Marley's turned out longer than normal but hardly anyone reads these anyways. Also I went with just this scene because one someone has killed Venus winning the Games is a much easier afterthought.

Marley Xander, District Four female (18)

Some people have actual problems. I'd had my sad moments in life and my rough spots but I never knew how good my life was until I went into the Arena. All Olivine's friends told her she was a failure and she'd die in the Bloodbath. And Ava had anorexia. I couldn't even wrap my head around it. I couldn't understand how she looked at her wasted body and thought it was overweight. I wished we could help her but none of us had any idea how to fix something like that. All we could do was tirelessly encourage her and not give up on her.

Someone- it was probably Lottie- had called us the "Party Girls" in the Capitol. We were all serious fighters but it still fit. On the days when we didn't run across anyone in the Arena it did feel like a party. We sat around telling jokes and doing all the things normal girls did at slumber parties. I wished the Academy could just go on and one forever and students could just go to exhibitions and stuff and visit other Districts and we could compete in normal athletics and not fight in the Games.

It was almost pitch black when I woke up in the middle of the night. Usually I slept fine but I must have drank water too close to bedtime. I crept out of bed so I wouldn't wake Olivine and Ava and went to find Lottie standing watch in the hall so she could stand at the corner and watch both the bedroom and my back as I went to the bathroom.

Alarm bells went off in my head when I saw she was sitting down. After Lottie had a close call with a goat mutt who found her dozing she'd stayed standing for her entire shift. The metallic smell of blood hit my nose and I knew immediately.

I ran back to our room, knowing that anyone that could kill Lottie could kill me too if I was alone. When the cannon sounded just as I walked through the door I couldn't help but scream at the sight of the shadowy form standing over Olivine's bed. Ava sat up in bed at my scream and I screamed her name again as she ran past the killer toward me. It was strange how I knew it was Venus. There was something in the unnatural way she moved and the total lack of fear as she bent over Olivine with her back toward Ava, like she knew Ava wasn't going to attack her.

Ava didn't but I did. Whether out of training or instinct I waited until Ava reached me and then spurred her forward with a hand to her back so we'd rush at Venus together. I hit her as she turned and pushed her knife hand up and away from me. She stumbled back as I pushed her at the same moment Ava's knife hit her shoulder. She ended up in front of the window and Ava took the opportunity to throw her spear directly at her. Venus crossed her arms to protect her chest but the impact of the nearly point-blank spear still knocked her off-balance. She fell back through the window and hit the ground with a sickening noise.

"We got her," Ava said.

I shook my head. "No cannon." I turned to head down the stairs and out to finish her. I didn't trust Venus not to get up and keep killing.

I was right not to trust her. We reached the door to the building and through it I could see Venus was gone. Then Ava jerked suddenly beside me. There was a glittering of metal as Venus' knife pushed through her chest in the moonlight. She fell twitching to the ground as Venus jerked the knife free and came at me.

Everything had changed. When I saw Venus' face my only thought was to flee rather than flight. I understood all at once what Careers looked like to outliers and I regretted ever volunteering. I bolted out the door and over my shoulder saw Venus following me at nothing more than a casual walking pace. I darted around the corner of the building to regroup and make a plan.

They're gone. They're all gone. In less than ten minutes Venus had murdered all my friends. I was alone with a Career-killer and I was hardly the one I would have thought would be the last survivor of us. I kept running toward the far corner of the building opposite where Venus had come out.

I screamed again when she met me as I turned the corner. It made no sense how she could move so slow but cover such distance. I reflexively reeled back and that was the only reason I got a slash to my forearm instead of a killing blow to the face. I took out my throwing knife and wildly stabbed at Venus. She barely even tried to defend herself. Over and over I stuck my knife into her side and torso and she barreled right past it to try to stick me with her hunting knife again.

"Get away!" I screamed, desperately throwing an elbow at her face. She was silent as her head snapped back, her face still ghoulishly flat. It was clear the only way to stop her was to damage her body past recovery. I shifted my weight and brought my leg into her knee. It snapped and she went down. I bore down on her with panicked energy and stuck my knife two-handed into her face and throat over and over, unable to stop and watching as the flesh slowly flayed from her skull. I stared into two glassy eyes when the cannon finally sounded far too much later.

Everyone must have heard me, I realized as I sat panting over Venus' body. I couldn't make myself care. I felt like an animal, all humanity torn away by my terror. I don't even think she wanted to win, a thought finally drifted in. I think she just wanted to kill.