Let The Games Begin!

by Phoenixure

(AU) What would have happened if neither Peeta nor Prim were reaped and Katniss never volunteered, making the Games continue past the 75th? What if there continued to be victors, but along with that, more slaughter? What if Panem continued to be tortured by the death of their children? This catalog of the Games includes every Games from the 74th to the games end. 74 - 79

5. The 77th Hunger Games

AN: Ok, the arena is pretty hard to picture, basically imagine an outline of an octagon, and a smaller octagon in the middle of that, then imagine eight bicycle spokes connecting their vertices together, now you've basically got the arena.

The 77th Hunger Games

Allor returned for her second year as Head Gamemaker. This year she went for a more futuristic type arena. The Cornucopia was placed in the eleven feet high docking bay in the centre of a very long and very wide spaceship, it was filled with weapons and backpacks with futuristic patterns printed onto them. From there, tributes could go through any of eight sectors. The sectors were equally spaced, and all led off from the docking bay. The sectors were full of cafeterias, bedrooms, bathrooms, closets and useless control rooms. There was an octagonal ring made entirely out of thick glass on the outer end of the ship that connected all of the sectors back together. Again, Allor made the arena completely mutless. There was a twist, the tributes would have to move around the arena in zero gravity.

The Career Pack was definitely one of the worst of the last fifty years. It only consisted of five members and most of them were useless as Careers anyway. The District 1 Boy was fourteen and he wasn't even the chosen Career, he volunteered before the boy selected, Aluminium Dodson, could, but he was allowed into the pack since he had training. The District 1 Girl was one of the only good Careers, she was good with an axe, but she was slightly squeamish, a huge disadvantage. The District 2 Boy was thirteen and had no training experience, the boy meant to volunteer broke his leg the night before the reaping, and the academy couldn't get a replacement fast enough. The District 2 Girl was extremely gothic and pessimistic, the only reason she got chosen was because she was extremely good with a bow and arrow. The District 4 Boy was the closest thing to a leader the pack had, he was a good swordfighter and probably the only acceptable career to be a leader in the pack that year. The District 4 Girl could get frustrated extremely easily, but she was good with a trident. The scores were very under average, one ten, one nine, two eights and a seven. All the other tributes got a score between seven and two.

There wasn't an Anti-Career Alliance, the closest thing to one was the alliance of the District 7 Boy and the District 9 Boy, the best alliance in the game. The District 11 Pair were also in an alliance. There were a few noticeable tributes, the District 3 Girl volunteered for her friend and the District 12 Boy had a broken arm.

District 1: Tarquin Oberon, 14 (7) 12-1 and Ivory McCarthy, 17 (9) 6-1

District 2: Deem Walters, 13 (4) 26-1 and Chostle Morgan, 16 (8) 9-1

District 3: Telle Erikson, 14 (4) 24-1 and Gamma Atherton, 12 (2) 34-1

District 4: Splash Essenson, 18 (10) 4-1 and Marley Allen, 16 (8) 10-1

District 5: Zip Bryant, 14 (5) 22-1 and Doe Carpenter, 12 (2) 34-1

District 6: Jet Sinclair, 15 (5) 20-1 and Demika Barnes, 13 (3) 28-1

District 7: Blade Hodgkinson, 17 (8) 8-1 and Lea Mendoza, 16 (6) 14-1

District 8: Barleycorn Hales, 14 (5) 22-1 and Pep Curry, 13 (4) 26-1

District 9: Wheat Reyes, 16 (7) 11-1 and Sunny Morales, 15 (5) 20-1

District 10: Marshall Lloyd, 14 (4) 24-1 and Ramona Begum, 14 (5) 22-1

District 11: Soy Morocco, 15 (5) 20-1 and Maya Hamilton, 14 (5) 22-1

District 12: Mossy DeMarco, 13 (2) 30-1 and Alexa Mitchell, 15 (5) 20-1
OCBS Bets: 15% Splash, 12% Ivory, 10% Chostle & Marley, 8% Tarquin & Blade, 5% Wheat & Lea, 3% Soy, Deem & Alexa, 2% Sunny, Jet, Telle, Maya, Barleycorn & Zip, 1% or less Gamma, Doe, Demika, Pep, Marshall, Ramona & Mossy.

The Arena

The tributes rose into the arena, most of them being confused about where they were. When the time ticked down to zero, they all began to float into the air, many of them panicking, some of them realising that due to them being in a sort of spaceship there was no gravity.

After about thirty seconds, Splash managed to get to the Cornucopia. He grabbed a floating sword and swam over to a girl helplessly flailing around. He thrust his sword into the girl's chest, killing her.

24th- Pep Curry (8) killed by Splash (4) – Bloodbath

Then, Ivory and Tarquin reached the Cornucopia and grabbed their favourite weapons. Ivory grabbed an axe and flung it at Deem, she looked away as it cut into his chest.

23rd- Deem Walters (2) killed by Ivory (1) – Bloodbath

Tarquin grabbed a pair of purple sais and plunged them into a young girl floating towards the cornucopia.

