THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Walking Dead"
INTRODUCTION
Head Gamemaker Theresia Cloud returned for her third year on the job, promising the nation that the next arena would be even more spectacular than those before it. She met up with her trusted team of loyal gamemakers and sketched out an arena for the fourteenth annual Hunger Games to play out in. Theresia's next arena was a post-apocalyptic abandoned city, perhaps greatly inspired by the arena of the second annual Hunger Games. Tall buildings, long abandoned, cast long shadows over the ground, and nature had begun claiming the land back, vines crawling up the buildings and the streets covered with fungus and grass. However, the one thing that differentiated this arena from that of the second were the zombies. Every night at midnight, a swarm of bloodthirsty zombies would be unleashed into the arena to stalk down the tributes and subjugate them completely. The zombies would remain out for as long as it took for them to make at least one kill, after which time they would be satisfied and would be recalled by the gamemakers. It was a crowning moment in Panem's technology, as never before had scientists been able to create bipedal muttations. Theresia was eager to see how the audience would react. Meanwhile, President Lizeth Dyson was now engaged to her boyfriend Jed Rider, and they began making plans for their wedding, scheduled for the third day in the month of October the year of the sixteenth annual Hunger Games. Parties ran rampant throughout the Capitol, and the excitement was turned up even further when the time for the Hunger Games arrived and twenty-four youths were sent to the Capitol as tributes in the fourteenth annual Hunger Games.
The career pack was six strong, consisting of all six tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4. The career with the highest odds of winning was the District 2 girl, who scored a ten in training and nine to one odds via showing the gamemakers her skills with the knife, bow, and club, as well as her impeccable showmanship. As for her district partner, the District 2 male was the only other tribute to have scored a ten, not with his cleverness or his wits but because of his extreme raw strength, whacking and bludgeoning and maiming his way to being one of the two tributes in the games to score a ten. The District 1 male was the son of two wealthy merchant parents that did not allow him to begin training for the Hunger Games until age fifteen, meaning he had less experience in battle training and so scored a nine instead of a ten. The District 1 female suffered from epilepsy, occasionally having seizures that would cause her to black out for anywhere between two seconds to two minutes at a time. As such, the gamemakers demoted her to a meager eight in training. The two tributes produced by District 4 were quite the opposite of each other; the male was very adept with the harpoon, trident, and blowgun, and so impressed the audience enough to capture their attention. The real outlier among the careers, however, was the District 4 girl. She wasn't even a career and had never attended the combat academy in her life, volunteering not for the fame and glory of victory but instead to escape her abusive family. Despite her cataclysmic score of six, the careers accepted her into their alliance because of her wilderness survival skills, which they knew could help them to survive the games. The District 7 tributes each showed skills with the axe and hatchet, and their sevens in training really went to show how well they did. They earned the highest scores outside of the career pack. In total, two tens, two nines, two eights, two sevens, one six, four fives, four fours, two threes, four twos, and one one were scored. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Calix Burlew, 18, (9) 10-1 and Lacie Marglin, 17, (8) 14-1
District 2: Blaze Skalnik, 16, (10) 9-1 and Elanora Cantiol, 17, (10) 9-1
District 3: Mardell Gatlin, 17, (5) 25-1 and Cordia Spaulding, 17, (4) 33-1
District 4: Nestor Gulley, 18, (9) 11-1 and Claudine Crum, 15, (6) 19-1
District 5: Michel Eastman, 14, (3) 51-1 and Ellamae Harlan, 16, (5) 37-1
District 6: Aran Lyle, 14, (2) 80-1 and Roxy Kaminski, 17, (3) 32-1
District 7: Jack Brambilla, 17, (7) 19-1 and Corrina Lapointe, 18, (7) 21-1
District 8: Chriss Tagiuri, 18, (4) 35-1 and Camellia Roby, 16, (4) 45-1
District 9: Teddy Fryer, 12, (2) 104-1 and Mickie Hahns, 17, (5) 29-1
District 10: Boyce Marlowe, 16, (5) 24-1 and Ellena Lark, 14, (2) 63-1
District 11: Myriam Rigby, 18, (5) 28-1 and Rosanna Agnew, 17, (4) 34-1
District 12: Blaise Galvin, 16, (2) 80-1 and Leanora Withers, 15, (1) 93-1
THE GAMES
The tributes rose up into the post-apocalyptic abandoned city, and the countdown began, flashing numbers counting down to zero. The audience could practically see the thoughts racing through the tribute's heads. Did they run to the supplies? Did they dare? Many looked backward at the comforting darkness of the abandoned buildings. Tons of places to hide. Then, they looked back at the supplies. Food. Water. Medicine. Things that could mean the difference between their life and death.
