THE FORTY THIRD ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Stella"
INTRODUCTION
All eyes turned toward the honeymoon of newlyweds Coriolanus and Magnolia Snow. The couple spent a month on an extravagant trip to the sandy beaches of District 4. At first they had their hearts set on District 11, but Snow's advisors pointed out to him that since District 11 was a rebellious district it probably wouldn't be safe for him to visit. Even though District 4 was one of the most loyal districts, Snow still had to have security on guard, protecting him and his wife at every moment. All of the guests at the celebrations needed to be checked by the Capitol to ensure that they weren't carrying anything meant to hurt Snow, and even the food was carefully inspected for anything intended to poison either of the two. Despite the intense security measures in place, there were three attempted assassinations during his honeymoon. Snow and Magnolia emerged unscathed from all three, and the administrators of all three were issued public hangings for their crimes. It was an obvious choice for who would be head gamemaker this year. Mr. Wisp Glasgow had fascinated the nation with the games of the year prior, and Technik's final kill was considered one of the greatest of its time. Back at the task of singlehandedly crafting an arena, Wisp was prompted by District 6. Some speculated the arena would be a train station or boat dock, but time would tell for sure what kind of arena Wisp had designed.
The career districts were once again up to the challenge of each offering up a strong boy and girl to compete. District 1's tributes were as gorgeous as always. The boy was a hit with the audience, as he was handsome and had a way with words that made the sponsors swoon. He was actually a published poet, and his writing was an immediate success. The girl was the weakest of the bunch this year. She scored a meager eight in her private session. Her interview was a failure, as she spent the entire three minutes telling the audience corny jokes. She was largely seen as a hopeless girl desperately attempting to live up to her stronger allies, and she quickly faded into the background. District 2, as was becoming the norm, produced the strongest pair. The male was as nimble as a gazelle, and in his spare time he was a recreational ballet dancer who scored high in many competitions. His impressive ten spoke for his bloodthirsty side, though, and the huge scar that traversed his face from an injury he had sustained a few months prior to the reaping professed to all that he was not to be messed with. The girl was a brute-force attacker, preferring weapons like the mace and baton to do her dirty work. She was tall and slender, a willowy form. District 4 produced the strongest tribute in these games. The male was a giant, muscular, strong, and taller than any tribute that the fishing district had seen in a long time. This fellow, Dylan, wowed the audience with his sheer strength and prowess, and he quickly became a Capitol favorite. The careers scored averagely this year, with three tens, two nines, and one eight.
Outside of the careers, the training scores were average. However, there were two standouts. They were the tributes from District 6. The Chevy boy was impressively muscular from working as a car manufacturer for most of his life; his tenacity, power, and radiance of control earned him many a sponsor. His district partner, a girl named Acadia, had eyes as cold as stone. She didn't seem to give the slightest crap about the pre-games festivities, and she promptly allied with Chevy. In an arena modeled after their home district, these two tributes were expected to go far. The highest score other than the careers and the "sixers" as they were called was Aprilus Kramer, District 11's burly male. He managed to walk home with an impressive eight, tying with one of the careers in terms of training score. The three sevens were earned by Elwood from 7 and Bear and Leona from 10. The rest of the tributes scored between six and three in their private sessions. There were no volunteers besides the careers. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Gleamton Tarantola, 16, (9) 6-1 and Sequin Storlazzi, 16, (8) 8-1
District 2: Illius Paget, 18, (10) 4-1 and Peridot Wielder, 17, (10) 4-1
District 3: Python Spalding, 13, (4) 36-1 and Rama Mathews, 18, (6) 18-1
District 4: Dylan Levitt, 18, (10) 3-1 and Aft Bigelow, 17, (9) 5-1
District 5: Nebula Kligiene, 13, (4) 40-1 and Dorothea Vonsolis, 15, (4) 33-1
District 6: Chevy Cohen, 16, (10) 5-1 and Acadia Rosemary, 16, (10) 5-1
District 7: Elwood Yandell, 17, (7) 15-1 and Hazel Trench, 18, (6) 18-1
District 8: Jute Scrivens, 14, (5) 25-1 and Sisal Matu, 17, (6) 23-1
District 9: Mostaccioli Lowsteam, 15, (3) 50-1 and Atasia Vigil, 18, (6) 17-1
District 10: Bear Cantu, 17, (7) 15-1 and Leona Massey, 17, (7) 15-1
District 11: Aprilus Kramer, 16, (8) 9-1 and Cornflower Meadows, 15 (5) 24-1
District 12: Pickan Maple, 15, (5) 23-1 and Dahlia Mosier, 13, (4) 54-1
HGBO Bets: 9% on Dylan, 8% on Illius and Peridot, 7% on Gleamton, Aft, Chevy, and Acadia, 5% on Sequin and Aprilus, 4% on Elwood, Bear, and Leona, 3% on Rama, Hazel, Jute, Sisal, Atasia, and Cornflower, 2% on Pickan, 1% or less on Python, Nebula, Dorothea, Mostaccioli, and Dahlia.
