Anthem - Day 2

It was after midnight in the Capitol when the Gamemaking team begins to disperse. A few unlucky junior gamemakers will helm the cameras for the remainder of the night. When Ekram, Artemie and Lauren had first conceptualized the 97th arena, they’d committed to the desert aesthetic, heat and all, which would necessitate likely moving the anthems to be overnight when it was cooler. That had seemed all well and good in theory.

But now, a yawn stealing away his breath after a late night of celebrating, Lauren was thinking the better of it. “‘Night Artemie,” he said congenially, the light of a computer screen shading his skin blue. There was time for him to sleep, for a few hours, but he knew the latent bloodbath adrenaline wouldn’t allow it.

“You know what song I always liked by The Headliners?”

Lauren jumped, nearly knocking over a cold mug of coffee. That Ekram spoke at all was surprising enough; even more so that he was addressing Lauren directly. “Uhm, no, what’s that?”

“Dream Haunters.”

“Oh… kay!” Lauren clutched the mug as he watched Ekram make his exit. Over the next few hours he coaxed the arena to his will, nudging tributes this way and that, and all the while he kept glancing over his shoulder to see if Ekram reappeared.

At dawn, with the horizon shading lavender, Lauren decided to exercise both his own and the tributes’ ghosts. The anthem opened with the notes of DREAM HAUNTERS before rapidly flipping through the grisly count of fallen tributes:


Sergio Quiverus, District 5
Sayed El-Aly, District 10
Coald Stone, District 12
Roland Pierce, District 5
Ruby Wolfe, District 2
Dana Lheureux, District 9
Diomedes Adama, District 11
Sofia Markus, District 12
Matt Colekay, District, District 9
Junie St. James, District 7
JJ Jenkins, District 7
Duchess Duchannes, District 10
Portia Maybach, District 1


Thirteen fallen, ten tributes left between you and victory. As the sun rises the arena heats up quickly. There will be no relief from the sun and the scorch. Rest, if you can. In this arena, death comes with the darkness…

Congratulations on surviving Day 1!