Casper Chevallier, District 2
Casper sits next to his smothering fire, eating the remaining of his cooked meal. He's been rationing for the last few days and he can feel the effect of it creeping up on him. After fighting with it, he succumbed. With only six left, the end will come sooner than later and he doesn't want any weakness.
As he sits there eating, he goes over the list of remaining tributes. Alexandrine, Crystal, and Evan. His former allies. Alone, he's confident he could take them. But together, they're strong. He can't let them overpower him. As long as he quickly incapacitates one of them, the rest should fall too.
Then there's Maeve. He hardly knew her before the games, but he has to admit, she's one of the best left. She reminds Casper of himself: hardworking, driven, and a threat. He can see right through her though. He can see the demons that trap her. He knows the feeling too well. But he has to admit, Maeve has proven to be a bigger threat than he initially thought.
He goes over the count in his head. He's missing someone. The last tribute from a non-Career district. He becomes frustrated that it escapes him, but he keeps that frustration to himself.
Casper is nearly done with his meal when a shiver runs down his spine. The animals in the forest have gone eerily quiet. He scans the area around him, searching for either a human or animal threat. He carefully searches the area around him, listening, waiting. But all he hears is the leaves rustling through the wind.
The wind. Casper looks up into the sky. The clouds are moving rapidly across the sky, blocking the sun. The trees sway more and more viciously, and the beginnings of rainfall splash against his skin.
He quickly gathers his things and rushes deep into the forest, away from the developing storm. Although they never hit his district, Casper has seen enough Games to know the signs of a hurricane.
Branches begin falling from above and Casper holds his bag over his head as protection. He dodges the falling debris and tries to go in the direction the Gamemakers want him to.
Away from the storm. Move. Casper repeats this to himself over and over again, narrowly avoiding the tree that falls in front of him. He dodges out of the way and sprints deeper into the forest.
As he runs, he sees something fall down from a tree. He comes to a halt and pulls his sword out. Through the wind and flying debris, he can make out the outline of another person. Another tribute. Her hair and clothes are covered in leaves and debris, he recognizes her as the final tribute in the arena. The one he couldn't remember earlier.
A tree falls between them and the girl uses the chaos to disappear into the trees. Casper follows, both wanting to hunt her down and get to a place of safety. He'd like to think the Gamemakers are reducing the severity of the storm, but with every tree that falls and every branch that blocks his way, he isn't so sure.
He finally reaches a clearing where the wind seems to have stopped. The feeling of familiarity hits - he's back in the cornucopia. And standing in front of him is the same girl, only this time he can see the knife in her hand. Fortunately for him, he can see she's injured.
Casper doesn't waste any time. He rushes the girl and swings at her head. She dodges and stumbles backwards, raising her knife in defense. Casper swings at her stomach and cuts her shirt, barely missing skin. The girl spins to the side and swings at Casper, lodging her knife in his right shoulder. He screams out in pain and kicks the girl to the ground, holding his shoulder. He takes his sword in his left hand and towers over the girl. He stabs at her, but his sword lodges in the ground as she rolls out of the way. He clenches his jaw, trying to ignore the pain.
Let's end this.
Evan Floyd, District 1
Evan walks besides Alexandrine and Crystal as they travel through the woods. He keeps his eye on Maeve, who lags behind slightly. He's been worried about her for a while now, and her silent breakdown last night pushing her over the edge.
BOOM. The cannon causes all four of them to stop in their tracks. Evan's heart drops. With this death, there's only five tributes left in the arena. And four of them are together.
"I wonder who that was." He says, trying to relieve the tension that's formed. But it only adds to it. He looks back and forth from his allies. Crystal holds onto Alexandrine's good arm, and Maeve stares into the sky above them, as if the tribute's face would project into the sky. It would either show Casper or the girl from 9. Evan can't decide which would be worse.
Regardless of who died, he knows something for certain. Half of his alliance has to die before anyone will return home. Allowing two tributes to live was an exciting change, but now Evan can't help but wonder if the finale will be worse because of it. Instead of every man for themselves, people will be in their own pairs. Crystal will die for Alexandrine, that much he knows. And while he would be thrilled to win with either of them, he knows they would choose each other. And Maeve…he's not sure Maeve knows what's going on anymore. Casper made it clear he wouldn't allow anyone else to be victorious, and the girl from 9, well, Evan doesn't think she would kill him if it were just the two of them left. And he wouldn't kill her. He doesn't want to kill anyone anymore. He just wants the damn thing to be over.
A low growl catches them all off guard. All four Careers unsheathe their weapons and search around for the cause of the noise. Evan catches a quick movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he turns to face the woods there's nothing there.
"Watch out!" Crystal yells as something large jumps towards them. Evan barely dives out of the way, landing besides Crystal. A large mutt-like cat stands in between him and Alexandrine and Maeve. He stands besides Crystal, who's looking past the mutt at Alexandrine.
"Run!"
Alexandrine Laurent, District 1
"Run!" Alexandrine yells at her allies. She grabs Maeve's arm and pulls her into the forest. Alexandrine looks back with just enough time to see Crystal and Evan running in the opposite direction with the mutt on them.
Alexandrine and Maeve come to a clearing and they stop to catch their breath. Alexandrine's heart races, in disbelief that she left Crystal. How could she leave her ally like that? She takes in her surroundings, recognizing some parts of it, but her brain too overwhelmed to fully comprehend where she is. Half of her attention is focused on the noise around her. For the mutt, but also for the sound of a cannon firing. If she hears that, well, she isn't convinced she would keep calm.
