The Quarter Quells Chapter 4: The Third Quarter Quell, a hunger games fanfic

The Third Quarter Quell

"On the Seventy-Fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels of the bonds that were broken during the Dark Days, each District will reap a brother-sister pair."

Grain Martona, 35

Father of Wheata Martona -

District Nine female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I stood on the stage with my wife, watching our precious children rise into the Arena. It had come as a shock to hear that this year, siblings would go into the Arena. It was an even worse shock when my two darlings, Wheata and Johnny were Reaped. I remember how my wife fell down crying as our kids went up to the stage. No one volunteered, and I was not surprised. Volunteering would make you sibling go into the Arena as well, and only the Career Districts were stupid enough to do that. The Arena for this year was a large circle divided into twelve sections. Each section was designed like a District and, for the first ever time, tribute were raised in District order. Wheata and Johnny were in the slice designed after District Nine. It was a large wheat field, stretching back a long way. In the distance, I could see silos and a barn. It was not a bad representation of District Nine, but I was more concerned about my children. Wheata was next to the male from Ten. All I could hope was she would run away from the Bloodbath. However, I also knew that this would be unlikely, as she loved Johnny deeply, and even though he was eighteen, Wheata would have told him to run away, and would go into the Bloodbath to get supplies. She had always been the tougher and braver of the twins. Johnny was smaller, and more focused on studying, while Wheata had been a sporty child. My worst fears came true when the gong sounded, and Wheata ran forwards. Next to her, Johnny ran away and a little away from her, the boy from Five, Power, ran towards the horn. Wheata grabbed a sickle on the way, and Power held a cleaver her had just grabbed. Wheata saw Power, and tried to make a run for it, but Power was faster. He swung his cleaver towards Wheata, but at the last second, Wheata blocked the swing with her sickle. I gnawed at my lip as Wheata fought. After a few seconds of fighting, Powers' superior strength let him disarm Wheata. Me and my wife screamed as Power stabbed Wheata through the chest, and ripped it out. Wheata fell to the ground, along with my wife. I just stood there, shocked as my little girl died on the screen. Johnny screamed as he saw Wheata die and, as Power turned towards him, turned and ran away, wiping the tears from his eyes. As my wife was sobbing, my eyes were glued to the screen as I watched Johnny. He ran towards the barn in the distance, sticking to the grain field like he was used to. He sat down at the base of one of the silos, and just started crying. I understood why, and I wished I could hold him, and comfort him. I also was wishing that my kids were not reaped, and I still had them. There was nothing I could do now apart from praying Johnny would be safe.

Merino Zillpon, 44

Father of Yarna Zillpon –

District Eight male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 14

I blearily stared at the screen, barely registering anything. I was blind drunk, and I was happy about it. Cotty was next to me, although I did not really register her at the moment. Before my kids were born, I drank all the time. I was addicted. Then, Yarna and Dotty were born, My wife had died giving birth to my twins, and I became a single father. Once I heard the news, I almost went back to drinking, but my brother pulled my out of it. I had been sober since they were born, and had loved it. However, my kids were then Reaped for the Quarter Quell, I fell off the wagon within a few hours. I had barely stopped drinking since then. Cotton, as tradition for most Victors who stay in their District, had invited the family of the tributes, so just me this year, into her house so I had a safe place to cry and watch the Games in privacy. They had started that shortly after Cecilia won, and a law came into place that one quarter, rounding down, of each District Victors must stay in the District, to help the Peacekeepers. Snow did not like admitting he relied on Vectors to solve a lot of problems fairly, but it was better than killing, as that could lead to rebellion. Cotty had been trying to get me to stop drinking, but I just couldn't. Now, I saw that my kids were in the area of the Arena designed after Eight. It was a maze of factories, blasting smoke into the sky. There were no rivers or life in this section. The sky was grey with smoke, just like it was here in Eight. The gong sounded, and I watched as my two angels ran towards separate backpack, hoping to grab them. I crossed my fingers as Cotty held me up. While Dotty managed to get her pack, and run towards her allies from Five, Yarna was not as lucky. The girl from One, I did not care for her name, appeared behind him, and thrust a sword through his back. I screamed at the same time as my kids, as one fell down dead, and the other saw it. The Five pair grabbed Dotty, and dragged her away, keeping her safe and alive. I just stared blankly at the screen, not wanting to believe my little boy was dead. I was shaking as tears started sliding down my face. Cotty just held me more. As soon as the Bloodbath ended, she brought me back to her house, away from the crowds for me to scream and throw pillows in peace.

Lionel Cartwright, 40

Father of Ashby Cartwright –

District Twelve male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 12

I breathed deeply as I watched my kids rise into the Arena. I instantly hated the fact that they were next to the pair from One and pair from Eleven. All four of those tributes were strong, having scored eight of higher. Neither of my kids were very strong. Little Ashby was only twelve and, while we had always had enough to eat, twelve years olds never did well in the Arena. Rue from last year getting to third was an exception. Delly hadn't been fully herself since Katniss died in the Games last year. Clove had caught her in the back during the Bloodbath as she tried to escape. She had thrown her bag up to protect her head, but left her back exposed. Delly had screamed when Katniss died. She had never cared so much about a tribute, but I knew the two were friends, albeit not very close. Clove did not win. Finch from Five killed her in the final battle, leaving Clove in second. It was just the first time Delly lost a friend. She had not eaten as much and, as I discovered in the Goodbye room, had been giving some of her food to the Everdeens. She asked me to continue doing it, so they wouldn't starve. As it could have been her final wish, I had agreed, and had been giving Asterid and Primrose food. I refocused back on the screen and took in the Arena. My kids were in the slice looking like Twelve. It was a small coal dusty town, with some rolling hills in the distance, sparsely decorated with trees. An entrance to a mine was nearby, and the camera showed the twisting passages that lay underneath it. I bit my lip nervously as my kids did not the mines. We were shoemakers, not miners. Most older seam kids would probably be better, but my kids had been reaped and, unsurprisingly, no one volunteered. The gong rang, and both of them ran forwards. Delly, whose face was hard, scooped up a knife and a loaf of bread while Ashby grabbed a length of rope and water bottle. They grabbed each other's hands and ran towards the District Seven section. I dared to hope they would escape, until a spear came flying through the air, and went right through Ashbys' head. Delly screamed, as I threw up and my wife feinted. I watched as Delly turned around and, as I begged her not to, charged towards the One boy.

Magnificent Montgomery, 38

Mother of Glamour Montgomery –

District One male tribute of the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I grinned in pride as my twins rose into the Arena. They were right next to the pathetic pair for Twelve. It would be two easy kills for them to get the Capitol audience on their side. Then, it would be a hop skip, and a jump to having one of them home as the Victor. The other families had stopped with their ideals of having the most Victors, but we Montgomeries were better. We knew we were the best, and it was a crime we had not got a Victor yet. Those slimy sibling, Glass and Cashmerry or whatever their names were, they had each killed a Montgomery in the Arena, and deprived us of our deserved back-to-back Victories. Now, it was out time to shine. Glamour and Perfection were in the Arena together. I loved the twist as soon as it was announced, as none of the other Noble houses liked sending in siblings, and rarely sent in tributes, only if they thought they had a decent one, like the Brauns had done with Augustus eight years ago. We did not send in people all years, as we needed to keep some young people at home to breed the next set of Careers. I was born a Montgomery, and I had five mothers. All of whom were married to my father. As I was a women, I could only really have one husband, as I could only be pregnant one at a time. Still, ever since I was eighteen, and not picked for the Games, I had been having children. I had twenty-five kids, and was pregnant with what was likely to be my last. It was important to keep having babies, so we had a very good chance at having the next Victor for One. The District One slice of the District was a lane of fancy houses, based off the houses that the nobles lived in. Underneath the houses, there was a sprawling gem mine, that actually connected to the coal mine in Twelve, and the Granite mine in Two. Once the gong rang, my kids dived forwards, and scooped up the weapons they had trained with. Glamour killed the male thing from Twelve with his spear. The Twelve girl ran towards my boy, holding a knife. I laughed, as that little worm could not kill my boy. The girl slashed at Glamour, who just dodged it. Glamour laughed, and shoved his spear in her direction. The girl ducked under the spear, and stabbed Glamours' arm. Glamour winced, and dropped his spear. I shouted at the idiot boy to pick his spear up, and not dishonour his family name. It was too late however, and the Twelve girl stabbed Glamour in the neck. Glamour clutched at his neck as he fell to the ground, gasping and chocking. The Twelve girl stabbed my worthless son in the eye, killing him. I stared in disgust at the body of the boy that was once my son. He brought shame on my family, and was not worthy of being called a Montgomery. If my daughter survived the Bloodbath, then she might worthy of keeping the Montgomery name.

Axela Harlinda, 51

Mother of Jeeper Harlinda –

District Six male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 16

I shakily held my husbands' hand in my left, and Poppys, our five year old daughter, hand in my right. I desperately wanted some morphling. But, after promising my son I would stop taking it, I was not getting any. It had been hard for the first few days to not take any, but after five days, it was getting easier. I was more aware, stronger, quicker and had more money than before, as did my husband. It felt good not to be high all the time, and I hoped to stay like this for a long time yet. I wanted to be like Illinois Katrick and Chevy Dreamdrop, the two District Six Victors that did not use Morphling. My husband found it harder. I had caught him almost using some yesterday, but I managed to take it away from him and throw it out. We were both scared as Jeeper and Lexa waited for the gong to sound. They were in the District Six slice of the Arena. It was a long highway, going around an airport. Going around the highway was a train track. There were trains, cars, buses and a plane in this section. The gong rang, and my kids dived into the fray. Jeeper avoided Hartica from Four as she tried to stab him. Jeeper managed to dodge the blow, and run faster, now going away from the horn. I watched, expecting Hartica to ignore Jeeper and attack one of the other tributes, but that was not what happened. I watched as, seemingly in slow motion, Hartica pulled back her arm and let her trident fly. It sailed through the air, and landed in Jeepers' back, the prongs coming out the front. I screamed in despair, as I watched my son fall to the ground, spluttering and wheezing. Lexa stood still staring at her brother, before a knife flew past her ear, thrown by Malfoy from Two. She sprinted away, crying hard but still moving. I stared at the corpse of my son, emotion failing me at the time. Next to me, my husband was on the ground, baling. He had always been close to our son, and seeing him like this broke me further. I did not know what to do. I really did not want morphling, but I needed to take the pain away. The last thing I had promised my son was that I would never use morphling again and I was determined to keep that promise. Unlike in most other Districts, Three, Ten and Twelve being like us, there was not a Victor in the District, as we only had three living ones, so there was nowhere we could go for immediate support, we had to wait until after the Games. I had to be there for Poppy. She loved both her siblings dearly, and I knew this would be very hard for her. She was crying quite hard, and I saw some cameras try to get a good look at her. I quickly bent down, and picked her up, putting her face against my shoulder so the Capitol would not see her tears. I stroked her hair as my husband stood up and held her hand. We looked back at the screen as Lexa climbed into a bus, and curled up to cry.

