A/N-Hi! I just wanted to say thank you for all of the wonderful reviews I received! Thank you so much! I can't even express how grateful I am! I also wanted to say that I promise this will have a happy ending! I know it has been pretty sad so far, but I promise it will have a happy ending. Enjoy!

The Games

I just want these Games to be over. I want this nightmare to end. I want to be at home with my wife. Actually, I want to be anywhere but here.

The camera turns on and I greet it cheerfully with a fake smile. Fake. This is all fake. It's like a routine now. I smile for the camera. I say cheerful things. I go home and repeat the process when I come back the next day.

The screen flickers on and I look twice. The arena's sky is pitch black. I can barely see anything. "Wait, isn't this the last plague," I ask Haran. I haven't heard a sound come out of him since I arrived this morning.

"No, the last plague is tomorrow. Today is the Ninth Plague which is darkness," he replies while staring into the distance.

"Oh," I simply say. I smile. It's nice to hear his voice and see him smile. Even though it's forced, it's still nice.

"The Games should be over by tomorrow," he clarifies. My eyes widen. This nightmare will finally end.

"Really," I ask, not comprehending what he just said.

"Yes, unless the Gamemakers add some more 'surprises'."

"Wow," is all I can manage to say.

I begin to observe Vincent, District 2 tribute, first. He is inside his tent. He stares longingly into the distance. He suddenly stands up and takes some of his knives. "I have to win," he says to himself. "I have to win for Mae."

He has trouble finding his way through the darkness that surrounds him. He has a stony expression that is ingrained in his face. His eyes are cold and unforgiving. He is so different from the tribute I've come to know.

` He spots smoke in the distance. Vincent takes off in a sprint towards it. The sand slows him down a bit, but he still makes it there in good time.

"Why would someone start a fire in a desert? Aren't deserts supposed to be hot," I ask. I am downright confused.

"Deserts lose all of its heat during the night," he answers in an unenthusiastic voice.

"Oh," I say.

I squint to try to make out who set the fire. His face is illuminated by the campfire. Harvey's face.

Harvey, District 11 tribute, has his hands hovering over the tips of the flames. Shivers wrack his body. He's a mess.

Vincent does not try to sneak up on him. He makes his presence known. "Hello, Harvey. Long time no see."

Harvey, District 11 tribute, snaps his head around and spots Vincent with a gleaming knife in his hand. Harvey tries to make a hasty retreat, but trips over his own feet.

Vincent quickly runs up to him and pins him under his immense weight. Harvey squirms under him, but eventually gives up once he realizes it's hopeless.

"How are you doing," Vincent asks with a spine-chilling smile. He looks unhinged. He probably is.

Harvey refuses to answer. He refuses to give Vincent that satisfaction. "Not feeling very talkative today? No matter. There's not much to say." Vincent holds his knife to Harvey's cheek.

"So, how did your district partner die?" Harvey still refuses to answer. "Her name was Ivy, right?" Harvey simply nods his head with a gloomy look in his eyes. "Oh, I see. You loved her right?" Harvey just looks into the distance. Silence is his answer.

"I was in love," he says as he digs the knife into Harvey's cheek. Harvey winces as the foreign object enters his skin. A river of crimson begins to flow freely from the new wound. Vincent smiles a sadistic smile.

"She didn't love my back at first," he says as he makes another cut attached to the previous. Harvey closes his eyes and winces at the pain, but he refuses to cry out. "She refused to accept her feelings for me," he says as he makes another incision. "That is if she had any," he states as another incision is made.

"Why should I care," Harvey hisses. Vincent laughs.

"So you can talk." He makes a deeper incision and blood flows out more rapidly than before. Harvey squeezes his eyes shut and tightens his hands into fists. "I don't expect you to care." He makes another deep incision. He's not going to make Harvey's death fast.

Harvey opens his eyes and stares defiantly at Vincent. "Then why tell me?"

Vincent makes a smaller cut on his cheek. "You'll see." He smiles villainously. "I knew she had feelings for me." He makes another big incision on Harvey's face, but I can't see what he's drawing. There's too much blood.