22nd- Doe Carpenter (5) killed by Tarquin (1) – Bloodbath

Splash pulled his sword out of Pep and scrambled towards a b reaching for a backpack which was floating around seven feet in the air. When the boy saw splash swimming towards him, he began scrambling to the roof of the arena. As Splash got close, the boy lunged off of the roof and shot down onto the floor, kicking Splash in the face in the process. Splash's nose began to bleed and through a sudden fit of rage, Splash flung the sword at the boy in a last-ditch attempt to kill him. Through some amazing form of luck, the sword managed to deflect off of the Cornucopia and plunge into the boy's back. Splash swam down and grabbed another sword plunging it through the boy's neck, killing him.

21st- Maya Hamilton (11) killed by Splash (4) – Bloodbath

Chostle made it to the Cornucopia with Marley merely seconds behind. Marley quickly found two tridents and set off to kill tributes, but Chostle was having trouble finding a bow and arrow, unbeknownst to her, Lea from District 7 had taken the only one in the arena and was floating away with it.

The amount of tributes still at the Cornucopia was dwindling, and Marley and Chostle were still yet to have a kill. Marley got into range of a small boy and flung her trident at him. It was off by a few inches and sailed past his chest. By then, he notice the presence of Marley and began diving away from her, before she flung her other trident at him and hit him in the side, he bled out a few minutes later.

20th- Marshall Lloyd (10) killed by Marley (4) – Bloodbath

It had been a minute or two since Tarquin had got a kill, so he went into the Cornucopia to get more weapons to hunt. As he reached the back of the Cornucopia one of the strongest outliers, Wheat, came in front of the entrance, blocking him from escaping. Wheat picked up a sword and slowly floated towards Tarquin, he reached stabbing distance and moved the tip of the sword just above Tarquin's face. Just as he was about to kill Tarquin, Splash suddenly thrust a sword through Wheat's back. Tarquin sighed with relief whilst picking up some more sais and stabbing Wheat through the shoulders.

19th- Wheat Reyes (9) killed by Splash (4) & Tarquin (1) – Bloodbath

Chostle had finally figured out where to get a bow and arrow. She could vaguely see Lea floating away with one in the distance. Chostle began to power-swim through the air towards Lea, desperate to get her specialised weapon. After about two minutes of non-stop thrusting, Chostle finally caught up to Lea, she jumped onto the tall girl's back, which made Lea squeal in fright. Chostle leaned out to reach for the bow in Lea's hand, the momentum of Chostle leaning forward made both of the girls spin like helicopter blades. Lea, desperate, to escape, let go of her bow and took off the quiver. Chostle let go of her, desperate to get the bow and arrows. Lea scrambled away down Sector 2 before Chostle had a chance to attack.

The penultimate kill was made by Ivory, her goal was to get two kills in the bloodbath, she already had one, but there were only two non-Careers still at the Cornucopia. Ivory went for the weaker and smaller boy, she grabbed two, new, purple axes and flung them at the boy with amazing accuracy. The first axe cut into his side, injuring him, but not killing, the second one hit him directly in the chest and punctured some vital organs, ultimately killing him.

18th- Telle Erikson (3) killed by Ivory (1) – Bloodbath

Chostle was the only Career without a kill and the Bloodbath was coming to a close, there where now no non-Careers in the Cornucopia, but there were a few tributes still haeding down the main sector hallways. The nearest outlier was the small girl from the Transportation District, so Chostle went for her. Chostle fired her first arrow at the girl, it zoomed past the left side of the girl's head. The second arrow was fired, but it was too low by a few inches to cause any harm. The girl was now almost out of range, but with one final shot, Chostle hit the girl directly in the neck, killing her almost instantly.

17th- Demika Barnes (6) killed by Chostle (2) - Bloodbath

Eight cannons went off marking the end of the Bloodbath.

It was decided that Splash would be the Career Pack leader, since he had two-and-a-half kills, compared to Ivory's two, Tarquin's one-and-a-half and Chostle & Marley's one.

Splash went on a hunt around the area of the Cornucopia, but with no luck. Meanwhile, Ivory and Tarquin had been given the task to round the dead tribute's bodies up, which they found to be very hard since the bodies kept floating away from each other, eventually, they had to just wrap a net around them all and hope they would get removed before the smell got too bad. Chostle and Marley were tasked to sort the remaining supplies in the Cornucopia, Chostle the weapons and Marley the food and other supplies.

When Splash returned, he helped sort out the remaining supplies, the Careers spent the rest of the day talking about strategies and what it was like in other districts. Gamma had headed down Sector 3 and eventually decided to rest in a small laboratory of sorts, it was supplied with a small amount of food and water, there were also many books about technology and chemistry that she entertained herself with. Zip had flew through the majority of the night just so he could get to the outer ring of the arena, he was fascinated by the new constellations and planets that he could see. Jet had gone over to Sector 6, he didn't gather any supplies, so he was hoping to find some supplies scattered around, he eventually managed to find a half-full water bottle in a broom closet and decided to sleep there for the night. Blade decided to go down Sector 6, he flew almost all the way to the outer rim before settling down in an office room. After Chostle took the bow off of her, Lea got terribly scared and hid in a small storage closet in Sector 5, it had small amounts of food, water and other supplies. Barleycorn left the Bloodbath with only a slice of bread and a bandage, he had been attacked by Marley and had a light cut on his left arm, it wasn't anything that could cause a scar, but if he wasn't careful, it could get infectious, so when he got to a safe spot in a break room in Sector 1, he wrapped his bandage around his cut. Sunny grabbed a backpack with a knife, a full water bottle and some beef jerky strips in it, she decided to go into a cafeteria in Sector 4 to get food, but it had a four-digit number lock on the entrance door, she got up to 3740 with no luck, and decided to go to sleep. Ramona had grabbed a piece of bread and instantly left the Bloodbath, she headed down Sector 8 and hid in a storage room about halfway down the sector. Soy had grabbed a backpack, a knife and some wire before he quickly flew into Sector 7 and ended up in a bedroom about three-quarters the way down the sector, when he got there, he looked through his backpack, there was a two-thirds full water bottle, a medical kit and a box of matches. Mossy went straight into Sector 6 when the countdown ended and hoped to find something to eat, he went through a few rooms and ended up with a small bar of chocolate, two full water bottles and a blanket. Alexa had snatched a torch from the Bloodbath then headed into Sector 2, where she ended up in a bathroom, its floor was made out of cold, hard concrete so she had to wrap towels around herself to keep her warm.

