The Third Annual Hunger Games
Head Gamemaker Lima Xabie and President Narciso had now become well acquainted with the Games, and the Capitol had fallen in love with them. By the time the 3rd one came around, dissent had arisen among the Capitols after Narciso and Lima had been found kissing in a garden my advisers. In those days, Presidents were supposed to stay free of romantic restraints so their judgement would not be clouded. To quiet the naysayers, Lima and Narciso, star crossed lovers of sorts, devised a tantalizingly distracting arena that would render the Capitol silent with its wow factor. Boliviana returned as the host, and the HGBA became even more popular. The Hunger Games were on the rise in popularity. In the Capitol, they were no longer mandatory viewing. They were a TV series, a grand event. It is still that way today. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Chiara Renault, 16 (8) 10-1 and Vincent Darring, 17 (7) 13-1
District 2: Cayenne Cadmos, 15 (10) 6-1 and Ryck Quyke, 14 (5) 37-1
District 3: Delia Smae, 13 (2) 75-1 and Natasho Daero, 17 (4) 42-1
District 4: Francina Wyless, 16 (9) 8-1 and Dexter Hampton, 15 (7) 14-1
District 5: Tugra Ertra, 15 (3) 65-1 and Carlos Erbto, 14 (7) 16-1
District 6: Kaila Ing, 14 (3) 67-1 and Gino Larzarretti, 18 (6) 19-1
District 7: Willa Crasio, 13 (6) 20-1 and Mychale Datt, 17 (9) 7-1
District 8: Arabelle Cousins, 17 (7) 14-1 and Forton Quentins, 16 (6) 18-1
District 9: Hannah Lee, 15 (8) 12-1 and Bernard Juise, 17 (6) 20-1
District 10: Gazelle Towns, 16 (8) 13-1 and Celio Artelli, 15 (10) 6-1
District 11: Lilly Totil, 13 (5) 29-1 and Odis Tump, 14 (5) 30-1
District 12: Erica Bextrix, 16 (7) 16-1 and Jeffree Oscrie, 16 (3) 71-1
HGBA Bets: 19% Cayenne, 14% Celio, 11% Mychale, 10% Francina, 8% Chiara, Gazelle, and Vincent, 4% Hannah and Arabelle, 2% for Erica, Vincent, Carlos, and Dexter, 1% or less for Ryck, Delia, Natasho, Tugra, Kaila, Gino, Willa, Forton, Bernard, Lilly, Odis, and Jeffree.
The Games
The arena is just a tad smaller than last year's (by about a quarter mile). It is one giant island sitting in a very deep, briny ocean that will drown anyone that falls into it except the strongest swimmers. The island is mostly a large, unruly jungle with many twists and turns and poisonous fruits. Several large rivers scissored through the island. The twist was that every day, a part of the island would sink or collapse. This would bring many a twist into the Games.
The tributes rose up on a bare part of the island, which was just bare, sandy pale yellow rock. The jungle loomed to the north and west, and never ending, glittering ocean crashed onto the shores to the east and south. Most tributes looked at the Cornucopia, stocked with more supplies than last year. Trying to hook every tribute with something they liked, the Gamemakers had put rare weapons some tributes liked or something that reminded them of home, like wooden carvings for District 7 or multi-color robes for District 8.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Most of the tributes burst forward towards the Cornucopia, while a handful ran into the jungle. Two alliances arose to grab supplies and work together to hunt down tributes; Chiara, Vincent, Carlos, Gazelle, and Celio, and Francina, Mychale, Gino, and Cayenne.
Chiara picked up a bow, and, fitting an arrow onto the string, found her target, a girl who was rifling through a pile of clothing several feet away. Chiara released the arrow, and it slid right between the girl's ribs, killing her.
Kaila Ing, District 6 Female; 24th, Killed by Chiara, Bloodbath
Meanwhile, Cayenne and Mychale, armed with thick swords, cornered a smaller boy, and Cayenne cut into him viciously.
Odis Tump, District 11 Male; 23rd, Killed by Cayenne, Bloodbath
Suddenly, the two alliances clashed. Gazelle, wielding a small knife, darted at Francina, quickly stabbing her. Francina cried out as she fell, holding the knife wound on her chest. She quickly bled out as her allies retaliated harshly.
Francina Wyless, District 4 Female; 22nd, Killed by Gazelle, Bloodbath
Mychale, outraged, stabbed Gazelle in the thigh. She screamed, falling to the ground. Mychale and Cayenne sawed into her, making her death very painful as a wicked form of revenge for Francina's early death.
