THE FORTY SIXTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Triticum"


INTRODUCTION

Much like how the twinkling glitter had swept through the Capitol and stirred up the enthusiasm of its citizens the year before, a trend was growing in the districts that could not be controlled no matter how badly Snow tried. It started when a man named Vincent Thomas, the CEO of a famous Capitol pharmaceutical brand, purchased from Caelinia Gadsby the right to sell her revolutionary new headache medicine in his stores. The purchase was worth millions, but it paid off for Vincent in the long run. Traffic in his stores nearly tripled after they began selling the new drug. All seemed well in the Capitol, but there was another layer to Vincent's purchase that was not visible to the casual observer. Vincent had taken Caelinia's invention and hired a few henchmen to toil over it and give it a new form. They eventually succeeded, and soon Vincent had devised a liquid that was one of the greatest pain killers known to medicine at the time. This new painkiller became of common use to Capitol doctors, but it soon leeched out into the districts. Many a district citizen began purchasing or stealing the drug, for it turned out to be highly addictive. Within a few months, the "fad" began to die out, but there were two districts that refused to stop abusing the medicine. They were Districts 6 and 7. It was easy to get District 7 to jump off of the bandwagon after Snow discovered a single man who had stolen hundreds of pounds of the stuff and dealt it to hundreds of clients across the district. He was locked in prison for his crimes. However, shutting the seat on abuse of the drug was impossible in a district as large as District 6. It spread through the entire district, and, soon, nearly a tenth of its population was involved in the drug somehow. Selling it became a quick way to get rich. It soon developed the street name Morphling. Use of the stuff had nasty side-affects: green spots on the skin, rotting of teeth, gum disease, gnarling of skin on the face and hands, and many more horrendous ailments than could likely fit in this book. Snow hadn't been expecting the games of the year prior to go so well, but before his eyes they did, and so he allowed Wisp Glasgow to keep his head and his job as head gamemaker. Following the order of the districts, this year's arena would be inspired by District 9. Many people remark, to this day, that District 9 is the blandest district. This is true, in a way. Compared to the rough mountains of District 2, the timber forests of District 7, or the spectacular beaches of Districts 4 and 11, its amber waves of grain can be plain to the eye. This would not discourage Wisp, however, and construction of an arena began despite all possibilities of failure.

The careers this year scored averagely. Like last year's games, District 1 produced the cream of the crop this year. The male from District 1 was a famous glass blower whose artworks often sold for high prices in his district and sometimes in the Capitol. For all of that time spent creating things, he also spent time destroying things, and to do that he preferred the knife more than any other weapon because of its versatility. The 1 girl seemed weak at first glance, but she was faster than the wind and was extremely stealthy. This, combined with her wonderful skills with bows, earned her an impressive ten, only matched by her district partner. District 2's tributes were more mysterious than anything else. The male fit this bill perfectly. Although he fell short of the often lusted-after ten, he had a sort of mysticism that made him all the more intriguing. The female from District 2 was one of the wealthiest citizens of the district. She was tough and rather masculine both in form and demeanor. District 4 was seeing an all-time low in number of students attending the academy, so they had less contestants to choose from to go into the arena. The male was a spectacular sailor and fisher, but when he was in battle he preferred the scythe more than anything. The girl did have the typical career attitude, but she also knew how to have fun. She pulled practical jokes on her fellow tributes during her time in the Capitol. The training scores of the careers were average this year. In their ranks, two tens and four nines were earned.

Outside of the careers, there weren't many standouts. The most powerful outlier was Thimble Aminoff from District 8. Thimble had remarkable experience with the knife, and he was burly in form and impressively dignified. His impressive nine spoke to the other outliers that he was not one to be messed with. The fourteen year-old Silo Grouse from District 9 also captivated the Capitol with how he was able to score so high (an eight) being so young, and he became a Capitol favorite. Sevens were scored by Rail from District 6 and Acker and Dara from District 7. Rail Le Blanc was the younger brother of Train Le Blanc, the tribute that had started a massive fire two games ago. Rail would be extra cautious in the arena, not wanting to fall into the same fate as his deceased older sister. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Glass Wernholm, 16, (10) 5-1 and Gossamer Kelman, 16, (10) 5-1

District 2: Nolan Wrack, 17, (9) 6-1 and Boulder Fiore, 18, (9) 6-1

District 3: Cache Rees, 13, (4) 39-1 and Mona Brunk, 15, (5) 25-1

District 4: Stern Pinto, 18, (9) 7-1 and Grouper Congreve, 15, (9) 8-1

District 5: Hertz McShelby, 18, (5) 21-1 and Node Langer, 18, (4) 23-1

District 6: Rail Le Blanc, 17, (7) 13-1 and Zellera Brenneke, 12, (2) 69-1

District 7: Acker Hummel, 18, (7) 13-1 and Dara Blizard, 18, (7) 12-1

District 8: Thimble Aminoff, 17, (9) 7-1 and Tapestry Septima, 16, (4) 34-1

District 9: Silo Grouse, 14, (8) 10-1 and Oralie Botosh, 12, (2) 70-1

District 10: Antoine Piediscalzi, 15, (6) 19-1 and Faline Lapidus, 16, (6) 18-1

District 11: Matthew Roystone, 13, (3) 42-1 and Jane Frew, 12, (3) 49-1

District 12: Abbott Cyert, 18, (5) 21-1 and Bailey Sears, 16, (5) 22-1

HGBO Bets: 8% on Glass and Gossamer, 7% on Nolan, Stern, and Thimble, 6% on Boulder, Grouper, and Silo, 5% on Rail, Acker, Dara, and Faline, 4% on Mona, Hertz, Antoine, Abbott, and Bailey, 3% on Cache and Node, 2% on Tapestry, 1% or Less on Zellera, Oralie, Matthew, and Jane.


THE GAMES

There wasn't much to do with District 9, so the arena was a medley of landscapes held by the grain district. The circular arena had three parts. In the center was a circular field of wheat that stretched on for miles in every direction. In the center was a clearing, and in that clearing was the cornucopia. It was set up like an oversized garden shed. Its only weapons were sickles and scythes, the two chief tools utilized by citizens of District 9. The cornucopia also held shovels aplenty, although a shovel's status as a weapon is disputable. A series of rolling hills wrapped around the right side of the wheat field. It is trivial to mention these hills, however, because they were never used during the games and no tribute ever discovered them. Although it had promise for beauty, its grass was crumbly with dehydration and the few trees were gnarly and ugly. But there was food and water if one knew how to find it. A simple plain stood to the left side of the grain field. A few animals grazed the open area, but the crowning feature was a huge plantation house that stood nestled between two areas of raised land. The mansion was crafting expertly from white marble. The interior of the house was rigged with booby traps, though prizes stood in remote areas of the abode for tributes that dared to reach them.