THE GAMES
Wisp's newest arena was a whole new take on District 6 that nobody would have thought of. The clever man focused on the stars. Throughout history, travelers have always used the stars and sought their definite positions in relation to the planet for guidance. As such, the arena represented the night sky. The entire arena was a palace marvelously crafted out of obsidian. The throne room served as the clearing in which the cornucopia would sit. Everything from the ground to the countertops to the towering walls to the arching ceiling were carved out of stone as black as the night. The tributes all represented the stars. They were all sharply dressed. The girls wore dresses jeweled with yellow gems that seemed to glow in the dark so that they were nearly impossible to look at. The folds of their garments twisted up into bodices that dulled out into a goldenrod yellow. The boys wore golden-colored suits with brilliant yellow bow ties. These were the stars in the cavernous black palace that was the night sky. The entire place was ill-lit. The only sources of light from the palace itself were the candles that were mounted into the walls sporadically throughout the hallways and in the rooms. The palace had hundreds of rooms, each of which served a purpose. Apart from the throne room, there were game rooms, nearly a dozen bedrooms, three ballrooms, ten music practice rooms, a huge and magnificent study, a kitchen whose cupboards were loaded with delicious food, several icehouses, three different churches, a bowling alley, an indoor swimming pool, and way more than could fit in this book that you hold in your hands. The entire place was magnificent, surpassing the excellence of even those in which real mediaeval royalty dwelled.
When the gong rang, a single tribute turned around and fled: Dorothea from 5. The other twenty-three tributes decided to battle it out at the obsidian horn, which stood in the dead center of the throne room. This year's bloodbath hosted thirteen deaths.
Dylan thundered forward at the head of the onrush, leaving all of the other tributes in the dust. The strong and speedy boy's coffee colored skin blended into the darkness of the arena, and he used the element of surprise to turn the tide of battle in his favor. Dylan scooped up a katana that sat on the ground twenty yards from his pedestal and stayed completely still as a girl whose golden dress and platinum blonde hair stood out in the dimly lit room raced toward him. She ran straight into Dylan's katana. The girl blubbered and flailed around her limbs for a moment before sliding off of the District 4 boy's long and slender sword. Her marvelous golden dress was stained crimson by her thick blood.
Dahlia Mosier, District 12 Female: 24th, Killed by Dylan, Bloodbath
Dylan's district partner, nimble Aft, got to work tearing off the dress that restricted her movement a bit too much the second that the gong's note filled the air. Aft had just finished tearing off the last bit of fabric when a young boy from District 9 raced past her faster than she could have expected possible from an outlier. Aft picked up the bundle of cloth that she had built up on the ground around her and tossed it toward the boy. He screamed in shock and tried to swat away the golden cloth, but this just made him more and more entangled in it. He was defenseless as Aft picked up a spear that sat nearby, approached him, and speared it through his head. His cries abruptly ceased, and it was few seconds before him and the pile of woven gold that cocooned him fell to the ground with a bloodcurdling thud.
Mostaccioli Lowsteam, District 9 Male: 23rd, Killed by Aft, Bloodbath
Burly Aprilus from 11 ran over to the boy whose pedestal was stationed to the right of his and threw him to the ground like nothing. Aprilus smashed the boy against his pedestal. He let out a mewl of distress before going unconscious, and as Aprilus continued to bang his head against the block of shimmering metal strings of blood began flying from him. Aprilus gagged but continued the deed. The boy was dead from head trauma within a few minutes.
Python Spalding, District 3 Male: 22nd, Killed by Aprilus, Bloodbath
Illius picked up a sword that sat in a cluster of other weapons about halfway between his pedestal and the horn. Little Nebula from 5, who was young and foolish and thought he could take down the trained career, picked up a sword of his own and charged toward Illius, shouting out battle cries as if a warrior marching into a fight. Of course, Illius disarmed him within seconds. Illius slammed his sword into Nebula's. The blade flew out of his hands and clattered to the floor a few yards back. Nebula hadn't even processed the circumstances before Illius thrust forward his sword and it wormed its way through his torso, piercing his heart. He fell to the ground, and Illius smirked at the boy's stupidity as he wrenched his sword out of his limp form.
Nebula Kligiene, District 5 Male: 21st, Killed by Illius, Bloodbath
Seconds before, Gleamton from District 1 had picked up a bow and arrows and began firing. Gleamton unleashed a volley of four arrows after a girl that had grabbed a backpack and was now high tailing it away from the horn and the chaos that was ensuing. The girl screamed as one of the arrows sawed into the base of her neck. She tried to keep running, but when another arrow lodged itself into her calf it was all over. Gleamton approached, grabbed the injured girl by the neck, and twisted it savagely to the left. The crack and crunch of bone under Gleamton's hands stood as a testamony to the girl's death.
Atasia Vigil, District 9 Female: 20th, Killed by Gleamton, Bloodbath
Dylan, having pulled his katana out of Dahlia's bloodstained form, fluidly attacked his next victim: a boy that was on the ground and riffling through a crate containing several baked goods. Dylan pounced toward the boy and threw a fist at the side of his head. The boy scuttled to his feet and tried to scamper away, but strong Dylan was pinning him to the ground. Dylan deftly skewered the katana through his neck, and a few seconds of choked gasping later he fell dead onto the crate.
Pickan Maple, District 12 Male: 19th, Killed by Dylan, Bloodbath
Gleamton retrieved his arrows from the body of his prey before returning to the horn. There, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Gleamton whipped his head around and saw a girl who had obtained a knife and had sliced open the District 1 boy's shoulder. Gleamton saw blood dribble forth from the wound that he had been dealt. Furious, Gleamton rushed toward the stupefied girl and kicked her to the ground. Her eyes widened and she tried to stumble to her feet but couldn't before Gleamton smashed his foot into her head. She tried to beg for mercy from the career, but Gleamton had already opened fire. His arrow elegantly sailed into the girl's upper abdomen.
