Johanna had always considered herself to be a strong player in the games, ever since the reaping. She was mentally and physically strong; she was also a very secretive and devious person. It had all played off until now; the career tributes had caught her. She'd been good at avoiding everyone, even Leaf. Avoiding him was a bad idea now, she had told him in the beginning that they would team up. But as soon as she had had a chance to look at the arena, survey it from the pedestal, she had changed her plans. Teaming up with him would be a bad idea, draw attention to her and also him. It would also mean she would slow down. The arena seemed to be a mix of a small forest, a large jungle and swamp. The forest wasn't big enough for any of Johanna's real skills to be effective, climbing the trees in it was hard and so was trying to chop them down. The jungle trees were rotting and the swamp was dangerous.
"She's useless!" yelled Tartan, a short fifteen year old girl who was from district 1. Johanna stood her ground, gripping the axe tightly in her hand.
"I agree! Make her do something, anything to prove herself!" the boy from two, Oliver, replied. Johanna shifted slightly and looked down. The career pack would never let Johanna in with them, not that she wanted to be a part of their pack. She was from district 7; they were from the richer districts, 1, 2 and 4. The careers, Tartan, Xavier, Polish, Oliver, Athena and Angel were strong and tight nit. It also made her wonder, if they were the last six left in the end, who would kill who? Athena was a lot weaker than the rest but Angel was making sure she stayed in, would he betray their trust in the end? Tartan was as strong as Xavier and Oliver, so it made Johanna wonder if Tartan would in fact take the rest of the Careers down. Polish was probably the most devious out of the Careers, she barely spoke and she stood in a way that meant she could attack in a split second if needed.
"I say we kill her, Tartan, move on" Xavier suggested.
Tartan laughed and nodded, "Let me finish her off, Angel, Athena and Polish you go find her friend. Leaf isn't it?" Tartan demanded. She was definitely the boss of the careers and no one would mess with her.
Johanna didn't reply to Tartan. "Answer me!" Tartan yelled moving at Johanna as the other careers moved off. Johanna didn't respond again. Tartan was right in her face now. "Leave. Him. Alone" Johanna spat as she swung her arm around. She gripped the axe tightly, putting as much strength and energy into her blow. The axe struck Tartan hard, severing ligaments and nerves in her right arm. Tartan screamed and automatically gripped her wound with her left hand as Xavier and Oliver moved to attack Johanna. Johanna quickly struck Tartan again, killing her before Oliver bowled her over and tried to punch her face. Johanna blocked his attempt with the axe and threw him off before striking him in the neck; he fell to the ground shaking in a fit with blood spilling out. Johanna gagged as Xavier grabbed her from behind. She dropped the axe in the struggled and elbowed him in the stomach as he squeezed her tightly. He let go as she stomped on his foot and Johanna began to gasp for air. She turned around just as he swung at her with a sword he had. She ducked quickly, picked up the axe and hacked at his left ankle. He screamed angrily and tried to attack her again as she hacked at him continually. Finally he fell to the ground and Johanna felt her heart race. Her first three kills, and her only thought was Find Leaf, must find him. She didn't care about these people, only Leaf. She attempted to make a break for it when suddenly a knife struck her left shoulder blade. Johanna stumbled over her own feet and fell to the ground before turning to her enemy and taking the knife out of her shoulder. Blood dribbled down her back and she tried to ignore the agonizing pain. Angel threw another knife at her but she hit it away with the axe and then threw the axe at him. It hit angel right across the face. Johanna stood up as she saw Polish at the edge of the small meadow they stood in. Needing a weapon, Johanna ran over to the dead body of Angel, pulled the axe out and began to run, an arrow whizzed past her as she did so. Johanna Picked up one of Angels throwing knives and threw it towards Polish before running off. She didn't know if Polish was dead or not, she just wanted to get away.
