Author's Note (Dec. 27, 2013) - This story is the 72nd Hunger Games. Yes, it used to be the 71st, until I realized Johanna won the 71st, which I'm surprised no one ever pointed out. So, wherever you see it mention the 71st, it's actually the 72nd. Thanks a lot! PS, if you're reading this, I'm still here. Reviews are always appreciated, just keep in mind, this was my first story ever, so be gentle!

Feet don't fail me now
Take me to the finish line
Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take
But I'm hoping at the gates,
They'll tell me that you're mine

Aurora Spring

I'm thrown into blackness, sounds of screams surround me. I squeeze my eyes shut, praying that what waits for me below is water. If it's water, I'll be okay. Not many others can swim, I can.

The drop is long, I've been in the air for at least thirty seconds. I hear splashes around me and breathe a sigh of relief, opening my eyes and holding my breath just as I am plunged into icy water. I expect it to be deep and prepare to dive down and swim far away from the other tributes. I am surprised when my feet hit solid ground, the water must be about five feet deep. I push back up to the surface and wipe water from my eyes, staring ahead in amazement.

We are all standing in a wide, but shallow pool of clear water. Lush vines cover the stone walls of the cave, and in the distance tunnels take off in every direction. Crystals of magnificent colors drop down from the ceiling, and the twenty four holes that we have just fallen from send streams of sunlight into the cave, bouncing off the crystals and turquoise water. It is beautiful.

But that is not what we are staring at. In the middle of the pool is a manmade island. Atop of it sits the golden Cornucopia, spilling with every weapon imaginable.

There is a moment of silence and awe before we start to remember where we are.

Then, all hell breaks loose.

Crisis, Audrina, Bravo and Harbor swim toward the Cornucopia and reach it first. Ariadne and Hana awkwardly wade through the water towards their allies. I frantically search for Celeste, our plan was to grab weapons and go, but that was before the Gamemakers threw us this huge curveball. I feel someone swimming behind me and whip around fiercely, preparing to drown them. While I may have no weapons, water is my element and I feel comfortable that I am one of the strongest swimmers here.

"Woah! It's just me!", Daniel says, holding his arms up in defense. Celeste's head pops up from the water next to ours.

"I did what you told me! Swimming isn't that hard at all!", she cries, a smile across her face. I had explained to her what to do if the arena happened to throw water at us. She was clearly a fast learner.

"What do we do now?", I ask, terrified. I don't want to fight the Careers, but there is no way that Celeste and Daniel will let us leave without supplies.

"We find the others and we-", she is cut off by a hysterical scream from Acacia and we all turn to look in her direction. She is standing on the rocky shore of the cave, fighting off the boy from Three.

"Duck!"

I look up just in time to see Ariadne's knife headed straight for us. Daniel grabs our wrists and pulls us back underwater. I pull away and swim for the shore, knowing that Acacia needs me. Once I reach the ledge I push myself up and turn to face the water, checking on Celeste and Daniel.

Daniel comes up to the surface behind Ariadne and locks her arms behind her back. Seconds later, Celeste comes up with the knife meant for her own heart and impales it through Ariadne's without a moment's hesitation. She pulls the knife out and Daniel lets Ariadne's body fall underwater. A cannon sounds and I turn away, but not before seeing the heartbroken look on Celeste's face. I feel a pang in my heart. She was never meant to be a killer.

Electron Jepper

Well, this is definitely unexpected. Standing in a five foot pool of water, I'm at least thankful that the Gamemaker's didn't drop us into a shark tank, though looking out at the battle happening before my eyes they might as well have. From my hiding spot behind a large stalactite hanging from the ceiling, I have already seen Celeste and Daniel make the first kill of the day, murdering one of the Career girls. I'm truly impressed. I honestly thought she was all bark and no bite, but from the way she plunged that knife into District One's chest, you would think she had been trained all her life for this.

All around me tributes are fighting. Most of the battles are completely one-sided, and it is only a matter of time before more cannons are fired. Deciding against my original decision to hide out until the bloodbath ended, I step away from my hiding place, scanning the cavern for my allies before choosing a direction to go.

