The 9th Hunger Games:
INTRODUCTION
Head Gamemaker Rhea Szasz returned for her second year on the job. However, the president warned her that if she made an arena as intense as last year's and caused nearly half of the tributes to die of natural causes again, he may be forced to fire her in favor of a new person to do the job. Rhea accepted the offer, and dropped her luggage into the gamemaker's lab to begin the work on her second arena as head gamemaker. The arena for the ninth annual Hunger Games was a mesa landscape, with flat-topped rocky hills stretching out as far as the eye could see. Bands of vibrant color such as red, yellow, and orange stretched across the landscape, piling on top of each other in a rather beautiful fashion. The arena was surrounded by a twenty foot-high wall of rock that existed solely to prevent contact with the force field. The temperature of the arena was very normal. During the daytime the temperature could range from sixty degrees to seventy degrees. At night it only dropped to about fifty. Rhea wanted to do everything possible to make sure that there would be the least natural deaths possible, and so she introduced a myriad of water sources; crystal clear lakes dotted the arena connected by a spider web of crystal-clear, rushing rivers. No tricks here, all of the water was safe to drink. The gamemakers also included a wide variety of edible plants and animals to hopefully eliminate hunger deaths. The temperature of the arena, as was mentioned before, was not extreme and so would prevent deaths of hypothermia or of heat stroke. The tributes for the ninth Hunger Games intrigued and fascinated the Capitol audience just by the diversity of every aspect of them. The variety of preferred weapons among the careers varied tremendously as well. For instance, the District 1 boy preferred blades. "They do the job quick and easy," he said during his interview when asked what weapons he prefers. Quite different from him, his district partner preferred using a whip to disarm and disorient her pray before going in for the kill with whatever deadly weapon she had on hand. The District 2 pair both was most skilled with shurikens, perhaps inspired by Brandi's victory the year prior. However, the District 2 girl was also of outstanding skill with a baton for similar reasons that the District 1 girl fancied the whip. The District 4 girl was most skilled with the harpoon and trident, and had hopes that the arena would be water or ocean-themed. The District 4 boy was not a part of the career alliance, as he had not trained at the academy and was not a volunteer. There were five volunteers: the District 1 pair, the District 2 pair, and the District 6 male. A plethora of 5s and 4s were scored in the games, and there was only one ten. Nines were not given at all, but there were two eights and four sevens. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Percy Ramsec, 17, (8) 9-1 and Sylca Meade, 16, (7) 13-1
District 2: Slate Roegman, 18, (10) 6-1 and Velma Lansbury, 16, (7) 14-1
District 3: Theta Hersul, 18, (3) 40-1 and Jocyline Opel, 18, (4) 33-1
District 4: Edmund Verdine, 16, (5) 18-1 and Ceann Murdock, 18, (8) 8-1
District 5: Isaac Crandall, 16, (7) 23-1 and Lymit Giannelic, 18, (5) 26-1
District 6: Narten Cartovic, 15, (2) 52-1 and Luna Semphora, 18, (5) 16-1
District 7: Hesmin Burtiss, 13, (2) 80-1 and Julya Monaley, 15, (2) 39-1
District 8: Maxx Lanpen, 18, (3) 28-1 and Bella Thulran, 17, (4) 20-1
District 9: Cleo Clon, 16, (5) 30-1 and Irma Rinspine, 12, (2) 103-1
District 10: Andy Quinn, 17, (7) 13-1 and Visea Decueras, 15, (4) 42-1
District 11: Ricky Norman, 17, (5) 29-1 and Winter Campbell, 18, (3) 46-1
District 12: Harlow Kerug, 18, (4) 31-1 and Ashlyn Bonine, 13, (3) 35-1
THE GAMES
The pedestals that the tributes stood upon waiting for the countdown to reach zero used to be in district order: District 1 male on the left and District 12 female on the right. However, from the ninth Hunger Games onward they were in a randomly generated order. Two careers were, by coincidence, right next to each other. The two District 7 tributes were directly adjacent as well.
Many of the tributes were shocked at the beauty of the mesa landscape that surrounded them, and many were turning around taking in its splendor until the very moment that the gong played its familiar note in the distance.