Naturally, Gossamer was the first to reach the horn. Smiling at the sight of the bounty of weapons laid out before her, her eyes wandered around, searching for the perfect weapon. Her gaze eventually caught a whimsically curved sickle that sat on a countertop inside of the shed cornucopia. Gossamer ran toward the weapon and held it firmly in her grasp. She then zipped back out into the clearing and zoomed toward the nearest tribute. The boy let out a gasp of shock as Gossamer raked the sharp tip of her sickle across his chest. He was too startled to run before Gossamer kicked him in the torso and sent him to the grass, coughing up blood and wheezing from out of his nose. The career delivered her final blow less than a second later, slitting his throat with the edge of the blade. The thirteen year-old boy quickly died, leaving a cackling Gossamer open for more prey.

Cache Rees, District 3 Male: 24th, Killed by Gossamer, Bloodbath

Nolan was about halfway to the cornucopia when he picked up a smaller boy and threw him to the ground like nothing. The boy crumpled into a heap as Nolan picked up an elegantly crafted scythe and went in for the kill. He was about to bring down the weapon of death when the outlier boy suddenly sprang to his feet and ran. Nolan chased after him. He was a swift runner; it was nearly a minute before Nolan was able to catch up to him. But he eventually did. Nolan buried his scythe firmly into his back. The boy fell forward from the blow and skidded across the grass for several yards before coming to a stop. He was so exhausted and terrified that he was almost glad to feel, for the instant longer than his life lasted, the bite of Nolan's scythe in his gut.

Matthew Roystone, District 11 Male: 23rd, Killed by Nolan, Bloodbath

Meanwhile, Grouper had scooped up a golden sickle and managed to corner a shaking Tapestry against the side of the cornucopia. Grouper walked forward, holding out her weapon. Tapestry dove to the left and tried to escape, but she just landed on her bum on the ground like a complete fool. That just made her all the more disoriented and weak when Grouper approached and slashed her sickle across her chest. The splendid golden blade was stained an evil red as all of Tapestry's blood leaked out of her body. Tapestry moaned, wept, and called out for help that would never come as she bled out and wet the dry soil around her.

Tapestry Septima, District 8 Female: 22nd, Killed by Grouper, Bloodbath

Glass cracked his knuckles and smirked as he picked up a sickle and tackled a nearby boy who was occupied with trying to pick a heavy black suitcase off of the ground. The boy yelped and instinctively threw a punch at Glass' face, trying to buy himself time to run away. The boy's punch was strong, and Glass hissed with pain as blood oozed from his nose. Furious, Glass chased after the boy and ended up trapping him between himself and his girlfriend, Gossamer. Glass discreetly mouthed instructions to Gossamer, and the two tributes walked in toward the boy. The boy saw Glass approaching and whipped around, immediately feeling the point of Gossamer's sickle in his throat. Gossamer grabbed him and held him in place, and Glass charged. The two District 1 tributes had their sickles and muscles, and the boy was in ribbons by the time that they were done with him.

Abbott Cyert, District 12 Male: 21st, Killed by Gossamer and Glass, Bloodbath

Boulder began slashing away at the nearest boy the second that her grasp was firmly locked around a scythe. The boy howled with fear and tried to flee, but his foot got caught in a small hole and he fell to the ground. Boulder pounced and landed beside the boy. In an effort to make a splash and impress the sponsors, Boulder was creative in her killing. She forced the boy's neck into the bend of her scythe. The pressure cut off his ability to breathe. He struggled and panicked, but that just helped to amuse the girl from District 2 and make the outlier boy use up oxygen faster. He passed out and suffocated to death mere minutes later, when Boulder let him drop to ground with a satisfying thud.

Hertz McShelby, District 5 Male: 20th, Killed by Boulder, Bloodbath

Thimble nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Dara from District 7 charging toward him, brandishing a sickle and hoping to eliminate the strongest outlier early on in the games. Thimble wasn't near any real weapons, so he picked up the nearest shovel and used it to fend off his attacker. Dara was strong, and even though Thimble was stronger he had the worse weapon. He clutched the shovel so hard his knuckles turned white before slamming it into Dara's head. She screamed and fell to the ground from the blow. The sound of the clang rang in Thimble's ears as he tore the sickle out of the thrashing girl's hands. Even the mighty District 8 boy couldn't bear to watch the killing. He closed his eyes as he scraped the sickle over the girl's throat.

Dara Blizard, District 7 Female: 19th, Killed by Thimble, Bloodbath

Nolan tugged his scythe cleanly out of Matthew's limp form and immediately leapt toward a nearby girl who was on the ground trying to get a heavy backpack onto her back. The girl screamed and covered her face with her arm. Nolan raked the scythe across the girl's arm, opening up a gash from which blood poured plentifully. She was bleeding fiercely and was already beginning to feel as if the world was growing fuzzy. She got to her feet but only staggered a few steps before falling back onto the ground like a drunk. Nolan delivered one more blow, this one to her calf, and her body was simply losing too much blood to keep on fighting.

Node Langer, District 5 Female: 18th, Killed by Nolan, Bloodbath

Stern from District 4 was the only career yet to make a kill, but he was determined to do so before the bloodbath cannons sounded. After sweeping up an elegant sickle that fell perfectly into his grasp, Stern tackled a twelve year-old girl from District 9. The girl yelped and tried to worm her way out from underneath Stern, but the career had already thrown a punch at her skull. Resorting to creativity to make his kill, Stern used the tip of his sickle as a mace and slammed it into the girl's head. Her screams of terror were abruptly silenced, but Stern continued to smash the weapon into her head until her skull was bashed in and she stopped moving completely.

Oralie Botosh, District 9 Male: 17th, Killed by Stern, Bloodbath

Stern heard a shuffling noise behind him and instantly jumped to his senses. Standing right above him was the lanky boy from District 7. As Stern was rising to his feet, his head bumped into the boy's hand, which was holding a vicious looking scythe. The boy tried to injure Stern, but before he had the time the career pounced toward his legs and knocked him to the ground. He was so stunned that he couldn't move at all as Stern hacked away at his head and neck mercilessly with his weapon.

Acker Hummel, District 7 Male: 16th, Killed by Stern, Bloodbath

Gossamer gritted her teeth as she dueled with a dark-haired girl from an outlying district. The girl was supple and graceful to the point that she could almost match Gossamer in elegance. She always dodged the furious career's blows with astounding precision, and all the while Gossamer seethed with fury and hatred. Gossamer would win this battle. But, her prodigious opponent was gaining on her, and in a move that would either make or break her chances of survival she showed her sickle sharply to the left. As she did, she loped off one of the girl's fingers. She sobbed from the pain, and in this moment Gossamer went in for the kill, slicing away at her abdomen messily with her sickle.

