Chapter 40:

Lysander Morrow, District Two, Age 18

Victor of the 115th Hunger Games

The stage was set and it's finally time for Lysander to make his move. And oh, how badly he's been waiting to do this. It's been agony dumbing himself down and acting like another Darach to make them all underestimate him. But he knows it's crucial to make this work exactly as he wants it to. No cunning brain here, just another meathead from Two.

What a bunch of idiots for not realizing that he is planning on blindsiding them based on who his mentor is.

Days have passed in the arena before he finally got his chance. Again, agony for him to have to go out with his allies and have the perfect opportunity to kill them while alone, but restraining so he could keep their trust. He had to build their trust long enough to go out hunting with Evelyn. Take out the leader of the pack and the rest will start to fall apart. And, he hates to admit it, she's smart enough that if he were to kill someone else first, she might suspect him.

Lysander looks around the stone walls of the passage they took with some suggestion from him, knowing that if his counting was right, it should just be a couple more minutes until the arena shifts around them. And, as long as the hallways didn't change too much, they should be about to enter one of the tombs.

He lets himself start to smirk as she walks ahead of him into the vast room. He follows after her, tucking his hand into his pocket where a knife rests, ready to spring into action once the mutts appear. Evelyn holds her spear in front of her as she gazes around the room, mainly eyeing the tomb in the center of it. But she doesn't realize the biggest threat is right behind her.

A groaning noise comes from the back of the room and Lysander springs into action without waiting to confirm it's a mutt. He tackles her legs, bringing her to the floor before quickly swiping across the back of her ankles. She screams out in pain from her Achilles' getting cut and tries to stab him with her spear, but he moves out of her reach. She tries to stand and quickly topples back over in pain, glaring at him with a look that would kill lesser men. "You fucking traitor, I knew it."

"But not soon enough, darling," Lysander tells her, prompting her to swing her spear at him again. He starts stepping back towards the entrance as the sound of more mutts echo in the room and fear fills her eyes. "Have fun outrunning them – oh wait, you can't."

"Get back here!" Evelyn yells at him, desperation filling her voice as she realizes how fucked she is. But Lysander just steps out of the room and waves at her with a pleasant smile as the mummies get closer to her.

He waits until one bites her leg before running away from there, just before he starts hearing stone grinding against stone, signifying he was right with his timing. He races down the hallway as the far entrance starts slowly sliding shut and he makes it through just barely in time, but earns a few scraps in the process. Well, all the better to sell the act.

Boom.

Lysander pauses for a moment, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "Goodbye, Evelyn," he mutters towards the now sealed hallway, before starting to make his way back to the others at a brisk jog. "Wasn't nice knowing you because frankly, you were a bitch."

He gives himself one chuckle of success at his plan before focusing on getting his act together. Killing Evelyn might have been the easier part of this. Now he has to make his allies believe his story.

He gets closer to the cornucopia and start running, widening his eyes to let a little panic show. He races into the wide room and they all look over at him, immediately on guard at the state he's in.

"Yo, what happened?!" Georgei yells, dropping the sandwich in his hand to grab his sword.

Nikolaj grabs him and starts pulling him away from the hallway, glancing down it in deep concern. "Where's Evelyn?" he asks, but they all know what happened to Evelyn thanks to the cannon.

"She – I – the arena," Lysander stammers out and shakes his head. "Oh God, it was awful!" he cries out, collapsing to the ground. His allies surround him immediately, one of them passing him a bottle of water that he takes with a pretend shaking hand. "The mutts just appeared out of nowhere! And Evelyn, being brave as she is – was," he adds a good wince for effect and takes a sip of water before it can turn to a smile. "Well, she thought we could take them on. And we were doing fine when it was the two of us."

Lysander falls quiet, putting his head down and shaking it. He waits a few seconds before their curiosity gets to them and one of them speaks up. "What happened then?"

He picks his head up to give them a remorseful look. "Then the arena shifted." He sighs and runs a hand over his face, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. "They separated us and more mutts appeared – too many to fight on my own. I-I had no choice to run. But I could hear her screams and the cannon…"

The wince Lysander gives at this is partially real. Not out of pity for Evelyn, but imagining himself in that outcome if he isn't careful enough. Being torn apart by undead mummies is the last thing he wants to do.

"You did what you could, dude," Georgei gives him a light smack on the back and it takes every ounce of restraint in Lysander to not snap his fingers for touching him. "Not much that can be done when the arena literally changes around you. Could have happened to any of us." Nikolaj doesn't look so reassured at that, but then again, maybe he's just mourning his District partner.

Lysander gives a shrug before letting out a shudder. "I think I need a nap after that."

"Go for it," Georgei gives him a smile and Lysander knows he can keep that boy around for a while. He'll believe everything he says. "I don't know about the others but I ain't going out in that arena right away.

"Well, just wake me up if you need anything," Lysander tells them before moving to the side of the room for privacy. As he curls up on the ground to get the rest he supposedly needs, he catches his District partner staring over at him, with eyes that question him. Eyes that see through his betrayal. He's never trusted her and he doesn't trust her now to keep his secret from the rest. And only one thing for him to do with the next biggest threat.

He's going to have to stage a little accident for her.

And there we have Lysander Morrow, victor of the 115th Hunger Games! Dude, I love him and his arena so much XD Add him to the list of victors I could easily write a full story about lol. I love cunning victors who outsmart the others and Lysander certainly did that!

Happy Wednesday, idk what else to say lol. Next week will be another career, one who does not want to let District Two win another year in a row, especially against one of their volunteers. See you then!