THE FIFTY SIXTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Crocodile Tears"


INTRODUCTION

It was the final year of campaigning amongst the three candidates for head gamemaker, and the competition was more intense than ever. The Capitol was divided into three groups: Team Feodore, Team Reyna, and Team James. James was falling short of his competitors, with about twenty percent of the Hunger Games audience on his side, whereas Feodore and Reyna each had about forty percent. Everyone had their favorite games: Feodore's RMS Titanic and ancient Pompeii games, Reyna's high school and Japanese garden games, and Feodore's frozen tundra games, but no official votes would be cast until the fifty-sixth annual Hunger Games came to a close. After his flop of a Hunger Games three years earlier, Head Gamemaker James Stradivarius was under more pressure than ever before to outshine his competitors. As a way of building anticipation, he released a Hunger Games "trailer" one-hundred days before the fifty-sixth Hunger Games was set to begin. The trailer showed a ghostly fog suspended over an island of crumpled grass and drooping plants. Then, a fierce growl pierced the silence, and the screen cut to black. The Capitol was sent into a full Hunger Games frenzy upon the short film's release. In the months that followed, countless internet sites claimed to possess "leaked footage" of the arena, supplies, and mutts.

This year had one of the weaker career packs. At the time of the tribute auditions, a rather nasty stomach flu was rampant in District 1. Therefore, several of the strongest academy students were too sick to go into the games, and the two that did weren't the best. The luxury district provided the weakest pair. The male had just recovered from a bout of the flu a few days before his audition and still had mild symptoms by the time he got to the Capitol. He had a whole lot of self-confidence, but he wasn't boastful by any means. The female was surprisingly muscular and masculine, and she specialized in brute force weapons like clubs. She was much more outgoing than her district partner. District 2's tributes weren't as intimidating as they had been in previous years. The male was a big history buff and nerd and said that he wished he had been chosen for one of Feodore's games. He was still happy to be in the Capitol, though, and whipped up quite a few sponsors with his looks. The female was the daughter of a District 2 millionaire. A few days after the reapings, the girl's father was caught bribing several Capitol citizens into sponsoring his daughter. The man was tried and sentenced to four months in jail. District 4 churned out its most menacing pair yet. The boy was a rather handsome young fellow who whipped up a good amount of sponsors before the games even started. He had only attended the academy for three years but still managed a ten and three-to-one odds of victory with his combat skills. The female was tall, muscular, and rather masculine in appearance and demeanor. She was actually not so different from her district partner. The career pack's training scores weren't the best: two tens, three nines, and one eight.

The crop of outliers this year did particularly well, and their training scores proved it. Two tributes scored tens outside of the career pack! The boy from District 3, Cipher Venne, astounded the gamemakers with his weaponry skills. He was a fantastic warrior with swords and spears and also a technological whizz. The other tribute to score a ten was Sally Vasilia from District 5. Sally was an extremely attractive young woman who was the niece of Victor Porter Tripp. She had been trained by her aunt on-and-off for the past few years and specialized in throwing knives. Sevens were earned by Kai from 7 and Conall and Daphne from 11. There were two volunteers besides the careers. Stunn, a boy from District 5, volunteered in place of his twelve year-old crippled brother. Quentina from District 7 volunteered for unknown reasons. Quentina had no association at all with the reaped girl, and, when asked why she volunteered in her interview, she shrugged off the question and quickly changed the subject. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Ace Baskin, 15, (8) 8-1 and Syrah Marston, 17, (9) 6-1

District 2: Excalibur Fonseca, 16, (9) 6-1 and Ophelia Stinn, 16, (9) 7-1

District 3: Cipher Venne, 17, (10) 5-1 and Chippa Maxwell, 13, (4) 32-1

District 4: Fisher Halibut, 18, (10) 3-1 and Ducksa Lincoln, 18, (10) 3-1

District 5: Stunn Tecar, 14, (5) 25-1 and Sally Vasilia, 17, (10) 6-1

District 6: Hadrien Supple, 17, (3) 45-1 and Damia Bird, 16, (6) 22-1

District 7: Kai Pinto, 18, (7) 12-1 and Quentina Oak, 13, (6) 27-1

District 8: Baize McCano, 12, (3) 55-1 and Crochet Simone, 17, (5) 24-1

District 9: Melvin Barbosa, 18, (6) 23-1 and Esther Zorn, 12, (4) 36-1

District 10: Taurus Dollar, 17, (6) 25-1 and Portia Bartell, 14, (4) 31-1

District 11: Conall Sykes, 16, (7) 13-1 and Daphne Jackman, 18, (7) 11-1

District 12: Inigo Libby, 14, (5) 27-1 and Dwyn Prima, 15, (3) 47-1

HGBO Bets: 9% on Fisher and Ducksa, 8% on Cipher and Sally, 7% on Syrah, Excalibur, and Ophelia, 6% on Ace, 5% on Kai, Conall, and Daphne, 4% on Damia, Quentina, Melvin, and Taurus, 3% on Stunn, Crochet, and Inigo, 2% on Chippa, Esther, and Portia, 1% or less on Hadrien, Baize, and Dwyn.


