Chapter 35

Author's note: Special thanks to my loyal reader, 'GalacticFairydust', for character names and personalities in this chapter.

Beetee's point of view:

I was watching reruns of the Hunger Games on television.

Games that took place last decade. The 43'rd Games, and the 45'th Games.

In the 43 Games, 13 years ago. As the rerun played, it showed on the screen as the tributes were raised out of the ground. The gong sounded, and a few of them ran away. The rest went for the cornucopia. About a third of them just grabbed a backpack and weapon and managed to escape, while the rest were slaughtered, except for the career pack, except for the District 2 girl who got a spiked club bash her head in by the District 8 boy.

The District 10 boy, Xerxes Prime, grabbed two machetes in each hand, and killed two tributes without blinking an eye.

By the end of the bloodbath, the death toll was 12. Half the tributes. The District 10 boy, Xerxes Prime, was recruited by the career pack because of his size and ferocity.

There was then a death a day for the next 11 days.

Most of the tributes had good survival skills. But the death toll just kept going up by one each day.

The District 10 boy, Xerxes Prime, was ruthless for a District 10 kid. No tribute no matter how young slowed down his decision to kill immediately. But He seems to be a man of honor, if his victim was in pain he would make sure that they died quickly. So he killed the young tributes with out Thought or hesitation, He Wasn't like the other careers who sometimes like to play With their Dying opponents before they kill them.

On the ninth day he abandoned the career pack after he killed one of them. On the 12th day it was just him and the District 4 boy that was left. The District 4 boy had a spear, and the District 10 boy had his two machetes. They fought it out. Each received fatal wounds, but the District 10 boy managed to disarm his opponent and then decapitate him quickly.

The final cannon sounded.

The voice of Caesar Flickerman was then heard, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MAY I PRESENT THE WINNER OF THE 43'RD HUNGER GAMES! XERXES PRIME, TRIBUTE FROM DISTRICT 10!"

There was then another rerun, the 45'th Hunger Games.

The tributes rose up out of the ground, and then the gong sounded. The careers took control of the supplies at the Cornucopia as always. The death toll was 11.

The tributes spread themselves far and thin, and then The Careers went hunting. While a few of the tributes encounter each other, and the Careers found a few, the one who made the most kills that year was the boy from District 5, Kelvin Sparks. He was strong and fast and smart, and he killed the District 3 girl to whom I mentored that year in an instant the moment that he saw her. He killed her fast, didn't waste any time, felt no ill will towards her it seemed, and by the end of the Games his kill count score was up to 6.

He escaped the Gamemakers traps when they tried to kill him once, and then survive the career pack when he encountered them, taking the boy from District 2 with him when he ran away from the group.

By the 11th day of the Games he finished off the boy from District 4 who was armed with a big heavy bola at the end of a long sturdy cord. He out thought the District 4 boy and was declared the winner.

I then turned off the television and went back to my lab. It was only a few days before the reaping of the 56th Games. I was going to work on the 'advanced computer security system' that I had been working on for years now. The programming of the security system's code was perfect. I had being fine tuning the details of it constantly. The way the program would work is it would detect a hacker from the outside and adapt to whatever hacking method that they are used and then lock them out.

Now I just need to test it.

Wiress was at another console and attempted to hack into my computer.

The security system detected her computer hacking method and, just like it's supposed to, it locked her out. My screen showed her hacking method; she was good, it almost worked, but then after another hour she still had not penetrated the security system.

"Alright Wiress," I said, "that's enough. I believe that was a successful test. It is now ready to be presented to President Snow."

"Good work Beetee." said Wiress. "It is..." her eyes went blank as she was suddenly unable to finish what she was trying to say.

I smiled.

"It's ok Wiress. I appreciate the gesture."

She went back to a different task.

I then put the security system program into a data storage device and took a break.

I went down to the basement of the house where I had set up a little gym that included all of the common exercise equipment, and a punching bag that I don't use. My sister Lori was using the gym. She was in shorts and a tank top, tension bandages were wrapped around her hands as she was punching the punching bag. She was sweating and every muscle in her body was hard and lean.