Mangrove Parkin, 51

Father of Creak Parkin –

District Seven male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 17

I stood on the stage in District Sevens' Reaping square, watching the screen with my wife and kids as Creak and Asha rose into the Arena. Asha was the only non-Career Volunteer, having volunteered when Creak and Wirrel, my twelve year old daughter, had been reaped. As Creak was my only son of Reaping age, he was going into the Arena anyway, but Asha could volunteer for Wirrel, so she did. She got a lot of attention, like the girl from Twelve last year, for volunteering for a sibling. Creak also got a fair bit of attention for his muscular frame, earned from working as a lumberjack since he was fourteen. My kids were, like the other tributes, in the slice of the Arena modelled after their District. The Seven slice was a forest, with trees of different species and heights. In nature, you would never find these trees together, as you had larches, palms and ash together. Larches were more found were it was cold, like in the bio-domes in Seven. Palms were more in tropical areas, like the far south of the District, and ashes were common all over. But, since when did the Capitol care if it got anything right. That was not the thing to focus on right now. At least one of my kids was going to die and, as they had joined the Anti-Career alliance with the pair from Eleven, there was a good chance one would die in the next few minutes. Asha and Creak refocused back on the Cornucopia, and zeroed in on weapons. Asha was looking at an axe, with Creak looking at a hatchet. The gong rang, and they both ran straight towards their weapons. They both managed to wrap their fingers around the weapons, and my two kids ran towards the Two girl, Kira. The pair from Eleven were battling the girl from One. Asha swung her axe towards Kira, who moved backwards to avoid it, and punched Asha in the face. She groaned and stumbled back. Creak moved forward, and managed to hit Kira in the arm with his hatchet, but it did not seem to be very deep. What it did do however, was enrage Kira. The girl swung her sword at Creak, hitting his hatchet hard enough to send it flying from his grip. In his last moment, he shouted at Asha to run and, obviously not wanting to, she did it anyway. The girl from Eleven saw Creak being cornered, and Asha running, and ran away with Asha after hitting the One girl in the head with the butt of a sickle. Her brother stayed there, promising to follow in a minute. Creak stared Kira in the face, refusing to scream as she sung her sword, slicing open his chest. I shook with silent tears as my wife fell to the ground sobbing. Wirrel put her head against my side, and I helped her hide her face from the cameras, so they did not see her reaction. Asha and her ally ran away fast into the District Eleven section, darting between the trees and bushes. After a few minutes, their other ally came running up to them, holding a bloody sickle, and the cannons started firing.

Faith Mozakt, 48

Mother of Ohm Mozakt –

District Three male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 15

I was stoic as I watched my son rise into the Arena. I knew he would die. He was born with only one leg. While in the District, he could have a wheelchair to get around easily. It was not high tech, just a basic one, but it was enough. However, he and his sister, Ziya, were reaped, and he was denied his wheelchair in the Arena. He was sitting on his podium, using his hands to hold himself steady. He would not be able to get away from the Bloodbath, and knowing him, he will have told Ziya not to help him, and save herself instead. The District Three slice of the Arena was a maze, made of metal. There were electrical parts littered throughout the maze, and I knew this would be a great place for Ziya to hide. My kids looked at each other during the countdown, and Ohm just smiled at Ziya and nodded, before pointing to a backpack near her, and the maze behind them. Ziya gulped and nodded, already crying. The gong rang, and Ziya ran towards the pack. She grabbed it, and ran a little further forwards to grab a box of wire and other electrical parts. She turned and ran, stopping briefly at Ohms podium to give him a hug and hand him a knife. Ohm saw Kira from Two coming, so pushed Ziya towards the maze. She ran and ran, refusing to look behind her as she ran and cried. Back on Ohms podium, he was brandishing the knife at Kira. She grinned, and held her bloodied sword a lot, having used it to kill the boy from Seven. Ohm looked around, but the only other tribute in the ring was the boy from Ten who was fighting the Four girl. There was no hope for Ohm. He still held his knife tight as Kira ran towards him. She brought the sword slicing towards him, cutting through his arm before he could do anything with the knife. Kira then stabbed my Ohm in the head, killing him quickly. Knowing that he would die did not make it any easier. I wished my husband was still with us. He had died last year, electrocuted in a workplace accident. I had been given two month bereavement payment, before being forced to find more work myself. I had no one to support me as there were only three living District Three Victors, so they were all in the Capitol. It was so hard not to cry, but I did not want to give the Capitol the satisfaction of seeing me cry. They forced this on us, so I will not appease them.

Alexander Tully, Victor of the Fifty Fourth Hunger Games, 39

Father if Lardon Tully –

District Ten male tribute in the Seventy Fifth Hunger Games, 14

I was staring at the screen in front of me with fear. Pasture and Lammy were both beside me, holding my hands. I wished Steer was still here, as that meant I could be at home with my wife, but he had died a few years ago. I was scared stiff when my kids were called at the Reaping. I thought they would be safe. But no. Apparently it was their time. I had a feeling it may have been rigged, just to put the children of a Victor in the Games, as I was the only Victor with a male and a female relative who were siblings of Reaping age. Ever since the Fiftieth games, when eight of the thirty-six non Careers were family of Victors, there had been a rumour amongst the Victors that their family had a higher chance of entering the Games, and specifically the Quarter Quells, than other children. I hadn't believed it, but now I did. Lardon and Kabarda looked at the Arena, and I took the opportunity to do the same. The District Ten slice of the Arena was a basic cattle ranch. I bit my lip, as it did not provide much cover, but it would be the safest way for them to run. I had mentored my son, entrusting Kabarda to Pasture. Both of us, as well as Lammy, had repeatedly told them not to join the Anti-Careers, as they had not been successful since Coalette back in the Fifth Games, no matter how many times the alliance had formed. I just hoped they would both listen. They were young, so the chance of them joining was slim, but they were also both as stubborn as me. I was famous for being extremely stubborn, like refusing to die even when the Career girl cut off my left hand. I kicked her off the horn and killed her to be the Victor. The gong rang, and my kids ran forwards. Lardon shouted at Kabarda to run away, and not come near the horn. She listen to him, thankfully, and tuned, running towards the forest in the District Seven slice. Lardon picked up a hatchet, and ran towards a loaf of bread. He grabbed it, and ran in the same direction as Kabarda had. Without warning, a spear tip appeared in front of him, but he managed to bat it aside. Waver from Four was in front of him. Lardon dropped the bread, and held his hatchet tight. I stopped breathing as the two dived towards each other. Waver thrust his spear at Lardon, who hit it away, and swung his hatchet at his head. Waver ducked, and swept Lardons legs out from under him. I begged Waver to leave Lardon alone, but of course he couldn't hear me, and it wouldn't have stopped him anyway. Waver brought the tip of the spear flying down, and pierced Lardons eye. I fell out of my chair, screaming. Pasture crouched down next to me, holding me tightly. Lammy was crying as well, but was focusing on Kabarda as she ran. I thought of my wife, back in Ten with our three year old triplets, and ran to grab a phone and call her.

Antigone Helipeas, 54

Mother of Kira Helipeas –

District Two female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 17

I smiled, looking up at the screen, waiting for my son and daughter to start killing the other tributes. I hoped one of them would be back. Personally, I thought this twist was a little harsh, however it did mean my family would get a lot of honour for my kids sacrifice. I would have been the female tribute in the Forty-First Hunger Games, but I could not go in as I broke my leg a week before the Reaping. The second place Career, Rocky Fastbrooke, ended up being the tribute instead. She died, and Platinum Victory from District One ended up winning the Games. I was glad another Career won, but I still hated the fact I was not able to go into the Games and win. I had become a trainer in the Academy. I had married a quarry miner I had met while in town one day. We had just hit it off and married a few years later. We had had three kids, two of which were now in the Arena. They rose in the District Two slice of the Arena. It was a tall mountain, with a fortress on the top. Behind the mountain, and spread out on it as well, where a series of temples, each dedicated to a God from the olden times, as a lot of people were named after some of these Gods like Ares, Mars or Calliope. My kids each looked at their preferred weapons, and the tributes they obviously had singled out for killing. The gong rang, and they both ran forwards. Kira grabbed her sword and Malfoy picked up his throwing knives. Malfoy ran to the entrance to the Cornucopia, and stood in front of it, throwing knives at any tribute who came too close to supplies. He hit a few other tributes, but did not manage to kill anyone. Kira meanwhile attacked Creak and Asha, the pair from Seven. She hit Asha in the shoulder, suffering a little scratch in return. Asha turned and ran, cowardly leaving her brother to fight Kira. Kira killed Creak, before noticing Ohm from Three on his podium. She killed him quickly. Then, she saw the boy from Eleven attacking Perfection from One. Kira ran towards them, swinging her sword at Elevens' head. Somehow, he ducked this hit, and kicked Kira in the stomach. He punched Perfection in the face, and then spun around. He held his sickle tightly, and shoved it into Kiras' stomach. Kira spluttered and I screamed in horror as my little girl fell dead. The boy ran away, dodging three knives hurled by Malfoy. The pair from Four and One girl stopped Malfoy from chasing him, but promised that he could lead the first hunt, in his direction. But they had to organise supplies first. He gulped and nodded, and the nine Bloodbath cannons fired.

Pear Wisplors, 46

Stepfather of Okra Lorits –

District Eleven male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

My daughter, Laura, sat down next to me. We were at home, watching the Games. We had decided not to live with Chaff while we watched the Games, as we didn't want to be around an alcoholic. I was very thankful the Bloodbath was over, so we did not have to be in public until a big event, like the feast or a tsunami or earthquake. Until then, we were allowed to watch the Games at home. My wife, Florina, was asleep, as she had stayed up all night, watching the Games. It was the second day now and nothing had happened since the Bloodbath. Ziya was walking through the maze, wiping tears from her eyes. She eventually sat down near a table full of electrical parts, and started to fiddle with them. The pair from Five, Power and Phoebe were with Dotty. They were hiding in the District One section, having moved there from the Five section yesterday. They were sitting together in one of the massive houses. Dotty was crying still, and her allies were doing their best to comfort her. They did not have much, but had managed to form crude weapons from parts from the house. Lexa from Six was still in one of the buses, having not moved since she ran there during the Bloodbath. Johnny from Nine had changed the most since the Bloodbath. His face had hardened, and he was focusing on cutting the corn he was hiding with his scythe in in a particular way. I remembered Maisey doing this a few years ago, making the wheat razor sharp and winning like that. I guessed that Johnny was doing the same. Kabarda was walking around the ranch in the District Ten slice, swinging her hatchet and practising. Delly from Twelve was in the District Seven part of the Arena, resting at the top of a tree. She had a few sponsor supplies after killing a Career in the Bloodbath. The Careers had sorted their supplies, before heading out in the way of the Anti-Careers, containing Asha from Seven and my kids. O.K, technically, they were my stepchildren. I had met their mum after they were both born. Their father had abandoned them when Florina had told him she was pregnant. They kids had been born, and Florina took care of them alone for two years, until I met her. I was a single father to Laura at the time. Her mother had died giving birth to her, and I had been single for six years. When I met Florina, I fell in love again. Okra and Hawberry were amazing little kids, and I loved them from the moment I met them. I had married Florina a few years later, and had lived a lovely life since. I viewed Okra and Hawberry as my kids, and loved them as such. They had chosen to keep their mothers' name, so we let them. It had been wonderful, our little family and, five years ago, we welcomed another son, little Orchus. He was asleep as well, curled up with Florina in bed. It was my turn to watch the Games, and Laura had joined me. She deeply cared about her stepsiblings. They were currently moving through the District Eleven section of the Arena. It was an orchard near the Cornucopia, with rows and rows of grape vines afterwards. The group were moving through the rows of vines, heading towards the District Twelve section, as they reasoned they could hide in the mine for a little bit. Okra was leading, with Asha in the middle and Hawberry bringing up the rear. The three of them moved along the path, and eventually came into the hills that were at the back of the District Twelve section. They then turned inwards, and walked towards the shanty town, and the mine it was connected to. The cameras suddenly cut to the Careers, who were currently in the town, having seen my kids and Asha head in that direction. I shouted at them to turn around, and walk away, begging Johanna, Apple or Lily to send them a note warning them of danger. However, they either did not have the needed funds, or they were not allowed to by, according to Seeder, the ever changing sponsor rules. Instead, I watched as my kids walked right into a trap. Malfoy was the first to make a move, obviously wanting to get revenge for Okra killing his sister. He threw a knife, that flew just passed Okra ear. The three were in the open, with no shelter near them, so ran as quickly as they could towards the town, aiming to hide behind a building. Hartica let her trident go, and it soared through the air. Asha grabbed Hawberry, and yanked her down to the ground, before scrambling back up again, and managing to make it behind the nearest building. Okra however, had been hit by Malfoy in the shoulder. Okra ran to his allies, gasping in pain. Next to me, Laura was shaking and whimpering, muttering for someone to help them. I grabbed her hand as the Careers moved towards my kids. Asha held her axe and stood up, ready to attack. However, Okra grabbed her leg.