THE GAMES

This year's arena was a rather dismal place. It was a seemingly endless field of thick, soupy swamp water. The dirty water was chin-high, so the tributes could slowly slog through it even if they couldn't swim. In some places, islands rose out of the water, but almost none of them were bigger than twenty feet in diameter. Masses of mangrove trees were also abundant, good sources of shelter for the tributes that were nimble enough to climb up into their branches. Fierce crocodile mutts spun their way through the dark swamp, ready to gobble up any unsuspecting tributes. The crocodiles blended almost completely into the landscape, only recognizable in the darkness by their glowing red eyes. Swarms of gnats and wasps flew through the thick fog. Food was scarce, and, while water was abundant, most of it was dirty and undrinkable. It was James' favorite kind of arena: one-hundred percent natural. Even the cornucopia was natural, woven from the roots of several mangrove trees. The horn of plenty was situated on the largest island in the arena, about a hundred yards in diameter. The fog was substantially clearer in the immediate vicinity of the cornucopia just so that the cameras would be able to get high quality footage of the bloodbath. As soon as the bloodbath was over, the cornucopia region would become just as foggy as the rest of the arena. The arena this year was built in the vastly flooded southern region of District 11, a very long flight from the Capitol. One tribute, Inigo from 12, even vomited from the long ride in the hovercraft. Even in the launch rooms, the tributes could feel how sticky and humid the air was. Once they could see, they knew it was from the foggy swamp that spread out in all directions. Unsure of what lay around them, all twenty-four tributes decided to head into the bloodbath.

Ducksa was the first tribute to grab a weapon, a long-shafted spear that lay in the crumbly grass about twenty yards from her pedestal. In the fog, she could only see the tributes as faint signs of movement all around her. Ducksa lunged toward a larger tribute and planted the tip of the spear into his chest. The boy moaned and fell like a stone at Ducksa's feet. The 4 girl finished him off by spearing the weapon through his neck.

Melvin Barbosa, District 9 Male: 24th, Killed by Ducksa, Bloodbath

Fisher picked up a mace and brought it down upon the nearest girl. The young girl squealed as the blow bashed in nearly a third of her skull and dented her brain. She was unconscious in seconds, leaving Fisher to polish her off with a blow to the torso that caused her lungs to swiftly fill with blood.

Crochet Simone, District 8 Female: 23rd, Killed by Fisher, Bloodbath

Ophelia found her way to a sword. She swept the weapon in front of her, using it like a blind man's cane to feel through the fog. Suddenly, the blade of the sword knocked into something. Ophelia lunged toward it found herself tackling a young outlier boy to the ground. The boy tried to drag himself out from under the 2 girl's weight, but he couldn't move fast enough as she brought down her sword and carved out his upper abdomen.

Stunn Tecar, District 5 Male: 22nd, Killed by Ophelia, Bloodbath

A few seconds later, Ducksa managed to corner a small girl against the cornucopia. She lashed out with her spear and planted it into her neck. The girl slid down against the wooden wall of the horn. She was losing blood so quickly that she didn't have the energy to try to escape.

Dwyn Prima, District 12 Female: 21st, Killed by Ducksa, Bloodbath

Ace was searching around the cornucopia for a weapon when he stepped on something sharp. He reached down and picked up the sharp object—a crescent-shaped sickle as long as his arm. It wasn't the sword that Ace had been hoping for, but it would have to do. The career sprang toward the nearest tribute and slashed the sickle across her chest. Dark blood exploded forth, and the girl fell onto Ace, knocking him over like a domino. Ace wiggled out from underneath the dying girl and sprang back to his feet to look for more prey.

Daphne Jackman, District 11 Female: 20th, Killed by Ace, Bloodbath

Fisher and Ducksa from 4 teamed up to make their next kill. Fisher picked up an outlier girl and hurled her to the ground like nothing. The girl's entire body weight was forcefully put down onto her left ankle, and a bloodcurdling snap followed as the ankle bone gave in to the pressure. Ducksa finished the girl off, sliding her spear into the girl's throat.

Portia Bartell, District 10 Female: 19th, Killed by Fisher and Ducksa, Bloodbath

Sally from 5 had a belt of throwing knives around her waist. She was turning around to flee from the bloodbath when an enormous weight crashed into her back. It was Hadrien of 6, who had armed himself with a knife and wanted to kill Sally to eliminate competition early. Hadrien flew his knife toward her neck, but Sally turned around and punched him in the face. He cursed and fell off of her, and she got to her feet to finish him off. Hadrien crawled around, looking for his knife, but he couldn't find it before Sally went in for the kill, hurling one of her throwing knives into the base of his neck.

Hadrien Supple, District 6 Male: 18th, Killed by Sally, Bloodbath

Excalibur, clutching a sword in his hand, leapt at the nearest tribute, a boy from one of the poorest districts of the nation, and hammered him into the ground. He let out a little snivel of pain, but his cries were cut short as Excalibur flung his sword into his back.

Taurus Dollar, District 10 Male: 17th, Killed by Excalibur, Bloodbath

Syrah was the only career left without any kills, but that would soon change. The girl had a mace and used it to bash in the skull of a twelve year-old outlier boy. Due to the boy's small size and the force of the blow, he was dead from head trauma in seconds.