Cornflower Meadows, District 11 Female: 18th, Killed by Gleamton, Bloodbath
Seconds before, the strong duo of Chevy and Acadia from 6 had cornered the lithe girl from District 7 against the cornucopia. The girl screamed when Chevy produced his dagger. Acadia picked up a knife of her own that sat nearby, and it was all over. The girl reached into the bodice of her dress and pulled out a black lace fan. She wasn't interested in fanning herself, but was instead using it as a last resort against her attackers. She held out the fan as if it could somehow shield her from the duo, but Acadia threw her knife and it cut through the lace like nothing. The girl dropped the fan and ran, but in the sharp turn that it took to change direction after noticing that she was being followed by one of the careers she tripped and fell. The girl hissed as the duet caught up to her. Chevy flung his dagger into the girl's back, and Acadia followed suit. Chevy and Acadia fled the scene. The career that the girl was being chased by, Sequin from 1, finished her off by shoving her spear into her chest.
Hazel Trench, District 7 Female: 17th, Killed by Chevy, Acadia, and Sequin, Bloodbath
Having wrenched her spear out of Hazel's slack body, Sequin turned sharply on her heel and planted it into the torso of a girl that was trying to off her with a spear of her own. The girl hadn't expected Sequin to notice her and was too shocked to react before she did the deed. The girl gasped and gurgled in a rather grotesque manner as she swiftly died, ninth on the list of the newly dead.
Leona Massey, District 10 Female: 16th, Killed by Sequin, Bloodbath
Dylan noticed that the chaos around the horn was beginning to die down. The career had resorted to combing through the hallways and rooms near the throne room for any tributes off-guard after running away from the bloodbath. This strategy proved worthwhile. Dylan threw open the heavy wooden door of a pantry and found a boy hiding inside, gritting his teeth from the pain of having to force himself into such a small space. That was the least of his problems as Dylan speared his katana through his shoulder. A little laugh of pleasure tumbled from Dylan's lips as he toyed with the boy's thrashing and struggling form for a few moments before abandoning him. The boy quickly died from blood loss, and Dylan was back at the horn and ready to get back in on the real action.
Jute Scrivens, District 8 Male: 15th, Killed by Dylan, Bloodbath
Dylan stormed into the throne room and found himself gazing upon a rather peculiar scene. All of the outliers had scrambled away except for the two District 6 tributes, allies Chevy and Acadia from District 6. Dylan's allies were all scrambling to kill the two nimble sixers. Sequin was thundering around throwing punches in arbitrary directions. Gleamton was madly chasing Acadia around the throne room, firing arrows like mad. Illius and Peridot had cornered Chevy against one of the thrones and were now throwing random weapons at him. Chevy and Acadia were doing a respectable job of fending off the careers, but they were quickly being overrun. In an act that took the nation by surprise, Dylan grabbed a crossbow that stood nearby and aimed it at the magnificent chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Dylan shouted for his allies to move out of the way and then he fired. The projectile shot through the air and shattered the chain from which the huge glass creation hung. The mass of sparkling gems began falling toward the ground and toward the two District 6 tributes. They were immediately crushed by the hundreds of pounds of chandelier. Dylan had eliminated the two strongest outlier threats.
Acadia Rosemary, District 6 Female: 14th, Killed by Dylan, Bloodbath
Chevy Cohen, District 6 Male: 13th, Killed by Dylan, Bloodbath
As the outliers scattered, the careers stayed at the horn to nurse the wounds that they had been dealt during the bloodbath. Sequin was the most beaten up of the bunch. She was the slowest career and had been the closest to the site of the falling chandelier. One shard of metal had buried itself into the back of her leg. It was a sizable piece, enough to cause infection or further injury if not removed properly. Aft, the self-proclaimed medical whiz of the group (her father was a doctor, she added), got to work removing the piece of rough metal from Sequin's leg. Blood poured from the gash after it was fully removed, but with a single bandage she was well enough to go hunting. Illius had also been injured during the feast of death. He had gotten into a fight with Rama from 3. Rama had managed to inflict a sizable gash upon Illius' arm before fleeing, and he spent a few minutes applying cream to the sliced-open skin to help it close up and to prevent infection. The others were relatively unscathed, and they went hunting. The most exciting part of their odyssey through the sprawling palace occurred around noon. They were all in one of the kitchens. The gamemakers rigged one of the cupboards to fall open. Unlucky Peridot was standing underneath it, and the entire rack of kitchen knives that was inside fell onto her head. Luckily for her, they all missed, and the empty rack knocked into her head, leaving her without so much as a scratch in testimony to the scenario that could have turned out much worse. Aprilus had grabbed the supplies he wanted from the bloodbath but was so transfixed by the scene that he had stayed just outside the throne room and peeked around the corner for the remaining minutes of the bloodbath. Aprilus fled the scene the second that the bloodbath cannons began firing off in rapid succession. He had seen Chevy and Acadia die, and he knew that he was now the strongest remaining outlier. Aprilus strolled through the palace and found himself in a billiard room. He ducked into a closet and turned his shirt inside-out. The inside of the sparkling yellow shirt was duller than the outside, and he hoped that this would make him less visible to anyone who might be interested in killing him. Later, Aprilus crawled under the pool table and amused himself by rolling around the pool balls on the floor. Bear had snatched an entire package of knives from the horn and ran away without looking back. After racing up a few stairwells Bear found himself in a guest bedroom. The tidily pulled-back silky sheets seemed to beckon Bear forth. How he longed to sleep in a comfy, cozy, warm bead! He resisted the urge, instead crawling underneath the bed and sleeping with his backpack as a pillow. Heaven hope that the backpack didn't break, or else his head would be impaled by its sharp contents. Fortunately, the strong fabric held. Little Dorothea from 5 had run away from the bloodbath the second the gong rang and ended up in a kitchenette. Dorothea threw open the pantry and stuffed herself on crackers and cookies. She found a bowl of hot tomato soup fresh off of the stove, and she was so entranced by the delectable aroma that she didn't bother to check whether it was poisonous or not. Dorothea slurped down the soup, and within minutes she began gagging and moaning out from the pain of the poison. There wasn't enough poison in the soup to kill her, but there was enough to take her on a journey through a world of hurt. Rama, always the good District 3'er, had grabbed a bag of wire on a whim during the bloodbath. Rama assembled a sort of electric mouse trap and placed it in a dark and dusty corner filled with crumbs, hoping for some critter to come along and get stuck inside. This didn't happen. Rama fed on a little pack of nuts that she had snatched from the horn of plenty for supper.
