List of the Alive

Cleo Berkeley

Jason Viktorr

Sparkle Velia

Niall Hoult

Diesel Cain

Jessalyn Redway

Skye Coral

Ember Gildern

Violet Queens

Kai Septor

Lottie Blacilla

Day Seven

The next morning, the Careers discovered that they had no food. After a long argument, they decided to split up, and two of them would go and find food, probably taking it from other tributes. Jayson and Cleo volunteered to go, as they were most attracted to the idea of beating up and probably killing other tributes for their food.

So Niall and Sparkle were left sitting by the fire, awkwardly staring in different directions. Finally Sparkle turned to Niall and asked him: 'Why do you have such a boring name? Everyone else I know is named after something beautiful, apart from your family.'

'I think you mean, everyone else has a stupid name,' replied Niall. 'Look, it's okay for girls, but I think that it's stupid for a guy to be called something like Gold or Brilliance. Doesn't exactly inspire respect, does it? At least, that's what my parents thought.'

Sparkle nodded quietly, and said nothing more. They sat in silence until Jayson and Cleo returned. They were carrying no food, but Cleo was holding something stretched in her hands. 'Come look at what we found!' she called. They went over and looked curiously at it. She was holding a tiny snake, hardly a foot long, with black, purple and yellow scales.

'It's poisonous – it was eating a rat, and the rat's flesh had gone all purple where the snake had bitten it. Niall, get me a small bottle from my rucksack, it's one of the things I had out of the Cornucopia.' Niall found it and brought it to her. 'Unscrew it!' he did so, and carefully she manipulated the snake so its head was just above the rim. She pressed it down, and instinctively the snake bit the bottle. Clear poison leaked out of the fangs, filling the bottom half of the bottle – there was a surprising amount. She carefully put that cap back on and slipped in her pocket.

O

Kai swung through a window, feeling vaguely like one of the heroic action adventurers he had read about when he was younger. Shouldn't he be on his way to save his lady-love, instead of searching for food? But there wasn't really anything he could do – he didn't even have a lady-love.

Perhaps if he made it back to District Eight, girls would be more interested in him. They had always fawned over his bigger, stronger, more handsome brother. Before he hadn't cared much – his head was too much in the clouds, and all he wanted to do was go street running.

He managed to shoot a wild dog with the crossbow. The quarrel had hit its neck and made a bit of a mess, but he wasn't feeling picky. He built a fire in the third floor of the tower, just below the parapet. He'd got the driest wood he could find, and hoped that there wouldn't be too much smoke – it would be like having a big sign tacked up saying: 'Hey, tribute in here, wanna have a shot?'

The fire was tricky to start and the meat a long time in preparing and cooking, so by the time he was ready to eat atop the parapet, the sun was setting. At first it was a blessed relief from the incinerator heat of the day, but the temperatures dropped dramatically, and soon Kai was huddled up around his dying fire, all his clothes wrapped around him and trying not to shiver. The inside of the watchtower was full of drafts and there was no glass in the windows. Before it hadn't been a problem, but it was the coldest night yet, and now he wished that he was back in his house in District Eight, with its central heating and thick paned windows.

He looked up expectantly for a parachute, and to his joy saw one floating in through the window. Ripping it open, he found a jacket inside. The outer part had been made waterproof but breathable, like a more expensive version of what he had on, meant for hot weather. But the inside had a detachable layer of the warmest material he had ever touched, made to trap body heat.

With a grin, he pulled it on, and almost immediately fell asleep.

O

Lottie crouched in the corner of a hovel, cradling her cut hand. The red line stretched from the base of her little finger to just below her thumb, thin but deep, making it difficult and painful to move the fingers on her left hand. It stood out starkly against the white of her hand. She had licked it until it stopped bleeding, tasting her blood.

And now she rocked back and forth, holding it close and muttering curses against Diesel that made no sense. She could still see the flash of the steel, bite of the cruel, cruel blade. And now, in the dark, her imaginary friend came to her, whispered to her.

'Take revenge. Take it.'

'I am not strong enough,' she wept.

