Bliss Dixon’s POV:

I wake to screams, although they are not from any of my companions. The screams seem to be coming from everywhere yet nowhere in particular at the same time. Unfortunately, I recognise the screams immediately, they belong to loved ones.

I hear my mother’s voice first, her screams as she begs for mercy as my father throttles her with rolling pin as my sister and I simply stand there screaming at him to stop.

I glance at the others; they too are staring wide eyed around them. I’m not the only one at can hear it.

‘’ What is that?’’ I gasp.

‘’ My father.’’ Replies Echo in a trancelike stare.

‘’ The sirens.’’ Mutters Osmo, clamping his hands over his ears and beginning to roar.

The noises continue, although I don’t hear what the others claim to have heard. I cover my hands over my ears, the voices change to my sister. It’s the night before the Reaping, the night my sister was murdered.

‘’ Please Bliss! Do something! Save me!’’ Screams my sister’s voice.

‘’ STOP IT!’’ I roar, falling to my knees and clamp my hands over my ears like Osmo.

‘’ It’s the Capitol, they’re trying to mess with our heads...’’ Mutters Gauze as he winces, he’s obviously just heard something as painful as I have.

‘’ Bliss! He’s going to kill me! Stop him!’’ Continues the piercing voice of my sister.

I feel tears well up in the corners of my eyes.

‘’ Bliss! Do something! Don’t just stand there!’’

Why are they doing this? Are Alistair and Arianna hearing this too? What’s the point on mentally demolishing the final tributes? This will help no one.

‘’ There!’’ Gasps Echo, pointing to a clump of trees a few meters away. ‘’ The jabberjays.’’

‘’ They repeat sounds...’’ Says Gauze in a whisper and shudders. ‘’ That means what we are hearing actually happened.’’

‘’ No.’’ I say. ‘’ The Capitol must have drugged us because it doesn’t make sense that we’re all hearing different things.’’

‘’ Good point.’’ Replies Echo whilst wincing from whatever she just heard. ‘’ I didn’t think of that.’’

‘’ Bliss! He’s killing me! He’s killing me like he killed mom. Like he’s going to kill you!’’ Screams my sisters voice and I feel tears trickling down my face.

‘’ Also, I’m hearing the voice of my sister...But she’s dead. And she’d never, ever say any of that stuff.’’ I add over the cries, desperately trying to drown them out with any other noise possible.

‘’ Do something Bliss!’’ Roars the voice of my sister once again.

Gauze loads up his crossbow, and Echo mimics him – understanding what must be done. The two approach the trees where the demonic birds are nestled, aim and fire. The first two go down, and the volume of the screams decreases.

I count twelve at the start, however twelve quickly become ten. Eight becomes four. Two become none.

As the final two are finally silenced, I curl up in a ball on the ground and begin to sob, clutching myself pathetically in some attempt of defending myself against whatever the Capitol are going to throw at us next. Gauze approaches me cautiously and places his hand on my shoulder.

‘’ Don’t worry, they’re gone now.’’ He assures, although the fearful voice of my sister still rings inside my head. Although the voice wasn’t real, it spurs bad memories that were everything but fake.

I nod and after a few minutes he helps me to my feet.

‘’ We need a game plan for today, Alistair and Arianna will be a step ahead of us if we don’t plan out what we’re going to do.’’ Says Gauze.

‘’ What are we gonna do?’’ I question, Echo raises her head from Osmo – who sits on the ground rocking back and forth with his fingers plugging his ears. He has finally stopped roaring about the sirens, although he still has tears trickling down his face and he is muttering quietly to himself.

‘’ Make sure one of us wins, by any means necessary...’’

Alistair Winslow’s POV:

I shoot down bird after bird with my arrows as Arianna sits a few meters away sobbing in a heap on the floor. She is hearing the screams of her parents as they are slowly beaten to death. I hear Arianna’s voice as she faces a similar fate. The only reason I am holding up is because the real Arianna is sitting just paces away from me on the ground – I know the screams are not really hers.

‘’ Make them stop, please Alistair.’’ Pleads Arianna as she clamps her hands over her ears, willing the noises to go away.

‘’ I’m trying.’’ I reply, taking down another of the jabberjays.

‘’ Why are they doing this?’’ She asks through jagged breaths and teary eyes.

