Pumped Up Kicks.

You better run, better run, outrun my gun.

Addilyn Helix, District Three Female.

I blink a few times, stretching my limbs as I climb up. By the door, Koel is curled up like a cat, sound asleep. Alto, on the other hand, is alert and watching out the window with wide eyes.

"Is there someone out there?" I grumble a little, but quickly remember that no, that's bad to do that. I sit up, straightening my back and repeating myself properly. "Is there someone out there?"

"You might want to look at this."

I cross the small shop, peering out the window. I can't even believe it. Dropping down from the false sky are snowflakes. Crisp and neat, fluttering down. I've seen snow before, sure, but this seems almost too beautiful to be true. Alto just smiles sadly at the sight.

"Snow!"

I jump, clutching my heart as Koel grins.

"When did you get up?" I ask.

He shrugs his shoulders, smiling. "Sorry to scare you. I just, I heard you guys talking and that kind of woke me up. Addi, why is it snowing?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's an illusion or trick? It could be real, even, I just don't know."

He opens his mouth again, but Alto just lays his hand on his shoulder, cutting him off. Koel relents, sighing as he draws his large, curved knife forward, swinging it around in front of him, probably pretending to attack someone or something. He probably doesn't even realise that he might actually have to use it and not just attack imaginary things.

He moves away a little, too occupied with his game, and I smile as I sit down, Alto accompanying me.

"So you got everything you need?"

I nod and offer another soft smile. "Yeah. Well, yeah, everything is ready to go."

"Are you going to do it now?"

I look at his knotted eyebrows and I can't help but beam at him. "Not yet, no, but when the time is right. You're lucky. You don't have a district partner that begs for your blood like mine and Koel."

He looks confused, his dark eyes definitely crossing as he stares at me hard.

"Gage is determined I die, I don't know why, but he does. Koel has made it clear that he somehow made an enemy of his district partner, the scary looking one, and now she wants him dead. You seem to be the only one who actually has a district partner not psychopathic in the slightest."

"Two cannons have sounded since then, it could be them for all you know."

I shrug. "You never know."

I go back to my orange backpack, frowning at how obvious it really is. In a place where everything is grey and white, glass and cement, an orange backpack stands out the most. That and our little coloured belts. Mine is bright yellow, almost neon, another little thing that makes me stand out against the bland scenery. Alto's is a dark brown, whilst Koel's is lime green. More colours that could easily be seen from a distance.

Is that the point of all this? To give us a plain arena, then hand us bright coloured accessories to stand out, but not too much that it's boring?

"I see someone..." Koel drawls in a sing-song voice.

We stand up, crouching by the large window that leaves us vulnerable. Koel was right. And across the gap, on the other side and taking something from the shop is the girl from Twelve, Ashton's district partner.

"Isn't that Ashton's friend?" Alto asks.

"I think the words he actually used was "that girl who has as much personality as a stone", yeah, that's what he said." Koel smiles.

"Charming."

It's so like Ashton, to be blunt and rude, and when I look at Koel, I can see the fondness swimming in his eyes. Him and Ashton were close, much like me and Alto. More like two individual pairs partnered up to make a quartet.

In her hand is a large, sharp axe that she hugs tight to her body, before taking down the flight of stairs as quick as her legs could carry her. Surprisingly, being on the top floor, no-one has found us. It doesn't seem like a dangerous arena, so the obvious choice would be to take up the chance to parade us in bright colour. Besides, now with snow, we're going to stand out even more than necessary.

"Should we move?" Alto asks, a little edge in his voice.

I quickly look to the snow still drifting down, but luckily, nothing is touching the walkways. Since it's basically a tube designed arena, the snow can only flutter down and then pack itself down in the plaza around the Cornucopia. Not that there is anything down there worth looking for.

"Not yet," I mumble, still fixed by the snow and the idea of a glass roof. "Not yet."

Cameron Flinch, District Five Female.

