Mazie Millar, 16
District 9 Female
My stylist makes the final adjustments to my outfit, a pastel pink jumpsuit with a large '9' plastered to the back.
It's an odd outfit, but I ignore the fact as I take a deep breath.
"You got this, Mazie." I whisper to myself, as the tube closes around me.
I always win. And I'll do whatever it takes to win. As soon as I enter the arena, I plan to fight. Alberta's whole alliance is a threat to my alliance, and I plan on taking them out immediately.
As the tube rises, I begin to see hints of pink in the sky. Suddenly, I'm on land, and I look around to see perhaps the most beautiful landscape I've ever encountered.
Almost everything in the arena is pink, hence the pink jumpsuits. Lush cherry blossom trees growing over pink grass, tiny creeks seeping into a vast shimmery ocean in the distance, and beautiful statues surround the area around the cornucopia.
I regain my composure, and realize almost everyone is staring at their surroundings in awe. Almost everyone except for me, and Alberta who stares at me from a few pedestals away, a wicked grin on her face.
May the best woman win.
I hear a sharp "boom" sound from my left, as well as a couple of screams. I don't have time to see what happened because there's only a few seconds left and I need to stay focused.
Then the gong sounds, and I'm running, faster than I ever have before, faster than all those times I've escaped from peacekeepers.
I'm one of the first people to arrive at the cornucopia, and I grab a sickle as soon as I see one. The boy from District 1 spears Fonio in the chest, leaving one of Alberta's allies already taken out.
Speaking of Alberta, I stand back up to see me face to face with Alberta, who throws a knife at me. I dodge, and with a scowl on her face she comes running towards me.
People all over are dying, but I'm only focused on taking the target out. I slam Alberta against a crate, and she screams.
"Namid, help me! Namid!"
"Your little boyfriend isn't here to help you now." I say, my sickle against her throat.
Suddenly, I am lunged back into the ground, so hard that my vision becomes spotty. I look up to see Namid and Alberta standing over me, Namid pulling me by the hair, and Alberta with my sickle in her hand.
"This is what you get for talking about my sister."
Suddenly a panging feeling hits my chest, and Alberta and Namid run off.
Everything goes black. I've failed. I've failed. Everything I fought for back home was for nothing.
Robbie Jute, 13
District 8 Male
Once the pedestal rises, my fear reduces upon seeing the vast beauty of the arena.
My first thoughts are "how did they even make this?" as I stare at the forest of pastel pink trees against a neon sky.
My sisters would've loved this place. Well minus the part where kids are killing each other.
I scan my surroundings for too long, and I hear a loud explosion sound. Distracted by the chaos, I look over and realize a tribute is missing. Somebody must have jumped off their pedestal. And then the gong sounds and my feet are on the ground, looking for Alec.
I spot him from across the cornucopia, motioning me to follow him. Our plan was to run away, and not grab any supplies, but I point to a large loaf of bread just feet away from me.
I run to grab it, and as soon as I put my hands around the loaf of bread a shadow begins coming closer and closer to me. I turn around quickly to see the buff guy from District 2 covered in blood, and he's approaching me with a sword. I begin to run away.
Alec is watching, waiting on me, and I wave at him but soon I feel a sharp pain, and look down to see a knife stuck in my hip. I fall to the ground, and the girl from 1 stands over me, pulling the knife out of me.
"Please! I have a family!" I scream, but the girl just stands there, expressionless.
Soon I hear footsteps approaching, and now the boy from 2 is standing over me, and within seconds his sword enters my chest.
I'm sorry Tills, I'm sorry Calico, I'm sorry mother. I'm not coming home.
Cain Masen, 18
District 2 Male
It all happens so fast. I look over to my left right as Finbar falls off his pedestal and explodes, his blood now covering me.
"Goddamn it!" I scream. Already a member of our alliance is dead, and the games haven't even started yet. I knew Finbar was a clumsy boy, but this is just embarrassing.
I have to redirect my attention to the fact that the gong is about to sound, and I need to reach the swords as fast as possible. And then kill. And kill. And kill.
Everything happens in a flash. I grab my sword and find the first vulnerable tribute. He already has a knife in his hip, so all I have to do is end his suffering. Elizabeth doesn't look too pleased that I stole her kill, but I would do anything to get first kill in these games.
Somehow, the girl from 12 gets away and runs toward the forest. I'm not going to waste my time trying to get her.
Suddenly, I am shoved to the ground by someone. I look up and see the boy from 11, armed with a long knife. I laugh, not letting fear take control.
I easily overpower the boy. I'm trained, he's not, simple as that. Now he's the one on the ground, and I stab my sword into his chest.
Barbara "Barb" Gutierrez, 16
District 10 Female
As soon as my pedestal rises fully, I gasp at my surroundings.
"It's beautiful." I think to myself. There's pink everywhere, and the sky is a gorgeous ombré of pink and orange, it's unlike anything I've seen in the fields of District 10.
I'm so distracted that I almost forget where I am for a second! Suddenly everyone is running in different directions and I don't know what to do.
I look around, still on my pedestal, trying to find familiar faces. I spot Aaron a distance away, and he screams at me, pointing in the opposite direction.
I can't hear what he's saying! So I start running toward him.
But suddenly I feel something sharp hit my chest, and everything hurts.
"Ow!"
"Barb!"
Everything happens in a flash, and Aaron scoops me up into his arms, running into the forest.