Baize McCano, District 8 Male: 16th, Killed by Syrah, Bloodbath

Ophelia made the final kill, bringing the blade of her sword down onto the side of a girl's neck. The girl clapped her hands over the wound to keep in the blood. Ophelia quickly made another incision running all the way down her arm, and there was no way she could keep all of her wounds covered. The careers gathered 'round to watch her die, a process that took a little less than an hour.

Damia Bird, District 6 Female: 15th, Killed by Ophelia, Bloodbath

The career pack, completely intact unlike some other years, prepared for their hunt. Fisher and Ducksa hunted on the island the cornucopia was situated on, wanting to be sure there weren't any tributes hiding nearby like Annabelle of the year before. Meanwhile, Excalibur and Syrah sorted food rations. They were all sweating bullets from the intense heat. Luckily, Syrah found a box fan in the back of the cornucopia. She affixed it on top of a pile of crates in the back of the cornucopia to keep the stale air circulating. Ophelia rummaged through the supplies for flashlights. Fortunately, they were plentiful, and there were at least two flashlights for every career. Ophelia laid them out on a table for any six of them to take if they needed one. Before long, they were just waiting for the pair from 4 to get back. Once Ducksa and Fisher returned reporting that the cornucopia island was empty of prey, they all took a quick moment to rehydrate and then started trudging through the thick swamp to hunt for outliers.

The outliers scattered, floating, paddling, or trudging through the thick swamp. Cipher had a sword, a watertight case of saltine crackers, and a metal bowl. He was holding onto his supplies with his hands, so only his feet were available to swim through the water with. Chippa, after several painful hours of floating through the sludge, came to a stop on a small island housing a single mangrove tree. Aside from a bit of food, her only supply was a backpack of wire. Chippa crawled under the roots of the tree and tried to find a way to win the games like Beetee. Sally paddled away from the cornucopia with her supplies: a watertight backpack, her belt of throwing knives, a thermos, and a tin of matches. Sally discovered that by blowing into the pack, she could inflate it with her breath. When Sally strapped the pack onto her back, she could float on the water without using her arms or legs at all. Kai wasn't a comfortable swimmer and had to walk across the slippery bottom of the swamp. Eventually, he found a group of two logs that were floating on the sludge and climbed on top of them. Kai fell asleep on his raft, leaving the directions he travelled up to fate. Quentina paddled through the thick soup until a small island came into view. The girl fell onto the island and collapsed from exhaustion, clutching the few supplies she had gotten from the cornucopia, like an axe and some firewood. Esther was one of the luckiest tributes. Right away, she found a floating log, so she was able to move across the swamp without laying a finger on the filthy water. Esther used a fallen mangrove branch as an oar to work her way over the swamp. Conall and Inigo travelled together, even though they hadn't spoken a word of alliance before the games. As the sun started to set, they climbed up into the branches of a cluster of trees. They were both ravenously hungry and thirsty. Curious as to how this outlier alliance would turn out, a sponsor sent them a slice of pork and thermos of water. Conall and Inigo planned to carefully ration the food and drink equally through the next few days. The eerie silence and stillness would not last much longer, and blood would mingle with the muddy water as the games continued.

Mere hours into Day 2, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the black night. The stress of the games was giving Esther horrible nightmares. Esther habitually moved a lot in her sleep, and, all in less than three seconds, rolled to one side, fell off of her raft, and landed in the thick swamp water with a splash. She bolted awake and rocketed to the surface. The girl spun around and searched for her raft, or anything to clamber onto for that matter. Suddenly, Esther's heart stopped. About twenty feet away, a pair of glowing red eyes was fixed on her. Esther slowly paddled away, not wanting to thrash around for fear she might alert the monster of her position. As the creature spun through the water toward her, she panicked and splashed away as quickly as she could. The mysterious creature chased after her, and, as it drew closer, she could make out its scaly back and pointed maw. The crocodile mutt let out a roar, and, even though the night was hot and muggy, a chill went down Esther's spine. That growl was eerily similar—almost identical—to the growl in the games trailer.

A trio of floating logs came into view, and Esther veered off of her course toward them. If she could climb on top of the logs, she might be able to grab a weapon to fend off the croc. She swam as fast as she could toward the floating logs, but she wasn't fast enough. Before she could yell out, the crocodile closed its enormous maw around her leg. Esther reached out and grabbed one of the logs just as the croc pulled her under. She swung the log through the water, hoping to hit the mutt. It let out another growl and pulled her farther under the surface. Her only hope of survival was to get to the surface, where she could use the light of the stars and the moon to see what the actual heck she was doing. The crocodile had other plans. With a snap of its jaws, it severed nearly half of the girl's torso just like that. The creature began munching on the chunk of flesh, and, finally free of its jaws, Esther floated up to the surface. Underneath her, the crocodile spiraled away, satisfied.

