All righty then! I figured Sinitrena had this one in the bag, so all the trophies are skull-sperms.

Sorry!

First place goes to
JudasFm for her Blade Runner-esque tale of flawed clones escaping from flawed humans. I was a little confused by a weak introduction of the fifth member of the party (Astra), but in the end I was able to piece it all together. Your notes on the broader story make me intrigued to read further as well! I liked how all of your characters were so distinct from each other physically and personality-wise, although I suppose that's also why their alliance crumbled so easily.... It's like a rogue mutant clone just can't catch any breaks, right?

Second place goes to
Sinitrena, which hopefully results in some sort of fraternal twin scenario since otherwise the second place sperm is sadly redundant. I for one would be interested in at least a synopsis of your lost work....
So I guess that's it for another round. True to any Dwindling Party horror trope, the real heroes are the supporting cast who crashed out of the competition in order that our two finalists could successfully submit their entries in the end. Hopefully everyone shows equal dedication next round by sticking to the theme with equal vigour.

Take it away, JudasFm!