Mona Brunk, District 3 Female: 15th, Killed by Gossamer, Bloodbath

Thimble made another kill. After killing Dara a few minutes earlier, the burly District 8 boy had crawled into the cornucopia's darkness and hid for a second to get his bearings. He finally decided it was time to leave. Thimble was mere feet from entering the wall of wheat when Glass emerged from it and pounced toward him. Glass had been hiding inside of the wheat for several minutes because he had seen the strength of the District 8 male and wanted to ambush and kill him early on. Instinctively, Thimble ducked as Glass swung his sickle over his head. Glass spun around and tried to go for Thimble's heart, but he was gone. Where Thimble had once been, there was nothing but empty grass. Glass walked forward to investigate and suddenly Thimble was on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Thimble opened two heavy gashes in his back and marched away into the expanse of wheat, leaving the career boy to die behind him.

Glass Wernholm, District 1 Male: 14th, Killed by Thimble, Bloodbath

As Nolan walked around the clearing, a plan began solidifying in his mind. It was the plan that he had already formed in the Capitol, but after seeing how strong his career allies were he had scrapped it. But, now that he was in the pressure of the arena, those evil thoughts were beginning to come back to him. Careers betraying each other, Nolan knew, wasn't unheard of, and whenever it happened karma often struck back sooner than later. But the opportunity to kill off another career, another huge threat to his winning… he was darting toward his nearest ally, the District 2 girl, before he had time to change his mind. Nolan slashed away at Boulder's left leg before she could hear him. She whipped around and was shocked to see her district partner leaping toward her, sporting his sickle. Boulder was petrified with terror and shock as Nolan wormed his blade through her heart and then darted away into the wheat, abandoning his "allies" after killing one of them.

Boulder Fiore, District 2 Female: 13th, Killed by Nolan, Bloodbath

Twelve cannons shattered the silence of the windless day the second that Nolan's back foot disappeared into the forest of grain. The careers began surveying the dead and getting ready to hunt. All of the corpses seemed normal, except for one. Boulder seemed as if she had been killed in a hurry. One slash across her leg and one through her heart, both messy and unprecise. There wasn't any reason for a career to kill that sloppily, and none of them had seen any of the outliers kill Boulder. Additionally, Nolan was nowhere to be found. The only explanation was that Nolan had killed Boulder and then fled.

"Traitor," Gossamer spat. " If he comes back, kill him. Don't believe anything he says," she sneered.

At this point, the nation was left reeling. That was why Nolan had acted so peculiar in the Capitol. He had always planned to kill his allies and then abandon the survivors. That explained why he had kept so much separation between himself and the other careers during training. It was a strategy never used before, and time would tell how it would turn out. Nolan sped through the grain. At that point, his only objective was to place as much distance between himself and his ex-allies as possible before they deducted that he was the killer. He ran so much that he eventually collapsed beside a small pool of water, tired and thirsty. Fortunately for him, he had packed a bag filled with packs of crackers, two canteens of water, and medicine amongst other supplies before killing Boulder. He relaxed with his feet in the cool water as he munched on the crackers and sipped water from his thermos. Back at the horn, Gossamer took charge over Stern and Grouper, the only other living loyal careers. With Nolan's betrayal, they knew that they would be extra likely to have unexpected visitors, so they left two guards at the horn instead of one. Gossamer and Grouper stayed to guard, whereas Stern went hunting by himself. All through the day and night, Gossamer refused to sleep a wink. She was so disgusted by the betrayal of Nolan that she vowed to scout for twenty-four entire hours. Stubborn, yes, but proving to the audience that she was a dominant career. This earned her many sponsors and many gifts, the largest of which was a bag of chocolate chip cookies. But she refused to touch any of them, instead dutifully flanking the horn and sizzling with a furious hatred and a burning passion to slaughter that good-for-nothing rebel.

The rest of Day 1 passed in almost complete peace. Thimble trudged through the grain and found a good camp in a low-lying area near a short, swift brook. After filling the only container he had with the clear water, he drew doodles in the dirt with his sickle. Jane, being from District 11, knew a great deal about how to separate wheat, and the second she had found a good hiding place she began the laborious work. Jane first created a sort of basket out of stems and leaves. Then, she gathered a large amount of grain in the basket and poured it out onto the ground to be whacked apart with her fist, a satisfactory albeit time-consuming method. Antoine from District 10 had nothing from the bloodbath, and the second that he saw the careers starting to kill he raced cluelessly through the grain, his only goal to get as far away from those careers as he could. Antoine was so panicked that he didn't even bother to cover up his tracks. Eventually, Antoine bowled into a clearing and spotted little Jane from 11 on the ground. Jane screamed. Antoine was about to attack her before noticing her basket overflowing with snowy golden wheat. Antoine offered an alliance, which Jane gladly accepted. Antoine was the muscles, and Jane was the wits. Being the oldest, Antoine began assembling a shelter by taking stalks of wheat and bending them toward a single point to create a dome. Jane spent the rest of the day collecting more wheat, but she never let Antoine out of her sight. She didn't fully trust the boy. Not yet, at least. Bailey was possibly the worst excuse for a tribute in these games. She had run about five yards into the bloodbath. When she saw the first death occur, she turned around and darted away as fast as possible. She came to a stop in a rocky ditch. Bailey collapsed into the ditch and just cried. Faline's first order of business was to find a good source of water. Using logic, she travelled to the areas where the grain was a more vibrant color and looked more hydrated. She also followed rabbits, mice, and the other animals, knowing that they had to drink too. The dark ground underfoot eventually became slushy and squishy, and when that happened a pond surrounded by golden reeds came into view. Faline crouched down and sipped down the pool's refreshing water gratefully. Silo was the only bloodbath participant to notice the blob on the horizon that was the plantation home. As such, Silo began the long trek. Young, he wasn't able to reach the structure in one day. He had to stop about halfway through once night fell, and he chose a spot nestled between two hills to snooze away.

An alliance between outliers certainly wasn't unheard of, but at that time in Hunger Games history it was rare. Wouldn't Lady Luck know it, a second alliance between outliers was made mere hours after that between Jane and Antoine. Rail and Zelllera had been jogging toward the plantation home parallel to each other for several hours when they finally spotted each other. They simply looked forward and kept moving. Each tribute figured that the other would leave them alone if they did the same, so they simply ran beside each other without speaking a word. Around nightfall, Rail stopped to set up a shelter. He chose as his place of residence a cozy little area of sloping land in the shadow of a large sunflower that stretched to the heavens. Mere minutes after settling in, Rail was shocked to see Zellera approaching him. Rail tried staying silent, but Zellera kept strolling on. Eventually, Zellera held out both hands, proving that she had no weapons on her. Intrigued, Rail did the same, extending his two limbs and revealing his empty palms. They negotiated an alliance, and Rail made room for Zellera. That night, the wind was biting cold, and the two District 6 tributes huddled together to conserve warmth.

