The 475th Hunger Games: Dark, Darker, Yet Darker



Welcome to the 475th Hunger Games: Dark, Darker, Yet Darker, which may be Aria's first Games alone that doesn't get discreetly deleted after months of inactivity.

Rules

 * You can submit up to four tributes. This might change.
 * If your tribute is a flat or boring character, they can get rejected. The same goes for incomplete or troll tributes.
 * Lunaiis for each tribute are required. The Lunaiis must be 130x160 pixels with a transparent background.
 * Submit tributes with their links and Districts.
 * Reserves last exactly twenty-four hours from the moment you post a comment.
 * To prove you've read this, comment all the bolded letters together.
 * The more active you are, the more likely your tributes are going to survive. Regular comments are appreciated!
 * Have fun, and enjoy these Games!

Arena and Twists
The arena this year is going to be a post-apocalyptic city. Tributes must survive with the help of remnants of old buildings and items found inside. The cornucopia itself is a rundown park with a broken fountain at the center.

Unlike many other Hunger Games in the past, there will be no animals or monsters lurking about to kill you. Instead, the twist of these Games is that there will only be one day.

Once that day ends, all the tributes will be plunged into an eternal night, growing dark, darker, yet darker after every passing second. Lack of daylight for so long can easily drive someone insane.

That's not the end of it. Every time the clock strikes midnight, there will be a massive earthquake. During this earthquake, the entire layout of the arena will change. If a tribute ever finds a map of the arena, the map would become useless the next night.

The arena is truly an ever-changing maze that keeps growing darker. Tributes are challenged with something harder than surviving—holding on to your sanity.

Alliances
The Careers:  Brighton Honeycutt (1M) ,  Scarlett Winters (1F) ,  Mercury Kwildor (2M) ,  Genevieve Azarling (2F) ,  Michael Caboose (3M) ,  Sabrina Clemency (4F) ,  Jacob Flare (12M) ,  Eugene Watson (14M) ,  Rio Waterborne (14F)

The Anti-Careers:  Rodeo Baldios (CM) ,  Francis Faux (6M) ,  Lilah Jöllenbeck (8F), Finland Faux (9M) ,  Hazel Maize (9F) , Flicker Grazen (10M) ,  Canary Ash (12F)

An Unlikely Alliance:  Maverick Olympus (4M), Antoine Boudoir (7M) ,  Lindell Brocklehurst (7F) ,  Bellum Bliston (13M) , Kasha Sewall (13F)

The Loners:  Coco Chanel (CF), Claude Foster (0M) ,  Novaya Gates (0F) ,  Rosalind Bree (3F) , James Desmond (5M) ,  Talia Mignonette (5F) ,  Grant Sawyer (8M) ,  Posia Courtier (11F)

Key

Green: Safe

Yellow: Unknown

Red: In Danger

Strikethrough: Deceased

Lilah Jöllenbeck, District Six Female
Purple oleanders.

Those were the first things I noticed after the tube led me into the arena.

In an abandoned park in a city where us tributes were the only lives, a shrub like that should not have existed.

I had a feeling its only purpose was to unnerve me. I had a feeling it was only there to remind me of Violet.

Oh, come on, Lilah, I’m always at the back of your brain.

I chose to ignore Violet, the most prominent of the voices in my head.

The oleanders were wilting, anyway.

Tearing my eyes away from the poisonous flowers, I looked to my left. Standing on another pedestal right next to mine was Hazel (9F), one of my allies. Upon noticing my glance, Hazel gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded at her, before turning to my right.

There stood a Career, Eugene Watson (14M). With his dazzling smile and menacing eyes, he managed to seem intimidating and attractive at the same time. He winked at me before I rolled my eyes and looked into the Cornucopia, searching for twin daggers.

Lilah, you should just jump off the pedestal.

No, Violet.

''You could do everyone a favour. Just jump off your pedestal, blow yourself up and—''

I drowned out Violet’s voice.

I looked at the clock that was displayed in the sky. It now read fifty seconds.

