THE TWELFTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Dungeon Crawl"


INTRODUCTION

Things were not going well in Panem by the time the twelfth annual Hunger Games rolled around. The cruel and tyrannical President Grazyna Koehler, who had been inaugurated just over a year prior, was stripped of his title as president of Panem when he was discovered to have engaged in the robbery of twelve homes in which a total of almost a million dollars-worth of items were stolen, as well as having attempted the murder of a political opponent. As a result, he was tried for treason and sentenced to lifetime in jail without chance of parole. Hurriedly, an election was thrown together and the people of the Capitol elected a thirty-nine year old woman by the name of Lizeth Dyson to lead their country in Grazyna's place. Lizeth promised to create jobs for unemployed Capitol citizens and to increase minimum wage throughout the districts. She even promised to set up a panel of highly intelligent and qualified individuals from all areas of the Capitol to vote on new rules to affect the nation. Perhaps allured by the possibility of Panem being a representative democracy, Lizeth won the popular vote for president of the nation. She did not cancel the Hunger Games, no. She knew that the political and social backlash would be so strong that she would be forced to step down from her podium as President. President Dyson decided to fire the previous Head Gamemaker, Sigden Roman, in favor of allowing Capitolites to vote upon who they wanted the next head gamemaker to be. Theresia Cloud, a woman in her fifth decade, was chosen by the Capitol to be the next person that would lead the games. She threw together a team of the most clever and innovative individuals from the Capitol to work on a splendid new arena for the games.

The career pack of the games decided to take a different approach than was customary; they split into two groups of three. The first group consisted of the District 1 male, the District 2 female, and the District 4 male. The District 1 boy was your typical all-in-it-for-the-fame career, while his counterpart from District 4 was much more laid back and took a more casual approach to the games, hoping to wait around at the cornucopia and fend off attackers. The District 2 girl much preferred offense, hoping to comb through the arena and track down any weary tributes that happened to be near her. She, along with the District 1 boy, preferred the knife as their weapon-of choice. The District 4 boy was much more skilled with use of the bow and arrow, justifying that it was easy to use and was very long range. The other half of the career pack consisted of the District 1 girl, the District 2 boy, and the District 4 girl. The female from District 1 preferred the brute force weapons like the club and mace because of her muscular build and her strength. The District 1 girl also came from a fabulously rich family and was given the name 'Sparkle' but hated it and went by the nickname 'Spark' instead. The girl from District 4 was the stereotypical tribute from the fishing district: most skilled with the trident and harpoon. The District 2 boy, however, really stole the show. Scoring a ten—the highest score of the games—in training and wowing the audience with his strength, determination, and cleverness, he received the most praise from the audience. He was most skilled with the knife and baton. There was, for the first time in, well, ever, an alliance outside of the career districts. The District 11 pair and the District 10 boy all allied up before the games began, believing they would go well together with their combined skills and talents. Their diverse skill sets made this a legit possibility. For instance, all three were skilled at wilderness survival, while the boy from 11 was skilled with the scythe and his district partner was impeccable with the knife. The District 10 boy also was a great fire starter, being able to start a fire in less than ten minutes with literally anything on hand. The trio intrigued the audience, and much of their attention was on them. As for the training scores, they were surprisingly low this year. One ten, two eights, three sevens, two sixes, six fives, three fours, four threes, and three twos were scored. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Geri Burris, 18, (8) 13-1 and Sparkle Lynx, 17, (7) 16-1

