Note: Mayla tied the tribute's life to another tribute. Maverick is tied with his fellow career Cole (Cardamom) Anderson.

If you tell no one I said this, I’ll admit that I’m not the smartest tribute in the games this year. In fact taking my advice is probably one of the stupidest things a person could do, (Once again I have no idea why the other careers would vote me co-leader… probably because of my fabulous hair.) but I think I’ll allow myself the benefit of the doubt this time and say that you can train your entire life for something and not be prepared for the moment it actually happens. The awe and excitement that filled me the second my platform was raised- I can’t compare it to anything.

Ok. My wise hermit-caveman moment is over. Never expect it see this side of me again. As far as you are concerned it doesn't exist. Comprendo? Good.

I was totally giddy the second I saw the coral roofing and sandy floor of the arena. It was clearly ocean based and oceans were my life source if you round it off. I shivered with pleasure noting that my chance of winning had gone up noticeably. We were encircled around weaponry that was scattered here and there, the good stuff was in the middle though. I eyed my trident and bow that had been placed so conveniently next to each other. Mayla must have decided I should live due to my undeniable handsomeness and wonderfully charming demeanor. She so was into me.

The countdown started, I fingered my compass for a second before an idea floated into my head. “Hey Cole! Cole!” I yelled addressing my partner and my second favorite career who was just a few platforms away. He ignored me preparing himself to run, which was kind of stupid because we still had 55 seconds till it was gotime. I grinned devilishly and yelled, “CARDAMOM!”

His head whipped around so quickly I would of sworn he was on steroids had I not know he was just a killing machine with lightning reflexes. “What Maverick?” He asked through gritted teeth. Most people would of been concerned if they had Cole angry with them, but Cole was my bro, he totally loved me. I could picture him sobbing if I died- ok if I were honest I knew that the only reason he would be crying was because our lives were linked and if I was dead that would mean his death was right around the corner- still. We were as close as careers could get.

My grin widened and I furrowed my eyebrows, “I bet I can kill more tributes than you.”

Cole rolled his eyes, “Oh please. Don’t kid yourself. I would crush you.” He smirked arrogantly.  standing up straight and crossing his arms over his chest.

I mimicked his stance and nodded challengingly at him, “So it’s game then? Person who gets the most kills gets… eternal reverence and honor?”

“Heck yeah…Though I think the stakes should be higher. If I win I should get to chop off your ponytail and wear it around on my head.” He laughed sadistically.

My eyebrows shot up, “If you touch my beloved ponytail I will pin you down and rip every last pearly white tooth out of your freaking face!” I screamed, shaking my fist at him. Ok, so I may have been overreacting ever so slightly.

Cole raised his hands in mock surrender, though my threat had clearly freaked him out on some level. “Woah man, no need to get violent. Eternal reverence and honor it is?”

“You are so on!” I yelled cracking my neck and getting ready to run. The clock was down to 30 seconds.

“Guys! Can I play too? I love games!” Amethyst asked blissfully jumping up and down on her pedestal.

Cole and I exchanged a look. I noticed Sabrina burying her face in her hands behind Cole as if we were a bunch of idiots. “Amethyst.” Cole said in a sickly sweet voice, “You can play but there are rules.”

Amethyst looked at him doe eyed. “Whats a…. rule?” She asked in awe, clinging to every word he said.

Cardamom gave me an exasperated look, I cut him off. We had 20 seconds on the clock and if we didn’t explain to Amethyst that she couldn’t kill her allies she could easily try to kill us out of good fun. “Amethyst, a rule is something you can’t do. If you break a rule you will die. Now the rule of the game is that you lose 30 points if you kill anyone in your alliance. Can you tell me who is in your alliance?” I asked rushing the words together.

Amethyst cocked her head to one side, “Whats an… alliance?”

10 seconds on the clock. “Nevermind. Just don’t kill me or Cole!” I yelled, grinning as Sabrina and Lyric gave me death glares and Bryant yelled “Hey!”