Antoine Boudoir, District Seven Male
The skies were turning yellow as dusk began to fall, and soon, we all would be plunged into an endless night.

Now, I wasn’t afraid of the dark. However, I knew for a fact that if someone was trapped in eternal darkness, they would soon go mad. I did not want that to happen to me.

In the minute before bloodshed truly began, I decided to make myself useful and look around.

The first tribute I noticed was Maverick (4M), the leader of our alliance. To be honest, I was surprised anyone would want me as an ally at all, but there he was, someone from a Career District who made his own alliance and invited a monster like me.

My eyes explored the Cornucopia. Scattered around the broken water fountain at the center were many packs, weapons and other goods. I searched for an axe, which was—

There was an explosion that every tribute turned to look at. The pedestal which previously held the girl from District Ten was replaced with soot and chunks of flesh, some of which landed near other tributes. The girl from District Three—Rosalind (3F), was it?—did not seem too keen about the fact a few bits of the dead tribute landed on her shirt.

Idiot couldn’t keep herself from dying before the Games even started.

Glancing at the clock that displayed forty seconds, I took a deep breath.

James Desmond, District Five Male
The Games didn’t even start yet, and someone already died. Brilliant. While most tributes were horrified, I merely chuckled. It was just a smaller competition for me, then.

I wasn’t too concerned about anyone else dying. As a loner, I could kill whoever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to and however I wanted to. I could stretch out a painful death and strike when an attack was least expected, and no one could do anything about it.

The only thing I was worried about at the moment was the bloodbath. It wasn’t my strongest suit, considering how fast it was going to go. All I needed to do was dash in, grab a weapon, kill a tribute and get out as soon as possible. Easier said than done.

As for weapons, I wanted to go for a trident, or a machete, or even better—both. I’d have to see how things play out.

I looked to the tribute on my right only to be greeted by a glare from Francis Faux (6M). I met him with the same expression, and for a few moments, we had a little stare-off before he turned to someone else. Probably one of his allies.

To my left was a skittish girl from District Eleven, Posia (11F). She seemed to have gritted teeth and was looking straight into the heart of the Cornucopia. I would have loved to tear her into bloody pieces.

Only thirty more seconds remaining.

Rio Waterborne, District Fourteen Female
I always tried to hide any signs of fear, because weak tributes were the ones who feared things, and I couldn’t afford to seem weak to anyone—especially not my own allies, the Careers.

Kasha Sewall (13F) from District Thirteen was standing on the pedestal to my left. She was nice enough during training, but unfortunately for her, I doubted that she would survive long. If she did, good for her. If not, good for everyone else.

To my right stood Brighton (1M), an ally. He seemed pretty bubbly and cheerful for a Career. Oddly enough, most of the Careers this year didn’t seem too eager for blood. Well, as far as I knew. After all, any one of them could be doing this to keep up a disguise, even Brighton.

I wanted to come back from the Games alive. Then again, so did everyone else. I wanted to come back so I could bring back honour. I wanted to bring back honour for my mother, who was killed for trying to reach out for her drowned son.

I’ll come back for you, Mom.

I changed my focus to the Cornucopia, trying to search for a spatha or a harpoon. Packs of food, medical kits and weapons dotted the dilapidated park. Soon, those packs would belong to a bunch of tributes, and, if we were lucky enough, most would be ours.

Only time would be able to tell, and right now it said twenty seconds remaining.

Rosalind Bree, District Three Female
With only twenty seconds remaining on the clock, remnants of a dead girl were resting on my clothes, which was not fun at all.

I had no allies to back me up, so I didn’t think going into the Cornucopia would be worth getting myself killed. However, I did need food and materials for traps, seeing as I didn’t really wield a weapon.

I looked around and saw the tributes around me, trying to analyse the biggest threats and strategise how I should go about this. One wrong move could easily get you killed.

A few pedestals away stood the prideful boy from the Capitol, Rodeo (CM). During training, he would often yell at the Careers for being evil. As far as I knew, if he didn’t deem me evil, I was safe from him.

Next to Rodeo was Claude (0M). He was looking down, as if he was wondering if he could just step off the pedestal and blow himself up like the girl from District Ten. He didn’t seem too eager about winning the Games.

