Chapter 8: The Blood Bath

Author's Note: Warning - this chapter contains scenes of disturbing, graphic, bloody violence of children killing children. Viewer discretion is advised.

The gong sounded. Amanda Snow broke into a flat out sprint, running straight at the mouth of the cornucopia. She thought of grabbing up the small umbrella that was only three feet away from her, but it was too far out of her way, it would have taken too much time, plus, she didn't consider herself quite that desperate just yet. She glanced to the side for a fraction of a second, just long enough to see Hector Ardamin running into the woods. She saw May Salmon run towards the cornucopia instead of away from it.

'What is she doing?' though Amanda. 'She's supposed to go for cover and wait for us.'

But she had no time to worry about that. She glanced at Lisa and Blaze. They were as fast as she was.

They all got to the pile of supplies at the same time. Up close they could see there were still no weapons. Before anyone attacked each other, everyone grabbed a backpack or crate and looked inside hoping that the weapons were simply hidden out of sight.

Blaze pulled off the lid of a crate, inside the crate he saw a first-aid kit, a bottle of antiseptic, a bottle of cough syrup, a bottle of Vicodin pills, and a whole bunch of other medicines. But no weapons.

Lisa grabbed a backpack, unzipped the main zipper and inside saw a water bottle, a cigarette lighter, a ziplock bag full of elastic bands, a flashlight, a compass, a package of beef jerky, a bunch of bananas, and a variety of other useful items, but no weapons.

May Salmon took a backpack and opened the main zipper, inside she found several plastic containers filled with fruit, a jar of pickles, a box of crackers, a book of matches, some night vision goggles, and a short-handled five pound sledge hammer.

Amanda grabbed a backpack and opened the main zipper, inside the backpack was a sleeping bag that reflects body heat back in, several shakers of different seasonings, a small portable solar powered stove, a pot, a fork, a spoon, and a steak knife. 'A steak knife.' thought Amanda excitedly. Not exactly a weapon, this item was little more than a crude eating utensil, the blade was only about three inches long, and quite thin, but it was razor sharp and had a serrated edge, was better than nothing, and would do the job.

All of these things happened simultaneously, and as the Career Tributes were distracted looking for weapons, some of the other tributes who were going to wait till later in the Games to fight had use the Career's distraction to grabbed the first backpack they could reach and bolted for the trees.

Susanna Xavier didn't look for weapons either. She just quickly ran her whole left arm through three straps of three different backpacks, and grabbed up a tent pack with her right hand. She passed right by two of the smaller, younger tributes who were in her path as though she had no desire to kill them and just headed straight for the woods. But she was intercepted by Breanna Crane who foolishly thought she could kill her with her bare hands. Both Susanna's, arms being weighed down with stuff, she didn't have time to fight, so before Breanna could do anything, with tremendous force Susanna kicked Breanna right in the face with the heel of her boot, breaking her nose and knocking her out, blood running heavily down her face.

Amanda saw Breanna go down, but knew she wasn't dead. If Breanna gets back up, she will be tough to beat in a fight. Amanda suddenly felt sick to her stomach at the idea of killing. She didn't want to hurt anyone. But she then remembered the important advice that Katniss had given her the day before.

Flashback:

"Amanda, taking a life is not easy, but it's the Hunger Games." said Katniss, a tone of urgency in her voice, "Winning costs you everything you have, on the inside." she said touching her chest, "You can't win unless you choose to become a killer. And you can't become a killer until you choose to become a monster. I could have skipped this part of this lecture, but it's simply the truth, and no one ever won the Hunger Games who didn't.

"Now, when you are attacked by another tribute, and you have a chance to kill them...don't hesitate. Especially if it's a Career."

End flashback:

Breanna Crane was vulnerable. Amanda knew that she had to capitalize on it. About five seconds had passed since Breanna Crane had fallen down. With her nerves protesting, she conjured up an extreme force of will, and leapt forward and aimed for a vulnerable spot. She stabbed the stake knife into the neck of the unconscious Career Tribute.

That was it. The deed was done. She had made herself into a monster. She was now one step closer to being a winner. She withdrew the now bloody knife and remembered that she and her team were not there to fight over who controls all of the supplies, their plan was to grab some weapons and go. But, now, since there were no weapons?

"Guys come on, there are no weapons!" shouted Amanda, "Grab a backpack and let's go!"