"Mirana, it's not safe out there!" I call, but to no avail.

Mirana swings the door open, grinning from ear to ear at the possibility of snow. She said that back in Eight, they never got snow. Not throughout the year, and especially in Winter. It just never happened. She always wanted to touch it. Especially after hearing of another fable from her mother about a talking snowman that came to life when you placed a carrot onto his round face.

Jack pounces to his feet to run after her, acting like the father he so sarcastically said he felt. He left his hatchet behind, and bravely, I grab it and Gavan's sleeve, dragging him along with us.

I whip my head back and forth, seeing which way they went. I see a flash of red disappear down an escalator, before those curly locks I've grown quite fond of make chase.

"Why do I have to go?" I spin around, hatchet in hand, and instantly, Gavan flinches. "Keep that thing away from me!"

I sigh, lowering it. "We're an alliance. We stick together. If Mirana is going to play in the snow, we are going to play in the snow, too."

"I don't even like snow."

"Well, neither do I, but we have to sacrifice some things eventually," I grunt, pulling on his sleeve once more and dragging him with us. "So quit being an irrational baby and comply, okay?"

We sprint across the walkway, and it's surprising, because I completely forgot about being all out in the open and with tributes around every corner. I guess, in a sense, the tributes just don't feel like killing each other this year. I feel sick at the thought of the Gamemakers picking us off instead. Their rocks were a cheap trick, and now, more could come of it unless we step our game up.

Down the escalator we go, but luckily, no further.

We stop in front of Jack, hands wrapped around Mirana's waist to hold in her place as she kicks and hollers, giggling in between. He attempts to shush her, but like a baby, Mirana only grows louder.

"Jack, she's not a little child, you don't have to hold her." I say, slightly jealous.

"You tell her to stop kicking then." Jack shoots back.

"You're doing it wrong, again, that's why," I say, letting go of Gavan's sleeve and prying Jack's hands from Mirana, before clamping mine on her shoulders. "See, like this. That way, she can kick, but her arms are useless."

"I just want to play in the snow," Mirana pouts. "Gavan, come play in the snow with me! We can make your hair even whiter!"

Gavan glares back and I smile as Jack stands next to him. Mirana continues to pout, and for some reason, I relent.

"We'll go down, fine," I say, putting my hand up when Mirana's about to scream. "But for a little while and be quiet. You can play and then we go before someone kills us."

"Cameron, this is a death match, not someone's house!" Jack counters.

"I know that," I roll my eyes. "But she's never seen snow and it might not be here for long. We'll be fine. Besides, it's early in the morning, the dumbass Careers will still be snoring their pretty little heads off as we speak."

Jack doesn't argue against that, and sighing, him and Gavan walk in time with us as we glide down to the plaza. Each set of stairs, Jack looks first holding his hatchet, before we take down them and then press ourselves against the ground, trying our hardest to avade being caught. The whole time, though, Gavan makes a point that his hair isn't white at all, it's just an unusual shade of blonde. Of course, he gets slightly defensive when Mirana pokes fun at it again and fires back his own odd colour hair jokes.

As we hit the last step to the plaza, Jack cranes his head around the corner and looks.

"Coast is clear," he states, trying to seem more masculine. "Mirana, five minutes, now go."

Mirana giggles and claps, kissing her little pocket watch one more time before she sprints out into the plaza to play. We're lucky, I know that much, since we worked out that the barrier doesn't allow things to pass through it. That of course means that any tribute that wants to fight will have to come down here, unfortunately, but that'll give us enough time to sprint up the steps as quick as possible.

Soon enough, Gavan gives in, getting up from his seat on the step and carefully tredding into the snow, enough to reach our ankles at the very most.

"Now I feel like a parent more than ever." Jack grumbles into his hand.

"What makes you say that?" I reply sarcastically. "The fact that both our adopted children have strange hair, tease each other like siblings and then we seem to be the only mature ones? Nah, I don't see it one bit."

