Chapter 9: The Grand Finale

Day Seven in the arena dawned stormy. Lightning streaked across the sky and the thunder rolled. The wind screamed. Thinking another hurricane had returned, Duke abandoned his camp and made for the Forest Quadrant, hoping the trees would at least give him cover.

But they didn't. The storm seemed to follow him, and lightning unnaturally struck down around him. This was a Gamemaker trap, and Duke could barely evade it. It was as if the storm was manipulating him to go a certain way.

That was when Duke realized: the volcano. No tribute that he knew of had ventured into that Quadrant, but that is where the Gamemakers wanted the big final showdown between him and Jefferson.

Duke continued to frantically dodge the man-made lightning, falling trees and pushed against the wind. He didn't want to die this way, and only hoped that Jefferson was caught in the same storm and died first.

At last, he burst onto the Volcano Quadrant, where the rumbling of the volcano mixed with the thunder. The powerful creation of earth would be waking up soon. Now dodging lava and magma trails, Duke climbed along the cooled volcano rock until he reached the summit. Panting, he collapsed to his knees to rest.

And that was his mistake. A rebel yell alerted him to Jefferson's presence just before the boy from 1 tackled him. The two wrestled desperately on the ground. Duke clawed wherever he could reach, finally throwing Jefferson off him. Panting, both tributes stood and circled each other like wolves, careful to avoid the crater that led into the volcano's depths.

"How did you get this far, Twelve?" Jefferson spat. "No one from your district…."

"I KNOW!" Duke roared in anger against the rumble of the volcano. "No one can believe I came this far given where I come from. But, I am not ashamed of it, Jefferson. It took wits, and skills and a whole lot of running, but I've made it farther than any District 12 tribute…. and so did my partner!"

Then it dawned on him: the reason for Jefferson's incredulity that he had survived.

"You set me up, didn't you? You stole the backpacks from the Cornucopia and betted that I would get caught by Bella and framed for it. You just didn't expect me to bluff my way out of it, to get Bella all horny and then fuck her and kill her."

Jefferson nodded with a smirk. "Give the boy a prize!" he mocked sarcastically. "But you're wrong on one point: the trap was meant for anyone, not just you. I knew I could not beat Bella if it came down to me and her, so I hoped that she might catch someone else and then both would destroy each other in a battle. You were a useful pawn for getting rid of her, but I didn't expect you to walk away alive." He chuckled. "No matter. You've had a long ride, Twelve, but now it's over!"

With that, he lunged at Duke. But this time, the boy from District 12 was ready. As Jefferson tackled him, Duke actually hugged him close so he couldn't move with his weapons. As they wrestled, Duke prayed for time and strength. He got just enough.

Jefferson finally broke free and kicked Duke away from him. The boy was on his side, staring up exhausted at the monster from District 1.

"You're mine, Twelve!" Jefferson snarled. Duke pushed himself up onto his knees, his eyes blazing and determined.

"Game's over, Jefferson. I win!" Then he flung his last knife.

Jefferson side-stepped just enough so that the knife pinned off him, but did not wound him. He burst out laughing.

"Nice try, Twelve. But you can't sweet-talk your way out of this one…."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The noise made Jefferson look down…. to see that an entire bomb had somehow been strapped to his chest.

And rigged to explode.

"Ahh! Get it off! Get it off!" But he did not know how to work the wires.

Duke smirked in triumph, then moved fast. He got to his feet, rushed Jefferson and pushed him. Hard.

With a scream, Jefferson lost his balance and fell backwards, right into the open mouth of the volcano. Then-

BOOM! Except it wasn't a cannon. It was the bomb detonating. Then there was a mighty blast as the explosion triggered the eruption of the volcano. Huge amounts of lava shot up out of the volcano.

Duke ran for his life, down the cooled volcanic rock slopes. He had no time to admire the sheer awesome power. He burst into the Forest Quadrant, waves of magma following him. Finding the nearest tree, he climbed up its trunk desperately, all the way to the top and outrunning the magma flowing beneath.

The lava seemed to engulf the arena, as Duke clung to the tree for dear life. At long last, the last cannon sounding to belatedly signal Jefferson's death. The announcer came over the loudspeaker, backed up by screams of celebration:

"Ladies and gentlemen: May I present the winner of the 13th Annual Hunger Games. I give you – Duke Vedaldi of District 12, the first victor for his district in history!"