District 2: Slate Ogston, 18, (10) 4-1 and Melita Lyle, 16, (7) 18-1

District 3: Huxley Finn, 17, (4) 42-1 and Pexey Zageiski, 18, (5) 39-1

District 4: Grahm Horvath, 16, (7) 19-1 and Marena Lescohier, 17, (8) 14-1

District 5: Zayden Cotter, 18, (4) 41-1 and Raelyn Tesla, 15, (2) 75-1

District 6: Maxx Sit, 16, (3) 50-1 and Rena Boraw, 18, (4) 37-1

District 7: Efrain Lafferty, 14, (3) 80-1 and Samantha Vaught, 17, (5) 30-1

District 8: Natisha Falk, 18, (5) 34-1 and Carolyn Allman, 12, (2) 92-1

District 9: Ward Foret, 16, (5) 31-1 and Alia Regan, 18, (3) 25-1

District 10: Osvaldo Mackie, 18, (6) 19-1 and Shenita Pitts, 17, (5) 20-1

District 11: September Swisher, 18, (6) 19-1 and Lisabeth Neill, 18, (5) 24-1

District 12: Zane Irby, 13, (2) 79-1 and Racheal Egan, 15, (3) 62-1


THE GAMES

The arena for the twelfth annual Hunger Games was a castle. The first floor, in which the cornucopia was nestled in the corner of a huge space lit by candlelight, was huge, sprawling across an area of almost two square miles. It was filled with ballrooms and game rooms and a magnificent library. The dungeon was accessible from every room on the first story, and many tributes would use it for quick transportation from any area of the arena to any other. The second thru ninth floors were not unlike the first, and the tenth floor was a magnificent penthouse, with stained glass windows and a magnificent view of the rest of the arena. Surrounding the castle was a bubbling pool of molten lava, which would keep the tributes inside of the castle.

The tributes arose into the great hall of the castle that was the arena, and were at first confused as to how dark and cold it was. Many of the tributes thought they were in a dungeon. A few thought they were in a rocky landscape at night because of how they couldn't see the ceiling. The only thing that was clear for all to see was the cornucopia, which was lit by a series of magnificent crystal chandeliers masquerading from the rocky ceiling.

The flashing numbers above the bounty of supplies reached zero, and the tributes all leapt off of their pedestals and bounded over the cold and rocky landscape, the sound of their heavy footsteps echoing through the huge space like gunfire. The first to reach the cornucopia were Sparkle and Slate, who had teamed up in a semi-group and decided to stay together during the bloodbath and hunt down kills together, believing that they would be more effective as a group than they would be individually.

As soon as the duo saw a boy attempting to worm by them, they picked up the first weapons they laid their eyes on and went in for the kill like a pack of raptors. Slate picked up a spear off of the ground and hurled it twenty yards before it sank into the boy's back and sent him to the ground with a hollow thump. Sparkle finished the job by smacking him in the back of the head with a long, heavy metal club.

Efrain Lafferty, District 7 Male: 24th, Killed by Slate and Sparkle, Bloodbath

Marena had now reached the cornucopia and was scanning her eyes over the supplies in search of a weapon she was skilled with. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and whipped her head around, catching a brief glimpse of a girl running past her. Marena was on her like a hound, picking up a belt of throwing knives off of a table and hurling one of them into the girl's back.

Rena Boraw, District 6 Female: 23rd: Killed by Marena, Bloodbath

The trio of September, Lisabeth, and Osvaldo whom had teamed up and formed an alliance before the games began, were all more or less sticking together as they rummaged through the supplies with hopes of finding something of use in the difficult days to come. When September saw a girl fall to the ground to take inventory of a backpack's contents, he realized that she was directly under one of the magnificent chandeliers. September picked up a crossbow that lie on the ground near him and shot it at the chain holding the chandelier to the ceiling. In a spectacular display of reflected light leaping and dancing across the room, the huge thing landed on top of the poor girl, the fires from the candles scorching her flesh and the jewels impaling her skin.

Racheal Egan, District 12 Female: 22nd, Killed by September, Bloodbath

The instant Geri laid his hands upon his favorite weapon, he was eager to test it. Wielding the sword in his hands, he ran over to a boy in a relatively prone position and slashed him in the side of the torso, sending a spray of blood out of the wood into Geri's face. Repulsed by the sticky spray, he stepped away and left the boy to die.

Zayden Cotter, District 5 Male: 21st, Killed by Geri, Bloodbath

Eager to prove their worth and make their second kill, the duo of Slate and Sparkle pounced upon a helpless girl who had received the lowest odds of winning out of all of the tributes. The force of Sparkle's club smashing into the back of her head was enough to knock her unconscious and send two of her teeth flying out of her mouth, and it only took a few more blows to the head before the poor girl passed away.