"Run. Both of you run. You will die if you attack them now. Stalk them, and take them out one by one. Leave me here," he said, holding his shoulder. "I will die to keep you safe." He pulled the knife out of his shoulder, gritting his teeth. Laura and I were shouting at him not to do this, and Hawberry was pleading quietly with him as well. Asha looked at Okra for a few seconds, before nodding. She grabbed Hawberry and, being stronger, started to drag her away. Hawberry shouted and struggled against Asha grip, but was not able to get out. Asha dragged Hawberry into another building, before hitting her on the head, knocking her out. Okra stood up, using the wall as a support, and held the knife and sickle sightly. He listened closely as the Careers came closer. As they were about to round the corner, Okra jumped out, and swung his sickle. He managed to hit Hartica in the leg, but only just. Waver then shoved his spear at Okra, stabbing him in the same shoulder that Malfoy had hit. Okra shouted out in pain, and Malfoy took this moment to move forwards, and slit his throat in one quick motion. I screamed, as did Laura as Okra fell, clutching at his neck. I heard footsteps, and before I could do anything, I heard Florina scream as well, and Orchus cry. I quickly went over to them, and held them both tightly, with Laura squeezing into the group hug as well. Florina held on to me tightly, as her sobs raked her body. All that was on my mind was how Asha had betrayed Okra. She should have stayed behind and all fight as a group. I hoped Hawberry would kill Asha after she woke up.

Isobel Foxgrove, 49

Mother of Power Foxgrove –

District Five male tribute in the Seventy Fifth Hunger Games, 16

Dylan shook me awake. Me and my family were in his house in Victors village, watching the Games with him. It had been three days since the last kill, and Dylan, me and my wife, Flow, had been taking it in turn to watch the twenty-four hour live stream of Power and Phoebe, something they had started this year. You could now select what Hunger Games stream you want to watch. There was a twenty-four our stream dedicated to each tribute, so that no action, even relieving oneself or stripping naked to wash, was missed. Power and Phoebe had been together since the start, so we had been changing between those two channels, switching to Dottys' one whenever she was on watch. I groaned, and sat up. I looked at Dylan. Next to me, my wife did the same.

"Is everything OK?" I asked, panickily. "Are they alive? Has something happened to them? Has-" I carried on, before Flow clapped her hand over my mouth.

"Let him talk Izzy," she said, quietly. I nodded.

"Your kids are fine, I am just needed elsewhere for a bit," Dylan said.

I nodded, and he left. I quickly got up, and threw on a gown over my pyjamas. I walked out of the bedroom, and headed into the main room, where, on Powers' live stream, I could see him walking around the camp keeping guard. The sun was rising, and I knew that in about half an hour, the feeds would switch to Caeser and Claudius to do the recap of the Games so far, as they did every morning. I did not see why they did this, but it was probably for the idiots in the Capitol who drank during the Games in celebration, so they forget stuff quickly.

There were fourteen living tributes. The pair from Four, boy from Two and girl from One were together as the Career pack. My kids and Dotty were together. Everyone else was alone. After Okras' death, Asha and Hawberry had separated after a heated exchange. The Careers were at the Cornucopia, being woken up by Malfoy, who had taken the last watch. They had been hunting every day, not finding anyone since Okra. It was Perfections' turn to guard the horn today, so after eating breakfast, and gathering their weapons, they headed off hunting, leaving Perfection behind to guard. Ziya was in District Fives' section of the Arena, which was modelled after an abandoned power plant, like the one Shakti had won in. She had moved there after leaving the Three area, and was finishing up her invention. I still had no idea what it was, but whoever her mentor was obviously did, as they sent her useful stuff. Phoebe, Power and Dotty were hiding in one of the abandoned trains in the District Six section, huddled together. None of them had got much sleep according to Dylan, and had spent most of the night glancing out of the window every few seconds. Lexa had been forced to move overnight by wolf mutts. She was chased for a while, before eventually stopping in District Tens' part. She hid in a barn up in the loft. Asha was walking through the forest in Seven section, swinging her axe, practicing her fighting. She had not been getting much sleep after leaving Hawberry, as she was waking up constantly, looking around for attackers. Johnny was in the District Nine section still, setting up more wheat to be sharp weapons. Kabarda was in the District One section, in one of the houses. She had set up a few traps around the house, so if anyone came in, they would die. Hawberry was sitting in between two of the rows of vines in District Eleven section. She had been there since Okras' death. Delly from Twelve was in District Six' section as well, searching for anything she may find useful.

After the recap, the camera stayed on Delly, as she got closer and closer to the train my kids and Dotty were hiding in. I breathed sharply, starting to panic as Delly looked right at the train, and moved towards it. Thankfully, Power noticed her coming, and shook Dotty and Phoebe awake. They saw Delly approaching and, as she went around the side to the door, snuck out the back window. The three of them ran away, heading through District Six to District Five. This section was a power plant/giant dam, letting a little water through, to create the rivers that separated each District Section, and surrounded the Cornucopia clearing. It was full of little corridors and rooms to hide in, so would be a good place to run and stay safe from others. The only issue was Ziya, who was in the main control room. The three of them walked carefully though the power plant, taking turns to turn corners first in case anything was there. On one of the last corners before reaching the control room, it was Powers turn to check. He held his dagger tight, before turning the corner sharply. There was nothing there, so he moved forwards a few steps, before calling for his allies. Just as Dotty and Phoebe came round the corner, two thick steel doors slammed down from the ceiling, one on either end of the corridor, at the far end and just in front of Phoebe and Dotty. Power was trapped. I shrieked in panic, as the camera cut to show Ziya in the control room, fiddling with more buttons. Panels in the wall on the right side of Power. Water flowed into the corridor, flooding it.

"No!" screamed Phoebe, echoed by me and Flow. Dotty started pounding on the door, as Phoebe panicked. Power was doing his best to stay calm, but the water rising around him made it hard. He was no longer able to stand, and had to tread water to still be able to breathe. Phoebe then ran to the panel on the side of the wall and, using her dagger, started to pry open the panel. Suddenly, the floor opened underneath Power, and he was sucked out along with all the water. As he fell down, he smashed his head against the rocks at the base of the dam. He was swept further downstream, hitting off multiple more rocks, before coming to a stop at the edge of the Cornucopia clearing. He was battered, bleeding and bruised but was alive. I dared to hope for a few moments, before Perfection saw him, and quickly ran over. I screamed as she drew her sword, and stabbed my boy in the neck. I cried hard and held Flow tight, as she sobbed. Dylan walked back in and stopped, seeing the reactions on our face. He quickly glanced at the TV, as Powers' feed stopped with his heartbeat. It stayed live long enough for the cannon to sound, before fully cutting. Dylan walked over to us, and crouched down.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Flow nodded, before pulling me to my feet.

"I am going to take her to bed. I will be back in a few minutes," she said. Just before leaving, she switched the stream to Phoebe. I stared at my daughter, hoping desperately that she would be OK.

Faith Mozakt, 48

Mother of Ziya Mozakt –

District Three female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 17

I watched with disbelief as Power was washed away. I had not expected Ziya to get a kill out of the maze, where she had set up a load of traps. She had moved to the Dam in the District Five section yesterday to gather some more electrical equipment from it, stuff that was too expensive for Wiress to send her. While she was in the main control room, ripping out some wires and other pieces from panels. While she was collecting her equipment, she noticed the pair from Five and the Eight girl on the cameras. Ziya swore quietly, and looked at the buttons on the panels in front of her. After pressing a few, she had killed Power. I could see the turmoil on her face. After watching Ohm die in the Bloodbath, she had not been fully the same, and I could tell. Neither was I to be fair. All I was wanting was for Ziya to come back to me.

I leant back against the backrest of my chair, and watched as Phoebe and Dotty left the powerplant, and ran towards District Eights section. Ziya watched them go through the security cameras, and then moved out of the building herself. Knowing her, she knew that the Careers where likely to make their way over to the powerplant after seeing what just happened, so she did not want to be there when the Careers arrived. She quickly moved from the powerplant in District Fives section, back to the maze in District Threes' section. She ran through the maze, that she had memorised back on Day One. She moved with practiced ease through her traps, and settled in the area she had made her camp. There, she had an assortment of electrical parts from the Cornucopia, maze and sponsor gifts. There, she sat down, and started fiddling with her items, building something. She was there for the rest of the day, working until the anthem rang, and Powers' face appeared in the sky. After that, Ziya curled up, and let herself sleep. I myself headed to bed, setting my alarm for seven the next day, for the recap to start at half seven.

I was now curled in a little ball on the sofa in Beetees' house. His wife had invited my over, and I was glad to accept, so I could have someone to talk to, and rant at. She had come over to my house at six, and woke me up to bring me to her house. I held the cup of tea she made me in my hands, as Ceaser and Claudius come onto screen, to do the daily recap. Malfoy and the pair from Four were in District Sixs' section, while Perfection was at the Cornucopia. Ziya was still asleep in her camp in the maze. Phoebe and Dotty were in the District Eight section, hiding in one of the factories. Lexa had moved overnight, and was now sleeping on an island in the District Four ocean. She was nestled in a tree, hiding. The Careers had gone there yesterday, so they were unlikely to go there again today. Asha was also in District Sixs' section, in a car a little away from the Careers. She had found them the day before, and had been watching them since. Johnny was still in District Nine section. He had made the wheat field into a deadly trap. He had killed multiple mutts after they were send after him using his sharpened wheat. Kabarda was in District Twos quarry, moving through the mine, trying to find water. Hawberry still hadn't moved since yesterday, and Delly was in a train carriage in District Sixs' section. After the recap, Ceaser said something that caught my attention.

"Now then everyone, stay tuned. In ten minutes, mutts will be released, and set to attack until one tribute has been killed. Who will it be? I can't wait to find out!" He said, grinning. I felt fear bubble in my chest. I had an ominous feeling that Ziya would not survive this. For the next ten minutes, Ceaser went over what the mutts were. They were Dragonhorses. They had the body shape of a horse, with four strong legs, long body and head. However, instead of being covered in fur, the creature was covered in scales, ranging in colour from deep red to green to blue. There were wings sprouting out of the backs of each of them. The wings were a deep red, with orange on the edge, with yellow spikes at the end of each wing. They looked insane, and very deadly. They were then released. They rose out of the ocean in the District Four area, and flew towards the sepreate tributes. I did not care about what happened to the others, and focused on Ziya.