"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated."

"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated," I mock in a baby voice. "Cheer up a little. You said it yourself, one winner only. Might as well enjoy what little time we do have left on this stinking planet."

I curl my fingers around a mound of snow, bringing it up and smashing it into Jack's face. He gasps, shocked, whilst I just laugh and point, running away from him, looking over my shoulder to see him running straight after me. More and more like a family by the second.

Koel Spelt, District Nine Male.

As Addilyn and Alto begin to mumble quietly over the bag of wires Addilyn collected, saying it was "gravely" important she had them, I get up and go to the door. My hand touches the handle, and before I know it, I shout a little message to them before sprinting out. I'm going to come back. Of course I will. Someone as young as me would be meat out there to everyone else. Ashton proved that by ignoring orders and getting himself killed.

Yet, I still miss him.

No matter how you look at it, Addilyn and Alto are close whilst me and Ashton were close. We had the same sense of humor, the practical jokes and immaturity to everything that we was expected to act maturely to. Addilyn and Alto have that same quiet, smart vibe to them that is just plain boring, to be honest.

I mean, I've always had friends. I've always been popular, the kid able to drift from group to group and befriend every single person around me. I got on with people like Addilyn and Alto. I just didn't favor them over more fun, naughty kids like Ashton.

Why did he have to be so stupid?

I walk along the walkway, holding my large knife in my hand.

I never really used a knife before. I didn't have the need too. Back in Nine, I did nothing but collect the wheat. Collect the wheat all day long, and most people would find that boring. Not me, really. The wheat provided the perfect cover to hide, wait low, and then pounce out onto someone without them knowing. Well, I used too, till I got in trouble a lot. Then I just decided to be a ghost and haunt the people as they moved throughout.

Nine was a good life.

Sometimes, it's hard to believe that Fern even comes from the same, mellow district as myself.

I stop, focusing on the snow down below, or more importantly, a small group of about four shadows that seem to run and play like they have all the care in the world, contrasting against the white blanket. If this stupid barrier wasn't up, Alto could maybe shoot a few arrows down there and pick one of them off, possibly.

It's a nice idea that isn't possible.

I raise my knife, testing my curiosity as I place the tip against the electrified barrier. A small zap crackles along the metal, but doesn't do no real damage. I force the knife in a little more, and to my surprise, the whole metal blade becomes an angry red, hot from the electricity.

Happiness swells into my chest.

Slipping my hot knife into the pocket of my shorts, crying out a little since I didn't expect it to be that hot, I run along the walkway and push the door open with such force, it bounces off the wall and scares the life out of Addilyn.

"Koel," she shakes her head. "Quiet, please."

"You'll never guess what I found," I grin, knowing that hey, I can be just as smart. "You know you said that the barrier was electrified?"

She nods her head.

"Well, I put my knife against it and I got a crackle of electricity to shoot out. But that's not all. Pushing it in further, I got the whole metal part of my knife to become red hot!"

Addilyn smiles wryly, opening her backpack full and spilling the contents onto the floor. She picks up a certain wire the colour of blue, handing it out to show me.

"This here is a conductor, Koel. It takes electricity from one unit to another. Go and take this to the barrier, one side against it and the other against your knife on the floor. Tell me what happens, okay?" Addilyn smiles again, placing it in my hand and curling my fingers over it. "Remember, just tell me what happens. Nothing else. And please, please, don't hold the knife when you do it."

I nod hurriedly, rushing out the room.

I can be just as smart if I wanted too.

I just prefer being a child to being a genius anyday.

Delaney Robb, District Two Female.

I sit there, arms crossed over my chest, smiling as the night unfolds. Before us lies Gage's body, throat ripped open harshly from a blade, his blood dried and cracking just near our feet. He's pale, deathly pale, a shade of deep blue over his lips.

"I'm guessing Lorelei killed him then." Astor smirks.