I had walked into the room and Lori had just finished a round of hard punches on the punching bag. She stopped and was panting with exhaustion.

"You punch pretty hard." I told her impressed.

"Thanks." She said. "I just picture that every punch is directed towards President Snow's face."

There were no audio or video surveillance in this room, but still, it was somewhat frightening to have to hear it.

"Be careful what you say." I said to her in warning.

She looked at me with nonchalance, and then she began to unwrap her hands as she was finished at the gym.

"It is my guess that you just finished another project for President Snow." she said with a tone of anger in her voice as she did not make eye contact.

"I did." I acknowledged deciding that there was no point in evasion.

"Why?" she asked. "Why do you keep doing scientific work for President Snow?"

"I do scientific work for myself actually. It's what I do. The project I just finished is highly scientific and I enjoyed doing it."

"But yet President Snow is going to reap all of the benefits of it." she said matter-of-factly.

"Yes." I acknowledged. "I suppose that he is."

"President Snow is a dictator!" she said in extreme irritation. "He steals all of the food from the people and allows children to die while having to work too hard for nearly nothing."

"I am aware of these facts." I said to her.

"Then why don't you do something about it?" she said in a tone of exasperated desperation.

"There is nothing that I can do about it." I told her matter-of-factly.

"There IS something that can be done about it." she contradicted. "I want to incite a rebellion."

To just say such a thing out loud was not allowed. I was shocked to have to hear such a thing come out of her mouth.

"And what good would that do?" I asked her.

I knew why she wanted to do this, she doesn't want the people to live in their current situation anymore, but I thought of the brief workers revolt in District 11, 6 years ago, and there had only been a huge security crackdown and the living conditions there have been worse ever since.

"Don't you dream of a world made free of slavery?" she asked.

The truth was is that I do dream of such a world. I had dreamt of such a world on countless occasions. But, to create such a world under the current conditions would be extraodinarily difficult.

"I do dream of such a world." I said. "I simply feel that to incite an uprising, would be counterproductive."

"Counterproductive." she said indignantly. "It's counterproductive to do nothing at all!"

"I disagree Lori." I said to her. "You can't just ask the people to fight against the Peacekeepers. All that will do is bring the collective might of the Capitol's military down on us and then they will restore order and there will be a huge security crackdown. What we need to do is bide our time. Wait for the proper time. And this is not the proper time."

"The best time to do anything is now." she argued.

"What good would the rebellion do us now?" I asked her.

"We will send the Capitol a message. That we're not going to take this anymore."

"But they will force us to take it. They will make things worse for us."

"Which will only fuel the peoples anger even more." she argued. "It will give the people motivation to fight even more."

"Lori, I imagine you have given this a lot of thought. As long as its only District 3 fighting against the Capitol there is nothing that we can do. They could retake the District in hours and there would be a huge security crackdown and there would be nothing we could do. Theoretically we would need all 12 districts to rebel simultaneously for the Capitol Forces to be overwhelmed and spread thin."

"And who is to say that the people will even fight?" I asked. "You may be among the minority who are brave enough to challenge them, but we would need a lot of fighters, at least a third of our population."

"I've been talking to people for years." said Lori. "Here in District 3 I have 500 friends. They all trust me. And they're willing to stand beside me when I challenge the Peacekeepers."

All I can think of right now was how terrified I was at the idea of my little sister challenging the Peacekeepers.

"Lori, I fought real hard for you when you were a kid." I said. "I went into the Hunger Games for you after I watched your sister die, and then Wiress went into the Hunger Games for you, this is a poor way to repay us for our efforts by risking your life."

"Maybe it was meant to be." Maybe I was intended to live so that I could free our people one day. It was you and Wiress's actions that inspired me to do this."

I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to say. This girl is beyond reason.

"Lori, I am asking you please just hold on for a while. Let us bide our time and allow me to decide when the right time is."

"And when will that be?" she asked rhetorically with a tone of resentment. "Another 20 years? Another 30 years? You and I will be a little too old to fight by then."

"I am very close to President Snow." I told her. "Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. Let me fight the system from the inside."