Sisal had been wandering through the palace when she found a door carved beautifully from dark wood. It was a shock for the senses to feel something other than obsidian in the black palace. Sisal held out a tentative yet curious hand. She turned the ornate wooden knob. A burst of light engulfed her. A staircase spiraled down into the earth. Roaring torches were placed every few feet or so down the staircase. Not bothering to close the door behind her, Sisal walked down the staircase, her hand balled into a fist, at the ready in the instance of an attack. The staircase deposited her in a huge stone room. Nearly fifty yards across, stone cells lined the place with iron bars. Skeletons lied around the place, and Sisal almost lost her lunch when she stepped on one and heard the crunch of bone underfoot. Sisal explored the dungeon. She froze in her tracks when she heard a shuffling sound nearby. Sisal held her breath in anticipation. The whatever-it-was stood still. All was silent. Suddenly, bursting around the corner came a massive rat the size of a car. Its matte black fur was hard to make out, but there was a fury in its eyes, bloodlust in the way it hissed, that told Sisal that it was a muttation. Sisal accepted that she had only one choice. She found a cell whose door was ajar and ran inside, slamming the metal door behind her. She hoped that the steel bars could keep out the oversized rat. She was wrong. The monster hissed as it broke through the iron bars like nothing and stormed toward Sisal, who cowered in the dark corner of the cell. The mutt made quick work of her, and the infrared cameras conveniently stopped working once it began feasting on her remains.
Sisal Matu, District 8 Female: 12th, Killed by Rat Muttation, Day 1
The last notable event of Day 1 occurred when Elwood was wandering through the black palace with a pocketknife in hand. He found himself at the yawning mouth of a doorway, the door of which was wide open. He ventured inside. Dimly lit by candlelight, the room was a bowling alley. Out of curiosity and perhaps the mood for a bit of fun, Elwood picked up a ball off of the nearest rack and rolled it down the lane. It barreled toward the ten waiting pins and knocked eight of them over at first. A ninth pin was left wobbling back and forth before eventually falling down.
Day 2 trickled past without any deaths. Dorothea had finally recovered from eating the poisonous soup and began building a shelter of sorts. In the kitchenette, she found a cupboard large enough to fit her and cleared it all out before crawling inside. It was a tight fit, and she shared the dark home with a few spiders, but it was better than being out in the open. After the soup incident she was always careful what she ate from the cupboards and pantries. Aprilus anxiously paced around the billiard room. It had been a long night; the carpet under the pool table was scratchy and uncomfortable but he had been too scared to move after settling in. Aprilus searched the room and ended up finding a door. The door didn't stand out from the wall at all. It was flush. Aprilus turned the knob and found himself looking into a room about the size of a closet. There was a ladder in the back. Leaving his supplies behind and taking only his knife with him. Aprilus climbed the ladder. At the top was a dusty old attic with a single rocking chair and an ornate obsidian table. The boy climbed back down the ladder, grabbed his supplies, and carried them all up to the attic, where he rocked around in the chair to keep himself from getting bored. Bear was soon to realize that he was far too big to keep sleeping underneath the bed, and he finally gave into temptation and threw himself onto the bed's silky covers. The feeling was almost heavenly after the rough night of sleeping on the coarse carpet. Elwood kept bowling, but it became rather tedious because he had to walk down the aisle and set the pins back up after each round. After spending an entire day in the arena, Rama became so overwhelmed with the circumstances that she retched into one of the sinks. After that, she found a dining room where she crawled under the table and whispered stories to herself. The careers didn't need to return to the horn. The six careers minus Peridot spiraled through the palace's mysterious corridors and looked for prey.