She was still asleep, and I started shouting for her to wake up. She did eventually, when one of the Dragonhorses landed nearby, and screeched. She shot up, and seeing the beast, screamed. She reached over to the side, and grabbed her machine she made yesterday. I did not know exactly what she had been making, but I had an idea. She aimed the invention at the Dragonhorse, which was standing on the other side of some of her traps. She fired her invention at the feet of the mutt. It sent out a red beam of energy, that melted the stones at the feet of the Dragonhorse. It roared, and moved forward. However, it hit the wires that were criss-crossing the pathway, and got a massive electric shock. It stumbled back, smoking slightly from black lines across its body. For a moment, I thought it may leave, and leave Ziya alone. But a second later, it breathed fire, completely disintegrating the wires that were in its way. Ziya screamed, as the Dragonhorse dived forward, and slashed at her. Its claws cut right through her chest, and she fell, dead. I stared at the screen for a minute, realising that I had lost both of my kids. I had no one. Beetees' wife tried to move towards me, but I just stood up, and left the house. I walked in a daze back to my home, and went to the kitchen. I picked up the knife that was in the drawer. I had lost my parents when I was young. My husband had died last year. His parents had died a few months afterwards. We were both only children. Now, I had lost my kids. I had no reason to live.

Dasher Harlinda, 50

Father of Lexa Harlinda –

District Six female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

Poppy was fast asleep, leaning against my chest. We were sitting on the sofa in out crumbling apartment, watching the games. Lexa had managed to kill the Dragonhorse mutt the day before, making it crash into a large tree in District Sevens' forest, and causing it to collapse on top of the mutt. She was now sitting in one of the factories in the District Eight section. The tributes had all been moving around quite a lot this year, more so than most previous years. It made it more nerve recking for me, but at the same time, in reduced the chance of the Gamemakers causing something to happen due to boredom. Axela was at work. We worked in a factory, like almost everyone in the District. Our factory was one of the ones that focused on painting the cars, trains, hovercrafts and all other transportation that our District made. It was boring as hell, but it was better than most places, as it was safe. The likelihood of us being injured was very low. We did not have to work, as we were immediate family of a tribute, but of course, we would not be paid unless we worked. We had been taking it in turns to go in, and stay at home. While there were TVs in every factory, to show mandatory viewings like the Hunger Games, we could react how we wanted at home. We could cry openly.

I focused back on the screen. Lexa was moving quietly around the factory, being as careful as she could so she did not make much sound, or fall through on of the gaps in the rotting floors. She had run out of food two days before, and now searching for anything to eat. After half an hour of searching, she heard movement near her, and turned towards where she heard it. A rat was running along the floor near her, skirting around the holes in the floor. Lexa gasped, and moved towards the rat. She moved quickly around the holes in the floor. As she approached the rat, the floor under her suddenly gave way. She fell to the floor underneath, and landed awkwardly. I heard the snap through the camera, and Lexa screamed in pain. The camera zoomed into her leg, showing part of her bone piercing through the skin. I screamed and cried as I saw it, waking Poppy up. I quickly covered her eyes, and telling her not to look.

"What's happened Daddy?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Lexa's been hurt, badly," I replied.

She whimpered, and curled into me more. I wrapped her in my arms, and stroked her hair, putting her face against my chest. Lexa was lying on the ground, crying and clutching her leg. I knew that she would probably be killed soon, as there was no way for her to survive, unless she got some really expensive medicine from a sponsor gift and, from her interview, I knew that she did not have many fans in the Capitol.

Over the next hour, she just lay there, hoping for any sponsor gift. Poppy had gone to her room, at my insistence, so she would not see Lexa die. Axela had come home a few minutes ago, and we were sitting holding hands watching the screen. Things were bad for Lexa and, they then went to worse. The Careers were exploring the District Eight section and eventually found the factory that Lexa was in. She saw them coming, and covered her mouth, hoping they wouldn't notice her. As much as I wished, they did. She wasn't really hidden, so it was easy for them to see her. Perfection walked over, with Hartica and Waver following.

"What happened here?" she asked, grinning.

"Oh, what shall we do with her?" asked Hartica, spinning her spear around her fingers.

Perfection looked to his side, and smiled when he saw rats. She pulled a jar out of her bag, and emptied the pins that were in there. She then walked over to the rats, and quickly managed to capture several of them, closing the lid to trap them inside. I realised what was about to happen, and threw up. Lexa had also realised and reached for her knife. Waver saw this however, and knocked it aside. He laughed as Lexa cried and begged for them to kill her quickly.

"Now where is the fun in that?" asked Perfection. "We haven't been able to have much fun yet. We have only killed that boy from Eleven. We need to put on a show."

She then placed the open side of the jar against Lexas chest, and lit a lighter, placing it against the end of the jar. Axela was crying and screaming next to me, and I wasn't doing much better. I tried to turn the TV off, but as the Hunger Games were mandatory viewing, I couldn't. Instead, I grabbed Axelas' hand, and pulled her out of the room, as the rats started burrowing into my daughters chest. Her screams of terror and pain would be haunting me for the rest of my life.

Zina Tully, 39

Mother of Kabarda Tully –

District Ten female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 14

My triplets were running around in the main square of the District Ten Victors Village. The Village in Ten was situated outside of the main city, Austin. You could see the city in the distance, and it was surrounded by flat plains, with very little on them. Normally, we would use them for horse riding. Pasture, Alexander and Lammy enjoyed going out on trips together after the Games. Steer had gone with them, but stopped in the last few years of his life as he was getting too sick to do so. The main square had a fountain in the middle, and my kids loved splashing each other with the water to cool down. Lammys' younger sister and Pastures' grandkids were there to, doing the same. Thomas, Niel and Belinda were giggling and enjoying themselves. They had managed to distract themselves from the Games. I knew they missed Kabarda and Lindon, but I knew that they would unfortunately forget about them quickly, as they were only three years old. Lexa had died two days ago. Her death had honestly given me nightmares that night. I could not imagine how her parents felt. There had not been much action since then. The Careers had gone hunting each day. They never found anyone, but did fight some giant crab mutts in the District Four section. None of them had been injured, but it allowed the Capitol to have some action. Asha had been stalking them. I was amazed that none of the Careers' mentors could send them a note telling them they were being followed, but according to Alex, for this year, they were not allowed to warn tributes of people being near them. Cashmere, Valiant, Coral and Finnick could not do anything. I had met all four of them from their Victory Tours, or one of their mentees' Victory Tours. I liked Coral and Finnick. Like the other Victors from Four I had met, they were friendly. I knew that Four was respected by most other Victors, while Two had a harder time.

Going back to the tributes, Phoebe and Dotty had split apart. Phoebe was in the vineyards of the District Eleven section, moving down the paths, eating some of the fruit. Dotty meanwhile was in a cottage she found in the District Eight section, located quite near the forcefield at the edge of the arena. She was using some cloth she had got from one of the factories to make herself a suit to help her camouflage into the rocky ground of the area. Johnny from Nine had moved to the District Eleven section briefly to gather food and then the District Seven section afterwards, taking some wood to build himself a small shelter. Other than that, he was till sheltering in his camp in District Nine. However, as he had killed multiple mutts on his razor sharp wheat stalks, the Gamemakers seemed fine with leaving him be. Hawberry was hunting around the arena muttering to herself. She seemed to be going the way of Merdith from Seven two years ago, or Annie from Four, four years ago. She was going slightly crazy after witnessing her District partner die, although it was worse this time as it was her brother. She was talking about finding Asha and killing her, then the Careers from her brother's death.

I headed back inside, leaving Lammy's mother to look after my kids. I sat down in front of the TV again, to watch my girl. Kabarda was in the District Ten section. She was holding her hatchet and pitchfork tight, practicing with them against piles of hay. I was proud of her, and how she was handling Lardons death. It had hit me and Alex hard. We were on the phone together every night, talking. Lammy and Pasture were helping a lot, and so were their families. It was all I could hope for that Kabarda would be home soon. However, Delly from Twelve was watching Kabarda. She had not had any water in a day, and my daughter had a few bottles. It was tense for a while, watching my daughter practice fighting, knowing that she may have to actually fight in a minute.

Delly tried to sneak up, but Kabarda heard her coming. She quickly spun around and held her pitchfork out towards Delly. She quickly put her hands up.

"Please, I just want some water. I'll go. I haven't had a drink in a day," Delly reaped, her voice dry. After about a minute, Kabarda crouched down slowly, and picked up on of her water bottles. She quickly threw it over to Delly, who grabbed it, and quickly gulped some of the water down.

"The dam in District Five is full of drinkable water. Go there," my daughter said. Delly nodded, before quickly leaving Kabarda alone. My daughter slumped against the wall, sighing in relief that she did not have to fight. She picked up her weapons and pack, and moved. She walked through the plains on the District Ten section, heading towards the District Nine fields. She slowly trekked through the field, exploring the area, as she had not been here before. I was getting increasingly worried, as she was moving nearer and nearer to Johnny and his deadly wheat. I prayed and prayed that Alex would be able to send her a sponsor gift, warning her of danger, but I knew he couldn't. I just watched, as Kabarda walked towards him. As she got closer, Johnny heard her coming, and crouched down. I watched, as the camera switched to a birds eye view, and highlighted both Kabarda and Johnny. Kabarda moved closer and closer to Johnny, causing my heartbeat to rise higher and higher.

Suddenly, Johnny burst forward, and grabbed Kabarda. Even though he wasn't the strongest, he was older and taller. He managed to wrestle Kabarda, and after a few minutes, shoved her onto the wheat. The sharp points of the stalks pierced her skin, and she fell down them. She gurgled on blood as a stalk went through her neck. Johnny breathed shakily, before picking up the hatchet that my baby girl dropped, and quickly stabbed her, ending her pain. I fell off the sofa, crying. I lay there for a few minutes, thinking of Lardon and Kabarda and what they could have done when the phone rang. I stumbled over and picked it up, knowing without any words that it was Alexander.

"I'm… I…" he said.

"You couldn't have done anything," I said, sniffling. "I am going to the triplets. I love you."

"I love you to Angel," he said.

Kaz Raintrout, 40

Father of Waver Raintrout –

District Four male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I watched the as he son walked around the horn, looking out for trouble. He was guarding the Cornucopia. It was Day Eleven now, two days since the girl from Ten died and District Four was the only District to still have both of their tributes in the Games. Perfection, Malfoy and Hartica were in the District Seven section, moving through the forest. My wife was sitting with Mags in her house, watching Hartica and I was in Noahs' house with him, watching Wavers' stream. I was holding a glass of scotch. The Careers had done well. They had explored the District Four section for the second time yesterday, with Waver and Hartica leading Perfection. The District Four section was a giant ocean. There were many islands scattered throughout the ocean. Some were sandy, some were covered in trees and some were rocky. They had not found anyone unfortunately. As usual, I could see where all the tribute were, but my kids did not know.

Normally, in previous years, we would focus on the District Four tributes, having our kids only watch that stream. My and my wife would have the main Games stream on, watching. If a tribute was near one of the District Four tributes, we would ask out kids if they saw them on the District Four stream. We also did it if there was no one there, to try and get them to notice the little details. I was a trainer in the District Four Academy. One thing I did was train the students in how to spot other tributes. I had always been good at painting, which was not common in District Four. At first, I tried to just not do painting, but when I entered the practice Games for the Thirty-Sixth games when I was sixteen, I realised how useful my skills could be after hiding, and watching three people walk right past me. I did not end up winning those Games, and was unable to compete in the next two years practice games due to injury and becoming a father at eighteen. I was annoyed, but I loved my eldest son a lot, and all my other children as well of course. I got my idea to train the student in how to notice other people after the pair from Four walked right past Levi in the Fifty-Eighth Hunger Games, leading to him killing them both. After that, I went to Mags, and got my job. I would hide myself and other people or items around an area, and task the students to find everyone and everything hidden. It was hard, but it had allowed Finnick to spot and kill the pair from Six in his Games. My kids had always been good at it.