"I know she killed him," Garnet replies. "I watched her. She placed a hand over his mouth, dragged the blade across his throat, then collected her spear and walked off. I'm guessing she doesn't play well with others."

"Or she has the right brains to not bother with an alliance," I cut in, gaining suspicious looks from both Astor and Garnet. "Well, if you actually think about it, Four aren't proper Careers anyway. Everyone knows you should fear One and Two, the best of the best. Four are usually just the little pieces that gather to make us look slightly more threatening."

"Yet, we took him on board." Garnet counters, jerking a finger at Gage's body.

"At Waverly's request," Theo sighs. "And Delaney, whilst you might think that, the rules are clear from what the mentors mentioned. One, Two and Four equal six deadly Careers, no matter what. We took him on because Waverly wouldn't stop whining about it."

"Yeah, look how that turned out."

"Yeah, we get it. Gage killed Waverly and he was some genius because none of us would have expected him to be such a calculating little ass," Garnet rolls his eyes, and wow, I'm actually surprised he knew a big word like calculating. "Clearly, Lorelei knew, since she killed him there and then."

"Someone's sounding high and mighty."

"What's that suppose to mean?" he snaps his glare towards me.

"I'm just saying, you seem to be shocked that she could stoop so low to kill someone whilst they were asleep. I'm sorry, but didn't you pulverize a little boy's head against a step?"

Garnet growls under his breath, his hand twitching around the handle of his sword. "Shut up."

I raise my hands in defense. "Hey, I'm just pointing out facts. We're better off as a four, anyway. I never liked Lorelei that much. Too quiet and mysterious."

"Compared to you?" Theo smirks, raising his eyebrow playfully.

"Exactly," I smile, plucking a sword from the shelf. Just a bigger knife, really. "So, come on bitches, lets go find us some tributes to murder. Maybe even bump into little miss traitor."

One by one, we file out the room, scanning across the area for anyone interesting. For such a unique and compacted arena, you'd think you'd constantly bump into tribute after tribute. Yet, most seem to be occupied with hiding out. Since when did anyone win by just hiding?

We take down the nearest flight of stairs, and just as we make it to the bottom, I watch the boy from Ten disappear upwards. I look to Theo, the only other person who must have noticed him, but he just shakes his head. Garnet and Astor walk up front, and we trail behind.

"You can't let him get away forever," I growl through gritted teeth. "Sooner or later, he'll have to die."

Theo keeps a stony expression. "And later, he will. For now, he won't. Got it? It's bad enough you murdered his district partner for no reason when she wasn't a threat, let alone wiping out the district before they've had a shot at it."

"Don't go soft on me now, Theo," I poke him in the chest. "We agreed to do this together. You and me, final two, a battle to smite all the others."

"And we'll stick to that," Theo cracks a small smile. "Because sooner or later, you'll have to die, too."

He doesn't mean it. That's the advantage I have over our friendship. Theo treats me like a little sister, a best friend, and sure, he's like an older brother and sure, he's my best and only friend. But that's the advantage I have. We couldn't kill me. He's just not that type of murderer.

Which makes killing him slightly painful, but relatively easy.

Anastasia Burne, District Twelve Female.

I take deep, heavy breaths, steadying myself against the wall of the small blanket shop I found. I tug one around me tighter, trying so hard not to basically lose all will so soon. I could have been killed with the snap of her fingers. I watched, so mortified and scared as that girl from Four snapped her neck. Just snapped it like it was nothing.

Like Karli was nothing.

I never appreciated our alliance. I mean, I didn't want one really, but Karli got attached to me pretty quickly and it went downhill from there.

She shouldn't have came back for me. I wouldn't have for her. I would have left her, as harsh as it sounds, and just let her fate be sealed by some nasty Career. That's how heartless I am and how whole she is.

My heart rate quickens, my hands practically trembling.