The early morning of Day 3, Rama grew fed up of sitting on her bum underneath the dining room table, so she got up and started venturing about. She ended up travelling down and down and down. As she went downward, it progressively grew darker, and the fact that her golden dress practically glowed in the dark wasn't really a problem anymore. Rama travelled down a staircase and opened up an oval-shaped door. She gazed upon a garden area. It was indoors, but it was still as garden-ly as any garden. Grass as black as the night sprung from the rough dirt ground. Flowers filled the area. In the very center of the room stood a pond. Its water was crystal clear, and Rama greedily slurped it down. Two swans, as white as snow, swam elegantly through the water. It was relieving and uplifting to see something other than black in the seemingly endless palace. The water was just so enticing, and she needed to bathe anyways. Rama took off her clothes except for her underclothes for the sake of decency and sank into the pond. There were a few seconds of calm as the cool water absorbed her. Suddenly, one of the swans zoomed toward her and closed its beak around her neck. Rama screamed and thrashed her way to the surface, where the other swan skewered its beak through her abdomen, splattering blood across its pristine white feathers. The two swans dragged her to the center of the pond, where they swam around her and waited for her to weaken before mauling her to a pulp.
Rama Mathews, District 3 Female: 11th, Killed by Swan Muttations, Day 3
Dorothea was doing well in her closet home, and she was barely fazed by Rama's cannon shot. She knew that nothing could hurt her in her little den, right? The careers had grown tired and just couldn't be bothered to do much, but Rama's cannon rekindled their flame and they got moving toward the horn. They arrived within a few hours, where they restocked on supplies and took a few hours to rest. One of the careers (Aft) began dragging away the huge wreck of the chandelier. After moving the mess of shattered whatever into a corner, she saw the torn, beaten, battered bodies of the two District 6 tributes, their blood mixing together on the floor of the arena that had been fashioned in their favor. Bear slept in for a super long time, unable to get out of the bed that was just so comfortable.
Day 4 came about with little of conflict. The careers, minus Aft (who was guarding the horn), went hunting. Gleamton and Sequin, district partners, both travelled to the highest floors of the palace, whereas Illius, Peridot, and Dylan scavenged the lower levels for prey. Dorothea needed to stretch after scrunching up in her little cabinet for several days. It felt almost heavenly to finally be free from the confined space, so much so that Dorothea spent several hours relaxing against the kitchen counter. Aprilus was content in his little attic and remained in it for the entire day. Bear finally coaxed himself out of the bed and set up camp in the bathroom. He crouched down into the bathtub and laid bathroom towels over it to conceal him from sight. The door didn't lock, so he dragged the trash can against it. This wouldn't do much to prevent people from entering, but the sound of the can falling over would give Bear a second or so to get situated to fend off his attacker. Elwood grew bored of the bowling alley and so left the room. He ended up finding the indoor swimming pool. Elwood was about to sink into it when he noticed the pile of pulp that had once been Rama in the middle of the pond, being munched on by the swans. Elwood yelped with fear and swiftly egressed. A few hours later, Elwood heard shuffling feet from nearby and ducked into a little niche. Elwood clapped his hand over his mouth to keep from screaming as Illius, Peridot, and Dylan walked past him. A single sneeze, Elwood thought with terror, a single movement, and he would be dead. He dared not even breathe as the careers strolled right past him.
That would not be Elwood's last encounter with the careers. On the morning of Day 5, when Elwood figured that the careers would be at the horn, he slinked out from under the piano and slid down the hallway. The nearby ranks of Illius, Peridot, and Dylan had been scouting the area for a while, and Illius saw Elwood. Illius got his allies' attention and pointed out Elwood's form far down the hallway. Dylan unsheathed his katana as quietly as possible and silently crept forward. Peridot and Illius both drew their swords. Dylan was a few strides ahead of them, and he urged them to stay behind. Dylan broke into a sprint and discreetly instructed the District 2 tributes to stay in the darkness. They wanted to ambush Elwood. Dylan stopped and allowed the District 2 tributes to catch up to him. Then, all three together, with their prey mere feet away, they pounced. Illius tacked the boy and knocked away his pocketknife, sending it spiraling out of his hand and crashing into the obsidian wall with a shower of sparks. Elwood rolled out of the way and threw a punch at his attacker. Illius reeled from the blow, and when he fell to the ground, Elwood kicked him in the head. Elwood ran to retrieve his little knife, but he didn't bother to finish off Illius. He had bigger fish to fry. Dylan pounced onto him, brandishing his katana. Dylan scraped his katana across Elwood's shoulder, drawing a few drops of blood. During this, sneaky Peridot had walked around Elwood and was now directly behind him. Peridot ran toward Elwood's back and drove her knife into his back for all of her worth. Elwood roared and whirled around. The last thing Elwood did before dying from the stab wound was swing his knife into Peridot's head. His aim was true, and her head was nearly cleaved completely in half. Elwood and Peridot fell dead beside each other, leaving Dylan and Illius as the only survivors of the fight.
Peridot Wielder, District 2 Female: 10th, Killed by Elwood, Day 5
Elwood Yandell, District 7 Male: 9th, Killed by Peridot, Day 5
That left the final eight: Gleamton Tarantola and Sequin Storlazzi from District 1, Illius Paget from District 2, Dylan Levitt and Aft Bigelow from District 4, Dorothea Vonsolis from District 5, Bear Cantu from District 10, and Aprilus Kramer from District 11.
