THE THIRD ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Castaways"


INTRODUCTION

By the time of the third annual Hunger Games, the gamemakers had learned a lot through trial and error pertaining the layout of the arena. Most importantly, they realized that they needed to limit the tributes access to the areas near the force field to prevent mass deaths the likes of which were seen in the second Hunger Games. They solved this problem by placing intense natural barriers in front of the force field so that it would be difficult for tributes to make contact with it. Also, they discovered that the tributes could not be sustained by a few small streams; huge bodies of water such as lakes and rushing rivers would have to be added to supply each tribute with the most important commodity of all. The arena was an island in the middle of a massive ocean. The cornucopia stood in a huge field of lush green grass, bursting with every type of colorful flower one could imagine. The field was about half a mile in diameter, and was surrounded by a lovely oak forest. Finally, an intense and stormy mountain range circled the arena, limiting the tributes access to the force field. A crystal clear lake sparkling in the light of the sun stood just to the left of the cornucopia, and a rushing river swiftly raced down a mountain's side and spilled into it.

The starring event of the third Hunger Games, though, was not the elaborate arena, no. It was the tributes. Inspired by their very own Sapphire's victory the year prior, District 1 built a large academy to train their teenagers in case they were reaped. Districts 2 and 4 liked their idea and so caught on, all three districts now producing what would later be dubbed 'careers'. The academy did not encourage youths to volunteer; it trained them just in case they were picked at the reaping ceremony. It would not be until the sixth Hunger Games that a trained academy tribute volunteered into the games with the purpose to win money and fame. The Capitol was intrigued by the wide variety of tributes; the tough pair from District 1, the brother and sister from District 2, the mysterious and intriguing girl from District 4, and the orphan boy from District 11. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Tilver Bourland, 16, (8) 9-1 and Maia Coblenz, 18, (9) 7-1

District 2: Roland Demone, 13, (5) 16-1 and Lenna Demone, 17, (8) 8-1

District 3: Rakesh Coletti, 16, (4) 32-1 and Demina Steiner, 18, (8) 8-1

District 4: Ermin Cattano, 18, (7) 10-1 and Molly Toliday, 17, (9) 7-1

District 5: John Borek, 12, (2) 68-1 and Zippina Kyrou, 16, (3) 29-1

District 6: Cooper Proga, 14, (3) 39-1 and Kyva Violette, 13, (1) 60-1

District 7: Nairn Pridham, 18, (9) 8-1 and Jayna Klock, 16, (3) 34-1

District 8: Burton Kasmer, 16 (7) 11-1 and Paige Eizenstat, 16, (5) 27-1

District 9: Arley Forsythe, 13, (2) 50-1 and Kasha Reiling, 17, (6) 15-1

District 10: Orford Bullock, 12, (2) 51-1 and Melinda Neufeld, 15, (4) 20-1

District 11: Sirco Bartovics, 12, (1) 102-1 and Soya Demelo, 14, (3) 24-1

District 12: Pickan Mulroy, 12, (1) 46-1 and Brooke Collard, 17, (3) 29-1


THE GAMES

The tributes emerged into the arena just like they did in the two games prior. The tributes rapidly bolted their heads around in an attempt to take in as much of the arena as possible before the gong rang.

Once it did, six tributes raced away from the golden horn into the comforting darkness of the forest. Perhaps this number should have been higher because of the large natural bounty of the arena, but the supplies at the cornucopia were just so tempting that eighteen of the tributes stormed towards it.

The very first death of the third Hunger Games occurred when Lenna picked up an axe that lay sixteen yards from her pedestal. She looked around for a bit before setting her eyes on Arley, who was zigzagging to avoid attacks as he stormed towards the mouth of the horn. Lenna tossed the weapon through the air. Her aim was perfect, and the weapon lodged itself in Arley's chest.

Arley Forsythe, District 9 Male: 24th, Killed by Lenna, Bloodbath

Not five seconds later, an exhilarated Tilver hastily grabbed two throwing knives out of the horn and chucked them through the air, one at Jayna and one at Soya. Soya dodged the blade, but Jayna was not so lucky. The blade plunged into Jayna's back, killing her instantly.

Jayna Klock, District 7 Female: 23rd, Killed by Tilver, Bloodbath

Molly, now rummaging through supplies at the cornucopia and looking for her favorite weapon—a knife—finally found it. As soon as she did, she crept out of the horn and plunged it into the back of a petite girl standing nearby who everybody knew wouldn't survive long anyways.

Kyva Violette, District 6 Female: 22nd, Killed by Molly, Bloodbath

Molly ripped the blade out of Kyva's corpse and spotted young Pickan racing away from the horn into the forest. Molly closed one eye and let the blade fly through the air. The blade sank into the back of Pickan's neck, and he fell to the ground in death.