Similarly, the entirety of Day 2 passed, deathless. After finishing their shelter, Jane spent the day teaching Antoine how to prepare the wheat to be eaten. Antoine practiced for a while, and after they grew bored they crawled into their shelter with walls of wheat and told scary stories to lighten the mood. The constant threat of dehydration was the only thing that brought Bailey up from her crying fit. Despite her apparent weakness, Bailey had a brain, and she knew that water would be more available downhill. After finding a steady slope, Bailey treaded down it and found a puddle of muddy water. She was so desperately thirsty that, in her desperate mindset, water was water. Rail aroused Zellera at sunrise. After packing up their things, they continued their voyage toward the plantation home. Day 2 proved to be much hotter than Day 1, and they grew thirsty quicker than their supplies of water could keep up. As such, they had to "jump" between the scattered pools of water around the arena. They weren't going in a straight line anymore, which meant they were overall covering less distance toward the growing marble mansion far away. Silo continued his journey toward the plantation house, but around noon he tripped in a hole and collapsed to the ground, sobbing. His ankle screamed with pain. It wasn't sprained or broken or anything, but it was in such severe agony that he couldn't walk. He could just sit down in a thicket of wheat, sweltering in the relentless sun, willing the pain to fall away from his body. At the cornucopia, Gossamer insisted that she go hunting that day. She wasn't looking for outliers, no. She was looking for Nolan. She would kill Nolan if it was the last thing she did. She went hunting by herself and left Stern and Grouper at the horn. There, they sorted through supplies and then practiced with weapons, conversing all the way. Gossamer was furious when she was forced to storm home empty-handed that night, but she swore that she would find him. Nolan himself kept moving around, never staying in one place for long. This made it harder for anyone to track him, if they found him. Nolan was a bit upset that he couldn't practice with his scythe; whenever he did, he would cut down the wheat and leave a marker of his exact location. Thimble kept sipping water from the brook. A sponsor sent him a package of beef jerky, which he munched greedily. Faline kept near her little lake. In the morning of the day, she noticed a school of three small fish swimming merrily in the pond. Giggling, Faline ran her hand through the water and played with the fish.

The peace in the arena would not last. Blood would soon paint the amber wheat red. The morning of Day 3 came in the form of a cannon shot, marking the death of a tribute. Stern and Grouper finally convinced Gossamer that they needed to be hunting for outliers and not for that boy who would probably die off soon anyways. Gossamer grudgingly agreed, and let Stern and Grouper go hunting. She at least wanted to be the only person guarding the horn so that, if and when he came to raid the horn, Nolan's blood would be hers and hers alone.

The two District 4 tributes traipsed through the wheat. Stern and Grouper were both armed with the best sickles that the cornucopia had to offer. They had even found a thin chest plate while rummaging through the horn. Stern won it after winning a game of rock, paper, scissors. At first they were energetic in their movements, but they soon grew slower, trudging slowly through the area in search of prey. The duo soon decided to take a break in a clearing. The clearing was centered around a pool of murky water. The two sat cross-legged on the ground. Grouper broke open a pack of food that she had brought from the horn and offered some to Stern. Little did they know, however, that they were in the home of Bailey, who had wandered off to look for food for a few minutes. When she returned, she was extremely shocked to find two careers in her hiding place. Bailey tried to turn around and run, but the careers had already seen her. They leapt to their feet and chased after her, leaving their food and supplies behind them. Bailey's mind raced. Grouper and Stern were abuzz with excitement. Thoughts of death festered Bailey. She was running so fast that both of her shoes came off. She ran across the soil barefoot. Whenever she stepped on a needle or sharp stone, she felt all of the pain accompanying it. Suddenly, her toe caught a root and she was flying. She landed on her face a few yards ahead, and the careers approached her. Stern threw down his sickle and then scraped it across Bailey's back. She tried to drag herself away, but Grouper had already leapt in front of her. Bailey finally had the energy to get to her feet, but she immediately felt a blade at her throat. Grouper drove the sickle into her neck, and watching Stern even felt a little icky when the sharp tip grew from the back of her neck. Bailey's cannon shot fired. The two trouped away smugly, having made the first post-bloodbath kill of the games.

Bailey Sears, District 12 Female: 12th, Killed by Stern and Grouper, Day 3

Rail and Zellera were on the way to the mansion, but they experienced a setback when Rail deeply sniffed a bushel of wheat. The small particles went up into his nose and irritated his lungs. He was caught up in a coughing fit, and Zellera was always so paranoid that he was choking that they had to stay still for the entire day in one spot. Antoine and Jane struck a chord with the audience when Jane produced her tribute token, a small ruby ring that her mother had given her before she died from falling into a grain silo and suffocating. Antoine was moved and comforted her by telling her that he had lost a loved one recently as well, and many boxes of tissues were used up in the Capitol that day. Faline found a better, much clearer lake, and moved her supplies toward its sloping bank. Silo's ankle was coming along well. It didn't seem to be welcoming any sort of infection, but he kept an eye on it nonetheless as he scavenged for liquid water in the wheat field. Thimble was in for a nasty shock when his legs began reacting to the long wheat that they were constantly brushing against. In some areas, his skin was just tinted beet red, but in other areas, itchy red spots were beginning to flare up. Thimble was having an allergic reaction to the grain. This mostly confined him to his brookside camp, and he ran his legs through the water to cleanse them, trying to think of a way to guard his legs against contact with the golden grain.

On Day 4, only one tribute died. At the cornucopia, Grouper finally managed to convince a steaming Gossamer that Nolan wasn't interested in attacking the careers. Gossamer reluctantly agreed, and they left Stern to guard the cornucopia. Gossamer and Grouper were on the prowl. Most of the time, Gossamer was in front, being the stronger career and the one with the keener vision and hearing. After hunting for less than two hours, the two tributes spotted Faline moving silently through the wheat. She was as graceful as a deer, silently treading across the dark soil, but it would not last. Gossamer pushed Grouper back and instructed her only to pounce once she told her to. Gossamer strolled forward as quiet as a mouse. All was still. Then, like a cat sabotaging its prey, she leapt forward and tackled Faline to the ground. Faline gasped. In an effort to disarm her attacker, she threw small rocks, but most of them missed and the ones that hit her didn't hurt at all. Then Gossamer drew her sickle, and Faline's heart stopped. She turned around and she ran. Gossamer called for Grouper, and in no time the two career girls were bowling through the chest-high stalks of wheat to reach their target. With the wheat so high, they couldn't really see where she had gone. They lost her. They were about to give up hope when Gossamer spotted the glimmer of her blonde hair in the sun a few yards away. Gossamer immediately went in with her sickle, scraping it across Faline's leg and severing it. Grouper bowled toward her to get in on the action, but her cannon shot had already fired. Faline was dead.

