28th Hunger Games

Winner: Fennel District 11

During the Uprising, the Capitol created different species of animals to help with the fight against the rebels, an example being jabberjays which were mutations created by the Capitol to be used as spies until the rebels realised and fed the Capitol false information. Eventually once the districts had been defeated; some of the animals went into the wild and were spread out amongst the districts. The Capitol expected the mutations to die out, and many did. But some survived by breeding with other animals in the wild.

One of these species was the mockingjays, created by jabberjays breeding with mockingbirds. Another of these species was the mort-flies. The mort-flies were a combination of the ordinary common fly and the monster gnats that the Capitol had created to eat the districts crops during the Uprising. Unfortunately this new species wasn't content with crops; they liked to feast on humans too.

These mort-flies only existed in Districts 11 and 9, which was where most of Panem's food was grown although it was much worse in District 11 as the flies liked the fruit that was grown in the orchards. The pleas to the Capitol to exterminate them had fell on deaf ears so the districts just had to grit their teeth and bear with it.

On some days, it wasn't so bad. The flies didn't like the cold so wouldn't come out when it was rained. And when they did come out, the workers had found ways to deal with them. Homemade pesticide was made illegally and there was a certain plant found in District 9 to protect the people from bites. But this only worked when the mort-flies came out in small numbers at a time. An infestation would be a disaster for the farmers and for the whole of Panem as no one had a hope of being able to control these monstrous mutation flies. Or so the Gamemakers thought.

Fennel had just turned eighteen when she was reaped for the Games. She had spent her entire life working in the orchard and trying to fit in time for school when it wasn't the harvest season. She had grown up amongst the mort-flies that loved to frequent the orchard that she worked in; she knew everything about them. What time of day they came out, what food they preferred. Everything.

Out of the four tributes in the 28th Hunger Games that had been reaped from Districts 9 and 11, Fennel was the most accustomed to living alongside the mort-flies as she was the only one that really encountered them on a daily basis. The boy tribute from District 11, was as upper-class as you could get in one if the poorest districts and therefore worked inside, counting and sorting the food being sent out to the rest of Panem. The two tributes from District 9 were both 12 year olds and hadn't started working properly so they hadn't yet come across a mort-fly. Without even realising it, Fennel had a huge advantage despite being written off by the Capitol after scoring a 6 in the individual evaluation by shakily throwing knives at a target.

It seemed as if the Gamemakers had run out of ideas for these particular Games as the arena wasn't anything special, in fact as arena's go, it was pretty boring, a barren land.

Similar to a desert, the arena had a few rocks dotted around and a few bits of shrubbery with a river running through the centre, up to the Cornucopia.

When the gong went off, the stronger tributes went straight to the Cornucopia, grabbed weapons, and spread out to attack. The weaker tribute that hadn't run off didn't really stand a chance and this unfortunately included the two District 9 tributes and the boy from District 11 who had all run to the Cornucopia.

Fennel had also run to the Cornucopia but hadn't quite got into the thick of things before she was attacked. Thankfully it wasn't a Career or a particularly strong tribute and Fennel managed to escape, holding the sword she'd been attacked with, but she had a huge cut all down the side of one leg nearly down to the bone, meaning she could barely walk.

Fennel managed to stumble off behind some rocks but she was only a few miles away from the Cornucopia and the sun was already beginning to go down. Her wound had stopped bleeding but had gone a sickly yellow colour and the pain was even greater than before. Fennel's escape from the Cornucopia had got dirt into the then still bleeding cut. Now that she'd stopped to rest, the pain seemed to have doubled and Fennel wasn't sure she'd be able to get back up again. There was a faint glimmer of hope that a sponsor could send her some medicine but having only scored a 6 in the independent evaluation, no one wanted to back her.

Fennel was completely alone and had to just sit and wait for death.

As the hours passed, Fennel began to develop a fever and the pain in her leg got worse. Nobody had arrived to finish her off, but it was only a matter of time as Fennel clearly wasn't going anywhere for quite a while.

But then the Games changed.

The Gamemakers had been trying different things out with using dangerous animals in the arenas. They'd created mutts in the forms of dogs and bulls but they'd never used mutts from the Uprising in case the districts rebelled against it. But as the years passed, anti-Capitol movements began to die down so the Gamemakers felt it was safe to reintroduce the mort-flies. They were aware that Districts 9 and 11 had an advantage but three of them were dead and one was close enough, so the mort-flies were released on the tributes.