'Take revenge. Or if you cannot find the one who dealt this wound, then kill all others that you find.'

'I will, I WILL!' screamed Lottie.

O

Violet stumbled into a house, feeling hungrier than she had ever felt before, even hungrier than when her brother had died and she stopped eating for a while. Her body ached with tiredness but her stomach refused to let her sleep, she was so hungry.

She fell to her knees, eyes half closed. Her mouth was dry and parched too – she was far from the lake, and did not feel she had the strength to walk so far. The house had a tap – she fell on it, and hurriedly turned the stiff and rusty tap. But all that came out was a muddy dribble.

Turning her gaze to the house, she saw that a few things littered the floor – stones and sticks and a dented tin box. Thinking that perhaps food lay inside, she seized it and turned it over, plunging her hand inside. There was no food, but she felt a sharp stab of pain in her finger.

Looking closely, she saw that a tiny viper lay in one corner, hardly a foot long with black, purple and acid yellow scales. It seemed to scowl up at her with mean red eyes. Her finger was throbbing painfully, she turned her gaze to it and saw, to her horror, that the bite was purple and swollen. The pain was spreading through her hand, she realised in terror that the snake was poisonous.

She thought of cutting off her hand, stopping the flow of poison, but she had no blade and anyhow, the poison spread too quickly – her arm was burning, swelling, twitching uncontrollably. It felt as if a thousand needles were stabbing every inch of her skin. Her gaze blurred, the interior of the house swimming before her eyes. She wished for a sponsor gift but none came.

And now she was struggling to breathe, her lungs seemed to be seizing up. They felt full and unable to work, she coughed and froth and blood filled her mouth, she couldn't fill her body with oxygen. Her entire body was twitching, veins now visible and a bright purple or black. Her mouth was filled with the froth, choking and suffocating her, her head weighed a ton, her vision failing.

She fell forward and everything turned black.

O

Ember sat against the wall of the house, looking out the window at the sky above. It was getting dark, the day had passed quickly. He was wondering whether he had made the right decision, leaving Skye and Jessalyn. They had been so kind and generous, feeding him and probably saving him from dying of starvation. But as he had said, he was better off alone.

He suddenly sat up at the sound of voices, thinking it was perhaps Skye and Jessalyn. But there were too many, they were too loud and had different accents. To his horror he realised they were District One and Two accents – Careers!

He jumped to his feet, ready to run, but the Careers were already in the street, there was no way out. His only chance was to duck low and stay inconspicuous. The Careers suddenly appeared, two boys and two girls, only next door. He tried to hide but he was too slow, and the blonde girl turned and saw him.

'District TWELVE!' she cried, and instantly they were at the house, through the door and surrounding him. The dark girl kicked him onto the floor, he tried to jump back up but the bigger boy clamped him down with a boot. 'Finally, a tribute to kill!'

The huge one pulled out a hammer but the dark girl stopped him. 'Wait. I've got something I want to try.' She pulled out a knife and a small bottle of clear liquid, pouring some of it on the blade of the knife. 'Niall, Sparkle, step back, you won't want to get in the way – not that I care, of course. Jayson, hold him still and stay still yourself.' She turned and grinned at Ember, waving the bottle. 'See what this is? It's highly deadly poison, from a viper I found. I've only seen its effects on the dead – I want to see what it does to the living.'

She took a step back and aimed, Jayson jumped out the way and Ember took the moment to try and break free. But the girl was too fast, the knife hit his ankle and he fell to the floor with a yell. He pulled the knife out but it was too late, the poison was spreading quickly.

'Please help me!' he yelled. 'It hurts so much it burns IT BURNS!' his voice rose to a scream as he scrabbled around on the floor, tearing at his leg as if to rip off the poison. 'PLEASE!' but he was having difficulty speaking, coughing and choking on the froth that had bubbled up and was now dripping from his mouth.

He gave one last scream, clutching his throat, before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the floor, dead. There was a pause, then Niall rounded on Cleo. 'What the hell was that?'

