With the pricking of my thumbs

Something wicked this way comes

All the way from the west to east

Bad intentions fear no feat

Xoren Cinnabar, 14

District 12 Male

"So it was a blue spark?" I ask nervously

"Well, not just a blue spark," Ellis says as she cracks open a can of peaches she got from one of the packs in the bloodbath. "It was some different colored sparks. Blue was the last one I saw, but I also saw red, green, purple, and I think yellow?" she says questioning it. She pops a peach into her mouth and smiles. "Nonetheless, we haven't experienced one yet. So I think for a little bit we are in the clear."

Ellis is a bit, twitchy? I'm not sure if it's because she has ADHD or if she just doesn't like sitting still, but in a game where hiding is your best strategy when you're not trained twitchy can be a problem.

"Let's go for a walk." she says.

"Are you crazy? We heard four cannons go off yesterday, Ellis. That's not the sign to get up and walk. These tributes are clearly going and giving it their all right now."

"And are we going to be able to run away from them if we're trapped in a room?" she asks me glancing my way popping the last of the peaches into her mouth.

"Well, no-"

"Great!" she says jumping up from her cot. "It's decided! Do we want to leave the things here or?"

"I think it's best we take our supplies with us," I say. "You never know when a threat is going to approach." Though I'm still not sure when I agreed to leave the area we've been safe in for the past two days now.

We walk down a hallway, but something is off. I can't quite place what it is, but then Ellis speaks up. "The walls are a different color," she says looking around. "They were white a few days ago were they not?"

That's it! The walls that are lining the hallway are now a light shade of red.

Wait a minute...red.

"Ellis we need to get back into the room right now," I say urgently. She looks at me confused, and as I'm about to explain why to her the colors on the walls start to fade. I watch as the red drains from the walls and suddenly standing before us on either side are two women like creatures. They have white dresses on, almost like a toga, and light red skin that goes perfectly with their hair and eyes of the same shade.

"Aw, don't go, we were going to have so much fun," they say in exact unison. "Watch what we can do," they say together as their faces change from the exotic alien creature that they are into the dead tributes that we've seen die over the last few days.

"Run!" I scream as I begin to take off down the hall. Ellis is surprisingly quick as she hustles behind me, ready to round the corner. The mutts don't run, but instead, they walk down the hallway. There is a streak of red on either wall that follows us we dart down either hall.

When we get to the large clearing that has a lobby like feel, the red streak grows bigger, and the two creatures are staring at us intensely. "That's enough running," they say in unison. "It's bad for our hair."

They stick their hand out and smile. Their hand touches my face, and I scream as I feel my body changing before me. I watch as the mutt's skin goes from light red to a pale shade and their hair from red to a golden brown. I look over at Ellis with my peripheral vision, and she no longer looks like herself. Instead, she looks like the creature we've been running from.

The mutt takes her hand off my face, and I look down at my skin. Light red like the shade that they were lines my body. I jump upon seeing the creature as I look at a spitting image of me.

"You won't mind if we borrow this right?" ask the new Xoren staring at me with a devilish grin.

"Hey!" Ellis and I say in unison. "That's not you- woah!" we say looking at each other.

"That's another thing." says the new Ellis looking at me. "You two can only speak in unison. Have fun tributes. I know we will!"

They run and disappear down the hall. Ellis and I try to stop them, but they were nowhere to be seen after we rounded the corner.

"What are we going to do?!" we say together, but I know it was Ellis asking me a question.

"We search for help." we say in perfect unison.

This is going to get old quick.

You're not alone

I'll listen til' the tears run out

You're safe and sound

I swear that I won't let you down

Arabia Hakim, 16

District 4 Female

I'm scared.

I don't find myself weak for saying that, but for the first time in my life, I'm scared. I'm afraid of the future, I'm afraid of the alliance that I'm in, and for the first time I'm scaring myself.

Situations like this make it easy to question your every belief. I sit here, and I ponder why I decided to do this, I sit here, and I question my motives, I sit here, and I question the belief in God that I've so firmly clung to my whole life.

Because why would God allow me to do this? There is death all around me. Chaos is unfolding every which way, and the only two people that I have to call my friends are currently planning my death.