On the morning of Day 2, the Careers one by one woke up. They decided it would be better to hunt whilst most of the other tributes were asleep, so it was decided that Chostle would stay and guard the Cornucopia and the rest of them would hunt for tributes. Before they went, they debated over which sector they would go in they decided to come up with a randomised system of picking the sector, there were eight items in a bag, each one according to a sector, which ever sector was picked they would hunt for tributes in. Splash ended up pulling out the item for Sector 3, so that's where they went.

They searched for two hours with no luck (it was made harder due to the fact that there were objects floating everywhere) until they went into a laboratory and saw a still half-asleep Gamma lying a few inches above the floor. When Gamma saw them, she immediately started panicking and scrambling to the exit, which Tarquin was blocking, so she kicked him in the chest, winding him. She seized the chance to escape and began air-swimming away from the Cornucopia. Marley, Splash and Ivory chased after Gamma whilst Tarquin remained winded. After a few seconds, Splash threw a throwing knife at Gamma, and it hit her directly in the shoulder, slowing her down severely. As Splash was about to throw another knife, Marley barged in on him and made them both spin around wildly and lose sense of direction. Ivory, the only Career still able to get Gamma, got close enough to grab Gamma by the hair and stabbed her in the ribs with an axe, Gamma eventually died from blood loss and organ failure.

16th- Gamma Atherton (3) killed by Splash (4) & Ivory (1) – Day 2

After Gamma died, they rested for around half an hour before they began searching the rest of Sector 3 for the majority of the day, but with no luck. They got near to the end of the sector and then decided to go back, quickly floating so it didn't take them all night. When they got back, they explained to Chostle that they had successfully killed Gamma but didn't find anybody else.

Zip stayed in the outer ring he still had tons of water, but was running low on food so he was deciding whether or not to go and search for food that day or the next, he eventually decided to wait until the next day, when the Careers had already checked more places. Jet left his broom closet and moved into an office room to stay, in the office room he found some more water and passed the time by reading magazines. Blade finally got to the outer ring and decided to relax and use some of his supplies. Lea was leaning back in her closet when the wall gave way, finding out there was a fake wall at the back of it that led to a small room with a flashlight and a loaf of bread inside of it. Barleycorn stayed in the break room in Sector 1 and nibbled on the rations that he had. Sunny finally unlocked the code door, the code was 7462, when she got into the cafeteria, she saw tens of delicious, breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts. Ramona stayed in the storage room and nibbled on her bread, she knew she couldn't stay there forever, but she didn't want to leave in case she had a run in with the Careers. Soy had left his bedroom and moved to a laboratory close to the outer ring. Mossy had continued searching through rooms and gathering more supplies. Alexa stayed in her bathroom; she was used to not eating food for long periods of time and decided it would be safer to stay there, rather than brave the danger of moving.

The Careers were the first people awake on Day 3, they decided that Ivory was going to stay at the Cornucopia, Tarquin decided he would also be at the Cornucopia, so he could let his minor injuries inflicted from Gamma, heal. The item that was pulled out of the bag was equivalent to Sector 6, so Marley, Splash and Chostle hunted there.

They decided that Splash would check the left side and Chostle and Marley would check the right side. After only an hour and twenty minutes, Splash bumped into Jet whilst Jet was distracted by the magazines he was reading, and Splash easily stabbed Jet through the heart before Jet could even properly react.

15th- Jet Sinclair (6) killed by Splash (4) – Day 3

The trio spent the next three hours looking for more tributes until Chostle and Marley floated into a storage room and saw Mossy looking for more supplies inside of it. When Mossy saw them, he immediately screamed, before Chostle shot an arrow into his neck, it didn't kill him instantly though and he had the strength to fling a crate at Chostle with his one good arm, who somehow got pinned to the ground by it. Marley flung a trident at him and it hit him right in the torso, killing him.

14th- Mossy DeMarco (12) killed by Chostle (2) & Marley (4) – Day 3

Over the next two hours, the three of them continued searching through the sector for the next hour or so, before it became clear that there were no other tributes there when they started heading back to the Cornucopia, Splash flew on ahead leaving Chostle and Marley to privately talk.
"I think we need to kill off Ivory and Tarquin. Maybe on the night of Day 5 or early Day 6" Marley said to Chostle.
"What? Why Ivory and Tarquin specifically." Chostle replied.
"Think about it, they are the most likely to break off from the Careers and kill us, all we need is to convince Splash to join us, just don't tell anyone ok?" Marley said.
Chostle mumbled in reply.