No more deaths occurred that day. The careers figured that a boy as strong as Elwood would have allies, so they spent an hour or so searching the areas around him for any more tributes. There were none, and they ended up returning to the horn. They figured that the outliers would all be hiding with fear after the cannon shots and would be harder to come across, and they needed to restock on supplies anyways. Dorothea didn't like it, but she crawled into her small little cupboard for another day. She was willing to sacrifice her physical comfort for physical safety. She was in the tight area when, exactly at noon, she heard a beeping sound from immediately outside. Dorothea pushed open the cupboard door and spotted a piece of burlap secured in place around something with a rubber band. Dorothea picked up the package, discarded the rubber band, and began unwrapping the burlap. Inside was a one-liter jug of water and a pocketknife. It wasn't much, but Dorothea was thankful for whatever sponsor had delivered it to her. She actually spent most of the day making scratches on the kitchen appliances and furniture as if telling the other tributes that she wasn't one to be messed with. Bear stayed content in his bathtub-towel fort, but the gamemakers were beginning to grow bored of him. The boy that had once been among the strongest outliers was now turning out to be sort of a flop, and the possibility of gamemaker threats in the immediate future wasn't out of the question. Up in his attic, Aprilus was serenely rocking back and forth in his rocking chair when a shower of old black plaster and dust fell from the ceiling. Aprilus dismissed this as a fluke, but even when he stopped rocking the debris kept falling from the ceiling onto the ground. Aprilus panicked as he inhaled a bit of the dust. It stung at his throat, made his nose run, and made his eyes water. He clapped his shirt over his mouth to filter out some of the dust as he made a break for the ladder. He managed to climb down, but he wasn't very comfortable with his new look of being completely covered with plaster and ugly grey, clumpy dust.
Day 6 saw three deaths. In the career pack, there was growing to be a bit of unrest. Dylan, Aft, and Illius were beginning to become hostile toward their allies from 1, Gleamton and Sequin. It started when the group was out hunting and the District 1 duo thought they saw another tribute. It was really just their imaginations, but the others scolded them for letting the "tribute" escape from under their noses. Soon, it blossomed into a case of full-fledged persecution. Most of the insults for Gleamton called him a clumsy fool, not necessarily in words that tame. The insults that Sequin received… well… let's just say that some of the more feminist members of the audience were very offended. When the careers returned to the cornucopia to stock up on supplies, the gamemakers saw a perfect opportunity. Wisp couldn't just let these things happen during his games, so he punished the careers. The careers left to go hunting, and immediately after the cornucopia was blown to smithereens. Bits of the black stone flew everywhere, one of them even impaling Illius in the leg. The entire castle seemed to shake from the force of the explosion, and the debris took several seconds to settle around the throne room.
All turned to Sequin, who was the most geeky member of the quartet and knew the most about electronics and the like. Naturally, the others suspected her of being the one who rigged the explosion, and Sequin couldn't even lift a finger in protest before Illius stepped forward and raked his knife across her leg. Sequin turned around and tried to flee, but Illius had already grabbed onto her dress. When Sequin tried to tear it off, Illius made another move. He showed his knife sharply to the left and opened a huge gash in the back of her neck. Sequin blubbered and fell to the ground like a dying fish.
Sequin Storlazzi, District 1 Female: 8th, Killed by Illius, Day 6
Gleamton, disgusted and mortified at the murder of his district partner, dove toward Illius and tackled him to the ground. Aft and Dylan were broken out of their trances of shock and got toward prying the furious District 1 boy off of the boy that had killed his district partner. His hands were like vices, and no matter how hard they tried they just couldn't pry off his fingers. Eventually, they had no choice but to subdue the rabid boy. Aft did the deed, flinging a sharp arrow into his neck. Gleamton fell off of Illius, marking the second career death within a span of two minutes.
Gleamton Tarantola, District 1 Male: 7th, Killed by Aft, Day 6
The two District 4 tributes swiftly turned on their only remaining ally: Illius. Illius was exhausted from the wrestling match with Gleamton and uttered only a short mewl of protest as Dylan speared his katana deftly through his torso. Dylan and Aft were the only two remaining careers, and the three dead bodies that lay around them stood as a testimony to their viciousness. Careers betraying each other wasn't a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. But the sheer hostility of Illius, Dylan, and Aft shocked the nation.
Illius Paget, District 2 Male: 6th, Killed by Dylan, Day 6
Nothing of significance happened for the rest of Day 6. Dorothea was so thirsty that by the time the anthem began sounding she had drank more than half of her water bottle. The dust and plaster had really begun to take its toll on Aprilus. He had inhaled so much of it that most of his Day 6 was wrapped up in a terrible coughing fit. His body fought hard to expel the material from his lungs, and even once he was fine a tickling sensation still remained in his entire face from his hundreds of sneezes and coughs. The gamemakers gave Bear a bit more time chillaxing in his towel fort in the bathroom. He ditched his golden yellow suit entirely in favor of a midnight-blue robe that he found in one of the drawers. It wasn't black as he had hoped, but it would be harder to see than the vibrant yellow of his previous outfit.
Day 7 came about with only one death. Aft and Dylan weren't up to going hunting after the fight with their ex-allies and so they stayed behind at the horn to sweep away the debris of the chandelier that had fallen five long days earlier. Aprilus finally recovered fully from his coughing fit and was able to function normally. Aprilus wandered through the cavernous palace and ended up in a library. The books were all jet black leather, and the strange whispers that floated from them gave him the heebie-jeebies. He was too scared to sleep among the books and slept under one of the reading benches far away from the looming shelves. Dorothea found a storage room and saw the perfect opportunity for a hiding place. She threw open a large chest and found it stocked with paper. Dorothea emptied the chest of its papery contents and then crawled inside. She was careful to leave the lock open as she went inside lest she be locked in.
