Day 7:

Vivian Shaw, 18
District 1 Female

Cy's face in the sky last night just proved to me that choosing to split off from the pack was the right decision to make, as controversial as I know it'll be back home. Whoever killed him doesn't matter, but I know it was one of my ex-allies. Tensions had started to spark and it's not lost on me that if we hadn't run when we did, I could be in Cy's position. Or even Arietis could be the one to get slain. Strong as he is, he's not immortal. Nobody is.

So far, I think we've chosen a good hideout. Sleeping on bunk beds is a touch more comfortable than being stuck in a sleeping bag on a cold floor surrounded by five other people. We've grabbed enough supplies to last until we find some more tributes, and then kill them to take their supplies. That's the plan Arietis and I agreed upon yesterday, which works well for me.

Arietis is itching to get another kill. I can tell. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to rack up some more kills myself as well, but I know that we have to play the patient game. We have time before we have to take action and risk running into our old allies, who will most definitely be out to take us down if we happen to cross paths-

And then the alarms suddenly go off.

Immediately, I sling my bag over my shoulder and grab my knives. Something's about to happen. I don't know what, but the Gamemakers are about to shake things up before we have to. I feel my heart pound in my chest but I force myself to take a couple of deep breaths to calm down. Now isn't the time to panic. I'm a Career, and good Careers don't panic. Never.

"ATTENTION TRIBUTES!" Athos Leigh-Snow's voice booms in my ears. "THE SPACESHIP YOU ARE STATIONED IN HAS EXPERIENCED A SERIOUS MALFUNCTION AND IS DOOMED TO EXPLODE IN TWENTY MINUTES!"

"What the fuck!?" Arietis says. "An explosion!? Why are they doing this?"
I just shrug. "I don't know."

"ON THE FIRST LEVEL, WE HAVE A TOTAL OF ONLY EIGHT ESCAPE PODS, TWO ON EACH OBSERVATION DECK. AT THE FIFTEEN MINUTE MARK, THEY WILL DEPART FROM THE SPACESHIP. I SUGGEST IF YOU WANT TO MAKE IT TO THEM ON TIME, YOU START RUNNING NOW. GOOD LUCK."

Oh. Oh shit.

I bump Arietis's arm and head for the door. "Arietis! Let's get out of here! We need to get on one of the escape pods!"
Arietis hefts up his spear. "I'm right behind you!"

We race out of the bunkers and head for the nearest pair of stairs. As we run, I suddenly crash into someone. It's Vick from 3. I shove them off me and suddenly Vick throws something at my face: a bottle filled with some kind of yellow liquid. The faint lemon scent reaches my nose as the lid somehow pops off and whatever was inside splashes all over me and stings my eyes.

"Augh!" I try to wipe my face clean with my sleeve. I tackle Vick to the ground and drive my knife through their chest. "You little shit! You'll pay for that!"

"No!" Someone grabs onto my arm and tries to pry me away from Vick. "Get off them!"
I throw Linh to the side and as Vick weakly tries to dislodge the knife from their chest, I rip it free and stab them again. Linh screams. Arietis throws his spear at Walker, who blocks it with a spear of his own. The two weapons colliding makes a loud clanging noise.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see another tribute in the same yellow outside as Vick, followed by a flash of silver. More tributes. I throw the knife at Loire and it misses completely, embedding itself into the wall instead. She must see something behind me, because her eyes widen and she suddenly shoves Mila to the ground.

And one of Arietis's spears goes skewering right through her stomach. Blood squirts everywhere and Loire stumbles against the wall as she slowly sinks down it.

The alarms are still going off and I can't think straight in between them, Linh's screaming, and Mila's wails. I jump to my feet, giving Vick's stirring body one last kick for good measure, and run for the stairs. The lemony liquid drips down the side of my face. I try to ignore it.

Loire Lemaire, 16
District 5 Female

I'm sorry, Elouan.

I'm sorry, Sidonie.

I'm sorry that I didn't come home.

Avonlea Headden, 18
District 4 Female

Red lights suddenly begin to flash in the air as alarms suddenly ring out.

"ATTENTION TRIBUTES! THE SPACESHIP YOU ARE STATIONED IN HAS EXPERIENCED A SERIOUS MALFUNCTION AND IS DOOMED TO EXPLODE IN TWENTY MINUTES!"