Whatever floated his boat.

I eyed the rest of the tributes and carefully thought out what I was going to do, plans and strategies clicking together like cogs and wheels in a machine. A small mistake could easily destroy it, and I couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

But that was alright, because I wasn’t going to fail.

There were only ten seconds left until the massacre began.

Finland Faux, District Nine Male
In ten seconds, the greatest fight of our lives would begin.

In ten seconds, both innocent and guilty blood would start to spill.

In ten seconds, the Hunger Games would begin.

Now nine seconds.

I tried not thinking about it too much. It would be just like how things were back in District Ten, despite moving to District Nine recently. I could tend to plants and raise animals in the green meadows of this arena.

Eight seconds.

Of course, that would be hard to believe, considering the abandoned city we were all stuck in.

Seven seconds.

Maybe I could help those oleanders near the fountain.

“Finn,” said a voice, just loud enough for me to hear. I turned to see my brother, Francis (6M), looking straight at me. “Remember the plan?”

I nodded. He’d told me to stay by him all the time and never leave his sight. According to him, I’d easily get killed.

He wasn’t wrong, but it would’ve been nice if he had phrased it differently.

Six seconds.

I looked right to find Genevieve (2F), the Career. She’d been silent all the time, and whenever someone who wasn’t a Career would approach her during training, she’d stare at them coldly until they left. I definitely didn’t want to mess her.

Five seconds.

Things will be fine, I reassured myself. It’ll be just like home.

Four seconds.

Just don’t kill and don’t get killed.

Three seconds.

Two.

One.

Eugene Watson, District Fourteen Male
The second that gong sounded, pairs of feet leapt off their pedestals, some away into the rest of the city and others towards the goods that the Cornucopia held. I, like the other Careers, obviously made my way to the Cornucopia, immediately scouring it for a snake-sword.

“Aha!” I pulled one out of a bag. To my left, I spotted the girl from District Six rummaging through items. Lifting my weapon, I quickly made my way towards her, kicking her down before she even noticed I was here.

The second she tried to crawl away, I stepped on her neck, making sure she couldn’t. As she desperately tried clawing at her neck, I merely shrugged and said, “Sorry, darling.”

I then proceeded to whip the snake-sword across her face multiple times, ignoring her screams of agony until they finally came to a stop. Her face was mutilated and torn to shreds, and my trusty weapon was coated with her blood.

I stepped aside from my first kill—the first death after the Games had actually started—and looked for my allies to see if I could assist them with their victims.

Canary Ash, District Twelve Female
I had already gotten myself a pack and a pair of throwing knives. I wasn’t too worried about the poison. There was probably some in the pack, and even if there wasn’t, I could use them either way.

I was about to make my way to the outskirts to wait and look out for my allies so that I could easily help them if they were attacked. However, the boy from District Eleven had other plans when he slashed at my leg.

I quickly turned around, ignoring the sudden flare of pain and jabbed my elbow upwards into his jaw.

For once, being the shorter one helped me.

As the burly guy attempted killing me with his sickle, I tried dodging his attacks. He was only able to land a few hits on me. I kept punching and kicking strategically in order to knock him down. At one point, I was able to kick him in the crotch.

While he was momentarily stunned, I ran past him. The second he got up, I flung one of my knives at him, the knife lodging itself into his neck. His body crashed onto the ground.

I went back to his corpse and retrieved my knife, wiping the blood off of it while looking out for my allies.

Flicker Grazen, District Ten Male
I had no weapon yet, and the Careers were already conquering the Cornucopia. It would be too risky to get in to grab something. That would be suicide.

I scanned the area, before noticing a certain tribute hiding and holding a weapon that I needed.

Was it worth it, charging in weaponless? Probably not.

But the District Eleven girl didn’t seem like she’d be too good in combat, and, besides, hiders don’t expect attacks.

It wouldn’t be nice to kill her just for her stuff, but being nice was the least of my priorities.

