A/N: Okey, dokey, let's get into another Reaping! I feel like I'm dying inside with every one of these, so I'm just going to try to write them more often so I can just get to the killing already. We've officially reached the end of the Games being a privilege, so we have some terror to write, and that's always fun.

Thanks to The Pocketwatch Ripper and livinginadream0 for reviewing!

Thanks to DariDark for Clovis and MoonlightSalsa for Lida!

Ohh, I can't wait for this...

Chapter 6: District 5: Power Play

Lida Minette's POV

Milla snatches the book out of my hands.

"Hey, asshole!"

She dangles the horror novel I was reading in front of me with two fingers.

"What is this little snippet?" she says teasingly. She flips the book around, revealing the murderous protagonist's albeit handsome face plastered on the cover of the novel.

"Who is this slice?" she smiles. I reach up and try to grab the book back. She flips it around and stares at the protagonist.

"Mm, honey, he's already slaying." She turns to me. "Does he slay innocent civilians?"

I laugh. "Yeah, he does. So, so many."

Suddenly I hear the Head Matron, Aura Lusciano, yelling. "Everyone, get down here!"

Milla and I scuffle down to the main hall of the District 5 'Capitol's Mercy' Orphanage. Matron Aura smiles at us. Contrary to the stereotype, Matron Aura is kind, caring and generous, if not a little uptight.

Today, she seems nervous, and we stand neatly in a row to please her. I am squished between Milla and August, a friend of mine. Auggie is overly protective and unrealistically friendly, although he can be blunt and a bit rude. He wraps an arm around my waist and squeezes my hand.

Ivy is next to him, who is a roommate of mine and a companion if not friend. Her frizzy red hair is tied back in a ponytail, and she has dyed her tips bright green. I nod at her and give her a thumbs up, and she smiles back at me.

Matron Aura seems terrified, and Newton, one of the volunteers, asks if she's okay. Matron Aura takes a deep breath and begins to speak.

"Hello, everyone!" she chirps, her voice quivering. "I have something to tell you. A local ma- boy has been beaten to death. He is the son of Head Peacekeeper Brumble's friend, and so this will be a large investigation." I can almost hear her rolling her eyes. "The attacker has been seen on security cameras going into this building. If anyone has any information, please come forward."

I feel a cold rush going through my body. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. Two Peacekeepers step forward, and I feel a wave of nausea. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. One steps forward. Oh my god oh my god oh my god. "We will be conducting interviews with all the orphans here." Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

Vera, another of my roommates, is called forward for an interview first. The rest of us were sent back to our rooms. I pulled Auggie and Milla aside before they go into their rooms.

"I have a confession to make," I say.

"You're gay?" Milla says at the same time Auggie says "You're a drug addict?" They look at each other and laugh.

"No, it's important!" They stop laughing and look at me. "It... it was me."

Auggie's mouth drops open, but Milla takes a few seconds to realize.

"I took some extra shifts at the power plant to save up, and I was working really late one night." I take a deep breath and continue. "I was going home, and it was dark, and I was alone, and this guy came out and tried to mug me. He tore off my purse and tried to attack me, so I kicked him, and he fell. I was going to run, but he tried to attack me again, and he had a knife. So, I kicked him and hit him, and I didn't know when to stop. I thought that if I didn't keep going, he would get up and kill me. I just wanted to get away, but I guess that I accidentally-"

I dissolve into sobs as I finish the story. Auggie hugs me and Milla tries to calm me down. "Don't worry, no-one's going to find out-"

He cuts off, and I turn to see Florabelle, one of the youngest girls, standing terrified in the doorway. "No, Flora," Milla says. "FLORA!" Auggie yells, but she's gone.

I turn, terrified, to Auggie. "What am I going to do?"

"The Reaping's today. We can just leave early." Milla suggests. "Plus, Florabelle's a little storyteller. Maybe Matron Aura will think-"

"LIDA?" One of the Peacekeeper's voices echoes through the corridors. "LIDA MINETTE? ARE YOU THERE?"

I turn desperately to Auggie and Milla. "What are we going to do?" Milla asks. My gaze falls past her, to the open window.

"Oh dear," Auggie says.

Clovis Lanis' POV

I whistle as I walk down the street. My fiancée, Flasha, is waiting with her friends. Despite my skin crawling, I kiss her cheek and smile at her friends. Rayla, Electra, and Wendy giggle. Flasha pats my shoulder.

Rayla is a tall girl with white-blonde hair, sky blue eyes and chestnut skin. She is Flasha's closest friend, and she wears a lot of pink. Electra is a mean-looking, pale-skinned girl with hazel eyes, spiky clothes, and ginger hair. Wendy is the shortest, kindest girl of the bunch. She has honey-brown skin, dyed blue hair and is sunny in both personality and color palette. Then, there's Flasha. She has brown hair in a ponytail and a reasonably pretty face.