A pit suddenly forms in my stomach as the alarms continue to blare and it only worsens. The arena is going to explode!? What's going to happen to us? Are we all doomed? Are the Gamemakers going to kill us all? But how will they have a Victor if they do that-

"ON THE FIRST LEVEL, WE HAVE A TOTAL OF ONLY EIGHT ESCAPE PODS, TWO ON EACH OBSERVATION DECK. AT THE FIFTEEN MINUTE MARK, THEY WILL DEPART FROM THE SPACESHIP. I SUGGEST IF YOU WANT TO MAKE IT TO THEM ON TIME, YOU START RUNNING NOW. GOOD LUCK."

First level of the arena? First level! That's us! I desperately look over at my allies, silently pleading with them to grab what we need and start running for the escape pods so we can get off the doomed spaceship in time with our lives.

"Wait!" Prism says before I can move. "We can use this! If we camp out by the stairs, we can catch any tributes before they come running down!"

Olympia frantically shakes her head. "Prism, we don't have the time."
"Now, now, hear me out…"

I glance down at the almost forgotten sabre in my hand, staring at my reflection in its blade. Hearing Prism's voice in my ears hasn't been a problem before; Cy and I have always taken whatever orders they come up with and carried them out like good little soldiers.

But Cy's not here anymore.

Cy's gone.

And Prism took him from me.

The Avonlea that stares back at me through the sabre looks like a lot of things. Sad. Terrified. Worried. Disturbed. Angry. I have gotten angry before, but this feels different somehow.

The Avonlea that stares back also looks tired. Absolutely exhausted. I feel scared and anxious, but I also feel tired. A week in the arena on very limited sleep hasn't been helping my case much, but I find myself tired of other things too. Of being on the bottom, being on the outside, being forgotten and cast off, again and again and again and again and-

And that exhaustion is leading back to my anger.

"Avonlea." Someone is calling my name. "Avonlea! What, are you deaf or something?" Prism reaches forward and grabs my shoulder. It takes every ounce of willpower I have in me not to flinch at their touch.

"Come on! You're wasting the limited time we have just standing here and-"

I snatch Prism's hand and throw them in front of me. They stumble towards the ground and I thrust my sabre as hard as I possibly can into their back. The blade gets stuck when it meets their flesh and I find myself dragging it downwards, continuing to slice Prism's back open.

The alarms continue to ring in my ears. My head pounds. Somewhere, I think I hear Olympia scream.

Prism lets out a loud gasp for breath and slowly manages to turn around as I finally manage to pull my bloody sabre free from their back. Oh my God. I can't believe I just did that. I just stabbed the leader of the Career pack.

"What the hell…" Prism stutters out weakly, in between heavy pants.
I don't know, I want to say, but all the noises both inside and outside my head are making it too hard for me to think. Instead, I just say the first thing that comes to mind.

"That was for Cy."

I throw the sabre to the ground. I don't want to touch it anymore and I can get a new one in the Cornucopia. I quickly run over and start shoving whatever supplies I can find into a knapsack. Food, water, weapons, if I can grab it and fit it, in it goes. A quick glance behind me, and I see Olympia still standing there with her hands pressed down her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

"Hey," I call to her. "Hey! We don't have a lot of time left! We need to start packing and get out of here!"
Olympia seems to snap out of her daze and joins me in the Cornucopia. We fill up two knapsacks, I grab a new sabre, and we run towards the escape pods in the west hall.

Ascella Fuhari, 15
District 8 Female

As soon as the announcement is made, I turn to Hunter in surprise. His expression is unreadable, but I can tell he must be worried. Heaven knows I am. What does this mean for us? How do we get downstairs without running past the Cornucopia and the Careers? There has to be a way to do it!

"Hunter?" I ask cautiously. Surely he has a plan.
"I know!" Hunter begins to take down the trap in the doorway. "Pack the bags, and then we're getting out of here."

I don't need to be told twice. I start quickly shoving our supplies back into their bags. Hunter throws the trap supplies to me and I pack them up as well. I'm about to run out the door, but Hunter grabs me and pulls me back against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Hunter hisses at me. "The Careers are there!"
"They are?" I strain my neck. And all I can see is Vivian tackle Vick to the ground and pull out a knife. I duck back in before she can spot me too.

"Drat," I mumble as Hunter curses under his breath. That's our only way out, and it's blocked. No way Vivian won't see us from there. And we're running out of time.

Unless…

I watch as Arietis's spear clashes against Walker, and I can see Mila and Loire run to the doorway of their hideout in confusion. There is so much happening at once, so many tributes in such a small space. Then Vivian throws a knife at Loire and everything kicks into place for me.

"Hunter, while the Careers are distracted, we get out and run."