Such is my fatal mistake. Within seconds I find myself face to face with the beastly Career boy from One, armed with a dagger and an evil glint in his eye. And in that moment, I realized what my fate would be. Dagger to the heart within seconds of the gong, just like Lumen, my sister. I think of her for the first time since I witnessed her death on my television. How she was held at the mercy of the girl from Two. All this time being disappointed in my sister and here I was in her position exactly a year later. Who was I to call her weak? Who was I to judge her, and call her death a disgrace? As if in slow motion, Bravo's dagger is heading toward my heart, but it is not my life that flashes before my eyes, it is Lumen's. Watching TV after school, the light shows held once a year in the Square, her first boyfriend, our family dog, her name being pulled from the Reaping ball, and her last moments in the arena.

There is a sharp pain, a bright light, and it is over.

Aphrodite Gleam

As Lex pulls me up onto the shore of the pool, I hear a second cannon. It does not faze me. Lex's hand is in my own, and I know he is safe for now. There is no one else here that I care about. They are all our enemies. Another death means one less we'll have to worry about. Lex managed to find a knife that had fallen into the water from the Cornucopia. It's our only weapon, but it's better than nothing.

As soon as I am out of the water we take off running in the direction of one of the tunnels, a difficult feat considering the weight of our wet clothes. We have only been running for a few seconds when I pick up the sound of another set of footsteps, quiet and out of synch with our own. I stop running abruptly and whirl around in time to see an axe flying toward us. I push Lex to the ground and land on his chest. I hear a scream and a third cannon sounds. Looking behind me, I find that while the axe missed us, it had lodged itself into the skull of the strange boy from Nine. He must have died on impact.

Quickly, I roll off of Lex and pull the knife from his belt, knowing that our attacker is not far from us now.

I'm right. Standing only a few yards away are the girl from Seven and the boy from Twelve. Though unarmed, the girl runs at me, but she underestimates my strength. I knock her to the ground in the same way that I did Lex only seconds ago. I am sitting on her chest with my knees on her upper arms, trapping her. She is completely at my mercy. Out of the corner of my eye I see that Lex is looking at me with pride, it was him who trained me, after all.

"Phoebe!" The boy from Twelve screams out.

He begins to run toward us, but Lex is smarter. Though still on the ground, he sticks his leg out in front of him and the boy falls to the stone ground. Weaponless, Lex grabs a large rock from behind him and brings it down upon Twelve's skull. Blood and brain matter seep out from his skull, and a cannon sounds immediately.

Phoebe, the girl that I have trapped lets out a scream of despair. Inspired by Lex's fearlessness I lower my knife to Phoebe's throat.

"Goodbye, Phoebe.", I whisper softly, and press the knife into her pale neck.

A fifth cannon sounds, shaking the walls of the cave.

Lex gets to his feet and reaches down to help me up, I slip my small, bloody hand into his.

We take Phoebe and Eliot's backpacks and pull the axe from Nine's skull. Feeling much better now that we are both armed and have some sort of supplies, we take off running once more, headed in the direction of an obscure tunnel toward the back of the cavern.

I suppose I should feel guilty about the three lives we just had a part in ending, but I can't bring myself to feel any form of regret. I saved Lex, and he saved me. We did what we had to do. It wasn't until I saw Phoebe's axe flying toward Lex's head that I truly realized how much I care for this boy.

We run until we have put enough distance between ourselves and the Cornucopia, and eventually slow to a walk. The tunnel we are walking in seems to stretch for miles. Though there are small holes in the roof that let in sunlight, they become few and far between the further we venture.

"Lex, I know we should keep moving, but I can't see what's in front of me, and knowing the Gamemakers, there's a slim chance that all of these tunnels are safe."

Lex sighs and stops walking. He turns toward me and looks into my eyes intently, looking conflicted.

I raise my hand, caked with dry blood, to smooth the worry lines from his face.