Johanna soon found herself running towards a hole made by the game makers. She put herself in it and huddled herself into a little ball. Soon six canons went off and night fell. Johanna counted Tartan, Xavier, Polish, Angel, Oliver and one more. Athena? Leaf? Someone else? There were twenty-one dead now, leaving Johanna facing off against either a small thirteen year old girl from district 12, Leaf or Athena.
The anthem started to play and the faces of the dead tributes appeared in the sky. The faces of Tartan, Xavier, Polish, Oliver, Angel and Leaf appeared. Johanna's jaw dropped. Leaf was dead, it was all her fault. Imaged began to flood into her mind.
"Jo!" Leaf called knocking on the rotted timber door of Johanna's cabin. He entered as she stood up, huddled by a fire, and hugged her.
"I missed you Leaf" she replied with a frown.
"I've been with my father, he's teaching me how to do skills for work" Leaf told her proudly, "I also got an axe!" He looked over at the door, Johanna following his eyes. They still had a few years till work, only being twelve and thirteen. But any skills they learnt now would help them survive. Johanna smiled; her long unwashed hair fell onto her face. Leaf brushed it away with his frail fingers. He had always been a sick boy and having no medicine and little food did not help one bit. Johanna knew it was hard here, but it was most definitely harder in the outer districts.
"Will you teach me how to use it?" Johanna asked.
"Of course I will Jo!"
Johanna knew no one would speak up for Leaf. No matter how sick he was now or how sick he had been in the past. Leaf had no one left except Johanna and his father. Johanna had no one left except Leaf and his father. She had no siblings, her parents had died in a freak wild fire a few years back and she had been living on her own. Leaf had offered her a place with him and his father, but she had turned it down. Giving herself more tesseraes.
Leaf made his way up to the stage with a limp, dazed and confused.
"Ladies!" Elizabeth Gibbs, the escort for District 7, announced. She pulled the slip from the girls reaping bowl and walked back to the microphone.
"Johanna Mason!" she yelled and Johanna's breath was taken away. Johanna stumbled over her own feet as she left her spot and made her way up to the stage. She shook hands with Leaf, something all tribute had to do.
"May the odds be ever in your favor!" Elizabeth yelled suddenly.
Johanna was regretting her decision now. The only person she had left was Leaf's father and he could hate her for deserting his son. A tear rolled down her face and she quickly wiped it away before the game makers made a big deal out of it. Johanna stood up and suddenly another cannon went off. She was hoping it was the girl from district 12, as cruel as that sounded; Johanna could never take that girl on. She was too young and innocent; Athena on the other hand was seventeen and would fight Johanna happily. She took off running, but she didn't have to go far to find Athena. The only way to get out of here alive was to find Athena and kill her; obviously Athena had the same idea.
"You will pay for this!" Athena sneered moving at Johanna. With the axe still in Johanna's hand, she swung it at Athena as she moved towards her. Athena fell over with one hard blow, a Johanna stood over her. She raised the axe above her head. "Please don't!" Athena screamed with fear.
"I'm so sorry" Johanna replied as she struck Athena hard again and blood splattered across her face.
Johanna Mason regretted many things. Many decisions. She was home now, though. Home sweet home. Well, it was less than sweet now. It would never be the same, Leaf was gone and now this.
"B-but he can't be!" Johanna screamed. Rose, a friend from school, grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace. "I'm so sorry Jo, he was here one day and gone the next."
"It's my entire fault!" Johanna cried. She was strong but this was heart breaking.
"How would this be your fault? It's the capitols. They're cruel people Jo"
"I killed him, his son as well!"
Johanna was talking about Leaf and his father. They were both dead, leaf was murdered and so was his father, Johanna also knew why.
"It was the axe killings, wasn't it? Just like Haymitch Abernathy! From the fifth quarter quell. The stunt with the axe!" Johanna screamed.
Rose knew there was no way of convincing Johanna otherwise. Everyone Johanna loved was gone. She had no one left.