Of course, the latter part of that statement is just an assumption, but the numbers are getting low. These two are stupid, they're a lot of things, but they aren't stupid. They know for me to get in here at 16 I had to have something to offer. And I can already see the gears turning in Alexandrite's pretty little head.

How much longer am I needed?

"We should go hunting?" says Oliver as he sits in the corner of the cornucopia polishing his weapon. His katana, or as he calls it "baby," is already a deadly weapon on its own. Pair it with the fact that Oliver is a complete psychopath with it; it's not a good combo. He also has a supreme superiority complex that I didn't see a lot of until the games started. "I don't want you guys to come, though," he says looking at us. "I need some time to think."

He gets up with his katana and stomps off into one of the many bridges and disappears behind the large door. I look over to Alexandrite who is currently filing her nails with a temporary nail file and smile. This is the chance I've been looking for. Time to make some cracks in this alliance.

"Take a picture, Arabia," she says not bothering to look up. "It'll last longer."

"What do you think he needs to think about?"

"I don't know? What do I look like, his brain?" she asks me sarcastically. She now looks up, and I see a bit of fury in her eyes. "This experience is too much for me, so I can't imagine what it would be like for him. This is a lot to take in, Arabia. Maybe he just needs time to think,"

"Alexandrite, you're not a stupid girl," I say very calmly.

"Thank you for your approval of my intelligence." she says rolling her eyes.

"You don't have a shot of beating him if you're final 2. Neither of us does." I say. "If we don't act quickly we're handing him the game."

Her eyes grow sullen, and I know it's thoughts she's been entertaining. Alexandrite is a lot smarter than people want to give her credit for. Behind her beautiful face, and hourglass builds, the girl has a lot of emotional and mental intelligence.

"He's my District partner." she whispers.

"And is that loyalty worth your life?" I ask her, still maintaining my composure. "He would take you out the minute he thought you were a threat. This isn't the academy anymore Alex; this is life or death."

"My parents were so mad at me for volunteering," she mutters. I'm not quite sure what this has to do with us ganging up on Oliver, but I'll let her speak in hopes it goes my way. "When I volunteered my mom was weeping in the crowd. I wasn't fully trained as I only attended the academy part time. Suddenly life started to speed up, and everything I worked for became apparent, but also everything I worked for didn't seem like it was worth working for anymore."

"I know what you mean," I say. "Being 16 and chosen to volunteer isn't an easy thing to deal with when you have 18-year-olds that have waited their whole lives for this moment." I begin. "In a way, you and I are pretty equally matched."

"I know I can't beat Oliver," she says. "He's a beast, but you're right," she says. "This isn't the academy anymore. Time to put on my big girl panties."

"So does that mean you'll help me?" I ask hopefully.

"It means if we plan a plan that works, his ass is grass," she says with a smile. "We'll take this thing to the final 2."

"The last 2," I say extending my hand.

"The final 2." she responds by taking hold of my hand and shaking it.

Maybe you and I were never meant to be complete

Can we just be broken, together?

You can bring your shattered dreams, I'll bring mine

Can healing still be spoken?

Whitney Kaull, 14

District 8 Female

I haven't moved since we got to our newest hideout on the first floor. On it is a camera of all the other tributes, and we've just been casually getting to know each other. Well, my new alliance has been getting to know each other.

He was just here.

That's what drives me crazy, is that for one second my friend was alive and pushing through, and then the next he's gone. And I wasn't even given the opportunity to help him. I was rushed out of the room.

"We're running low on food," says Asha as she stands up. "Ember, Dailen, will you guys come with me as a backup in case I run into trouble?"

"Yeah," says Ember as she gets up and grabs her staff from the pile of weapons we have in the center of the room. Dailen has settled with a little ax, which didn't surprise any of us in the least being as he's from 7. When the three of them leave the room, Lenovo looks at me with a new fire in his eyes.

"You need to chill." he says plainly.

"Excuse me?" I ask him confused.

"Whitney," he says as he gets up and walks over to me, he sits down on the floor directly across from me and touches my leg. "I'm going to tell you something that I don't think you want to hear, but I feel you need to know."