Esther Zorn, District 9 Female: 14th, Killed by Crocodile Muttation, Day 2

Esther's cannon shot startled most of the tributes awake, most of whom were so exhausted that they fell back asleep in seconds or minutes. There was one exception, though. In the career pack, Excalibur couldn't sleep. It had taken him hours to fall asleep in the first place, and, now that he had been awoken, falling back asleep before the sun rose was out of the question. Excalibur's mind was cluttered with so many thoughts that he couldn't focus on anything for more than a few milliseconds. Wanting to unwind and clear his mind a bit, Excalibur wiggled out of his sleeping bag. Grabbing his sword just in case, he ventured away from the cornucopia for a walk.

The 2 boy walked a few laps around the cornucopia, breathing in a regular pattern to relax. It was getting repetitive after a while, so Excalibur headed further away. He had walked for a few minutes when he came to the edge of the island. He stepped into the swampy water and waded in a few feet.

So suddenly that he didn't have time to breathe, the mud under his feet began to give way. In moments, he was sinking down into the earth. Excalibur let out a cry of shock and dug his sword into the ground. Holding onto the hilt with all of his might, he pulled himself upward. He managed to drag himself a few inches upward, out of the quicksand. So far, so good. Excalibur pulled himself up a few more inches, and the sword slipped. He began sliding down into the ground once again.

Excalibur screamed as loud as he could, hoping to get the attention of his allies. Ace was the first to wake. He yelled that he was coming and ran in the direction of Excalibur's screams. By the time he arrived, the mud was up to the 2 boy's navel.

"I've got you!" Ace said. He frantically searched around and picked up a fallen mangrove branch. "Hold onto this!"

Excalibur grabbed onto the other end of the branch, and Ace tugged as hard as he could. Excalibur tried his hardest to hoist himself up out of the quicksand. It wasn't working, not by any definition of the word. The mud was up to Excalibur's neck within a few more minutes. Ace kept frantically searching around for something, anything, to help out his sinking ally. Finally, he had no other option. "Take my hand!" Ace yelled. Excalibur grabbed onto it, and, instantly, Ace was tugged over the side and into the mud. Ace scrambled to escape, but he was sinking before long.

The two sinking career boys' screams had awoken the other careers by that point. Syrah, Ophelia, and Ducksa came running toward their screams to help them. By the time they arrived, the mud was up to Excalibur's chin and Ace's waist. They all felt awful, but there was nothing they could do. If any of them tried to help one of the boys, they would be tugged in as well! They were completely helpless as the two boys sank below the surface and suffocated in the mud.

Excalibur Fonseca, District 2 Male: 13th, Killed by Suffocation, Day 2

Ace Baskin, District 1 Male: 12th, Killed by Suffocation, Day 2

In the "light" hours of Day 2 (though it was nearly as dark as night through the thick fog), the careers were reluctant to hunt. Worried as to what dangers the arena might hide after losing two of their members in the span of half an hour, they knew that there was no way on Earth they were swimming through those waters. So Fisher suggested that they build a boat. Strangely, none of them had thought about a boat before that point. They began construction within the next ten minutes, ravenous to finish the boat and get hunting to thin the crowd of outliers. Fisher oversaw the construction but also did quite a bit of the work himself. Syrah started building a sail, but Ducksa pointed out that there wasn't much wind in the arena and they wanted it to be controlled with oars, not the whims of the gamemakers and Mother Nature. So Syrah scrapped the half-finished sail and started fashioning the oars. Ophelia worked to smear sap from the mangrove trees into the cracks between pieces of the boat. By the time they were finished, the sun had set below the horizon. The careers dragged their do-it-yourself boat into the cornucopia for safekeeping and went to bed, planning to test her seaworthiness the next morning.

The careers were up bright and early the morning of Day 3, eager to test their new invention. Fisher grabbed the boat of their creation and used a flashlight to guide his allies to the shore. The 4 boy placed the vessel atop the water. Taking infinite care, he climbed onto it. To his pleasure, the boat managed to stay up, only dipping a few inches down into the water. Ophelia was the next to climb in. She sat cross-legged right behind Fisher. The boat was able to support her weight as well! There was room for one more on board. Syrah, the smallest of the remaining tributes, stepped onto the ship. The second her entire body weight was on the boat, it flipped over, dunking the three passengers into the swampy water. They quickly paddled their way back to shore, covered head-to-toe in mud.

"Hey!" said Syrah. "It's floating away!"

She was right. A slight gust of wind spurred by James was causing the careers' boat to drift away into the swamp.

"I've got it!" Ducksa proclaimed, diving into the water. As the daughter of a fisher, she cut through the water with breathtaking speed. She hoisted herself up onto the raft and used her hands as oars to swim back to shore.

After being dunked in the muddy water, it took the career pack all day to clean themselves off. It took dozens of washcloths per filthy career and depleted their precious water supply, but it was worth it to be free from the clinging of mud on every inch of their bodies. They quickly lost track of time. Once they were all finished cleaning themselves, there was only an hour until sunset. They would get almost zero hunting done before it was time to come back home. So they said, "Tomorrow morning," for the second night in a row.

There was a surprising amount of argument amongst the careers on the morning of Day 4. Only two of them could go hunting, and everyone wanted a turn. After picking grasses, flipping coin-shaped stones, and several all-dictating games of rock, paper, scissors, it was determined that Ophelia and Fisher would have the first turn. They set out with their weapons (Ophelia her sword, Fisher his mace) and drifted away from the cornucopia on their boat, promising to be back before dark the next day.

