Hi all! I'm very proud to have finally reached this moment. In this chapter, one of the three remaining tributes will be crowned the winner of the 225th Hunger Games. Can you believe after all this time, someone has won. Even though a winner is revealed, there will still be an Epilogue after this chapter and a special "fun-facts/Q&A" read to end it off (I like featurettes and gag reels so it'll give you some insight to why who won, fave moments and etc.). Enjoy the chapter and maybe your tribute won!


Garrett POV (District 1)

Pain. Searing pain!

My body is aching ever since my fight with Payton (District 10). It was simply a knife cut, sure, but without any medicine or treatment, the infection started to spread for the last couple of days. Emerald (District 1) tried to treat it; though, I could tell the responsibility was getting on her last nerve. She could have killed me any day now if she felt I was holding her back. When we heard the Gamemakers' announcement for The Feast, Emerald and I jumped at the chance to get new supplies. Chances are that there would be medicine for myself and something extra special for her. Besides, if another tribute got in our way at the Cornucopia, we could have just gotten rid of them and moved on. The plan was for Emerald to fight them off one-on-one, I would take the supplies (ours and/or anything I could find on the ground) and we would meet deep into the forest to regroup. It's been about 15 minutes and I've already hobbled made way into the woods with our District 1 bags. Where the hell is Emerald?

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Three canons. The sound of three canons still rings into my ears after now that it's over. With those three markings, it means that only three tributes are still left alive in the arena... and I'm one of them. District 1 hasn't had a tribute reach the Top 8 in nearly 15 years and now we've reached someone into the Top 3; possibly even having two of the Top 3 from District 1! After five minutes of waiting at our meeting spot, my mind races as to figure out which tributes are left in the arena and if Emerald is truly dead. There's no way that either of those little twelve year old weaklings made it alive after that battle – unless one of them took off into the woods. Payton looked beat but he could still pose a threat and then there is that little traitor Dylan (District 4). Emerald is a powerful match against any of them.

My back rubs against the tree and I open one of the District 1 bags: it's a small container of poisonous needles. I don't know why Emerald would want this, unless she was planning to use it on me while I was sleeping. If she does come back, I'll need to watch myself and make sure what her next move is. The other bag contains a small container of medicine; the instructions say to apply against the wound and leave it in overnight. I press the strange green liquid on my cut and it stings instantly but the pain starts to go away. By the next morning, the wound should be healed and ready to go.

Hours pass by and Emerald has not returned to our meeting space. This only means one thing... she's dead. There's no point in waiting around in this spot to see the Capitol seal tonight, she's dead and being here will only draw out whomever is still alive to finish me off. I grab the remaining supplies and try to carry them through the bushes. My cut still hurts enough that I can't carry both of the bags, I have to leave one behind and only carry what I'll need. Taking ten minutes to decide what I'll need to survive, I movie into deeper into the forest and settle beside an overarching willow tree. The leaves and branches hide my well enough that no passing tributes will be able to spot me. I'll use tonight to heal myself and by morning, I'll be ready to fight the remaining two tributes left in the arena. They better watch out because a Career is going to win the 225th Hunger Games.

Mark my words.


Hannah POV (District 9)

Lucy's death changed everything.

The minute that Payton stabbed her and she bled to death, it was like the spark disappeared from our group. Dylan doesn't trust me – I've known it the second I ran out of the mansion before it blew up. He blames me for Seraphil's (District 6) death and why should he? He doesn't know what I did, what I could have done to her or what I didn't do. Let's get this out of the way right now... I didn't kill her, the explosion did! She screamed for my help and yes, I did cause her to lead to her death but I didn't kill her. He can't blame me for not being able to save her. Speaking of, what about Sutton (District 4)? Capricorn (District 8)? Addison (District 5)? Kieran (District 3) and now Lucy? Back in the Training days, he promised each of us that we'd work together to take down the Careers and survive till the bitter end with one of us being crowned the Victor. All I've seen so far is pain, death and seeing people I like being killed by bloodthirsty killer from the Career districts. The fact Garrett is left alive at the Top 3 is another reason that Dylan is a lackluster leader.