I thought I had been clear and the conversation was over, however Amethyst was still confused, “Whats a…. Cole?”

5 seconds on the clock. I ignored her.

4

3

I fixed my eyes on my weapons.

2

This was it.

1

I thrust myself off the platform and sprinted. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the 5 girl running next to me. Without breaking my pace I shoved her forward then crushed her neck with my boot. Theres 1. I grinned skidding to a halt and grabbing my bow and arrow. I left the trident on the ground and slung the quiver over my back. The bow was a nice strong wood, I placed an arrow in it and drew the bow back. I let it fly at the small pudgy girl- Callie I think who was still running trying to grab a backpack. Her body crumpled as the arrow pegged her right in the eye. I felt a little nauseous at the fact I had just killed a little girl. I made myself feel better by cracking a mental joke. Now she matched the 10 girl!

Speaking of the 10 girl…. She tied with me on training scores. The only person from the outer districts to do so. She had to die. My eyes flitted around the bloodbath until I spotted her battling it out with Lyric. I loaded another arrow and aimed- the next thing I was aware of was the fact my face was in the sand. That wasn’t right.

I rolled over pushing the weight off my back. It was the 6 girl- Naomi. I pounced on her small body and cracked her neck with my hand. It was frighteningly easy. I wasted a few precious seconds staring at her broken body. I imagined the caption on her gravestone:  RIP She messed with the wrong guy.

I grinned and grabbed my trident, my eyes scanning the thick of the bloodbath. I noticed the red haired dude from 5 attempting to crawl around the back of the bloodbath to grab a pile of spears. I don’t think so. I sprinted at him, we made eye contact at the last second before I kicked him, he flopped onto his back.

“No! No wait! You-” I drove the prongs into his gentiles. I had seen his interview, the guy was a major man-bitch. I believe his screams were heard all the way in District 12.

I leaned forward pressing the prongs deeper into his pelvis. “There ain’t room enough in this here arena for the two of us, and quite frankly you give redheads a bad name.” I said in a fake District 10 accent, trying to keep from grinning. I failed. His pulsing hand reached over to attempt to grab my ankle. I let him. He tried to pull it out from under me, he didn’t have the muscle though. “Yeah I don’t think brains always beat brawn.” I rolled my eyes and yanked the prongs out of his ‘special area’. He screamed again.

He breathed heavily, the air rushing in and out of his cheek. Like a pufferfish! “If… if you help me….” He panted through labored breaths.

I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah I don’t think so.” I sliced his gut open and left him there to bleed to death. My kindness was boundless, I know. So he was number… 4? No he was 3. Once I made another kill they would be 4.

Cardamom was a few feet from me. “How many you got?” I yelled, he was in close combat with Krista. He looked over surprised, Krista took the opportunity to knock him to the ground. She held a arrow over his throat, preparing herself to make the fatal blow.

She never made that fatal blow, I threw myself at her and pinning her to the ground. She tried to push me off her but my weight held her there. I drove the prongs of my trident into her chest. I glanced behind me, “Cole, that makes 4 for me! How many did you kill?” I asked the  glaring face of Cole.

“You stole my kill!” He yelled, “I call a foul!”

“Yeah I stole your kill before it killed you.” I stuck out my tongue immaturely. “However I am willing to say you also have 4 kills and do a tie breaker. One chance only take it or leave it!” I said standing up and brushing myself off.

Cole glared, “Fine.” He snapped, I flashed him a smile and scanned the area. The bloodbath was almost over… only one figure was running. Jesse Dunlap. Can I take a moment to say that is an awful last name? He must of been bullied terribly in school…. Like Cardamom….

We were both running before anymore words could be exchanged. I was laughing my head off as Cardamom who took this much more seriously than I did grunted as he tried desperately to pull ahead of me. “Heads up, Dunlap!” I yelled throwing my trident at him. It pegged him in the lower back, he went flailing to the ground like a fish out of water.

