Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
A big thank you to Fizzerpeas for your favourite, and HowTheHoursGoBy and HogwartsDreamer113 for your reviews!
There is now a new poll up on my profile with all the combinations for potential victors alone and in pairs. Feel free to drop a vote for who you would like to see win!
District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)
It was unfair.
It was sickeningly unfair.
It was gut wrenchingly, sickeningly unfair.
It was heartbreakingly, gut wrenchingly, sickeningly unfair.
It was fucking unfair!
Data was dead and now they changed the rules?
The one person of all of them who most deserved to go home was dead and now they changed the rules?
It wasn't fair!
It wasn't fucking fair!
He could still go home with Oliver or Zinnia, but only one of them.
He would rather have had Data.
Data was his friend.
They were his allies.
His allies who had stuck by him, but his allies all the same.
He wanted to go home with Data.
He should have gone home with Data.
Of course, that was assuming he got to go home at all.
There were very, very few twelve year old Victors.
Statistically, the numbers said he shouldn't have got this far.
Statistically, the numbers said he should be the next one to die.
He wondered who would be the one to do it.
Would it be one of the remaining Careers, the beautiful twins from Four or their former not-quite-allies Maximus and Valkyrie? Or Sierra's enormous monster of a District partner? Or the girl from Six, she was still out there somewhere, and had always seemed a little... unhinged.
Or would it be one of his own allies?
Zinnia or Oliver.
Could they do it?
They were all armed.
Could one of them drive a knife through his back and stop his heart beating, end his lift?
Gadge wanted to think that they wouldn't - that they couldn't! - but the truth was he couldn't.
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
Because from what he'd seen of Zinnia, she would drive a knife through his back in a heartbeat if she thought it would save her and Oliver.
She'd end his life in a second if she thought it would save their own skins.
He hated that thought.
They had fought together, struggled together, survived together- but she would betray him in an instant if she needed to.
Or even if she didn't need to.
There were eleven of them left now - eleven, and not one of them was Data - and one of them was her District partner, the boy who promised to support her no matter the cost or consequence.
And that was before that fucking unfair rule change.
Why would she keep him around?
Him, the twelve year old District Three boy.
Him, who had no links to her.
Him, who had just watched his District partner die in front of him.
Why would she keep him?
Why should she keep him?
What was stopping her from just declaring alliance dissolved and sending him off his separate way for the first time since he'd entered this arena?
Something must be, because she hadn't done it, and that was the only thing stopping Gadge himself from declaring the alliance dissolved.
Because they'd stuck by each other so far.
Why should they not stand strong now?
And if they were the final three?
Well.
He couldn't kill his friends.
And no one could make him.
District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)
The human mutt banged on the door for what felt like ages, but was probably closer to an hour, and then stopped shouting.
Didn't mean it wasn't still out there though.
But she couldn't stay here. She was trapped like a dog in a trap. She shifted the weight of her bag on her shoulders and turned the door handle.
For a moment there was silence and then a furious shout.
A large figure in a brown trenchcoat charged at her. She swung her machete up in defence. The man kept moving. She ducked around him. He waved what looked like a sharpened broom at her. She deflected it with her machete and jumped aside. The broom slammed into her backpack. She twisted to his side and plunged the machete into his neck.
Blood spurted out, spraying her with crimson.
Kara had seen people die before.
Kara had killed people before.
It had never been quite this messy.
He gasped for air, still rasping 'tribute' and swinging the broom at her as his body collapsed to the floor.
Kara kicked it.
"Fuck you."
At least she could get out the building now.
She was certain the Gamemakers would force her into a confrontation with another tribute soon. So far she'd had almost no run-ins.
One was long overdue.
With the exception of the boy from Ten, Kara was pretty sure she could beat them all.
She'd slaughter them like that mutt back there.
They'd done nothing to her, she could make it quick, but they would die and everything would burn all the same.
Ashes to ashes.
She shifted her backpack again, picked a direction, and started walking. Direction didn't really matter if the Gamemakers wanted her to fight with another tribute.
On the other hand, maybe they had been keeping her away from the other tributes.
She wondered if they were worried about her trying to set them alight and smiled at the thought.
This entire world would burn if that was what it took.
District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)
She hurt all over, and the scratches from the cat creatures stung like crazy, but at least hers had started to scab over.
Tupelo's though.