The Feast tore our group apart. Our bags didn't contain anything that we normally wouldn't have needed: food, flint, camp gear, weapons and other extras you could think of. None of it was anything out of the ordinary that we could use against District 1. Dylan's been very secretive about his bag – it was one of the smallest like Garrett's and Emerald's so it must contain a lethal item or medicine. Obviously Garrett's bag held medicine which means that by tomorrow he'll be back at full strength to fight against us... or just me. Ever since we left Lucy and the Cornucopia, it hit me that there are only three people left in the arena and I'm one of them. The 12 year old girl from District 9 who cried at her reaping and only scored a two at the training. Many would never have guessed that I would be at the end to fight against Dylan and Garrett. That's the problem though; I have to fight against two strong threats and I'm not the best. It doesn't take strength to win the Hunger Games – anything can make a tribute win. I need to be smart about this and find out a way to kill the boys.

*Cue Capitol Theme Music*

Dylan stops dead in his tracks and stares up into the sky. I turn to look and the Capitol seal is flashing, waving in the dark night. One-by-one, all the faces of the recently dead tributes flash in the sky. The hardest was seeing Lucy smiling back at us and knowing that we couldn't save her. I want to remember that smile from my good friend and not what could happen in the next few days. Sometimes the Gamemakers like to the use the dead bodies of the fallen tributes to create Mutts or insane creatures. Thirteen years ago at one of the past Hunger Games, the Gamemakers turned all the dead tributes into these strange creatures that rose from the ground and started to attack the remaining tributes. The winner (a little girl from District 6) climbed to the top of the largest tree and camped out without food or water for three days until the others died. My mother would never talk about that year's Games but I asked my Mentor to show me the tapes... it was gruesome.

Music stops and I drop my bags on the ground. We've spent the last few hours walking through the woods looking for Garrett but there's no point. He's obviously hiding somewhere and using his medicine to heal for a real fight tomorrow; Dylan looks upset that I'm giving up.

"Why are you stopping?"

"I'm not. We need to take a break and sleep for the night."

"We can't. Garrett is somewhere out with medicine and he'll be better by tomorrow."

"Then we should be at full strength."

"But he's out there with medicine and..."

"Exactly!"

Before the Hunger Games, I would have never stood up to someone like Dylan before. Being a servant means to be subdued and quiet, taking orders and following whatever whims is ordered from me by the Mayor's daughter. Winning the Games means that I can be my own person and never having to be told what to do, my mother and I can just live our lives. Dylan stares me down and expects me to agree with him but I stand my ground. He relents and drops his back at the tree. There's no point in searching and hunting if Garrett is probably on the other side of the arena by now. I fix up the trees and the ground to make a make-shift bed for the night. Dylan refuses to go to sleep now and plans to guard the camp; obviously he still doesn't trust me at all. I close my eyes and fall to sleep.

Wings rustled through the trees and I jump awake scared. A bird flights out into the sky and I instantly calm down, relieved that it wasn't something scarier hiding out. It's the middle of the night and the sun won't be out for hours. In the distance at another tree, Dylan is fast asleep. I'm not sure how long it's been since I fell asleep but apparently Dylan couldn't keep himself awake long enough to guard the camp. There are no weapons in his hands and an idea pops into my head. It's a small idea but a powerful one at that.

What if I were to kill Dylan while he slept?

There's no way I could take him on one-on-one. However, if I got him when he's sleeping then I could have a fighting chance against Garrett. It's a bad idea... isn't it? Dylan shuffles a bit but he's still sleeping beside the tree. The pocketknife still is in my pocket from the fight at the Cornucopia. This blade was able to take down Payton and maybe it'll be good enough to take out Dylan. Quietly and carefully, I step off the ground and begin to crawl over the grass, inching closer and closer to my sleeping target. All I need is one good slice, one good attack to finish him. The pocketknife is still a little rusty from the fire but it's still sharp enough to make one devastating attack. I move closer to Dylan and now I'm peering over him, aiming my knife for an attack. Closer and closer, my knife is just inches from his neck – I just need the courage to move the blade. One little slice!

Wait...

I stop and stare at him sleeping. I can't kill him like this, like a coward who couldn't deal to fight with him normally. My mother must be watching at home and upset with every decision I've made so. Seraphil and Payton are dead because of my actions and now Dylan would die in cold blood. Suddenly, Dylan's eyes pop open and he pushes me away from him. The look on his face right now is sheer anger.