The gong rang through the arena, prompting the tributes to leap off of their pedestals and dart in the direction of their choosing. A few tributes ran away into the city with only their bare hands, but the vast majority chose to loot the bounty of supplies at the cornucopia.
Nestor was the first to reach the supplies, and he picked up a trident off of a metal table in the cornucopia with a bloodcurdling scrape. Looking around for his unlucky first kill, he set his eyes on a girl who was running near him, attempting to shield her face with her hands as she ran towards the cornucopia. Nestor hurled his trident through the air, and it sank into the girl's chest as the bloodbath began in earnest.
Ellamae Harlan, District 5 Female: 24th, Killed by Nestor, Bloodbath
Not far behind Nestor was his ally, muscular and powerful Blaze. Blaze bended over and picked up a long, metal baton that lay in a cluster of mushrooms at his feet. Blaze lifted the baton into the air and smashed it down onto the head of a boy who was attempting to worm his way past him. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground, and it only took a few more blows to the head before the boy passed away.
Teddy Fryer, District 9 Male: 23rd, Killed by Blaze, Bloodbath
The two kills made so far had been made with weapons. Elanora decided to go with a new strategy that would hopefully make her stand out in the eyes of the observant Capitol sponsors. And so, she ran over to a girl that looked to be an easy target and pinned her to the ground with her body. Then, in one swift motion, Elanora twisted the girl's neck sharply to the left with a sickening snap. The blood flow to her brain was cut off the instant her neck had been snapped, and thus Elanora had made her first kill of the games.
Corrina Lapointe, District 7 Female: 22nd, Killed by Elanora, Bloodbath
Lacie, the epileptic District 1 girl, picked up an axe off of a wooden shelf in the cornucopia and turned sharply on her heel, hurling it towards a tribute that she deemed an easy target. Lacie's aim was perfect, and the serrated edge of the axe sank into the tribute's chest, killing him.
Blaise Galvin, District 12 Male: 21st, Killed by Lacie, Bloodbath
It was then that the first collaborate kill of the fourteenth Hunger Games was made. Lacie, exhilarated from killing Blaise a few moments prior, retrieved the axe from the boy's chest and wiped off the blood in the grass. With hopes of making another kill, Lacie hurled the axe towards the back of a girl roughly thirty yards from her. Once again, her impeccable aim sent her the ground, writhing in pain. Blaze finished her off by smashing her in the head with his baton.
Ellena Lark, District 10 Female: 20th, Killed by Lacie and Blaze, Bloodbath
Inside the cornucopia rummaging through the supplies was Michel, who had his back turned to the entrance of the cornucopia. He saw the shadow of one of the careers holding a knife on the floor next to him, and he whipped his head around in terror to see Calix holding a knife high above his head and stalking towards Michel, forcing him backwards less he face the wrath of Calix's blade. He let out a whimper when his back bumped into the back wall. He had nowhere to run now. In a moment of acceptance of his death, Michel picked up a crossbow from a countertop near him and plunged an arrow into his heart, knowing it would be the most painless way to go.
Michel Eastman, District 5 Male: 19th, Suicide, Bloodbath
Meanwhile, in the field in front of the cornucopia Blaze prowled towards a distracted girl who was taking inventory of the contents of a black case. Blaze brought down his baton and smashed it into the back of the girl's head, and she died upon the fifth blow in the head from Blaze's baton.