That seemed to convince her. It seems like she was carefully pondering that last thing that I had said.

"Rebelling now will do no good." I told her. "We need to think of the bigger picture. And as much as you might want to do something now, there is nothing that can be done now. I will fight the system from the inside, and I just need to give me a little time."

She then told me that she agreed and then she walked off claiming that she had to go to work for her shift at the school.

I must stay in President Snow's good books, and fight the system from the inside. That was all that I could think of. Because it was true, there was no other way to do things. But changing government would be a radical action, but something that could not happen overnight.

Reaping day of the 56'th Hunger Games

Sora, Wiress, and I sat at our regular seats in front of the Justice building. This was our first Games without Neil. I felt strange to not have him here.

The Mayor had read the Treaty of treason as he always does, the 12 year olds up to the 18 year olds were all gathered in their respective areas.

Our escort, Alexandria Rogers then stepped up to the podium to make the selection.

"Welcome, welcome!" said Alexandria Rogers with enthusiasm. "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor! Now, the time has come for us to select the two young boys and girls who will represent District 3 in the 56th Annual Hunger Games. As usual ladies first."

She walked over to the Girls reaping ball, and dug her hand in and pulled one out. She walked back and opened the piece of paper.

"Evie Boon."

A girl from the 16 year-olds was seen squeezing her eyes shut as she slowly walked up to the stage and was unable to conceal the fear on her face. A woman from the crowd tried to run towards her and screamed.

"No!" She was grabbed by Peacekeepers and held at bay, but she tried to fight them more, then one of the Peacekeepers knocked her out by hitting her in the face with the butt of his rifle.

The Capitol doesn't want to have to show that stuff on television, but sometimes it is inevitable. Though the live video feed does have a five second delay, so the editor who was in the Capitol controlling the video cameras from a control room would be able with a moment's notice to edit it out.

"Umm?...do we have any volunteers?" asked Alexandria Rogers a little flustered by the excitement.

There was no response from the crowd.

"Very well then, it is time to select..."

But Alexandria Rogers was cut off as a taller girl from the 18 year olds raised her hand and shouted, "I volunteer!"

"No!" Said the current tribute Evie Boon.

The unexpected volunteer walked up to the stage as Peacekeepers dragged the protesting Evie Boon off the stage.

"Well..." said Alexandria Rogers with a flustered smile on her face, "a little bit of excitement."

She then turned to the volunteer.

"What is your name?"

"Rita Van Wright." said the volunteer.

There was a brief introduction to the audience and then she moved on.

"And now for our male tribute." said Alexandria Rogers.

She then walked over to the boys reaping bowl and pulled out a slip. She walked back to the microphone and unfolded the piece of paper.

"Darren Waterton."

A boy from the 17 year-olds walked up to the stage with a neutral expression on his face.

"Are there any volunteers?" asked Alexandria Rogers.

No response.

"Then, let us to give it up for our male and female tributes for this year's Hunger Games, Darren Waterton and Rita Van Wright. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Sora, Wiress, and myself were then led to the train station where we waited an hour for the two tributes to arrive.

The two tributes arrived and the train was on it's way.

Alexandria Rogers showed the tributes to their private compartments and they came into the dinning car dressed in fresh clothes.

Wiress still always went to the Capitol every year for the event, but her Disassociative Disorder has continued to grow ever worse every year to the point that she is no longer capable of mentoring. She is still good at scientific work in the laboratory, but she is completely incapable of of having a conversation with anyone but me, and sometimes Sora or Lori. So, Sora and I will from now on have to do all the mentoring with out her.

"So," I said to Sora, "you take the girl I'll take the boy?"

Darren Waterton and I sat at a table with me while Sora sat with Rita Van Wright.

Darren Waterton seemed quite smart, high IQ, cleverness, and had a half decent build for a boy raised in poverty. He had a knowledge of most sciences and said he could survive, given a half decent arena. My guess is that he was someone who was not easily broken, for he put on a brave face and exuded a 'show-no-fear' attitude.

I like him, tributewise.