‘’ It’s the Capitol, the citizens are choosing what to add to the arena...they’re torturing us for their own amusement.’’ I explain, saying it aloud makes it sound so much worse – the words taste like acid as they leave my mouth.

Arianna doesn’t respond, instead she curls up on the floor in a pitiful heap, sobbing uncontrollably as God knows what her parents are screaming in hear ears.

‘’ It’s the Capitol.’’ I mutter a second time. ‘’ It’s what they do.’’

I aim and fire once more, knocking the last of the demonic Capitol created mutts from the trees towering like skyscrapers above us. As it falls, the sounds of screaming completely cease and I sigh. It takes Arianna a moment to realise this, and she cautiously removes her hands from her ears.

‘’ Thank you.’’ She sobs and begins to shake.

I run to her and wrap my arms around her body, she leans her head against my heart and we stay like this for a few moments. The smells of the strawberry shampoo she doused her head in the night before we entered the arena still lies on her head. I take long, gentle breaths and squeeze her tightly.

When she finally stops shaking, and after she has dried her eyes I get to my feet and approach the birds lying on the ground around the tree.

I bend down amongst them to retrieve my arrows but they are gone. I check every single one of the jabberjays, and although they all carry markings of blood that indicate they were shot, none carry the arrows to prove it.

‘’ The arrows are gone.’’ I say, turning to Arianna. ‘’ I don’t have any more.’’

‘’ My throwing knives are gone too!’’ She gasps and I run over to her, emptying the two gear backs out on the ferny forest floor beneath us and inspecting the contents.

All our weapons are gone.

‘’ What the hell?’’ She mutters.

‘’ They’re screwing with us.’’ I realise. ‘’ I don’t think we were supposed to shoot the birds down.’’

I notice the change in her face as it dawns on her too. ‘’ They were supposed to chase us out of here, towards the others.’’

I nod.

‘’ Well we can’t go now.’’ She begins. ‘’ We have no weapons...’’

‘’ I have a sneaky suspicion that the Capitol will inform us regarding that pretty soon.’’ I sigh.

‘’ So what do we do now?’’ She questions.

‘’ Now, we wait...’’

Osmo Overton’s POV:

‘’ Osmo come on, get up.’’ Whispers Echo gently in my ear as she grabs me by the wrists.

‘’ The sirens...’’ I respond in a raspy voice.

‘’ I know Osmo, I know...’’

‘’ Echo my bolts are gone! So are your arrows!’’ Gasps Gauze from a few feet away.

‘’ What?’’ She responds, gently lowering me back to the ground as she sprints to Gauze and the jabberjay corpses.

I watch as the two inspect the dead birds, a look of worry spreads across their faces. Their lips begin moving, but they are talking too quietly for me to decipher anything. The muttering of the sirens is still in my head, but much more distant. I have to really focus to hear it.

Echo returns and empties out our gear bag, scattering the contents all over the floor. She begins to mutter angrily.

‘’ No, no, no! Why would they do this? They just gave us the new bloody weapons last night!’’ She says angrily, then looks at me and frowns.

‘’ Never put anything past them.’’ Says Gauze and walks over to join us.

Bliss sits down beside him, her eyes are red from crying, but she has stopped. I catch her looking at me a few times and attempt to smile weakly at her, although judging by her face it is ineffective. She fears me. She thinks I’m mentally challenged. Is she right? Has the arena made me this way?

‘’ Tributes! Congratulations on making it to the final day here in the arena, the last four days have been marvellous and today we all hope for an equally exciting day! You may have noticed that all your weapons are gone, we had an idea overnight to take them from you, you are all long ranged fighters, and that would be too quick an end – we simply can’t have that now can we? Also, I am not impressed you killed my beautiful birds! That was completely uncalled for.

Any-who, we want to bring you all together for the final fight. The island is going to start collapsing; everything but the cornucopia and the forest surrounding it will be falling into the sea. This prevents a drawn-out period of waiting before you lot start fighting. Oh, that reminds me, a feast has been prepared in the cornucopia area where you will find weapons – all short ranged of course! – that you will need to win this! Don’t worry, both groups of tributes are equal distances from the cornucopia at the moment, so it will be fair game.

Finally, I just want to wish you all the best of luck in the next hour or two, soon we will have our two winners. Soon the first ever winning duo of the Hunger Games will emerge from the arena and will spend the rest of their days bathed in riches and glory. So, without further ado, start making your way to the cornucopia area. For the last time this year, happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour!’’