Alexandrine hears a scream and immediately turns around. That's when she realizes where they are. They're back in the cornucopia, and so is Casper. He stands over Maeve, who's fallen to the ground and desperately retreating. Alexandrine doesn't hesitate before attacking. She swings her knife at Casper, taking him by surprise and causing him to retreat. Maeve gets up and holds her sword out in front of her. Casper doesn't waste any time. He knocks Alexandrine's knife out of her hand and gets close enough to Maeve to swing at her head. She blocks it with her sword and strikes back, missing her swing and stumbling forward. Casper uses this to his advantage and grabs her hair and throws her to the ground. Alexandrine picks up her knife and throws it at him, cutting the side of his head. He holds his hand to his head, turning around to face Alexandrine. Just before Maeve is able to get up and regain her footing, Casper turns back to face her and stabs her in her stomach.
The Finale
BOOM. Alexandrine watches as Maeve's body collapses to the ground. Casper pulls his sword out and turns to face Alexandrine. Unarmed and alone, she's paralyzed with fear.
Back in the woods, Evan and Crystal run away from the mutt. It jumps to tackle them, barely missing them as they dodge out of the way. The cannon distracts the mutt for just long enough for Evan and Crystal to break through the clearing into the cornucopia.
Crystal sees Alexandrine and Casper first, and doesn't hesitate before running to tackle Casper. He sees her and is able to dodge her, but not before she gets a shallow cut on his leg. He swings at her and uses her retreat to advance on Alexandrine. He's fast, but she's faster. She gets underneath him and tackles him to the ground. The wind is knocked out of her when they land, Casper on his back and Alexandrine on her stomach. She sees Maeve's sword within reach away from her and crawls towards it. Casper grabs her leg to stop her and pulls himself on top of her.
Just before he can deliver a fatal blow, Evan tackles him off of her. Casper reacts quickly, elbowing Evan in his face and breaking his nose. Evan drops his weapon and Crystal rushes to pull Alexandrine up off the ground. Once Alexandrine is safe, she advances on Casper, who stands over Evan. Casper hears Crystal coming and swings at her, cutting her in her lower leg. She falls to one knee and raises her sword to block. He kicks her back and stabs at Evan, his sword going through Evan's stomach. Evan coughs out blood and collapses to the ground, his hands around his stomach wound.
Crystal uses her last strength to stand up and knock the sword out of Casper's hand, but it doesn't slow Casper down. He grabs her wrist and pulls her into a chokehold. Crystal bites Casper's arm, causing him to loosen his grip and she stumbles forward, into Alexandrine's arms. Alexandrine pushes Crystal behind her and swings her sword at Casper. It cuts into his abdomen and he swears at her. He uses his last strength to pull her down with him, but he's too weak. She gets out from underneath him and finishes off the job with a deeper cut in his stomach. His cannon fires.
Alexandrine realizes that means Evan is still alive. She rushes over to him and kneels down besides him in a pool of his blood, Crystal shortly joining her. She takes his hand. His skin is pale, and all three of them know what's coming next.
"I'm glad it's you two." He smiles at the girls before he coughs out blood. His breathing gets shorter and shorter.
"I won't forget you. I won't forget what you did." Alexandrine whispers to him, holding back tears. Tears that she didn't know she could still shed.
"Good. Good luck out there." Evan's grip on her hands slowly releases and his cannon follows soon. Alexandrine lets him go and doesn't hesitate before sinking into Crystal's arms. That's when the tears fall from them both. They don't stop when they hear Maxwell Cox congratulate the two of them as the victors of the 50th Hunger Games. They don't stop when they hear the hovercraft lower to pull them out of the arena. Alexandrine doesn't think the tears will ever stop. Not after what she's gone through.
The long awaited Finale is here! I was initially planning on having the Games go until day thirteen or fourteen, but I figured I've had this story go on for too long and it was time to wrap it up.
Thank you to everyone for submitting tributes and reading along! And thank you for your patience as this story has definitely taken me the longest to finish. Congratulations to TacoPhoenix and The88Constellations for your tributes victory!
There will be one more short chapter of our two victors returning home. I'm also struggling to decide if I should start up another SYOT, so I left it up to a poll on my profile. Please vote on it and let me know what you'd like to see from me! I would also be super interested in collaborating on a SYOT if there's anyone who wants a writing partner.
Thank you all for sticking with this story. I really appreciate the support.
DEATHS
23rd-Pepper Lokma (D7F)
22nd-Hayley Onyx (D4F)
21st-Ashleigh Cane (D12F)
20th-Marshal Woods (D7M)
19th-Crane Bavari (D2M)
18th-Lancia Audren (D2F)
17th-Elise Linderman (D8F)
16th-Eros Herier (D10M)
15th-Mathias Hayes (D12M)
14th-Ashley Oak (D7M)
13th-Minnow Swanson (D4F)
12th-Tristan McKnight (D4M)
11th-Thread Hawkins (D8M)
10th-Adonis Herier (D10M)
9th-Warren Faulkner (D11M)
8th-Mako Swanson (D4M)
7th-Yeong-Ja Song (D3F)
6th-Hodaka Granger (D9F)
5th-Maeve Landstone (D2F)
4th-Casper Chevallier (D2M)
3rd-Evander Floyd (D1M)