'I killed a tribute – it's what we're here for,' she replied. 'Or are you too soft for that?'

'I'm okay with killing people, but not in that way! It's just plain sadistic,' he snarled. Cleo scowled, her expression turning deadly.

'Are you questioning what I do? Shall I give you the same treatment?' she hissed, drawing another knife. 'I'm sure there's enough poison for you.' Jayson grabbed Niall's shoulders and Sparkle pulled something from his waist. He shook them off angrily. 'No? Well then I don't think there's space for you in this group.'

'Fine then. I'll leave. And I'm happy about it.' He turned and pushed past Jayson and Sparkle, leaving the house.

O

Jessalyn and Skye made their way through the streets, carrying their food. Jessalyn had some more meat and Skye plants. Both were weary and hungry and looking forward to being able to sit down and relax a little.

'How about here?' asked Jessalyn, pointing towards a nondescript house. 'Looks alright.' Skye shrugged in agreement and followed her into the house. Skye dropped the meat and fell to the floor, closing his eyes. Next thing he knew, Jessalyn was slapping him around the face. 'Hey, sleepy, come look at this!'

'Couldn't you wake me in a nicer way?' grumbled Skye. Jessalyn pecked him on the lips and he immediately perked up, jumping to his feet. 'That's more like it.' Jessalyn rolled her eyes and led him to a corner of the room.

'Look in there,' she pointed into the shadows. Skye squinted where she was pointing, and saw a tiny little snake curled up. It seemed to notice them and reared up, hissing. Slowly, Jessalyn stretched her hand out towards it.

'Don't touch it!' they spun around to see Niall in the doorway. 'It's poisonous. You'll be dead in a minute.'

'Seriously?' Niall nodded. 'Let's find another house.' They gathered up their things walked a couple of streets. After spending a few minutes scouring the house until they were sure there were no snakes, Jessalyn and Skye rounded on Niall.

'What do you want?' asked Skye. Niall frowned at him.

'Don't go all aggressive on me, you were the one who abandoned me with that lot!' he snapped.

Skye shrugged, looking sheepish. 'I didn't know where your loyalties lay.'

'Well they certainly don't lie with the Career gang.'

'I'm sorry. So you left?'

'I left and they made me leave – a mixture of the two. I argued with Cleo, see, because she poisoned the District Twelve boy instead of just killing him straight off. It was sick. A drop of that stuff in your blood and you're dead. No cure.'

'Thanks for telling us,' said Jessalyn. 'You probably just saved my life. But Ember's dead?' Niall nodded, and she looked blown away. Skye put his arm around her shoulders in a comforting way.

'I was wondering if I could join you,' blurted out Niall. 'I don't have any supplies or anything, but I can fight with my…' His voice trailed off as he looked at his waist. Two empty sheaths, no dual swords. He swore loudly. 'Sparkle! She took them from me as I left, I remember now, how could I be so stupid!' He sighed and turned away. 'You probably don't want me now, I'm useless.'

Jessalyn grabbed his arm. 'Not so fast! Of course we're not going to reject you because you don't have any food or weapons. Do you really think we're that heartless? Anyway, look, somebody else thinks you're worth something too.' She pointed up at the sky, at a grey parachute. It floated right into Niall's hand, a long, heavy package.

Excitedly he ripped it open to reveal a pair of new dual swords. His mouth dropped open. They were even better than the ones he had before. The hilts were wrapped in gold wire with teardrop shaped pommels and cross guards of twisted ornate gold. The blades were silver steel with a swirling pattern down the flat sides. The edges were incredibly sharp, sharper than his olds ones, which had become blunt.

'Come and have some supper,' said Skye, grinning.

Another one! The tributes are getting fewer! OOOOOOO

List of the Dead

Hareld Wyre

Jenna Monroe

Nathaniel Merezald

Pau Furnely

Ginevra Helena di Cosimo

Patrick Volta

Trix Lexon

Amore Gemini

Odio Gemini

Tabytha laDawn Carmahel

Dawn Shentell

Sephiria Raven

Scott Fosters

Violet Queens

Ember Gildern

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