As the voice of the President ceases booming throughout the arena, Echo pulls me to my feet. Gauze grabs Bliss by the hand and we begin at a sprint in the direction of the cornucopia. We very quickly drop our gear bags, they – nor the items inside them – will be of any further use to us. Now it is a race to see who gets to the weapons first.

Arianna Winslow’s POV:

‘’ Quickly! Move! Ditch the gear! Let’s go, now, now, now!’’ Yells Alistair, pulling me to my feet.

We run at a steady pace, not wanting to over-exert ourselves too much through fear of being too tired to fight but fast enough to ensure we make it there first. We run side-by-side as the noise of rocks crashing into water booms around us – the cliffs are collapsing into the water, the island is getting smaller.

‘’ We have to hurry, the key is reaching it first.’’ Explains Alistair.

I am too focused on getting my breathing right to respond, instead I nod – although he doesn’t see it as his eyes are trained ahead of us.

‘’ We’re going to make it out of this.’’ He says.

‘’ We have to.’’ I respond through an exhalation as I run beside him, he is picking up the pace.

‘’ We will go home...’’ He continues.

‘’ Is that home anymore?’’

‘’ We tried leaving because we were barely able to survive on the money we had from working...if we go back, we’ll never have to work again, and the whole District will get food and fuel. We have to do this.’’ He adds and I nod.

‘’ We have to.’’ I say, repeating his words.

‘’ We must.’’

We come to the trees and we are forced to slow down due to the difficulty of mobility among the tightly packed trees. We slow to a walk, figuring we won’t injure ourselves and we will have time to rest before we fight.

‘’ I can’t believe we’re on our way to a fight to the death.’’ I mutter aloud, not really meaning to speak.

‘’ I know....killing Ethan and Lilly was hard, but it had to be done. These are no different, just more obstacles we must overcome in order to beat the final hurdle.’’ He responds and I shake my head.

‘’ Overcome? It’s murder...’’ I correct.

‘’ What’s that supposed to mean?’’ He questions. ‘’ You’re not feeling morally sinful over this are you? It’s kill or be killed, we can’t afford to feel guilty even for a second or we’ll be swallowed up whole.’’

‘’ I know, it’s just you’re trying to sugar-coat it, you’re sounding like the Capitol. Just say it how it is.’’ I request and he sighs.

‘’ Very well, let’s go murder four innocent teenagers so we can hope to once again live a normal life.’’ He says as it if pains him.

‘’ Life will never be normal again....’’ I say and we step into the clearing, the cornucopia is in sight.

Echo Spark’s POV:

‘’ What’s the plan?’’ I question Gauze as we step through the trees and move ever closer to the cornucopia.

‘’ We get to the cornucopia before they do, grab as much as we can and retreat. I’m guessing Arianna is going to try get us with throwing knives if there are any daggers there that she can use. We have to get into the cover of the trees so it is harder for her. Then they won’t have the upper hand.’’ Explains Gauze and I nod.

It sounds like a pretty good game plan on paper, but how easy will it really be? Especially considering we have Bliss and Osmo with us...

‘’ Let’s move.’’ Instructs Gauze as we reach the tree-line, we do not pause, instead we move towards the cornucopia at a quick pace – hoping to beat the District Twelve runaways.

We sprint towards the centre of the clearing, the cornucopia itself is no longer there – it has been replaced with a bundle of items; mostly weapons but there are some other things too. None of it is important though, the weapons are all I can focus on.

‘’ There’s no long ranged weapons at all. It’s just daggers and small hunting knives. Not even a sword!’’ Mutters Gauze angrily.

‘’ I noticed.’’ I reply. ‘’ They are trying to make it as brutal and bloody as possible.’’

‘’ Arianna will use those daggers as throwing knives if she can. She might not though because they are heavier than normal throwing knives so presumably harder to throw.

There also aren’t a lot, so she might not want to be tossing them to us unless she has a clear shot.’’ Continues Gauze as the weapons are almost in reaching distance.

‘’ So we just have to get back to the trees as quickly as possible once we have our weapons.’’ I say and he nods.

‘’ We have time, they don’t seem to have got here yet so-‘’ Begins Gauze but he freezes mid sentence, we all stop where we stand.