Carolyn Allman, District 8 Female: 20th, Killed by Sparkle, Bloodbath

Realizing its potential to make a number of extremely entertaining kills, Melita picked up an electric Taser off of the ground and smashed into the side of a boy that was near her. Melita pulled the trigger. Instantly, the boy's hair stood up on end as his body produced a humming sound, a huge wave of electricity pulsing back and forth through his body. It was enough to stop his heart and kill him within seconds.

Huxley Finn, District 3 Female: 19th, Killed by Melita, Bloodbath

However, Melita's jubilation was short lived. Unbeknownst to her, Osvaldo stood about ten yards behind her, wielding a blowgun filled with darts. Pulling the trigger, Osvaldo sent one of the darts sinking into Melita's back with immense force, sending her to the ground thrashing and screaming in pain. Osvaldo fired a second dart, and Melita's life was ended when it impaled her heart.

Melita Lyle, District 2 Female: 18th, Killed by Osvaldo, Bloodbath

Ward, believing that killing as much as possible would be a good strategy to increase his odds of winning, picked up a long, serrated dagger and prowled towards Maxx, whose back was turned and so he was unaware of Ward's presence. However, when Ward was just behind Maxx and ready to kill him, Maxx saw his shadow and, panicked, turned around and punched him in the face with his fist, sending him reeling to the ground. Maxx then walked away, and Grahm stumbled upon his body, finishing the job Maxx had started a few minutes prior and shooting him in the heart with his harpoon.

Ward Foret, District 9 Male: 17th, Killed by Maxx and Grahm, Bloodbath

Now came the time when most of the outlying district tributes had scrambled away with whatever they had on them and the all-too-familiar eerie silence filled the space around the cornucopia. Only one more kill was made, and it occurred when the duo of Slate and Sparkle stumbled upon a boy crouching down behind a crate in the cornucopia hoping to wait out the bloodbath. One blow in the neck from Slate's knife was enough to kill him.

Natisha Falk, District 8 Male: 16th, Killed by Slate, Bloodbath

Nine deaths had occurred in the bloodbath, not nearly as large as the twelve or thirteen in the past few games but still enough to enthrall the Capitol audience. The careers remaining at the cornucopia all met under the light of one of the only chandelier's still intact, dealing out portions of the arena to survey and assigning different weapons and such. For then, however, half of them began organizing the supplies while the other half was tasked with the unpleasant job of rounding up the nine corpses and piling them in the corner of the room, enjoying the fact while they could that they didn't smell.

The five remaining careers all settled down in the dimly lit cornucopia for the night, setting up an array of sleeping bags to sleep in. They all decided to take one hour shifts keeping watch over the supplies and making sure none of the other tributes got any ideas.

The trio of Osvaldo, September, and Lisabeth all settled down on floor five of the castle, lying down to sleep in the armory behind a pile of scrap metal that would shield them from sight. They chose this area because it was on the middle floor and so would be quick and easy to reach from any other part of the arena.

Zane, Alia, Samantha, Shenita, Maxx, Raelynn, and Pexey all took different approaches to the night. Zane hid inside of a long, black crate, while Alia and Samantha headed to the cellar because of its utter and complete darkness. Shenita kept to the first floor, believing that the heat from the bubbling lava around the castle would be enough to keep her warm for the night. Maxx, Raelynn, and Pexey all settled for the very top floor, believing that they would be the hardest to get to. Each one of the trio were unaware of the presence of the other two or that they were hiding together.

The morning of Day 2, the careers got up early and rounded up the supplies they needed to go about their daily killing spree. The team of Sparkle, Slate, and Marena all agreed to scavenge the top five floors of the castle, believing that the most tributes would go there in search of its security and distance from the careers. Geri and Grahm, on the other hand, searched the bottom five floors and the basement of the castle.

Day 2 came and gone, deathless. The careers were very frustrated as to how their efforts to hunt down the remaining tributes were fruitless, but they persevered. Finally, at around two o'clock in the afternoon on Day 3, they struck lucky. The duo of Geri and Grahm were prowling through the first floor of the castle when they heard the sound of a shuffling body. Wielding their weapons, they darted over behind a black box and saw a girl crouched down behind it, completely still. She screamed when she saw the two boys. She tried to get up onto her feet and run away, but it was no use. A few slashes from Geri's sword into the side of her torso was enough to send her vital organs tumbling out of her body as she died a horribly painful death.

