Ghost of Our Past Chapter 18: Bloodbath & Day 1, a hunger games fanfic

Okay, I was to excited to go back to sleep, and here I was typing all of this out. If your tribute dies know that this was hard for me. Like, really hard. Killing tributes is never fun, unless the submitter is a jerk, and none of you are jerks.

Side note: I wish the format was more like google docs. I type like 10 lined paragraphs, and then I get to the freaking story and it shows up as two lines. It sucks.

I believe the world is coming to an end,

Oh well I guess, we're gonna find out.

Let's see how far we've come.

Joseph Aleds, 18

District 3 Male

I'm trembling. In a matter of minutes, I'm going to be thrust into an arena with everyone I've known since I was a kid. Forced to kill everyone until I'm either the last standing, or someone else. I'm going to have to go into the Hunger Games with the girl that I love. Everything is coming to an end today.

"Tributes, please sit in front of the screen."

A hole in the ground opens up, and a chair slides out of the floor. I walk over to it and take a seat, and when I do a TV screen appears on the wall. An avox walks into the room holding what looks like a virtual reality helmet and places it on my head with a note attached.

If you had a chance to change everything...would you?

Confused, and a little hopeful that I won't actually have to go into the arena, I place the helmet on my head, and I instantly regret it. A pain shoots through my body, it's so intense that I never have felt anything like it before. Imagine a tractor driving over your head.

Images, a lot like videos with me in them flood into my brain. I don't remember any of these videos, and don't recall any of these memories, but there I am. Clear as day running around. There's a girl with red hair. She is very pretty. Then I died.

The helmet flies off my head and I take a quick inhale of breath. I can't breathe. Everything in me is confused. Brynlee. How could I forget Brynlee?! She was my first love. How the hell am I only 18 years old and in the year 301 ADD when I was in the first Hunger Games?! What the hell is going on?

"Tributes, I'm sure you're very confused," says the voice of President Rachel Callowgwey. "Give me a minute to explain. You all were dead. There is really no other way to say that than to rip the bandage off, but I brought you back to life to give you another go in the real world. A second chance if you would. We've trained you to the best of our abilities so that you could be able to correct the past mistakes of your past. Everyone has skeletons in their closets, can you live with yours? Good luck tributes. May the odds be ever in your favor. Please make your way to the launch tubes."

I find a bit of bliss in the idea set that I'm not the only one who had memories like that flood back, but what am I going to tell Ava? How can I let her know that I had someone else in an old life, and still have feelings for her now that I actually remember her?

Don't get me wrong. I love Ava, I really do, but I can't help but think of Brynlee now. What happened to her?

Entering the launch tube is surreal, everything is going exactly how I always saw they would on the recaps of the games. The glass doors close, and I'm staring at an empty room, that could potentially be my last view of something familiar ever.

The tube rises, and I'm waiting for a moment when I see light, or that I see something that provides a way to be able to see. When the tube starts moving, it's dark all around. Am I stuck in the tube? Is it malfunctioning?

"Hello?" I call

Lights flick on everywhere. Lights of pink, purple, blue, and orange. Arrows are lining the walls, and a creepy looking giant clown is sitting on a box inside a ticketbooth.

"Tributes!" it says in a goofy voice. "Welcome to the Freakshow! Kindly follow the arrows to your destination, there you will get further instructions, and remember have a FANTASTIC RIDE!"

I walk a little cautiously around the clown. I've always hated those things. Who puts makeup on and does weird tricks like that? It's not normal. I don't get how being creepy is fun to anyone.

Arriving at the end of the arrow is a set of stairs. I see that there are 26 multiple staircases and all of us are standing at the beginning of them.

"Tributes. Please don't kill each other yet!" says the voice urgently.

We arrive at the top of the stairs, and what looks like to be a giant white platform. In the very center is the cornucopia with the typical arrangement of goodies, and past that are rollercoaster carts, which I'm assuming is our only way off this platform.

As if on cue the stairs behind me fall the ground, leaving nothing but a timer, and a field full of goodies.

"Tributes, please stay on the big square you're currently on until the time runs out!" says the creepy clown voice.