As I am talking to her, two cheeky freshmen rush up to me and chuck a bucket of dirty water on my face. I fall backwards onto Flasha and her friends.

Rayla screams, Electra gasps, and Wendy looks sympathetically at me. I stand up and yell at the pair, but they are gone. "Troglodytes!" Flasha screams.

Wendy passes me a handkerchief, and I dab my Reaping clothes. Bother. This was my only good shirt.

"I need to go home," I mutter to Flasha, and she nods.

As I begin the walk back to Lanis Manor, I think about my situation.

My once great family, now reduced to the subject of pranks in the street. The Lanis family used to be grand and rich, until my uncle gained the inheritance, and gambled the fortune away. I chuckle to myself. It almost sounds like the plot of a novel. Then my aunt passed away of a sudden cancer, and my uncle was killed by people he ripped off.

Then my parents didn't inherit a fortune, they inherited an awful dept. And three of my cousins to look after. So, my parents, desperate for money, shipped me off to marry. Flasha comes from a family that is 'new money', owning a successful power plant.

When I get home, I am met with the sounds of chaos coming from inside the house. I brace myself before I open the door.

"Oh, Clovis, why are you back? I thought you were- oh."

Sadie, my cousin, takes one look at me and bustles away. "Get a proper shirt on!" she snaps. I march up the stairs to my room, but on the way, I bump into Berkeley, my youngest brother.

"Damn, bro, did you attack a warthog?" he sniggers. I flip him off as he sneaks past me down to the living room.

The next person I come across is Wheatley, my cousin. He holds up his box of lemon drops as a sort of protection from my filthy shirt. "You look funny." he smiles.

I eventually get into my room, but I am not alone. Faith, one of my cousins, is rifling through my wardrobe.

"What do you want?" Faith spits at me.

"You're the one rifling through MY closet." I snap.

She finishes up and I change my shirt. I smile at myself in the mirror.

"You got this, Clo." I adjust my collar, leave the room, and set off.

Off to the Reaping.

District 5 Justice Building

Lida Minette's POV

My world is descending into chaos. Everything is twisted off its axis. I am running desperately away from the Capitol's Mercy as everything I know crumbles around me.

But I am not alone. Auggie is beside me, and Milla is running ahead of me.

Despite my terrifying situation, I feel elated. I feel like a protagonist in one of the horror novels Milla and I love to read.

Milla stops. Auggie and I stop behind her, and I see a Peacekeeper checking names. Mila and Auggie stand on either side of me and block me from the Peacekeeper's sight. We bypass him and go straight to the blood drawing. We file into the Reaping section, and Auggie has to leave us.

I see a group of Peacekeepers searching the crowd, so I try to hide myself behind Milla and another girl.

The Capitol video plays in the background, but I can't concentrate. Our Escort, Randall Shapiro, stands on the stage, but I can't concentrate. He dips his hand into the boy's bowl and pulls out a name. "Clovis Lanis!" I try to concentrate on the guy.

He seems strong-ish, but he holds himself arrogantly. I already dislike him.

One of the Peacekeepers spots me and begins to push through the crowd towards me. Shapiro looks at the Peacekeeper, but then turns to the girl's bowl and draws out a name. "Avery Samson!"

The Peacekeeper has reached me, and he grabs my arm and forces me to my feet. Another Peacekeeper grabs Milla and drags her back, as she is screaming and trying to wrestle towards me. A third raises a gun, and my blood runs cold. Avery Samson, the Reaped girl, is looking at me, her face screwed up in fear. As the Peacekeeper moves the gun closer to my head, I have a sudden idea. A sudden, crazy idea.

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"

Milla stops wrestling. Her jaw drops, and she mutters out a strangled, "Noo-o-oo." Avery Samson stares at me, her mouth hanging open. I catch the eye of Florabelle, and she looks tearful. Auggie is trying to fight towards me from the boy's section. He looks traumatized.

As I am marched towards the stage, I see Matron Aura staring at me from the adult's section. Her mouth is tight, and her hands are clasped. She nods at me.

Shapiro shoves a microphone towards my face. "What's your name?"

"Lida. Lida Minette."

"Alright, then! I present the tributes from District 5, Clovis Lanis and Lida Minette!"

The applause is scattered and nervous, so I just turn and march into the Justice Building, flanked by two Peacekeepers who, a second before, were ready to kill me. Now they won't have to.

A/N: Did you like that chapter, guys? I'm very proud of it. I'm still a bit iffy about the fact that Lida's section is much longer than Clovis', but I like it as is. How do you like Lida? How do you like Clovis? Do you think either of them could be a winner? I'm going to put them both up on the Victor Poll on my profile.

Review and follow for more!

-Luke