But it's too late. My breathing soon stops, and the pain ends.
Asa Gagneux-Boerio, 18
District 11 Female
While everyone else is busy being doe-eyed about the eccentric arena, I'm focused on finding an axe.
Sure enough, I'm one of the first tributes to make it to the cornucopia, and I pick up an axe as soon as I get there ready to defend.
The girl from 4 is just feet away from me, grabbing a knife. I run at her and swing my axe at her head, however she dodges that quickly, and swings her knife at my throat, which I also dodge.
The small career girl smirks at me, but before she can swing at me again, I run to the other side of the cornucopia to grab more supplies.
On the other side of the cornucopia, I arrive to see the girl from 1 throw a knife at Barbara from 10. Almost immediately afterwards, she pounces on Tay from 8 and begins stabbing her. While the girl is distracted, I grab a backpack and start looking for my allies.
Soon enough, I see Alberta and Namid attacking Mazie, and Lily is running toward the forest with a sword in her hand.
But then I am pushed to the ground, and the boy from 1 begins to attack me.
I grunt in pain from the force, but that doesn't stop me. The boy attempts to disarm me of my axe, but I refuse to let him.
This guy may have trained all his life, but I know a thing or two about weaponry as well. I push his arm down while he attempts to raise his sword, and kick him in the groin, distracting him for a second.
That second is all I need.
In the blink of an eye, my axe is lodged into Midas' head. I retrieve the axe, expecting a retaliation from one of the other careers, but they are all distracted and busy fighting the others.
I look for my allies, but they're nowhere to be seen. So I run, hoping nobody can catch me.
Welllllllll… Here is the much anticipated bloodbath! This was a very stressful chapter to write and took me a few weeks to complete, but I did it. I have to be honest, I'm not very proud of this chapter because I feel like it got a bit repetitive, but this is the first time I've ever written a bloodbath before, and it's very difficult for me to write detailed fight scenes and stuff of that nature.
If you are reading, please leave a review, or if you cannot just send me a PM letting me know you are still reading. I've been running short on reviews lately, but to those of you who have been reviewing, thank you so much!
Deaths:
24th: Finbar Walsh (District 4 Male) - Exploded
Surprise? A career dying first?! I foreshadowed this a bit during Finbar's interview, hinting that he is a bit clumsy, and I thought this would make a good twist to start off the games.
23rd: Robbie Jute (District 8 Male) - Killed by Cain Masen
Poor Robbie! He was a good kid who cared about his family deeply and just wanted to survive the games, but sadly he didn't stand much of a chance. I struggled to connect with him as much as the other tributes, so he had to go. I'm sorry 02ibradley, but thank you for submitting this lovely tribute!
22nd: Fonio Olsen (District 9 Male) - Killed by Midas Peralta
Fonio's dynamics with Alberta could have made an amazing storyline, but I had to kill him off here so there could be more deaths in the bloodbath, and I could save room for other storylines.
21st: Tay Fuller (District 8 Female) - Killed by Elizabeth Hills
Tay was a hard one to kill off. I enjoyed her so much, but I decided to be evil and let her recklessness get the best of her. Sadly, she ended up falling to Elizabeth's knife. Her backstory was wonderful, and she had great potential, I'll miss her dearly. Thank you 02ibradley for submitting this gem!
20th: Barbara Gutierrez (District 10 Female) - Killed by Elizabeth Hills
Poor Barb! She was a wonderful tribute, but sadly, compared to your other submissions, she did not stand much of a chance and I had to kill her off right here. I hope I did her justice and wrote a character with ADHD correctly. Thank you to Fiona for submitting her!
19th: Quincy Cullen (District 11 Male) - Killed by Cain Masen
Quincy is one of the background tributes that I didn't elaborate much on, so his death doesn't have much explanation. I wish I could have developed more of his rivalry with Asa, but sadly, he had to go.
18th: Mazie Millar (District 9 Female) - Killed by Alberta Lee
Now this is where things get interesting. I always knew Mazie would die during the bloodbath, it was a highly anticipated twist I was ready to reveal. Mazie's death would show the Capitol audience Alberta's true potential, and to the other tributes that she is a true threat. Now every single member of Mazie's alliance is gone except for Aaron, so her alliance has essentially been defeated. Thank you Lisan Al Gaib for submitting Mazie, and I hope I did this fiery tribute some justice!
17th: Midas Peralta (District 1 Male) - Killed by Asa Gagneux-Boerio
Another shocking death?! That's right! I decided to kill off two careers this time. Fonio is the second career tribute without a POV, and I wanted to focus more on the tributes with povs, so I decided to kill him off and score Asa a kill.
16th: Caspum Hollister (District 7 Male) - Killed by Selene Katsaros
Honestly, I never really went into much detail on Caspum, other than the fact that he was a 12-year-old who was very strong, so I could imagine the careers wanting to take him out early on.
Alliances:
The Careers: Elizabeth (1), Selene (2), Cain (2), Anemone (4)
Alberta's Army: Alberta (5), Namid (5), Lily (7)
District 12 (extra alliance): Blayke (12), Vaughn (12)
Loners: Athena (3), Alec (3), Regina (6), Thomas (6), Aaron (10), Asa (11)
Questions:
1) Which death was the most shocking?
2) Which death was the least shocking?
3) Now that most of the alliances are gone, are there any new alliances you think will form?
-xo, cassy