Chapter 16: The Finale

The tension in the Control Room is palpable. We all know that this is it, this is the end. Today is the last day of the 76th Hunger Games.

There are hurried, desperate discussions over at the career corner. Meanwhile, other Victors from non-Career districts are coming over to us. I didn't realize just how deep the divide between Districts 1 and 2 and the other districts is. Now that it's down to Kora or Emilia, it's clear where their loyalities lie. All the money that was denied us earlier is now suddenly donated to Emilia, the Victors loosely form a circle around us as Haymitch does some frantic counting while scanning the revised - and exorbitantly expensive - list of possible gifts to send her. What will help her now, in the final battle against Kora?

Kora has the upper hand. She has all the weapons she would ever need. She's incredibly good at throwing knives, which I'm almost certain will be her preferred method of killing Emilia - it will keep her at a relatively safe distance from the younger, smaller girl.

Because I know that now, after hearing the two cannonshots, she has realized that something went wrong with their original plan. She can do the math - there are only two tributes left now, and it's down to herself and someone else. At least one of the other Careers is dead, but she doesn't know who's coming back for her. She knows there is a final battle coming very soon, but she doesn't know against whom it will be. All she knows is that whoever it is, she has an enormous advantage, controlling all the weapons at the Cornucopia. The large open square surrounding it also means that she will see an attacker early on, it will be very hard to surprise her.

But the fact that Kora doesn't know who's coming for her, is her greatest weakness.

Because it could be Mend, the archer. He could kill her from a much greater distance than her knives will ever reach, however good she is. It's clear that's what she's thinking, too, because she's hiding inside the Cornucopia. It doesn't provide perfect shelter, but it's much better than nothing, hiding her from view and making sure that she won't be shot from most, but not all, angles. She hides behind some sandbags, which give her even better cover.

Meanwhile, Emilia the street cat is back. She moves stealthily, you can practically see her blend in with the walls. Looking directly into what she has cleverly realized is a hidden camera inside a streetlight, she whispers: "If you have any sponsor money left, now's the time to get me something."

"I LOVE this chick," Johanna shouts, earning herself ugly stares from the Careers. Enobaria hisses, baring her pointed teeth at the other woman.

All thoughts of tiredness and nightmares are gone now, the adrenaline surge is making me think clearly for the first time in days.

Emilia is smart. She's a survivor. That's the most powerful weapon she has against the older, stronger and much better equipped and trained girl she's about to face.

"What do you think, Haymitch?" I say quietly, not wanting the Careers to hear me. "What should we send her, what do you think she has planned for Kora?"

"She probably doesn't have a plan yet," Johanna murmurs. "She's going to try to get a clear view of the Cornucopia, to figure out what she's up against. But she shouldn't take too long - tonight, Kora will see Twitch and Mend's faces in the sky." Neither of us is worried about her fearing Twitch, because we know that from a distance, Mend would undoubtedly be the most dangerous tribute to face, and Mend is the one Kora is hiding from behind the sandbags.

But there's no way she's expecting the person returning to the Cornucopia to be Emilia.

Johanna is right. Emilia sneaks up on the roof of one of the houses facing the square, getting a good view of the arena. She lies there for a long time, scanning the square, all the items there, the well. She doesn't see Kora from that angle, though. Emilia takes a little break, emptying a bottle of water. She must be very hungry now, but at least she makes sure she's not dehydrated.

She's a Seam kid. She's used to being hungry.

Then she sneaks up from another angle, and finally she sees Kora, hiding. Kora has, quite cleverly, set up two mirrors, showing her the blind zone behind the Cornucopia, which she can't see from her hiding place. It shows her quite a lot, at least, but there must still be blind spots she can't follow properly. That's the price she has to pay to be safer from Mend's deadly arrows.

Which are right now buried under tons of bricks and mortar.

"We really can't afford much," Haymitch says, exasparated. "There are no weapons within our price range, all we can send her is some food. And if we do, the parachute is going to tip off Kora, she'll know where her enemy is."