I charged at Posia (11F), who wasn’t even looking in my direction until I got close enough. The moment she saw me, she jumped out of her hiding place and engaged me in a fight.

Being the stronger one, I was able to get the upper hand, landing a few blows on her. Seeing as her knives were meant for throwing, she wasn’t able to attack me with them as much.

Even though I needed regular knives that weren’t for throwing, those would do.

Eventually, I was able to pin her to the ground. Posia started trying to squirm her way out of my grip, but I still had the upper hand. I tried grabbing the knife out of her hand, but she suddenly stabbed upwards and cut my hand.

In my short moment of shock, she was able to slip away and sink it into my back.

Howling in pain as she took the knife out and started running away, I tried chasing her, only to stumble over and fall to the ground. I tried getting up again, but my vision started to blur as I blacked out.

Maverick Olympus, District Four Male
Spear in hand, I marched around the Cornucopia for any tribute to kill. Attacking a Career would do me no good, so going for a loner would’ve been better.

I was lucky enough to spot Claude (0M) aimlessly walking about, probably trying to leave the Cornucopia. I quickly caught up to him and smacked him with the spear.

When he noticed, the only thing he did was make a run for it. He didn’t seem too eager to fight back, and his attempt to run away was feeble.

My spear went through his chest rather quickly and painlessly. His body crashed onto the ground as I turned to see something rather horrific.

Sabrina (4F) was retrieving her chakram from the now lifeless Antoine’s (7M) chest. That Career killed one of my allies.

And I wasn’t in a good mood.

Growling, I charged at Sabrina, who had already noticed me coming. She prepared her chakram, moving backwards to get a better aim and to outrun me if necessary, but I wouldn’t let her do it. Not after she killed Antoine.

She launched her chakram as I attempted dodging it. It grazed my shoulder, but it wasn’t fatal.

Now realising what had happened, Sabrina made for a sprint, but I had managed to corner her. I lodged my spear where her head should have been, but she ducked just in time.

We could’ve done that for hours, but I wasn’t leaving until that damned Career was dead.

Kasha Sewall, District Thirteen Female
After I’d gotten a pack as well as my favoured weapon, a shiv, I was about to meet my allies at the outskirts of the Cornucopia when I noticed one of them in a fight. Maverick (4M) was trying to kill his District partner, the Career from District Four. Both of them were standing over Antoine’s (7M) corpse. Sabrina (4F), despite being cornered, was doing a good job at dodging Maverick’s spear repeatedly, but wasn’t doing very well getting away from him. If this continued, she could easily get the upper hand and finish off Maverick, and I couldn’t let that happen to my ally.

I couldn’t run up to those two directly, since it was a short distance away. However, walking through that short distance, someone else could easily get in my way and force me to fight them.

A plan formulated in my head, and I aimed my shiv right at Sabrina. If things went right, she’d be dead, and my allies and I could run off.

However, it was hard to aim with their constant moving. I took a deep breath and let the shiv fly.

The shiv hit Maverick square in the head, and he dropped like a fly.

I clasped my now empty hands over my mouth to stifle a scream.

I just killed my ally.

How could I have killed my own ally?

A sudden pain seared through my chest. In my moment of shock, I didn’t even realise Sabrina had advanced towards me and burrowed her chakram in my chest.

“I’d offer to let you into our alliance,” mumbled Sabrina in an oddly sorrowful and puzzled tone, “but I think you tried to kill me.” She took out her chakram out of me.

Hands still covering my mouth, I fell backwards onto the ground, the empty sky being the last thing I saw.

Francis Faux, District Six Male
Finn (9M) had never left my side, just how I had instructed him to. If things kept up like this, we would have had a chance to survive the bloodbath.

“Francis,” muttered Finn, “I think it’s high time we leave the bloodbath before anything else happens.”

I nodded, before realising he probably couldn’t see me nod. “Yeah.”

I looked up ahead. Rodeo (CM) was, uh, valiantly running away and shouting how evil the Career chasing him was. Hazel (9F) was standing next to the skittish Lilah (8F), leaving Canary (12F), Finn and I the last ones to get to the outskirts.