Gazelle Towns, District 10 Female; 21st, Killed by Mychale and Cayenne, Bloodbath
The two alliances hesitantly backed away from each other and scampered off in opposite directions. Meanwhile, two boys scrabbled over a dagger. The one boy got a firm hold on the knife and plunged it into the other boy's chest, killing him.
Bernard Juise, District 9 Male; 20th, Killed by Forton, Bloodbath
The Bloodbath was officially over. The dead flashed across the sky, and the survivors were counted. Both from 1. Both from 2. Both from 3, the boy from 4, both from 5, the boy from 6, both from 7, both from 8, the girl from 9, the boy from 10, the girl from 11, and both from 12.
The next morning, Celio and his alliance discovered a girl slumbering in a stout, mossy tree. He slit her throat with a thin knife after expertly crawling into the tree soundlessly.
Erica Bextrix, District 12 Female; 19th, Killed by Celio, Day 1
Near the end of the day, Erica's District partner also met his end in a most gruesome way; he was pushed into the salty oceans by an ally (Lilly of District 11) and he slowly drowned as he was carried farther and farther from shore until he hit the force field and was electrocuted just before he drowned.
Jeffree Oscrie, District 12 Male; 18th, Drowned/killed by force field, Day 1
Soon after Jeffree died, his ally met a similar fate when a strip of about 100 feet of the island around the edge fell into the water. The girl fell in and promptly drowned after struggling for a while. 100 feet would drop off the edges of the island every day.
Lilly Totil, District 11 Female; 17th, Drowned, Day 1
Days 2 was deathless. Day 3, half shark, half jaguar mutts were sent to hunt down tributes. They quickly killed two tributes in very bloody ways before they were drawn away by the Gamemakers.
The first mutt kill happened to a loner. He was sitting in the crook of two tree branches near the edge of the forest, near the spot where the mutts spawned. They caught scent of him and ripped him from his perch before he could even notice them.
Dexter Hampton, District 4 Male; 16th, Killed by jaguar-shark mutts, Day 3
The other victim just happened to be traveling with one of the big alliances, looking for another victim. He heard the mutts disemboweling Dexter, and he went to check out the sounds alone, thinking it was a rowdy tribute making too much noise. The mutts tore into him and his alliance would not know him dead until his face played across the sky that night.
Vincent Darring, District 1 Male; 15th, Killed by jaguar-shark mutts, Day 3
Day 4, a lone male was attacked by a pair of girls who had recently formed an alliance (Arabelle and Delia) for his food and water. Bleeding and immobile and at the edge of the island, when part of the island dropped off, the boy dropped into the water and drowned.
Ryck Quyke, District 2 Male; 14th, Drowned, Day 4
Days 5 and 6 were deathless. The island had shrunk a good deal. This made it easier for the alliances to make kills. Day 7 had two kills, both by the big alliances.
A girl from one alliance decided to desert, thinking that such a big alliance was no longer a good idea that far into the Games. She was discovered by the other big alliance several hours later, and Cayenne killed her slowly.
Chiara Renault, District 1 Female; 13th, Killed by Cayenne, Day 7
Soon after Chiara's death, an alliance of two girls ran across Chiara's alliance. They had just discovered her body, and they suspected the girls, who were unintentionally close to the body, were the killers. One girl managed to get away, but the other was brutally stabbed to death by Celio.
Delia Smae, District 3 Female; 12th, Killed by Celio, Day 7
The alliances had been decimated; they were no longer big alliances. There was now Carlos and Celio and Mychale, Gino, and Cayenne.
Day 8 had a single death. Arabelle, angered by Delia's death, saw someone and threw her dagger. The girl went down quickly, and Arabelle was stunned to see she had killed an innocent girl.
Willa Crasio, District 7 Female; 11th, Killed by Arabelle, Day 8
Days 9 and 10 were deathless. Day 11, Mychale decided to break away from his alliance. He stabbed one of his allies before running. The other ally ran after seeing the wounded ally roll around in the muddy forest floor, in their death throes.
Cayenne Cadmos, District 2 Female; 10th, Killed by Mychale, Day 11
Day 12 was deathless. Day 13, a weak boy was killed by Carlos with a dagger. The boy had been hiding in the canopies, getting his food and water from there, but he fell and sprained his arm. While crying out, Carlos and Celio heard him, and Carlos stabbed him.
