A/N: Thanks to richards25 and Violagirl23 for reviewing the last chapter, I appreciate your support!
P.S: Before I started writing these oneshots, I created all 75 of my victors, and decided what Games they won. So although it is merely a coincidence that District 1 claims its first trained victor in the Games after I recieved a review questioning District 1's lack of victors, I think one of my reviewers might be a bit psychic :O
"Step out the shadows, send the children to their saints
You create these zombies just to keep them from their saints."
- Tom Meighan, 2006.
The 14th Annual Hunger Games
Satin Hughes (18), District 1 Female
Kasabian - By My Side (2006)
The tube is dark and somewhat claustrophobic, so I'm glad when I burst out into the open air of the arena. My mentor, Topaz, told me that the first thing I should do is find a source of water. In the arena, water is my new best friend. So my relief is obvious when I look round from my pedestal to see water in abundance. The cornucopia seems to be on a small, sandy island, surrounded by water. In the water, I can see shifty figures below the waves, no doubt mutts of some shape or form. The water doesn't look like a promising destination.
Looking at my opposition, something doesn't feel right. I can only see four other tributes, and the cornucopia seems way too close to me. Looking just beyond the cornucopia, I can see a thin strip of sand leading to a larger, wooded island. If I look the other way past the cornucopia, I can see another small island similar to my own, with a large golden structure (another cornucopia?) situated on it.
Whatever it is, it's confusing me. Looking around the few pedestals I can see, I can see none of my allies. The girls from Seven and Nine, the boys from Three and Eleven. Judging by the positions of the pedestals, there must be six around the cornucopia. Could there possibly be four cornucopias? Would that explain this arrangement?
Looking in opposite directions, I can see two small, sandy islands holding golden structures, and each island has a thin strip of sand leading to the larger island, as does our own island. I can't make out any tributes, but the other islands must be half a mile away. As for the fourth cornucopia, it must be on the far side of the large island, and thus out of my sight.
I'm futher pondering this thought when the gong sounds and the 14th Games begin.
The distance to the cornucopia is remarkably short, and I cover it with ease. I arrive at the entrance of the horn at the same time as the boy from Eleven, and I punch him in the chest and push him backwards, where he is impaled on a blade in the form of a machete held by the girl from District 7. The boy screams and falls, and my newest, more deadly adversary advances on me, forcing me inside the horn, where I have no chance of escape. I dodge the girl's first lunge and I back into a supply crate. I reach for a loose knife atop another box and hold it up to my opponent as she tries to swing at me again. Fortunately, I watch someone's boot make contact with the back of the girl's knees. The girl falls forward and loses her grip on the machete, which I take from her. She lands flat on her face, and I bring the blade down on her neck before she has the chance to get back to her feet again.
Looking up to see my saviour, I'm not surprised that I can see my district partner Platinum standing in front of me, helping himself to a mace. He beckons for me to follow him and he leads me out of the cornucopia, his weapon raised.
Outside, I can already see the girl from District 9 fleeing along the sand strip. We won't be able to catch her now.
Then the boy from District 3 appears from behind the cornucopia, unarmed. He charges at Platinum, and it is all too easy for my district partner to bring down his mace onto the skull of the younger boy. Disoriented, the boy from Three is then pushed into the water, where the dark shapes find him quickly. He screams until he is pulled under.
Looking at the other islands, I can see a figure running along a sand strip to the wooded island from the small island on my left. I guess that I was right with my 'four cornucopias' theory.
Returning to the cornucopia, me and Platinum rummage through the supplies, picking the two largest backpacks and filling them with choice supplies. We have enough food and water to last us a week, and we also have two comfortable sleeping bags, a lighter, iodine solution used to purify water, two metres of rope, a waterproof coat, a pair of night-vision glasses, an electric torch and some weapons. Platinum has a mace and the combat knife that I picked up earlier, whilst I carry the machete that we took from the girl from Seven.
The summer sun starts to take its toll as we slowly walk together across the thin strip of sand to the wooded island. Halfway across, we both jump as the sound of cannon-fire rumbles through the arena. We stop walking to count the dead, and find that eleven of us are dead already, although I won't know who until sunset. Only thirteen of us are left.
When we reach the main island, the woodland is even more dense than we first thought, and there is a sense of foreboding about entering it. But we know that we have to.
"Come on!" says Platinum after we stand at the edge of the woods for a couple of minutes, not daring to go any further. "We need to find the others."
I shrug before replying.
"I guess so," I say quietly. "But the chances of getting ambushed will be so high in the woods. Visibility will be appalling."
"It's not like we have much choice, Satin," replies Platinum. "Come on, let's go. Stay by my side, and you'll be fine."
And with that comment, my ally turns on his heels and walks confidently into the woods.
Sighing, I reluctantly follow my district partner into a world of darkness, doubt and inevitable death.
The arena concept for the 14th Games was unique, with there being four cornucopias, splitting the field from the beginning. The powerful Career alliance never took shape, as the four who survived the corncuopia never met within the forests. The females from Two and Four both arrived form separate corncuopias, and never met either tribute from One until their deaths on days six and nine respectively, killed by Platinum, who had by then parted ways with Satin.
They had split on the fifth day by mutual agreement, with nine left alive, a number that was quickly whittled down to four by day ten. The survivors were both tributes from Districts 1 and both from District 5, who had remained allied throughout the Games. When Platinum stumbled across the tributes from Five on the twelfth day, he killed both of them, taking his kill total up to seven, but sustains injuries to his legs during the battle.
When the Gamemakers used fire to draw the tributes of District 1 together at the end of the second week, Satin was in a far better physical condition than her district partner, and that was ultimately the difference between the pair as they battled amid the ashes of the ruined forest, with Satin Hughes eventually emerging victorious as the victor of the 14th Annual Hunger Games.
A/N: Please review! Can we get three reviews for this chapter? As ever, constructive criticism is welcomed :)