While looking around for Flicker (10M), I realised he had died.

One of ours was already down. Damn it.

“Alright,” I told my brother, “move with me to towards the east. The others are waiting for us—”

Finn suddenly made a strangling noise. He crumbled to the ground before I could turn and see the knife embedded in his throat.

No.

He wasn’t dead.

Finn wasn’t dead.

“What’s the matter, shorty?” called out his killer. I glared at who it was—James Desmond (5M). “Upset I killed Gardening Freak?”

I growled.

“Aww, Napoleon,” James continued taunting, “are you mad I killed your brother?”

That was it.

Wielding a cutlass, I charged at that bastard. He was too busy laughing to notice me knock him to the ground and jab my cutlass into his gut.

I pulled it out. It already made a deep cut. I grabbed him by the shirt and forced his head under a see-saw. I brought down the end of the see-saw onto his head hard, lifting it again and bringing it down. He was already dead, but I wasn’t going to stop. I lifted it up again. Brought it down. Lifted it up. Brought it down. Lifted it up—

“Francis!”

In my fit of rage, I’d ignored Canary’s voice repeatedly calling me. I turned to face my ally.

“We’re leaving this massacre now,” she explained. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

I nodded, gritting my teeth. I looked at James one last time, not daring to glance at my dead brother’s body, before leaving with Canary.

Hazel Maize, District Nine Female
Night had fallen completely by the time the five of us reached an old hospital. We were sitting at its lobby as everyone accounted injuries and supplies.

Cannons began booming, signifying the end of the bloodbath. I counted the cannons.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Ten tributes were killed in the bloodbath, and two of them were our allies. Twenty-eight tributes remained, and out of them, twenty-three were enemies.

I took in a deep breath and let it out. I survived the bloodbath.

“Alright,” said Canary (12F), bringing everyone’s attention together. Even though Francis (6M) was the unanimously voted leader, Canary was the one speaking. Maybe that was because Francis wasn’t in the best mental state. “We’ve got seven loaves of bread, two canteens full of water, one empty canteen, some rope, and your respective weapons.”

I looked at my sickle. Francis had his cutlass which was already stained with blood, and Canary had her knives wiped clean, leaving Lilah (8F) and Rodeo (CM) the only weaponless ones.

Upon noticing this, Canary tossed one of her knives to Lilah, who caught it and muttered a quick thank-you. “We’ll find something for you, Rodeo,” said Canary.

Rodeo nodded, not too bothered since he didn’t like using weapons, anyway. “So, what’s our plan now?”

At that very moment, the anthem began to play. I walked over to a musty window and opened it for everyone to see.

The first one to show up was the boy from District Zero. I expected him to die early on, since he’d never made any effort during training to even pick up a weapon.

The next one was Maverick (4M), the leader of his own alliance. From what I recalled, his ally had accidentally killed him.

The third one to appear was James (5M). Francis scoffed. From what I heard from Canary, we all knew what had happened.

The girl from District Six was next. After her was Antoine (7M), part of Maverick’s alliance.

Finn (9M) was the next to show up. Francis clenched his fists. He wasn’t taking the death of his brother very well. I couldn’t blame him.

After Finn came Flicker (10M), another one of our allies. The District Ten Female and District Eleven Male showed up respectively. The first got blown up, and the latter was killed by Canary.

The last tribute to appear was Kasha (13F), meaning Maverick’s alliance of five was now reduced to two.

The anthem ended, and the sky turned dark once more.

I let out a sigh of relief. Not only did I survive the bloodbath, but the first day as well.

Without any warning, thunderous tremors started shaking the earth. I quickly grabbed hold of the edge of a counter, trying to keep my balance. Rodeo nearly fell over before catching himself. The other three sat or stood firmly. A few objects fell off the counter, and a glass vial cutting my foot as it broke, causing me to flinch.

The earthquake came to an end.

“What was that all about?” asked Rodeo.

“The arena’s supposed to change at midnight,” answered Lilah, rolling her eyes. That was odd, because she was pretty quiet and skittish a few moments ago. I decided not to question it.