"What the hell were you doing? You were trying to kill me!"

"I'm sorry... I wasn't going to."

"I don't believe you."

Dylan grabs a large machete and gets up from off the ground. I back away in fear, still clutching the pocketknife and scared to my core. There's nothing I can say or do to make him believe me – he's going to try and kill me now. Dylan makes a swing with his weapon and I fall back to the ground. I crawl and inch farther away from him while he moves closer to me. Step-by-step, he keeps his machete armed and scowls at me, ready to finish me off. I scramble back quicker and brush up against a tree and a bag of our supplies. My hands grip onto something on the ground but I'm not sure what it is. Dylan rushes at me but I throw the item on the ground at him... it's turns out to be a simple container of matches but it's enough to distract him. He flinches and knocks away the object. While his gaze is distracted, I make a run for it through the trees, jumping over bushes and still clinging on to the small rusty pocketknife in my hand. I can hear him running after me, though I'm a little faster than him and I can make it through the clearing first.

Bushes and tree branches are scratching me left and right. I nearly stumble on a pointy rock but I force myself to keep running away from Dylan; though, I can hear him catching up to me. I rush through the woods and reach a small stream with barely any water... all that's left is a hollow path that used to be a busy river. Dirt is clinging to my shoes and making it impossible to climbs over the rocks. Dylan breaks through the bushes and jumps down into the hollow river. Meanwhile, I'm reaching onto the rocks and the loose roots to pull myself up but he's inching closer. He grabs my foot and pulls me backwards to the mud. I scramble to arm my pocketknife. However, Dylan turns back towards me and is about to strike with his machete. He raises his weapon to stab when suddenly an arrow flies out from the darkness and lodges itself in Dylan's left shoulder. He yells out in pain and steps back as Garrett walks from the forest and aims his bow at Dylan.

The next arrow flies out and hits the water instead. Dylan pulls the arrow out of his shoulder and ducks for cover behind a rock. I don't know who to trust: the boy who just tried to kill me or the boy who has wanted to kill me when the Careers were still alive. Dylan shoots me a concerned look and I'm not sure what to do. Hiding behind these rocks, we can easily tell Garrett that is still sick and healing from his wound; though, there are bandages wrapped around him... this just confirms there was medicine in his bag. I stare up at Dylan for a while and give him a worried look – I agree with his sentiment, we need to work together to survive this attack from Garret. He turns to look but there's a confused expression that spreads across his face. I turn to watch and I can see what he's thinking: Garrett is gone. We take a second to relax and realize that we may have just diverted a major attack.

Snap!

My head whips around and we both see Garrett standing on the ledge behind us, aiming his bow. There's no time to run or block the attack. He pulls on the weapon and sends the arrow flying... into my heart. The arrow collides with my body instantly, the force knocks me back against the boulder and I fall to the ground.

Boom!


Dylan POV (District 4)

It all happened in an instant.

First Hannah and I were fighting when Garrett came out of the woods and fired at us with his arrows. Now she's dead and I'm left to fight Garrett to the death but he already has a great advantage over me. I'm stuck in this hollow stream while he has the high ground with a bow and an untold number of arrows. Once the arrow hit Hannah and she fell, I made a run for it down the stream and have been hiding against the dirt walls. At some point I'll need to climb up; though, I'm not sure if he'll be standing above me when I try. In the distance, he's taunting me.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

His voice is a little far away – this might be my last chance. I grab onto the roots and pull myself up from the dirt, scrambling over the grass when I reach the field. Luckily, my machete is still clinging to my belt – I didn't lose it in the mud. Garrett hasn't realized that I'm out of the stream as he keeps peering into the hollow river. He aims his bow into the stream, obviously looking for any sign of a moving target. He turns his back to me when I grab my machete and swing at him. He uses his metal bow to block the attack and pushes me back into the clearing. I'm not sure if Garrett is carrying a knife or a blade but I can't give him the opportunity. Right now, it's going to be my machete against his metal bow.