Pickan Mulroy, District 12 Male: 21st, Killed by Molly, Bloodbath

With an orange backpack slung over his back, Burton began high-tailing away from the bloodbath as fast as he could. On his way out, though, Lenna threw a knife into the back of his torso. Fortunately, the blade lodged itself into the backpack and not into his body. Burton safely made it into the forest unharmed.

At this, all of the tributes scurried away from the horn, some with nothing at all and some with the supplies they were able to retrieve from the cornucopia.

The day and evening of Day 1 passed void of conflict. That was, until Molly spotted Melinda hiding in the bough of a tree. Molly shinnied up the sturdy trunk and stabbed Melinda in the back. She fell off of the tree and onto the ground. Very luckily for her, she passed away instantly and barely felt any pain.

Melinda Neufeld, District 10 Female: 20th, Killed by Molly, Day 1

The night of Day 1 passed deathless, as did the morning of Day 2. However, around noon on Day 2, Tilver spotted Paige snoozing away in a sleeping bag under a layer of leaves on the forest floor. Tilver leapt up and down on top of her stomach until she coughed up blood, and then left her there to die. Paige choked on her own blood five minutes later.

Paige Eizenstat, District 8 Female: 19th, Killed by Tilver, Day 2

Around six o'clock p.m. on Day 2, Molly, Tilver, and Maia almost simultaneously crossed paths. They had all been trained at the combat academies back home, and so they shook hands as allies, creating what could be construed as the first career pack. The pack made one wide sweep through the arena on Day 3, finding and killing two tributes. First, they found John hiding in the trunk of a hollowed out tree. Maia stabbed him in the heart with a dagger. Then, they found Soya hiding in the top of a tree. Tilver produced a bow and arrow and attempted to shoot Soya. It took twelve attempts before his thirteenth arrow landed in Soya's neck, silencing her screams of terror and sending her tumbling to the ground.

John Borek, District 5 Male: 18th, Killed by Maia, Day 3

Soya Demelo, District 11 Female: 17th, Killed by Tilver, Day 3

There were two dehydration deaths on Day 4. Dehydration deaths were, of course, inevitable even though the gamemakers made every measure possible to prevent them. The first death was that of Cooper, whose body was too weak from dehydration and exhaustion to traverse the arena to the lake adjacent to the cornucopia. Ermin feared that the career pack would be hiding at the cornucopia ready to pounce upon any weary tribute that came along, similar to how Prince pounced upon Clary in the first Hunger Games.

Cooper Proga, District 6 Male: 16th, Dehydration, Day 4

Ermin Cattano, District 4 Male: 15th, Dehydration, Day 4

Day 5 saw two deaths. First, the career pack hunted down and killed Orford. Orford's life was swiftly ended when Molly shot an arrow through his eye. The second death was from dehydration.

Orford Bullock, District 10 Male: 14th, Killed by Molly, Day 5

Roland Demone, District 2 Male: 13th, Dehydration, Day 5

Days 6, 7, and 8 passed void of any death or conflict. The career pack got lucky on Day 9, successfully killing three tributes on that day. Firstly, they found Burton trying to start a fire on the forest floor. He was too stunned to even move before Molly stabbed him in the forehead with a machete.

Burton Kasmer, District 8 Male: 12th, Killed by Molly, Day 9

Two hours later, the pack decided to split up and hunt for their next prey individually. Two deaths occurred within ten minutes of each other. Firstly, Maia let an arrow fly from her bow and impale the back of Zippina's head.

Zippina Kyrou, District 5 Female: 11th, Killed by Maia, Day 9

Then, Molly stabbed Brooke in the back with her favorite knife that she had carried with her since Day 1.

Brooke Collard, District 12 Female: 10th, Killed by Molly, Day 9

Day 10 saw the first death from the career pack. In an attempt to eliminate the biggest threat to his survival, Rakesh snuck to the cornucopia and retrieved a bow and arrow, shooting one arrow and Maia and one arrow and Molly. Maia died less than twenty seconds after the arrow impaled her heart.

Maia Coblenz, District 1 Female: 9th, Killed by Rakesh, Day 10

That left the final eight: Tilver Bourland from District 1, Lenna Demone from District 2, Rakesh Coletti and Demina Steiner from District 3, Molly Toliday from District 4, Nairn Pridham from District 7, Kasha Reiling from District 9, Sirco Bartovics from District 11,

Molly ripped the arrow out of her skin and saw a gaping wound on her left shoulder spouting blood. She already felt dizzy and the whole world looked foggy around her. She knew she would die soon from the wound.

At that very moment, the very first sponsor gift of the Hunger Games was given. Back in the Capitol, a woman who had bet on Molly's victory and wanted her to win sent her a bandage and jar of wound sealer as well as disinfectant cream. Eyes widening with disbelief, she applied the medicine to her skin. She had been snatched from the claws of death then and there!