“I’ll keep first watch,” declared Canary. No one objected, myself included.

I decided to get some sleep.

After all, it might as well have been the last time I slept.

Mercury Kwildor, District Two Male
When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to be met with darkness. At first, I thought I’d awoken in the middle of the night. Then, I realised that I was in a Hunger Games where there would be no more daylight.

I quickly got up and grabbed my spear, just in case. I looked around me and found my fellow Careers still asleep. Had no one been keeping watch in the last few hours?

Considering I couldn’t tell the time, I decided to wake them up.

I walked over to Brighton (1M) first, poking his shoulder.

“Two more minutes,” he groaned.

I poked him again and he finally opened his eyes, finally realising he was in the Hunger Games.

“Oh!” Brighton quickly got up. “Uh, sorry about that.”

Soon, the others began waking up, reaching for their weapons and coming together in a circle to discuss the next course of action.

“So,” began Eugene (14M), “I believe we should figure out who the leader of our alliance should be.”

Caboose (3M) snorted. “As long as it’s not an evil baby.”

“What?” Scarlett (1F) tilted her head in confusion.

“Anyway,” continued Eugene, “if no one’s up for it, I’ll be the leader.”

Surprisingly, no one objected or retorted about being the leader themself. That was pretty odd considering in most Games, Careers would always argue about who the leader should’ve been.

Eugene looked at each of us individually. “No one? Alright, I guess I’m the leader.” He walked over to Sabrina (4F). “Sabrina, why don’t you be the second-in-command? After all, you’ve gotten two kills in the bloodbath.”

“Sure, Eugene.” Sabrina shrugged as if that didn’t matter so much.

“Just call me Geno.” Geno stood at the center once more. “I think our first course of action should be hunting down tributes already. Seeing as it’ll always be dark in these Games, the faster we do this, the better chance we have at survival. Someone needs to stay back at the Cornucopia and watch our supplies. Sabrina, Brighton, Mercury, Rio, Scarlett and Jacob, you and I are going to hunt down tributes, starting now.”

“What about me?” Caboose asked, rather aggressively. Genevieve (2F), who had been rather quiet the entire time, said nothing about her exclusion.

“You and Genevieve can look after the Cornucopia while we’re gone,” explained Geno. Genevieve said nothing, while Caboose agreed to it, although he didn’t sound too happy.

“Well,” said Geno, picking up his snake-sword, “shall we?”

Sabrina, Rio (14F), Scarlett and Jacob (12M) were the first to follow Geno out of the Cornucopia. I waited for Brighton as he grabbed his twin spatha.

“We should follow the others out,” commented Brighton. “Don’t want to get lost.” I nodded as we left together, leaving two of our allies behind at the Cornucopia.

Lindell Brocklehurst, District Seven Female
Our alliance was having the worst luck.

First of all, not only was our leader dead, but so were two more of our allies, one killing Maverick (4M) by accident.

Second, Bellum (13M) and I were only able to get one measly pack altogether. It contained enough food for the two of us to survive for a couple of days, which was very good. It also contained an empty canteen and some rope. I didn’t know what we could use the rope for.

Lastly, Bellum wasn’t the greatest ally. I was hoping the other three—Maverick, Antoine (7M) and Kasha (13F)—would have survived. Maverick was the one who had invited me into this alliance, and Kasha had been very nice to me. Despite being distant and sort of creepy, Antoine was my District partner and he was still better than Bellum.

I couldn’t afford to complain, though. Things could have been much worse, but I was still hopeful. We could survive if we tried hard enough.

Bellum and I had been sitting inside an abandoned apartment building, unsure of what to do next. It was dusty, and there were no supplies inside. The windows were broken, but that let the suffocating atmosphere be replaced by some fresh air. Well, as fresh as air could get in this arena.

I missed District Seven. I missed the forests there, and I missed being home. Now, I was just stuck in a murderous game.

I could do it, though. I could survive. I knew it.

“So,” I started, trying to start a conversation with Bellum. We hadn’t talked much since we had entered this building. “What do you think we should do next?”