With only two careers instead of the usual five or six, there was a lot less disagreement. The duo got a lot of work done. Whenever the boat started taking on water, Fisher bailed, while Ophelia took the oars and set out on a hunt. They headed toward the east and slowly looked around as they travelled. Their flashlights allowed them to see farther into the mist, but even so their sight was impaired. When night fell, they came to a stop on a medium-sized island and slept on the boat so that they would know if anyone tried to steal it.

Days 4 and 5 passed without incident as the tributes trudged through the hot swamp. Ophelia and Fisher tried to steer their boat back to the cornucopia, but particularly strong currents in the water (courtesy of James) caused them to get lost. A sponsor sent them some hard hats with flashlights affixed to the fronts, which helped them see better through the soupy fog. Still, they were unable to find their way back to the horn despite their best efforts. Syrah and Ducksa waited impatiently at the horn, eager for their turn to hunt. They attempted to assemble a second boat, but it went disastrously. It couldn't even support the weight of their weapons, let along their bodies and fighting gear. Cipher came into contact with a single crocodile mutt, but he was able to fend it away with his sword and move to dry land where it was safer. Chippa continued working on her electrical contraption. A sponsor sent her a bag of assorted mechanical supplies. Her plan was to run an electrical current through the salty swamp water, killing anyone and anything that came close. Chippa's contraption was coming along well. Sally continued floated through the arena for the better portion of Day 4. When she saw a tribute slowly trudging through the swamp nearby, she chased after him. The boy was Kai from 7. Sally chased him for nearly half a mile, but Kai managed to escape, ducking into the crook of a mangrove tree. Quentina felt a raging hunger. She had collected an armful of mangrove fruit over the past few days, but the fruit was too hard to bite into and tasted disgusting. Her mentor Blight sent her a note that the fruit was absolutely edible, but she needed to roast it over a fire to soften it. Quentina didn't care that lighting a fire would reveal her position to everyone. She just wanted to eat. She arranged her sponsored firewood in a teepee shape. The dry wood quickly caught fire with the help of a few matches, and Quentina began roasting the fruit. Conall and Inigo huddled together in a cluster of mangrove trees, too terrified to move as several crocodiles swam in circles around them. The crocs couldn't reach them, but they still screamed when they leapt out of the water and snapped their jaws. Unless they could fend the mutts off, there was no hope of being able to leave the island before they crumbled to dust due to starvation.

Day 6 arrived. Ophelia and Fisher were as lost as ever. By that point, they were paddling in random directions and hoping for the best. Around noon, they spotted the trail of smoke rising up from Quentina's fire. The careers used their oars to move toward the trail of smoke. Quentina saw the careers' boat coming toward her and doused her fire before moving to the other end of the island and paddling away into the water. At the front of the boat, Ophelia shone her flashlight across the island. They were about to give up and paddle away when Ophelia's light glanced off of the girl's tribute token, an ornate silver hairpiece. If the light hadn't hit her token, Quentina would have probably been able to duck under the surface until they were gone.

The careers moved their boat in Quentina's direction and lofted their weapons into the air. Docking the boat on the island, they disembarked and chased into the water after Quentina. It was hard to see through the murky water, but there was no doubt that the 7 girl was nearby. Fisher swung his club through the soup and bludgeoned Quentina in the abdomen, crushing several of her bones. Blood began pooling up in her lungs. Quentina rocketed to the surface, gasping for breath. The careers followed, and Ophelia finished her off by spearing her sword through her neck. Once her cannon shot sounded, Fisher and Ophelia stole the girl's supplies and then climbed into their boat to continue their search for the cornucopia and other tributes.

Quentina Oak, District 7 Female: 11th, Killed by Fisher and Ophelia, Day 6

On Day 7, the careers finally found their way back to the cornucopia. The Capitol was getting bored with watching only Ophelia and Fisher hunt, so a sponsor sent them exact directions to the cornucopia. Before long, the antsy Syrah and Ducksa came into view.

"About time!" Ducksa called from the shore as Ophelia and Fisher prepared to dock.

Syrah and Ducksa, eager to get hunting, climbed into the boat and sailed away with their weapons. At the cornucopia, hunting partners Ophelia and Fisher continued organizing rations and weapons. Not the most exciting job in the world, but, to be fair, they had kept their allies waiting for far too long and deserved to have the boring jobs for once. Syrah and Ducksa had sailed for less than an hour when a swimming tribute came into view. The two careers paddled toward the girl—Sally from 5. Sally saw the prow of the careers' boat coming through the water toward her and ducked under the water, swimming in the other direction. She had been swimming between islands all morning looking for food, and she knew that one particularly large island was less than fifty yards away. As Sally swam into the fog, Syrah and Ducksa followed behind.

Before long, the girl from District 5 stepped onto dry land and ducked behind a copse of dead bushes. She watched as the two career girls docked their boat and stepped out onto the island, their weapons gleaming in the little sunlight that was able to shine through the fog.