"Mae never liked to admit them, but I knew." Harvey just continues to glare at him as he makes another deep incision. Harvey winces, but refuses to break eye contact.

"She told me when she died," he states. His tough demeanor breaks, and he looks into the distance. His eyes are filled with sadness and outlined in tears. He shakes his head, and his eyes become ruthless again. He makes a very deep cut. Harvey cries out in pain.

"By then it was too late," he declares. He makes another deep cut. He smiles. He brings his hand up to Harvey's cheek and wipes away all of the blood. Harvey cries out in pain. I take a closer look at what Vincent engraved in his cheek. In big, bold letters it says a name. Her name. Mae's name.

"Oh, yeah," Vincent mutters before adding another touch. He creates a big heart around her name. "Perfect." Harvey looks confused, but doesn't ask anything. He brings the knife covered in crimson to Harvey's throat.

Harvey's eyes plead for Vincent to kill him quick. He wants to die a fast and peaceful death, but he does not receive that. "Not quite yet," Vincent says with a signature Career smile. I can only imagine what pain Vincent is going through.

Vincent begins to carve bloody patterns on his other cheek. He smiles a little more every time blood rushes from a new wound that he creates. He really is a Career. He was never a sweet guy in love with the girl of his dreams. He tried to be good to her. He tried to control his anger at times. Let's face it; he was pretending. He was always capable of doing something so terrible. He just proved that.

Harvey is about to lose consciousness. I can tell. He is having trouble keeping his eyes open. "One more thing," Vincent says with an evil glint in his eye. He harshly grabs Harvey's arm and begins to write more. This time the name is his in big bold letters.

Harvey takes one glance at his arm before he passes out. Vincent smiles. He gets off of him and starts to leave his victim when realization flickers across his face. He moseys back to Harvey and slowly slits his throat. The blood stains the sand that surrounds them.

He walks away with a bounce in his step after the cannon booms. "Three more left," he mumbles. "Soon, it'll just be me."

"Another tribute dead," I state. Haran just nods. "I wonder who's going to win."

"Vincent probably," he declares. I nod. Vincent is a ruthless killer.

Summer, District 4 tribute, catches my eye. She sits near the river and is huddled in a blanket. She saw the smoke as well, but remained in her spot. She didn't go towards it like most Careers would. She is not an ordinary Career. Unlike most, she seems to have a conscious. That can be a curse and a gift at the same time.

Violet, District 7 tribute, is silently crying. She is shivering and her teeth are clattering. She takes out some matches from her few supplies and starts a fire. If she only knew that Vincent is nearby.

Vincent runs straight to the fire and runs faster when he hears her muffled cries. He finds her sitting near the fire. "Hello," he greets. She glances at him, but doesn't move. She stares back into the fire.

He jogs over to her and pins her to the sand. She doesn't say a word. Instead, she closes her eyes. He seems annoyed by this. "Open your eyes," he orders. She slowly opens her big, brown, frightened eyes. He blinks twice and his mouth opens a little bit.

"Any last words," he says as he regains his smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"Please make it fast," she pleads. His smile becomes bigger.

"It doesn't work like that." Violet's eyes become bigger.

"Please," she pleads again. Vincent just shakes his head. He takes out his knife that still has some blood from the previous victim. His hands are bleached in the crimson colored liquid, too. He doesn't seem to notice.

He makes a long cut on her arm, and Violet begins to cry. She sobs louder than she was previously. Vincent begins to shake his head.

"Please," she says in-between sobs. Vincent takes his knife from her arm and quickly slits her throat. The cannon sounds as he stares into her lifeless eyes.

"Two more tributes left," I announce. Haran just nods. "Just Summer and Vincent left." Haran nods again.

Vincent becomes angry and stands suddenly. He storms off in the opposite direction of the dead girl. "Damn those brown eyes," he mutters. The comment confuses me for a second until I begin to remember. Mae had brown eyes…

A/N-What did you think? I know PullPush wanted Violet to win. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. It was a hard decision, but I decided that Summer and Vincent would be the finalists. I wanted to say thank you again for the reviews! Please review and cast your final vote for the new victor! Until the next chapter!