Rosanna Agnew, District 11 Female: 18th, Killed by Blaze, Bloodbath
The careers suffered their first loss when Jack, wielding a hatchet, crossed paths with Nestor, the District 4 boy. Jack swung his hatchet through the air and planted it into Nestor's chest, causing blood to spray from the wound as he howled in pain. Jack ran away from the cornucopia the moment that Nestor began calling for his allies, fleeing the scene and taking the evidence with him.
Nestor Gulley, District 4 Male: 17th, Killed by Jack, Bloodbath
The final death of the bloodbath occurred roughly half an hour after the last remaining outer district tributes had fled the cornucopia with whatever supplies they had managed to gather. Confused as to why the bloodbath cannons had not yet sounded, the careers all began scouring the cornucopia for the last tribute they knew must be hiding somewhere. After a while, Lacy found the helpless boy shivering behind a metal crate, and he died soon after her axe impaled his chest.
Boyce Marlow, District 10 Male: 16th, Killed by Lacy, Bloodbath
At that, nine cannons rang through the arena. The careers began the long and laborious process of gathering the nine corpses and piling them up in a far-away corner of the clearing. That night, the careers set up their camp in the cornucopia, complete with sleeping bags and lanterns.
Then, at midnight on Day 1, the first wave of zombies arrived. They came from the old cemetery in the city's abandoned church. At first, there were only a few and none of the tributes noticed them. But, within an hour there were hundreds of them, swarming the arena and searching for the tributes with the goal to kill.
A large portion of the zombies were sent after the career pack, and the tribute who was assigned as their scout at the time roused the others at the sight of the monsters chasing after them. They all stormed away from the zombie horde as fast as they could, not bothering to leave anything tidy behind them as they barreled over the terrain.
Meanwhile, another portion of zombies were sent after six tributes that were in a different portion of the arena. All of them woke up with a start, and most of them had a significant head start and so were reasonably safe. Chriss, however, was a different story. He was crouched down in the corner of an abandoned bank, and when the zombies broke into the building he had nowhere to run. They mauled apart his body until he was but a splatter on the stone ground.
Chriss Tagiuri, District 8 Male: 15th, Zombies, Day 2
The zombies all receded after making their required kill. They were satisfied, at least for now.
The sun rose on Day 2, and no more deaths occurred that day. The scattered and traumatized careers all returned to the cornucopia, resolving to not go to sleep until the zombies had made their kill. All of the other assorted outer district tributes made their own plans to survive the future zombie hordes.
Midnight on Day 2 arrived, and the horde of zombies was released into the arena once more. This time, the tributes were prepared for them, having stocked up on the weapons scattered around the arena. This time the gamemakers ignored the careers and sent all of the zombies after the outer district tributes.
A very unlucky Cordia was trapped in a building when the zombies broke into it, and had nowhere to run. But, she was not about to just accept her death and be mauled apart by the zombies. So, she pulled a box of matches from her pocket and lit the building on fire, shattering one of the windows and escaping. She fended off the stray zombies that followed her, and eventually they gave up and started following the other tributes.
The zombies made their next kill in Myriam, whom they corralled into a courtyard of the city's abandoned school. They killed Myriam and subjugated his body until there was not a trace of him left.
Myriam Rigby, District 11 Male: 14th, Zombies, Day 3
On Day 4, the careers all split up and began combing through the arena in search of their next kill. The other tributes had hidden well from them and it was not until about six o'clock in the evening that Blaze stumbled upon a girl crumpled up into a ball under one of the seats in the church, and smashed her to death with his baton. Now, only half of the tributes remained.
Leanora Withers, District 12 Female: 13th, Killed by Blaze, Day 4
As if the careers had hit the jackpot, their second kill of the day was made mere minutes after their first. Elanora, while prowling through the portion of the arena assigned to her by the others, heard a short squeal and began walking towards the source of the noise. She found a girl scrunched up inside of a wardrobe in one of the houses, and Elanora's strength did not fail her; she successfully snapped the girl's neck in one swift motion.
Mickie Hahns, District 9 Female: 12th, Killed by Elanora, Day 4
The night of Day 4, the zombies made their kill when they forced Mardell backwards, when he tripped on a wooden crate and tumbled into the cellar of an old building. There in the compact basement of the abandoned shop, he could do nothing but squeeze his eyes shut and pray that his death would be swift.