Tupelo's kept opening up again and were turning purple.
That couldn't be a good sign.
Willow washed them out with boiled seawater - at least they had plenty of that now - and wrapped them with torn strips of the blanket from her rucksack.
"Some kind of infection," Tupelo said.
"It'll be fine. We're popular, Hazel will get us medicine."
Except medicine like that would be expensive at this point in the Games. There were only eleven of them left - and two could win together, if they were allies.
Like her and Tupelo.
They could both win.
They could both go home.
They could get married, have their children-
Except Tupelo's wounds were inflamed, and they had only gotten worse through the night.
Unless that Victory came soon, he might not make it.
Impulsively, Willow leaned in to kiss him. "Don't you die on me now. You have to make an honest woman of me, and get me that house and those children we talked about."
He smiled weakly. "Absolutely."
Except-
Except there were still eleven tributes left.
Nine other than them that they had to get past.
Nine other than them that had to die for them to go home and have their house and children and life.
Nine children who had to die for theirs to live.
Willow had seen the face of the girl from Three in the sky the night before.
She had been pregnant.
Heavily pregnant.
Her child would be dead now.
The Capitol had probably thought it was great entertainment, better than her and Tupelo's battle with the big cats.
That might not have even been broadcast, or only shown on small screens, in small clips, except in District Seven where everyone would be watching with baited breath to see if they were about to loose both their tributes at once.
That had happened a few years ago. Their tributes were allies, like her and Tupelo now - District loyalty was better than loyalty to a stranger - and were attacked by a pack of mutts in the Top Eight.
They were both torn to shreds.
There had been riots in District Seven, for the Capitol to have so carelessly taken out both their tributes in an incident that didn't have to happen, but of course no one listened and no one cared. The Games went on.
Willow saw the boy's mother around town sometimes. He had been her only child. She looked so broken.
How many families would be like that after these Games?
How many parents missing their children?
At least twenty one.
Too many.
Sometimes Willow wondered what might have happened if the Capitol lost the war during the Dark Days, if the Districts won. Would there have been a Capitol version of the Hunger Games going on right now, with her sat at home cheering for her favourite?
Fuck she hoped not.
The very idea seemed sick and made her stomach churn.
"I love you," Tupelo whispered.
"I love you too," she replied, and the words felt like death in her mouth.
District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)
So far the only life he'd seen on this level of the arena was a funny looking four legged purple thing with a long neck.
Colby didn't even want to know what that was meant to be.
He was itching for a fight.
He was in the arena wasn't he?
So why was it the only person he'd gotten to kill was that one wimp in the bloodbath?
He hadn't even managed to get his hands on those twins from Four!
(but he still wanted those, still craved them, remembered the boy's movements as he fought and the girl's lithe figure that he just had to have)
He would have those two yet.
It was just a matter of time.
And time was something they were running out of.
It was Day Eight, the Capitol wanted a show!
And as soon as he found someone, he'd give them one.
A funny looking bat thing glided overhead, screeching.
On second glance, Colby wasn't sure it was a bat. It had a sharp looking beak and even sharper looking claws.
He picked up the pace a little.
He was following the shoreline of the island. If this level was anything like the others, he was bound to find a bridge soon. There was no sign of other tributes on this island, so he needed to move on.
If he got lucky - really lucky - he might even find the pair from Four.
He wet his lips.
Fuck he wanted that girl.
He really did have to have her.
Finally a bridge came into sight. It was a thin rope one, strung out across the water. Colby grasped the sides and put one foot on the rope. It didn't feel strong enough to hold his weight, but it proved good and he slowly made his way across.
The next island looked like some kid's playground, black Tarmac with slides and a roundabout with a building that looked like a child's playhouse attached and surrounded by green fields like those of his home of Ten.
Colby wondered how many of his girls they'd dug up since he'd been gone.
They did find them occasionally.
It didn't matter.
He'd find new ones.
There was already one that he wanted.
Voices floated on the wind. A boy and a girl. Colby's heart jumped. He hefted his club and worked his way around the playground. At the other side, next to the wall of the building, were two tributes. One, the boy, was leaning against the wall, the other, a girl with red hair, was leaning over him.
Colby's smile widened. The lovers from Seven. Oh, this was perfect. And if the boy was injured, he could take the girl and make him watch as he took her and killed her slowly, then kill him afterward.
Perfect.
This would be so much fun.