Only a few tributes ran away at the very beginning, and the rest barreled across the dry ground towards the horn, which was spilling over with everything that would bring them life in the difficult weeks to come. The first tribute to reach the supplies was Percy. He picked up a sword—his favorite weapon—off of a nearby cart and stormed towards a girl a few dozen yards away. The instant the sword plunged into her shoulder she fell to the ground. Percy retrieved his blade and left her to die.
Bella Thulran, District 8 Female: 24th, Killed by Percy, Bloodbath
A few seconds later, Percy's district partner Sylca had caught up with him. Sylca saw the whip that she had requested from the gamemakers waiting for her on the ground at the base of her feet. Grinning, she picked up the whip and smacked it to the back of a boy that was zigzagging to avoid attacks as he stormed towards the cornucopia. The boy howled in pain as he fell to the ground in shock, and Percy finished the job by stabbing him in the stomach with his sword.
Narten Cartovic, District 6 Male: 23rd, Killed by Sylca/Percy, Bloodbath
Slate, the tribute with the highest odds, now in the mouth of the cornucopia browsing through weapons and other materials, chose a magazine of throwing knives and exited the darkness of the horn, looking around for an easy target. He waited for a few seconds, and then he saw a girl storming across the entryway of the cornucopia running away from Sylca's whip. Slate chucked one of the knives through the air, and it sunk into the small of the girl's back as she fell forward, her corpse making a hollow thump as it smacked onto the ground.
Ashlyn Bonine, District 12 Female: 22nd, Killed by Slate, Bloodbath
In the heart of the cornucopia, with her back turned to the entrance, stood panicked Irma who had received the lowest odds of winning. Seeing her as an easy target, Slate crept into the cornucopia, wielding a throwing knife in his right hand. Irma saw his shadow on the floor of the cornucopia, and so discreetly grabbed a knife about a yard from her and prepared to attack her pursuer. When Slate was about a yard from Irma, she whipped her body around and plunged the blade into his heart, sending his limp body spiraling backwards into a black crate.
Slate Roegman, District 2 Male: 21st, Killed by Irma, Bloodbath
Meanwhile, Percy had made two more kills with his sword. The first was a boy whom he slashed in the chest, sending his vital organs such as his stomach and kidneys tumbling out of his body onto the ground. The second was to a girl that he stabbed through the heart. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her limp body tumbled to the ground with a thump.
Andy Quinn, District 10 Male: 20th, Killed by Percy, Bloodbath
Jocyline Opel, District 3 Female: 19th, Killed by Percy, Bloodbath
After a few minutes of searching, Velma had finally laid her hands upon a metal baton, her favorite weapon. Eager to test it, she ran up behind a boy in a prone position and smacked him across the back of the head, sending blood squirting out of his head as he fell to the ground. Velma had made her first kill, and she grinned with triumph.
Ricky Norman, District 11 Male: 18th, Killed by Velma, Bloodbath
Although Ceann's wishes to have a water theme arena were not granted, she did get the other half of her speculations correct; a long metal trident awaited her at the cornucopia. She picked up the weapon and hurled it through the air, sending the three prongs sinking into the chest of another tribute.
Lymit Geanellic, District 5 Female: 17th, Killed by Ceann, Bloodbath
The District 4 male, eager to prove himself that he was one-hundred percent worth a slot in the career pack, believed that making more kills would up his chances of the others seeing his potential. So, he grabbed a set of shurikens off of a nearby countertop and hurled them all through the air. Two of them landed in the bodies of tributes. One planted itself into a tribute's hip with little to no injury, but the other was a different story. This one sank into a girl's heart, sending her eyes rolling back into her head within seconds.
Winter Campbell, District 11 Female: 16th, Killed by Edmund, Bloodbath
But, Edmund suffered a similar fate as Kathline the year before. Velma was just behind him and smacked him across the back of the head with her baton, eliminating the number one threat to the victor being a member of their alliance and to alleviate the guilt of rejecting a valid member from their group.
Edmund Verdine, District 4 Male: 15th, Killed by Velma, Bloodbath
By this time, most of the tributes, excepting the careers, had scrambled away into the vast arena and left an eerie silence hanging around the cornucopia. There were no more easy opportunities for easy kills, or any more kills at all for that matter. All that was left was the fractured career pack throwing aside crates and searching around the cornucopia, hunting for prey that was not there. Once they all came to the unanimous agreement that the bloodbath was over, they counted up the corpses. They counted ten in total.