When they got back, they found out sponsors had grouped together to make an adjustable bar graph to keep track of each Career's kills, it's numbers were accurate, with Splash having four kills, Ivory having two-and-a-half and Tarquin, Chostle and Marley tying with one-and-a-half each.

They spent the rest of the day debating strategy, how long they thought the game would last and who the strongest tributes were, Chostle having the constant dilemma over whether or not to tell them about Marley's plan or not. Zip decided to search through the rooms at the end of Sector 1, where he accidentally banged into Barleycorn, instead of attacking him, Zip decided it would be a better idea to ally with him, so that's what they did, they shared supplies with each other, Zip giving water and Barleycorn giving food. Blade mostly stayed on the outer ring, occasionally dipping into a sector to get supplies. Lea continued to hide in her secret room, somebody sponsored her a classic book from District 7 to keep her entertained, so she happily read it, using her flashlight to see. Sunny stayed in the cafeteria, she had already eaten a fifth of the meals in there, but she was trying to ration it because it may have been the only food she would find for the rest of her time in the games. Ramona finally left her storage room and air-swam on for around half an hour before stopping in a control room that showed a map of the entire arena on it, she gathered some more supplies from there and ended up with enough food and water to last her for about three or four days. Soy slept for most of Day 3, after he heard the two cannons, he knew the Careers were getting bloodthirsty, so he tried to get as much energy into himself as possible, so he could outfloat them if they found him. Alexa, continued to stay in her bathroom, she knew she couldn't stay there forever as the Capitol would be getting bored so she decided she would move the next day.

On Day 4, Zip was the first awake, he woke Barleycorn up and they began hunting for supplies and other tributes. Whilst they were hunting, Zip and Barleycorn talked about life in districts, most of which had to be censored by the Capitol, as citizens from the districts could not know what life is like in other districts, but there was a bit where they were talking about Barleycorn's name, which many Capitolites found hilarious.
"Why is your name Barleycorn, you're from eight, right?" Zip asked.
"Mhm." Barleycorn replied. "My parents got the name off of a District 9 kid who was reaped, but somebody else took their place, and the name kinda just stuck to them."
"So if basically the two people called Barleycorn in Panem got reaped?" Zip asked.
"Heh. Maybe, there's probably more people called Barleycorn in District 9." Barleycorn replied.

The Capitol did a survey in District 9, and it turned out eleven other people were named Barleycorn, though after the 77th Hunger Games Barleycorn became a much more popular name in both District 9 and the Capitol.

When the Careers woke up, they had a quick breakfast and then decided that Splash would stay at the Cornucopia and the other four would hunt. They pulled the item that accorded to Sector 5. So they set off hunting, hoping they would find some tributes.

Day 4 was one of the only days without a death, the closest thing that happened was when Ivory got within two meters of Lea. The Careers had been hunting through Sector 5 for around three hours and twenty minutes when Ivory went into the storage closet Lea was hiding in. Ivory poked around through a few boxes and piles of clothes before leaving without a second thought. If Lea hadn't found out about the secret room, she would have most likely died.

Ivory, Tarquin, Chostle and Marley all searched through Sector 5 for the majority of the day without finding anyone and decided it would be better to just head back.

"Nobody?" Splash asked when they got back.
"Yep. I guess Sector 5 wasn't very popular." Tarquin replied.

Zip and Barleycorn returned from hunting, they didn't find any tributes, but they did find tons of amazing supplies, in the afternoon, Barleycorn made them both a meal of beef jerky sandwich, with chocolate for dessert. Blade continued to mostly stay on the outer-ring and dip into sectors for supplies. Lea knew that she was almost dead meat, she heard Ivory poking around in her closet, it made her realise how unsafe she actually was , she huddled up in a corner for the rest of the day, paralysed with fear. Sunny stayed in her cafeteria, she was perfectly happy there, she had food, water and weapons, she had seen previous games and knew that the Gamemakers were going to try and coax her out of there, but she was hoping there was enough drama going on elsewhere to keep the Capitol happy. Ramona stayed in the control room, she decided it would be a safe bet to move around every two or three days. Soy stayed in the laboratory, he made himself a mini-den out of shelves and blankets to pass the time, as he hadn't seen a person for three days now, and was getting slightly bored. Alexa finally left her bathroom, she moved to a storage room, where she could hide easier.

On Day 5, Chostle was the first awake, in fact, she had barely been asleep, she was still arguing to herself about whether or not to tell the others about Marley's plan.

Ramona was awake next, she knew she was quite possibly the weakest tribute still alive, so she decided it would be better to try and hunt for tributes, even though if she did find anyone, they would probably overpower her.

Eventually, the other Careers woke up. The only one of them that hadn't guarded the Cornucopia was Marley, so she was automatically put to guard it, even when she tried to argue about why she shouldn't. They pulled out the item which accorded to Sector 1, so the four of them set off.