I knew death was abundant. Of course, everyone knew that, that's why the Games were so feared. But to see it so up close... It makes it more real then you could ever prepare yourself for. Death happens in Twelve all the time. Miners die, people from the Seam die, even those in the merchant's area still die every now and then. I've never seen it, though. I never watched and studied someone. Yet, my eyes wouldn't look away. They were glued, fixed on Karli's brown orbs, watching the colour drain, the life just slip away.

I snap myself back, hearing footsteps just outside.

My hand twitches for the axe I took, standing up shakily.

I move towards the door, letting the blanket pool around my feet before I step over it. Just outside, the boy from Ten skips past, a funny looking lasso tucked into his belt. A part of me doesn't want to fight him. He's larger, and that would be plain stupid. But my hand thinks otherwise, gripping the handle and yanking the door open.

Ten spins around, shocked, but he doesn't look like he's ready to attack me just yet.

He eyes the axe gripped in my violently shaking hand, but he doesn't look scared. Why would he?

"You don't have to attack me," Ten smiles a faint, sad smile. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I look at his lasso, something not exactly that intimidating, though being a district that involves farming, he could be an expert at it. His training score, the number 8, flashes across my mind. I grip my axe tighter, raising it a little.

He does that sad puppy smile once more, but begins to step back.

"I-I-I will k-kill you," I stammer out.

But he raises a hand, not letting his smile fade one moment. "No, no you won't. And I won't kill you, either. Though I do suggest you go back to hiding. Pretty sure the Careers are above us, and they might head down soon."

"Y-You're ly-"

"I'm not," Ten shakes his head. "But take it or leave it. I wouldn't hurt someone so vulnerable. Them, on the other hand, would."

He doesn't have to convince me otherwise. The escalator near us begins to squeak as pressure builds on it, more than one person coming down. I whip my head around in their direction, before looking back, noticing Ten has vanished. I gulp down my nerves, going back to my little snug. Safety is more important than bravery.

Theo Cassius, District Two Male.

We reach the next floor, One up front and Two behind. I'm suppose to be the leader, leading our band of murderers to the finals where we face off and kill each other, and someone stands on top. That's how it always happens, according to Brutus. Careers make it to the final and from there, we kill and one survives.

Yet, he forgot to point out that besides the obvious Career districts, others win too. Besides Twelve, everyone has at least two Victors from their district. Brutus obviously forgot to mention that, lying to trainees and letting them believe we have better odds then everyone else.

We halt, Garnet up front with a hand raised in the air.

"We're not military or anything, Garnet, you look like an idiot." Astor laughs.

"Please," Garnet looks at her and then away. He must have winked or something, since Astor pulls a face of disgust. "Me in a proper uniform would be beyond the best thing possible in the world. You're in denial."

"Oh my, you have more big words underneath your sleeve."

"What is it?" Delaney deadpans. "I just want to kill someone."

His hand turns into a pointed finger, facing the barrier, and slowly we edge ourselves closer. Down below, it's hard to not miss the amount of snow that piles and piles, no doubt leaning up the sides of the Cornucopia. But, I know where Garnet is pointing too. Four figures, I can't tell who from this height, but I definitely know what's going through his and probably Delaney's minds. Astor wouldn't be bothered too much, but I'm sure she'd appreciate a kill on her list eventually.

"First one who gets a kill can have the first sleep tonight," Delaney grins, looking like a more pretty shark, teeth almost drooling from the excitement. "Whoever doesn't get a kill can stay up all night."

Everyone looks at each other, but Delaney is off, dragging her sword with her and running with powered legs for the nearest set of steps or broken escalator. Garnet growls, before speeding off, whilst Astor looks at me.

Her short smile says everything, but she relents and begins running too. I'm probably the only one who doesn't, but instead, I jog at a steady pace. Killing doesn't bother me, but damn, I need to keep them from being so stupid. It could be a trap.

