Iris

I stop walking, looking across the endless sea of blue sand. Where is she? I know Celina is still alive, somewhere and James is probably bleeding to death back by the rocky ledges. But where are they?

"Iris, help me!" I moan, the rainbow goddess hasn't appeared again to advise me and it's really starting to get on my nerves. What's the point of her appearing if she won't help me kill everyone? I sit down, crossing my arms and folding my legs.

"HELLP ME, HELP ME RIGHT NOW OR I'M NOT PLAYING ANYMORE!" I scream at the sky, nothing happens. I stand up, brushing sand from my jumpsuit. I lift up my backpack and take out some cactus Morpheus collected before I killed him. I take a big bite, my mouth salivating at the delicious taste. I put the remains of my food back in the pack and continue to walk through the sand. After another 5 minutes of walking, I hear the sound of a woman laughing. I spin around, glaring at the goddess Iris.

"Where have you been?" I hissed; Iris smiled.

"Patience my dear child; Athens wasn't built in a day…" Iris floats towards me, pointing across the desert plain.

"Keep walking, you'll find them all. And remember, Iris, I am always watching you." With that the goddess disappeared in a cloud of multi-coloured smoke. I start to run forward now, a new found energy pulsing through my body. Squinting in the harsh sunlight, I try to make out a large shape in the distance. I take out my gleaming sword, raising it above my head, I stalk forward. The shape is ragged, so I know it can't be human, but it looks so out of place in the sandy sea my heart pounds and my palms sweat, this could be another kill. I race towards the shape, only to have disappointment crash on top of me. The shape is a large, jagged rock. I frown, confused. What is a rock doing out here in the open, the rocky ledges are a good walk away from here.

"What the hell is it this doing here?" I curse, tightening my grip on the hilt of my sword in anger. I raise my leg and kick the large rock, I hear a loud crunch and a shot of acidic pain rushes up my leg. I crumple to the floor, screaming in pain. I drop my sword and lift up my foot to cradle it next to my chest.

"Oh Iris, that wasn't a very clever idea…" The gentle voice mummers, I nod, tears dripping down my face. I need a hug, my mother always used to hug me whenever I hurt myself. I miss my Mum, I miss my family, and I want to go home.

"It really hurts, Iris." I complain. She sighs, sitting down beside me.

"It will recover; I don't think it's broken. You seem to have forgotten your mission, you need to kill Celina and James, and they will be around here somewhere. You have to keep looking, for the good of the gods."

"I will keep looking!" I say, hastily climbing to my feet. The shooting pain in my foot is still there but I grit my teeth and try to ignore it. I look down at the rock I just kicked, it seems to have moved and there's a dark hole beneath it. A sly smile crosses my chapped lips; I heave the rock a centimetre forward, revealing more of the empty black hole.

"Hello, anyone home?" I call my voice cheery. My words echo around the black hole and nobody answers. I stand up, turning around to leave when my sharp hearing picks up the tiniest scuffle of sand. I smile; lifting up my sword.

"Ready or not, I'm coming to get you!" I giggle; I gently lower myself into the black pit. It's quite a feat of engineering, an almost perfect sphere made of blue sand and the bottom is lined with salt water that creeps just below the waist. I squint as my wide brown eyes adjust to the low visibility.

"Hello?" I call, my voice whips around my head, bouncing of the round walls. It's deadly silent and all I can hear is the gentle lap of water against the sand and my own ragged breathing; but there's something else. It's low and almost inaudible, but I swear I can hear giggling.

"Where are you?" I snap, slapping my sword on the surface of the water and sending ripples right the way around the underground cave.

"You have to find me first, that's the rules of the game." A high pitched voice giggles. I smile brushing my shoulder against the sandy wall and walking around in a circle. My feet catch something solid before my fingers brush against a damp body curled up in the corner, giggling. I lunch forward, gripping the wet jumpsuit in my dried, bloody hands.

"Got you," I laugh, dragging her away from the darkest shadows of the cave.

"Oww, you're being too rough, that's not the game, and you can't change the rules of the game now!"

"I can do what I want, it's my game and you're going to play it my way."

"I'm going to tell my daddy off you."

"Ooh, I'm terrified." I taunt, I heave the District 4 girl into a beam of harsh sunlight and for the first time I see her Hunger Games beaten face. Her heart shaped face is black and blue with bruises and long vicious red scratches mark her cheeks. She seems to have had a worse experience than me by far; this game will be far too easy to win. I swing my sword around and hit the side of Celina's face, all of a sudden her limbs start flailing around. Her clenched fist hits the side of my face, at the exact same time her foot crunches into the soft sand walls. A deep rumble echoes around the cavern as a large clump of sand falls onto my head. Celina ducks below the surface of the water, her feet slipping on the uneven ground. My grip on her jumpsuit drags me under the waves and suddenly her legs wrap around my waist. I open my mouth to scream for help but salty water fills my lungs and I cough and splutter trying to find oxygen. My foot kicks out, aiming for Celina's head, instead it crumbles straight through the sandy wall. Clumps of sand start raining down on me, hitting the water like diving birds. I struggle against Celina's grip on my waist and push my head above the water. I take a massive lung full of air, coughing and spluttering the water that had made its way into my body. My eyes zoom in and out of focus and I notice the warm sensation of blood trickling down my face, an old wound must have open during my struggle. I try to half walk half run to the safety of the cave entrance but Celina still hasn't loosened her grip on me and time is running out. The cave is collapsing. I kick my feet and punch my arms, trying to dislodge Celina.

"Get off me you mental patient, you're going to kill us both." I scream, with one final punch, I manage to escape Celina's grip. I stumble towards the cave's exit and heave myself out. I crawl a few metres forward, my heart hammering and my throat burning. Just as I turn around to finish of Celina, there's a massive explosion and a firework of blue sand, Water and flames shower the ground. I curl up, placing my shaking arms over my head. In the distance I just about hear cannon. Celina's dead. And I'm the winner. I stand up, giggling hysterically.

"I win! I'm the winner, I did it. You all knew I would and I won. I'm coming home mum and dad." I brush a tear of happiness from my cheek; continuing to giggle. I wait a few moments, expecting a hovercraft to materialise. But it doesn't.

"Where's my hovercraft, I don't want to stay here any longer. I want to go home. Let me go home, now." Still nothing; a shimmering figure appears in front of me. A smile plastered across her face.

"You have done the gods so proud our little winner." I smile, rushing up to the goddess and wrapping my arms around her, but my fingers grasp thin air and that leaves me confused because Iris is still standing there. Her form flickers and glitters, making me feel queasy, what is going on? All of a sudden, a sharp feeling slices through back, sending involuntary shivers up and down my spine. I crumple to the floor, the feeling of sensation in my legs vanishing. I stare up at a hard face, James. I want to scream, to punch him and chop legs off and watch him die in horrible pain for attacking me, but I can't. I can't even move my fingers. My vision blurs and a sound like waves lapping over rocks fills my ears. I try to fight it, try to swim to the surface but the strange sound fills my ears louder and louder and my vision fades away only to be replaced with a bright white light. Just before I slip into oblivion I hear 6 unmistakable words.

"Congratulations James, you are the winner."