Then the impossible happened, Cole started to pull ahead of me. I solved the problem by tripping him. His infuriated scream filled the arena bouncing off of its four walls. He sprung to his feet with surprising agility and charged. But alas… it was too late. The late Jesse Dunlap had been slayed by yours truly.

I stood regally with my bloody trident at my side. “Bow, peasant.” I told Cole. He spat in my eye. Hey you couldn't blame me for trying.  

“You cheated!!!” He yelled, his right eye twitching wildly.

“All is fair in love and war, young CarCar. Soon though you shall learn the ways of the force.” I said wisely.

Murder was written all over Cole’s face, I truly believe he would of killed me if Sabrina hadn’t stepped in. “Are you two girls done fighting? Because we got supplies to sort.” She snapped angrily.

I shrugged, “I was never fighting in the first place, just educating my lessers on why I am leader.” I smiled walking with Sabrina toward where Amethyst, Bryant and some kid from the outer district were starting to go through supplies.

I frowned slowing my pace. “Where’s Lyric?” I asked scanning the perimeter of the arena for her.

Sabrina smirked, “Dead.” She said as if she was with her BFF discussing the latest fashion trends like normal girls…. But then again Sabrina was not a normal girl in the least. I had composed this theory that she was an alien sent here to win the hunger games, gain power and status and then dominate our country and kill everyone off so the aliens can colonize.  

When I heard the news I was surprisingly upset. I couldn't quite wrap my brain around the fact my teddy bear companion was dead. I had known her since we both started training when we were seven. Back then she actually carried a teddy bear around. Some of the kids picked on her for carrying it, so she gutted the bear and filled it with rocks, then she would hide in places and drop the bear on people’s heads. Those were terrifying years for everyone…. But point being I was genuinely upset she was gone. “If you killed her you’d better start running.” I growled, glaring at Sabrina who appeared unamused.

“The 10 girl did it. Sliced her to pieces with those axes.” Sabrina said eyeing me as if daring me not to believe her.

I had seen them fighting, and as much as I Sabrina hated Lyric, I think Sabrina would bide her time before she killed her. I bit my lip, if only I had been able to shoot Carolina-Ax down before Naomi had attacked me. “How the hell did a girl from District 10 kill a career?” I demanded, genuinely unsure of how this was possible.

Sabrina cocked her head at me innocently before she spoke, “You know, maybe District 4 just produces weak, incapable tributes.” She shrugged, breaking into a sprint and covering the rest of the distance. Sabrina was going to pay for that. Dearly.

I took a deep breath before walking up to the rest of my pack and pointedly glaring at the boy from 12. He looked in decent shape, not entirely skinny. He had wavy brown hair and eyes that looked like the ocean. If I stared too long I could of sworn that I saw little dolphins leaping  around the iris. I liked his eyeballs. I decided that when he died I would harvest his eyeballs and keep them in a jar. I stopped thinking about how repulsive that statement was. Eww! I was starting to sound like my sister!

“Well.” I said addressing Sabrina, “It’s clear that Mayla thinks you two are at about the same skill level.”

Her eyes shot daggers. She opened her mouth to shoot something back but Amethyst interrupted us. She shook my arm, her touch felt like little electric bolts shooting up my arm. I really hoped I wasn’t blushing. My pale skin made me blush a lot. I was getting a spray tan after the games, I decided.

“Guess what?” Amethyst asked, “I won! I killed 26 tributes and you guys only got 4!!!! Yay me!” She jumped up and down. I really didn’t have it in my heart to tell her that that there were only 23 tributes in the arena.

Cole did though, she promptly punched him in the nose.

“Ok, careers. I think we need to have a meeting. We have a lot to discuss.” I said resisting the urge to laugh as Cole clutched his nose. Everyone looked at me expectantly. I pointedly glared at the 12 boy. “Not you. You aren't a career. Go back to sorting.” He glared back but obeyed.