I take down the steps two at a time, landing on the first floor and seeing Garnet, Delaney and Astor running along the walkway. Delaney shouts and hollers gleefully, cheering at the excitement, letting every other tribute nearby that we're around. But she doesn't care as she pumps her free fist, hitting the final set of steps. Astor and Garnet speed up a little, and I find myself doing the same for the sake of staying with them.

I bound down the stairs after them, watching Delaney hit the snow first.

She chants again, and by the time I've noticed, the pair turns out to be the crazies from Eight and Six. Their alliance, the pair from Five, must be nearby. Closest to us is the girl with red hair, who makes a squeaking sound as she attempts to run across the snow. Delaney sprints across, much faster, managing to tackle her down to the cold flooring. The boy from Six runs over, cheeks flushed from the cold, just as Garnet runs in and delivers a kick to his stomach, knocking him to the floor.

Astor crosses her arms, deciding against it.

I watch from the sidelines as Garnet boots the boy from Six, who groans loudly. The pair from Five runs around the corner, noticing us.

The girl swears, running in and throwing herself full on at Delaney, knocking her off Eight who she had at her mercy.

They tumble in the snow for a while, slapping each other, screaming and pulling each others hair, whilst Garnet begins to tussle with the boys from Five and Six, each delivering blows. Garnet sends a closed fist at Six's jaw, sending him tumbling to the floor. He picks himself up quickly, kicking snow as he scrambles away as Five swings his hatchet at Garnet.

I don't move. I look to Astor, who shrugs her shoulders and plops herself down on the step.

My eyes move to Delaney and Garnet's forgotten swords on the snow. It would be easy, I suppose, but I don't do easy. I do challenges and hardship.

Five manages to get away from Delaney enough to grab Eight's wrist and begin to yank her backwards to run. Delaney staggers to her feet, surprisingly tired from her fight with Five, as the male partner stands back and treads away to Six who waits near the steps.

They begin to run for him.

Three of them, all together.

But Garnet grabs his sword and runs after them, determined.

I look at Five, the pair of them holding hands whilst the girl tugs Eight like a little child. But the boy trips in the snow, falling. He loses his grip on his partners, but they stop, just as Garnet spears his sword through Five's back. He groans, hurt, blood seeping into the white blanket beneath him. Garnet rips the sword back out, splashes off Five's ruby blood spraying over the girl and Eight's faces, so close to their partner's slowly dying body.

Eight screams hysterically as Five drags her away swiftly, the droplets of blood on her face identical to her hair colour.

Garnet does nothing but laugh as the male from Five's cannon rockets throughout the concrete arena.

"That was entertaining," Astor mumbles. "I could have done better, though."

My eyes are fixed on the alliance of now three as they disappear up the stairs, and then, Five's body surrounded by the wet blood that grows bigger and bigger.

Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People.

The blog for this story is - glasshousehungergames . blogspot. com - just take out the spaces. Deaths will be notified there.

Jack Ampere, District Five.

Sorry to the submitters that lost their tribute. In all honest, these were the tributes I struggled to write and connect too, and in all fairness, I couldn't keep them around and constantly struggle throughout. Please stick around, but if you don't, that's fine. These are the Hunger Games and this is how it works.

Again, I'm sorry.

As you'll notice, something is missing. I've decided to abolish the pointing system. Frankly, I feel as if you guys feel like you have vote for tributes. I'm sorry if you felt that way. I've much rather just hear your opinions on what happened, what you liked and things like that, rather than you guys stressing out over votes.

Since I do decide the order, I'll leave it at that. All points collected will still influence me, though.

I would still greatly appreciate reviews, so that I know you are reading. If you don't want to review, then why create a character and not watch them? I'll take all of this into account when deciding on kills, mind you.

You're free to do what you want.

I'm starting a new SYOT, though it won't start until Child's Play is finished and Glasshouse is down a little more. Blood Thicker Than Water is a Quarter Quell, an extension of canon, and frankly, something I'm super excited for. :p

If you want to apply, go to the story and fill the form out (which is slightly altered) and submit like you did for Glasshouse through PM! :)