Authors Note: This is a oneshot written for Starvation, a forum on . The prompt for this month was arrows. For the times, I assume the games begin around noon.
Arrow: A slender, straight, generally pointed missile or weapon made to be shot from a bow and equipped with feathers at the end of the shaft near the nock, for controlling flight.
An arrow is a very simple weapon, but also very deadly. It has been used for thousands of years, and while it is not as common today, it can still inflict harm. This is the story of some people who have fallen to the simple weapon.
18th Hunger Games – 0 hours, 0 minutes:
24 tributes stood, knowing that 23 of them would die. All of them hoped they would be the one survivor. They were ready to run. Some of them would run to the cornucopia, while others would sprint as fast as their legs could carry them away. Every tribute knew what their plan was. Sadly for them, 90% of plans fail before the battle even begins.
BANG! The gong rang, and everyone scurried. A boy by the name of Christopher, who was called Chris, began to run to the Cornucopia. Christopher had a tragic past, growing up in District 12. Nobody had ever won from District 12, and nobody expected him to be the first. Even talking to himself late at night in The Capitol hadn't worked. "You can do it", he'd tell himself. "You can be the first victor from 12". In his mind he knew he was pretty much dead, and used every bit of his soul to not succumb to the fact. He ran as fast as he could, but he wasn't the first there. Other tributes were bigger, faster, and stronger. Some of them had trained their whole life for this, the Hunger Games. To them, that's what it was – just a game. Some of the people in the districts that trained, known as careers, could probably kill him easily, even 12 year olds.
The huge tribute from District 1 ran at Chris. He thought his name was Matt, but it didn't matter right now. Matt had a large greatsword, and swung it over his head towards Chris. Chris was barely able to evade the razor sharp blade, and stumbled to his right. Unable to regain his balance, he tripped and fell on the ground. This time, Matt had an easy kill. Chris looked up at the sword and saw how clean it was, with the sun shining off of it. Matt would soon wash his sword – not with water, but in blood. As Matt heaved it above his head, something happened. Matt brought his sword down, but it was useless for Chris was already dead. He had taken three arrows, one to his heart, one through his skull, and another through his neck. Matt looked up at the girl on top of the Cornucopia – another career. "Kill stealer" he muttered, and went on his way attacking more people, killing like it was a game. He enjoyed his game.
27th Hunger Games – 1 day, 14 hours, 28 minutes:
Diamond sighed. These games were so easy. The other careers were so stupid that she could tell them there was some pie off the side of the cliff and they would jump. She easily had won, but it was annoying how stupid they were. She came from District 1, the most luxurious district. In that luxurious district, she came from the most luxurious part. She didn't need to be in the games, but she was bored in life and decided it might be fun to volunteer. The killing was fun, but they spent forever trying to find people to kill.
"Hurry up, girl", yelled the boy from her district, Jarvis. She had not been paying attention, and fell behind the group. She quickly ran up to the group looking for more tributes. They had been searching for the past four hours, and had found nobody. She was tired of this boringness in between the action. As they neared a clearing in the forest, she saw a group of three humanoids: most likely tributes. Before she could tell the others about it, Jarvis saw them. Like the idiot he was, he ran into the clearing yelling some sort of battle cry in a language nobody knew.
The others followed slowly, with Diamond pulling out her bow. The three people – now clearly the tributes from a poorer district – apparently thought they could fight a career. They might be able to take one, but not four. Jarvis charged straight into them, and tackled one to the ground. The other two immediately used their spears - obviously sharpened sticks instead of the ones at the cornucopia – to stab him. The first one was able to stab him three times before taking an arrow to the face. He pulled his hands up to grab it and took another to the heart. The guy from District 2, known as Phil charged at him, knocking him onto the ground. The boy never got up. The second one ran away as soon as he saw his friend killed. Diamond released three arrows at him and killed him. She wasn't sure which arrow got the kill, but she didn't care. Jarvis was lying on the ground, strangling the boy. Phil looked at Diamond with a question on his face. The question was obvious, and Diamond nodded. Phil took his mace, and smashed it into Jarvis' head, killing him. The boy underneath looked happy for a second, until he realized the weapon was coming down again. Diamond smiled, happy that four more tributes were dead, letting her finish the games quicker, and not having to deal with the organic chunk of stupidity known as Jarvis. Then she realized she would have to wait again. Diamond sighed. These games were so easy.
43rd Hunger Games – 1 day, 21 hours, 14 minutes:
Samantha walked quietly, hoping nobody would sneak up on her. She had luckily survived the bloodbath of the first day, while eight others had not. She grabbed a bag and ran for her life as fast as her scrawny legs could carry her. She barely escaped with her life when an arrow flew by her head. Since she had no pursuers, she had grabbed the arrow on the ground, not knowing if there was a weapon in her backpack. The days in District 10 were long gone. She had not had the best life, but she survived. She knew that she would fight until her last breath. While she did not have a good chance, she would make sure she did the best she could. She – like every other tribute – wanted to return home to her family.