After Blaze had glanced at the medicine in the crate, he was going to replace the lid and grab the whole thing up. But just then he was caught from behind by David Crane, and David Crane squeezed his neck with all his might. Blaze's lungs were cut off of air. It was only a few moments went David saw in his peripheral vision his sister get stabbed in the neck by the Pink-Haired granddaughter of President Snow.

"No!" he shouted in despair and disbelief as he let go of Blaze Trenton's neck and ran for his sister.

Blaze coughed as he regained his breath. He grabbed the first-aid kit inside the crate and a couple of bottles and then ran for the trees.

May Salmon was attacked by Giovanni Leon. She pulled out the five pound sledge hammer from her backpack and swung it at Giovanni Leon as he attacked her, but she was clumsy with it. Giovanni Leon disarmed her, pulling the hammer from her hands. She tried to run, but it was too late. Giovanni swung the hammer down and buried the head of the hammer deep in her skull, splattering himself with blood.

All of the other tributes were now fighting either fist fights, or wrestling, or using other objects as weapons.

Lisa Derrek began fighting Sherman Griffin, but only for a moment until Amanda came up behind Sherman and stabbed him in the back. The blade however ricochet of one of his ribs and broke off at the hilt of the handle.

Amanda looked at the broken handle and realized it was useless now. She tossed it away while Sherman begin to stagger to the side bleeding out of his wound. Amanda then high jump kicked him in the head and he fell down to the ground. Lisa and Amanda looked in May Salmon's direction but saw that she was dead.

"Leave her!" commanded Lisa, and Amanda, Lisa, and Blaze all ran out of there. Between them and the trees there were three more backpacks lying on the ground that could hold anything, and since there were no weapons, anything is valuable. They grabbed them up on the way to the trees.

Hector Ardaman had just fled the large field when the gong sounded. He had only traveled through the woods about 200 yards or so until he came to a river. The river was about 100 yards wide. The only thing that he could do was stick to the plan, keep moving in the direction of the sun for one mile and wait. He stuck his hand into the water. It wasn't freezing but it wasn't warm, the temperature was merely tolerable. He touched his fingers to his tongue. Seawater. He waded into the salt-water river and began to dog-paddle to the opposite shore in the direction of the sun.

David Crane took his sister's bloody cheeks in his hands. He couldn't believe that his sister of all the tributes was the first to die. He fumed with anger as he looked up at Amanda Snow fleeing into the woods with her allies. He got up and ran after her, but was intercepted by Chaz Zoltan. As his attention was on Amanda Snow, he did not see Chaz's fist coming and received a hard punch right in the face. Chaz flexed his fingers in pain as David's skull appeared to be really hard. They fought with about equal skill for and few moments but David had gone savage. He lunged forward and bit Chaz's neck. With all the strength of the jaw, his teeth pierced Chaz's throat and David tasted blood, and Chaz died.

Dennis Green broke Harley Dillon's neck.

Janis Miller picked up a crate and whacked the corner of it against Neil Jones's face, a spurt of blood came out of his skin and he fell to the ground. Janis kneeled down beside him and slammed the crate down on his head again and again, making sure he was dead, blood splattering everywhere.

Martha Filmer was fighting with Belinda Rogers. They both had received multiple punches in the face from each other. Belinda Rogers had then managed to pin Martha Filmer down and just punched her in the face again and again. Martha felt to the side for something to hit her with, and her hand stumbled across a thin sheet of plastic. She grabbed it up and laid it flat against Belinda's face as she inhaled. Belinda became distracted as she couldn't breath. Martha used Belinda's moment of distraction to push her off and then sat on top of her and held the plastic over and around her face as an air tight wrap so she could not breath. After struggling futilely for a few moments, Belinda passed out and then died.

Giovanni Leon saw Joyce Harrison grab up a backpack and run, but caught her from behind and and buried his hammer through her skull and into her brain, splattering blood everywhere.

Irene Avion had been wrestling with Klay Randolph until she got a hold of his head and with all her strength slammed it against the side of the cornucopia. He fell to the ground and did not get back up. Irene grabbed up a backpack and ran off towards the trees.

That was it. The fight was over. It took less than 5 minutes. All that was left at the cornucopia was the Career Pack. All who didn't die had either ran into the woods straight away without going for the supplies, or grabbed up the nearest backpacks and ran before anyone else could kill them. Even though they had no weapons, with sadistic gloating smiles on their faces, they all then begin rummaging through the big pile of supplies to see what good stuff they had.

Author's Note: I love constructive criticism. Please review.

(Keep reading for Chapter 9: Caesar Flickerman and the Arena)