Hunter gives me a hard stare. "Are you crazy!? They're going to come after us!"
"Then we'll have to be fast so we don't get caught."

I hear Mila scream something. Drops of blood suddenly splatter the wall as a shadow suddenly slides down it, but I can't see who they belong to. Hunter's eyes widen. "Well…shit. Okay, let's book it."

We scramble to our feet and run as fast as we possibly can out the door. I nearly trip over Vick's body and force myself not to look down. Hunter just jumps over the corpse and we race to the stairs.

"Wait. Wait! Don't leave me here!"

I glance over my shoulder to see Mila flagging me down. She yanks a backpack off Loire's back, one of the straps getting tangled in her leg and tripping her. "Please! Let me go with you!"

Hunter shakes his head and growls. "Ascella, keep moving."
"Hold on." I don't know what makes me stop in my tracks, but something tells me that Mila isn't a threat. The fear is obvious in her eyes as she finally scrambles to her feet. "Please," she begs me as a tear slips down her face. "I don't want to be alone!"

I think of Messier. I think about how Hunter cared when he killed them, not that he'd ever admit it in a million years. He's too grumpy for that. I think about how Hunter might care for me, again, too grumpy to admit to that as well.

"Come on," I say to Mila. "You'll have to be fast, though."
Mila's eyes are sparkling. "Oh my God. Thank you, thank you, thank-"

"Get moving!" Hunter yells, grabbing my arm and pulling me down the stairs. Mila follows right behind me. We make it to the first level and sprint down one of the halls.

"FIVE MINUTES TILL ESCAPE PODS LEAVE!" A voice booms in my ears as the alarms continue. Hunter reaches the escape pod first and flings the door open. "Come on! Get in here!"
Mila pants. "We're coming, alright? Don't yell at us!"

Suddenly, I feel a very sharp pain in my side.

Mila screams and Hunter's jaw drops in shock. I stop running and stare down at the knife handle poking out of my side. I suddenly feel really dizzy. Before I can slump to the ground, Hunter and Mila are slinging my arms over their shoulders as we hurry into the escape pod. The door suddenly slams shut behind us as I collapse on the floor, and right in time too.

I barely register the sound of the door closing by itself, or the way Arietis nearly smacks into it before Vivian grabs him and pulls him in a different direction. I can barely take in the way the escape pod suddenly pulls out of the arena. All I can feel is a numbing pain, and all I can see is my clothes turning a sickly red.

Reggie Baxter, 18
District 12 Male

"What's going on…" I mutter, attempting to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. My vision blurs. "What's that…noise?"

Kerkylas glowers at me as he practically pulls me to my feet. "You didn't hear the announcement, dummy?"
"What announcement?" I can barely hear anything else over the alarms.

"The one about how the arena is gonna blow up soon!" Kerkylas continues, having to shout. "Come on, we need to get moving or we're dead!"

Oh shit. Oh shit! I spring to my feet and grab the sword. Kerkylas is throwing a bag over his shoulder, gripping the axe tightly in his other hand. Garnet has the other bag and is pointing frantically down the hall. "This way! We can reach the escape pods at the end of the hall!"

"Escape pods? Fucking hell," I mutter. There must've been some kind of announcement and I completely missed it. "Kerkylas, how long was I asleep for?"
"Doesn't matter, we're getting out of here now!"

I recall what we were talking about yesterday, about forming a plan to raid the Cornucopia and take advantage of the dwindling Careers. Was that not promising enough for the Gamemakers to decide to sit back and let the action happen naturally? Or did they think that us tributes were dying at too slow of a rate and things needed to be sped up? It sickens me a little to think like that. But it doesn't matter anymore.

We reach one of the two escape pods and the end of the hall. The supplies are thrown inside and we follow after it. "Now what?" Kerkylas asks impatiently. The alarms continue to blare. My heart is pounding. I can faintly hear creaking coming from the spaceship, as if it won't be able to hold itself upright much longer.

Garnet flashes a worried look at the door. "We need the door to close."

I grab the door and tug at it, but nothing budges. Instead, I hear a faint hissing noise that makes my hair stand up on my skin. Kerkylas grabs the door as well. It doesn't move. My fingertips begin to hurt.

"ESCAPE POD 3: TECHNICAL MALFUNCTION. PLEASE EXIT POD AND CLOSE DOOR MANUALLY."

I poke my head out of the escape pod and see the door handle on the outside. My blood runs cold. Suddenly, Garnet is pushing me out of the way and running from the escape pod. He grabs onto the door handle and begins to tug it shut.

