THE FIFTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Green Thumb"
INTRODUCTION
The Capitol was in a state of shock and disappointment when their beloved head gamemaker, Leto Spitz, was forced to resign from his job after contracting throat cancer. President Cornelius Wayne promised to hire a new gamemaker who would be just as exhilarating and suspenseful as Leto. After interviewing almost two-thousand people, President Wayne selected a thirty-eight year old woman named Mellanie Lathmore to take over the position. Mellanie appointed a team of twenty gamemakers, whom all worked together to plan out and build a spectacular new arena they promised would be just as grand as those before
The huge jungle arena had trees taller than skyscrapers that blocked out the sun and made it almost pitch black except in the occasional clearings. Mellanie made absolutely certain to include a myriad of water sources for the tributes; for instance, a rushing river coiled around and around through the arena, being readily available to any tribute no matter where they were. An extremely fast and roaring river encircled the circular arena. It would serve as not only a practically infinite water source for the twenty-four tributes, but also as a barrier to prevent all contact with the force field. The sky was stunningly beautiful; spotless white clouds dotted an azure blue sky. The cornucopia was in a rather large clearing in the middle of the arena, on top of a hill as it always was. Made of brilliant sapphire sparkling in the sun, it was stunningly beautiful. The mouth, which spilled over with medicine and food and water and everything else that would bring the tributes life in the arena, was illuminated by a spectacular diamond chandelier masquerading from the ceiling.
As for the tributes, there was a ton of speculation in the Capitol pertaining who would win because the array of tributes was so diverse. The obvious choice was the District 1 male, who was tough and intimidating to all of the others. But, there was also the pair from District 3 who were so stealthy that they could run straight behind you in the middle of the woods that you wouldn't notice them at all. The District 9 female was also extremely talented, being able to weave baskets so tight that even water couldn't seep through and being able to identify if a plant or animal was poisonous in seconds. The brother and sister pair from District 12 allied before the games even began, quite unrealistically vowing that they would be the final two. There was, of course, the typical array of tough careers just like the few years before. Just like last year, there was only one volunteer. It was the boy from District 3 who had volunteered to help his family out of the severe economic crisis they were facing at the time. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Glint Farroot, 18, (10) 5-1 and Amaryll Wild, 16, (8) 7-1
District 2: Theo Myna, 16, (8) 7-1 and Micah Winter, 17, (9) 6-1
District 3: Cyber Kleptim, 13, (3) 29-1 and Binary Lopez, 18, (5) 10-1
District 4: Anchor Lockcreek, 18, (7) 7-1 and Elanor Lyme, 16, (7) 8-1
District 5: Aubrey Leinbok, 16, (4) 18-1 and Emma Junbeg, 14, (3) 29-1
District 6: Axyl Byron, 12, (2) 42-1 and Francessa Ritter, 17, (5) 14-1
District 7: Brady Mayron, 18, (8) 8-1 and Ebony Silverrock, 16, (7) 15-1
District 8: Flannel Burgundy, 15, (4) 28-1 and Vanessa Sorenson, 15, (4) 27-1
District 9: Graig Vaught, 12, (2) 42-1 and Lilia Stroud, 18, (9) 6-1
District 10: Trudie Wylie, 17, (4) 19-1 and Eartha Harding, 14, (1) 36-1
District 11: Hershel Smiley, 16, (6) 24-1 and Rosette Palumbo, 18, (6) 16-1
District 12: Dustin Sablone, 17, (2) 31-1 and Misty Sablone, 17, (3) 24-1
THE GAMES
The games began with what was arguably the most thrilling bloodbath so far at the time; a huge thirteen tributes would die in the first ten minutes. In an interview after the games, Sapphire Waber, the victor of the second Hunger Games, coined the phrase 'bloodbath' to describe the huge scramble at the beginning of the games.
When the gong sounded signaling the start of the fifth Hunger Games, the vast majority of the tributes stormed through the field towards the sparkling cornucopia, knowing that their chances of victory would improve greatly if they retrieved supplies at the very beginning. A number of tributes were able to successfully retrieve supplies and run away from the bloodbath alive. A vast number were not so lucky.