So suddenly that she didn't have time to breathe, Sally leapt out from behind the bush and tackled Ophelia. The two girls crumbled to the ground in a heap. They rolled around for minutes, each one struggling to pin down the other. Syrah followed them around with her mace. She was too scared to interfere; if she tried to hit Sally, she might accidentally hit Ducksa! After nearly five minutes, Ducksa was so exhausted that Sally managed to wiggle out from underneath her. Sally ran for the shore and got into the careers' boat.

"Hey! That's ours!" Syrah called. Sally didn't listen. She untied the boat from the shore and used the oars to drift away from the island, leaving Ducksa and Syrah behind.

Ducksa dove into the water and chased after her. The 4 girl's hope was to swim underneath the boat and push upward, capsizing the vessel and knocking Sally into the water. But Sally had her belt of throwing knives, and she threw one whenever the girl came up for breath. She succeeded on her third try, landing one of her knives squarely in Ducksa's forehead. She slid beneath the water right away, unable to find the energy to stay afloat. Sally's knife had pierced part of Ducksa's brain, and, no matter what she did, she was pretty much guaranteed to die within the next minute or so.

Ducksa Lincoln, District 4 Female: 10th, Killed by Sally, Day 7

As Sally continued to paddle away on the boat she stole from the careers, Syrah was left abandoned on the island. She couldn't swim. The island had virtually no natural bounty, and the possibility of making some kind of raft was out of the question. Syrah could have just trudged through the swamp with her head above the surface, but she was terrified of what the waters might hold. For that moment, she was a prisoner on that tiny, lonesome island where she would be doomed to die unless a miracle came about.

Day 8 had no deaths. After seeing Ducksa's face in the sky, Ophelia and Fisher were crestfallen. Their once-mighty group of six had been whittled down to three before the final eight. When Syrah didn't return, they began to fear that she was trapped somewhere. Ophelia couldn't bear the thought of abandoning the poor girl to starve, and she desperately wanted to go out and rescue her. But Fisher objected. Neither of them had the slightest clue as to her location. Without a boat, they didn't dare swim through the likely mutt-infested waters. They were helpless, just like they were as they watched Ace and Excalibur sink down into the mud. Sometimes being helpless is even worse than having the power to do something and failing.

Days 9 and 10 passed without any major occurrences. Ophelia and Fisher were becoming more and more antsy as they waited for Syrah to come back. They tried to assemble a raft, but they had used up all of the decent boat-building materials to build their first boat and had virtually nothing to work with. Miles away, poor Syrah was helpless on the tiny island. She would sometimes spot the glowing eyes of crocodile mutts through the murky water. By the end of Day 10, Syrah was so hungry and thirsty she could barely move. Cipher floated between islands from time to time, fending off attacking croc mutts with his sword whenever it was necessary. Chippa continued work on her electrical machine. Progress was coming along well, and Chippa reported that she would be finished in just one more day. Sally floated over the water on the boat that she had stolen from the careers. Once, a swarm of tracker jackers attacked, and she had to duck down and wait for them to pass. A few of the mutts bit her, and Sally nearly rolled off of the boat acting out her hallucinations. Kai ran completely out of water, and his inactivity was doing anything but attract sponsors. He resorted to drinking the dirty swamp water. His stomach instantly rejected the filth, and it took hours to get enough fluid inside of him without instantly hurling it back up. Conall and Inigo were unable to move in their cluster of mangrove trees as crocodiles swam around them. They were both procrastinating the moment that they would either have to move or starve to death, but at that moment they were too scared to do anything.

Day 11 came about with two deaths. The first one occurred before the sun even rose. Despite Syrah's best efforts, she could not survive on the tiny island surrounded by crocodiles. All her attempts at finding food, all of her begs for the sponsors to save her, all of her cries for somebody to help her, were futile. Syrah passed away from dehydration around two in the morning.

Syrah Marston, District 1 Female: 9th, Killed by Dehydration, Day 11

That left the final eight: Ophelia Stinn from District 2, Cipher Venne and Chippa Maxwell from District 3, Fisher Halibut from District 4, Sally Vasilia from District 5, Kai Pinto from District 7, Conall Sykes from District 11, and Inigo Libby from District 12.

Chippa was up bright and early, ready to finish her mechanical contraption. She had quite a lot to work on, but she didn't want to fall short of her promise to finish on Day 11. By the time the sun reached its peak in the sky, her contraption was finished. It was rather similar to Beetee's contraption from the fortieth games. The end of the on/off switch was connected to a coiled electrical wire which surrounded an electrically charged metal core. A long output wire sprouted from the core. When the switch was turned to the on setting, the coiled wire would rotate around the core and transfer some of the charge to the output wire. The output wire ran into the water surrounding Chippa's island. Since the water was salty, the current would be carried through the water and would create a force field of electricity surrounding the island.

Now was the moment Chippa had been waiting for nearly two weeks. Her mentor Wiress sent her a note that it was time, and she quickly got into position. Chippa flipped the switch and instantly screamed. She hadn't insulated the switch well enough, and her fingers were making contact with the live electrical wire. Chippa thrashed and contorted, her hair standing up on end as hundreds of volts ran through her brain and heart. She was dead in minutes, leaving behind her failed electrical contraption to rot away beside her body.