Turns out Rita Van Wright was good friends of Evie Boon and couldn't stomach letting her friend go into the arena.

"And some people say chivalry is dead." I thought, amused.

We watched the replay of the reaping, The Career Tributes were 6 volunteers all unremarkable tall and strong kids.

The other Districts had no volunteers, evenly distributed age ranges between 12 and 18.

We arrived at the Capitol 7 hours later.

The tributes were taken to the remake center where I met with some of the other victors.

I was approached by last years District 2 winner, Enobaria.

"Hello Volts." said the girl, referring to my tongue and cheek nickname.

I noticed that all of the teeth in her mouth had been dentally altered into fangs. It has been all over the news on TV for the past year. Her final kill at the end was all the Capitol had been talking about; so I'm guessing that her new teeth are a fashion statement.

"Hello Enobaria." I said to her.

"I just want to say that I'm a big fan." she said in admiration. "Your Games were before I was born, but I saw your reruns. Electrocuting six tributes at once?! Utter genius!"

"Thanks." I said, flatered.

She was about to say more, but then she was pulled away by reporters and Peacekeepers for a talk-show interview.

Haymitch Abernathy from District 12 walked up to me and then took a long gulp from a flask that smelled like vodka.

"Hey Beetee." said Haymitch.

"Hey Haymitch." I replied.

"I heard about Neil. I'm sorry." he said.

"Don't worry." I said. "Life goes on. How are your kids this year?"

"One half decent 17 year old girl who might make it to the top 7, and one short and thin 13 year old boy who will most definitely die in the opening blood bath."

"You got to have more faith in them than that." I said to him.

He laughed insultingly.

"Your funny." he said.

He then took a long gulp from his flask and walked away.

Poor District 12 kids, they'll never win with a mentor like that.

I was then escorted to the president's mansion with my new invention.

I presented President Snow with my computer security system. I sat down at a computer with him standing over me, I loaded it into the computer and explained how it works. The computer system was unbreakable, no outside hacker could penetrate it. It would protect the Capitol's computer systems and all other systems of any kind from any attempted intrusion.

"Congratulations Beetee." Said President Snow pleased.

"You have truly created a remarkable thing."

"I did it all for science, President Snow." I said sincerely.

"Well then in that case, You just keep up your science." Said President Snow encouragingly.

I was invited to lunch, and I made sure to stay on President Snow's good side so that I could fight the system from the inside.

The tributes parade that night was same as always. This year our tributes were dressed up as science lab workers in white lab coats.

Later after dinner.

"Okay Darren," I said to him, "get a good night's sleep. You have a big day of training tomorrow."

We all went to bed.

The next morning we all met for breakfast.

"Okay Darren," I said to him, "you seem pretty good at survival, so I want you to focus on what you don't know how to do. Whatever strengths you presently have will still be your strengths when the Games start. So, focus on turning your weaknesses into additional strengths."

He nodded in acknowledgement as the mute Avox server topped off his glass while holding a pitcher of Orange juice.

After training that day.

"So, how did it go?" I asked Darren.

"It went well." said Darren. "I practiced with a variety of weapons, I'm actually pretty good."

"Excellent." I said. "Am I to assume that you are aiming for a high score?"

"Yes." he said.

"The careers will target you." I told him. "But it will help me get you sponsors."

3 days later.

Darren had come back from his private session with the Gamemakers in mid afternoon.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"I think it went well." he said. "I showed them some survival skills and then some knife throwing, that I'm quite good at."

I was impressed. This kid might have a half decent chance.

"Excellent." I said to him. "All that is left now is to wait. The rest is up to fate, and what you do in the arena."

There were the tributes training scores. Darren scored an excellent 10. While Rita scored a decent 7.

I was sitting in my seat in the stands outside of the tribute center in front of the stage that had been set up, while the tributes were backstage being fixed up by their stylists.

Then the announcer started talking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your host of the grandest event ever held CAESARRR FLICKERMAAAAN!"

The music started playing at Caesar Flickerman came out onto the stage.

"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! To the 56th Hunger Games!"