"Hey, don't worry.", I whisper soothingly. "The only three people that saw where we were headed are dead now. Plus, with all the chaos down there, they won't think about us until the death recap. We can afford to take a break. Plus, it would be good to see what's in these backpacks."

Eventually he nods and we find a small corner of the tunnel to sit in where we are able to see our enemies before they see us. I open my backpack first, and begin pulling out it's contents: A set of knives, a mace, a machete, a slingshot and a small bag of metal balls, two more daggers, a bow and a sheath of arrows, and two sets of leather gloves, which seem out of place in a bag full of deadly weapons.

Thankfully, Lex's bag has supplies: Two headlamps, a large blanket, a water purifier, flint and steel for starting fires, and a complete change of clothing for each of us, apart from jackets and shoes.

I meet Lex's eyes and know that we are both thinking the same thing. We have enough supplies and weapons to survive for weeks, except for one thing.

We have no food, nor do we know where to get it.

Noah Cooley

I'm standing in a distant cave, clutching Riah's hand in my own, watching the battle play out before us. We have been in the cave for less than ten minutes and already five are dead.

The explosion of a cannon rattles the walls of the cave. Make that six.

My eyes scan the bloodbath before me, trying to locate the most recent victim when Riah answers for me.

"It was the girl from Ten. She disappeared into that tunnel over there right before the cannon."

I nodded. It made sense, though I had no idea who, or what, was lurking in that tunnel to finish her off. I shuddered just thinking about it.

Riah nudged my shoulder and pointed in the direction of the Cornucopia.

All of the Careers have left the golden horn in search of more tributes to kill off. Crisis and Audrina, the demonic pair from Two are among the last to leave, when they spot the girl from three trying to sneak away some supplies. Faster than lightening, Crisis heaves his spear at her, which lodges itself in her back, causing her to fall back into the water. Audrina leans over the edge of the Cornucopia island and pulls the girl up by her hair, slits her throat, yanks out the spear and lets her body fall back into the water. It floats there for a few seconds before sinking to the bottom. Another cannon explodes. Seven.

Riah squeezes my hand tightly. I turn to look at her and I can tell she is getting nervous. We are supposed to be waiting for Phoebe and Eliot but it has been several minutes and there is still no sight of them. I have a sick feeling that two of the seven cannons belonged to them, but I cannot bring myself to say it aloud.

"Riah," I say, tugging her hand. "I know you want to wait but it's dangerous. They'll catch up to us sooner or later. If we stay here any longer the Careers will find us." I say, nodding my head in the direction of Hana and Bravo who are scouring the area for stragglers. Riah follows my gaze and holds it there for only a moment before nodding. I waste no time in pulling her away. We run as fast as we can until we can no longer hear the screams from the Cornucopia, but we do not stop moving. With only one dagger between the both of us, and only a small backpack of supplies. If we don't find food, water and shelter soon, our faces will be in the sky tonight.

Celeste DeWynter

We escaped. We lost Electron to Bravo and Acacia to who knows what.

After I killed Ariadne, Daniel and I headed straight for the Cornucopia to help Holden get supplies. I'd say we fared well, we have a backpack filled with more than enough weapons for each of us and three backpacks full of supplies: A tent, two blankets, water purifiers, extra clothes, matches, canteens, flashlights and headlamps, even some basic medical necessities.

We were missing food, though. Luckily, most of us were used to being hungry, and we would be fine until morning.

We had walked for hours in the tunnels, putting miles between ourselves and the Careers. Finally after six or seven hours of walking, we found a spot to set up camp.

The tunnel we were in opened up to a wide flat area. In the corner there was a small waterfall spilling into a stream, and thirty feet above us, the ceiling opened up into the night sky.

Daniel and Holden set up the tent and organized the supplies while Aurora and I collected water, purifying it and filling up our six canteens.

"We're lucky." I say to Aurora, just loud enough for her to hear me over the running water.

She nods and gives me a half smile, but I press on.