Faline Lapitus, District 10 Female: 11th, Killed by Gossamer, Day 4

Rail and Zellera were up bright and early and on their merry way toward the plantation home. Rail's lungs had healed ever since the incident the day prior, and the duo finally reached the front steps of the marble plantation home. It had several wings, stretching out from the center like legs of a spider. The menace and grandeur of the splendid marble columns in front matched those of the stained glass windows in which color swirled together like paint. The two District 6 tributes creaked open the door and stepped inside. They were immediately greeted by the sight of a musty old entryway with a carpet that had been stamped flat by who knows how many feet. They were having a bad feeling about this. After they left the entryway, they entered the foyer. A staircase on either side led up to a large catwalk. Suddenly, Zellera's foot caught a string. A tripwire. Zellera screamed for Rail to run, and the two tributes darted back into the entry room. Seconds later, an axe fell from the ceiling and buried itself into the floor exactly where Zellera had been standing when she pulled the tripwire. The two realized that the gamemakers wouldn't include something like this if there wasn't some kind of reward, and so they delved into the darkness of the house once more. More times than each tribute could count they almost activated some kind of pressure plate or tripwire. They didn't find anything of real value, though, and so they slept on the couch in the living room. Rail first suggested they slept in the entry room, but Zellera disagreed because then they would be in full sight of anyone who entered. In the living room, they would be more concealed and would have more time to prepare in the case of an attacker.

After that, the rest of Day 4 came about with little to boast. Nolan kept moving further away from the cornucopia. He had seen Gossamer's fierce loyalty during training, and he did not want to have to fight with her, and least not yet. Nolan alternated between jogging and walking for the better part of the day, and around sunset he came to a stop on a hillside that had a sort of cave in its side. Nolan chucked a rock inside to see if there were any animals inside. He was expecting some kind of rodent to scurry out, but nothing did. Nolan peered inside and saw that it was empty. Inside, there was room for him with some to spare, but it was too small for him to make any real movement so he didn't get anything done. Antoine was out looking for food when he found a creek bubbling with cool water. He ran back to their wheat stalk home and told Jane the news. The two outliers broke camp and headed down toward the river. They sipped its refreshing water and then got to gathering more wheat. Thimble realized that he wasn't necessarily held prisoner along the edge of the brook. He could go into the wheat whenever he needed to; he would just have to rinse off his legs in the brook after he was finished. Thimble set a snare and managed to capture a rabbit, which he killed and ate. Silo continued his journey toward the plantation home. He received a major setback when a group of two gazelle mutts pursued him. They chased him for a while, but he eventually managed to outrun them. Silo fell from exhaustion with the mansion in sight, but he couldn't be bothered to travel any further and fell instantly asleep.

On the faded velvet couch of the mansion they were staying in, the two District 6 tributes woke up bright and early. They were smart enough to know that the place must have been riddled with traps, so they made a rule that they could never be within five feet of each other. That way, if one tribute triggered a trap, the other tribute wouldn't be in reach and so would be safe. Rail wanted to stay behind and relax on the cushiony albeit scratchy couch, but Zellera's morbid curiousity got the best of her and she wanted to explore the house. Rail instantly said no. If she ventured off she was sure to die in some sort of booby trap. But Zellera wouldn't listen. As she traipsed away into a nearby kitchen, Rail mumbled about how it would be her fault when she became the prey of whatever dangerous surprises the mansion had in store.

Zellera slowly walked into the kitchen. The little sunlight that could filter through the closed blinds illuminated a linoleum countertop covered with rotting food and a round wooden table that was well worn by thousands and hands and plates. Zellera had walked about ten steps when she stepped forward onto a light-blue tile in the floor. The tile immediately gave way under her foot, and a monstrous whizzing sound filled her ears. Zellera tried to run, but she couldn't move ten feet before a volley of about twenty knives was flung down at her. She placed her arm in front of her face to protect it. Luck was on her side, as she was able to dodge all of the knives. She thought that it was all over, but two seconds later another volley of knives was sent flying down. One of them buried itself into Zellera's arm, and one into her back soon after. Zellera screamed as loud as she could as she fell to the ground, a third volley of knives beginning to shoot down toward her thrashing form.

Rail heard her cries and came bounding toward her. He saw her just as the third volley of arrows was ending. Rail ran to Zellera's side and asked her if she could hear him, but all he heard was silence. Rail felt for her pulse. It was slow and uneven, but it was there. What a relief! Rail had just noticed the dark pool spreading around him when the ceiling whined once more and a fourth chorus of knives came firing down. Rail was so shocked that he was frozen in place. One particularly wicked looking dagger came flying forth and buried itself into the back of Rail's head. He died right away, leaving his ally to die from blood loss about a minute later.

Rail Le Blanc, District 6 Male: 10th, Killed by Knife Booby Trap, Day 5

Zellera Brenneke, District 6 Female: 9th, Killed by Knife Booby Trap, Day 5

That left the final eight: Gossamer Kelman from District 1, Nolan Wrack from District 2, Stern Pinto and Grouper Congreve from District 4, Thimble Aminoff from District 8, Silo Grouse from District 9, Antoine Piediscalzi from District 10, and Jane Frew from District 11.

For the remainder of Day 5, peace reigned supreme over the arena. Nolan got fed up of sleeping inside of a hole in the ground, so he built a proper shelter. He went about the task similarly to how Antoine and Jane had. He cleared out an area of wheat and bent the stalks around it inward to form a dome. Surprisingly, it was significantly warmer inside. During the night, he swore that the bitter chill of the wind wasn't nearly as bad. His ex-allies were beginning to lose motivation to go hunting. Well, that would be better rephrased. Gossamer wanted to hunt, hunt, hunt, and Stern and Grouper wanted to rest, rest, rest. They had just lost motivation to do their hunting until Gossamer gave them a pep talk. This rekindled them significantly, so much so that they were both willing to go hunting. Only one could, however, and Grouper stayed to guard the horn while Gossamer and Stern went out hunting. Jane innovated a remarkable way to find food other than wheat in the arena. She discovered that if she dug deep enough into the sand bordering the creek, she would find a layer of water in which small crabs dwelled. She and Antoine started a fire by the creek's sandy bed. After roasting, the crabs were delicious and left them sucking their fingers. Thimble finally decided to go out hunting. He could have used more sponsor gifts. He knew that once he left the river he would never find it again, so he meandered along its curving edge in hunting so he would never lose it. He noticed the mansion and began walking toward it. Thimble almost found the prey that he had been searching for. Silo was sleeping sprawled out on the ground when he heard Thimble's footsteps nearby. Silo immediately scuttled into a ditch and stayed as still as a stone. He was breathing so lightly that his chest wasn't even rising a millimeter. Thimble kept on walking straight past, and Silo had to fight the urge to let out a sigh of heavenly relief. Thimble eventually reached the door of the plantation house, but he didn't go inside. He wanted to put that off until the next day, when his schedule was empty and he could devote lots of time to exploration of the spooky marble house's interior.