The gamemakers were done with playing Bear's little game. Although not all of the others were playing an offensive game, Bear fell short of them. He was doing absolutely nothing, tucked away in his bathtub underneath the layers of towels. Bear was relaxing in the bathroom when he heard a commotion from outside. Intrigued by the thumping and knocking, Bear opened the door and slunk back into the room with a yelp when he saw what was outside. Three jaguars, their fur a brilliant yellow, were prowling through the corridor, intensely sniffing the air. When the door shut, all of the jaguars whipped their heads toward it and charged. Bear beelined for his bathtub hiding place, but the jaguars busted down the door. These weren't just any jaguars. Their fur was inlaid with jewels every color of the rainbow and more, and the way they purred sent off an aura of terror that turned Bear's trembling into violent spasming. Bear pulled out his knife that he had had since Day 1 and had refused to use. When the largest of the jaguars began walking toward him, Bear began climbing up onto the linoleum countertop. He stayed still for a few seconds and then dove through the empty doorway.
Bear made a run for it, but the jaguar alerted its two allies of the fleeing boy. For a while, Bear just ran, but once he reached a dead end he was forced to fight. Bear stood his steady ground and showed his knife sharply to the right, drawing evil black muttation blood from the head of the nearest jaguar. It hissed with fury and ordered its allies to charge on. They did, and when one of them raced toward him he sidestepped and quickly planted the knife into the back of its head. By this point, the first jaguar had recovered from its wounds and was charging, as was the third muttation which had yet to attack Bear. Bear was overwhelmed by the two jaguars approaching him, and his knife wasn't enough to fend off both attackers. The third jaguar extended a paw and raked its claws across Bear's torso, inspiring a scream of fright. The other jaguar, seeing easy prey in the boy, opened its mouth and tore off Bear's entire left arm. The last thing he saw before his life slipped away was the eager faces of the jaguars as they were about to dig into their newest meal.
Bear Cantu, District 10 Male: 5th: Killed by Jaguar Muttations, Day 7
Day 8 was uneventful. The jaguars' roars had been loud enough to hear throughout the better part of the palace, and they spooked the remaining tributes into their hiding places. Aprilus heard the first growl and darted back to his hiding place under the library bench, quivering with terror. Dorothea stayed in her wooden chest, reassuring herself that nothing short of an unlikely upset could hurt her. Even mighty Dylan and Aft from District 4 were tentative to go hunting. As an excuse to stay back at the cornucopia's comforting darkness, the duet sorted through supplies for most of the day.
On Day 9, Aprilus gave into a strange sort of sensation. He had been in the library for two days, and for two days the strange whispers of the books had both terrified and entranced him. The whispers that filled the room made Aprilus think that they were haunted or enchanted somehow. How he longed to throw open one of the books, just to see what was inside! But he dared not, not wanting to get into whatever trouble opening the "forbidden" texts might hold. Abruptly, Aprilus gave into temptation. He leapt out from under the bench, grabbed the first book that he encountered, and tossed into onto the bench. Aprilus reached down and hesitated. His hands hovered over the strange book for a moment before he made up his mind for good.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He was being watched. Aprilus looked up and froze in place when he spotted a woman nearby. She was less than thirty yards away. At closer investigation, the woman looked to be less of a grown woman and more of a young woman, maybe even younger than twenty. Her jet black hair smoothly cascaded down her back, and her pristine white dress was stained crimson with blood. The most terrifying part of her, though, was her eyes. They were blank, with no pupils or irises, just milky white spheres. And, she didn't seem to have a real form. Whenever Aprilus tried to stare intently at her, she disappeared. The room grew cold, and there was silence. The woman held out a hand, and the whispers of the books ceased.
Aprilus was too terrified to move as the woman began strolling toward him. He was paralyzed with fear… literally. He tried to move his hand, but the woman held out her own and froze it in place. Aprilus couldn't move until the woman was less than five yards away. Instantly, the boy grabbed his knife and made a run for it. The woman didn't walk, but instead glided across the ground. Aprilus let out a sigh of relief. He was a much faster runner than the ghost, and he was certain he could run away. Suddenly, as if she had picked up speed drasctically, she was on top of him, slashing away at his back. Aprilus let out a little yelp of shock as she sank a chorus of sharp fangs into his neck. His vision instantly went fuzzy. When he fell with a thud, the ghost woman cackled die! And then she went in for the kill. It was the first time that a ghost had been utilized in the games. This entire scene infested the nightmares of many district children. Wisp was using fear to his advantage. He had already learned much from his overseer, President Snow.
Aprilus Kramer, District 11 Male: 4th, Killed by Ghost Woman Muttation, Day 9
With only Dylan, Aft, and Dorothea left to vie for the victor's crown, the Capitol was more shocked than it should have been that Days 10 and 11 passed deathless. Dylan and Aft were well stocked at the horn, and even though the former was more powerful than the latter they got along well. Dorothea lived off of the cavernous palace as she always had. She left her chest around noon on Day 11 and abandoned that strategy. With her sponsored pocketknife, she began the trek toward the cornucopia, ready for the final battle.
Day 12 would turn out to be the final day of the games. Dylan and Aft went out hunting for the elusive Dorothea, and once they were a substantial distance out in the arena the mutts could begin. Aft was the first to hear the eerie hissing sound. She alerted her ally Dylan, who quickly picked up on the peculiar sound. Suddenly, bursting around the corner came the mythical woman Medusa. Her entire body was wrapped up in green scales, and each of her hands sported foot-long claws and sharp as daggers. The scales twirled up into her head, which, instead of hair, held hundreds of tiny snakes that shot out their forked tongues and tasted the air with fervor. The two careers instantly looked away. In Greek mythology, Medusa had the magical power to turn anyone that looked at her to stone. Even though they knew this was impossible, the two District 4 tributes weren't taking any chances. The two fled, Dylan with his katana and Aft with her knife, toward the horn where the final fight would inevitably begin.