“Ok, so the question becomes what the heck do we do with the non-career that we can’t kill?” I asked, hoping someone had an idea, because I had nothing.

“Well,” Bryant spoke up, “We could use him as a servant? Like have him do the jobs we don’t want to do.” He appeared a bit uncomfortable to be the only one with an idea.

As far as I was concerned, Bryant was a certifiable genius. “Great idea Bryant! I had no idea you had any brains. You look pretty stupid.” He glared at me, “And I say that in the kindest way possible.” I added looking downwards uncomfortably. Thats when I saw the water flooding around my feet. It had happened so slowly I hadn't even noticed until now.

“Which brings us to our next order of business,” Sabrina spoke up, “We need to pack up and get out of here before the arena floods.”

It took us about 10 minutes to get the 7 remaining the backpacks loaded onto the 12 boy, Ashler, I learned his name was.  They weren't particularly heavy so I figured he could handle it. The rest of the careers and I held all the worth while weaponry in our hands. I fashioned a sling for my trident so I could wear it on my back, being able to pull it free easily. I took my bow and quiver as well. Most tributes limited themselves to just one weapon which had never made sense to me. Having a long distance weapon and a close combat weapon just made the tribute way more deadly.

By this time the water was up to our knees, which was not a good sign. We started wading toward one of the many exits of the bloodbath area…. In all honesty I was kind of glad. The numerous dead bodies were starting to float around which lets just say was not a pretty sight, to spare you the details.

“Ok guys,” I spoke up when we reached the corridor like passage, “most mazes can be solved by running your right hand along the right wall of the maze and not straying from it.” Wow, this leadership thing was coming pretty naturally to me. I wondered if I would be president someday!

Sabrina lead the way, guiding us as the water rose steadily. After a few minutes I got board and paced myself with Cole and Bryant. They were in a conversation about someone who they both didn’t like. I wondered who it was. I was surprised Cole was talking with Bryant. Bryant seemed kinda… I don't know… dry, realistic and boring.

“Hey!” I said grinning, they both jumped a little bit when they saw me. I must have surprised them, though I had no idea how it was even possible that I had managed to sneak up on them. My hair, as fabulous as it was, was kind of like a bright red flashing light when I tried to sneak up on people.

“Hey…” They corused glancing at each other uncomfortably. I kind of got this weird vibe that I wasn’t welcome there because- lets face it- I was welcome everywhere.

We walked together in silence a ways, no one said anything which was like beyond uncomfortable. Then in the dim light of the cavern I saw a fin appear on top of the water. It looked a little odd, it took a second for them to get close enough in order to realize it was Amethyst, swimming underneath the water with her hands clasped on top of her head to look like fins. At the last second she jumped out of the water and pounced on Bryant. They both went under.

Bryant came up sputtering and Amethyst came up laughing. I loved her laugh. I could listen to it all day. It reminded me of a dolphin.

“Amethyst…. do I want to know why you just attacked me?” He asked flatly, his hair now plastered to his forehead as his head bobbed just above water level. He was clearly used to being around her.

Amethyst beamed, “I was being a killer fish!”

“You mean a shark?” Bryant asked, his face trying not to grin.

“Yes! Whatever you just said!” She giggled and re submerged herself, seeking her next victim, who turned out to be me, actually. I really didn’t see it coming. I guess I thought she would actually try to sneak up on me or something. She didn’t, one second I was above water, the next I wasn't.

I came up laughing hysterically, she laughed too, which was really nice. I splashed her playfully expecting a splash war (they were my favorite) to break out.

Amethyst punched me without warning. Pain exploded in my chin as she made contact. I stared at her, slack jawed and beyond confused. “Its not nice to splash people!” She cried, clearly upset.