The careers all called each other over and had a small gathering at the mouth of the horn, assigning weapons to each of them and setting out tasks for themselves. The first death occurred when Amaryll, a girl with great skill in using a knife, ran up behind a distracted Ebony and shoved her to the ground. Ebony thrashed desperately and screamed until her voice went hoarse, but it was no use. Amaryll produced her knife and stabbed the girl in the shoulder not ten seconds before her eyes glazed back into her head.
Ebony Silverrock, District 7 Female: 24th, Killed by Amaryll, Bloodbath
Less than two seconds after Ebony's death, the boy from District 2 named Theo hastily grabbed a bow and arrow and nocked a projectile into the bow, aiming it at Hershel's back as he darted away from the horn into the comforting darkness of the jungle. The arrow missed, flying a few feet too far to the right. Cursing under his breath, Theo nocked a second arrow. This time, his aim was perfect. Hershel slumped to the ground as the arrow sank into the back of his neck.
Hershel Smiley, District 11 Male: 23rd, Killed by Theo, Bloodbath
Darting over to Hershel's corpse, Theo dumped out the contents of his bag and purged it of a magazine of throwing knives and a packet of dried pineapple as well as a canteen of water. Ripping three knives out of the magazine, he chucked them through the air in rapid succession. One knife missed and left the target unscathed. One knife nicked the shoulder of a girl who was riffling through a crate in the mouth of the cornucopia. The third and final throwing knife lodged itself between the shoulder blades of Eartha as she keened in pain, turning around to take inventory of the terrible injury. While she was distracted, Theo threw a fourth throwing knife, this one landed squarely in the back of Eartha's neck. Theo grinned in triumph as the girl fell forward lifelessly.
Eartha Harding, District 10 Female: 22nd, Killed by Theo, Bloodbath
Meanwhile, back in the heart of the sapphire horn, Elanor sat crouched behind a brown crate, wielding a machete and planning to ambush any weary tributes that came along. Her first victim wandered into the horn, completely unaware that Elanor was hiding less than five yards from her. Elanor quietly left her hiding place and plunged the blade into the victim's back, killing him instantly.
Aubrey Leinbak, District 5 Male: 21st, Killed by Elanor, Bloodbath
As this was happening, a duel occurred about twenty yards from the horn between Axyl and Binary. Both held swords and both were fighting for their lives, blocking each other's blows with a seemingly infinite series of deafening clangs. At long, long last, Binary dropped dead when Axyl slashed her in the hip.
Binary Lopez, District 3 Female: 20th, Killed by Axyl, Bloodbath
In the next two minutes, Elanor made two more ambush kills in the cornucopia. It was too easy. All she had to do was wait until a weak tribute wandered inside, and then she would emerge from her hiding place and stab them in the back with her machete.
Flannel Burgundy, District 8 Male: 19th, Killed by Elanor, Bloodbath
Francessa Ritter, District 6 Female: 18th, Killed by Elanor, Bloodbath
Emma, the short and petite District 5 girl, retrieved a bow and arrow from the horn of plenty and climbed up on top of the cornucopia. She nocked an arrow and aimed the weapon at Glint, the tough and intimidating boy who she wanted to kill in order to eliminate the biggest threat to her survival. Even though Emma's experience in using a bow and arrow was almost non-existent, the arrow miraculously sank into the back of Glint's head.
Glint Farroot, District 1 Male: 17th, Killed by Emma, Bloodbath
Little did Emma know, however, that standing right behind her was Micah. Micah set an arrow in her bow and aimed it at Emma's back. Emma whipped her head around at the sound of Micah drawing the bowstring, and screamed in terror as she lunged at the career and knocked her backwards off of the horn. Standing right at the base of where Micah fell was Lilia. Lilia, knowing that Micah was a large threat and that it would be best for her to eliminate Micah, hastily grabbed a rock from the ground and tossed it at Micah's head, knocking her unconscious and causing blood to leak from her head. She would not die for several hours, though, long after the bloodbath had ended.
Anchor, the District 4 boy who was thirsty to prove himself since he had not made any kills yet, wielded a sword and attempted to sneak up upon and kill Dustin. However, less than twenty yards away was Misty, Dustin's sister. In a panicked attempt to save her brother's life, Misty picked up a brick that lay on a glass table in the horn and snuck up behind Anchor, smashing him in the back of the head and repeatedly denting his skull until he died. Misty had saved her brother's life, something that warmed the hearts of the Capitol audience.
