Johanna Mason - How a tribute becomes a victor
The moment her axe hits his skull she knows two things. One: there is an existing possibility she could come out of here alive. And two: her stupid act is over. No more weak girl, no more pretending to cry or pretending to be afraid. Never.
The canon fires the moment the pieces of his brain spatter on her face and his blood tastes in her mouth. The Career drops on his knees, his back still turned to her, and collapses forward on his face. But the look on the face of the last person standing in her way to freedom is priceless.
The girl, her blonde hair turned red from the blood of this final fight between them three, shrieks and pulls the last knife she owns from her belt, but it's too late. Before the weak, crying girl from district seven slashes the axe through her throat, she realizes how much everybody had underestimated her. District seven was no weakling, no scared little girl hiding away in the trees of the forest of this Games. No, district seven was an actress, a fighter and above all she had now proven to have a wicked ability to murder.
When the axe separates the head from the body of this last girl, a final canon fires, but the victor remains motionless. It's not until the voice of Claudius Templesmith booms through the arena when the last person standing drops the bloody axe to the ground and falls down on her knees. It's not until his voice starts talking before she actually believes she has survived. And right at that moment already, she knows how she will never be able to live anymore.
That is the moment a tribute becomes a victor.
She listens to the final words of Claudius Templesmith and looks up at the sky of the arena, seeing a hovercraft appear above her, but knows she will never be able to leave the arena.
"Ladies and gentleman, may I present you the victor of the seventy-second Hunger Games, Johanna Mason!"
And the moment the hovercraft lifts her up and takes her aboard, that is the moment the real Games are about to begin.