Chapter 14
When I finally do crawl out of the sleeping bag, dawn light is filtering softly through the trees, only illuminating the faintest shadows of branches overhead. I stretch and try to forget the guilty feeling still burning in my chest. I can't let emotions overtake me until I win the games. Winning looks pretty easy now, seeing as their are only six tributes left in the games. I have a feeling that my last day in the arena is approaching fast. Weather that last day will find me dead or alive depends entirely on my actions during the next few hours. The gamemakers helped me once, but I doubt they will help me again. They will probably make it much more impossible to easily trap and kill tributes.
Before my mind can analyze the rest of the games in too much detail, I jog into the cornucopia and begin counting the remaining supplies. I have just enough ropes and tridents for five or six tributes. I know that if I run out, sponsors will gladly send more than I need.
I push any thought of a strategy to the back of my mind, and let my instincts take over. All I can do right now is to expect the unexpected and do my best to prepare for it. This is The Hunger Games, after all. The sun is scorching hot on my back as I set out with newly-made traps and nets. Catching tributes will be much harder now that their are only six remaining.
Hours pass. The only thoughts that enter my mind are centered around self-preservation. Boom! Boom! Boom! Cannons fire repeatedly as the after blends into night, which blends yet again into early dawn. I set traps, wait, throw, then boom! Only two more tributes to kill, now one. Before I can go looking for the last tribute, the gamemakers decide to make it hard for me. They have trapped me in the same blackness Hanna in before I ended her life. A stab of fear shivers through me as I realize that my nightmare is now a horrifying reality.
Gleaming yellow eyes follow me through the darkness. A terrified scream builds inside me, clawing at my throat. Despite all efforts, I can't stop the scream that bursts from my throat and tears into the endless blackness. What do I do now? My head is reeling, trying to come up with possible plans of action. The only one that seems to make sense is to run. I stumble my way there the smothering darkness, groping blindly ahead with outstretched hands that shake violently and sweat. Hours and hours pass. Each second is pure agony. Mutts have begun to tear into my flesh, biting, clawing, and howling. I run, and when I can no longer run, I crawl.
Hours later, The darkness is beginning to lighten. "Of course it is," I think bitterly. The Capital is growing tired of watching me suffer, and now they are ready for the finale of the sixty-fifth hunger games. Despite the agonizing pain that is ripping its way through my body, I breathe a quiet sigh of relief. Out of the corner of my eye, I can vaguely see the mutts tumbling into a hole several meters away. The hole closes behind them, and I am finally alone in the arena once more.
I don't realize I've passed out until I wake with a sudden jolt. By the position of the moon high above, it looks as if night has overtaken the arena once again. As I sit up, the moon seems to whip around me like I'm caught in some kind of whirlwind. After a few seconds, the moon returns to its normal position in the sky. Just as I'm about to drift into an actual sleep, I see a figure running in the distance. There is only one person that could bee. The remaining tribute, the female for district eight. I grab a trident, and in one fluid motion am up and running.
This girl has an unusually strong build for those in district eight. She also has extremely long legs which carry her easily through the foliage ahead of me. I try my best to keep up, but the gashes I received from the mutts pain me with each stride. This continues for about a minute before the girl's screams pierce the night. Running faster, I make my way to her just in time to see her body get thrown back to the ground. I throw my trident just to put her out of the misery she is obviously in. Before the trumpets sound announcing my victory, I run over as fast as my damage body allows me and look down at the mangled girl. She seems to have been burned all the way through. The thought strikes me quickly. I grab a branch and toss it in the general direction of where the girl seemed to have been burned. It bursts into flames for a second before dropping, withered, blackened, and burned, to the forest floor. This is where the arena must end. I smile triumphantly. Who would have thought that the capital would actually help me return home to my father and to Annie?
The trumpets blare, and I hear the arena's loudspeakers blaring all around me. "Ladies and Gentlemen! I present to you the victor of the sixty-fifth annual hunger games, Finnick Odair!" The deafening roar of the capital audience is overwhelming. A cocky smirk slides easily onto my face. I achieved the impossible. I actually won the games!
A hovercraft descends to the forest floor to collect the dead tribute's body. I watch it soar up, up, and over the trees. In it's place is another hovercraft. As it descends, a latter drops down in front of me, and I climb up into the vehicle. Instantly, there are doctors surrounding me. All I can see are crisp white cotes, and all I can hear is the frantic buzzing of many voices. This is definitely not what I expected after winning the games. Isn't the victor supposed to be lavished in riches and glory? Glancing down at my bruised body, I quickly discover the answer. I can't look like this in front of all of Panam. According to the capital and the gamemakers, I must look as if nothing at all has happened to me while in the games. While my body will be as good as new, I cannot say as much for my mind.
The medics lay me down on a bed which sheets almost whiter than their cotes. One of the doctors standing by my bed shoves a needle into my arm, and blackness swallows me.
A/N. Again, sorry about the lateness and shortness of this chapter, I promise I'll make it up to you guys! Thanks for getting to the bottom, and please review!