She swore to thank the sponsor by making the rest of her kills as interesting as possible. She came up with a devious and clever plan. She emptied out the sponsor parachute and filled it up with poisonous berries from a nearby bush. She looked around the arena for a hungry tribute before finding Nairn, his body so weak from hunger that he could barely move. Molly climbed up a nearby tree and dropped the parachute filled by poison berries. It floated down and landed in the boy's lap. He cried out in relief, believing that he had been saved from death by a generous sponsor! Nairn shoved the berries into his mouth all at once. By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late.

Nairn Pridham, District 7 Male: 8th, Killed by Molly, Day 10

Molly did the exact same thing to two other tributes on Days 10 and 11, both of which had almost the exact same result.

Sirco Bartovics, District 11 Male: 7th, Killed by Molly, Day 10

Kasha Reiling, District 9 Female: 6th, Killed by Molly, Day 11

On that note, the final five had been determined. The gamemakers now needed to come up with a clever method to force the tributes inward to the cornucopia for a bloody showdown. They decided to, since the arena was an island in the middle of a massive ocean, cause a tsunami on all sides of the arena that would consume and destroy everything in its path as it would force the tributes inward.

The gamemakers sent a huge asteroid hurling into the ocean. The tributes saw the huge object, red hot, hurling towards the ocean. The victor later reported in an interview that it was the loudest sound they had ever heard in their life, and that it sounded like a barreling train but fifty times louder.

The tributes attempting to get high ground to see what was going on. When they did, their hearts dropped into their stomachs. A huge wave more than one hundred yards tall was barreling towards the island! The tributes dropped everything they were doing and ran to the cornucopia, which was high ground and so would be the safest place to be. The tsunami was a wall of water that shattered mountains and knocked over trees like dominoes as it relentlessly barreled across the island. The force of the tsunami killed two tributes.

Demina Steiner, District 3 Female: 5th, Killed by the Tsunami, Day 12

Lenna Demone, District 2 Female: 4th, Killed by the Tsunami, Day 12

The final three tributes had no choice but to climb on top of the golden horn as it creaked from the force of the water violently rushing around it. They watched in shock as everything was washed away by the force of the current. Within thirty minutes, the tsunami had destroyed what used to be the island and left it under ten feet of churning water. And so, the final battle of the third Hunger Games began.

It was easy enough to kill Tilver. Rakesh simply pushed him off the horn and he was washed away by the current.

Tilver Bourland, District 1 Male: 3rd, Killed by Rakesh/The Tsunami, Day 12

The final battle of the third Hunger Games was between Rakesh Coletti of District 3 and Molly Toliday of District 4. Rakesh produced a knife from his pocket, and Molly produced hers. All of their other weapons had been washed away in the tsunami. First, Rakesh lunged at Molly, attempting to stab her neck but instead missing by a few inches. Molly retaliated by stabbing Rakesh's shoulder. The knife clattered out of her hand and tumbled into the churning water below. Molly quickly knocked the blade out of Rakesh's hand, sending it tumbling into the cold vortex as well. The two now had only their bare hands to fight with.

They fought and fought as both attempted to force their opponent off of the cornucopia. Finally, two hours of blood and sweat later, Molly punched Rakesh below his chin, sending him spiraling back. Molly then kicked him in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards off of the horn, his feet over his head as he fell into the churning vortex below. The force of the rushing current tore his body apart and he died soon after.

Rakesh Coletti, District 3 Male: 2nd, Killed by Molly/The Tsunami, Day 12

"Molly Toliday of District 4, you are the victor of the third annual Hunger Games!" Leto announced. Molly just raised her hands in the air victoriously and smiled for the hidden cameras she knew were all pointed at her.

Molly Toliday, District 4 Female: Victor of the Third Hunger Games, Day 12


AFTERMATH

Molly was beloved by the Capitol, and was awarded with the title of the first ever academy trained career tribute to win the Hunger Games.

Her victory tour went well, although District 3 was a little sour about Molly stealing their second victor.

Molly moved into the victor's village of District 4. She would marry once in her lifetime, to a man named Tom with which she would have one son.

Molly would live to the age of ninety, dying of heart disease around the time of the seventy-first annual Hunger Games.


NEWS

Molly moves into the Victor's Village of District 4, the first of many victors from the district of fishing to do so.

Cordin, Sapphire, and Molly, all three victors so far, gather on stage for a speech promoting the Hunger Games in the Capitol.


LIST OF VICTORS

1HG: Cordin Frey (#1, District 3)
2HG: Sapphire Waber (#1, District 1)
3HG: Molly Toliday (#1, District 4)