He punches me across the face but I swing my blade and cut his shoulder. The bandaged wound is starting to bleed again and I can tell that he's in a lot of pain. I swing again, cutting the air and being knocked to the side. Garrett reaches out, pulls an arrow from his bag and shoots the arrow in my direction. I move to the side and the arrows flies to the field. He tries again with another arrow but I block the attack and it lodges itself into the dirt. I rush hard against him and we both fall to the ground; dropping our weapons in the force of the impact and scuffle. Kicking and punching with any energy that I can muster, I try to strangle him; though, he's proving to be stronger than I had originally thought. I reach out for the machete but he elbows the weapon out of my hand again.

We roll around on the ground for a while and try any way to snap each other's neck. Looking for any possible way to break this scuffle, I press my hand hard to his wound and jab a finger into the cut. Garrett screams out in pain and kicks me away, letting go of his lock on me and letting me free. I pull myself off the ground and search to locate my missing weapon – finally I see it hidden in the grass in the middle of the clearing. I run towards it, not looking back to give him the opportunity to attack me again. Gripping onto the machete, I turn around and swing into the air; realizing in that instance Garrett is not chasing after me like I had originally thought a second before.

Frantically, I turn to find Garrett fully standing and aiming his metal bow at me. In those last remaining seconds before he lets go of the arrow, I try to think of any possible move I could make to save myself. Instead... I mentally see every single person that I've lost to the Hunger Games. My best-friends, my brother, girlfriend and the new friends I met this year – all of them and their faces flash in my mind. In one second, I'll be joining them and there's nothing that can stop it. I hate the Capitol... I hate the Games... I hate what I've become.

Garrett lets go of the arrow and it flies directly at me, colliding with my neck. The pain hurts immensely and I fall to the ground, fading out in the darkness while clutching on to the arrow. There's no way I can survive this.

In a matter of seconds, I'm going to die.


Garrett POV (District 1)

The arrow made contact.

Boom!

Dylan's dead! I never would have thought that I would be the winner. Twenty-four tributes started this year's Games by volunteering to compete and I'm the last one left standing. I can't believe this. My siblings back home must be excited to know that I won, that I can provide them anything they'll need for the rest of my life. This win is for them and for my late parents, I'm so proud. Suddenly, the Capitol theme starts to play and it only means one thing:

"Attention everyone, attention. I would like to congratulate the winner of the 225th Hunger Games – Garrett Perryl!"


TRIBUTES LIST

Garrett Perryl - District 1

02. Dylan Port - District 4 (Killed by Garrett Perryl - District 1)
03. Hannah Karlyle - District 9 (Killed by Garrett Perryl - District 1)
04.
Lucy Watts – District 3 (Killed by Payton Huxley – District 10)
05.
Emerald Gattes – District 1 (Killed by Dylan Port – District 4)
06.
Payton Huxley – District 10 (Killed by Hannah Karlyle – District 9)
07.
James Mara - District 11 (Killed by Emerald Gattes – District 1)
08.
Juliette "Julie" Spencer - District 10 (Killed by Emerald Gattes – District 1)
09.
Seraphil "Sera" Jakoby – District 6 (Killed by explosion)
10.
Kieran Lux – District 3 (Killed by fire)
11.
Merrick Millweed – District 7 (Killed by falling rubble)
12.
Dante Rye – District 12 (Killed by Merrick Millweed – District 7)
13. Bryson Nash - District 2 (Killed by Lucy Watts – District 3)
14.
Addison Frost - District 5 (Killed by Bryson Nash – District 2)
15.
Sutton Rayne - District 4 (Killed by Emerald Gattes – District 1)
16.
Capricorn "Capri" Armstrong - District 8 (Killed by Garrett Perryl – District 1)
17.
Autumn Birch - District 7 (Killed by Sutton Rayne – District 4)
18.
Elijah "Eli" Auckland - District 6 (Killed by James Mara – District 11)
19.
Miles Crescent - District 8 (Killed by Bryson Nash - District 2)
20. Claudia Sinclair - District 2 (Killed by Payton Huxley -District 10)
21. Samuel "Sam" Egan - District 5 (Killed by Claudia Sinclair - District 2)
22. Marcus Rhodes - District 9 (Killed by Miles Crescent - District 8)
23. Ember Alcott - District 12 (Killed by Merrick Millweed - District 7)
24. Arden Cutler - District 11 (Killed by Garrett Perryl - District 1)