Nevertheless, the careers were determined to make at least one more kill before the end of Day 1. Of the four that remained among them, three ventured out into the landscape with their weapons while Sylca stayed at the cornucopia to keep watch and guard the supplies.
The all too familiar sound of a cannon fire echoed through the arena at about six o'clock that evening. Percy, the tribute who had racked up four kills and had earned the favor of many Capitolites, stalked through the arena hunting for his next prey. He found it; a weak and helpless girl shivering in the inside of a cave. Percy's sword tore apart her tiny frame, and the sound of her screams chilled the others to the bone.
Irma Rinspine, District 9 Female: 14th, Killed by Percy, Day 1
Back at the cornucopia, Sylca realized that it was about time to call it a day and that they all needed lots of rest to be ready to kill the next day. Sylca flicked on one of the flashlights in the cornucopia and, with all of the force she could muster up, hurled it into the air. The other careers saw the flash, and they all began trekking back to the center of the arena.
Perhaps the careers were unwise to sleep in such a prone manner. They lay in sleeping backs inside of the cornucopia, with nothing guarding or protecting them from anything. When Isaac spotted that the careers were sleeping soundly in such a prone position, he pulled a brown bag out of his pocket containing extremely poisonous berries he had collected. Tip-toeing as silently as possible, Isaac crept towards the careers and dropped the berries into their mouths. First, he dropped one into Sylca's mouth. She was lying on her back with her mouth wide open, and the juice poured down her throat. Quickly, Isaac placed a second berry into the mouth of Ceann, whose throat was wide open and so the berry fell through into her stomach. The other careers were startled awake by the sound of the two girl's cannons ringing through the arena, and Isaac fled the scene taking the evidence with him.
Sylca Meade, District 1 Female: 13th, Killed by Isaac, Day 2
Ceann Murdock, District 4 Female: 12th, Killed by Isaac, Day 2
Velma and Percy, the last remaining members of the once-powerful career alliance, were startled to discover that the other half of their alliance lay completely dead. They both sprung out of their sleeping bags, grabbing their weapons and searching around for the killer they knew must be somewhere near. They could not find him. They gave up after about ten minutes and went back to sleep.
The sun rose on Day 2, and the first cannon of the day rang at about eleven o'clock in the morning. A boy was extremely thirsty and recalled learning that mashing up cacti is a great technique to get water. However, the cactus he chose was poisonous and the venom killed him before he could realize his deadly mistake.
Maxx Lanpen, District 8 Male: 11th, Killed by a Poisonous Cactus, Day 2
The rest of the second day passed deathless, as did the entirety of Day 3 and Day 4. The Capitol was thirsty for more action, and so Rhea threw in some hyena muttations to chase the tributes and hopefully shake things up a little. They unleashed them after one girl who had survived much longer than she should have, and she was forced to race away from the bloodthirsty creatures as fast as she could, screaming all the way in terror. Her doom came when her foot was caught on a rock and she fell to the ground. The hyenas pounced upon her and mauled apart her body.
Viscues Descueras, District 10 Female: 10th, Killed by Hyena Muttations, Day 5
On Day 6, there was a death from a tribute that was being chased by the careers and so climbed the stone wall surrounding the arena. He was electrocuted instantly and felt no pain at all.
Harlow Kerug, District 10 Male: 9th, Killed by the Force Field, Day 6
Day 7 was deathless, and Day 8 saw two deaths, both from the same district. The first was from a tribute that died from a severely infected wound on his thigh.
Hesmin Burtiss, District 7 Male: 8th, Infection, Day 7
The second was from a girl who tumbled off of a cliff and broke both of her legs, knowing she could not escape and killed herself with poisonous berries knowing it was the most painless way to pass.
Julya Monaley, District 7 Female: 7th, Suicide, Day 7
On the morning of Day 8, the bloodcurdling screams of a boy rang through the arena when Percy's sword sunk into his chest and he died of blood loss.
Cleo Clon, District 9 Male: 6th, Killed by Percy, Day 8
After waiting around in vain on Day 9 for just one more kill, the gamemakers decided on the morning of Day 10 that it was time to begin the final battle that would hopefully determine their victor.
At exactly eight o'clock in the morning on the tenth day in the arena, the gamemakers triggered a sandstorm that would start on the outside of the arena and force the tributes inward as it spread inward, the grains of sand cutting their skin and forcing them to shield their eyes as they barreled blindly towards the cornucopia that they knew would be safe. There they found the cornucopia now had a glass door, and inside they would be sheltered from the biting sandstorm. All five remaining tributes made it safely into the cornucopia, the last one slamming the glass door behind them.
