District 4 male – Luderick Bellamy, 14
I'd somehow made it to the top ten. Me, who didn't have any fighting skills, had never killed anyone in my life. My tactic was simple – fly under the radar, stay hidden. I'd been hiding under a tree in the summer section the whole time, and therefore hadn't yet been found – or found food or water.
The thirst and hunger were like nothing I'd felt before – in particular, the thirst. I'd already gone more than forty-eight hours without water, and as far as I knew, a person could go three days without it before the thirst killed them. It was making me feel incredibly weak already, but I knew that leaving my spot was dangerous no matter what it was for – to find my tracker, to find food or water... I couldn't do it. I couldn't risk getting murdered.
I felt like I was going insane. I'd never been alone for this long before. I was always with my parents, my friends, or my girlfriend. But, since the moment I ran away from that cornucopia with some fishing rods and bait two days ago, I'd been by myself, completely. I hadn't even seen any other tributes pass by.
Based on what I'd seen from the presentation of the fallen tributes, my district partner, Hazel, was still alive. Being from District 4, she was the only person other than myself that I cared about in these games. If I was to die of thirst soon, I wanted her to get all the way through.
Shit. I was going to die of thirst.
But the idea of dying from not drinking any water seemed like a much better option to me than getting brutally murdered.
"Please... sponsor... give me water..." I begged, hoping one of the nasty Capitol people would take pity on me and send me a bottle filled with cold water.
Oh, but then again, the thought of drinking water given to me by a stupid pig from the Capitol absolutely disgusted me. Think of the germs! I just wanted to get home to my people in District 4, the only sane place in Panem. I hated being here, knowing that I was on the same ground as people from other random districts.
"Hey," I heard someone whisper, suddenly. I gasped, lifting up my fishing rod in an attempt to seem threatening. "Woah, woah... don't kill me with your fishing rod!"
It was another tribute – the boy from seven, I believed. He was giving me a bright smile, and I cringed at it.
"Don't kill me! Karma will come back to you! You'll ruin District 4's future! I'm going to be their mayor!" my voice came out raspy – it was the first time I'd spoken since I entered this arena, and the lack of water didn't help.
"I'm not here to kill you," he said, rolling his eyes. "Here, I got something from you. Come with me."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" I cried, staying put in my spot under the tree.
"I want to help you," he said. "Trust me, don't you think I would have just approached you and killed you if I wanted to?"
I let out a sigh. He did have a point in that. So I asked, "How did you find me?"
"Well, the arena is only so big," he responded. "I... wouldn't mind having an ally. I've been so lonely the past few days. But anyway, come with me."
I let out a groan as I stood up. My body had become stiff from sitting still against a tree for so long, and my back made a loud cracking noise once I was up. But even though I hated him for being from a peasant district, I followed him to wherever he'd been staying, bringing my fishing stuff with me.
And then, to my pleasure, I saw the best thing I could have possibly seen at that moment – a small creek, of crystal clear, freshwater, running and a moderate pace. I could have cried as I approached it and knelt, drinking it like an animal. At that moment, the water was the best thing I'd ever tasted.
And then, when I felt like the moment couldn't get any better, I saw a fish, and a decently sized one too. I grabbed my rod, almost squealing with excitement, and attached the bait to the hook, hoisting it into the water. I caught the fish with ease, and pulled it out, smiling.
"Do you fish, uh... what's your name, again?" I asked, unhooking the fish and killing it swiftly.
"Arnold," he responded. "And no, I don't know how to fish... but I know how to cook very well."
"Perfect, then!" I said, handing him the fish. "Cook it!"
Arnold's face lit up. "Alright, I'll cook it. But er, this isn't exactly a kitchen. We'll have to start a fire to cook it."
I frowned. If we started a fire, wouldn't the smoke catch the attention of other tributes? Making them come to hunt us down?
"We'd... have to move quickly though, as soon as it's cooked, put the fire out and go somewhere else," I said slowly.
"Alright, that works," said Arnold, placing the fish on the floor. But as he began to collect wood and begin the fire, I couldn't get over my fear – was this a bad idea? There had been so many instances in previous Hunger Games where tributes had started a fire and gotten caught by other tributes because of the smoke... I suppose if we kept the smoke to a minimum...
It didn't take him long to cook the fish. He added a bunch of plants to it, to "marinate" it or something. Once the fish was ready, he extinguished the fire and cut the fish in half with a stick, handing me half of it.
"Careful of the bones," he said to me, taking a bite of his half.
"I know there's bones!" I snapped. "I'm from the fishing district, I know everything about fishing!"
He just said OK and I took a bite. It was delicious. I would never ever admit it, but this fish that he'd cooked was better than any other fish I'd eaten in District 4 ever.
"It's... alright," was all I said. I couldn't let fish be better cooked by a peasant from District 7.
"Just alright?" said Arnold, raising an eyebrow, and I just shrugged.
My stomach began to hurt soon after finishing the fish, but foolishly, I assumed I was just full.