He clears his throat in his dramatic Lenovo way and then looks at me with a strange intensity I've never seen on him. "Whitney, only one of us is getting out of this arena."

"I know that-" I begin.

"Do you?" he says. "Tell me did you even know Ishmael before the games started?" he asks me with a sternness in his tone.

"I, uh, no," I say stuttering over my words as I look at him shocked.

"Then I say this with all the kindness I can muster in my heart, but get the hell over it. For you to live, he was going to have to die, and I can't imagine that you wanted to die at 14 do you?"

My jaw is dropped as I stare at him for the words that he's saying so harshly to me, but he doesn't seem to care that he's hurting my feelings. "Do you?!" he ask me more urgently.

"No!" I say getting testy back.

"Then buck up, buttercup," he says. "Get some respect for your friends and family back home and fight to stay alive. Don't just sit here and wallow. You're wasting your life, Whitney."

"You left the only person that gave you a chance in this games!" I say now it was my turn to get angry. "You didn't even try to help! You just let him get fried by some monster! He had a family Lenovo. He had friends back home! And he was your ally! You LEFT him!"

"And I'd do the same to you." he says coldly.

My heart stops as he says this and tears well up in my eyes. "You'd what?" I ask softly.

"Whitney, only one of us is getting out of here. As much as I like you, or Asha, or Ember, or Dailen, only one of us gets out. One of us." he repeats for dramatic effect. "I'm not looking to lay my life down for someone I just met under a week ago. I have things going for me back in my District. I'm fighting for my family and my friend.I think he name was Ricardo, but that's beside the point." he says waving his hand dismissively, but his voice is now relaxed. "I don't tell you this to make me sound heartless. I need you to understand that you have to have a killer instinct to win this game. I want you to do your best, and if the opportunity presents itself, leave me as I did them. Survive. Fight for it." he says "But I refuse to watch you just disappear."

In an odd way, what Lenovo said was helpful. Harsh and awful as it was it holds an absolute truth to what we're facing.

"This whole game isn't fair," I say as I struggle not to cry and keep my eyes from watering.

"Life isn't fair." he says plainly as he leans back and begins to pick at his nails, "but we've got bigger fish to fry, Kaull." he says.

"What's that?" I ask

"We need to get the girl from 2 before the feast," he says. "Otherwise, we are doomed."

"You're right," I say realizing the severity of the mistake that would be taking her that far. "So what's the plan?"

"Gossip is a girl's worst nightmare," says Lenovo with a smile.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

Warren Church, 15

District 9 Male

That stupid bitch from 3 smacked me in the face with her whip. There is a long gash on my face that goes from my left eye all the way down to the bottom of my cheek. When I win these games, they're going to have done major surgery to get me looking as good as I once did.

I have composed a list of tributes that I want to kill in my head, in the order I want them to die. Some people call that a hit list, but I call it a victor's list because that's what I'm going to be. Killing the boy from 11 was more satisfying than I thought it would be. I thought for sure I was going to get more than one kill during these games, but so far, lady luck hasn't been on my side.

"Hurry!" says two voices in unison. "I think I hear footsteps."

I turn and face the potential attacker with a smirk. Killing number 2 is about to go down in the books for the likes of Warren Church.

I walk towards the sound of the running feet and see two red ladies running down the halls. When they see me at the end of the opposite end, they smile. "You have to help us!" they say in unison. "They stole our appearance."

"Not a chance in hell am I going to help you mutts," I say as I take a knife from my pocket and prepare the sword that I stole from the boy from 11 before the girl from 3 tried to whip me out.

"We're not mutts. We're the tributes from 9 and 12!" they say. "Warren it's me, Ellis!"

"Yeah right. You're not new Sybil." I say as I roll my eyes. "Which one of you brats want to die first, any volunteers?" I ask looking back and forth at them, "No?" That's okay." I say as I point my knife back and forth. "Eenie, meanie, minie, you!" I say throwing my knife at the mutt on the right. It lands directly into her chest, and she screams as she falls over and clutches her wound. I take the surprise time to rush at the girl on the left and tackle her to the ground. She struggles with me, but as I work to get my hands on her throat, I notice the mutt changing.

The mutt begins to fade back into pale skin, with golden brown hair. The boy from 12 is suddenly standing before, and it takes all I have in me not to laugh. "Well, what do you know?" I look down at the one I'm on top of and see the mutt begin to fade into Ellis. "I wanted to kill you in the bloodbath; but top 15 will do," I say as the cannon for the boy from 12 sounds. I wrap my hands around her throat and begin to squeeze, and I watch as she struggles to get a breath.

She's making lots of noises as I squeeze harder and harder, and then she suddenly stops. Her eyes bulging, and her head tilts to the side. I get off of her and look at both of my victims with a smile as I wait for her cannon, but before I hear the cannon fire, New Sybil gasp for breath as she sits up.

Before I have time to respond, she rips the knife out of the boy from 12's chest and shoves it into my neck.

"Next time," she says in between deep breaths, "Wait until the cannon fires." as she scoots away from my quickly gasping for breath.

I feel the blood begin to fill my esophagus as I struggle to breathe. I watch as Ellis just looks at me with a sad look in her eyes, and it infuriates me! Own your kills!

I fall to the side and watch as the world begins to slip away into a distance fuzzy mess. New Sybil stands up and looks at me with distaste. "Rot in hell, Warren," she says as she turns around and walks away. The world goes black as she turns the corner.

BOOM

Like a tidal wave of fear rushing over my head

Suddenly the idea of loneliness is closer than expected

What's to say that we all won't die alone?

Something we all pray won't be our reality

Reality makes it our home

Dove Henderson, 12

District 12 Female

"Tributes!" says a voice over the loudspeaker. "It is now time to use the cards that we gave you in the bloodbath! If you would pull those out please?" says the voice.

Samira pulls into her bag and finds the card as Elodie, and I continue to dig through the food that we've been rationing to the point of literal starvation. That's saying something for girls from 11 and 10.

"Tributes you have exactly 10 minutes to make it to a new part of the space station." says the voice. "There are pods that will take you away, and anyone left inside of this station will drift away into space, never to be seen again." says the voice. "This card is your ticket inside the craft. There will be no killing during the process of this move. Follow the lights laid before you."

"Oh, and tributes?" says the voice with a conniving voice. "There's only ten seats in the craft. Good luck," she says with a laugh.

Elodie and I find our cards, and we look up at Samira who is already grabbing her food supply. "We need to run now," I say urgently. "Move! Now!" as we run out of the room and make our way towards the pods that will hopefully still be empty with three seats by the time we get there.

I know that this is shorter, but I needed to get this out there because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to update this week after today. So I hope you guys liked it! Had hella Macbeth vibes from this chapter.

15th Place: Xoren Cinnabar, District 12 Male, Killed by Warren Church- I liked Xoren. He was an interesting character. The issue with him was his age. I try to stick to canon as much as possible with things we know. I don't mind repeat Districts for Victor or stuff like that, but Finnick was the youngest Victor. I feel like this ending made sense. Sorry to see him go, and thanks for sending him in, Plat!

14th Place: Warren Church, District 9 Male, Killed by Ellis Rowden- I genuinely thought Ellis was going to get her demise at this moment. I believed that Warren was going to get to kill her and then he was going to be a threat cause he was cocky as hell, but then I realized, I have some antagonist and some threats. Celtic, he was fun! He was, just compared to the others I have going in play..he just didn't add to the plot as much as I originally intended him too. I'm sorry if you feel like I failed him.

Announcement: I've only gotten a few tribute submissions for Home of the Brave 2. I hope that you guys are reading, and want to submit! I've only posted the prologue chapter because I want to finish this, or at least get closer before I start updating. I just wanted to give people time to update.

As for my guest reviewer, I say this on here because I assume you to be in this story, you were a little rude in that comment. And I know you know you were out of line because you did it by guest review and not a PM or even with an account. Please mind yourself, I've finished 10 SYOT's and the only one I haven't was with Jenna, and that was due to different writing speeds. I don't start things and not finish them.

Keep it classy,

Caleb