Percy, Velma, Theta, Isaac, and Luna all stared at each other for a few minutes, not knowing for certain what to do. What Theta, Isaac, and Luna did not know, was that the reason for the careers stillness was not their indecisiveness but the fact that they planned to wait a few minutes and then lunge at the others when they were too shocked to even move.
Their strategy worked. After five long minutes, Percy threw himself through the air and stabbed his sword straight through Theta's heart, sending his body tumbling to the ground as he carefully removed the blade from the boy's corpse.
Theta Hersul, District 3 Male: 5th, Killed by Percy, Day 10
Next, Velma lifted her baton into the air and lunged at Luna, smashing her in the head and sending her unconscious. However, it did not kill her. It took multiple bangs from the baton until Luna's cannon rang through the arena.
Luna Semphora, District 6 Female: 4th, Killed by Velma, Day 10
Velma and Percy then teamed up on Isaac and chased him around and around the enclosed space. In that time, he retrieved a bow from the bounty of supplies, and nocked an arrow in a split second and fired it through the air. Although Isaac's skill with a bow and arrow was completely nonexistent, the arrow miraculously lodged itself into Percy's throat as he let out a short, sharp, loud gargle and then fell to the ground, clutching his throat. He choked to death soon after.
Percy Ramsec, District 1 Male: 3rd, Killed by Isaac, Day 10
The final battle of the ninth Hunger Games was between Velma Lansbury and Isaac Crandall of District 5. Velma had her machete, while the weapon Isaac had was his pouch of poisonous berries. Isaac knew there was only one way that he could win. And he was prepared to do it.
Isaac stormed towards Velma in a split-second, knocking the baton out of her hand. A long and gruesome fist fight began between the two, but after the longest ten minutes of their lives Isaac had forced a completely defenseless Velma to the ground.
Isaac reached in for a handful of his poisonus berries and placed them right above Velma's mouth. Then he used his free hand to grasp her nose. Soon, Velma would have to open her mouth to breathe. When that happened, Isaac shoved the handful of berries into her mouth. She gargled a few times and thrashed in pain under the weight of Isaac's body, but her world was already starting to become foggy. Within three minutes, her eyes slowly closed. Her cannon boomed through the arena.
Velma Lansbury, District 2 Female: 2nd, Killed by Isaac, Day 10
"Isaac Crandall of District 5, you are the victor of the ninth annual Hunger Games!" Rhea sang.
Isaac lifted his hands off of Velma's bruised corpse as the sandstorm ceased and he exited the cornucopia, climbing up into the hovercraft that would carry him to the fame that would soon envelop his life.
AFTERMATH
At the conclusion of the ninth Hunger Games, half of the districts of Panem had at least one victor. It would not be until the fifty-eighth annual Hunger Games that ever single district had a victor, and it would not be until the sixty-ninth Hunger Games until every district had two victors.
The Capitol had a mostly positive viewpoint towards Isaac. He had brought a victor to the victor-less District 5, and most people thought his tactic of feeding his opponent poisonous berries was clever.
Isaac's victory tour went quite well. He was given extra support at his stop in District 5, but District 2 gave him the cold shoulder for stealing their third victor.
Isaac moved into the victor's village of District 5, the very first tribute to do so.
He would live to the age of eighty, electrocuted to death by one of his projects around the time of the seventy-third annual Hunger Games.
Isaac would marry three times in his lifetime, all three times to women. He would marry once at age thirty-six, once at age forty, and once at age fifty. Despite the failure of his first two marriages, his third marriage would continue until his death thirty years later. He would bear one daughter with his second spouse, and he would adopt one son.
NEWS
Isaac moves into the Victor's Village of District 5, the very first victor to do so.
LIST OF VICTORS
1HG: Cordin Frey (#1, District 3)
2HG: Sapphire Waber (#1, District 1)
3HG: Molly Toliday (#1, District 4)
4HG: Amelia Spangler (#1, District 2)
5HG: Misty Sablone (#1, District 12)
6HG: Olivia Seager (#2, District 2)
7HG: Flux Stafford (#2, District 3)
8HG: Brandi Coyne (#2, District 1)
9HG: Isaac Crandall (#1, District 5)