"Garnet!" Kerkylas yells. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"I'm shutting the door!"
"Get the hell back in here!"

"ESCAPE POD 3: TECHNICAL MALFUNCTION. PLEASE EXIT POD AND CLOSE DOOR MANUALLY."

I can see what Kerkylas can't. Garnet continues to pull the door shut, struggling to move it as he does, but Kerkylas jumps in the way. "What are you doing!? Dude, get back into the pod! You're going to die!"
"Someone has to close the door," Garnet insists. "I'll be fine, I'll find another way out-"

FIVE MINUTES TILL ESCAPE PODS LEAVE!"

"You don't have time!" Kerkylas shouts. Garnet shoots a look over Kerkylas's shoulder at me.

"ESCAPE POD 3: TECHNICAL MALFUNCTION. PLEASE EXIT POD AND CLOSE DOOR MANUALLY."

Kerkylas sticks a hand through the doorway. I grab Kerkylas and pull him backwards before he can reach Garnet. We both collapse onto the floor of the escape pod and Garnet finally manages to pull the door shut. Kerkylas pushes me off him and runs to the door, pounding his fists against it. Garnet shouts out something neither of us can hear, before running off.

And then the pod pulls out of the ship, leaving him behind.

"Garnet!" Kerkylas screams in a hoarse voice. "You fucking idiot, you're gonna get yourself killed, you-"

The arena explodes. The entire escape pod shakes, nearly knowing both of us onto our feet again. Kerkylas doesn't tear his gaze away from the door as the remains of the spaceship grow ever smaller and smaller.

Four cannons boom in my ears over the escape pod's intercom. My heart sinks. One of those possibly belongs to Garnet. I want to believe that isn't the case, but something in my gut tells me otherwise.

Tears sting my eyes when I suddenly hear Kerkylas speak. "Way to go, Reggie. You're the reason he's dead."
"I…what?"

"You got Garnet killed, fucker!" Kerkylas points an accusing finger at me. "I was going to help him, and you got in the way! And now he's dead!"
"Kerkylas, that was not my-"

Kerkylas stomps past me and stares out the front of the escape pod, looking out at the sky through the window without another word. From here, I can still tell that he's seething and I suddenly feel a knot in my stomach. I didn't get my own ally killed…

…did I?

15th place: Vick Perdue, District 3. Stabbed in the chest by Vivian.

The first casualty of the arena's destruction. I honestly loved writing Vick and all their little Homestuck references. They were a very lighthearted and more optimistic tribute in the midst of an otherwise more serious story and I loved exploring their adorable little relationship with Linh. Pi, thank you so much for sending me Vick and allowing me to indulge in my Homestuck nonsense. RIP, kiddo.

14th place: Loire Lemaire, District 5. Speared through the side by Arietis.

When it came to Mila and Loire facing peril that one of them wasn't going to escape from alive, I could see Loire's selflessness more or less taking over and her ultimately sacrificing herself to buy her ally another day in the Games. I loved writing the contrast of the two dreamers, and the contrast of Loire's grounded practicality to Mila's flighty paranoia. Loire was definitely a sweetheart who had her moments, but in the end deserved better like most of the tributes. RIP, Pisces.

13th place: Prism Lazuli, District 1. Stabbed through the back by Avonlea.

Show of hands, who thought Prism was gonna be the de-facto villain of the Games? Who saw their death coming? I knew that Avonlea wasn't just going to take Cy's death sitting down and unfortunately, Prism paid the ultimate price for their actions. I like seeing confident Careers who know what they are and give no fucks or make no excuses: Prism was a natural born leader and damn if they didn't own it. Thank you so much for them, D9T!

12th place: Garnet Ashhill, District 8. Killed in ship explosion.

Garnet, Garnet, Garnet. Too good for this sinful earth lmao. It was honestly so much fun having Garnet be the straight man and only sane character to Kerkylas and Reggie's nonstop petty feuds with one another, the poor guy stuck mediating between them and herding two cats who otherwise hated each other. Again, another victim of his own selflessness, willing to be the tribute who closed the door and kept his allies safe. Thanks for him, evanrules8!

And now the spaceship is no more! Where do you think the tributes will be headed next? Will everyone get there in one piece?

Blog has been updated with the statuses and kill list of the tributes. Sponsor gifts are still at 2 per chapter for each reader, but next chapter they will be dropping down to 1 gift per chapter. So if you wanna send some stuff in, be sure to do it now!

See you all next chapter,

-Vr