And the crowd went wild. As usual he attempted to warm up the crowd by saying a few things. And then got down to business. He started calling out the tributes one by one they all looked good they are all well dressed. They all won the crowd in their own way. Then it was Rita Van Wright's turn.

"And now ladies and gentlemen," said Caesar Flickerman, "from District 3, the lovely Rita Van Wright."

The crowd cheered and applauded as Rita walked out onto the stage wearing a shimmering blue strapless prom dress and her hair done up in an attractive style. She and Caesar, shook hands and then sat in the armchairs.

"So, Rita," said Caesar, "why did you volunteer to go into the Games this year?"

"I genuinely felt that I had a good possibility of winning." said Rita.

"Well," said Caesar, "I trust that you will be able to put on a very interesting show for everyone."

"Well that is my intent." said Rita.

"Now," said Caesar, "what are your ambitions if you win the Games? Our viewers would like to know."

"I would like to use my Hunger Games winnings to open up a grocery store where good food can be purchased by the people at a considerable discount."

"So you consider yourself a philanthropist?" asked Caesar.

"I feel that the world would be a better place if we had more of them." said Rita.

"That is very admirable." said Caesar.

The interview went on for about another minute where he asked a few more questions and Rita portrayed herself well. Then she was dismissed.

"And now ladies and gentlemen." Said Caesar. "Let us introduce onto the stage, our male tribute from District 3 Darren Waterton."

Darren came onto the stage wearing a fashionable suit and tie.

He shook hands with Caesar Flickerman and then sat in his armchair.

"So Darren." said Caesar. "About that training score? 10? You must have really impressed the Gamemakers."

"Well," Said Darren, "The other tributes have watched me during training. I'm strong, I'm fast, I'm smart, I think that I have a good chance of winning."

"Well Darren," said Caesar, "I have no doubt that you do. But our viewers want to know more about you. Do you have any family back in District 3?"

"Yes." Said Darren. "My mother, my father, and three brothers, two younger and one older."

Darren portrayed himself well, and the interview was over after another minute or so.

The rest of the interviews went on as normal. After the District 12 boy had taken his turn, we were all dismissed.

"Ladies and gentlemen." said Caesar. "Tune in for the replays of the interviews later tonight, and please tune in for the start of the Hunger Games tomorrow morning, inside the arena at the Cornucopia at 10 a.m. Capital time. Goodnight everybody!"

We all went back to our rooms in the training center for dinner, and then it was time for bed.

I followed Darren to his room, and we waited outside of his door.

"Get a good night sleep Darren." I said to him. "You got a big day tomorrow. When the gong sounds at the cornucopia, get yourself away. Don't go for the supplies. Find water, and use your survival skills and I will do my best to get you sponsors."

"Thanks for the advice." said Darren gratefully. "You've been a good mentor."

He then entered his room, the door closed.

The next morning I was there to meet Darren at the hovercraft on the roof. Darren's stylist Tigris was boarding the hovercraft with him.

"Remember what I said." I said to him. "Get away from the Cornucopia and find water. Use your brain. It's the best weapon you will have. See you when you get back."

He smiled and nodded without a word and then got on the hovercraft.

I then went to the mentors control room and waited for the Games to begin while I asked one of the Avox servers to bring me a plate of bacon and eggs.

It was two hours later that the live television broadcast came on the TV screen. It showed the clearing around the Cornucopia inside the arena. It appeared to be an unremarkable forested area beyond the tree-line. The information on the arena computer here in the mentors control room registered the area around the Cornucopia an ambient temperature of 23 degrees Celsius in the midday sun. Alright, that's an improvement over the scorching desert last year. Temperate climate and forest means food, fuel, water, and raw materials; the home-field-advantage for a survivalist.

Then the 24 tributes rose out of the ground on their pedestals.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" said the voice of Claudius Templesmith booming out of the sky on the TV screen. "Let the 56'th Hunger Games begin! Good luck tributes! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

The 60 seconds counted down as the camera cut around to all the tributes. Rita and Darren were five pedestals apart from each other and they were both poised to run at the supplies. 'Don't they ever listen?' I thought to myself in indignation.