That is why it was very annoying that Waver could not see Asha right now. She was hiding just into the District Eleven section, hiding behind an apple tree, watching Waver. She had been stalking the Careers for the past few days, before deciding to stay near the horn today, to focus on Waver. I bit my lip, as Waver walked around the far side of the horn, and Asha quickly ran from the tree towards the horn. She held her axe in one hand, and a long branch in the other. She used her branch to let herself jump higher. She vaulted through the air, and landed on top of the horn. She quickly pulled the branch up and onto the top of the horn, and out of sight of Waver as he came back round the other side.

"Idiot boy," I muttered.

Waver stalked around the horn a few times, with Asha above him, watching him. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Asha quietly moved, and dropped to the ground around the corner behind Waver. I started shaking my head, and telling Waver to use his ears. He must have heard something, as he turned around suddenly when Asha was close to him. He quickly brought his spear up, but Asha blocked it with her axe. Asha kicked Waver back, and swung her axe towards Wavers' head. He quickly ducked, and managed to stab Asha in the leg with his spear. Asha screamed, as Waver grinned. Asha stood up shakily, and dived forward. Her sudden movement obviously took Waver by surprise, and I watched as my son was struck in the chest by the bitch from Seven. Waver fell backwards, and the bitch brought the axe down again, striking Waver in the head. The cannon fired, and screen went dark for a second, before switching the Ashas' stream. I screamed and threw my glass against the wall. Asha was now raiding the horn for medical supplies, food and water. She quickly put cream on her leg, and wrapped in bandages, before running off. Noah helped me up, and brought me over to Mags and my wife, Talay. They saw me come in and, from the look on my face, my wife ran up to me, crying already.

"The Seven bitch," I muttered.

"Hartica will kill her," Talay replied.

Davila Martona, 48

Mother of Johnny Martona –

District Nine male tribute in the seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I was sitting in the main room of Mizars' house in the District Nines' Victors Village. He was confined to a wheelchair after he got cancer a few years ago. He hadn't been to the Capitol since the seventy-third. He went that year as Maisey had only won the year before, so wanted to be there to support his two Victors, and Laurels first Victor. He had stayed at home during last year's Games, and again this year. Everyone knew he was going to die soon, even him. We were all sad, but were preparing. In District Nine, we loved our Victors. They helped people all over the District, and tried their best to make everyones lives better. Mizar had been doing this for sixty-five years, showing Laurel and Wheaton how and where to help. I knew from talking to Mizar in the night that Laurel was teaching Maisey on how to help people in the District. At the moment, Mizar was asleep in his room. Grain was in there with him and Mizars' granddaughter, Bailey, looking after him.

I were staring at the screen, as Johnny was curled up and crying after killing Kabarda five days before. The past three days had been full of little to no movement between the tributes. The Careers, shocked by the death of Waver at the horn, had refused to move from the Cornucopia, and the only other tribute who moved at all was Asha. Johnny had been both crying, and ranting about how much he hated the fact he had to kill Kabarda. I hated it as well, but I knew that he would have to kill eventually. Every single Victor had killed someone. There was no way for someone to win, without killing anyone. I was sending him support in the only way I could, by speaking to the TV. I could not do anything else, but I hoped he would know that me and Grain would be there for him when he got home. I just wanted to give him a hug right now, and tell him everything was going to be okay. All of a sudden, the voice of Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane came onto the speaker system.

"Attention, attention tributes. You are all spread out over the Arena. From now on, every twelve hours, one section at random with be destroyed. Alarms will sound in each section thirty minutes before it is destroyed. With each tribute to die, the alarms will sound six minutes later, until there are only three tributes left for the final fight. This will be the only announcement."

A minute later, alarms sounded in the District Nine section, where Johnny was hiding. Shocked by the sudden sound, Johnny jumped to his feet, and spun around. He swore quietly, and a moment later I realised why. He was lost. I shouted at him to run in a random direction, as he had a better than fifty percent chance he would be safe. After a further five minutes of dithering, he ran in a direction. I had no idea if he was running the correct way or not, so I quickly switched the stream to the main one. There, they had an ariel view of Johnny running. I sighed with relief as I saw he was running away from the force field, before noticing with fear that he was running directly towards the Cornucopia, and the three remaining Careers.

"Nononononononono," I said, panicking.

However, no matter how many times I said it, I could not stop Johnny running towards them. As he escaped the wheat field, he sighed in relief, only to notice Perfection, Malfoy and Hartica starting at him. He swallowed, and held his hatchet in one hand, and scythe in the other. He stood ready to fight the Careers. Perfection and Malfoy both held their swords, while Hartica was using a spear. The four of them stood there for a few minutes.

"So, are we going to fight, or are shall we just continue staring into each other's eyes?" Johnny asked with a slight smirk.

Hartica quickly threw her spear at him, but Johnny managed to dodge it. He quickly ran forwards, and dived at Malfoy. My boy swung his scythe at Malfoy. The Career blocked the weapon, and kicked my son in the stomach. He fell back, before standing back up quickly. Hartica had another spear now, and was behind Johnny, holding her spear. Perfection was behind Malfoy, watching the fight, and ready to jump in when needed. Johnny was breathing hard and fast, and swivelling his head from Malfoy to Hartica. After yet another minute of pure stress and fear, both Careers suddenly lunged forwards. Johnny managed to block Malfoy, but Harticas' spear landed in Johnnys' neck. She ripped it out, and quickly replanted it in his chest. The cannon boom, and I fell off the sofa, tears streaming down my face as I knew that neither of my kids would come home alive. Grain ran in quickly, along with Bailey.

"Mizar has died," Bailey said, crying. Grain had ran over to me immediately, before looking at the screen, as the Careers were standing around Johnnys' body. He started crying as well. It was not a good year for Nine. We lost both tributes and our first Victor. I rested my head on Grains' shoulder, not knowing what to do.

Talay Raintrout, 38

Mother of Hartica Raintrout –

District Four female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 16

I opened the door to Mags' house, and walked back to the sofa. We had just finished our family interview, as we had reached the final eight. It had been twenty-four hours since my daughter had killed the Nine boy, and the District Nine, District Five and District Six slices of the Arena were all fiery hellscapes. The blazes were being kept in their section, probably using forcefield technology. At the moment, Hartica and Malfoy were moving through the District Six section. They had several more hours before they had to worry about another section being destroyed, but as there were eight people left, they had to find other tributes fast, and kill them. I was worried, however. The forest of District Seven was where the Seven bitch had been for the last day, She had already killed my son, and the trees in the section gave her an advantage over Hartica and Malfoy, as she knew how to move in between them, like the Eleven girl last year. Clove from Two had killed her, but she had survived to third place as she could easily move through the trees, staying high above other tributes. She had killed the girl from One by dropping down on her when she reached the top five. So, all in all, it was dangerous for a tribute to be wondering around the forest when a District Seven or Eleven tribute was still in the Games, as they could launch a surprise attack.

As I watched them move through the forest, I saw as one or the other occasionally looked up at the trees, as if they heard something. It freaked me out every time. I was not usually this jumpy, but the fear of losing Hartica was mounting. I was really starting to regret convincing them to put their names down for the Choosing. Normally, the Victors would pick the person they thought was ready, but this year they had asked if any pair of siblings was willing to go in. Only three pairs put their names down, and my kids were selected. At first, they had not wanted to, but I convinced them to, and I hated myself for it. After two hours of nail biting nerves, the pair eventually left the forest for the smokestacks and factories of District Eight. While there was no other tribute there, as far as I was aware, it was safer than being in Ashas' domain.

I was also starting to think about the pack betrayal, and whether they would last together as a group until the end, or separate beforehand. It was always one of the more stressful questions in the Games, as it would normally dictate whether a Career would defiantly win the Games, or whether an outlier had a chance. The pack had not betrayed each other since Johannas Game though, as when they did then, watched them split, and hunted down the three living Careers, killing them in turn before killing the Eleven boy to win. Since then, the Careers have stayed together until the end. It had worked twice, with Annie winning in Seventy-One and Drace winning in Seventy-Three, but had also failed twice, with District Nine winning in Seventy-Two and Five winning last year. I knew from Mags that the Fours' plan was to stay as a pack until the final battle, but I did not know what the Ones and Twos would do.

For the next few hours, I watched Malfoy and Hartica move from District Eight to Ten and then Eleven, not finding anyone. They decided to head back to the horn about an hour before the next section would be destroyed. As they were heading back, Hartica started talking.

"What do you think of Perfection?" she asked, carefully.

"What do you mean by that?" Malfoy retorted.

"We all have two kills, but she has not actually really fought to get her kills. She stabbed one in the Bloodbath through the back, and killed another one when he was already weak from the dam collapse. She stayed back while we fought Johnny. We have done more than her. She is weak. Do we really need her?" Hartica said. I sucked air in through my teeth. This was risky, and it could easily lead to my daughter being killed.

"Draco told me to not split the pack until the final battle," Malfoy said harshly.

"OK then. Coral said do to what I thought was best. The Gamemakers may be sending something after us soon, as we are three of the remaining eight tributes. I just wanted to reduce that risk, and eliminate the possibility one of us would be killed by a mutt," Hartica finished, slicing apart a vine with her spear.

"After last year, a Career win would be good, so the Gamemakers will want to keep us together," said Malfoy.

I didn't agree really. The Gamemakers were not against having multiple outlier Victors in a row. From the Fiftieth to the Sixty-First had been a string of twelve outlier Victors in a row, with Three, Five, Six, Seven, Nine and Twelve each getting one Victor and Eight, Ten and Eleven each getting two. It was a painful time to be a Career, but it showed that multiple outliers could win in a row. I knew Hartica would think the same, but I was really hoping she wouldn't point that out, as with how temperamental to District Two tributes are usually, it could end badly. However, no matter how much I prayed.

"I don't agree, between the fiftieth and sixty-first, there were twelve Outlier Victors. The Gamemakers would be happy to let us die if they thought someone else was – Whoa!" Hartica had started, before ducking under Malfoys' sword as he swung it at her.

"I am in charge! The Capitol would not want another dirty outlier winning," he roared.

Hartica held her spear tight, and stood ready. Malfoy charged forwards and the two started to fight. It was long, lasting well over half an hour of the two constantly striking at each other, but both manging to parry or dodge every blow. Suddenly, the alarms in District Eleven section blared, signalling there was thirty minutes until the slice was destroyed. The two of them quickly started running towards the horn. Malfoy was slightly faster, so managed to pull ahead of Hartica, and get out of the vineyards and orchard first. Hartica was a little behind him, and when she burst out of the orchard, she was met with a sword to the neck. It was over in a second. My daughter had been running a moment before, then the next second, her head was separated from her shoulders. I screamed in rage and anguish, as my daughters stream cut, and the TV automatically switched to the Malfoys stream, as he had killed her. Anchor, Mags great grandson, and potential tribute for the Seventy-Seventh, quickly switched the TV off, and took me and my husband to the basement, where there were dummies, and weapons. We spent a while letting out rage out. I hope Malfoy dies.

Cotton Drety, Victor of the Fifty-Fifth Hunger Games, 35

District Eight resident and mentor –

Watching Dotty Zillpon –

District Eight female tribute in Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 14

I was watching over Dotty while she was in the Games. I was the only one able to as Merino, her father, had died two days ago. He had been almost continuously drunk since the reaping, no matter how much I tried to help him. He had gone to work two days ago, drunk and ended up in a bad accident. He died, leaving no one behind for Dotty. I had rung and told Cecelia, Spool and Woof, and we had agreed not to tell Dotty anything until she came out of the Arena. There was no point in telling her beforehand, as it might just cause her to be distracted, and killed. While I would love to have another Victor, I was worried about what would happen if Dotty came back, as she had no family now. Of course us Victors would be there for her, and I knew that out families would be there as well, but I was still worried about it. As much as I hated to think it, part of me was hoping she would die in the Arena, so she could be with her parents and brother.