The clock begins to go down, and it's time for me to get my head back in the game.

All eyes on me in the center of a ring

Just like a circus.

When I crack that whip

Everyone gon' trip

Just like a circus.

Carmen Diego, 18

District 1 Female

Great. So my ally just also happens to be the one that killed me in my last games. This bitch better watch her back, and if she tries any funny stuff I won't hesitate to lay her out. I think she knows that I know, because she's staring at me with a twinge of regret in her eyes. She should be to. I might not be able to do anything right now, but the second this alliance is over, she's gone.

Besides, it's not like she actually poses a threat. I don't know what happened to her last games, but it certainly isn't something that I'll allow to happen this time around. I will destroy this competition. This is my year.

Alright Carmen, it's go time. Get your game face on. You have to get a kill. You have to show the sponsors you're worth the money they put towards you.

Nobody moves. We stand in a circle looking at each other. This is the moment that we've all been waiting for, and everyone just sits there. We stand there for what seems like forever, and if everyone is just going to stand there, then I'm going to get the good stuff.

When I move, that's when everyone starts moving. The first thing that I want to do is locate my teammates. If I can get them rounded up with a decent amount of supplies, we can get out of here unscathed.

I turn and see Artemis as she runs past Nickle and slams him to the ground in the process. Edith is headed straight towards me, and I have half of a mind to kill her now, and just get this crap over with. Vera is still with Honora and Jinx, but I think she is just looking for a chance to get away because she keeps staring at me. Once Artemis and Edith make it to the group, Vera makes a sprint for it from where she was with Honora and Jinx.

They look confused, and then Honora sprints after her in what I assume is her about to kill her. Vera is saved only by the fact that Amandus wasn't paying attention and runs straight into Honora as he was trying to get to the rollercoaster depart. She looks at him angry, and then bends down and snaps his neck.

The first kill of the games.

Once Vera reaches here we load into the cart, and roll down the hill. Once we get to the bottom I turn to Edith and give her a stern look.

"I swear on everything, if you get any funny ideas, I'll kill you right here myself."

She nods as we continue to run down the main clearing of the arena. There look to be four different sections of the arena. One has a merry-go-round that just screams bad news, one has a mirror house, which could get useful in switching things up on our opponents, one is a giant corn field maze, and I assume that's our main refreshment part of the arena, and then there is a carnival game section.

"I vote the mirror house," says Artemis.

We nod as we run towards our secret hideaway for the games. All made it through the bloodbath. All unscathed.

"That was close," says Vera. She looks scared, and really shaken up.

"Don't freak," I say grabbing her hand as we start in this giant maze. "We got you."

How can you see into my eyes?

Like open doors?

Breathing you down into my core, where I've become so numb.

Jinx Freight, 18

District 6 Female

Everything is moving so fast right now. Normally I'm good at keeping my cool. This however, is making it hard to keep anything anywhere. Turning to my left, I see Nickle jamming a sword into Tycho's heart, and Wyatt and Julian look pained as they watch their brother go down in the bloodbath. I feel a bit remorseful for them, when all of a sudden, I see a short girl run at me.

I sidestep, and then realize that she was never intending to get me. I also realized that it's Sylvia. She is fighting with Honora, and they are currently on the ground rolling around, when I feel a sharp pain in my back. I turn and see Jade standing there with her face looking less than impressed with my fight back.

"You know I was honestly expecting more from a psychic."

It's hard to stand, and she doesn't make it easier when she pulls the knife out of my back. I slowly sink to the ground. Refusing to allow the girl the satisfaction of getting any sort of emotion from me.

"JINX!" screams Honora as she kicks Sylvia off and runs towards me. She wraps her arms around me and begins to cry.

Sylvia is about to run back at her, when Jade pulls her back, and they board the shuttle with the rest of their alliance and slide down the rail. It wasn't something that I ever thought could happen, me dying in the bloodbath. I always assumed that I would be safe during the first half the games.

I guess that is the danger in safety. It's deceiving.

"Jinx, I can't do this," says Honora as she weeps into my shoulder.

I plant my hand on her back and wrap her in a hug to the best of my abilities.

"You better...win…." I say.