District 1 female – Phoenix Valentine, 18
To say I was relieved when Janusz came back the morning of the third day was an understatement. Sure, Dania was great, but she was scary. I got along with Janusz a lot better than I'd expected to - Dania was so calculated, she wanted to plan out every single move we made, and choose everything we did as an alliance – Janusz was just a lot more go with the flow, and it was good to have him there as a balance.
During the second night, he had pissed Dania off so badly that she had gotten so mad, and started to threaten to kill him, so Janusz left. I'd really thought he was going to be gone for the rest of the games, which was why I was so pleased when I saw him approach the cornucopia while Dania and I were eating breakfast – the leftovers of the fox that Dania had killed the previous day.
Dania, on the other hand, wasn't so happy to see him. The second he came into our vision, she stood up, clenching her fists. Her hair was down – which wasn't common for her, she almost always had it tied up – and it made her look scarier in a way, more fierce.
"Hello, ladies!" Janusz beamed as if he and Dania hadn't gotten into a screaming match just the night before. That was one of the things that made me get along with Janusz – he would just make every situation more light-hearted as if we weren't all in an arena to be slaughtered. "Did you hear the great news!? We're all in the top ten!"
"Did you hear the great news? You're kicked out of this alliance!" she snapped.
"What about my opinion?" I cut in. I wanted Janusz in this alliance – I trusted him. "Shouldn't this be a group decision?"
"No, I'm the leader," Dania said, her voice cold.
"I thought Mark was the leader?" Janusz asked. I wanted to tell him, scream at him, shut up – he was just pushing her buttons, he wasn't helping himself in this situation.
"Mark is dead," Dania snapped. "But even if he wasn't, he was never the leader. We all know that."
"Aw, man!" said Janusz. "Alright, let me make a deal with you. We have a truce for just two minutes while I grab my tracker and a weapon or two, and then we part ways as unlikely friends... I'm just another tribute who you can kill after I've left."
"Just let him stay with us, Dania," I said, and she shook her head, her arms crossed.
"Fine, Janusz. Be quick about it. We can kill you in an hour from now," she said, bluntly, and Janusz nodded his OK.
He walked forward, somewhat cautiously, but Dania stayed put. I was unsure if I should go with him or stay with Dania. I trusted Janusz more, but Dania was better trained.
But what happened next was all done in the blink of an eye. Janusz knelt down to grab his tracker, and the next second, when he was turning around to get up with his tracker, Dania was on top of him. He reacted quickly, trying to push her arms away from him, and it was only then that I noticed she was holding a dagger.
"Dania, stop!" I screamed, sprinting over to them and gripping Dania's shoulders from behind. Her dagger had dug into Janusz's throat already and as I pulled her back I saw the mark – it wasn't too deep yet.
In the second that I'd pulled Dania back ever so slightly, he reached for the closest weapon to him, which was a gun. He was lucky we were by the cornucopia and had access to almost all the weapons.
I lost my grip on Dania as she fought back and she tried to press the dagger against Janusz's throat – and he let out a loud choking sound. I didn't even notice him place the gun by Dania's head before I shoved her off him from the side.
And then was when Janusz shot the gun.
And it hit me – straight into the side of my head.
I'd wanted to live forever.
I'd wanted to live...
I'd wanted to...
I'd wanted...
I'd...
It's the end, Phoenix.
Take a bow.
District 2 female – Dania Khatib, 18
I only ever heard gunshots when there were peacekeepers around. They didn't attack us in District 2 – I had never properly been threatened with a gun before – they were a scary concept. There were normally guns by the cornucopia at every games, but no one knew how to use them, so no one ever used them. But somehow, Janusz just somehow knew how to use a gun, and he'd tried to kill me.
I felt so taken aback by the whole idea of it that I dropped the dagger I'd been trying to kill him with. I didn't even notice him running away until he was gone. And I was alone at the cornucopia.
I looked down at Phoenix's body, then turned away, walking over to the trackers. I'd been tempted to try and find my parents the whole time, but I'd been fighting the temptation as best as I could. There was just a gut feeling I had – like, I shouldn't try to save them. That it was all a lie, a trap to get us distracted. And now, with no allies, I couldn't be taking risks like that.
I grabbed the tracker that had my parents' names on it, then picked up the dagger I had been using before, kneeling on the ground. I placed the tracker on the grass, and lifted the dagger, bringing it down to the tracker. It only took one stab for it to be destroyed. That would take the temptation away from me for good.
I sat down to where Phoenix and I had been eating breakfast, and finished the rest of my meal, then walked over to where the weapons were all scattered and began stuffing them all into a backpack. I couldn't have anyone else taking my weapons and trying to kill me with them.
I had an awful feeling in my gut. How had I lost all my allies? It felt like I'd... failed.
I'd failed.
I felt a tear threaten to come, but I wiped it away immediately. I was on national TV. My family was watching this. They had high expectations of me.
Breathe, Dania.
I'd failed.
Breathe, breathe, breathe...
I'd failed.
Failed everything – after years of training at the academy, my family expected me to do well.
The least I could fucking do was keep a goddamn alliance together.
I'd failed.
I dropped to my knees, and I cried.
I'd failed.
10thplace – Phoenix Valentine (D1F), accidentally killed by Janusz during day 3