Day 6 came about with a singular peak of excitement. As soon as the radiant sun rose, dark clouds began to roll in. The air grew wispy and the sky rumbled angrily. Crash! An arm of lightning jumped out of the sky and ice-cold rain began shooting down. For many tributes, particularly Silo and Thimble, this was a relief. They rushed to fill whatever container they had with the rainwater before gulping it down. While Jane and Antoine wanted to stay outside and enjoy the shower, they knew that they needed to get as much shelter as possible when the thunder roared. Water aplenty still dripped down into their shelter, a carefully built structure of sticks and stalks of wheat. Nolan was tired of the stale water from his little brook. So, when the rain began pouring down, he stuck out his tongue and tried to catch as much of the cold liquid as he could.

The real excitement, though, was happening back at the cornucopia. The trio had all regrouped. Stern and Grouper were inside of the cornucopia sorting through supplies, with a roof over their heads. Gossamer was more brave and was out in the clearing.

Gossamer looked up into the air and saw a flash of light directly above the horn. She was frozen in place for a second and then screamed to her allies to scramble. Grouper heard her and raced out of the horn as fast as her feet could carry her, having seen the flash of lightning herself. Stern had been kneeling in a precarious position, and by the time the sky gave way to a massive bolt of lightning, he realized that his life was over. He tried to get up, but the lightning bolt jumped toward the metal shed like a pin to a magnet. One moment, the cornucopia was there, a panicked Stern inside of it. The next, the structure was blown to smithereens. Debris flew, and Gossamer threw out her arms to protect her face while Grouper turned around and ducked. That was it. Five seconds later, the careers dared to look back at the horn. What had once been their magnificent stock of supplies was now a pile of rubble. Stern was nowhere to be seen.

Stern Pinto, District 4 Male: 8th, Killed by Lightning, Day 6

Gossamer and Grouper stood in somber silence for a second. Grouper wanted to run back to the horn and see if Stern was okay, but the second after his cannon shot fired. Gossamer grabbed her, saying that the wreckage was likely still scorching hot. They were reduced to standing miserably in the freezing rain, and falling asleep was a nasty ordeal on the squishy mud ground out in the open.

On Day 7, the storm clouds drifted away to reveal a sparkling gem of a sun and puffy white clouds dotting an azure blue sky. It was a beautiful day, and one never would have known about the disaster of the day prior had they not seen the still-steaming wreck of the cornucopia. Gossamer and Grouper decided that they would make better use of themselves by hunting than by standing out in the clearing like fools. Gossamer had her sickle with her, but Grouper was not so lucky. Her weapon had been annihilated by the bolt of lightning. In hopes of finding a new weapon, she and Gossamer searched the land around the horn, but the best thing they found was a blade that was scorched black at one end and had half of its handle blown clean off.

After the setback, Thimble finally got around to investigating the inside of the mansion. He was nimble and sneaky, managing to evade several traps. The closest he came to death was when his shirt caught on a transparent, nearly invisible, hook. Nails popped under his feet like gunfire as the floor collapsed below him, but Thimble managed to throw himself a few yards out of the way as a sinkhole opened up in the floor where he had once stood. After that, he was even more careful of his movements. After opening a closet filled with old, faded clothing, he found a secret door in the back. He popped it open and crawled inside. He found himself in a room completely fashioned out of wooden planks. In the back of the little space was a group of two backpacks leaning against a wall. Thimble tore open the packs and found them filled with food, weapons, and clean water that was surprisingly cool to the touch and taste. Thimble stayed in that hidden room for the night and stuffed himself with a pack of perfectly frosted cupcakes that he found in one of the backpacks, completely fresh and sugary to his liking. Silo hadn't been doing much, just moving around the arena so that the gamemakers would leave him alone. He came to a stop at dusk on the bank of a river, where he fell asleep almost immediately. Nolan had gotten a tin bucket from a sponsor that he had filled up about halfway with rainwater. He rationed the liquid carefully throughout the day, and when the sun set he had drank less than half of his water stockpile. The shelter of Antoine and Jane had been battered severely. Throughout the day, as Jane reaped and prepared more wheat, Antoine repaired the shelter. The two were very fatigued from the long day of work, and so they slept like rocks.

Antoine bolted awake at thee in the morning on Day 8 to a snarling sound that made his blood curdle and his insides turn with fear. Taking infinite care not to make a sound, Antoine looked up from where he was sleeping and spotted a form pacing around their shelter. Panting, its mouth was watering. Antoine got back into his sleeping bag and stayed still as a stone, hoping that the creature would pass them by. Antoine jumped ten feet into the air when the creature stamped its paw on the ground.

Beside him, Jane was awakened by the thud. She sat up straight.

"What was that noise?" she asked. "It sounded like a…" The last part of her sentence was never heard as Antoine clapped his hand over her mouth and hissed for her to be quiet. Antoine hoped and prayed that the monster hadn't heard her, but it had. It was staring straight at them, its glowing red eyes standing out in the darkness like bulbs. Suddenly, the wolf gave a howl and raced toward them. Jane let out a scream of fright as it broke through the wall of their shelter like nothing and pounced onto Antoine. He just managed to leap out from underneath it the second before it snapped its jaws around where his head had once been. He told Jane that they had to split up. Antoine used his hands to signal a strategy to Jane. But, misunderstanding Antoine's cryptic hand gestures, Jane thought that he wanted her to run alongside him and to go to the cornucopia. Jane ran after him, but Antoine didn't have time to tell her that she was doing it wrong. The wolf was at Jane's six. Suddenly, the duo came to a trench where the earth fell out in front of them. Antoine yelled for Jane to roll down the slope and hide at the bottom. She obeyed, though it was difficult to make out his yells over the furious cries of the wolf. The wolf's silvery hair shimmered in the moonlight behind them as they rolled down the hill like pill bugs and came to a stop at the bottom.

They stayed completely still, hardly daring to breathe. They did not fool the wolf. It pounced toward them, and, of course, it went for the weaker and more defenseless prey: Jane. Antoine used his hands to try to swat the wolf away from his ally, but the wolf bit down and tore off his entire arm. Antoine screamed and went slack beside his paralyzed ally. Jane sped across the terrain as fast as her legs could carry her. She tried to escape the wolf, but it always seemed to know where she was. It was as if it could feel vibrations from the earth. The audience couldn't get enough of the whole fiasco, but they wanted some blood to spice up the scene. A parachute containing a sleek sickle came speeding down toward Jane, who snatched it up and turned around, nervous but ready to take on her muttation pursuer. The two dueled for several minutes. Jane's first blows were strong. The strongest of her attacks loped off part of the wolf's snout. It was so infuriated that it charged forward and tackled Jane. The thing wrestled her to the ground in no time and knocked her sickle out of her hands, watching it arc along its path and land with a thud in the wheat about ten yards away. The wolf dug in, and the golden wheat was painted red as it gorged on her flesh.