Anchor Lockcreek, District 4 Male: 16th, Killed by Misty, Bloodbath
Elanor, who was still going through with her plan of ambushing tributes in the cornucopia, made one last kill in the same exact manner before leaving her hiding space to pick off the last few tributes remaining around the horn.
Graig Vought, District 9 Male: 15th, Killed by Elanor, Bloodbath
Amaryll, who had intrigued the audience after making the first kill, made her second kill when she chucked a throwing knife she retrieved from the cornucopia at the back of a boy who was in the process of slinging an orange backpack over his shoulder.
Trudie Wylie, District 10 Male: 14th, Killed by Amaryll, Bloodbath
Amaryll then did the exact same thing again to another tribute. This time, however, it took her two attempts because her first knife missed.
Vanessa Sorenson, District 8 Female: 13th, Killed by Amaryll, Bloodbath
The final bloodbath death occurred two hours later, when Micah died from the brick Emma had smashed into her head two hours prior.
Micah Winter, District 2 Female: 12th, Killed by Emma, Bloodbath
The eleven remaining tributes who had survived the bloodbath spread out and carried out very different plans of action. As was custom, the three remaining careers (Amaryll, Theo, and Elanor) set up a camp in the cornucopia that they would return to each night. Cyber and Emma both decided to hide, Cyber camping out in a tree for the night and Emma creating a sort of den in a ditch between two piles of rocks. Axyl, Brady, and Rosette all slept on the jungle floor; they were easily hidden under the layer of leaves and vines on the floor of the tropical forest. Misty and Dustin, the two siblings from District 12, found a dugout ditch slash cave area in the side of a hill that they went inside and slept on the cold hard ground for the night.
On the night of Day 1, there was a single death. Lilia, who had retrieved nothing from the horn, thought she was stealthy enough to sneak into the cornucopia in the dead of night and retrieve much-needed supplies. The sound of Lilia rummaging through the supplies instantly woke the careers, who ran over to her location and cornered her in. Theo pulled out his machete from his pocket and stalked towards the girl, amputating her left leg and causing her to bleed out. The other tributes were startled awake by the sound of her cannon.
Lilia Stroud, District 9 Female: 11th, Killed by Theo, Day 1
Day 2, 3, 4, and 5 all passed deathless. Perhaps it was just inevitable that kills would be rarer since the bloodbath claimed the lives of so many of them. However, on the evening of Day 6, Axyl and Brady crossed paths whilst walking through the arena. Brady mistakenly believed that Axyl was a career, and so pulled out his bow—he was skilled with a bow from training—and shot the boy in the heart. After walking over to Axyl's corpse, he realized he had mistaken the boy for a career and felt very bad about killing the innocent tribute.
Axyl Byron, District 6 Male: 10th, Killed by Brady, Day 6
That left the final eight: Amaryll Wild from District 1, Theo Myna from District 2, Cyber Kleptim from District 3, Elanor Lyme from District 4, Brady Mayron from District 7, Rosette Palumbo from District 11, and Dustin Sablone and Misty Sablone from District 12.
One dehydration death occurred on Day 7.
Emma Junbeg, District 5 Female: 9th, Deydration, Day 7
On Day 8, the gamemakers set the perimeter of the arena on fire, thus forcing the tributes inward as they ran away from the inferno. However, the fire stopped after about ten minutes. The gamemakers had, in a way, shrunk the arena! The area that the fire had burned was too hot to go near, and so the tributes were more likely to encounter each other.
Encounter each other they did, and on Day 9 three tributes died. The first death occurred when the bloodthirsty career pack hunted down and killed Brady. Elanor shot Brady in the throat with her bow.
Brady Mayron, District 7 Male: 8th, Killed by Elanor, Day 9
The second death of the day occurred less than an hour after the first. The careers stumbled upon Rosette, who was sleeping in a ditch. She died instantly when Theo stabbed her in the stomach and she barely felt any pain at all.
Rosette Palumbo, District 11 Female: 7th, Killed by Theo, Day 9
The third and final death of the day was a dehydration death. Around noon, the gamemakers caused the temperature of the arena to skyrocket to 103 degrees Fahrenheit, causing Cyber to die of dehydration.