Bellum shrugged. “Who cares? As long as we’re still here and no one attacks us, we’re fine.”

I didn’t think that was a good plan at all. “But we should have a back-up plan in case something—”

“Oh, shut up, you’re, like, fifteen,” Bellum interrupted.

I blinked. I didn’t know what to say to that. “Well, age doesn’t have anything to do with—”

Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside the door. Bellum and I both shut up and turned our attention to it.

I wasn’t prepared for a fight. Bellum seemed eager for one, despite being weaponless.

He looked at me and put a finger to his lip, as if I had to be told twice to keep quiet.

He tiptoed to our door as the footsteps grew louder and definitely came closer.

I didn’t want to fight.

The footsteps stopped at the door.

Without warning, Bellum opened it.

Talia Mignonette, District Five Female
The gymnasium was dark and dusty, but it provided shelter that was good enough. I hadn’t managed to get anything from the bloodbath, which wasn’t good at all. Fortunately, I was able to find some bandages and medicine from one of the first-aid kits, but that was it.

Since I’d gotten here and closed as many doors (minus the broken ones) I could find, I’d felt a little safer. I’d begun to start sketching on the walls with my pencil—the token I’d brought from District Five.

I’d used to make paintings of tributes from District Five, but now, I was one of them.

Ah, irony, my worst enemy.

I wasn’t paying attention to what I was scrawling on the walls. My hand had a mind of its own. It wasn’t until I looked back at it when I recognised a familiar face.

It was my mother, outlined in black on a white wall.

I smiled wistfully. I missed her. I missed my friends. I missed Vivienne.

If I managed to come out of the Games alive, then not only would my art career skyrocket, but I’d be able to afford medication for my mother.

As long as I kept that hope up, I could do it.

I let the sketch of my mother be, and I started walking to a different room when I heard a door open loudly.

Immediately on guard, I slipped my pencil into a pocket of my outfit and started tiptoeing away from where the noise came from. I wasn’t in any condition to fight, and looking for the source of the noise would be suicide.

Unfortunately, whoever it was making all that racket was able to come in pretty fast. I hid behind a treadmill at the corner of the room, peering into the room to see what was going on.

Through the door that led to the room I was stuck in came a loner, Grant (8M). That was even worse for me. He was burly and, from what I’d seen of him during training, incredibly strong. My only options were to face him and die or to run away stealthily. Avoiding conflict would be the best bet for me in the Games.

Grant was carrying a pack and had a tomahawk in hand. He was walking through the gymnasium, unaware of the fact it was inhabited by someone else.

I decided to book it the second he left the room. As he opened another door, I crept out of my hiding spot, only to have a tomahawk lodge itself into the wall right in front of my face.

I began running for my life, busting through doors in order to get away from Grant, who was undoubtedly faster than me. I had to think of something. I could leave the gymnasium entirely, or I could find another hiding spot, but that would—

Grant interrupted my trail of thought by catching up to my again and launching his tomahawk once more. This time, it didn’t miss its target as it grazed my shoulder. I continued to run.

Eventually, I made it to the room with an enormous swimming pool, the waters of which were so murky that I could barely see much of it.

I knew better than to jump into that pool and hide.

Grant had caught up, and my heart began pounding. There wasn’t any direction I could run to, since behind me was the pool and in front of me was a tribute eager for blood.

Grant was finally able to get hold of me, throwing me to the ground. Unfortunately, that caused both of us to slip and tumble into the pool.

I tried opening my eyes, but all I saw was blackness. Before it could start stinging my eyes, I closed them and attempted swimming to the surface. Physical activity was not my strength at all, and it drained all of my energy to swim upwards. My lungs began to burn from holding my breath for so long, and I heard my own cannon boom.

But I broke to the surface and gasped for air, clutching the edge of the pool and quickly getting up, coughing out some of the water that I’d swallowed by accident.

If that cannon wasn’t mine, whose was it?

My eyes drifted to the pool, and the answer was there. Grant’s still body floated on the surface of the water.

It had never occurred to me that he couldn’t swim.

Did that mean I killed him?