Dorothea didn't notice the serpentine hiss until it was too late. Her Medusa burst into the room that she was in. Dorothea shot her a terrified glance and immediately felt searing pain shoot through her body. Although she wasn't stone, she wasn't eager to feel that pain again. She closed her eyes, grabbed her pocketknife, and ran. Medusa quickly caught up to her. Dorothea leapt on top of one of the ornate glass chairs and jumped on top of its accompanying table. It was impressive what the District 5 girl could do with her eyes closed. She swung her pocketknife, decapitating three snakes and angering Medusa. She held her ground and cut off the heads of the snakes. Mere minutes later, one of the larger snakes shot out and wrapped around Dorothea's torso. Dorothea cried out in fear as it pulled her to the ground. She refused to open her eyes even when Medusa buried her claws into her torso, and then speared her other set straight through her neck. Dorothea went limp almost immediately, at which point Medusa and her snake companions burst into flames and disappeared. Now, only two tributes remained.
Dorothea Vonsolis, District 5 Female: 3rd, Killed by Medusa Muttation, Day 12
At the sound of Dorothea's cannon shot, Aft and Dylan stared at each other. They were the only tributes remaining, and in unspoken agreement they began dueling with each other. It was difficult, as they had to balance attacking each other with fending off the Medusa mutt that was nearby. Wisp recalled Medusa, wanting to see their duel naturally unfold without the threat of the muttation. Dylan swept his katana in a wide arc. He would have slashed open Aft's torso if she hadn't ducked. The katana flew over her head, and she instantly leapt to her feet and dove for Dylan's neck. Dylan smashed her weapon away with his katana. It was sent spiraling away and clattered to the floor. At that, Aft was defenseless. Dylan thrust his katana forth and skewered it straight through Aft's neck. She flailed around wordlessly for a few moments before sliding off of his weapon and crashing to the floor with a thump, dead.
Aft Bigelow, District 4 Female: 2nd, Killed by Dylan, Day 12
"Dylan Levitt of District 4, you are the victor of the forty-third annual Hunger Games!" Wisp cheered heartily.
Dylan raised his bloodstained katana into the air in celebration of his victory as Aft's blood pooled around his feet.
Dylan Levitt, District 4 Male: Victor of the Forty-Third Hunger Games, Day 12
AFTERMATH
Dylan was faced with rather strong public backlash for his rude actions toward a few of his allies during the games. As the most powerful tribute in the games, many learned to love him, but some just couldn't forgive the insults that he had thrown toward the other careers for seemingly no reason at all. He really was just another boy following the typical career path, and so he wasn't very memorable for any reason. This, along with his tarnished reputation, caused him to swiftly fade from the public eye. District 4 applauded him heartily, for he brought the district its ninth victor, placing it second only to District 2 in terms of number of victors.
Dylan moved into the Victor's Village of District 4, the ninth victor to do so.
During his victory tour, District 1 showered him with hate for how he had mistreated Gleamton and Sequin during the games. In District 4, the only sign of ill will was from Aft's father, who tried to tackle him off of the stage during his victory tour. The man was tried and hanged for assault. He also faced hardship in Districts 5 and 11, which were cold toward him because of how their Dorothea and Aprilus respectively had perished in the games. Overall, the tour was a mess.
Dylan would live to the age of fifty, dying a premature death from a stroke around the time of the seventy-fifth annual Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell. He would marry his high school sweetheart immediately after his victory, but the two would divorce three years later. Dylan would devote most of the rest of his life to being a professional athlete, specializing in American football and dabbling in baseball. Around the age of thirty, a girl just his age caught his eye. The two wouldn't marry but would remain in a loyal and committed relationship until Dylan's death. The couple would adopt twin daughters.
NEWS
Dylan moves into the Victor's Village of District 4, the ninth victor to do so.
Dylan marries his high school sweetheart, Anemone "Nemo" Celandine-Levitt.
Isaac Crandall weds his fiancée, Junichi Gadget, after dating for six years.
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)
24HG: Dayta Albrand (#3, District 3)
25HG: Diamond Griego (#5, District 1)
26HG: Thor Rosner (#8, District 2)
27HG: Magnet Lisagor (#4, District 3)
28HG: Maria Dutra (#3, District 4)
29HG: Discordia Komine (#9, District 2)
30HG: Barley Chisolm (#1, District 9)
31HG: Marlin Coppi (#4, District 4)
32HG: Wyatt Kerdler (#5, District 3)
33HG: Molly Soltan (#5, District 4)
34HG: Grover Handa (#1, District 7)
35HG: Troy Stiles (#6, District 4)
36HG: Lana Voltaire (#10, District 2)
37HG: Lucy Said (#7, District 4)
38HG: Porter Tripp (#3, District 5)
39HG: Penelope Turek (#8, District 4)
40HG: Beetee Latier (#6, District 3)
41HG: Radiance Clinton (#6, District 1)
42HG: Technik Hartline (#7, District 3)
43HG: Dylan Levitt (#9, District 4)