Jane Frew, District 11 Female: 7th, Killed by Wolf Muttation, Day 8

Back at the allies' original shelter, Antoine could do nothing but loll on the ground and moan with pain as he slowly died from loss of blood. It was pouring from his empty arm socket remarkably fast. Within minutes, the world grew fuzzy. Antoine fought with all of his might to stay alive. He could not die! He had to return home to his family! But eventually the tugging feeling all around his body became so strong that he could not resist. He slowly closed his eyes. And then his body gave up fighting.

Antoine Piediscalzi, District 10 Male: 6th, Killed by Wolf Muttation, Day 8

The rest of Day 8, and the entirety of Day 9, held a combined total of one death. In this time, Silo was becoming increasingly paranoid of gamemaker threats, so he kept on the move and told corny jokes to keep himself from fading into the background. Thimble was content in his mansion house, only really leaving his hidey hole to relieve himself. Around noon on Day 9, however, he began to grow ferociously hot, so he left the shelter and fanned himself to cool off.

On Day 8, Grouper had grown extremely frustrated with Gossamer. At the beginning of the games, Gossamer had her heart set on killing Nolan, and all of her actions were tailored toward that objective. However, after the destruction of the horn, her mind had been taken off of him. Grouper thought that her annoying rants were all over, but they soon came back, and they came back hard. Day 9, Gossamer sprung up and declared that they had to find Nolan and kill him before the day was over. Really, she was just beginning to grow cuckoo crazy from dehydration. Even so, Grouper was tired of her nonsense. A heated argument arose between the two.

The two career girls began full-on screaming at each other. Gossamer wanted to kill the traitor Nolan, but Grouper said that it didn't matter and that she didn't know why Gossamer was so passionate about making sure he died. To this day, nobody is entirely sure why Gossamer wanted to kill Nolan so badly.

In the midst of a string of violent words, a string of highly insulting profanities tumbled from Grouper's lips. Those words insulted and humiliated and shamed Gossamer to the point that she unearthed her sickle and charged. Grouper couldn't sidestep fast enough before Gossamer slammed the edge of the blade down into her head, nearly cleaving it completely in half. She crumpled at Gossamer's side like a torn paper doll, and her cannon shot immediately fired. Gossamer marched off smugly into the wheat field to find Nolan, her chief remaining enemy. With all of her "inferior" allies out of the way, she could really get down to business.

Grouper Congreve, District 4 Female: 5th, Killed by Gossamer, Day 8

In the midst of all this, Nolan himself wasn't doing much. The Capitol didn't want to kill him because he had such an interesting story, so he had that armor around him that made him wander freely without much worry of gamemaker threats. On Day 9, he made his biggest discovery yet: a churning creek from which fish merrily jumped, swimming against the current. Nolan fashioned a fishing rod and enjoyed himself trying to catch the fish. He fished for an hour or two and caught three fish, which he plopped down into his bucket to flop around and die. He had the courage to start a fire, cooking the fish and feasting on them for dinner.

On Day 10, Thimble decided that it was time to disembark from the plantation home and get back out into the arena. After all, he knew that the gamemakers wouldn't be too pleased with him staying in the same place for any longer. Thimble pushed open the door of the hidey hole and then the door of the closet, stepping out into a long hallway flanked by doors on either side. He took each step carefully and was constantly looking around for hidden traps. He found himself at a rear entrance and was about to open it when he noticed a thin silver wire running from the door hinge. He had seen those kinds of traps before. They work like this: when one opens the door, two metal plates separate. This causes an electrical current to be disrupted, which sets off the trap, whatever it may be. Thimble looked up and winced when he saw a crate of razors right above him, hanging by a rope. He didn't have to test it to infer that it would tip over and dump out its contents if he opened up the door. Thimble couldn't find his way to any of the other exits, however, so he used a pocketknife to saw away at the silver wire before opening the door. His confidence boosted, he tramped down the steps without taking any care to avoid traps. He was on the bottom step about to step off onto the ground when an iron clamp shot out of the cement and bound down his foot. Thimble struggled and tried to escape, but his other foot had already been bound down as well. He struggled and reached for the pocketknife but realized that he had left it inside. Even if he hadn't, it probably couldn't have been of use sawing through the iron anyway. Suddenly, a flame shot up his left pant leg. Thimble tried to reach down and stamp out the flames, but they had already spread too far. His clothes were catching fire. He swirled his body around in an effort to extinguish the fire that was spreading across his body, but it was ultimately futile. He screamed as the fire burned his skin and literally cooked him alive. The fire didn't kill him, but he had sustained terrible burns up his arms, legs, and torso. Finally, after the last wisp was extinguished by the wind, the iron clamps binding down his feet were released and he fell forward onto the ground. Infection quickly took root in the burns, and he could only wait to die.

The morning of Day 11 was completely clear, without the slightest wind brushing over the stalks of wheat. The silence was shattered by Thimble's cannon. Infection had quickly seeped into his body through the burns, and his body was so weak that it just didn't have the energy to fight back. He couldn't really make coordinated movements. In order to make the slightest budge, he had to spend several seconds to several minutes channeling all of his energy and willpower into the effort. Upon his death, only three tributes remained in the forty-sixth annual Hunger Games.

Thimble Aminoff, District 8 Male: 4th, Killed by Infection, Day 11

In an effort to win over the sponsors, the remaining tributes turned to whipping up storms in an attempt to herd more sponsors into their "fan clubs" so-to-speak. Gossamer was the sole exception to this rule. She charged through the wheat and responded to the faintest sound, trying to find her sworn enemy since Day 1. Gossamer also knew that gamemaker threats were more likely than ever, so she was always on the lookout for any muttation pursuers or other tricks of the overseers. Nolan himself spent much of the day practicing with his scythe. Given the chaos of the games thus far, he hadn't had much practice time, so he was glad to finally find some. As he hacked away at the golden stalks and twirled with astounding grace and precision, many a sponsor took a liking to him, and he received a much sleeker and sharper scythe that fell even more snugly into his grasp. As the sole remaining outlier, Silo was incredibly nervous for the final fight. He didn't even have a weapon, so he tried to fashion one out of a sharp stone. This effort failed miserably; the rock was brittle and not good for carving. Silo tried to impress the sponsors the best ways he knew how, but they completely ignored him. He had been wholly overshadowed by his flashier and more extravagant peers.