Shenita Pitts, District 10 Female: 15th, Killed by Geri, Day 3

A second kill was made on Day 3 when the trio of Sparkle, Slate, and Marena stumbled upon a boy scrunched up into a ball on the top floor of the castle. Marena stabbed him in the neck with one of her knives, causing him to scream in agony as blood spouted from the wound. Then, as if in unison, Slate brought down his knife his neck and Sparkle smashed him in the head with her club. The boy was knocked unconscious almost immediately after Sparkle's blow to his head, and he felt no pain at all after that.

Zane Irby, District 12 Male: 14th, Killed by Marena, Slate, and Sparkle, Day 3

Day 4 passed completely void of conflict among the eleven remaining tributes. However, tensions were high in the Capitol when Geri and Grahm walked directly by the trio of September, Lisabeth and Osvaldo without seeing or hearing them. A moment of disappointment occurred in the Capitol, and their high expectations were ruined. For some, the games were starting to get boring, which is something the games must never be. They swore they would shake things up a little on Day 5…

…And shake things up they did. They took a few rats from the dungeon and swelled them up to be twice the size of people. The gamemakers sent the rat muttations after the tributes, with only one goal: to kill. The tributes screamed in terror and ran away faster than they ever had in their life. One of the rats even tried to sabotage the cornucopia, forcing the careers to scatter in every which way, dropping everything they were carrying on them in favor of running faster. About two hours after the monsters were unleashed into the arena, one of them pounced upon a terrified girl and mauled her body apart, putting on a bloody show for those in the Capitol. The mutts were content, at least for now. They returned to the dungeon that they came from and shrunk back to normal size.

Alia Regan, District 9 Female: 13th, Killed by Rat Muttations, Day 5

Day 6 came, and the trio of Osvaldo, September, and Lisabeth had a huge problem to worry about. Their bodies were so weak from dehydration that they could barely move, and licking condensation off of the stone walls wasn't a good water source (not for lack of trying). If they could not get water soon, they would die.

The three weary tributes all ran to the cornucopia, taking infinite care to make sure they did not attract the attention of the careers. They picked up a few canteens of water and began chugging them down, a heavenly feeling of relief engulfing their bodies. However, the careers were not stupid enough to leave the cornucopia empty without a guard. At the sight of the three tributes, Slate, whose turn it was to be the guard, had hidden behind a crate in the cornucopia. He hurled three of his throwing knives through the air. One of them sank into Lisabeth's chest and wormed its way into her heart. The second missed completely, and the third one landed squarely in Osvaldo's shoulder, sending him to the ground with a thump. At the death of his allies, September ran for his life. However, Slate was hot on his trail. He chased the boy around and around the castle until he needed to stop for a few seconds, overwhelmed with exhaustion. When that happened, Slate pounced upon the boy, decapitating him with his knife. Slate had eliminated the alliance and had a great story to tell at the meetup that night.

Lisabeth Neill, District 11 Female: 12th, Killed by Slate, Day 6

Osvaldo Mackie, District 10 Male: 11th, Killed by Slate, Day 6

September Swisher, District 11 Male: 10th, Killed by Slate, Day 6

Day 7 passed, completely deathless. On Day 8, however, a tribute was bitten by a rat. Not any rat, mind you, but a genetically modified rat that injected a flow of poison into his bloodstream. Leaping into the air at the pain of the rat biting into his ankle, he swatted it away and squashed it to death. But, he had bigger problems. A deep purple stream was spreading up his leg, and he would die a painful death once it reached his heart. A few hours later, the site of the wound had begun rotting, the skin crumbling away and revealing his inner tissue. His entire leg was green with the poison. There was no way he could survive. He leapt out of the castle onto one of the lower floors, breaking all of his limbs and sending him unconscious, putting him out of his misery.

Maxx Sitt, District 6 Male: 9th, Suicide, Day 8

That left the final eight: Geri Burris and Sparkle Lynx from District 1, Slate Ogston from District 2, Pexey Zageiski from District 3, Grahm Horvath and Marena Lescohier from District 4, Raelyn Tesla from District 5, and Samantha Vaught from District 7.