It was Day Sixteen of the games, and I knew they would end before Day twenty. Another area of the Arena would be destroyed in two hours. As of right now, Dotty was in the District Twelve section. She was hiding in one of the houses above ground that, according to Cecelia, who heard it from Haymitch, looked quite like the Seam, the poorer area of District Twelve where most people lived and where most tributes came from. She was huddled down under a table, taking care of a bad cut she got from a cat mutt yesterday. Perfection and Malfoy were in the District Seven section, hunting mainly for Asha. They had deemed her the most dangerous tribute to them, so were hoping to find her together, and kill her. Unbeknownst to them, Asha was not in that section. She was in the District Three maze. She had gone there a few times over the course of the Games, and had realised there were traps set up. Since then, she had been going back, to learn how the traps are set up, and where they are. My best guess was that she was hoping to lead another tribute to the maze, and use her knowledge of the traps to kill them. Phoebe from Five was in one of the temples that was in the District Two section. The one she was hiding in was dedicated to Corus who, according to Ceaser, was the Roman God of Northwest Wind. She was about halfway up the mountain, watching down over the rest of the Arena. Delly from Twelve had managed to fill her flask with enough water before the District Five section was destroyed.. She was now in a factory in the District Eight section. It was the same one she had encountered Kabarda in a few days prior. She was there, practicing with her knife, and the spear she took of Glamour in the Bloodbath. She was battling dummies that were used to model clothes. Hawberry was in the District One section. Since the death of her brother, and the following loneliness, she had gone mad. She was walking around the mansions swinging around her sickle and giggling. She was slashing a lot of things, and muttering about how she is going to kill Asha.

Dotty decided to start moving about an hour later. She crawled out from under the table, and walked out of the hut she was in. She slowly walked out of the building, and crept through the town, heading for the central field. However, she was moving quite slowly so, when she was still in the District Twelve section when the alarms sounded. Dotty gasped, and then started actually running. She ran as fast as she could towards the main clearing. She leapt over a dead tree, but her foot caught on a branch, and she fell, hitting the ground quite hard. After groaning for a second, she scrambled back up, and started running again. Suddenly, the fire started at the back of the section, and started spreading inwards.

It was now a race between Dotty and the fire. I was nervous as she ran as fast as she could. The fire was almost directly behind her, when she managed jump into the river that separated the slice from main clearing. I sighed in relief, as the Careers were not there, so she could be safe. Dotty scrambled towards the horn, determined to get there, and most likely eat and drink something. She got there, and collapsed to the ground, after grabbing a bottle of water. She chugged the bottle down and started to relax slightly. That is when I knew she had made her last mistake.

Probably hearing the alarm in the District Twelve section, Hawberry suddenly appeared at the edge of the District One section, and ran towards Dotty, who only noticed after hearing Hawberry move through water. Dotty stood up, holding a long sharp dagger she had found in the horn. I did not like her chances though, as she had not shown much skill in fighting throughout the Games, and was only fourteen. Hawberry meanwhile had scored a nine, was seventeen and knew how to fight. Coupled with the fact she was slightly crazy; it made her extremely dangerous.

Hawberry sprinted right at Dotty, and swung her suckle at Dottys' head. Dotty managed to duck this blow effectively, and retaliated with managing to land a stab on Hawberrys' arm. The Eleven girl screeched like a wounded animal, before jumping on Dotty, stabbing her over and over again with her sickle. It only took ten seconds for the cannon to fire, but Hawberry continued to stab Dotty for another two minutes, eventually having to be pushed away from the body with electrical pulses. I sighed sadly, knowing the Hawberry would be killed off soon due to her mental state, like Titus a few years ago and my first tribute, Flannel, back in the Fifty-Sixth. I stood up, and headed out the back, into the garden, where my two kids were playing. I needed a distraction.

Flow Foxgrove, 45

Stepmother of Phoebe Foxgrove –

District Five female tribute in the Seventy Fifth Hunger Games, 16

I was sitting on the sofa, slowly running my hand through Izzys' hair. We were in Dylans house still. It had been twelve days since Power died, and Izzy had not done much apart from cry, sleep and cling to me. I did not blame her, as he was the one who gave birth to them. I only came into the picture when they were thirteen months old. I had fallen in love with the kids as soon as I met them, and was more than happy to adopt them as my own. I was now both mourning Power, and watching Phoebe every second I was awake. Izzy had ben watching the stream for the past thirty hours straight, and had finally fallen asleep against me when I pulled her into a hug. Dylan was sitting in his chair next to us, resting his arms on his knees, with his hands folded underneath his chin, watching Phoebe. Thirteen hours had passed since the District Twelve section was destroyed and Dotty died. The District Two section had been destroyed an hour ago, leaving only six sections left: One, Three, Four, Seven, Eight and Ten. I could not pick out any particular order they were being destroyed. It did just seem to be random.

The Careers had split last night. Perfection had run off when she was supposed to be om guard. Malfoy had been fuming when he woke up, and stalked of, probably to find Perfection. She was in the District One section, resting in one of the houses after clearing the entire section. Malfoy was in the District Three maze, finding Ziya's' old traps, and avoiding them. He was obviously thinking that someone still alive had set those traps, so was hunting for them in the area. Hawberry was on one of the islands on the District Four ocean. She was attacking trees for looking at her, and speaking to cocoanuts that she found. She was far gone from reality. Delly was in the District Eight area, still in one of the factories, and still practicing fighting with her knife and spear. She was getting fairly good for someone who had never used them before the Games. Asha was in the District Seven forest, jumping from tree to tree, and searching got victims. Phoebe was in the District Ten section, in one of the barns. She had run there when District Two started being destroyed. Watching her run over the Arena, knowing that four of the other five tributes could kill her easily, and Delly would probably beat her in a fight was so very scary. I honestly did not know how she would win, unless she did something like Chevy, and let the others kill each other, just to launch a surprise attack from behind at the end, killing her last remaining opponent. Worst part was, I knew that was highly unlikely. Malfoy, Perfection and Asha were all much more interesting characters, and much more loved by the Capitol audience, so the Victor would likely be one of them. There had been a poll in the Capitol shortly after Dotty died, for the audience to rank the tributes from one to six depending on how much they liked them. Malfoy won, with Asha and Perfection rounding out the top three. Delly came fourth and Phoebe came fifth, with Hawberry coming last. I knew the only reason she came last was due to the fact she was a little insane now, and that reminded people of Titus, even if they had forgotten his name in the Capitol.

I settled further back into the sofa, hoping to get a little rest while Phoebe was safe, but just as I was preparing to close my eyes, I heard growling from the TV. I sat up, Izzy falling off me as I did.

"Wha- Wha- What's happening?" she asked, blearily.

"I think there are mutts near Phoebe," I replied, shakily.

Izzy sat up quickly, and grabbed my hand as she looked at the TV. Phoebe had heard the growls by now, and turned around. Behind her, there were three dog mutts. It looked like the same that had appeared before the final battle the year before. Apparently, they had been formed from the bodies of the already killed tributes, but there was actually a little backlash from the Capitol from that. I thought, and after talking to Dylan I was sure, that they used the bodies of tributes to test medicine on before sending them back to the Districts, but they couldn't last year as Seneca Crane had used the bodies as mutts. Thankfully, it was not the same this year, and they looked like normal dog mutts. But they were still mutts in the Hunger Games, so they were dangerous. They growled at her for a bit, but did not attack. Instead, they spread out, blocking three escape routes and only leaving one way for her to run. It was obvious the Gamemakers were pushing Phoebe somewhere, but I had no idea where.

Phoebe grabbed her dagger and water bottle, before running as fast as she could. She was chased through the plains of the District Ten sector, to the main clearing. As she ran out of the section, Hawberry was seen running out of the District Four ocean. Behind Phoebe, the plain of the District Ten section burst into flames, stopping anyone from going there. At the same time, the ocean of the District Four section rose, covering all the islands, then turned into a dark green sludge, that I had seen in the Sixty-Fifth Games, where it could melt the flesh off anything. Hawberry grinned when she saw Phoebe, and moved towards her. Phoebe made to run away, but the dog mutts surrounded her, and pushed her towards Hawberry. When they were both on the centre clearing, the river rose and became rough. One of the mutts walked into the river, and was quickly ripped apart by the currents, showing the tributes that is they went into the river, they would be killed. Hawberry laughed quietly, as Phoebe gulped, nervously. Hawberry quickly ran towards Phoebe, and swung dagger at Phoebe. My daughter dodged it, and stuck back, hitting Hawberrys' shoulder with her dagger. All this did was make Hawberry even crazier. She kicked Phoebe in the leg, and stabbed her in the knee. Phoebe screamed as Hawberry carried on stabbing at her. I cried hard, as Izzy screamed. After ten long torturous minutes, Phoebe died. Hawberry continued hacking at her body, until she was electrocuted through her tracker so the hovercraft could collect Phoebes' body. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Dylan standing behind the sofa.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"There was nothing anyone could do," chocked out Izzy in between sobs.

Maximus Helipeas, 55

Father of Malfoy Helipeas –

District Two male tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I watched as my son sprinted through the maze in the District Three section. He was being chased by dog mutts. I had no clue why he went in there in the first place, as he was never very good with mazes. Thankfully, the ever loving Gamemakers closed off the wrong ways to go, sending my son on the right path to wherever they were pushing him. It was obvious that they wanted him to win, and give District Two their fourteenth Victor. It was sad that Kira had died, but I knew that Malfoy would come home the Victor, honouring her name. I had watched the crazy Eleven butcher the Five girl. That was a bit gruesome. In District Two, we always taught our tributes to kill the other quickly. We did not really believe in torturing the tributes anymore. Back between the Tenth and Seventieth we had, but after what happened to the Ten girl in the Seventieth, where the Careers, minus the pair from Four, slowly killed her over the course of forty hours, keeping her alive the entire time. That had gone overboard, and we had told out tributes to while have fun, do not torture. District Four agreed, but District One still seemed to like torture, as seen with how Perfection killed the Six girl a few days ago. I knew that Malfoy would actually have to fight hard to beat the Eleven crazy.

He turned the final corner, and ran out of the District Three section. Behind him, the wall to the maze shut, and flame burst into life all throughout the maze. The Gamemakers were heading to the endgame, bringing one tribute at a time to fight in the centre of the Arena, and destroying the section they escaped from. Malfoy held his sword tightly, as he ran towards the Eleven girl. The bloodstain left behind by the Five girl was still glistening. It was quite large, so it was obvious it had been a vicious death, and I could tell that Malfoy clocked this, and knew that he would have to kill this crazy quickly. Malfoy lunged forwards, manging to nick the girl on the side. She screamed like a wounded animal, and dived at my son. She managed to dodge his swings, and jump onto him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and grabbed his neck. With her free hand, she stabbed him again and again in the shoulder. Malfoy screamed, and fell to the ground. He quickly punched the girl, and sent her reeling back. His strong arm was now useless, and he held his sword in his off hand. I hardened my face, knowing that I was probably about to lose my son. Malfoy moved towards the Eleven girl, and lunged at her. She was hit in the arm, but otherwise was unbothered. She rolled underneath his sword, and slashed at his ankles. My son fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The Eleven girl started laughing, as she grabbed Malfoy by the hair and, with strength got from somewhere, dragged him towards the river surrounding the Cornucopia clearing. I hadn't noticed the river had gotten extremely rough and my worst fears were confirmed when the bitch pushed my son into the water, and he was ripped limb from limb. I stared in shock and disgust at the fragmented body of my son, as the crazy bitch just laughed. I hope to Snow that someone will kill her.