Mardell Gatlin, District 3 Male: 11th, Zombies, Day 4
Around noon on Day 5, a cannon rang through the arena, signaling a girl's death from dehydration.
Roxy Kaminski, District 6 Female: 10th, Dehydration, Day 5
The night of Day 5, the massive horde of zombies—their numbers grew bigger each new night—were all sent after the careers who were snoozing away atop the cornucopia, believing that the zombies could not reach them and that they were safe. They could not be more wrong, as, driven by the scent of their blood, the zombies all climbed the sides of the cornucopia, trapping the panicked careers atop it. Of the five careers, two perished then and there. The three that survived darted away as fast as they could without looking back, attempting to place as much space between them and the beasts that had killed their allies.
Lacie Marglin, District 1 Female: 9th, Zombies, Day 5
Claudine Crum, District 4 Female: 8th, Zombies, Day 5
Days 6, 7, and 8 passed completely deathless. The gamemakers, realizing that it was only six days in and their final eight had already been determined, decided to make the zombies completely powerless and incapable of killing. After all, if they kept killing of a few tributes every night the games would be cut terribly short. They were unleashed every night, and they amused the audience but were harmless to the tributes.
The sun rose on Day 9, shortly followed by the booming of a cannon. The careers had ventured out before the sun had even risen in an attempt to catch a tribute or two sleeping, which would make them a much easier target. That morning, Calix crossed paths with a defenseless boy that had no weapons on him, and he died quickly after Calix's spear pierced his heart and poked out of his back.
Aran Lyle, District 6 Male: 7th, Killed by Calix, Day 9
Days 10 thru 12 passed void of conflict among the tributes, and the careers were rather frustrated at their failure to make any kills in that time. Then, on Day 13, Blaze crossed paths with Cordia, who wielded a sword and, much to Blaze's surprise, was very skilled it its use. A long and bloody duel then began, but, in the end, Blaze's skill in the combat academy since his childhood was no match for Cordia's newly established skill, and Cordia died when Blaze's knife sank into her forehead.
Cordia Spaulding, District 3 Female: 6th, Killed by Blaze, Day 13
The final five had been determined, and the gamemakers decided to wait for just another day or so before driving the tributes inwards for the bloody showdown that would crown their victor. And so, just before noon on Day 14, a colossal twister began on the outside of the arena. It began as a slight dip in one of the gray clouds in the dreary sky, and slowly sank down, faster and faster by the second. After a few minutes, it touched the ground, and, with a bloodcurdling screech, began crawling over the terrain, tearing apart buildings and throwing aside trees like rag dolls. The tributes could outrun it. At least, many of them hoped that they could. They all dropped whatever they had except for their weapons—they would be of use to them in the final battle—when the huge tornado split into three smaller ones and began driving the tributes to the cornucopia individually. Fortunately for them, all five of the remaining tributes made it to the top of the cornucopia unscathed apart from small debris. The gamemakers, of course, needing something to keep the tributes from jumping off of the horn and so they turned the ground around the cornucopia into bubbling black acid that would kill whatever—or whomever—it touched within seconds.
Atop the cornucopia stood the five remaining tributes, each wielding their weapons. Calix held his sword, ready to strike. Blaze held his baton high above his head. Elanora brandished her bloodstained knife. Jack brandished his axe, and Camellia held a rope firmly in her grasp—it was the only thing she had managed to salvage from the cornucopia before climbing atop it. And such, the final battle of the fourteenth Hunger Games began.
The first to make a move was Elanora, who held her knife in front of her and plunged her body through the air towards Jack. But, Jack dodged the attempted blow at the last second and, when Elanora needed a moment to get situated in her fit of dizziness, he brought down his axe upon Elanora's back. However, Elanora sideswiped out of the way, avoiding his attempted blow. In the two tribute's frenzy of trying to kill each other, they weren't paying very much attention to the others, and so it was easy for Calix to bring down his sword and leave it to sink into Jack's back like a knife through butter.