While she escaped from the bloodbath, she had almost nothing. The backpack contained only some food, which would be gone later that day. She had no weapons, just the arrow. She did not have a bow to shoot the arrow with, and if she had one it would be of little use. She had no idea how to shoot a bow, and was more likely to hurt herself with the bow than kill another tribute. While she heard of people who secretly hunted with bows in the woods, she called the rumors crazy. Nobody would want The Capitol's wrath inflicted. The Capitol could easily rig the reaping, and in a district like hers where almost nobody volunteers, it was pretty much a death sentence.
Suddenly, she heard a snap behind her. She looked around, and saw a young boy. He did not say anything, he simply ran at her. He had no weapon; he just ran at her and began clawing at her face. He tackled her to the ground, due to her lack of balance. She took the arrow and began stabbing him. As his blood trickled onto her, he just laughed, and bit into her. He was crazy and didn't care. Samantha was almost sorry for his family, having to watch as he degenerated into an animal. He was dying now, and Samantha shoved him off of her, blood dripping from all over his body. He had been stabbed by the arrow all over his upper body. He was dripping in blood, and laughing a maniac. Samantha ran away, knowing the boy was dead. In the state his mind was in, he wouldn't stop the bleeding. He would just laugh away as he died; sounding like it was just fun and games. He gave The Capitol what they wanted – a game.
54th Hunger Games – 2 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes:
It was late one night, and one could barely see a thing. The only thing illuminating the area was the fake stars and fake moon in the fake sky of the real arena. Aaron had survived the first few days. Four cannons had pierced his ears a few hours earlier. He was into the final ten tributes. Statistically, he had a 10% chance of surviving. Realistically, he had less than 1%. He knew that the careers could take his life at any moment. If they found him, he would have no chance fighting. He might be able to kill one, but not the four or five remaining careers. He had a bow, and four arrows. He had gotten lucky that he actually had a weapon he knew how to use. Knew how to use, of course, meant that he shot it a few times in training. He had learned fast, and knew how to hit a target standing still.
As he looked, he noticed a large amount of smoke in the sky in front of him. It was probably the careers, who made no effort to hide themselves. He looked at his bow and remembered – he knew how to hit a standing target. He might use the careers against themselves. He grabbed his bow and the arrows, and then stealthily sneaked through the trees up a cliff which overlooked the career camp. They were simply chatting, not caring about the fact they were in a fight to the death. After all, it was just a game to them. He pulled the bow back, aiming at the one girl sleeping in a tent. It hit her directly in the heart, and she screamed as she bled out. The four careers outside ran to her to see what had happened. The big hulk of a tribute from District 1 took an arrow to the back of his skull. The girl from his district took one through her back into her heart. This left only the two boys from Districts 2 and 4 remaining. One of the two boys grabbed his sword and swung it at the other one. The other boy was luckily able to pull out a knife to deflect the sword. He then ran across the camp to grab his own sword. While he was able to grab his own sword, the other boy had just thrown his at the back of the boy's head. The last career simply laughed at the foolishness of his peer. His laughter was cut short though, by the final arrow.
Aaron walked down around the cliff, into the camp. He grabbed some arrows and a dagger that was lying around the camp. He also took a backpack with a few days worth of food in it. He burned the rest of the camp to prevent anyone else from getting the supplies. He knew now that he had a realistic chance of winning. He may have only been from District 5, a district so unimportant many people forgot what they even did. He may have only been from District 5, but he outsmarted the careers, and he wouldn't fall for any stupid mistakes like they did. They let it be just a game. They had lost their game.
After 74th Hunger Games:
Cato laughed. The boy and girl from district 12 had no chance. They were lucky enough to get into the final three, and he easily murdered them. It was on the last day of the games, and they were on the Cornucopia, with the strange wolf mutations swarming underneath. He remembered it like it was yesterday, because it was yesterday. Katniss had an arrow pointed at his head, while he had Peeta in his arms, ready to kill him any second. He knew he would win, he just waited for her to make one wrong move, and he would easily dispose of her. She was already dead, she just didn't know it. It happened suddenly. She lost some concentration, and Cato charged at her. He used Peeta's body as a shield to her late arrow. He shoved the body of the boy into Katniss, laughing as she stumbled off the edge. He pushed Peeta's body down with her yelling "At least you get to be devoured together". He had won this game – this game of arrows.
"What is the moral of this story", you may ask. The answer is simple, like an arrow. An arrow is a simple yet deadly weapon, but you can still shove people into a pack of wolves and laugh crazily like a maniac as their corpses are devoured. If you want an actual moral talking about how to deal with problems in life and be a good person, go get it somewhere else.
Authors Note: This was written for Starvation forums monthly oneshot challenge. Feel free to review and explain what you liked or didn't like. Thank you for reading.