14th Hunger Games

Winner: Perseus District 2

This year was very significant for the districts because it was the first year two different districts worked together in the arena. This was a huge deal for the districts because maybe it could be the start of district unity like in the Uprising. If all tributes could work together, then the districts could surely do the same. The same thought had occurred to the Capitol but instead of giving them hope, it worried them; they couldn't afford another Uprising. The districts couldn't start working together again which was the whole point of the Hunger Games – to turn the districts against each other. When it became obvious that there was an alliance between two districts, the Gamemakers were willing to kill the four tributes involved to stop district unity. It would be a high price to pay as these four tributes were particularly strong but it turned out that the Gamemakers didn't have to lift a finger. The four tributes would destroy themselves.

The reaping this year contained an unusual amount of strong tributes. There were only three tributes under the 16 and no one looked particularly weak or troubled. It was going to be a tough year.

In training no one showed any signs of teaming up, not even with their own district tribute. Even the three younger ones kept to themselves, although they must have known that they wouldn't survive on their own.

The arena was the rubble left from a destroyed city with the Cornucopia situated on top of what used to be a grand staircase into a building. Endless piles of stone stacked on top of each other, rocking as if they were going to come crashing down at any moment. There were little bits and pieces of everything scattered around and there was the occasional rat scurrying around. One of the commentators joked that maybe this was what the Capitol would look like one day. There was a new commentator for the Victory Tour.

When the gong sounded, some ran to get weapons and some ran to get away. However, because of where the Cornucopia was, the tributes with bows and arrows could pick off the ones trying to run down the stairs. By the end of the bloodbath, the ones who had tried to run were all dead. This meant that the remaining tributes could all fight well, had all got supplies and weapons and they were all strong and willing to kill. This was when the first alliance between districts was formed.

Perseus and the girl from District 2, Alexis, had been two of the best fighters in the Cornucopia and had both stayed behind in order to grab the best supplies at the end. However when the bloodbath died off, Perseus raced back to the Cornucopia to find Alexis already standing there. They both stood there for a minute, not moving. Neither of them wanted to kill the other but they didn't want to share supplies either. Suddenly out of nowhere, knives flew through the air and Perseus and Alexis only just avoided them. Perseus looked around for the knife-thrower and saw the boy from District 1 heading towards them brandishing an axe. Perseus drew his sword and Alexis grabbed a nearby spear, momentarily forgetting about each other. No sooner had the District 1 boy reached them, did another tribute come running in with a sword and it was none other than the girl from District 1.

Soon a four way battle began with each tribute fighting for themselves, Perseus seemed to fight Alexis just as much as the other two. The battle went on and on until all four had sustained several injuries. Perseus was suffering from a cut in the leg and was limping badly. He would be cut down soon unless…it was a crazy idea but it may just work.

Dropping his sword, Perseus jumped back and yelled "Stop!"

The other three surprisingly stopped and turned to look at him.

"Let's have an alliance. We could take down the others together."

The other three looked at each other for a moment then dropped their weapons.

"I'm Diamond and this is Yoren" said the girl from District 1. Perseus heard Alexis sniff when Diamond said her name – Diamond was a name used in the poorest areas in District 1. But after the introductions were made the four eventually learnt to trust each other. The Capitol were shocked and worried but decided to see what would happen. Little did they knew that one of them would ruin the alliance for them.

The alliance between District 1 and 2, the strongest tributes was a huge blow to everyone else in the 14th Hunger Games. They would've stood a chance against one or two of the four but all of them? The alliance killed nearly all the other tributes by the end of the week. They worked well together too. They took it in turns to go back to the Cornucopia for supplies and guarded each other whilst they slept. Diamond and Alexis didn't always see eye to eye but that was because Alexis felt she was better than Diamond. Apart from that, there couldn't have been a better team. In fact although all four had an escape planned, three of them were actually content with staying in the alliance.

But Perseus wasn't. Yes he had suggested the alliance but that had been to save his skin. Now he was stuck with three strong tributes and the competition was coming to an end. There weren't many tributes left and it was probably going to the four. Perseus needed to break away while he still could before they all started to turn on each other. But how? He couldn't leave in the night as there was always two guarding. He couldn't make a run for it because Yoren and Diamond were faster and would catch him up. For now all he could do was wait.

So Perseus waited and waited until it had been two nights since the last tribute had been killed leaving the four of them. The Capitol weren't going to send in any mutts- they wanted a fight to the death and Perseus would be the one to start it. He couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't pretend this wasn't happening like the other three were but he couldn't leave either. They were going to have to kill each other- it was the only way. Perseus would have to kill them all.

At this moment he was on guard duty with Yoren just in case there were mutts. Yoren clearly thought that the watch was pointless and he seemed to be slowly drifting off to sleep, not nearly as alert as normal. Perseus knew he had to act now if he wanted to survive. It wasn't bad what he was going to do, he just wanted to go home.

Silently he drew his sword and sneaked up behind Yoren. With his eyes looking away, he slit the drowsing boy's throat. Yoren didn't even stir. Covered in blood, Perseus stepped back to see what he'd done. The girls still slept but they would start to wake as soon as the cannon fired. Perseus darted over to Alexis, sword in hand. He would much rather fight Diamond than Alexis if the canon woke either of them up. Alexis was still asleep when Perseus leant over her. He didn't really know her yet he still looked away as he slit her throat. This was much harder than killing Yoren. As the second canon went off, Diamond began to stir and was subconsciously reaching for her knife. By the time she had fully woken and seen Yoren and Alexis' bodies, Perseus was upon her with his blood-spattered sword aiming for her neck. Diamond tried to get up but Perseus had pinned her to the ground. The best she could do was to stab her knife into his arm before he slit her throat. The first alliance was finished and Perseus was the victor.

This had played right into the Capitol's hands. At first they had been petrified at the thought of an alliance between districts but it had worked out beautifully. The alliance had turned on each other and had provided the audience with an excellent show. If the tributes couldn't stick together in the arena, what hope did the districts have? The idea of alliances was also appealing to a lot of potential tributes that were watching. Teaming up with the strongest tributes seemed like a good way to survive. It would definitely be used again in the future.