Emilia has taken in the situation now, and is moving away from the square, a few streets down. At first I don't understand what she's doing, but then I realize that she must've thought about silver parachutes, too, because she says: "I'm staying here for ten minutes, Haymitch. If you have anything to send me, do it here. Then I'm going for her."

"What do you think, Peeta?" Haymitch says, hurriedly; they're still going through the list. "What do you think will help her?"

"I'm glad we sent her that knife when we could, because we just can't afford any weapons with these prices," Peeta sighs. "They do look very expensive, though. Were the weapons this expensive last year on the final day of the Games?" I shake my head slowly.

I don't think that's a coincidence.

"Send her some bread from District 12," Peeta says confidently, pointing his finger at a line on the price list.

"Bread?" I moan. "What good is that going to do?"

"We get her blood suger up, give her some extra strength. And even more importantly, we give her hope. We tell her that everyone in the district believes in her." We all know that every single person in District 12 is watching her right now.

Leave it to a Baker's son to know the importance and symbolics of a loaf of bread.

"Okay," Haymitch agrees. "It's the best we can do, under the circumstances."

And so it is decided. We do this last thing for her as mentors - the rest is up to herself, her own strength and intelligence.

Two minutes later, a silver parachute descends next to Emilia. If she's disappointed when she opens the parcel and sees that it's only bread, she doesn't show it. She sits down, breaks the bread in two and eagerly takes in the wonderful scent of freshly baked bread. Then she eats it, more slowly than I think I could've if I hadn't been eating in days, but she's smart. She can't get sick, not now. There is something almost religious about how she eats the bread, piece by piece, it's almost like she worships it.

She has been hungry most of her life, after all.

The Control Room is eerily silent, no one says a word. Everyone's just standing there, in two groups, one smaller and one larger, staring at the screen on the wall. It's divided in two now - one part for Emilia, one for Kora. I send the Careers a stolen look. They look confident.

Too confident.

I meet Haymitch's eyes, and I can tell he's noticed the same thing.

"I don't like this," he whispers, nearly inaudibly, in my ear. I cling to Peeta's hand, as he clings to mine. Unconsciously, I grab Haymitch's hand, too. He doesn't have anyone to hold on to but us. He squeezes my hand, I think he's grateful.

Emilia sneaks back to the square, where she finds a place to hide from which she can have a good overview of the Cornucopia. She can't see Kora from that angle, though. I have a distinct feeling that her choice of hiding place isn't a coincidence - she wants to be in Kora's blind zone. Has she seen the mirrors from the large distance, though? Does she know that approaching Kora from that angle isn't safe, either?

"I think she knows about the mirrors," Haymitch murmurs. We don't know if it matters if the Careers hear us - probably not - but we can't take that chance. "She probably saw the sun reflected in them." Still, it's almost impossible to know for her if there are any blind zones - and in particular where they are, if they do in fact exist. Even for us, who's had many close-ups of Kora's mirror set-up, it's impossible to determine where the blind zones are.

And why is she waiting? After two hours, we're starting to be worn down. What is she waiting for?

There's a twinkle in Johanna's eyes. "Watch," she mouths, nodding towards the screen. And as I do, I see what she means - this is what Emilia has been waiting for.

The sunset.

When the sun reaches a particular angle, the sun is reflected in the mirrors, hopefully blinding Kora and making it impossible to see Emilia. It's still a huge risk, I can't help wondering if she'd be better off waiting for the darkness - but then again, that's a gamble, too. There is no way for her to know when or if Kora will be asleep. Plus right now, Kora thinks that Mend or Twitch is coming for her, not Emilia.

And we've learned by now that Emilia is fast. There is no hesitation, it's clear that it's now or never. She's left her bottles behind, all she's carrying now is her knife. She sprints across the square, and there is finally unrest among the Victors - gasps, hushed whispers, a stifled cry. Only the Careers are silent.

Kora isn't moving. She hasn't noticed.

Emilia is approaching the Cornucopia fast, I'm guessing she's planning to jump on top of it, then ambush Kora from above. She only has one knife, and I don't know how good she might be at throwing it. I do know that Kora has a number of knives, and her aim is excellent. Emilia needs to surprise Kora, and she'll only get one opportunity to take her down.