Days nine thru eleven passed deathless, and the Capitol was beginning to grow bored of the games. Many had flicked off their televisions. The gamemakers wanted to wait for just a few more deaths before driving the final tributes inward for the bloody finale. Two dehydration deaths occurred within a few minutes of each other on Day 12.

Raelyn Tesla, District 5 Female: 8th, Dehydration, Day 12

Pexey Zageiski, District 3 Female: 7th, Dehydration, Day 12

The morning of Day 13, the careers found a girl huddling into a ball, hiding in the top floor of the castle. She had nowhere to run since the careers were blocking the entrance, and so she resorted to jumping out of the window onto the turret of one of the lower floors. However, she completely missed and plunged into the fiery pool of lava surrounding the arena, killing her instantly.

Samantha Vaught, District 7 Female: 6th, Lava, Day 13

Only five tributes remained. They were the five careers: Geri, Sparkle, Slate, Grahm, and Marena. The gamemakers unleashed the rat muttations again, and their job was to drive the careers towards the cornucopia. Only three of the tributes actually made it on top of the cornucopia with their weapons. Two tributes were killed by the huge rats trying to get there.

Marena Lescohier, District 4 Female: 5th, Killed by Rat Muttations, Day 14

Geri Burris, District 1 Male: 4th, Killed by Rat Muttations, Day 14

And so, the final battle of the twelfth annual Hunger Games began. Atop the cornucopia stood Sparkle, Slate, and Grahm. Sparkle held her club, ready to whack any tribute to death with it. Slate wielded his knife, and Grahm held his harpoon.

Grahm made the next move, hurling his harpoon at Sparkle. Sparkle was caught off-guard and the harpoon sank into her chest, causing blood to pool up in her lungs so she couldn't breathe. She suffocated to death three minutes after.

Sparkle Lynx, District 1 Female: 3rd, Killed by Grahm, Day 14

The final battle of the twelfth Hunger Games was between Slate Ogston of District 2 and Grahm Horvath of District 4. A long and brutal fight then began. First, Slate dove towards Grahm and attempted to stab him the shoulder, but Grahm dodged the blow. Then, Grahm retaliated by hurling his harpoon through the air, landing in Slate's shoulder but not fazing him much.

Thirty long and painful minutes later, Slate had Grahm just where he wanted him. Slate walked towards Grahm, forcing him to walk backward, toward the edge of the cornucopia. He was running out of room very quickly. Then, a distracted Grahm tripped on Sparkle's corpse and despite his desperate attempt to catch hold of the edge of the horn he fell into the crown of huge rats below. They tore apart his body until he was just a splatter on the cold stone ground.

Grahm Horvath, District 4 Male: 2nd, Killed by Slate and Rat Muttations, Day 14

"Slate Ogston of District 2, you are the victor of the twelfth annual Hunger Games!" Theresia roared into the arena as a hovercraft appeared to collect the boy.

Slate dropped his weapons and threw his hands into the air, whooping proudly to celebrate his victory.

Slate Ogston, District 2 Male: Victor of the Twelfth Hunger Games, Day 14


AFTERMATH

Slate was well-liked by most of Panem, and the Capitol loved his confident and certain personality. He would mentor many, many tributes in his lifetime, several of which would go on to become victors themselves.

Slate's victory tour was rather average, with District 4 giving him the cold shoulder for 'stealing' their victor.

He moved into the Victor's Village of District 2, in the house to the right of Olivia's.

Slate would attain to the age of seventy-five, dying from an asthma attack around the time of the sixty-ninth annual Hunger Games. In his lifetime, he would marry twice, once at age twenty-nine and once at age thirty-six. He would never reproduce himself but would adopt a son with his second wife.


NEWS

Slate moves into the Victor's Village of District 2, the third victor to do so. Upon his victory, District 1 and District 2 are tied for total number of victors. A tight race then begins between the two powerhouse districts to gain the most victors.


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)
6HG: Olivia Seager (#2, District 2)
7HG: Flux Stafford (#2, District 3)
8HG: Brandi Coyne (#2, District 1)
9HG: Isaac Crandall (#1, District 5)
10HG: Velvet Farrow (#3, District 1)
11HG: Mags Flanagan (#2, District 4)
12HG: Slate Ogston (#3, District 2)