Blade continued to dip in and out of sectors, but when he got to Sector 5, he decided to dip in a bit more than usual. He saw a noticeable number of doors had been left open, and a lot of things had been moved around, he correctly guessed that the Careers had already checked through there. He continued to float on, until he noticed a mildly bright light illuminating from a closet. When he entered it, he found no sort of light inside of it, until he saw that it was in fact coming from underneath the back wall. He got a hold of it and pulled it out. There, he found Lea shivering, terrified. He was about to attack her, until he realised that it was his district partner. He asked her for an alliance and held a hand out to her, she accepted it, being lifted up by him.

At around 1PM, it was hard to tell being in space and all, the Careers were searching down the main hallway when they heard talking in the distance. They all creeped closer until they saw Zip and Barleycorn float out of a room basically straight into them. Barleycorn screamed as the Careers readied their weapons.

Chostle shot Barleycorn in the chest with an arrow, making him tumble to the floor. Seconds later, Tarquin jumped onto Barleycorn and stabbed him in the heart with his sais.

13th- Barleycorn Hales (8) killed by Tarquin (1) & Chostle (2) – Day 5

Then all eyes turned to Zip. Zip flung his knife at the Careers, hoping it would hit one of them, it found home at the edge of Splash's shoulder, making him fall to his knees in pain. Chostle shot an arrow at Zip's neck, but it was off by a few inches, hitting him in the arm instead, making Zip yelp in pain. Whilst everyone was distracted by Splash's injury, Zip took the opportunity to float away, and was gone before they knew what happened.

"We should head back, so we can patch Splash's cut up." Tarquin suggested.
"Wait! Before you do, a few days ago Marley told me she wanted to kill of Tarquin and Ivory, she said she was going to do it tonight, this is the only opportunity to tell you about it before she does it." Chostle exclaimed.
"Marley wanted to kill us?" Tarquin asked.
"Mhm." Chostle replied.
"I trust you, but you better not be lying." Ivory said.
"I'm not! Just, pretend to fall asleep tonight, but don't actually do it." Chostle instructed.

They began heading back to the Cornucopia, where Marley was waiting for them.

Zip was crying, both in pain and the fact that he had lost his only friend in the games. After Barleycorn's death, Zip found a vent shaft just large enough for him to squeeze into, so he hurried into their before the Careers found him. He had taken the arrow out, the injury was healable and wasn't that deep, it had luckily not punctured an artery, but there was still a lot of blood. He was suddenly sent a sponsor gift for injuring the strongest player in the game, inside of it was a bandage and a small bottle of water, since a lot of his supplies had been removed from the arena, since Barleycorn was carrying the main backpack. Blade and Lea's newfound alliance was going extremely well, Lea now had access to food and water and Blade had access to a light source to navigate the dimly lit hallways. Sunny was getting bored and made up two imaginary friends, one named Laika, the other named Kham, people began to debate over whether or not she was actually bored or slightly crazy. Ramona had an unsuccessful hunting trip, she did find a decent amount of food, but no tributes. Soy began reading the books in the room he was staying in, even though he didn't understand what about half of the words actually meant. Alexa had a fun time climbing around the storage room she was in and challenging herself to climbing higher or faster around.

Marley awoke on the early hours of Day 6, she shook Chostle awake and then grabbed a trident. She loomed over Ivory, supposedly sleeping in her sleeping bag. As she was about to bring down the trident onto her, Ivory pulled a hatchet out of her sleeping bag and plunged it into Marley's chest. Marley fell onto Ivory, who kicked her off. Chostle finished off Marley by plunging an arrow into her chest.

12th- Marley Allen (4) killed by Ivory (1) & Chostle (2) – Day 6

The cannon woke most of the other tributes up, and a lot of them couldn't get back to sleep, thinking the Careers had already began hunting.

When the Careers did begin hunting, it had already been six hours since Marley's demise. Whilst they were eating breakfast, they didn't talk much, still thinking about Marley. They decided that Splash should guard the Cornucopia whilst his arm was healing. They pulled out the object that accorded to Sector 4.

They weren't really in the mood for hunting after the death of Marley, even Ivory, who was almost killed by her. Tarquin tried to open the door to a cafeteria, the cafeteria which Sunny was in, before he realised it was a number locked door. He got up to 0010 before deciding nobody was in there and moving on.

They hunted through around four fifths of Sector 4 before deciding to just head back.

Zip was beginning to feel a lot better physically, but he was still pretty down in the dumps mentally, staying in his vent shaft for comfort. Blade and Lea had moved over to Sector 7, where there were a lot more supplies and new hiding spots. Sunny had begun mourning over Kham's 'death' and more people were beginning to think she was insane, whilst she was 'conversing' with Laika she suddenly passed out, when she awoke, she seemed to be back to normal, what she was like about four days prior. Ramona lay down and worried, she was beginning to be utterly stressed out about the situation she was is, running out of food and water whilst bloodthirsty teenagers hunted her down. Soy began setting up traps in the room he was in, so if anyone opened the door from the outside, a net would fall onto them and pin them to the floor. Alexa decided to move again, this time, going to an entirely different sector, Sector 7, which just so happened to be the same sector that Soy was in.

By the time Soy had finished setting up the traps, it was about four hours into Day 7.

