Jay Torres
of the Capitol

I'm ready. I know I am. The time has come. I need to do it now. Before it drives me insane. I will go and confront Kyle Garnswoth and slaughter him. I want to watch his blood soak into the earth and I want to see him in excruciating pain as the light leaves his eyes. I can just taste victory on the tip of my tongue. And perhaps I can take out his little lackey Lianna at the same time. Another two kills added to my name.

I have not moved far from the forest where I murdered Danny. I can still see the blood splattered on a nearby tree. The mere image of blood paints a smile on my face. In my mind, a dying Kyle materialises in front of me. I've cut off all his limbs and traced a game of noughts and crosses into his chest. He moans in pain, because I've also cut out his tongue, and I laugh. It starts off as a mere chuckle, but begins to escalate into the howling of a madman. Better not delay this any more.

I poke my sizzling mammal with a stick. I am useless with the identification of animals, but it seemed edible, so I chucked it over a fire. My minuscule culinary skills turn out to be sufficient, as it actually tastes quite delicious. The meaty juices fill my mouth and send a warm feeling to my stomach. The niggling hunger just goes away with every bite I take. It's an energy hit that I really need to take him down.

I reach to my left and pick up my sword. It gleams in the sunlight, recently cleaned. The edges are wickedly sharp, ready to butcher anybody that stands in my way. Such as Kyle.

I gather a pack of food and water and set off. I shut my eyes and channel the bloodlust through my body. With a hunch, I start going east, hopefully colliding with him at some point. Then he is seriously going down.

As I walk, I begin to think about things that haven't crossed my mind during my time in the arena. My family are most likely watching me now, anxiously waiting for the fight. This urges me to move a little quicker. I think of my home, the lavish Capitol. Sometimes it's a bit over the top for me, but I'm not complaining. At least I'm not in one of the outlying districts.

Life must be tough for all those bastards. Doing all the work for themselves, having to care for their families, and so much more hardship. This almost makes me regret cutting off Ovid's leg, but then I think of the stuck-up prick he actually was and I dismiss the thought.

In a pure dash of luck, I faintly hear voices not too far away. I crouch down and stealthily hide behind a scrub. As they continue to move closer, I can't believe my luck. It's Lianna and Kyle, there for the taking. I take one deep breath, before leaping out with my sword at the ready.

Lianna turns around with the agility of a fox and before I know it, one of her crossbow bolts has embedded itself in my left bicep. Pain burns through my body, but also fuels my anger. Never in my life have I wanted to end somebody so much, regardless of whether they come from the Capitol or not. I scream a battle cry and load my sword up behind my shoulder, before swinging in a wide arc. This time, my attacker is caught off guard and I watch in fascination as her head is chopped clean off.

It is a gory and glorious moment. One second her eyes stare at me in fear, the next a spray of blood spurts out of her neck stump. It gives me satisfaction when I hear the thump of her head hitting the ground. Her body seems to stand in the air briefly, before dropping to its knees and toppling sideways. The ground around it begins to quickly turn crimson as her stump continues to bleed.

Kyle looks shocked as he stares at his dead ally's corpse. He stands frozen for a few seconds before looking up at me. In a just a brief moment, I can see fear in his eyes. Fear. An emotion I can target and exploit. Fear is a weakness. Possibly the biggest weakness for Kyle at this stage. So why not use it?

I jump forward with my sword in hand as he unsheathes his. The loud and scratchy sound of metal rubbing on metal fills the air. He swipes at my legs and I just manage to leap up and avoid losing my feet. He uses this distraction to swing viciously towards my chest. I use my reflexes (they are impeccable) and thrust my sword into the path of his, stopping it with a thundering crash.

He just pulled some impressive moves. Maybe I won't underestimate him so much next time.

I take action and jab at his leg. He is caught off guard as I cut a little into his calf. He looks distressed but nothing more. I'll have to go deeper next time. He counters with a diagonal slice to my torso, which I can't fully escape. I wince as the blade cuts a thin line from my right shoulder to my hip. I look down briefly to see blood begin to seep from the wound. It burns, that's for sure, but it shouldn't slow me down too much.

Kyle lunges for my neck and I easily sidestep his attack, swinging towards his hip. He shows some skill as he dives under my blade and kicks out at the flat part with his heel. It takes all my strength to hold onto my sword. He cleverly uses my disorientation to get back off the floor and attack once again.

"Why the fuck did you kill her?" Kyle screams through gritted teeth as his sword slices another gash, this time a little deeper and a lot more painful, into my thigh. I howl in pain but quickly recover, swinging hard and managing to slice a sliver of flesh off his calf.

"Well, I don't know, maybe because I fucking hate you and anybody associated with you!" I exclaim as he cries out in pain. "So don't think you're getting away from this fight, pretty boy! The Capitol has to have losses if they want to win!" He swings at my face and I block his sword just in time. I throw a similar attack and he blocks it as well.

This stalemate continues as we talk. "It's all riding on you, you prick!" Kyle fumes. "You've come and attacked me, risking the honour of the glorious Capitol! And that makes me want to take you down even more!"

"I wasn't risking anything!" I retort. "I was always going to win this goddamned fight! What gave you the fucked up idea that you could come out of this on top?"

Our pointless but fiery banter continues for another minute until we begin to get quite exhausted. Both our guards are down, and now it's a matter of who strikes first. I will strike first. I always was going to strike first.

My blade cuts through the air on a direct route to Kyle's left elbow. It quickly and efficiently cuts straight through as if it were butter. Kyle screams yet gurgles horrifically. It's the sound you would imagine a demon to make. A smile grows on my face as his forearm hits the ground and his stump begins to spurt blood. It is eerily similar to Lianna's neck stump. I know I have won this battle.

But then I haven't.

Kyle comes sprinting towards me, his sword barely held onto by his weak single arm. He kicks me in the stomach and I grunt, falling hard to the ground. He jumps onto me and I quickly hold my sword to my chest, so Kyle is skewered. The light leaves his eyes in an instant, but not before he manages to sink his sword into my stomach.

I can feel the pain spreading as warm, sticky blood begins to soak me. Why the hell did this have to happen? I was going to win. It was all mine. A few outliers were all that I had to take care of. And I've gone and gotten myself killed.

I push Kyle's body off of my own as my breathing goes raspy. I guess I have to accept the truth. Death is upon me. So I close my eyes, and let it take me peacefully.

Deaths for the past two chapters:

Katana Valleria (District Two Female) - Killed by Albina Semyenova (District Nine Female)

Grisham Beauregard (District Two Male) - Killed by Albina Semyenova (District Nine Female)

Lianna Morrigan (Capitol Female) - Killed by Jay Torres (Capitol Male)

Kyle Garnswoth (District Four Male) - Killed by Jay Torres (Capitol Male)

Jay Torres (Capitol Male) - Killed by Kyle Garnswoth (District Four Male)

A/N: Well, I'm back for now guys. Hope you all enjoyed my new chapter. Down below is a list of remaining tributes, for those that don't want to go back through the story and count.

Kit Wellwood (District Three Female)
Lynette Ashbloom (District Four Female)
Gareth Bawqi (District Five Male)
Alfred Walnut (District Six Male)
Charlotte Rieches (District Eight Female)
Albina Semyenova (District Nine Female)
Sidknee Mumblet (District Eleven Male)
Utrya Zhuyt (District Eleven Female)

And guess what that means? Final eight interviews!