Chippa Maxwell, District 3 Female: 8th, Killed by Electrocution, Day 11

After Chippa's death, Days 12, 13, and 14 were all deathless. They were the slowest and most lifeless days the fifty-sixth Hunger Games had seen yet, and many Capitol citizens were so put off by the lack of action that they turned off their televisions and radios for good. Ophelia and Fisher couldn't hunt without a boat, so they saw to making a second one. It took them all of Day 12 to build. The duo took Day 13 to rest, and their hunt on Day 14 was unsuccessful. Cipher continued jumping between islands with his sword, fending off tracker jackers and crocs. Kai discovered that the fruit of the mangrove trees was edible, but it had to be heated up so that he could bite into it without breaking his teeth. He started a fire to roast the fruit. Sally spotted the trail of smoke and began sailing toward it, but Kai doused the fire before she could reach him. Conall and Inigo requested politely that James draw away the crocodilians that were circling around their mangrove tree and trapping them there. James didn't think it was outlandish, so he pulled them away with electrical pulses. Conall and Inigo waded through the swamp water, hoping to find a clean source of food and water. So far, they had only been drinking the swamp water, but their precious water purifying supplies had run dry and they needed to find something else.

At noon on Day 15, it was as if every tribute had something they needed dearly. The careers needed a seaworthy boat. Cipher needed more kills. Kai needed clean water. Conall and Inigo needed food and weapons. So, naturally, there was only one thing to do.

James' voice boomed across the arena. All of the tributes could hear him. The acoustics of the arena were exceptional.

"My deepest congratulations to the final seven tributes of the fifty-sixth Hunger Games. There is something that each of you needs desperately. At precisely noon tomorrow, a feast will be held at the cornucopia. Think twice about not showing up. This will be the only announcement." The second his voice cut to silence, the cornucopia shot out a beacon of blazing light that shone through even the thickest parts of the fog. And, far off in the artificial sky, a countdown began.

It was no surprise that, the next day, every single tribute decided to go to the feast. Ophelia and Fisher wanted more kills, as did Cipher, who needed more sponsors. Conall, Inigo, and Kai all needed restocks of food and water. Sally didn't need anything desperately, but she didn't want to be the only tribute not to go the feast. She would come off as a coward if she was the only tribute not to show up.

The feast went as planned. At noon on Day 16, the tributes had all gathered around the cornucopia, which was restocked with piles of food, water, medicine, blankets, and anything else the tributes could need. Boom! A gong rumbled across the arena, and the tributes were off.

Fisher and Ophelia, of course were at the front. Ophelia scrapped her old, bloodstained sword and picked up a long katana sword that was about thirty yards from her pedestal. Fisher clung onto his trusty mace. The two careers frantically peered through the fog and spotted the duo of Conall and Inigo about thirty yards away, snatching up as much water and food as they could carry. The careers charged toward the duo and tackled them to the ground. Fisher took down Conall, and Ophelia went for Inigo. Fisher swung his mace through the air and whacked it into Conall's head, knocking out several teeth and bashing in a good part of his skull. He collapsed, knocking over Inigo in his descent like a bowling pin. Ophelia leapt toward the fallen Inigo and slid her katana into his neck. He gurgled and moaned as blood pooled up in his mouth. He tried to drag himself away but was ultimately dead within a few seconds.

Conall Sykes, District 11 Male: 7th, Killed by Fisher, Day 16

Inigo Libby, District 12 Male: 6th, Killed by Ophelia, Day 16

Cipher picked up a new sword and went in for the ultimate prize: Fisher from 4. He and Ophelia were engrossed in pillaging Conall and Inigo of their supplies, and he was easy prey for Cipher. Cipher dug his sword into Fisher's back. The boy staggered backward as the sword protruded from his stomach. Fisher's ally Ophelia stayed completely still, dumfounded with shock, as Cipher continued hacking away at Fisher's abdomen with his sword.

Fisher Halibut, District 4 Male: 5th, Killed by Cipher, Day 16

Ophelia chased after Cipher, seeking to avenge Fisher's death. Cipher was quick, but not quick enough to escape the well-trained career. Ophelia slashed at the air with her katana, opening a huge gash from the base of Cipher's neck to his hip. He fell to the ground, blood sloshing from the wound like water. Cipher struggled to fend off Ophelia with his last ounces of energy, but his hope dissolved as the 2 girl thrust her sword into his abdomen.

Cipher Venne, District 3 Male: 4th, Killed by Ophelia, Day 16

No more deaths occurred that day. The three remaining tributes were all well-stocked and began scattering. Ophelia had sustained several small injuries during the feast. She stayed still at the horn and tended to herself for the remainder of the day, wanting to be in the best condition possible for the finale. Sally managed a liter of water and a bit of dried pork; not a huge turnout, but still enough to power her through the next few days. Kai grabbed medicine to flush all of the filthy swamp water out of his body, and after that he fed himself on sponsor foods and clean water from the feast.

The morning of Day 17, a cannon shot shattered the silence of the swamp. Kai didn't want to stay on the same island for more than a few hours at a time for fear he might fade into the background. He didn't have a boat, so he had to swim through the water to get wherever he wanted. Kai had traveled about fifty yards into the water when he froze. Four piercing red eyes stared at him from under the surface. They were getting closer. Panicked, Kai turned around and swam back to the island he had come from, wanting to get to dry land where the crocs couldn't reach him. At first, he tried to move slowly, but he panicked as the mutts drew closer and closer and broke into a fast swim.