Meanwhile, the Careers gradually woke up and Splash addressed them with a problem.
"So guys, we are a week in and there's still eleven tributes left alive." Splash said.
"Yeah, and you point is?" Chostle replied.
"Some games are over by now." Splash explained. "Actually who is left, other than us?"
"That District 5 Boy." Tarquin said.
"Both from District 7." Chostle added.
Ivory counted her fingers from a moment. "All the girls from 9, 10 and 12."
"That's ten, who's the other one?" Tarquin asked.
"Oh, Boy from 11." Splash answered. "Anyway, my point was, we have to put yesterday behind us, and hunt harder than we ever have before."

They decided that Tarquin would guard and the other three would hunt.
They pulled out the object that accorded for Sector 8.

When the trio entered Sector 8, they split up and immediately began searching through all of the room thoroughly, and they had gotten through a quarter of the sector in under an hour, a record time for them.

It had been about an hour and three quarters of hunting before Splash found Ramona, lying down in a control room, he homed in on her like a missile, she tried to put up a fight, but she was weaponless, and in the end, she couldn't beat Splash. Splash thrust his sword into her gut, securing himself with (adding the halves together) five full kills.

11th- Ramona Begum (10) killed by Splash (4) – Day 7

When Splash exited the room, he high-fived Chostle and Ivory, who had stopped hunting and left their rooms to see what had happened. Splash securing a kill lifted all of the Careers' spirits, even though they didn't find anybody else for the remainder of the day.

Alexa knew she was in the final ten tributes, and she knew that the majority of those tributes would probably be stronger than her, so she pulled a piece of metal out of the wall and shaped it with her hands and shoes for around an hour until it was turned into a sharp blade capable of killing.

When the hunting trio returned, they all had new-found hope for hunting down tributes. As they snacked on dinner, they told stories about their life in the districts, as it got later, they told ghost stories to each other, they seemed like completely different people from themselves the day before.

Zip was gradually recovering, he was running low on food once again, but refused to move in case the Careers found him. Blade and Lea, stayed in Sector 7, but a small thought in the back of Blade's mind began to grow, other than himself and Lea, there were only eight other tributes, and he didn't want to be in a situation where they were the last two, but there were still the other eight tributes, he didn't worry that much. Sunny seemed to be entirely back to normal, she seemed to have no memory of what had previously happened, she went scavenging for a weapon, and eventually found a small knife at the bottom of a storage room closet. Soy stayed in his trapped room, he was happy there, but he was beginning to run out of food. Alexa went on a small hunting trip, at one point coming within 100 feet of Soy.

On Day 8, the Careers were still pretty happy about the day prior, so they decided to go hunting early, Ivory guarded the Cornucopia, they pulled out the object that accorded to Sector 7 out of the bag, meaning they would have to check Sector 2 the next day.

Tarquin, Ivory and Splash had been hunting for around half an hour, making them just out of distance of the Cornucopia when Chostle spotted Alexa scavenging in the distance. Tarquin and Chostle floated after Alexa whilst Splash continued checking where he was in case it was some sort of decoy or trap. Ironically, about a minute later Splash opened the door to the trapped room Soy had set up and the net pinned him down to the floor using a rope mechanism, Splash easily cut the net open and exited the room, all without seeing Coy, who was huddled in a corner, once.

Chostle and Tarquin had lost sight of Alexa, and by the time they got to the area she was scavenging, she was no where to be seen. They continued hunting for about fifteen minutes before hearing whispering coming from a room to their left. Tarquin opened the door, inside were the tributes from District 7. The Careers instantly poised to attack, Chostle making the first move, nocking an arrow into her bow and firing it at Lea, it hit her in the arm, making her scream out in pain. Blade quickly reacted, throwing one of his only knives at Tarquin. The blade planted itself firmly in Tarquin's chest, puncturing his liver. Tarquin was moments from being dead, with his dying strength, he flung a throwing knife at Lea, hitting her just to the left of her navel.

10th- Tarquin Oberon (1) killed by Blade (7) – Day 8

A matter of seconds later, Lea also died.

9th- Lea Mendoza (7) killed by Tarquin (1) & Chostle (2) – Day 8

That left the final eight: Ivory McCarthy from District 1, Chostle Morgan from District 2, Splash Essenson from District 4, Zip Bryant from District 5, Blade Hodgkinson from District 7, Sunny Morales from District 9, Soy Morocco from District 11 and Alexa Mitchell from District 12.

Blade kicked Chostle, who was obstructing the exit door, to the ground and then flew away towards the outer ring. Chostle hit the floor hard, she banged her head against it, knocking her unconscious.

When Splash first arrived at the scene, he thought both Tarquin and Chostle had died, with Tarquin floating motionlessly by floor with a knife in his chest and Chostle lying right next to him. He eventually heard Chostle groaning though, and then discovered Lea's corpse.

Splash got Chostle to her feet, and then they slowly went back to the Cornucopia, aware that Blade and Alexa could be anywhere around them, ready to strike. When they got back to the Cornucopia, Ivory was dismayed to learn that Tarquin, her district partner, had died. Any hope that they had from the day prior had been lost.

"I've watched some bad things happen in the games on TV, but I never thought it would be like this." Ivory said, sighing.

"At least we have strength in numbers I guess." Splash replied.