Day 12 came about with a single death. Given Gossamer's bitter hatred for Nolan since the beginning of the games, the entire Capitol wanted to see them clash head-on. This would be even more exciting if they dueled in a final battle, and impossible if one of them died before. That left only Silo in the way of a thrilling ending to the forty-sixth Hunger Games. Wisp needed to get rid of Silo, but he didn't want to do it averagely because the games were nearing their end. Any boring death would stick out to the audience and likely make the entire games less attractive. Wisp had one particular threat in mind. This threat would hopefully kill Silo while simultaneously herding Gossamer and Nolan together.

The second that the last sliver of the sun set below the horizon was the second that a strange whizzing sound could be heard from the sky. The tributes looked up and frantically searched around for the source of the whizzing, which was now crescendoing into a loud buzz. Within five minutes, it was as loud the roar of a chainsaw. One who sniffed could smell gas. Suddenly, a glowing shape came into view on the east horizon. It was a strange silver disk hovering in the sky, studded with glowing lights on all sides. The strangest thing wasn't that it was floating perfectly in place. The strange thing was that two red-hot lasers were radiating from it. The saucer-shaped object aimed its lasers at the ground. The lasers burnt through the wheat like nothing. It began forming a full-on crop circle, using elaborate swirls and whorls to form a rather beautiful pattern. There was only one thing that it could be. A UFO. And everyone knows what is inside of a UFO…

Silo was the closest to the UFO. When he noticed that it was coming for him, he left everything behind and ran. At that point, his priority was getting as far away as possible, not to hide. The flying saucer was gaining on him, burning patterns into the wheat as it did. Eventually, Silo had no choice but to hide. He ducked into a ditch and prayed that the spaceship would fly straight past.

Meanwhile, Gossamer ducked into the cooling wreck of the cornucopia, knowing that she couldn't fight against the object and it was better to hide. Nolan proceeded similarly, scrunching himself up into the damp soil near his brook.

Silo lay so still he could have been a statue. For a scary second, there was silence. Then, an electric shock so strong he couldn't move coursed through his body as the ship's tractor beam shot down and grabbed him. He was quickly pulled up into the UFO. The laser beam deposited him in an open area of a round control room. Surrounding him were buttons, switches, and leaves, with notes scrawled out in an unintelligible language surrounding them. He stood still for a second when suddenly a slimy tentacle snatched his leg. He was lifted into the air by his foot and was instantly greeted by the slimy, serpentine face of a hideous alien. Silo flailed around and tried to escape from its grasp, but his efforts were useless. Its grip was too strong. When the green alien began bringing him toward its mouth, he grabbed onto a handle in the ceiling and held on with all of his might. As the alien pulled him away, he kept holding on tight. Eventually, its slimy grip slipped, and he was hanging from the ceiling. He took the opportunity to run, but he found in front of him the stinky alien's twin. He was paralyzed with terror as Alien Number Two opened its mouth wide, displaying two rows of teeth. The creature snatched Silo off of the ground, and no amount of flailing made the alien any more tired. The alien suspended Silo in its great mouth. Its breath stank of bad meat. Silo screamed, and the aliens cackled. Suddenly, the alien dropped him into its mouth and gave a heavy swallow. Then the UFO zipped off into the night sky, leaving Gossamer and Nolan behind for a bloody final battle.

Silo Grouse, District 9 Male: 3rd, Killed by Alien Muttations, Day 12

After it disappeared, Gossamer finally emerged from the wreck of the cornucopia. She had a spring in her step; Nolan was her final remaining opponent, and she was confident that she could take him down. Nolan knew that there were only two tributes left and that he'd better high-tail it to the final duel lest the gamemakers throw more threats at him. He was also scared in the dark wheat field after the alien attack and wanted any excuse to get out of it. Gossamer spotted Nolan running at her in the dark from about fifty yards away, a form moving in the darkness. Gossamer grinned, grabbed her sickle, and screamed out battle cries. Nolan unsheathed his scythe. The two clashed in the center of the clearing. Gossamer was so exhilarated that her first move was too sudden for Nolan to dodge. Her sickle raked across his upper chest, causing an onslaught of oozing blood. Infuriated and pumped up to win the fight, Nolan tried to tackle Gossamer to the dirt, knowing that he was bigger and stronger than her. But Gossamer was smart, and she had dove out of the way. Because of this, Nolan crashed into the ground like an idiot a few yards past.

Gossamer's dive was going well. She was planning to do a roll on the ground and then get to her feet, but things did not work out. Her head smacked into the ground and she crumpled to the dirt, dazed. She tried to get up, but Nolan got up faster than she did, and it was all over from there. Nolan planted his scythe into the back of Gossamer's head, bashing in her skull and rendering her unconscious. From there, Nolan scored her back with a series of heavy gashes. Nolan rejoiced when her cannon shot fired, leaving himself the sole tribute in the arena and Panem's newest victor.

Gossamer Kelman, District 1 Female: 2nd, Killed by Nolan, Day 12

"Nolan Wrack of District 2, you are the victor of the forty-sixth annual Hunger Games!" Wisp screamed over a fanfare of trumpets.

Nolan couldn't do much but smile weakly before crumpling to the ground, bleeding out from the wounds he had sustained in his duel with Gossamer. He might have died if not for the fantastic Capitol doctors that immediately poured out of the hovercraft to put him back together again.

Nolan Wrack, District 2 Male: Victor of the Forty-Sixth Hunger Games, Day 12


AFTERMATH

District 2 hadn't gotten a victor since Lana, ten years earlier. This wasn't a long gap for an outlying district, but for a career district like 2 it was huge. The festivals celebrating Nolan's victory were some of the most spectacular yet. Nolan was District 2's eleventh victor, and he would not be the last by any stretch of the imagination. In the Capitol, he was loved as another valiant career victor, and many were intrigued by his strategy of abandoning his career allies. In Districts 1, 2, and 4, however, staff at the academies were worried. If careers betraying their allies became the norm, why would there be any need for them to form an alliance at all? Luckily, Nolan's strategy was seldom used in future games, and when it was karma most often slithered back and bit the traitor soon.

He settled into the Victor's Village of District 2, the eleventh victor to do so.

Nolan's victory tour was average. He only received ill will in District 1, where Gossamer's mother had some choice words to say about him. District 9 was also a little cold.

Nolan would live to the age of eighty-one, dying from cholera around the time of the one-hundred tenth annual Hunger Games. He would stay almost completely clean of alcohol and other chemical escapes over the years, and he would enjoy the remainder of his life thoroughly. He would marry and have two strong daughters, one of which would compete in the seventy-second annual Hunger Games.


NEWS

Nolan settles into the Victor's Village in District 2, occupying the eleventh house.

Mags Flanagan adopts a fifth child, a young girl named Angel.

Grover Handa, the victor of the thirty-fourth annual Hunger Games, dies trapped in his bedroom when it catches on fire due to a gas leak.


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)
44HG: Rye Boyum (#2, District 9)
45HG: Chaff Korsmun (#2, District 11)
46HG: Nolan Wrack (#11, District 2)