There was a time when I was alone.

Nowhere to go, nowhere to call home.

My only friend was the man in the moon,

and even sometimes he'd go away, too.

Baptiste L'Acroix, 18

District 8 Male

This is frightening. Everything is moving so fast, and me and Jayanti aren't sure which way to go. There's four different options, but all of them look as if they could cause me some kind of physical harm.

"Where do we go?"

This is stressful, and Jayanti look just as as stressed as I am, and then we heard it. The sound of a cart clicking into place. We turn and see Katarina, Ellie, and Keanu getting out of their cart. They're carrying multiple weapons, like knives, a sword, and a lasso. When they get out, and they see us, Jayanti and I try to run towards the mirror house, but the lasso wraps around my foot, and I'm being dragged back.

When he sees me being dragged, Jayanti turns around and tries to pull me from the opposite way, but he's tackled by Katarina.

"You should have left him, Jay," she says.

"Wait!" I say. "Let him go. Do what you need with me, that's fine. Just let him go."

"Fine." says Katarina as she motions to Keanu. He gives me a sorry look as he takes his sword and shoves down into my stomach. A lurch of pain shoots through me, and it's like nothing I've ever experienced in my whole life.

Jayanti fights off Katarina, as blood starts to pool around me like mini red rivers. The pain intensifies as Keanu pulls the sword out of my stomach, and everything is getting fuzzy. The last thing I see before everything goes black is Katarina slitting Jayanti's throat.

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose.

Fire away, fire away.

Shoot me down, but I won't fall.

I am titanium.

Caius Sevara, 18

Capitol Male Tribute

The corn field seemed like the most logical choice for a group of our size to come to. Amazingly, all of us made it out of the bloodbath. We had our doubts about Jade and Sylvia making it, but the two girls proved to be strong enough to take on some of the strongest competitors in the competition.

"So what do we do from here?" asks Hazel as she sits on the ground. She puts her hands behind her as she leans back against them.

"Well, we wait for now," says Shawn. "There is a big alliance, and I can't imagine them waiting around for everyone to come out of hiding. If anything we better get ready for the worst case scenario. It's been a few hours since the bloodbath, and I bet they're getting ants-"

As if on cue, we hear a number of voices approaching us. I wasn't quite sure who it was until I heard Honora's angry growl as she is stomping around. Jinx's death has affected her more than I realized it would. It's surprising that the ice princess has a heart.

"Well, this could be troublesome," I say as I start to get up and frivolously start to pack away the little supplies of food and weapons that we have.

"Well, what do we have here."

To our dismay, before we had time to even move the entirety of the Frat and Srat alliance makes their way into the clearing. They look beat up and bruised, and angry. Mostly angry than anything. Wyatt leads the way with a sword, followed closely by Ares.

"Looks like we get to have some fun, boys." says Ares with a taunting smile.

Hazel stands up and smiles insincerely. "Come on guys, for old time's sake. There has been enough death today. Let's not continue to open up wounds by continuing it."

"What do you care?" asks Nickle as he looks mockingly at her. "It's not like you can feel anything anyways."

"That is uncalled for, Nickle," says Hazel coldly.

"Fine, I have a heart. I'll only kill one of you," says Wyatt smiling.

This is so uncalled for. Yes, we are in the Hunger Games. Yes, we are supposed to fight to the death, however I'm not as bloodthirsty as the rest of these tributes. I've never understood the process of making someone feel inadequate and belittling them to the point where they feel helpless. We've had 5 kids we've grown up with die today. Why do we need to add a sixth?

"No one is going to offer anyone up?" asks Wyatt. "Fine. I can pick. Eeny, meeny, miney, you." he says as he takes a knife out of Ava's hands and flings it into Shawn's head. He falls, and the cannon fire is deafening. He was here. Right in front of me, and then the next moment… just gone.

They begin to walk away, but an anger rages inside of me. This isn't right. This isn't fair. Everyone crowds around Shawn, tears are being shed, hearts are being broken. I'm not feeling any of that. I pick up the spear from the floor, and lean back hurl the spear into the corn maze.