Zip finally left his vent shaft, he travelled all the way to the outer rim, the place he first went after escaping the Bloodbath. Blade wasn't feeling the best after the death of Lea, he headed towards the outer rim before stopping to rest in a bedroom. Sunny finally left her cafeteria and moved to a bathroom further away from the Cornucopia, taking her knife and remaining food with her. Soy decided to move to a room slightly closer to the Cornucopia after Splash ripped up his trap mechanism. Alexa had seen the Careers coming towards her and hurriedly floated away into a storage room, where she stayed for the rest of the day.

By the time Day 9 rolled around, a lot of the outliers began preparing for what they would do if they had to face up against the three remaining Careers.

Chostle guarded the Cornucopia, whilst Ivory and Splash hunted through Sector 2. The duo didn't get to hunt for long though, because at around noon, there was a mid-game announcement.

"The spacecraft has lost control and is hurtling towards a nearby moon, it will hit in approximately ten minutes. Sectors 5, 6, 7 and 8 are highly likely to be destroyed. This will be the only announcement." Allor announced.

The arena hadn't actually lost control like some Capitolites claimed, it was just an interesting arena event to bring tributes closer, though it did scare tributes that were in sectors five through eight and the outer ring surrounding it, such as Blade, Soy and Alexa.

Splash and Ivory rushed back to the Cornucopia, the former of which managed to make it back to the Cornucopia, but the latter was too late. Ivory had to compromise by ducking into a storage room near the Cornucopia. The best Zip could do was grab onto the wall of the outer ring and hope for the best. Blade got as far as he possible could away from the to-be destroyed zone. Sunny didn't really do anything, she wasn't in the danger zone, so she deemed herself safe. Soy went into a metal-rimmed room and covered himself with blankets, bracing for impact. All Alexa did was curl into a ball and try to stay calm.

An artificial voice filled the arena; 'Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1'

8th- Alexa Mitchell (12) killed by Spaceship Crash – Day 9

Alexa was hit head on by the moon and was crushed by a few tons of spaceship metal landing on top of her.

When the ship crash-landed, the zero gravity feature turned off, causing Zip to lose his grip and begin sliding down the outer ring, when he hit a window, he hit it with such force that it smashed, leaving him with hundreds of shards of glass buried in his skin, he then fell to his death, hitting the ground with a thump.

7th- Zip Bryant (5) killed by Spaceship Crash – Day 9

A few other players were affected by the absence of zero gravity, such as Sunny, who was in the open hallway, whom when the zero gravity was removed began sliding down it, luckily, she managed to grab onto a door and prevent herself from slipping any further.

As soon as the ship had settled down slightly, Splash and Chostle went searching for Ivory, they had heard two cannons, and they hoped she wasn't one of them. They eventually found her curled up into a ball, shivering. Chostle lifted her to her feet, then they all walked back to the Cornucopia and searched for supplies that hadn't been lost, broken or destroyed.

Then they began hunting in the wreckage on the moon for tributes. They could easily access the moon from the Cornucopia, it was now only 100 feet away, even when the spacecraft was lodged into it at a 20-degree tilt. Once they began hunting, they found out that they still weren't experiencing the gravity of Earth, in fact, the moon's gravity was only about 0.18 times the gravity of Earth. The atmosphere was similar to that of Earth's though but a few times more thinner, to prevent tributes from instantly dying from lack of oxygen.

The moon itself was a lavenderish grey type of colour, it orbited a planet that was full of crimsons, purples and blues. A hot, sweltering sun beat down on them, making tribute want to stay closer to the wreckage than out in the open with almost no form of shade.

Blade had managed to distance himself far enough from the impact zone that he wasn't injured in the slightest, over the course of an hour, he slowly edged himself closer and closer to the moon's surface, trying to stay out of sight of the Careers and any other tributes that might be watching him. Sunny was the last tribute to touch the moon's surface, she had stayed in her hiding spot for a total of four hours before she moved onto the moon, when she did, she instantly ran as far away from the spacecraft as possible, hiding in a crater about a mile away. Soy was smart to have hid in the metal-rimmed room, as it had stayed entirely intact, unfortunately, it had been buried under half a metre of rubble, with the door side facing up, it was an outwards opening door meaning he would probably be stuck there, but due to the lesser gravity and his strength, he could just about force it open and brush the rubble aside, escaping.

Blade had been searching through rubble for supplies for around half an hour before he spotted Soy spying on the Careers in the distance. Blade creeped up on Soy, and many speculated that he was going to kill him, but to many people's surprise, Blade asked him for a temporary alliance until the final five, pulling his last surviving knife out to show Soy what he would have to deal with if he declined. Soy, not really having a choice, decided to accept, he did want to take down the Careers and him and Blade were the strongest outlying tributes.

The three Careers finished hunting and scavenging and decided to set up camp on the moon's surface since the Cornucopia and most of its content had been destroyed. They got some dry wood that survived the crash and lit them on fire with matches, setting up a campfire, they then build around from there, filling crates with supplies and setting up the two intact sleeping bags around that. It quickly went dark after that and they set up a guarding system to prevent the outliers to steal their supplies.

It became Day 10, and the Careers got to hunting straight away. They decided Chostle guard, Ivory hunt the actual moon surface and Splash hunt the wreckage and the surviving part of the ship.

Splash found it much easier to hunt through the spaceship being about to actually walk and there being half as many sectors. He had managed ton hunt through two sectors in only two and a half hours alone.