But then it happens.

A parachute is coming - and it's coming down much faster than the others have so far. Whatever's attached to it must be very heavy.

"What the..." Haymitch begins, and Peeta's fingers are now squeezing so hard around mine that it hurts. I'm sure my fingernails are digging into his palm, too.

The sudden arrival of the parachute means Kora gets out of the Cornucopia - which again means she sees Emilia approaching - fast. "Oh no..." I whisper, and Peeta makes a strangled sound next to me. This wasn't part of Emilia's plan.

For one terrible second I think Kora is going to reach to her knife belt and take up a knife, but she doesn't. She running towards the parachute instead. Emilia has changed course, she's not going for the Cornucopia anymore, instead she's heading straight for Kora. It's a race against time, both of them seem lightening fast.

Then Kora shouts something triumphantly, I can't make out quite what she says. She gets up from her crouching position by the parachute, which just landed. As she turns around, we can all see what she got from her sponsors. It takes my brain a second or two to realize what it is, because the color is all wrong. It's white as snow, and the unfamiliar color of the otherwise easily recognizable object makes it hard to identify.

I feel all the blood drain from my face.

It's a machine gun.

It seems like everything is happening in slow motion from this point on. All I can ask is: "How on earth could they afford something like this? At this point of the Games?" It wasn't even on the list of sponsor gifts. Handguns have never been a part of the Hunger Games, and automatic weapons are simply unheard of. This very moment must be the biggest shock in the history of the Hunger Games.

But looking at it, there is no question where the machine gun comes from.

Emilia could never be allowed to win. Winning was never an option for her.

Kora sets up the scope, gets Emilia in her sights. Her finger squeezes over the trigger as Emilia lunges...

And nothing happens.

Kora frowns hard and only has time to whack the butt of the machine gun - maybe it's jammed? - before Emilia is nearly on top of her. Kora tries to bring the rifle up and maybe clock my tribute in the head with it, but too late. Emilia rams into her with the force of a bull, and despite her tiny body, she manages to bring the bigger girl down to the dusty earth.

The two young women grapple for control of the gun, which I still don't know whether or not it's jammed, or even loaded.

The answer comes sooner than I expected. For Brutus is suddenly screaming at Enobaria and Lupus, the young man who won two years before Peeta and I did:

"Where's the ammunition box? Please tell me you included the shell casings in the parachute!" Lupus's uncertain cringe tells me all I need to know, and glancing back up at the screens, I see Emilia and Kora still rolling around in the dust. At some point, my tribute managed to wrestle the gun away and toss it out of reach. Oh, God, if she can just hold on...

That's when I glance at Johanna, who appears to be discreetly slipping something into her pocket. It looks like... a box of shell casings. Catching me eye, she almost imperceptibly winks, smirking, and I choke down a grateful sob.

Back on camera, Kora has managed to pin little Emilia beneath her.

"Any last words, runt?"

Emilia's one arm is trapped under her back, but my little tribute shows no fear as she spits in Kora's face. "See you in hell!"

Then, fast as lightning, a flash of silver careens around as Emilia sinks the hidden knife we sent her into Kora's neck and twists.

Blood and pink tendons fly everywhere as Kora's eyes go wide with horror. Her hands fly to her throat and she starts to gargle on her own blood as, grunting, Emilia nudges her enemy off her and lets herself up. Standing over her vanquished last competitor, Emilia appears bigger than she really is, with Kora doubled over in her final death throes.

The Career Victors are shouting obscenities, Brutus slapping his hand around their console in vain search of the stolen shell casings as if that will make some difference.

Kora goes still and her eyes glaze over.

BOOM.

Haymitch lets out a wild whoop and leaps to his feet, overturning his chair. I feel hands go about my waist and then Peeta is furiously kissing me, and I am kissing him back, as the Head Gamemaker's voice resonates through the air - in the arena, in the control room, all over Panem: "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winner of the 76th Annual Hunger Games - Emilia Witheart!"