Dante POV
I lay in an ash-filled crater, buried in the dust and sobbing. What had I been thinking? I wasn't going to be home in a week. I was going home within days, and I was going in a box.
Beth sticking her knife into Harmony over and over
The others were killers. They were butchers, and I was just a boy. They were probably looking for me right now, and they'd find me.
A machete in Ardun's stomach
Something wailed in the empty night. I mewled in fear and curled up in the ash. A flicker of light appeared over the edge of the crater. I was paralyzed as I stared at the shape that appeared in the darkness.
It was a hound unlike anything a human had ever seen. Thick drool hung from its bared teeth. It eyes shone with green light. It was outlined with a ghostly glow that illuminated bare patches in its dark fur. My stomach churned when I saw patches of skin were missing as well, revealing slickly wet muscle. The sickest soul on Earth could not imagine a more hellish form.
I wasn't even breathing as I watched it. Its eyes were on the ground. It was sniffing for me. It entered the crater, and I started to weep silently when three others followed it. They circled around me, drawing closer as they caught my scent. One jerked its head up and stared into my eyes. I shrieked and clawed my way toward the edge of the crater. They were on me before I even got to my feet. I screamed more as they tore into me. I only stopped when I didn't have lungs anymore.
Celeste POV
Oh god, he's dying. Someone's dying. The monsters took him.
The screams mingled with the horrible howls, and within seconds I couldn't tell the two apart. From my camp on a small hilltop behind a sheltering knoll, I could see four glowing beasts ripping and snapping at something someone between them. One of them raised its head and cried out, and I covered my ears. It barked sharply, and the others left their victim and pressed their noses to the ground. They started running toward my hill, and I began to shriek. I ran down the hillside. I knew there wasn't any cover. I picked the hill so I could see someone coming. There was nowhere to run.
I turned around. The hound beasts were already on top of my hill. I stopped shrieking. Then I stopped running. I watched them come.
Erwin POV
Whatever was making that nightmare noise, it probably caused the two cannons I heard. I hoped it didn't like cliffs.
I heard the things baying before I saw a halo of greenish light peeking over the edge of a pile of rocks. With this darkness, I'd fall off a cliff before I ran ten feet. I held a knife in both hands and crouched down.
The thing came into sight, and I saw it was a dog. It was a glowing dog as tall as my chest, but it was a dog. It saw me and growled deep in its throat.
"Come get it, ugly," I snarled at it. It bounded at me, and three others followed.
Against one dog, I might have a chance, but four would tear me to pieces. I thought of Colette and the triplets. Is that how I wanted them to see me die? I took a step back, and I felt my heel dangling over a cliff. In another few seconds, the dogs would be on me. I pivoted and faced the sky.
"I love you, Colette!" I cried. I leapt off the cliff.
I hung in the air for maybe two seconds. Then I crashed into the ground feet first. The impact knocked the air from me and I felt something crack. At the top of the cliff, the glow the dogs emitted let me see them looking down at me and snapping. One of them howled mournfully.
Screw off. You'll have to eat somewhere else, I thought as I lay. I might be dying, but I died on my own terms.
The lead dog growled lowly at me. Then it leapt after me. I watched it grow larger until it smashed into the rocks next to me. It yelped as it hit. From my position ten feet away, I could see its back was shattered. Something red and glowing oozed from underneath it. Its sides heaved as its feet scrabbled. It dragged itself halfway upright and its back legs dangled limply. It started to pull itself toward me.
Oh, you're going to be like that? Come at me. I rolled to one side and held out my hands, both of which were still holding knives. The dog slowly inched closer, and I saw the drool and blood flowing from its open mouth. It snapped at me, and I stuck a pocketknife into its eye. It shrieked and clamped its teeth into my arm, shaking its head wildly. I jammed my knife into its head again and again, sending flecks of green glow and red blood everywhere. It opened its mouth to wail, and I shoved the other knife into its mouth. It bit me again on the shoulder. I screamed and stabbed it as hard as I could in the back of the skull. My strikes and its attacks grew weaker, but we kept at each other. Then, after one final jab, the thing whimpered and fell limp with its head resting on my chest. I looked up and saw the others pacing the clifftop and growling. One of them howled and ran away. The others followed.
You got that right, I thought as I panted. You just keep running.
Jonathan POV
So far, my plan was working perfectly. Everyone forgot about me, and I escaped the Bloodbath without a scratch. I also escaped without any supplies, but I'd work on that later. In the meantime, I was weathering a somewhat chilly and very creepy night under the stars. I was burrowed into a pile of crumbly rocks so nobody would see me. It was uncomfortable and hard, but it was better than the open air.
Another howl rent the air. I shuddered in my rock pile. I hoped it was just the wind. Wind screamed like a banshee all the time. I clutched my little airplane and tried to think of home.
The wind howled more. It was getting louder. It was snarling, too.
Think of home think of home, I repeated to myself. I closed my eyes and pretended I was asleep. Three separate winds kicked up and started to wail. I started to hyperventilate.
The rocks around me shifted. I pulled tighter into a ball. A pale light radiated from outside my hole.
The wind stuck its head into my hole and stopped inches from my face. It growled at me.
Eltara POV
I didn't know what that godawful racket was, but I knew to pick my battles. I hauled myself up one of the blackened trees and waited for daylight.
Whew, it wasn't the souls of dead Tributes after all. It was just hellhounds. Hysperia got a little inspiration from The Hound of the Baskervilles, and those of you who've read it noticed that Dante's description is very close to the book's. Since this is a radioactive Arena, she took the greenish glow and expanded it so that the hounds' bodies show the effects of radiation burn: hair loss and tissue degeneration.
Obituaries:
16th place: Dante Efore
I'm sure this surprised nobody. Dante's submitter mentioned it would be hilarious if he survived the Bloodbath, so I spared him in order to kill him in the Mutt-Bloodbath I'd already planned. Dante was an example of the pants-wetting fear real kids would have in this situation. So many characters in fanfics die bravely or nobly. Most of us would die in a puddle of terror tears. Thanks Xpoptarts for a realistic Tribute who learned his lesson far too late.
15th place: Celeste Ligon
I meant to kill Celeste in the Bloodbath with all the other Tributes who couldn't possibly win. In all the chaos, I forgot to do her in, so she got to die in the second Bloodbath. Celeste was too nice and too innocent to win. Here's hoping the mutts made it quick. I forgot to write down Celeste's submitter, but thank you sir or madam for Celeste. She really got screwed. Three sent her in for being too nice. For shame.
14th place: Jonathan Wright
He was so close to being a Bloodbath, but then I remembered everyone forgets him. So they forgot him there too. Mutts, however, do not forget. He may be forgettable, but he still smells. Jonathan is the only Tribute that I still have no idea why he got sent. I'll have to make something up for his District obituary. Thanks ludy5 for not sending an unstoppable killing machine and for taking time to make a character you knew was pretty much toast.
Eltara got a random teeny POV because I figured if all the POVs were for dying Tributes it would ruin the suspense.