Ivory quickly found a loophole to hunting, since there was little to no wind on the moon due to such a small atmosphere, she would easily find footprints of tributes and just follow them until she found the tribute they belonged to. She found a small pair of tracks within an hour and followed them until she found Sunny lying in a crater, still asleep. Sunny awoke to the sound of movement and saw Ivory looming over her. Sunny screamed, but Ivory had already stabbed her through the chest before she could run. At this point, Ivory had almost entirely gotten over her squeamishness after seeing so much blood over the past week.

6th- Sunny Morales (9) killed by Ivory (1) – Day 10

Ivory headed back to Chostle after securing the kill, with Splash doing the exact same.

"What happened?" Splash asked Ivory after she returned.

"Killed the girl from 9." Ivory explained. "Just the boys from 7 & 11 left now."

After hearing Sunny's cannon, Blade and Soy shook hands and ended their alliance, after a mere nineteen hours. They walked away from each other in opposite directions, taking the supplies they originally had with them.

Day 11 rolled around, the final deathless day of the games. Ivory stood guard whilst Splash hunted the moon and Chostle hunted through the spacecraft. Though, after seven hours of searching, they found nobody.

Blade had gone over to the east side of the spacecraft's rubble, he began practising his tactics and reflexes, preparing for the finale. Soy knew he was now the weakest living tribute in the arena, so he did some push-ups and press-ups until he felt ready, then he began weaving his way through the rubble until he got to a point where he knew nobody would find him.

On Day 12, Allor decided that the finale would begin, a sort of Careers vs Outliers finale. At around noon, Allor made an announcement.

"All surviving tributes must be at the Cornucopia within twenty minutes, or your trackers will be exploded." she said.

Splash was the first at the Cornucopia, with Ivory and Chostle not far behind. It had been seven minutes before Blade arrived at the Cornucopia, Soy arriving just a few seconds later. The finale began, with all of them equipped with a weapon; Splash a sword, Chostle a bow and five arrows, Ivory an axe and Soy and Blade a knife each.

Blade was the first to attack, flinging his knife into Ivory's side, making her scream in pain and fall to her knees. In retaliation, Splash plunged his sword into Blade's chest, puncturing some of Blade's organs. Blade died from organ failure around a minute later.

5th- Blade Hodgkinson (7) killed by Splash (4) – Day 12

Soy saw that Ivory was in a weak state, so he slipped past Splash and stabbed her in her oesophagus, killing her rather quickly.

4th- Ivory McCarthy (1) killed by Blade (7) & Soy (11) – Day 12

Chostle nocked an arrow into her bow and fired it at Soy, it hit him directly in the neck. Soy stumbled backwards and fell over. Splash finished him off by plunging his sword into his heart.

3rd- Soy Morocco (11) killed by Chostle (2) & Splash (4) – Day 12.

It dawned on Chostle and Splash that they were the final two people left in the arena. They walked up to each other and shook hands, officially ending the Career Alliance.
"Fair fight?" Chostle asked.
"Fair fight." Splash replied.

Chostle and Splash threw all of the weapons away except for their bow-and-arrow and sword.

"Begin!" Splash shouted.

Chostle nocked an arrow into her bow and fired it at Splash, it landed in his left shoulder, Splash tried not to focus on the pain, and instead focus on killing Chostle. Splash swung his sword at Chostle, who managed to duck out of the way in time. Chostle shot another arrow into Splash's shoulder, making him yell out. Splash was just a metre away from Chostle now. Chostle knew she couldn't fight Splash, so she began backing away. Splash swung his sword at Chostle, who panicked and held her bow out in front of her. Splash promptly cut her bow in half, deeming it completely useless. Chostle screamed and began to run away before she tripped on a bit of rubble and came tumbling to the ground. Splash walked over to Chostle, putting a foot on her chest to make sure she couldn't escape. Splash triumphantly plunged his blade into Chostle's chest quickly killing her.

2nd- Chostle Morgan (2) killed by Splash (4) – Day 12

"Splash Essenson, you are the Victor of the 77th Annual Hunger Games!" Allor exclaimed.

1st- Splash Essenson (4), the Victor of the 77th Hunger Games

Games Facts

Average age of tributes in the 76th Hunger Games: 14.6

Average training score of tributes in the 76th Hunger Games: 4.8

Victor News

Splash marries a tribute trainer when he turns twenty, over his lifetime, he has three children with her and ends up with eleven grandchildren. Surprisingly, Splash hardly even drinks. Splash dies shortly after the conclusion of the 130th Hunger Games from old age.

On Splash's Victory Tour, most of the citizens of districts liked him due to his charmingness, though some were upset with him killing their tributes to a point there was even an assassination attempt in District 11, which failed. District 2 was beginning to get extremely irritated by the fact that their tributes kept coming 2nd.

Crown marries his girlfriend of four years, Amazonite.

Amber Blackwell has a baby boy, who she names Jakson.

Victor List

74th #1 Finch Crossly D5
75th #1 Amber Blackwell D7
76th #1 Crown Cornice D1
77th #1 Splash Essenson D4

AN: Sorry for the late update, I've been pretty busy the past few days, just so you know. I'll try to update at least every week. Did you like Splash? Tell me your thoughts on him or anyone else!