This was the same thing that happens every year. The tributes never listen. They think that they know everything. But then at the same time, I am hardly one to say anything, I myself ran towards the supplies when Sora told me not to.

5...4...3...2...1...

The gong sounded.

Most of the tributes ran towards the supplies, a couple of them had the sense to run away. Darren was quite a fast sprinter, he was the first one to reach the supplies and grabbed up a backpack and a belt full of knives.

He then ran towards the woods and crossed paths with the District 11 girl for a split second where he quickly pulled one of the knives and slashed deeply at her throat. She fell to the ground choking on her own blood.

He arrived at the tree line and disappeared into the foliage and he was then no longer the most interesting thing happening so the live-feed switched back to the bloodbath that was happening.

Rita grabbed up an axe and fought with the District 4 boy. The District 4 boy held a sword. They both fought hard and fast for 20 seconds, until the District 4 boy finally got under Rita's guard and impaled her through the heart.

Darn! Her friend Evie Boon, will be devastated. Well, that's the Hunger Games, many of them die in the opening seconds.

And the slaughter continued for the next few minutes. A few of the kids from the non-Career Districts got away with a few items. By the end the bloodbath, the death toll was at 12, including the District 1 boy who got a knife to the throat by the District 11 boy 97 seconds in.

Darren bushwhacked for several hours. He had found water and some edible plants. He set up camp in a secluded spot that was out of sight without a deliberate search, and settled in for the long haul.

For the rest of the day he set up traps. He made use of the many valuable materials that the forest provided in abundance.

Me, Sora, and Wiress, watched on the screen, Darren was as ready and prepared as any non-Career could be. He had 11 different traps set all around his hidden camp spot in a 30 yard radius.

And now he waited.

I saw on the digital map of the arena that there were no other tributes near him, so we knew he'd be waiting for a while.

Midnight in the arena hit and the anthem played. First to appear in the sky in the arena was, the District 1 boy.

Then Rita's face, poor girl.

Then both from District 5,

Then the boy from District 6,

Then the girl from District 7

Then both from District 8,

Then the girl from District 9,

Then both from District 11,

Then the boy from District 12, just as Haymitch said he would.

The anthem stopped. And that was it for that day.

Day 5 of the Games:

2 more of the tributes were now dead. Both boys from District 9 and 7. Both of them victims of the Careers.

Darren maintained a constant vigil near his camp site. As I watched him on the screen for the past four days I had determined that while the other tributes were scouring the arena for each other, and even though he seemed to have the strength and capability of killing, he was waiting for the other tributes to kill each other off so that he could finish off the last few. A clever strategy. He was using whatever method he had to use in order to keep himself alive.

It was then moments later that the Girl from District 12 was approaching his area. He saw her. He stayed out of sight and he remained completely quiet. She got in close, looking from side to side while she held in her hand a spear that she had stolen from the cornucopia. It was then that she stepped right into a small foot sized hole with a loop of rope in it. It triggered a crude innovative homemade mechanism, and moments later she was hanging upside down by her ankle and had dropped her spear.

Darren capitalize on it, pulling a knife from his belt, ran up to her, and without a word stabbed her in the throat.

The cannon sounded. Poor Haymitch, he had such high hopes for that girl that she would make it into at least the top 7.

9 tributes left.

Day 8 of the Games:

The career pack had again found another tribute the day before and put her out of her misery. It was the girl from District 10.

They were down to the top 8 and the tributes families were being interviewed.

Around this time, Darren had returned to the Cornucopia and stolen a few extra supplies, by this time the career pack has wandered a great distance from the Cornucopia so there was no chance of Darren getting caught.

He was digging up the dirt around the pedestals, and it was then I realized that he was digging up the landmines that are usually used by the Gamemakers to stop the tributes from leaving their pedestals prematurely. The camera focused on Darren taking the outer casing of the landmines apart and fiddling with the circuitry inside. He seemed to know what he was doing, and when he was done he very gently put them back in the dirt and covered them over again.