I didn’t want to think about that. As his body drifted towards me, I quickly grabbed his pack and bolted out of the room.

What was done was done.

Rosalind Bree, District Three Female
From what I’d seen in training, I didn’t think many tributes would appreciate finding rope in their packs. I, however, was delighted to find some in mine.

I hadn’t gone too far from the Cornucopia. In fact, I was standing in an alleyway, making a few adjustments to my trap. However, it wasn’t a trap to catch animals for food. After all, there would be no animals in this arena.

This was a trap for tributes.

It was a fairly simple and basic one. It was such a typical trap that I didn’t think people would actually think something like this would exist in these Games.

The trap worked like this.

Someone, likely in a hurry, would start running through the alleyway in order to get away from their attacker. In their hurry, they wouldn’t notice the line of rope, and they would trip over it. That would trigger a shower of glass shards, courtesy of many broken windows, to rain over the tribute.

The only problem was that I wasn’t sure it could kill someone. With the right area of the glass and the force exerted on it, it could create enough pressure to pierce through someone, causing injuries severe enough to kill.

I should stop explaining the trap and let the trap explain itself when someone would actually show up.

I wasn’t doing much. I was hiding in a café whose outer wall was attached to my trap. I peered out through its now non-existent window. (I broke this window for the glass shards in my trap. It was the most convenient glass I could find.)

In case things didn’t work out, I was armed with a makeshift dagger. Well, it wasn’t really a dagger. It was just a slightly larger piece of glass. I wrapped a bit of the edges of it with some cloth, using it as the handle as I didn’t want to cut myself. In spit of the fact I had a weapon, I couldn’t use a dagger anyway.

The only thing to do now was wait.

So I waited.

And a tribute finally came.

Except it wasn’t one tribute.

It was a pack of Careers.

And I was probably going to die.

“Don’t you think it’s weird we haven’t found another tribute yet?” asked a voice that I recognised as Jacob (12M).

There was a short laugh, one that belonged to Eugene (14M). “We’ve only been hunting for two hours. It isn’t that easy to come across a tribute in such a large arena, especially when a lot of the tributes are right here.”

They all finally came into view. I counted how many I saw. There were seven of them, and that meant they had two less. Maybe they were left behind to guard the Cornucopia.

“Well,” commented Scarlett (1F) disinterestedly, “we should continue walking, then.”

''Yes. Good. Keep walking. Walk straight into my trap,'' I thought.

Besides, it was dark. They probably wouldn’t be able to see it.

They came closer and closer to my trap.

“We should check out what’s inside that café, first,” commented Rio (14F) just before they entered the alleyway.

Uh-oh.

I heard the café door open. It was time to initiate Plan C.

As soon as the Careers stepped into the café, Brighton (1M) launched an arrow at me. I jumped out the window and began to run, quickly jumping over my own trap.

“After her!” called out Eugene, but the others didn’t need to be told twice.

The first one to go after me was Jacob. I looked behind me for a split second to see him trip over the rope. He fell to the ground face-first, and before he realised what was happening, dangerous bits of glass rained down on him, tainting him, the shards and the ground with red. His cry of pain was silenced by a cannon.

Well, at least now I knew the trap was effective.

My short moment of victory was over as the rest of the Careers continued chasing me, leaving behind Jacob’s still-bleeding corpse.

I yelped in pain as a knife pierced my shoulder, but I didn’t dare slow down. I glanced back to see Scarlett preparing to throw another knife at me.

The second knife missed, but Brighton’s arrow embedded itself in my leg, automatically slowing me down.

Mercury (2M) attempted to spear me, but I quickly sidestepped. I couldn’t keep running forever. Eventually, I was going to pass out.

In a rush, I threw my excuse of a dagger at them to distract them, but I missed, which was expected.

Fortunately, even though it didn’t hurt them, it distracted them for a split second, and a second was long enough for me to run to the right into a different alley. The Careers ran past me.

I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground, only to hear the unsheathing of a knife. I looked up and saw the girl from District Zero—Novaya (0F), I thought—staring down at me coldly.

“They’re coming,” I managed to say before passing out.