Florina Lorits, 42

Mother of Hawberry Lorits –

District Eleven female tribute in the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games, 16

I stood on the stage in the main square, watching the Hunger Games with sad eyes. My daughter was gone. Sure, she was technically still breathing, and her heart was beating, but she had lost her mind. The Capitol never let crazy people win the Games. They killed Flannel in the Fifty-Sixth, Dioda in the Sixty-Second and Titus in the Sixty-Eighth, so they would not let Hawberry win. They had let Annie win, but she was not crazy enough to kill, but my precious Hawberry had gone over the line. I knew that, if whoever was being sent towards her now did not kill her, then the Gamemakers would, leaving the other two to fight it out to be the Victor. I had known this for the past few days, since Hawberry ripped apart a rabbit with her bare hands, and ate it raw.

Now, Delly from Twelve was being chased out of the District Twelve section, and sent towards Hawberry. I did not know why they were choosing to send Delly after my daughter, as both Perfection and Asha would be more likely to kill her, but I assumed they wanted one of those two to be the Victor, so if Hawberry killed Delly, it would not be much of an issue to them, as Asha and Perfection could still be the Victor, and if Delly did manage to kill my daughter, then that would make her popular and 'worthy' enough to be the Victor. Delly managed to get out of the section, and leapt over the river, running directly at Hawberry. She had spent the last minute searching around for weapons to use, and had settled on a sword and sickle. My daughter saw Delly coming, and smiled, letting the blood on her face drip off her chin. It was honestly quite scary, and Laura next to me was biting her lip, a little freaked out.

Delly quickly pulled out a dagger, and threw it at Hawberry. With little skill, it did not fly far, and fell to the ground before coming near Hawberry. My daughter quickly darted over, picked up the dagger, and threw it right back at Delly. With some quick reflexes, she ducked under the dagger, and ran forwards with her spear held so tightly in her hands that her knuckles turned white. She dived at Hawberry, stabbing the spear towards her head. My daughter blocked the blow with her sword. She stabbed her sickle up, but Delly managed to twist her body, and dodge the stab. She kicked Hawberry in the side, right where Malfoy had stabbed her. Hawberry screamed in pain, and fell to the ground. Delly stabbed down with her spear, but my girl moved at the last second, and kicked at Dellys' leg. Delly stumbled backwards, but managed to stay standing. Hawberry used this time to stand up, and run towards Delly again. Delly threw herself at the ground, and tackled Hawberry. She quickly knocked Hawberrys' sickle aside. This time, she stabbed her spear through Hawberry's other wrist, before stabbing right through my girls eye, into her brain.

I sighed when the cannon fired, party in sadness, but also in relief, as this meant she would be at peace, and her mind was at rest. A reporter suddenly appeared in front of me, shoving a camera and microphone into my face.

"How do you feel about your daughters' sacrifice in these Games? Why did she go crazy? Is there something about your family?" asked the reporter. I had no idea who she was, but I took a deep breath, and answered her questions, partly lying through my teeth.

"I am sad I have lost my girl, but I am glad she got to be in a Quarter Quell. My best guess as to why she lost her mind was due to stress, as I think the Games, while obviously an honour to be in, can be very stressful for the Tributes. There had been no craziness in my family history as far as I am aware," I said.

"Well, apart from being a District citizen, that makes you crazy, but anyway. That was Florys' thoughts on her daughter Huwburry, let's get back to the action shall we?" said the reporter, walking off and getting both mine, and my daughters names wrong. I hadn't expected anything else from them, useless as they were so shallow, and did not care about any of us at all, not even the Victors. I shook my head, and walked away with my family. We headed to Chaffs' house, so we can relax while watching the finale.

Sally Cartwright, 38

Mother of Delly Cartwright –

District Twelve female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I watched my daughter crawl towards the Cornucopia, shocked that she was still alive. I had honestly thought that Hawberry would kill her, but I was so thankful my angel was still living. I had already lost my Ashby, and now my Delly may actually come back to me. She had been injured in the fight with Hawberry, she was crawling towards the horn to try and find some healing cream or anything similar. It took her a few minutes, but she got to the Cornucopia, and found some cream. I sighed with relief as she applied some cream to her wounds, and they healed quickly. If only we had that in Twelve. I knew Asterid and Primrose would find it very useful. They had been living with us since the Games, sleeping in Ashby and Dellys' old rooms. They had been helping the people around us with healthcare, and still helped people from the seam regularly. They had even turned their old house into a healthcare centre, both being there twelve hours a day, helping people. They planned to eventually have someone there twenty-four seven after Prim had learned enough. They were getting there and, after a bad accident in the mines that killed five people, including a Peacekeeper, the Capitol had allowed it, solely to prevent too many people dying. This was obviously not because they cared about us, but because they need us to supply coal, and more deaths in the District, mean less coal for them.

Delly leant against the horn, breathing deeply and drinking water after the battle and bleeding badly. I really really hoped that the Gamemakers would not send anyone after her right now, and let her at least heal her wounds. Somehow, they seemed to hear my prayers, as for the next few hours, the tributes were all three left alone, but Asha and Perfection were kept from leaving their sections of the Arena. They were keeping the three tributes separated. Most likely to avoid accusation of favouritism towards Delly by letting her stay at the horn, both Asha and Perfection were send gift packages, with food, water, bandages and healing cream for them to fix themselves up for the final fight. Delly spent the night eating food and gulping down water, before having a good sleep, curled up into one of the chests so she would not be visible if someone came near. The Peacekeepers banged on our door at half seven the following morning, and dragged me and Lionel to the main square. We were forced up on the stage. As we were the only people up there, we were in the centre of the stage, watching the screen. This would be the final battle. I was either about to lose my daughter, or see her win.

In the Arena, a siren sounded. It was loud enough to be heard everywhere, and Perfection and Asha stood up, and grabbed their weapons, knowing they were about to be lead back to the horn. Delly stood in the entrance to the horn, and looked around, breathing deeply. Suddenly, the Dragonhorse mutts appeared again, and began casing Asha and Perfection towards the horn. Delly heard the screeches and screams of the mutts, and quickly scrambled up on top of the horn holding her spear, to be ready to fight whoever appeared first. Asha managed to get to the horn first. As she only had an axe, she used a branch like last time to launch herself on top of the horn.

"Nice move," said Delly. "Team up to kill One?" she asked afterwards.

Asha bit her lip for a second before nodding. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that at least she stood a better chance now. The pair waited for a minute, standing back to back and looking out over the surrounding area, watching for Perfection. She burst out of the District One section, and sprinted towards the horn. She jumped quite high and used a box as a springboard to get on top of the horn. Around the horn, a crowd of Dragonhorse mutts prowled, ready to devour any tribute who fell down. Perfection held her sword tight as she faced Asha and Delly. There was a few minutes of just standing still, until a Dragonhorse mutt smashed itself against the side of the horn, signalling them to do something.

Perfection moved forwards, as did Asha. The two clashed in the middle of the horn, and Delly quickly darted forwards, and made to slash her spear at the Career. However, Perfection jumped backwards, avoiding the blow, and retaliated with a slash of her sword. Delly was not quick enough to move, and I watched as my baby girl have her stomach slashed open. I screamed as Delly fell to the roof of the horn. Perfection quickly stabbed her in the neck before facing Asha. I held on to my husband tightly as my world blurred in front of me with tears. I hated the Capitol with a burning passion, and vowed to get revenge on Snow. I watched the screen as Asha and Perfection fought for the title of Victor. I hoped Asha won. I did not want the monster who killed my angel to win.

Jeweller Montgomery, 40

Father of Perfection Montgomery –

District One female tribute in the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, 18

I watched my amazing daughter in the final fight. While she had only got two kill, she was in the final fight, which proved she was the best Career that year. While he died, everyone knew that Glamour could easily have won. That was the reason the Twelve bitch killed him, she knew he could win and so took advantage of a brief moment of distraction on his part. That is something we will have to train our future Tributes on: never to lose focus, even for a second. I had most of my living children with me. Glamour and Perfection were the sixth and seventh of my children to be in the Arena. All of my previous children had died, but Perfection would be different. She would survive, and come away as the Victor. Of course, we would continue to send in tributes. While we were happy to let other people compete, like Marvel and Glimmer last year, the Montgomeries were the ones that supplies a lot of tributes. With the amount of children each generation has, with the men encouraged to have as many wives as possible, and have as many kids as possible, the Montgomeries were a big family. We made up over one percent of District Ones population. I was not born a Montgomery, and only married into the family. Still, I knew they were the best, as they were the only old house that still loved the Hunger Games. My parents had not liked the fact I was marrying Magnificent, but I didn't care. I had twenty-five children, about to have my twenty-sixth, and I knew one of them would supply a Victor. It was just common sense. Perfection was going to be the Victor. If not her, the next tribute we would be sending was Topaz next year, and Cartier two years afterwards. One of them would win.

Perfection danced around the loser, dodging her pitiful attacks. It was insane she honestly thought she could beat a Career. They trained for this, It was every Careers life dream to win the Games, and to win a Quarter Quell was even better. Perfection would be honoured forever. The Academy had a wall for all fallen tributes, and a special section for Ruby Poinis, Chariot Yule, Angel Braun, Jewel Royal, Titanium Montgomery and Dasher Portescue, the six District One tributes in the two previous Quarter Quells. Then, there was the section for the eleven District One Victors so far. A space had been reserved after the announcement of the first Quarter Quell for any Quarter Quell Victors District One would get, and Perfection Montgomery would be the first name on that list.

Perfection continued to move around the outlier. She stabbed her in the shoulder, and twisted the sword, cutting off the girls arm, causing her axe to fall off the Cornucopia. The Seven thing fell to the roof of the horn, screaming in pain. My amazing girl stood up, proud and strong.

"Poor little Seven," she bragged. "First, Kira killed your brother, and now I am going to kill you. Wonder what your mummy will think when I see her on my tour. Will she cry? Do you think she will cry and hate me forever? It doesn't matter what she thinks, the Capitol will love me. I will bring glory back to my District. You will be forgotten about. No one will care apart from your loser family."

I laughed at that. She always was good at getting under peoples skin. It was something I had taught her, and had served her well in the Academy training Arena, where she manipulated everyone to win every time. The Seven girl would be the same. She couldn't even do anything, so Perfection could take as long as she wanted taunting her. She hadn't been able to do much of that in the Games, so was now finally able to show who she was as a person.

"What about your sister. The one you volunteered for. How do you think she will be, watching you die. I may say hello to her on my Tour, give one of your teeth as a keepsake. You fail to come back to her, like the Twelve from last year. Do not Volunteer for your sibling people, it does not work out correctly. You will die anyway. District One is the best," Perfection finished being, as her namesake suggests, perfect. Perfection stood up, and held her sword up.

In a sudden burst of movement, the Seven creature stood up, and stabbed my girl in between the legs with a dagger she pulled from her belt. My girl screamed in pain, dropping her sword. The bitch then stabbed my girl in the chest.

"Never. Talk. About. My. Family. Like. That. Again!" she screamed, stabbing my girl in a different place with each word. Then, she slit my girls throat, and kicked her off the horn. I watched as my should be Victor died. I roared in rage and turned to Topaz and Cartier.

"NEVER BRAG! KILL THE SEVEN INSTANTLY!" I shouted at them. They both nodded, with looks of rage on their faces. I closed my eyes as the canon sounded and the trumpets rang.