I know it's a long shot, and I wasn't expecting anything to come from it, but I heard a scream, and then another cannon sounded. The idea that I just killed someone, I can no longer claim innocence in all of this. I've become the problem.

"We're even then," says Wyatt with a cocky sound to his voice.

Right as they leave, the arena changes from day to night, and the anthem sounds. The logo of the country appears in the sky, and we are looking at the words in the sky that shake everyone in the group.

The Fallen

Nickle Parks, District 4

Tycho Brunsfeld, District 5

Jinx Freight, District 6

Jayanti Haeok, District 6

Baptiste L'Acroix, District 8

Amandus Porter, District 9

Shawn Wheel, District 10

"He might have been an ass, and also liked looking at mine," says Jade, "Shawn didn't deserve that though. Nickle, well my only regret is I didn't do it myself."

"We made it past the first day," says Sylvia staring at the last picture of Shawn as it fades into the sky.

"We should move so they can collect the body," says Hazel. Sometimes it's great that she doesn't have emotions. It makes it better for people who can't say the things that she says.

We collect our supplies, and with one last look to Shawn, we wave goodbye to our fallen friend. To some a fallen brother. He will be missed.

We have finally gotten to my favorite part in the story. Killing all your tributes. AYEEE. High key, I know this part sucks. If I killed your tribute, know that it's just I couldn't find an arc for that character. Everyone sent in such beautiful tributes, and learning and discovering them for this story was amazing. However, only one of these kids is getting out.

Alliance Update

Srat/Frat: Ava/Honora/Ares/Wyatt/Joseph/Julian

Dysfunctional cause Edith killed Carmen past life?: Carmen/Edith/Artemis/Vera

Vixens: Katarina/Ellie/Keanu

This got dark and made me sad: Caius/Jade/Sylvia/Hazel/Jade/Orion/Sashen

Eulogies

26th Place: Amandus Porter (Killed by Honora Cashmere Flloyd)- Amandus was submitted as a bloodbath, and let's be honest. I needed at least one submission like that. It wasn't exactly a district spot that was flying off the shelves either, so thanks Starry for sending him in.

25th Place: Tycho Brunsfeld (Killed by Nickle Parks)- Gryffindor I'm sorry that I killed Tycho, you kind of fell of the face of the planet with this story though. I did warn people if they weren't reviewing that their tribute would go bye bye. I did originally have plans for him, but if there's someone that is continuously reading and reviewing, compared to someone who isn't, I'll always save the reading person's tribute. (That actually saved a couple of you.)

24th Place: Jinx Freight (Killed by Jade VanBelle)- Haley, I'm so so so sorry. Jinx is great, I just had SUCH a hard time writing this chick. She was good, and always someone that was interesting to hear about in the background, but when it came to actually writing a POV it was so hard for me. It's nothing personal, Boo. Love ya lots.

23rd Place: Jayanti Haeok (Killed by Katarina Morellee)- Haiden, I am sorry. Jayanti was good, and there was nothing explicitly bad about them. However, in a group full of the big personalities, it was SO easy to fade into the background for him. Killing him in the bloodbath made the most sense to me, only due to the fact I wouldn't know where to do it later.

22nd Place: Baptiste L'Acroix (Killed by Keanu Hargrave)- Anna, again same. It was hard to figure out a place for Baptiste in a cast such as this. He was such a gentle person in such a brutal games. He wasn't someone like Ava who had Joseph watching her. It just made the most sense in my head. This is absolutely nothing personal at all.

21st Place: Shawn Wheel (Killed by Wyatt Lane)- Sally, the alliance was just too big! He was a fun character to write for, but I couldn't justify bringing him farther than this. I'm so so sorry. I hope you'll continue to read my friend.

20th Place: Nickle Parks (Killed by Caius Sevara)- Abby, this was nothing personal. I didn't intend for him to die here, but looking at everything I feel like I murdered the character he was supposed to be. I also felt like if he was to get an arc, from the form I got, would be very dad centered, and like...his dad is dead at this point. It wasn't anything against you dead. You're still a little SMOL Child.

Sad to see anyone go?

What's in store for day 2?

Predictions on who's next?

Keep it classy,

Caleb