Cyber Kleptim, District 3 Male: 6th, Dehydration, Day 9
Only five tributes remained: the three careers (Elanor, Theo, and Amaryll) and the two siblings from District 12. The careers had literally no clue as to the whereabouts of the siblings. In fact, the two had actually used an existing cave to create themselves a little home in the ground, covering the top with a layer of leaves to conceal the entrance. They had managed to stay out of sight of the careers for nine days, but the time for stealth was over. It was time for the final battle.
In order to alert the final five of the threat coming their way, the gamemakers sounded a siren through the arena as the inferno started again, forcing the tributes inward as they barreled through the arena as fast as they could. Mellanie decided to follow in her predecessor's footsteps and force all of the tributes on top of the cornucopia by lighting the tall grass around the horn on fire. Before climbing the horn of plenty, Misty and Dustin grabbed a few weapons from its mouth to use.
With all five tributes on top of the horn, the final battle began. If any one of the tributes were cornered here, the fire swirling around the sparkling horn would be the only thing to show them kinder than a knife or bow. First, Dustin lunged at Theo, knocking him backwards. He thrashed around desperately as he waved his hands around his body, but he fell backwards off of the horn into the churning ember below.
Theo Myna, District 2 Male: 5th, Killed by Dustin, Day 9
Enraged at how Dustin had killed her ally, Elanor lunged at Dustin holding her blade and being ready to plunge it into his heart. However, Misty turned sharply on her heel and bludgeoned Elanor in the back of the head with a long and rusty metal bar she was carrying. She was temporarily blinded from the blow and fell off of the horn.
Elanor Lyme, District 4 Female: 4th, Killed by Misty, Day 9
There were only three tributes left. Amaryll Wild of District 1, Dustin Sablone of District 12, and Misty Sablone of District 12 all wielded their weapons, ready to win. The three tributes stood agonizingly still in a triangle shape for almost two minutes, each one deciding if they should be the one to make the first move. However, Amaryll's plan was to wait for a long time and then lunge at one of the siblings when they were so stunned they were frozen in place. After three long minutes, Amaryll threw herself towards Dustin and plunged her machete into the boy's chest, killing him almost instantly.
Dustin Sablone, District 12 Male: 3rd, Killed by Amaryll, Day 9
At the brutal murder of her brother, a look of such horror and rage crossed Misty's face.
"Oh, you evil, treacherous little!" Misty screamed at the top of her lungs. Misty seethed with fury as she raised her rusty metal bar into the air and smashed it into the side of Amaryll's head and dented her skull, killing her instantly. Misty screamed as loud as she could for as long as she could before kicking Amaryll's bloody corpse off of the horn and sending it descending into the ember below.
Amaryll Wild, District 1 Female: 2nd, Killed by Misty, Day 9
"Misty Sablone of District 12, you are the victor of the fifth annual Hunger Games!" Mellanie boomed into the arena as a chorus of trumpets sounded in the distance.
Misty just broke into a deep sob, holding onto her brother's body and stroking his bloody face.
Misty Sablone, District 12 Female: Victor of the Fifth Hunger Games, Day 9
AFTERMATH
District 12 accepted its first ever victor with open arms. The Capitol was deeply sympathetic about the loss of Misty's brother, and she stole the hearts of many people in the audience. It was an extremely rare spectacle for a District 12 tribute to win; it would be forty-five years until District 12's second victor. She lived alone in the victor's village for many, many years.
Misty moved into the victor's village of District 12, the first ever and one of the very few tributes to ever do so.
Her victory tour went extremely well as people mourned for the girl's loss. However, District 1 was enraged at Misty stealing their second victor.
Misty would live to the age of fifty-one, dying from a heart attack around the time of fortieth annual Hunger Games. Misty was so traumatized from her Hunger Games that she would become a complete and utter social hermit, never leaving her house on her own accord and fearing everybody that tried to talk or reason with her. She would never marry nor have kids.
NEWS
Misty moves into the Victor's Village of District 12, the first of very few victors throughout the history of the Hunger Games to do so.
Cordin Frey, the victor of the first annual Hunger Games, is engaged to a woman named Jeskya whom he will marry one year later.
Sapphire Waber, the victor of the second annual Hunger Games, coins the term 'bloodbath' in an interview.
LIST OF VICTORS
1HG: Cordin Frey (#1, District 3)
2HG: Sapphire Waber (#1, District 1)
3HG: Molly Toliday (#1, District 4)
4HG: Amelia Spangler (#1, District 2)
5HG: Misty Sablone (#1, District 12)