The first mutt overtook him in seconds, closing his left foot in its jaws. Kai struggled to escape, but he couldn't escape the crocodile's grip. It chomped off Kai's foot in one snap of its jaws. The boy screamed as a cloud of red spread around him. He turned to the left and tried to escape, but the second crocodile mutt was there. He had no hope of escape with two crocodile mutts on either side of him. As he let out a few quick goodbyes to his loved ones, the hideous reptiles pounced, tearing off ribbons of Kai's bloody flesh.

Kai Pinto, District 7 Male: 3rd, Killed by Crocodile Muttations, Day 17

Day 18 was a beautiful sight. Starting as soon as the sun rose, the fog began to dissolve until it was completely gone. The heavy green clouds drifted away and revealed an azure blue sky filled with puffy white clouds. The golden gem of the sun illuminated the entire arena. The two remaining tributes knew the finale was on the horizon, and they had light and fresh air as they prepared. Ophelia armed herself with the armor and weapons of the cornucopia and practiced with her katana, favoring it largely over her old sword. Sally started her swim toward the cornucopia, wanting to get as much of the voyage done on her own accord before the gamemakers sent some mutts after her to hurry her up.

After a whole day of swimming, Sally stopped to rest for the first part of Day 19. The Capitol was eager for the finale and wanted their victor as soon as possible, so James pestered Sally with a crocodile mutt. The mutt chased Sally to the cornucopia island, where Ophelia was waiting on the shore. Let the finale begin.

Sally stepped onto the dry land and clashed with Ophelia. The crocodile muttation still wanted its snack and waited on the shore as if one of the finalists might walk back in. From the start, Sally was losing. Sally had the higher training score, but Ophelia had been training for the games nearly every day for a decade and Sally's only training was from her aunt a few days a month. Ophelia's very first blow was true, and Sally collapsed to the ground as the District 2 girl's katana slid through her calf. Sally held out her sword, but the career just knocked aside the sword and set it in the dirt with a thud.

Suddenly, Sally ran toward the crocodile mutt. She had a ridiculous plan in mind, but drastic times call for drastic measures. The girl leapt on top of the mutt and rode it up and down like a rodeo bull. The crocodile leapt to and fro, trying to knock Sally off, but she held onto its scales with all of her strength. Ophelia watched, wide-eyed with shock, as the mutt growled and tried to knock the 5 girl off of its back. The mutt leapt onto shore and knocked Ophelia's with its maw.

The crocodile growled as if saying, "there you are!" and dug into Ophelia. The crocodile mutt tore off her flesh and stained its teeth with her blood. Ophelia's cannon shot sounded, and Sally crawled off of the mutt before it slid back into the water.

Ophelia Stinn, District 2 Female: 2nd, Killed by Crocodile Muttation, Day 19

"Sally Vasilia of District 5, you are the victor of the fifty-sixth annual Hunger Games!" James screamed.

Sally closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. She had fought hard throughout the games, but she was ready to go home.

Sally Vasilia, District 5 Female: Victor of the Fifty-Sixth Hunger Games, Day 19


AFTERMATH

District 5 was pleasantly surprised to receive their sixth victor so soon. It was the first instance in Hunger Games history of the same district winning back-to-back Hunger Games. This would only happen a few more times in the first Hunger Games century. Of course, Victor Porter Tripp was immeasurably happy to see her niece emerge from the Hunger Games alive. Sally was just glad to be home.

She moved into the Victor's Village of District 5, next to Emily's house.

Sally's victory tour was nothing out of the ordinary, though District 2 was a bit sour for obvious reasons.

Sally would live to the age of seventy-four, dying from heart disease in the middle of the one-hundred thirteenth annual Hunger Games. As one of the nation's more attractive victors, Sally was in particularly high demand among wealthy Capitol men. She would be almost completely clean of alcohol and drugs. She would get engaged in her late fifties, but she and her fiancée never got around to getting married. Sally was one of the few victors not to choose a talent or hobby to devote the rest of her life to. She was always one to prefer an easy-going and stress-free lifestyle.


NEWS

Sally moves into the Victor's Village of District 5.

Dylan Levitt adopts twin daughters: Isle and Isla.

Nolan Wrack has his second child with his wife, a boy named Chisel.


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)
47HG: Klink Byrae (#4, District 5)
48HG: Brutus Cordley (#12, District 2)
49HG: Wiress Freid (#8, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)
51HG: Lyme Mabbett (#13, District 2)
52HG: Ruby Rayfuse (#7, District 1)
53HG: Lily Eckel (#3, District 11)
54HG: Blight Holzer (#2, District 7)
55HG: Emily Pollick (#5, District 5)
56HG: Sally Vasilia (#6, District 5)


A/N: So… Feodore, Reyna, and James have all served two years as head gamemaker. Now the "Capitol citizens" (you!) are going to vote on who gets the full-time job. There's a poll on my profile for which head gamemaker you think did best. You have three days to cast your vote...