“No, Amethyst, I’m not being mean. It’s a game we play in District 4, splash wars. We just splash each other. Its a sign of friendship.” Amethyst stared at me in her usual doe eyed way for about half a second. I wondered if she was going to punch me again. She actually punched pretty hard. Then Amethyst broke into hysterical laughter and began running around bombarding everyone with huge waves of water. Even the poor guy from District 12 with all the bags on his back. Can I just take this moment to say that Ashler looked painfully furious when this occurred. The guy had way too much attitude for a servant.

I noticed that I was having trouble reaching the sandy floor of the tunnel so I began treading water. I ran my arm just underneath the surface of the water creating a huge splash, completely dousing Cole who was about the only one here who was still partially dry. He splashed me back, grinning, clearly giving up on being angry about whatever.

That was when Sabrina yelled, “If I hear one more laugh I swear I am coming back there and killing someone!” The laughter stopped pretty abruptly after that.

We all were swimming now, the pocket of air at the top of the tunnel was getting smaller and smaller with each passing second. That was when Sabrina called out. Her voice sounded especially loud in contrast to the previous silence. “I found a hole, right here.” She gestured to a large gap in the tunnel and with that she was gone. I took one last breath and followed her. I dove through the crystal clear water and then swam through the hole and upwards through the warm water. I loved water. Back in District 4 whenever I wasn’t training I was swimming in the vast oceans.

A few seconds later my head broke the surface and warm sunshine bathed my face. I looked around, an island was in the distance. We clearly had to get there. Around me the other’s heads were popping up, Amethyst, Bryant, Cole, and Sabrina. I narrowed my eyes… someone was missing….

“Where’s that moron Ashler?” Sabrina demanded, her eyes looking around wildly. He was nowhere in sight.

“You’d better find him quick, I hear they are awful swimmer’s in 12.” Cole said, though it was clear he was only mildly concerned. Sabrina dove back underneath the waves, knowing that if she failed to find him it meant death for them both. The rest of us waited. I did a few flips even though technically it probably wasn’t the best place for them. I was on my 3rd underwater flip was when I saw it. A huge shark swimming straight for us. My head broke the surface, “Shark!” Bryant yelled in horror. He drew his mace preparing to fight it.

“Does anyone dare me to ride it?” I grinned realizing this was the perfect opportunity to show off. I did this all the time with dolphins. Ok fine. Sharks were very different than dolphins, but still, I could handle it!

“You’re crazy!” Bryant yelled, charging it.

“Don’t you dare, Maverick. You will get us both killed!” Cole snapped joining him.

“Yes! I dare you!” Amethyst giggled splashing me.

Well, I couldn't disappoint the lady! I grinned, Cole and Bryant were providing the perfect distraction. I shrugged the bow off of my shoulders and swam toward the immense creature’s side. I was dimly aware of Bryant yelling, “Why won’t it die?!”

When I was close enough I braced myself for half a second. This was the moment of truth.  With one powerful kick I propelled myself forward, slipping the string of the bow through the shark’s teeth and straddling it. The shark reared suddenly, it began flipping, dunking and spinning attempting to throw me. It would be a lie to say I didn’t scream my head off.  Every muscle in my body strained as I clung on for dear life.

Bang, it hit the water hard once. My grip was slipping.

Down it spiraled with such speed I lost hold with one hand completely.

Up again it threw itself from the water like a dolphin.

I held my breath knowing I would loose my grip any second- then it stilled. I let out a long breath. It had  given up. I readjusted myself and using the bow I gently began guiding the shark towards the others. Sabrina had resurfaced dragging a very exhausted looking Ashler. Her jaw was slack. Actually all of their jaws were slack. With the exception of Amethyst of course who smiled and clapped her hands.

“Can I keep it?” I asked sheepishly. I already felt a strong fondness for my sharkie. I didn't want to let it go. Nobody said anything so I decided to take it for a yes. “Good. Because I already named it.” I said proudly stroking my new buddy. “Everybody meet Maverick Jr.”