Natasho Daero, District 3 Male; 9th, Killed by Carlos, Day 13
The Top 8 had been finalized; Tugra Ertra, District 5, Carlos Erbto, District 5, Gino Larzarretti, District 6, Mychale Datt, District 7, Arabelle Cousins, District 8, Forton Quentins, District 8, Hannah Lee, District 9, and Celio Artelli, District 10.
Day 14, a girl died from dehydration. She had fallen into a pit trap set by Tugra and had slowly died from dehydration, trapped in the pit.
Hannah Lee, District 9 Female; 8th, Dehydration, Day 14
Day 15 was deathless. Day 16, two big contenders and ex-allies had a long, bloody brawl. Gino and Mychale, both armed with short swords, began to grapple and chop and slice and punch. Gino put up a good fight, but after about forty minutes, Mychale prevailed and sliced into his chest.
Gino Larzarretti, District 6 Male; 7th, Killed by Mychale, Day 16
Day 17 had two deaths. Mychale, bloodthirsty after his fight with Gino, found the alliance of Celio and Carlos. They wounded him in the right leg, but after an hour, he managed to kill both of them.
Celio Artelli, District 10 Male; 6th, Killed by Mychale, Day 17
Carlos Erbto, District 5 Male; 5th, Killed by Mychale, Day 17
At this point, Tugra and Forton teamed up. Tugra had dug dozens of pit traps around the island, and only she knew where they were. She would build traps, and Forton would kill anyone that was inside them.
The two spotted a girl up in a tree, resting, and they found the trail she had walked for the past weeks to a small pond. Tugra dug a shallow pit and camouflaged it, and Forton waited at the bottom.
Day 18, the girl fell in and Forton knifed her, only realizing afterward that it was his District partner.
Arabelle Cousins, District 8 Female; 4th, Killed by Tugra and Forton, Day 18
Tugra left Forton in the pit to die, but he managed to climb out after a few hours of relentless scrabbling up the loose dirt walls.
Day 19 was deathless. Day 20, a boy fell into one of Tugra's pits while pursuing her. It was deep, and he was unable to get out. Tugra walked over and started throwing armfuls of dead, fallen, crumbling, and dry leaves and withered undergrowth into the pit. The boy just laughed and threw his weapon at her, but she easily moved out of the way. She coated the boy and the pit in dried plant material.
Then she flicked out a match, lit it, and threw it in.
The boy's screams filled the arena for ten full minutes as he burned alive. Tugra just watched the smoke drift from the pit, ignoring the pleas for help. After ten minutes, a cannon rang.
Mychale Datt, District 7 Male; 3rd, Killed by Tugra, Day 20
Two big underdogs were the 2 remaining tributes left; both Tugra and Forton, together, made up less than 1% of the bets. A few lucky Capitols would be cashing out big time.
Day 21, the Gamemakers lit the jungle on fire, driving the tributes onto the skinny, muddy beach. Tugra arrived a few minutes before Forton. She quickly grabbed a thick, straight branch and tied her dagger to its end. Then she buried it, and stood right behind it, the water of the ocean lapping at her heels.
Forton appeared and walked toward her. He stepped right on the dagger, and it sliced through his foot. He howled terribly, and Tugra tackled him, pressing his own blade to his throat. She slit his throat quickly, painlessly, and then she staggered away from him.
Forton Quentins, District 8 Male; 2nd, Killed by Tugra, Day 21
Boliviana Rare's voice reverberated throughout the arena as Tugra stood on the now tiny, smoldering island.
"Tugra Ertra of District 5, you are the Victor of the 3rd Annual Hunger Games!"
Tugra just stood there, smirking slyly at the invisible cameras she knew were all pointed at her.
Aftermath
District 5's tributes will always be known for their cunning, but Tugra established a line of cunning Victors from District 5. She was well liked by her District and most of Panem.
Her Victory Tour was streamlined and modern, the way she liked it. Most Districts welcomed her openly, though District 8 was a little cold.
Betters went crazy, because only .22% of all the bets had been placed on her. The two dozen Capitols who bet more than ten dollars on her paid out in the thousands.
Tugra would teach dozens of other cunning District 5'ers, but she would die, unmarried and without children, at the young age of 39, right in the middle of the 24th Hunger Games.
Victor's News
Tugra moves into the Victor's Village of District 5
Kelan marries his high school sweetheart, Tania.
List of Victors
1st: Kelan Thather, District 4 (1, 1 Male)
2nd: Dillon Tripp, District 9 (1, 1 Male)
3rd: Tugra Ertra, District 5 (1, 1 Female)