‘’ Interesting plan...’’ Smirks Arianna. ‘’ Pity we got here first.’’

I curse myself for not taking the fact that they may have beaten us there into account. Arianna quite calmly walks from behind the stack of weapons with a dagger in her hand. Alistair appears a few seconds later with one in his.

The fact that they are walking instead of charging at us is somehow more frightening – as if our end is unavoidable, yet they are prolonging the torture of it.

‘’ Stay back!’’ I warn, but the two continue walking towards us.

‘’ We need to get them away from the weapons, then split up and move around them.’’ Whispers Gauze and I nod.

There is another deafening crashing sound as the island continues to collapse around us, this time much closer than before.

‘’ I’m sorry it came down to this, it’ll be hard having to kill you. I would have preferred if it had been Ravina or some other idiot like her.’’ Says Alistair. ‘’ You are good people, but so are we. We can’t all make it out alive...’’

As if someone prodded each of us with an electric rod at the same time, we all burst to life. Alistair and Arianna spring towards us, slashing at us as we split and move back from them.

Arianna advances on me with her knife as I take giant leaps backwards. She swipes her weapon at me with each lunge forwards, it barely misses my face each time. She cries out with each swipe, either to motivate herself or to intimidate me.

I cry out in fear with each swipe, not because of her war cries, but due to how close the knife comes to my body.

I glance at Osmo, he is stumbling away from Alistair, who is chasing after him with his knife swinging. There may be irreparable damage done to Osmo’s mental state, but his state of mind is sane enough to sense the danger of the dagger. Thankfully, Gauze runs in to the rescue, he dives onto Alistair’s back – without a knife – and tries dragging him to the ground. Alistair curses and the two of them fall to the floor.

I am snapped back to the reality of my situation by Arianna’s knife. She swipes it at me again but this time I am not quick enough. The blade tears the fabric of my left arm and draws blood. I scream but continue to backpedal; I must hold her off long enough for Gauze to reach the weapons. Although he seems preoccupied with Alistair.

‘’ C’mon Echo, just give up. You have no weapon. It’s only a matter of time.’’ Says Arianna, although she is trying to sound threatening, there is pity in her voice. It is almost a plea. It hurts her to have to do this.

‘’ I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.’’ I reply.

Before she has a chance to respond, I think quick and do what I hope she won’t be able to anticipate. In one quick movement, I stop retreating, press my toes into the ground and spring towards her. She gasps and swings her sword, but she is not quick enough.

I dive below her swipe and tackle her in the stomach, launching her into the air and sending the two of us falling to the ground. She gasps as she is winded and her dagger is knocked from her grasp.

We both rush to scramble to our feet, yet again I am quicker. I manage to grab her dagger from the ground and get behind her as she rises. When she stands to her feet, I wrap her in a headlock and hold the dagger to her throat.

‘’ Don’t move.’’ I warn.

‘’ I wouldn’t do that if I was you.’’ Replies Alistair a few feet away, and what I see deflates me completely.

Alistair Winslow’s POV:

I stand as Echo is, with my arm wrapped tightly around Gauze’s neck and my dagger to his throat. He is breathing short and quickly, he is scared.

‘’ Release Arianna now, or I kill him.’’ I warn.

‘’ Do it.’’ Chuckles Gauze. ‘’ You kill me, then she’ll kill Arianna. I’m not her partner, her and Osmo will win.’’

I silently curse him. He is right. I can’t do anything to him, or my chances of getting out of her completely change against my favour.

‘’ Kill her Echo.’’ Orders Gauze. ‘’ Win this. You deserve it.’’

I tighten my grasp on him, making it so he has just enough air to breath – not enough to get words out.

Echo shakes her head. ‘’ You and Bliss deserve it more. There’s no cure in the Capitol for Osmo. They’ll only exploit him in this state.’’

I risk a quick glance behind me, both Bliss and Osmo stand a few feet away – both with daggers in hand. Neither are close enough to threaten me, and if either make a move towards me Arianna will warn me.

‘’ Just do it. End all this.’’ Pleads Gauze as my grip weakens when I turn. I quickly regain my grip and he silences once again.

I glance at Arianna and our eyes meet. She lowers her eyes to Echo’s wrist and I nod. She pauses a moment, then suddenly opens her mouth wide and clamps her teeth down hard on Echo’s wrist – the one holding the dagger.

Bliss Dixon’s POV: