THE TWENTY THIRD ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Sweet Tooth"


INTRODUCTION

There was no pretty way to say it: the games of the year prior had been a flop. The bloodbath had been relatively thrilling, but things had just gone downhill from there. It was one of the most boring games to date at the time, causing Roscoe to resort to a feast to end the boring games quickly. This pleased the districts immensely, as it showed them that even the Capitol couldn't entirely control the actions of their pawns. As a direct result of this, Head Gamemaker Roscoe Agnew payed the ultimate price at the hands of an assassin sent by President Roxann Shannon. This left the position of Head Gamemaker empty. After thousands of auditions, President Shannon selected Vance Calhoun to take the position. Vance was a man in his early fifties. He had worked much of his life as a fashion designer; his creativity, ingenuity, and dynamism enticed Roxann to elevate him from merely a Gamemaker to a Head Gamemaker.

The career alliance consisted of six members. The District 1 male was your typical all-in-it-for-the-glory career. His confidence, sureness-of-self, and talents with the bow, axe, and sword all contributed to his earning of a nine. He would have earned a ten if not for a little stumble during his private session in which the dummy was torn off of its stand and fell to the ground. The District 1 girl was most skilled with the bow and the axe. She was a dangerous career: clever and intelligent. She liked to play with her food before she ate it, and she liked to draw out her kills as long as possible. District 2 put on a much more stellar showing. Their boy earned a ten. His looks and strength made the sponsors swoon over him. Their girl earned a ten as well. She scored the highest odds of winning out of all of the tributes, with eight to one chances of emerging victorious. Her talents were with the knife and the sword. District 4's boy earned a ten, making him the only career outside of District 2 to walk home with a double digit training score. He was skilled with the trident, as per usual. The District 4 female was noticeably the weakest career in terms of weaponry. However, she was agile, enduring, and an incredibly fast sprinter.

Outside of the career alliance, many high scores were earned. The District 7 boy and District 11 boy both earned eights, the forward by displaying his axe-wielding skills and the latter by showing off his strength and knife skills. Three sevens were scored. They were earned by the District 7 girl, the District 9 boy, and the District 12 girl. They displayed their skills with the hatchet, scythe, and baton respectively. The rest of the tributes scored between six and two in their private sessions. There was a single volunteer besides the careers: Hector McKenzie of District 8 who volunteered into the games to save her fiancée. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Jacinth Bergeron, 18, (9) 10-1 and Olivine Flank, 16, (9) 11-1

District 2: Lyum Harnett, 17, (10) 9-1 and Alexis Millet, 18, (10) 8-1

District 3: Icarus Paracelsus, 18, (5) 21-1 and Innara Whiting, 15, (3) 38-1

District 4: Kylo Lepore, 18, (10) 8-1 and Marena Cavallo, 16, (9) 11-1

District 5: Radix Hunter, 16, (4) 32-1 and Eliza Simonite, 18, (5) 24-1

District 6: Zephyr Maxie, 13, (2) 75-1 and Ashlyn Breston, 17, (5) 25-1

District 7: Grover Dawkins, 16, (8) 14-1 and Aviva Gornick, 16, (7) 16-1

District 8: Scotty Tuttle, 18, (4) 26-1 and Hector McKenzie, 18, (4) 26-1

District 9: Mardell Hales, 16, (7) 15-1 and Mellissa Palma, 18, (6) 16-1

District 10: Heriberto Arthur, 13, (4) 49-1 and Florrie Byars, 15, (6) 17-1

District 11: Solomon Crisp, 16, (8) 13-1 and Kasandra Yazzie, 12, (4) 69-1

District 12: Mihilo Tice, 13, (3) 50-1 and Emmanuelle Micah, 18, (7) 14-1


THE GAMES

Vance reflected on the failure of the games prior and realized that he could not create an arena with lots of places to hide. Also, he did not want to create an arena based off of a specific event in history. In order to gain inspiration, Vance headed to a local playground in the Capitol and asked lots of small children what his next arena should be. After all, few things are more vivid than a child's imagination. Vance noticed that one of the most recurring themes from the children's suggestions was candy. And so candy it was. The arena for the twenty-third Hunger Games was a candy wonderland that looked to be straight out a dream. The arena was a rolling grassland that stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction. The ground was covered with electric pink grass that was made out of sugar. The grass was absolutely delicious, and it crunched under one's foot in the most satisfying way. Sidewalks traversed the landscape like ribbons stretching from one horizon to the other. The sidewalks were made of solid chocolate, so rich and creamy to the very core that it made the tribute's mouths water feverishly. Huge candy canes stretched to the sky, their bands of red and white covered with deliciously sticky sugar. The cornucopia was in the very center of the wonderland, in the midst of a gingerbread village. Just to the right of the cornucopia was a chocolate fountain. The fountain sprayed chocolate high into the air twenty-four hours per day. Covering the arena were patches of gumdrops, edible lumps of gummy sugar that filled the mouth with a delightfully sweet taste. The sky was a beautiful azure blue. The mouth-watering aroma of the place was the most delicious scent imaginable, and it made the tribute's mouths flood with saliva. Even the flowers that burst from the ground were made of candy; tart stalks of licorice with sugar cookies and frosting forming the actual flower. Everything natural in the arena was edible, and Vance was rather proud of his creation.

The tributes inhaled deeply through their noses as they rose up into the arena atop their pedestals, savoring the delectable aroma of the sugary wonderland that surrounded them. Many sighed with relief. There would be no starvation or hunger in these games. Several of the tributes stood on their pods, taking in the splendor of the candy village until the moment that the flashing numbers above them reached zero.

The gong rang, and only one tribute ran away immediately: Mardell from 9. The other tributes surged forward, their feet thumping over the cookies n' crème sidewalks that all radiated from the peppermint cornucopia that loomed over them. Marena led the onrush, as despite lacking in some other areas she was a lightning-fast sprinter. The instant that Marena's keen eyes spotted a machete lying in the grass twelve yards from her, she grinned as she ran to retrieve it. The career locked her eager fingers around the weapon. Marena heard a small sound behind her, and she whipped her head around to find a boy that was attempting to kill her with hopes of eliminating competition early. But, Marena would have none of it. She thrust her machete forward, and it lodged itself into the boy's chest as he fell to the ground, never to rise again.

Icarus Paracelsus, District 3 Male: 24th, Killed by Marena, Bloodbath

Lyum, another fast sprinter, was quick on his feet when he spotted a hatchet waiting for him on a countertop inside of the cornucopia. Lyum darted over to collect the weapon, clutching it in his grasp so tightly that his knuckles showed a ghostly white reminiscent of the silvery sheen of ice just before it cracked under one's weight. When a weak girl with a low training score attempted to worm her way past Lyum, she was laughably easy prey. Lyum swung the hatchet forth, and it buried itself into the girl's skull as she dropped to the ground with a thump. Lyum ripped the weapon out of her skull once he was sure that she was dead, and he reveled in his first kill.

Kasandra Yazzie, District 11 Female: 23rd, Killed by Lyum, Bloodbath

Alexis' speed did not fail her when she spotted a curved sword lying in a cluster of candy canes thirty yards from her; Alexis beat one of the other careers to it. Alexis leaned over and picked up the sword, looking around for a bit before hacking open the torso of the nearest boy. He screamed as he clutched his torso, desperately attempting to contain his organs inside of his body. Alexis' district partner and friend, Lyum, quickly finished the job by plunging the serrated edge of his hatchet into the boy's lower torso, polishing him off and marking the first collaborative kill of the twenty-third Hunger Games.

Scotty Tuttle, District 8 Male: 22nd, Killed by Alexis and Lyum, Bloodbath

Solomon, the muscular and stocky District 11 boy, darted straight into the cornucopia and began rummaging through the supplies. Solomon had retrieved a sickle and ran out of the darkness of the horn. Unfortunately for him, Solomon immediately found himself face-to-face with a smirking Olivine. In a quick moment of self-defense, Solomon thrust his sickle forward and slashed it across Olivine's chest as she crumpled to the peppermint grass amidst an explosion of scarlet. Solomon quickly polished her off by slicing open her forehead.

Olivine Flank, District 1 Female: 21st, Killed by Solomon, Bloodbath

Jacinth's dexterous fingers closed around a sword that he found on a tabletop inside of the cornucopia. Jacinth ran out of the horn and found himself less than twelve yards from one of the outer district boys who was completely oblivious to his presence. Jacinth lifted the boy into the air and threw him aside like a rag doll, knocking him to the ground. He tried to stand back up and escape, but he had barely gotten onto his hands and knees before Jacinth's sword found a home lodged between two of his ribs.

Zephyr Maxie, District 6 Male: 20th, Killed by Jacinth, Bloodbath

Emmanuelle from 12 was not about to let an opportunity to kill slip past her; she knew that killing would do wonders for her odds of survival and that getting her hands dirty couldn't hurt. Emmanuelle spotted the sinewy District 5 girl near her, and she pounced upon her. Emmanuelle had no weapons, and so she had to resort to brute force to kill the 5 girl. She ended up resorting to pounding her head against the cornucopia again and again, and she died from head trauma just over a minute later.

Eliza Simonite, District 5 Female: 19th, Killed by Emmanuelle, Bloodbath

Emmanuelle was much disoriented after killing Eliza, and needed some time to get situated. Nearby Alexis took advantage of this moment of distraction by lunging towards the 12 girl and pinning her against the cornucopia. Emmanuelle's death was quick after the sharp tip of Alexis' sword wormed its way into her heart.

Emmanuelle Micah, District 12 Female: 18th, Killed by Alexis, Bloodbath

When Kylo spotted the blond merchant boy from District 10 out of the corner of his eye, he was on him like a hound. Kylo made his first kill of the games when he picked up a rope that lay at his feet and tied it around the 10 boy's neck, securing it into a tight knot and choking the boy. Through all of this, he was able to remain relatively calm and actually untie the knot, gasping for breath. Kylo would have none of it, and he lunged forward to grab either side of his neck with his two bare hands. The snap was sickening to hear.

Heriberto Arthur, District 10 Male: 17th, Killed by Kylo, Bloodbath

Most of the outer district tributes had scurried away from the cornucopia, and the eager careers got to the work of inspecting the clearing for any stray prey. There were none left apart from the sneaky Mellissa from District 9, who was hiding behind a crate inside of the cornucopia. She was wielding a sword and put up an admirably good fight against smirking Kylo, but in the end her skills could not match those of the trained career. Kylo eventually subdued her by shoving the end of his knife deep into her throat. Mellissa moaned and gurgled for a bit before tumbling to the ground, her eyes glazed back into her head.

Mellissa Palma, District 9 Female: 16th, Killed by Kylo, Bloodbath

That was it. Nine cannons boomed across the vast arena. Vance was rather disappointed with nine bloodbath deaths; he was hoping for more. The one upside to this was that the games would be extra-long and thrilling. After the bloodbath, the large number of fifteen remaining tributes swelled out across the arena, occupying every nook and cranny of the candy wonderland. The fractured career pack stayed at the cornucopia to sort through supplies and to pile up the bodies in a far-off corner of the clearing. They had five surviving members, much more than the four or three that they usually had. In a neat row on the floor of the cornucopia, they set out five sleeping bags. They set up a rotation of shifts to watch the others, and they fell asleep to the aroma of peppermint patty and candy canes.

Those tributes that stayed in the clearing were certainly testing their luck due to its close proximity to the careers. Only two tributes stayed in the gingerbread village. They were Innara from 3 and Aviva from 7. All of the other tributes ran as fast as they could away from the cornucopia once they had received supplies, but not these two girls. Innara alternated between walking and jogging for the rest of Day 1, reaching the edge of the village and emerging into the candy cane forest many hours after all of the others. When she did, she actually turned back in favor of camping out in the gingerbread village for the night. The houses were extremely small and cramped, but Innara eventually found a building that she could hide in without feeling claustrophobic. It was the town's church, and she found a good hiding spot under the priest's podium, which was, naturally, made completely out of the most delicious chocolate that Innara had ever tasted in her life. At first, Innara tested it slowly to make sure that it wasn't poisonous. Once she came to the conclusion that it was safe to eat, she began stuffing her mouth with the delicious candy. It was sweet and delicious to the very center, and it left Innara craving more. She went to sleep at around eleven o'clock, after she had eaten as much as she dared without the podium collapsing due to the thinness of its supporting walls. Aviva was the only other tribute to stay in the gingerbread village, and she took quite a different approach to the night than Innara had. Aviva did not settle down in one place for the night, instead opting to be a hunter-gatherer and to keep moving around day and night. Aviva's keen senses of vision and hearing did not fail her throughout the night, and whenever she heard a career pacing nearby she would always see them before they saw her and she would have time to hide—and time to call them names. Aviva quite enjoyed the adventure of exploring the entire town, and with the careers asleep, she had nothing to worry about as long as she was relatively quiet.

The huge chocolate mountain looming in the distance was certainly an attractive destination, with its crumbling facades of dripping sugar and peppermint filling. Four tributes headed toward it once the bloodbath was over. They were Radix from 5, Hector from 8, Solomon from 11, and Mihilo from 12. Solomon was the fastest runner of the quartet, hence his strong legs and determined standpoint. It was almost two in the morning when he finally reached the foot of the chocolate mountain, and he began climbing it. It was not cold or slippery at all and so wasn't very dangerous, although his leg muscles screamed with exhaustion. Five hours later, Solomon had reached the peak of the mountain. He noticed that the air was no thinner up there than it was at the surface. Weird. Solomon looked down upon the beautiful sight below him: the glowing candy land with its beautiful lights and candy cane trees. It was very calming to see something so peaceful, and after crawling under a peppermint bush Solomon fell asleep almost instantly. Right behind Solomon was Hector, another fast runner. Although Hector could run incredibly fast, she was not nearly as endurant as Solomon; she needed to pepper long breaks throughout traversing the arena. Once Hector reached the foot of the candy mountain, she crumpled to the ground with exhaustion. Hector used the last ounce of her strength (and of her willpower) to crawl over to a ditch in the ground and curl up inside of it. She fell asleep within seconds, her backpack beside her as she caught some Zs. Mihilo from 12 was a rather average boy in terms of his speed, and he made it about halfway to the foot of the mountain when he curled up behind a thick bush of electric blue lollipops to sleep. He certainly tried to fall asleep, but he couldn't. The sight of the blue lollipops above him was too captivating. But, Mihilo told himself that if he ate them it would just make it more difficult for him to sleep when he wanted to. Then, finally, half an hour of tossing and turning later, Mihilo told himself that he would try just one. The lollipops were delicious, and within the next hour he had completely eaten four of them. So much for sleep. The slowest of the quartet was Radix, who took his sweet time strolling towards the candy mountain. He was just over a third of the way there when night fell, and he strayed from the path. Radix sat down behind a steep hill and began taking inventory of the contents of his backpack. He tried to fight his tiredness, but it was no use. Suddenly, a dark wave fell over him as he tumbled into the dark void of sleep.

Several tributes opted to head toward the bubblegum foothills just east of the cornucopia. The foothills were about thirty feet tall each and each was made of pink hard-candy. They all burst with bushes that were covered with flowers. The petals of the flowers were made of cotton-candy chewing gum. The tributes that headed in that direction were Grover from 7, Mardell from 9, and Florrie from 10. Grover ventured to the very edge of the arena, mere yards from the force field that encircled the candy wonderland. He crouched down in a small cove dug in the ground, wielding his axe and ready to defend himself against any friend or foe that may come along. None did, and after about three hours of tirelessly waiting around he fell asleep. Florrie from 10 went with a similar strategy to Grover. Florrie ventured out as far as she dared, always throwing little bits of material ahead of her just to make sure she wouldn't hit the force field. Once she had walked for about thirty minutes, she began gorging herself on the bubblegum flowers. They were delicious. The first one that she tried was a purple one. She shoved it into her mouth, and smiled with satisfaction as the grape flavor washed through her. She chewed it precisely ten times, then spit it out and went for a different flower. They were different flavors each time. Next, Florrie found a bubblegum one. Then, she found lemon, followed by raspberry, strawberry, chocolate, cinnamon, orange, banana, peppermint, and many, many more. She had tasted about a hundred different flavors when she decided to blow a bubble. She shoved ten pieces into her mouth, all of the flavors blending together as she chewed them into a rubbery ball. Then, she began blowing a bubble. She had ten pieces in her mouth, so, naturally, the bubble was absolutely huge. It was about a foot in diameter, and it completely blocked out her vision save for the corners of her eyes. Eventually, it popped with a loud sound that burst in Florrie's ears and sent her reeling back. It was if she had been punched in the face, and she needed some time to recover. Very unfortunately for Florrie, that loud pop was enough to attract the attention of the nearby career pack. The careers raced toward Florrie. Florrie's ears were ringing from the sound of the pop, so she couldn't hear well. And, her vision was blocked completely because some of the gum had gotten stuck in and over her eyes. Florrie had no idea what was going on as Alexis did the honors, grinning with satisfaction as she slashed her curved blade across her chest. Florrie fell to the ground, screaming, and smirking Kylo finished the job when he thrusted the prongs of his bronze trident into her chest.

Florrie Byars, District 10 Female: 15th, Killed by Alexis and Kylo, Day 1

There was one outlier among the tributes, and that was Ashlyn from District 6. Ashlyn was the only tribute that headed south toward the field of gumdrops. Perhaps she reasoned that she would be glossed over by the careers, who would never expect any tribute to be hiding in the open space. The pros and cons bounced around in her mind, but despite all ifs and buts and coconuts she settled down rather nicely behind a huge blue gumdrop. She leaned against it and tore open the pack she had taken from the cornucopia. Once everything was settled, she began testing the gumdrop slowly to make sure that it wasn't poisonous. Once she was sure it was safe to eat, Ashlyn began gorging herself on the sugary blue-raspberry. Once she had bitten a hole about the size of a basketball in the gumdrop, she leaned her head against her backpack and fell asleep, holding her knife in hand just in case any of the other tributes had any ideas.

The morning of Day 2 arrived, and the careers started hunting immediately. They decided to go with the strategy of hunting together in one big pack of five instead of venturing out individually. The quintet argued for a bit about where to search before deciding upon the chocolate mountain in the distance. They reasoned that it would have lots of places to hide and would give the tributes on it a good view of below. This would mean that the most tributes would be there, they assumed. They were right. The career pack darted through the arena as quickly as they could, and within two hours they had reached the foot of the mountain. They began climbing up the steep slope, and it was less than ten minutes before they discovered Solomon crouched down in his cove. Solomon immediately leapt up, clutching his knife so firmly that his knuckles showed a starch white. Solomon knew he couldn't fend off the trained careers for long, but he was not about to give up without a fight. He immediately pranced out of the cove, running away in an attempt to place as much distance between himself and his pursuers. The first to lunge toward Solomon was Jacinth. When Solomon saw Jacinth lunging toward him and brandishing his sword, Solomon leapt over his crouched-down form and planted his feet firmly on the ground, kicking up lots of sugary dust that made him sneeze. Now, in place of now-disoriented Jacinth, was Alexis. Alexis dove toward Solomon, calling for her allies in an attempt to corner the boy against one of the candy canes nearby. In one leap of faith, Solomon hurled his knife four yards through the air. He was not a good knife-user, but the knife miraculously found its way into Alexis' heart as she slumped like a stone, screaming and trying to staunch the flow of blood that was exploding from her torso.

Alexis Millet, District 2 Female: 14th, Killed by Solomon, Day 2

Solomon had angered the other careers immensely, and he didn't have time to rip the knife out of Alexis' corpse. Instead, Solomon fled for his life as the careers were hot on his tail, flinging their weapons forth in an attempt to kill the boy that had killed their Alexis. The careers chased around Solomon for four long hours. Then, Solomon tripped on a rock and fell face-first into the ground. His efforts to get back up onto his feet were futile, and the careers caught up to him within a second. That very moment, Marena plunged her machete into Solomon's back. Solomon had a strong build, and he put up a good fight against the wound. But, all of his hopes of recovery were quelled when Jacinth flung his sword into his calf.

Solomon Crisp, District 11 Male: 13th, Killed by Marena and Jacinth, Day 2

Days 3 and 4 passed, deathless. In this timeframe, not much happened in the arena. However, Ashlyn got up from her hiding spot in the gumdrop moor and decided to move toward the gingerbread village to raid the cornucopia of its supplies when she was sure that the careers were away. On Day 5, the District 6 girl watched from far away as the careers packed up their supplies. Once the quartet disappeared over the horizon, Ashlyn was in business.

Ashlyn darted towards the cornucopia, leaping and bounding across the arena. In fact, she was so distracted by the notion of raiding the cornucopia that she bumped into an unsuspecting Innara, who was wandering around the gingerbread village surrounding the cornucopia. The two fell to the ground, breathing heavily as they scrambled to their feet. Innara proposed a truce, but Ashlyn would have none of it. Ashlyn pulled out her sword and Innara produced her knife. Innara was able to fend Ashlyn off for about two minutes, but in the end the meager skills of the 3 girl were no match for those of the experienced Ashlyn. Ashlyn thrust forth her sword, and it sank into Innara's neck as she fell to the ground, a fountain of thick blood spurting from her neck as she writhed on the ground in pain, screaming. Ashlyn, not wanting to attract the attention of the careers, polished her off by stabbing her in the stomach with her sword.

Innara Whiting, District 3 Female: 12th, Killed by Ashlyn, Day 5

Ashlyn took a few moments to pillage dead Innara of everything she had been carrying with her. Once Ashlyn had gotten everything, she chickened out and darted away into the field and back to her little home. Ashlyn sat down, back leaned against the huge blue gumdrop. She looked at what she had with her.

There were only two items. There was a black sleeping bag. The second object was the strangest contraption that Ashlyn had seen in her life. It was a square about one foot in diameter, and it was made of metal. It looked to be made out of lots of different parts of things mashed together, with gears and wires and knuts and bolts locking together in a rather harmonious way. That was when Ashlyn noticed the small trigger at the bottom of the machine. It must have been some kind of gun. But, it had no hole to load in ammunition. What could it be? After a few minutes of exploration, she found a small hole on the opposite side from the trigger. She aimed the hole away from her, toward the ground. Not knowing what to expect, Ashlyn pulled the trigger.

What followed was a low-pitched hum. A beam of glowing light shot from the gun and hit the ground, where it melted the peppermint grass and the chocolate ground into hot liquid. Intrigued, Ashlyn crawled away from the gumdrop she was hiding behind and aimed the gun directly at it. When she pulled the trigger, the entire thing melted in a huge glob of sugary blue liquid that oozed lazily across the ground. Whatever Innara had done to make this contraption did not matter to Ashlyn. All she knew was that it had potential. It had potential to get her back home to District 6.

On Day 6, the careers were combing through the arena when they found the sinewy District 12 boy, Mihilo, hiding behind a rock. Lyum called for the attention of the others, and they slowly kept forward, trapping the boy who was too terrified to move or run or even breathe as death drew nearer. He swiftly met his end after Lyum whacked him across the head with his baton.

Mihilo Tice, District 12 Male: 11th, Killed by Lyum, Day 6

Days 7 thru 9 passed, void of any conflict between the tributes. It had been a long time since the last kill had been made, and so the gamemakers declared a feast to cut down the number of tributes by a substantial amount. Out of the ten remaining tributes, seven showed up to the feast. They were the four careers, Aviva and Grover from 7, and Mardell from 9. Mardell showed up because his water supply had run out two days prior and he would die from dehydration soon. Aviva showed up for the exact same reason. Grover made an appearance because he had suffered a bad wound on his torso and would die without medicine from the cornucopia.

The feast began, and the tributes burst forward in a scene of pure chaos. The first tribute to meet their end in the feast was Grover. Grover was running across the yawning mouth of the cornucopia when Kylo leapt out of its mysterious darkness and tackled him. Kylo lifted his knife into the air and brought it down upon Grover's torso. Grover's screams were cut out instantly after the knife wormed its way into his heart, and Kylo ripped the knife out of the boy the moment that his cannon sounded.

Grover Dawkins, District 7 Male: 10th, Killed by Kylo, Day 10

The next kill that was made was an accidental kill. Jacinth had picked up a throwing axe off of a shelf in the cornucopia and spotted his target: nearby Mardell. Jacinth lifted the hatchet into the air and hurled it as hard as she could. The moment that the weapon left Jacinth's fingers, unsuspecting Marena ran across its path. The weapon sank into Marena's side as she slumped like a stone, her cannon booming through the arena. She had absorbed the blow, leaving Mardell unscathed.

Marena Cavallo, District 4 Female: 9th, Killed by Jacinth, Day 10

That left the final eight: Jacinth Bergeron from District 1, Lyum Harnett from District 2, Kylo Lepore from District 4, Radix Hunter from District 5, Ashlyn Breston from District 6, Aviva Gornick from District 7, Hector McKenzie from District 8, Mardell Hales from District 9

Mardell, Jacinth's intended prey, took the opportunity to escape and began darting away from the clearing as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Oh no you don't" Jacinth spat as he picked up the nearest weapon—a throwing knife—and hurled it through the air toward Mardell. The knife missed, and Jacinth cursed under his breath as he reached for another weapon—this time, a brick. Jacinth threw the brick through the air, and it landed into Mardell's back and knocked him to the ground. Jacinth ran over to disoriented Mardell and smashed him in the head over and over again with the brick, killing him from head trauma a minute later.

Mardell Hales, District 9 Male: 8th, Killed by Jacinth, Day 10

Then, the three surviving careers teamed up in an attempt to take down Aviva, who was attempting to escape the cornucopia with a package of water canteens. Aviva could not outrun the trained boys, and Kylo flung his knife into the back of her head the moment before she disappeared into the candy cane forest.

Aviva Gornick, District 7 Female: 7th, Killed by Kylo, Day 10

On Day 11, the audience's attention was diverted to Hector, the only volunteer outside of the careers. Hector's water supply had run out three days prior, and she was slowly dying from dehydration. At this point in the games, water was very expensive and so no sponsor was generous enough to open their purse for her. Hector died on the floor of the candy cane forest.

Hector McKenzie, District 8 Female: 6th, Dehydration, Day 11

Only five tributes remained, and the gamemakers wanted to wait for one more death before driving the tributes inward for a bloody finale. Radix gave it to them when he fell prey to dehydration on Day 13.

Radix Hunter, District 5 Male: 5th, Dehydration, Day 13

That left Jacinth Bergeron of District 1, Lyum Harnett of District 2, Kylo Lepore of District 4, and Ashlyn Breston of District 6 to vie for the crown. The gamemakers needed a method to herd the tributes toward the cornucopia, and so they unleashed a hoard of gingerbread men muttations upon the tributes. The mutts chased the four tributes around the arena. The first to reach the cornucopia was Ashlyn, who was close to it and so didn't need much time to reach it. She was closely followed by Kylo, then by Lyum. Jacinth, however, was not so lucky. He had been running through the arena when he tripped. He regained his balance before he could fall, but the stutter had given the gingerbread men enough time to catch up to him. They mauled Jacinth's body to a pulp, and he screamed all the way through.

Jacinth Bergeron, District 1 Male: 4th, Gingerbread Muttations, Day 13

At the cornucopia were Lyum, Kylo, and Ashlyn. All three of them had climbed up on top of the cornucopia, and the fight was between Lyum and Kylo at that point. The two boys were fighting each other, thinking that once one of them triumphed it would be easy for them to bump off Ashlyn without any difficulty. While Lyum and Kylo were distracted fighting each other, Ashlyn developed a plan in her mind.

The cornucopia is made of peppermint. Peppermint is made of sugar. Sugar melts with heat.

While the two boys were distracted, Ashlyn slipped off of the cornucopia onto the ground. She pulled out her gun, and aimed it at the peppermint cornucopia. She pulled the trigger, and over the course of thirty seconds the entire cornucopia melted to the ground in a huge mass of oozing liquid. The two careers were consumed by the lazily flowing mass of scorching sugar. They screamed as their bodies were burned to death, and the trumpets sounded in their victorious trill the moment that their cannons faded away fully.

Kylo Lepore, District 4 Male: 3rd, Killed by Ashlyn, Day 13

Lyum Harnett, District 2 Male: 2nd, Killed by Ashlyn, Day 13

"Ashlyn Breston of District 6, you are the victor of the twenty-third annual Hunger Games!" Vance declared, congratulating the nation's newest victor.

Ashlyn just grinned slyly. Through much more than her fair share of luck, she was the only tribute remaining in the arena. As she climbed into the hovercraft, thoughts raced through her head about her family and friends back in District 6. No matter what happened, she would never forget the time that she had served in the games. Never as long as she lived.

Ashlyn Breston, District 6 Female: Victor of the Twenty Third Hunger Games, Day 13


AFTERMATH

The nation was glad to see another victor be added to District 6's lineup. With the addition of Ashlyn, District 6 had the third most victors of any district. Only Districts 1 and 2 had more victors than District 6, now. The Capitol adored Ashlyn, and it was alleged that she was a perfect comedian who could make anybody laugh. She was worshipped by her home district before settling into the victor's village.

Ashlyn's victory tour was average. However, all three of the career districts were infuriated at how a 'weakling' like her had somehow lasted longer than the powerful tributes that they had trained for their entire lives.

She moved into the Victor's Village of District 6, the third victor to do so.

Ashlyn would live to the age of fifty, dying an untimely death in a house fire around the time of the fifty-seventh annual Hunger Games. In her lifetime, she would marry once. She would have one child in her early thirties, but would go to extreme lengths to conceal the identity of the father.


NEWS

Ashlyn moves into the Victor's Village of District 6, the third victor to do so.

Brandi Coyne marries her first and only husband, a man named Creselda Reyl.

Slate Ogston marries his first wife, Maren Lynx.

Blaze Skalnik fathers twin children, whom he names Madison and Mason.


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)
15HG: Dina Wilmarth (#2, District 5)
16HG: Beatrice Toland (#1, District 6)
17HG: Amelia Bankston (#5, District 2)
18HG: Markus Gardd (#2, District 6)
19HG: Odius Ruttler (#6, District 2)
20HG: Seeder Kaiser (#1, District 11)
21HG: Freya Digard (#7, District 2)
22HG: Gold Carson (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ashlyn Breston (#3, District 6)