"We have weapons, a shelter, supplies, a steady supply of water, and we only lost two of our allies. None of us are injured, and I'm sure the audience is so impressed by our abilities thus far, that they're lining up to sponsor us.

"I guess you're right." She says, before gathering up the remaining canteens and walking away.

I pick up the purifiers and follow her back to the camp that the boys set up.

"We'll take the first watch." Daniel says, slipping his arm around my shoulders. I half expect myself to flinch away, and I'm surprised when I lean into him even more. It feels right. With him I am safe.

Aurora nods and steps into the tent. Holden hesitates, narrowing his eyes at us before following Aurora. Daniel and I take the second blanket, a canteen, some headlights and two knives each before settling down near the opening of the tunnel we came in through. Daniel pulls me close to him and covers us both with the blanket. I rest my head against his chest, some small fragment of my mind wondering why I have such complete trust in this boy.

Roman Caulder

I am laying in the grassy fields above the cave. I laugh to myself, amused that everyone else is still trapped down there. I was the only one to find my way out.

I have a jacket full of knives and a dagger attached at my waist. I have a bow and a sheath of arrows, my secret skill that I did not discover until I came here. It helped me impress the Gamemakers. I have a small backpack with only the most necessary of supplies: A canteen and water purifier, matches and night vision goggles. All taken from the unlucky girl from Ten.

She was dead the moment she headed toward my tunnel. My knife flew into her before anyone knew what happened. I never miss.

Tomorrow I will hunt for bunnies. Tomorrow I will go back into the cave and get some more water. Tomorrow I will kill some more. Tomorrow I will be closer to winning. Closer to going home.

But for tonight, this isn't so bad.

The fields of grain are just like home.

The sky is just like home.

The stars and moon are just like home.

The animals surrounding me are just like home.

No. Not bad at all.

I might actually enjoy it here.

I lay back in the soft grain and watch as the sun sets in the distance, turning the sky from blue, to pink, to orange, to blood red, to purple, and eventually, to black.

Holden Rancocas

Aurora is sound asleep beside me, but I do not dare give in to exhaustion. I can't trust Celeste and Daniel yet. It would be all to easy for them to kill us of in our sleep, leaving all of our weapons and supplies to them. It was the perfect plan.

It doesn't make sense, I know. But the voice telling me not to trust them has returned once more, much to my dismay.

I sit up and bring my fingers to my temples, willing myself to believe that it would be stupid for them to kill us. Sure, they're both strong, but they won't stand a chance to the Careers without our help.

I occupy myself by organizing the supplies and weapons once more according to each person's strength.

For Aurora: Rope, spears and two knives.

For Daniel: Knives, a machete and a mace. I figure he's the only one of us who is strong enough to put good use to them.

For Celeste: A set of knives, two daggers, a slingshot and the bow and arrows. She's the fastest learner in our alliance. She has small agile fingers and has a natural ability with weapons. I know it must be how she scored a ten in the Gamemaker sessions.

As for myself, I take the second set of knives, a dagger and a machete. While I prefer hand to hand combat, I will fare better with simple weapons than the others which take much more skill to use.

I count through the supply stash multiple times before I am finally relaxed enough to lay down again. I stare up at the roof of the tent. I think of my family, and how they must be watching this right now, relieved that I am okay. The thought calms me. My stomach growls and I vaguely wonder where we will get food, but I let it go, knowing Celeste will probably have a plan. Eventually the gears in my mind stop spinning and I am allowed some peace, even if only for a few hours.

Hero de Lacroix

Lucy hasn't stopped crying. I comforted her at first, but now I'm just annoyed. We're trudging through the tunnels, and from what we can see through the roof of the cave, the sun is about to set.

"Herooooo...", she whines. God, someone kill me now. "We've been at this for hours."

I understand her disappointment, I really do. We barely made it out of the pool, neither of us being tall enough to walk through the water, and entirely unable to swim. We watched Aria get killed by Audrina and watched Hana take Corbin back to the Career camp only moments later. We had no food, no water and no supplies. Our only weapon between the two of us was a machete, but that was heavy and entirely useless without an adrenaline rush to give us the strength to lift it higher than our heads. We were wet, cold, and tired. In other words, we were basically doomed.

"We haven't even gotten very far, Lucy. We're weak. We're small, and we're slow."

"Small, yes. We're only weak and slow because we've exhausted ourselves. We need to rest."

As much as it pains me to agree with her and let her win, I know she is right. Plus, the death recap should happen any minute.

"Fine." I say. "But we're not just stopping here. Once we find a place that resembles some sort of shelter, we'll rest for a few hours."

Lucy exhales in relief and nods. We walk for another twenty minutes until we find a small alcove just big enough for both of us.

We sit down in silence for awhile, before Lucy finally speaks.

"We need allies."

It's the smartest thing she's said all day.

"I know, Lu. But no one will want us."

"We don't have another choice, if we can't beat them, we have to join them."

I nod and reach for her hand. She squeezes it and moves closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"We'll be okay. Let's just stay here for tonight. We'll watch the recap and see who is left, and find the best choice for allies. In the morning we'll look for food and water and we'll try to find them and see if they want to team up with us."

It feels like hours until she finally speaks.

"I'm sorry for crying so much. I'm sorry for whining."

"I know. I'm sorry for yelling at you." I say. And I realize that I actually mean it, and I feel terrible for ever doing it."

"We're gonna have to start acting more like a team."

I open my mouth to tell her that I agree when the anthem begins to play.

Riah Hutchinson

The anthem blares through the entire cave, seemingly exuding from the stone walls. I involuntarily grab Noah's hand, mentally preparing myself for the death recap. Though we have already decided that Phoebe and Eliot must be dead, we have been hanging onto some small hope that they made it out of the bloodbath alive. Noah squeezes my hand and I mentally prepare myself for seeing their faces.

Since there is no sky for us to look into, images of the dead are somehow projected onto the ceilings of the cave.

First is Ariadne, the Career girl from One. Then the girl from Three, the boy from Five, Phoebe, the boy from Nine, Acacia from Ten and Eliot.

We sit in silence for what feels like hours, never letting go of each other's hand. We're exhausted; mentally and physically drained. We have one weapon and a few supplies, but no food or water. Two of our allies are dead, and their killers took their supplies with them no doubt.

Neither of us make any effort to move, nothing seems worth the endeavor right now. I try to remind myself that things could be much worse, but somehow, I don't see how they can. All seems hopeless right now.

Suddenly we hear a scream. Multiple screams. Blood curdling screams of anguish and extreme pain. I look at Noah, alarmed and confused. He stands and helps me to my feet, drawing his dagger and looking prepared to fight. The screams grow louder and more frantic until finally, they cease. There are a few seconds of eerie silence, until a cannon sounds. We both jump at the noise. I turn to Noah, wanting to ask him who he thinks it was. When we hear voices. Loud voices. Loud voices and footsteps. Coming closer and closer. My eyes widen and look into Noah's. His mouth forms one word.

Run.

For those who's tributes have died, please message me if you would like to transfer his/her points. You may only transfer them to one person, and you must PM me. I will delete the points if you send it in a review.

Ariadne Willows, District 1

Aria Garnet, District 3

Electron Jepper, District 5

Phoebe Kemp, District 7

Fruman Bane, District 9

Acacia Woodley, District 10

Eliot Jay, District 12

The last mystery death will be revealed in the next chapter!

The more comments I get, the more inclined I will be to posting the next chapter sooner.

Go vote on the new poll!

Same thing goes for voting this time around!

This time you may only vote for two tributes, and they will both receive 50 points. Only one may be your own.

Make sure that you write in your review/message which chapter your votes are for since you get one vote per chapter.

Also, make sure to go to www . seventyoneyears . blogspot . com (with no spaces of course!) to see pictures and bios of all the tributes! I updated and changed some since writing this!

Message me if you have any questions, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

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-Becca

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