Day 10 of the Games:

I watched on the TV screen as Darren had just escaped a giant lizard like muttation with claws. He had lost several of his knives from his belt in the fight, and he had a bleeding gash on his arm and cheek, but they didn't seem life threatening.

He made his way down a path and, unbeknownst to him, right into the path of the Career Pack.

When they caught sight of him, they got excited, and ran at him. In their overconfidence they did not move out of the way as Darren, staying calm under pressure and capitalizing on an opportunity, hurled the District 12 girl's spear through the heart of the District 2 boy.

The cannon sounded.

The District 4 girl, after a second's hesitation, threw a throwing-knife at Darren, but he reacted faster and dodged out of the way, rolling to the side on one shoulder and then coming up on one knee, and then throwing a throwing-knife of his own and got the District 2 girl right in the throat.

'BOOM!' went the cannon.

The District 1 girl, and the District 4 tributes, the 3 remaining careers, converged on him but he turned the other way and ran at a flat out sprint towards his camp site. They managed to stay on his tail, but they were slow gaining on him.

He reached his campsite and jumped over a well camouflaged vine that stretched across the path. The District 4 boy was the first to reach it and he tripped it, which then triggered a crude innovative trap that caused a big heavy branch covered in spikes to swing out and whack the District 4 boy hard right in the face. The District 4 boy fell to the ground with a bloody face and did not get back up.

'BOOM!' went the cannon.

Damn! Three Careers in a row? I never saw that coming! That boy is clever.

As I watched the television screen, I saw Darren turn a corner behind some trees, and was then briefly out of sight of the two remaining careers, both girls from Districts 1 and 4.

Darren then got flat on the ground and slipped under a tight space under some bushes and then remained completely still and quiet. The two remaining girls ran past and down the path thinking that he was still trying to outrun them. Eventually the map of the arena on the screen here in the Mentors control room said that the two remaining careers were a distance away from him. Eventually the District 1 and 4 girls realized that they had lost him.

The two girls turned on each other and shouted blame at each other, each saying that it was the other's fault. The District 1 girl shoved the District 4 girl, then the District 4 girl shoved back. The District 1 girl then punched the District 4 girl in the face. The District 4 girl punched back. They then each drew a knife and started wrestling/stabbing at each other. Each receiving fatal wounds.

The District 4 girl ended up killing the District 1 girl, but then died from her own fatal wounds herself shortly after that.

5 Career Tributes died within 57 minutes? That is not quite the record of the six that I killed all at once during my Games, but it is a close second.

Caesar Flickerman was in his TV studio along with Claudius Templesmith talking up admiration of The District 3 boy this year.

All that was left now was Darren, along with the District 6, girl and the District 10 boy. This was the first time in a long time that the tributes were down to the top 3 without one of them being a Career.

Day 12 of the Games:

2 days later, the District 10 boy and the District 6 girl crossed each other's paths. The District 6 girl tried to run for it but the District 10 boy caught her and broke her neck.

Day 13 of the Games:

Darren and the District 10 boy were close to each other near the cornucopia.

The Gamemakers were trying to drive them towards each other by use of vicious dangerous muttations.

Eventually the muttations disappeared when the two caught sight of each other. The District 10 boy, eager to end it, gave chase to Darren, but Darren ran for it in the direction of the cornucopia.

After they reached the clearing, Darren ran towards one of the pedestals that he had been fiddling around with the landmines. He ran over a certain path very carefully placing his feet only on certain spots. The District 10 boy almost reached him in a flat out sprint when...'KA'BOOM!' His body was blown apart when he stepped on what turned out to be reactivated landmines.

The cannon sounded indicating the death of the District 10 boy. There wasn't even a body for the invisible hovercraft to collect; just a few charred fragments.

'I don't believe it!' I thought to myself.

My tribute won!? Of course he was very smart, and I knew he had decent odds. I guess it is that it had just been such a long time since Wiress had won that I didn't really expect anything different.

Then the voice of Claudius Templesmith boomed out of the sky on the TV screen from inside the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen! May I present the winter of the 56'th Hunger Games! Darren Waterton! Tribute from District 3!"

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