Asha Parkin, 16

Victor of the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games, The Third Quarter Quell

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Victor of the Seventy Fifth Annual Hunger Games, The Third Quarter Quell, Asha Parkin of District Seven!" shouted Ceaser Flickerman. I heard the cheers from the main square in the Capitol and smiled grimly.

I breathed deeply as I knelt on the roof of the horn, clutching my shoulder where my arm used to be. I turned my face up, so the cameras could see me and smiled. I had done it. I was going home. Eighteen long days in the Arena, and I had won. I thought back to the two kids I killed: Waver and Perfection. I knew they would never leave me. I had seen what happened to Blight, Chaff, Haymitch and other Victors who were drawn to alcohol to help with their memories. I was determined to not let that happen. I then thought of Wirrel, and smiled for real. I would see her again, along with mum, dad and Pine. We would live in the Victors Village. We would never have to worry about food ever, or health, as I could now afford to get us the best healthcare possible. Sure, my family could not come to the Capitol, but I could take them to the best doctors in Seven. We would live alongside Sevens' other four living Victors: Jack, Blight, Jackson and Johanna. I was incredibly nervous though, as I would have to mentor next year. I hoped Johanna would stay by my side for a year or two, to show me the ropes and how to do everything, but I will not think about that now.

The weird Dragonhorse mutts left, and the hovercraft landed nearby. I dropped down off the horn, and stumbled over to it, refusing to look at Perfections mangled corpse. As I approached the bottom of the ramp, I saw two Peacekeepers at the top, signalling me to come up. I carefully walked up; my balance being thrown way off due to missing my arm. As I got to the top of the ramp, one of the Peacekeepers grabbed my hand, and lead me to a room full of doctors. I felt a sharp pain in my neck, and then the world turned to black.

Waver and Perfection walked around me. I was tied up with black ropes, holding me so tight. The two of them opened and closed their mouths, but could not speak a word. The other twenty-one tributes appeared, all growling at me, swiping at me with their hands. Then I saw Creak. He was missing an eye, and was just looking at me with his one remaining one.

"Why are you alive? I died! I should be there! You don't deserve to be!" he screeched.

"No please! Leave me alone! I'm sorry Creak! I'm sorry!" I shouted. He just laughed, and all twenty-three of them dived at me. My eyes snapped open in a panic, and it took me a good few seconds to realise where I was. I was lying in my bed in the tribute centre, where I had been before the Games. I groaned and made to sit up. Hands appeared on my chest, pushing me down. I looked around, and saw both Johanna and Jaxon holding my shoulders.

"Easy there," said Johanna, smiling. I was shocked at that as I had not seen her smile at all before the Games.

"Johanna, your smiling," I said. Jaxon stared to laugh as Johanna became slightly grumpy.

"I got my first Victor after four years. Most Victors have to wait longer. Jaxon here is the only other Victor to mentor a Victor quicker," she said.

"That is because you were amazing. Also, not counting the Careers, as Jo here views them as cheating, which to be fait they are," said Jaxon.

I panicked, thinking that the rooms were bugged, so what Jaxon said was just heard.

"Oh don't worry," said Jaxon, noticing my face. He pulled out a small device from his pocket. It was white, and shaped like an egg, but with a slightly wider and flatter base. "White noise amplifier. Gift from Nuts and Volts. Blocks all audio recording devices in a five square foot distance."

"Nuts and Volts?" I asked, confused.

"Beetee Latier and Wiress Quistiol, from District Three," replied Johanna. "They are always working together to invent thing, so me just gave them a nickname."

"You mean you gave them a nickname," said a voice from the door. I quickly spun around, panicking that someone was going to attack me, but it was just Jack, standing in the doorway.

"Fucking hell Jack, don't scare her like that," snapped Johanna. I breathed a sigh of relief, and put my hands to my face. I stopped and, realising, took my hands away from my face. I had two hands. I had two arms! My right wasn't even mechanical, it looked and felt real.

"Yeah, they managed to reattach your arm. You may experience some discomfort for a few days, but it should all work out fine," said Johanna. She sat down next to me. "How are you feeling?" she asked, her voice sounding concerned for the first time since I knew her.

"Scared, shocked, homesick, actually sick. I killed two people." I said, starting to cry. Johanna put her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. She gently stroked my hair, and encourage me to cry.

"Does the pain ever go away?" I asked, tearfully.

"No. Not fully," replied Jack. Having been a Victor for thirty-six years, he knew the best out of all District Sevens living Victors. "But it does get easier to manage, My advice, find something good to get addicted to. Sawyer ate chocolate. Emily cried. Sycamore smoked. I garden. Blight drinks alcohol. Jack learns martial arts. Johanna screams. Find something, and pour your pain into it. I heard in the family interview you like cooking. Do that. We need a good chef in the village." He was starting to laugh at the end.

"Jack! Fucking hell man, fuck off," Johanna said, but I was laughing as well.

"I'll make you a deal," I said. "I will cook for you, if you help me grow some vegetables and fruit."

"Deal," said Jack, walking over to me.

A sudden though occurred to me. "How's Blight?" I asked.

"Very happy," replied Jaxon. "I got a call from him before they even finished announcing you as the Victor. He is celebrating loudly, and is already getting ready to stock your house up."

"Don't worry," said Johanna, seeing the look on my face. "Blight does not give anyone else alcohol. Mainly because he does not want to be separated from the stuff, but I digress. Anyway, he is getting fruit juices and smoothies ready. They are both good things to have at first, especially the smoothies. They are sweet, cold and taste great. They are a good thing to have when you are awake at night."

I sighed, looking around at the three other Victors, as they continued to joke between them. It was going to be hard, but I think I would be fine.

Page Parkin, 52

Mother of Asha Parkin –

Victor of the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games

I watched for the train intently. My girl was coming home. It would not be long now until I could Wrap my arms around her, and pull her into a tight hug. I remember the moment when she killed Perfection, and became the Victor. I fell to my knee, crying in relief. My Babygirl was safe, and would come back to me. Blight was standing next to me, smiling as he waited for Asha and the other Victors to arrive. Me, Mangrove, Wirrel and Pine had been packing everything in our old house together. We were ready to move into the Victors Village when Asha was. If she wanted to stay at our current house for a few days, we wouldn't stop her. If she wanted to move straight into the Village, we would join her. Per law, we still owned the other house. Mangrove and I would move back into it in a few years if Asha wanted us to. I felt arms wrap around my waist, and looked down to see Wirrel looking up at me.

"When is Asha getting back?" she asked.

"Very soon," I replied.

Suddenly, we heard the horn of a train. I snapped my head back in that direction, and saw the train slowly pulling into the station. The cheers in the square started, as the train pulled to a stop. The camera quickly came on, and started to record everyones reactions, before panning to the door of the train as it opened, revealing my Asha, standing there as Victor. I knew she still had both her arms, as I had seen that in the Victors Interview, and been told by Blight, but it was still a relief to see she had two arms. She stood there for a few seconds, before Johanna lightly pushed her forwards. She walked out of the train, smiling and waving to the people of District Seven. Then, she saw me and the rest of her family and ran towards us. She threw her arms around me, and held on to me tight. I could tell she desperately wanted to cry, but was keeping it in for the cameras.

"I missed you Dad," she muttered.

"I missed you to Ash," I replied.

She pulled back from the hug, and hugged Mangrove, Pine and then Wirrel, picking her up in her hug, holding her tightly.

I walked over to Johanna and shook her hand.

"Thank you brining my girl back," I said, with tears in my eyes. "How is she?"

"Your welcome," Johanna said smiling. "She is OK. Better then I was. She has had nightmares, and will continue to have them, so be prepared for her to wake you up in the middle of the night screaming. Me, Blight, Jaxon and Jack are all going to be helping. We will make sure that one of us is always awake, and in her house so we can be there for her whenever she needs us."

I nodded, before being called back to Asha. After a few more minutes of hugging and pictures, we walked to the Victors Village. We passed by the houses of Sawyer, Emily and Sycamore. If District Seven got passed twelve Victors, I believe they would start reusing the houses. Although, there were twelve living Victors of District Two right now, and if they got one more, they would need to build more houses. Either way, it did not matter now. We carried on walking, passed Jack, Blight, Jaxon and finally came to the house opposite Johanna.

Asha was given the key and, after yet mote pictures both in and outside the house, the camera all left, and we were alone. As soon as we were alone, Asha hugged me tightly again, this time crying.

"I miss Creak," she said.

"I know. So do I," I replied, holding her and running my hands up and down her back like I did when she was young and scared of the Games on TV.

Creaks' coffin had been taken off the train after Asha, but we had not been allowed near it, as, according to the Capitol, we should not grieve our child, we should be happy he got to die in such an honourable way. His coffin was now on its way to the graveyard where all Tributes from Seven were buried. We would have his funeral in the tribute way tomorrow, but we would also have a traditional District Seven funeral next week, when there were less camera around. For now, I was willing to focus on Asha, making sure my daughter, the Victor of the third Quarter Quell, was OK.

All Victors

District 1 (11 victors): Angelina Moonbeam (2), Lana Goldclaw (8), Luxor Clinton (15), Crystal Ashton (23), Franc Flawless (32), Platinum Victory (41), Harp Royal (44), Valkyrie Braun (46), Gloss Tanzinite (63), Cashmere Tanzinite (64), Augustus Braun (67)

District 2: (13 victors): Lupus Cato (3), Enobarbus Orums (7), Tiberius Silverton (13), Boudicca Gunn (18), Granyte Stonegrin (26), Dido Silverton (28), Malachite Harpsong-Juol (37), Olga Rankine (43), Brutus Wrackopal (47), Lyme Kobble (49), Enobaria Machieten (62), Valiant Tybolin (66), Draco Fontor (73)

District 3: (4 victors): Pluto Grateflan (12), Gates Stewpod (27), Beetee Latier (40), Wiress Quistiol (56)

District 4: (11 Victors): Mesudia Triller (9), Mags Flannagan (11), Molly Sparks (16), Chloe Irving (22), Syren Hartaline (25), Shai Fisher (34), Noah Cresta (36), Sandy Tradesmith (42), Coral Banker (48), Finnick Odair (65), Annie Cresta (71)

District 5: (5 victors): Shocker Martina (14), Dylan Jakob (29), Porter Millicent Tripp (38), Shakti Lisokan (57), Finch Ergions (74)

District 6: (4 victors): Illinois Katrick (1), Maeve Anderson (21), Levi Dreggins (58), Chevy Dreamdrop (69)

District 7: (8 victors): Sawyer Friel (6), Emily Brodden (20), Sycamore Collins (30), Jack Handell (39), Blight Harpbow (52), Jaxon Collins (68), Johanna Mason (70), Asha Parkin (75)

District 8: (4 Victors): Woof Casponta (17), Spool Withers (31), Cotton Drety (55), Cecelia Reynas (60)

District 9: (4 victors): Mizar Aljoy (10), Laurel Flamsteel (24), Wheaton Leavelas (51), Maisey Flowdeer (72)

District 10: (4 victors): Steer Johnson (19), Pasture Marchtin (35), Alexander Tully (54), Lammy Cracket (61)

District 11: (5 victors): Orchid Fieldgreen (4), Seeder Nikolpisa (33), Chaff Fieldgreen (45), Lily Dreamer (53), Apple Quopiteer (59)

District 12: (2 victors): Coalette Snowdrop (5), Haymitch Abernathy (50)

Underlined Victors are deceased. Bolded Victors are Quarter Quell Victors.

A/N: I wrote the first two chapter and most of this one before Sunrise on the Reaping came out. Palladium does not exist, and Wiress has won a different Games. I have kept Asterid as Asterid (Katniss mother).