Jack Brambilla, District 7 Male: 5th, Killed by Calix, Day 14
Camellia had nothing but a rope to use to kill the other tributes. It all seemed hopeless, but she wasn't about to give up without a fight. She ran forward and wrapped it around Calix's neck, binding it around and around his neck in tight circles and finally knotting it tight around his neck, choking him. Camellia grabbed his body and attempted to walk him over to the edge of the horn and then knock him off into the acid below. However, the two were stuck together and so all it took was a hard push of Blaze's hand to send both of them plummeting into the acid that dissolved their bodies within seconds.
Calix Burlew, District 1 Male: 4th, Killed by Blaze, Day 14
Camellia Roby, District 8 Female: 3rd, Killed by Blaze, Day 14
The final battle of the fourteenth Hunger Games was between Blaze Skalnik and Elanora Cantiol of District 2. District 2 was enthralled at the fact that the final two tributes were from District 2 and that they would be guaranteed to earn their fourth victor, and the whole nation sat on the edge of their seats in anticipation as to which of the two tributes would emerge victorious.
Elanora held her knife in hand, firmly grasping it and setting her mind towards killing Blaze. Blaze held his baton high above his head. It would surely knock Elanora out the instant it smashed into her head.
The first to challenge the other was Elanora, whose knife made a quiet whistle through the air as she ran forward with it towards her final opponent. But, Blaze stepped out of the way and ran around her in a circle before bringing his baton high into the air and smashing it down into Elanora's shoulder. Elanora winced in pain as she let out a short scream. She was in excruciating pain but was uninjured. It was all Elanora could do to get as far away from him as possible while she waited for the pain in her shoulder to die down a bit. She managed to dodge all of Blaze's hits and blows as well as make one or two of her own with her other hand, and more than once she barely dodged being knocked into the pool of acid below like a rag doll.
An hour passed, and the two tributes began to grow exhausted, though they dared not show any sign of it, less the amount of pride they would bring their district be diminished. Finally, Blaze managed to corral Elanora towards the edge of the cornucopia, and as Blaze walked forward Elanora was forced to walk backward towards the edge of the horn. She was running out of room very quickly. Now, Elanora stood right on the edge of the cornucopia, and Blaze was just a few feet in front of her. In a moment of Elanora's clarity that she had zero chance of survival, she closed her eyes and leapt off of the cornucopia into the boiling acid below. The hot liquid consumed her completely, and once the loud slurping died down an eerie silence was left hanging in the arena. Blaze was the only remaining tribute.
Elanora Cantiol, District 2 Female: 2nd, Suicide, Day 14
"Blaze Skalnik of District 2, you are the victor of the fourteenth annual Hunger Games!" Theresia roared into the arena as a hovercraft materialized from the sky, swooping down to collect Blaze.
Blaze held his weapon proudly in the air, pumping his fists and letting out cries of victory as he stepped into the hovercraft.
Blaze Skalnik, District 2 Male: Victor of the Fourteenth Hunger Games, Day 14
AFTERMATH
The Capitol adored Blaze, and many were happy to see one more proud victor added to the nation's rapidly growing lineup. Some people that were not happy were those in Districts 1 and 4. Upon Blaze's victory, District 2 claimed the title of the district to harbor the most victors, with Blaze being their fourth.
Blaze's victory tour was rather average except for his stop in District 1 where he was neglected and ignored for most of his stay.
He moved into the Victor's Village of District 2, the fourth victor to do so.
Blaze would live to the relatively average age of seventy-five, dying from Human Immunodeficiency Virus around the time of the seventy-third annual Hunger Games. In his lifetime, he would marry once to a woman with whom he would father twins, one girl and one boy, whom he would name Madison and Mason.
NEWS
Blaze moves into the Victor's Village of District 2, the fourth victor to do so.
Molly Toliday, the victor of the third Hunger Games, marries her first and only spouse, a man named Tom Lyle. Molly legally changes her last name to Lyle, making her the first ever victor to change their name.
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)
13HG: Woof Dozier (#1, District 8)
14HG: Blaze Skalnik (#4, District 2)