It was about midday of the third day when the mort-flies arrived. Fennel still hadn't ventured away from the rock, relying on the supplies she'd picked up from the Cornucopia but as of yet, no one had found her.

A huge swarm appeared in the sky from nowhere, just about blocking out the sun and Fennel recognised them as mort-flies from the distinctive humming sound the made. She watched them pass over, knowing that for now, she was safe as the swarm would go for the fruit first and then start to eat the tributes,. As long as she stayed away from the fruit that the mort-flies liked, she'd be fine for a few more days.

Other tributes weren't so lucky.

Despite there not being a lot of plants in this arena, the bushes that were there, had lots of berries on them, specifically put there to attract the mort-flies. Any tribute that was too near one of those bushes would be attacked.

The first casualty of the mort-flies was the girl from District 7 who had curled up underneath one of the bushes for shelter. The swarm came over to the bush and devoured the berries growing on it but there wasn't that many on this particular plant and so the swarm soon turned its attention to the sleeping girl underneath them. They poured into her mouth, crawled into her ears and ate their way through her eyes and stomach. Seconds later, all that remained of the girl was a pile of bones.

This dramatic death was only the beginning. Over the next few hours, any tribute that was anywhere near anything the mort-flies wanted to eat would be destroyed. There was no escape unless you avoided any sort of plant and this tactic worked for quite a few tributes including Fennel for a number of days…until the plants disappeared.

Once the mort-flies had eaten all the plants and fruit, their next source of food became the tributes. Any sort of hope of survival for the tributes was long gone. There wasn't a single tribute that wasn't scared of these monsters and in a desperate attempt to end the Games, tributes were seeking each other out to try and end it before the mort-flies got to them.

Miraculously, Fennel was still alive. Her fever had subsided and the cut, whilst still painful and almost impossible to walk on, was no longer life-threatening. Fennel had had enough supplies to keep her going for several days and hidden behind her rock; she was just about invisible and therefore hadn't encountered any other tributes. But the rock wouldn't hide her from the flies.

Now that she had recovered, Fennel could start to form some sort to plan for staying alive. She knew these mort-flies, worked with them everyday. Surely she could think of something to keep her safe. It came to her as she was taking a sip of water. Mort-flies loathed water, they wouldn't go anywhere near it. If she could find some water, she was safe.

Fennel could remember seeing a lake down by the Cornucopia so just set off in broad daylight zrock wouldn't hide her from the flies.

Now that she had recovered, Fennel could start to form some sort to plan for staying alive. She knew these mort-flies, worked with them everyday. Surely she could think of something to keep her safe. It came to her as she was taking a sip of water. Mort-flies loathed water, they wouldn't go anywhere near it. If she could find some water, she was safe.

Fennel could remember seeing a lake down by the Cornucopia so just set off in broad daylight. She wasn't stupid; she knew nobody would be there as the Cornucopia had contained loads of food before the mort-flies ate it all. Besides, all the tributes would be in hiding anyway.

Fennel was right about the Cornucopia. There was no one there so it was easy for her to settle down on the riverbank and wait for everyone else to die.

It only took a few more days for all but one of the remaining tributes to die, yet Fennel still hasn't encountered anyone.

The last tribute was the girl from District 3 and she had survived by simply hiding underneath a rock, so she too hadn't killed anyone yet and didn't seem in any hurry to confront Fennel.

So the impatient Gamemakers decided to speed things along the bit.

They sent a swarm of ordinary flies out to drive the girl from District 3, who assumed they were mort-flies, to the Cornucopia.

When she arrived at the Cornucopia, Fennel was still by the riverbed so didn't notice the District 3 tribute arrive at first, but as the other tribute seemed reluctant to attack and stood behind her for quite a while, it wasn't long before Fennel noticed her.

Fennel didn't want to attack either, so they both stood there for a few moments before the Gamemakers pushed the District 3 girl towards the river by sending another swarm of mort-flies at her.

She ran towards Fennel, half-heartedly stabbing at her with a knife but Fennel dodged the feeble attempts to kill her and, grabbing the girl by the neck, pushed her into the water and held her face down. There wasn't much of a struggle. The District 3 girl had been quite young and was clearly traumatised by what she'd seen.

Fennel was the winner of the 28th Hunger Games and she'd only killed one person. The Gamemakers, however were disappointed. They couldn't use mutts from the Uprising again as clearly some districts had advantages over others which was the only logical explanation as to how Fennel won. It also taught the Capitol something- don't judge a tribute solely by their independent evaluation.