around the neck of the boy from Seven, who was trying to flee past him, and snapped it.

Unlucky bastard.

His body dropped to the sand.

Some tributes were grabbing up the closer, smaller supplies; some were running for the cornucopia; a few others were fleeing straight for the woodland. Ilenia was the first to reach the cornucopia, snatching up a shining sword from inside, though she made no move to attack anyone just yet, instead glancing about the tributes scattered through the beach and water. The boy from Two was next, diving into the cornucopia to find a weapon.

He still couldn't see her.

If she was feeling sensible she wouldn't have run for the cornucopia – but it was never predictable, and there weren't many options for running. He grabbed a knife from the sand as he grew nearer to the cornucopia. There was a large blue backpack perhaps ten feet from the golden horn, and a large, gleaming wooden spear leant against a crate three feet beyond that.

The boy from Three practically ran into him in his attempt to snatch up a canteen of water. He slashed the knife from his throat to shoulder and he screamed, staggering, clawing at the wound.

He continued on to the cornucopia.

The girl from One was the next to reach the cornucopia, choosing a sword and swinging at the boy from Eleven, who had come too close to her to try and grab a pink backpack. The boy from Four, meanwhile, had grabbed a trident from inside the cornucopia but now seemed to be frozen in the mouth of it, looking about himself at the chaos. Nathaniel had snatched a loaf of bread and short length of rope from the outskirts of the sand and was now fleeing desperately towards the trees.

The boy from Four was close to her desired weapon – too close – and turned to face her as she neared the crates and snatched up the slingshot and long, metal projectiles that went with it. Ilenia crashed between them, shoving one of the nearby backpacks into her chest. "Go, go, go!"

"Hey, wait—" protested her District partner, somewhat hesitantly swinging his trident round towards her. Luciente swung the backpack by the straps and the prongs sunk into the fabric.

"You— You shouldn't do that."

She wrapped her fingers around the shaft and pulled on it, hard. The boy from Four looked somewhat startled and pulled back on it. Ilenia seemed to hesitate. Luciente held tighter, and he let go, raising his hands as their earlier pulling caused them both to stumble. She was the first to recover, raising her free hand, still clutching two of the metal slingshot projectiles, to drive them deep into the boy's eye.

The boy from One, who was already splattered in blood from some unfortunate tribute, had also found himself a sword and was chasing after the girl from Seven. She was stumbling across the sand, searching for some way out. The girl from Two, meanwhile, had grabbed several knives and was pursuing the boy from Eight, who had scooped up a rucksack from the sand and turned to flee for the trees.

She caught up with him and plunged the blade through his neck.

He grabbed the large backpack, slinging it over one shoulder, and seized the spear. It was only a little shorter than he was, the shaft thicker than his hand. He glanced around, but he still couldn't see her – and he couldn't stay there. She could have already run for the trees where it would be safe – or worse.

Shelley screamed for him. She and Azrayk had grabbed small backpacks and were running for the trees, scrambling across the sand.

Where was she?

The boy from Twelve had grabbed a knife from the sand and driven it through the neck of the girl from Eight as she ran to escape. The girl from Eleven had neared the outskirts of the better supplies, grabbing a small backpack while the girl from Nine screamed for her to leave it. The boy from Two, meanwhile, was chasing down the girl from Seven.

Ilenia only stared as her District partner went down and then charged at her, slamming her hands into her shoulders. "What part of 'go' don't you fucking understand?"

Luciente turned and ran. The boy from Two, who must have seen the altercation and finally found a bow, turned the weapon on her.

She had no fear.

It was not her time.

The girl from Seven ran in front of her in her bid to escape the boy from One and the arrow drove straight through her chest, the barb emerging from the other side. She grabbed another of the backpacks, throwing both over her shoulders, and took off across the beach after the girl from Eleven and towards Nathaniel.

The remaining tributes scattered across the sands, fleeing for the treeline. He was half-following, still looking around frantically for her. She had to be here somewhere, unless she'd reached the trees while he'd been running for the cornucopia – but that seemed unlikely, the beach was so open and she wasn't that fast.

And then as he reached the treeline he saw her, nearly at the other end of the beach. All he could really see was her slender figure and dark hair, but he knew it was her. She chased two other tributes into the trees and vanished.

This had not been part of the plan.