THE FIFTY SEVENTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Luck of the Irish"


INTRODUCTION

The Capitol's citizens began casting their votes for head gamemaker the second that Sally emerged from the fifty-sixth games with a blood-smattered face. Statisticians could look at previous games and make their best guesses as to which of the three would get the highest amount of votes, but only time would tell for sure. In the first month, there was no clearly defined winner; Feodore, Reyna, and James each had almost exactly one third of the votes. As time wore on, though, the numbers began straying away from each other. One-hundred days after the end of the fifty-sixth games, all voting outlets were closed. The final statistics? Sixteen percent of votes for James Stradivarius, twenty-five percent for Reyna Bayer, and a whopping fifty-eight percent for Feodore Elliot. Feodore was the winner by leaps and bounds, and the Capitol could not be more happy. Sure, there was the occasional James or Reyna fan who was disappointed at Feodore's victory, but almost everyone was ultimately excited for the many games and arenas that were to come. A week before the fifty-seventh Hunger Games was set to start, Feodore announced his engagement to his girlfriend of twelve years. Their wedding was scheduled for the fifteenth of the upcoming December, and several victors and Capitol officials were invited to attend.

This year had one of the weaker batches of careers. Since last year's games, District 1 had largely recovered from its stomach flu epidemic. The tributes of District 1 were as beautiful as always, and masters of close-range weaponry. The male was a popular model who often starred in television ads, and the female was an elegant and beautiful dancer. The boy preferred whips, whereas the girl fancied axes. District 2, overall, produced the strongest pair. The male was undoubtedly the strongest tribute this year. He had bulging muscles, outstanding weaponry skills, and was devilishly handsome, earning himself an enormous amount of sponsors before the games even started. The female was the younger sister of Excalibur Fonseca of the year prior, and she was the second of three Fonseca siblings who would go into the Hunger Games. District 4 produced the most curious pair. The boy, who helped out his father with sailing work in his spare time, was the nephew of the headmistress of District 4's combat academy. The female had a playful smile and the streamlined body of a swimmer. In fact, she was one of District 4's best swimmers, and that was saying something. Their training scores ultimately fell short of some other packs: two tens, two nines, and two eights.

The pack of outliers this year had a few standouts, but it was mostly for their training scores. Three eights were scored. Scipio of 9 had worked as a farmer for his entire life and was a master of the sickle and scythe, the weapons of his district. He also had looks to match and got quite a few sponsors. District 11 provided a brother/sister pair. They were named Cattail and Sunflower. They both specialized in long-range weapons like bows, but they were also decent swordsmen. Sevens were earned by Cable from 3, Ewan from 7, Organdy from 8, and Heidi from 9. There was a single volunteer outside of the careers: Aurora from District 7. About a month before the reaping, Aurora was caught sneaking into the reaping balls and removing the names of herself and her loved ones. She was put on death row and volunteered into the games to avoid capital punishment. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Liege Naples, 18, (9) 6-1 and Ivory Codrescu, 17, (10) 5-1

District 2: Mason Kittridge, 18, (10) 3-1 and Camelot Fonseca, 16, (9) 7-1

District 3: Cable Stevens, 17, (7) 15-1 and Pixel Perricone, 16, (4) 33-1

District 4: Dorsal Truitt, 18, (8) 8-1 and Mariana Stang, 18, (8) 7-1

District 5: Gene Favara, 15, (3) 42-1 and Steema Baldwin, 17, (5) 24-1

District 6: Cosmo Dobens, 17, (6) 19-1 and Lexie Ascarrunz, 18, (6) 18-1

District 7: Ewan Bollinger, 18, (7) 13-1 and Aurora Howley, 16, (6) 19-1

District 8: Velour Klyosov, 13, (6) 23-1 and Organdy Flora, 15, (7) 16-1

District 9: Scipio Meyers, 18, (8) 7-1 and Heidi Lux, 18, (7) 14-1

District 10: Auberon Juliano, 12, (3) 46-1 and Everly Ibes, 13, (3) 41-1

District 11: Cattail Orchard, 17, (8) 8-1 and Sunflower Orchard, 16, (8) 9-1

District 12: Raven Douglass, 16, (4) 33-1 and Melanie Nezzer, 18, (6) 18-1

HGBO Bets: 9% on Mason, 8% on Liege, Ivory, and Camelot, 7% on Dorsal, Mariana, and Scipio, 6% on Cattail and Sunflower, 5% on Cable, Ewan, Organdy, and Heidi, 4% on Cosmo, Lexie, Aurora, and Melanie, 3% on Steema and Velour, 2% on Pixel and Raven, 1% or less on Gene, Auberon, and Everly.


THE GAMES

Feodore's first two arenas were based off of real-life disasters in world history (the sinking of the RMS Titanic and the destruction of ancient Pompeii). The arena of the fifty-seventh Hunger Games was an exception, though it did draw massive inspiration from times long ago. The arena was based off of an Irish countryside from the eighteen hundreds, when people still believed in fairies and magic. The cornucopia was placed in the dead center of a rolling green meadow dotted with wooly white sheep. On either side of the horn, narrow lanes ran from one end of the arena to the other. If the tributes looked around, they could see mist-covered mountains and a flash of silver sea. But, cleverly, both the mountains and the sea were illusions. As one tried to walk toward them, they would seemingly get farther and farther away, and one could never truly reach them. Crowds of fairy and leprechaun mutts no taller than the shortest tribute's knee danced lightly under the brilliant canopy of spring. Clusters of rocks and trees were scattered here are there to act as shelter for the tributes. There was no scarcity of water, as dozens of large lakes and smaller pools were placed around the meadow. A tribute was never more than two miles from a clean water source. The tributes' diets would largely consist of the flowers from the meadow and the meat of the sheep mutts that roamed the arena.

Before the tributes could enter the arena, they were brought together in a completely white, circular room. Twenty-four doors lined the perimeter of the room: the doors to the launch rooms. Feodore sat on a stool in the center, holding a dark cloth bag.

"Come," Feodore said. The tributes gathered around him, the career tributes at the front at the outliers a few steps back.

"Listen carefully," he said. "When I call your name, you are to step forward and reach into this bag. Ladies first, as always. Ms. Codrescu, you are first."

Ivory stepped forward, picking nervously at the tendrils of her golden-blonde hair. She reached her hand into the bag and pulled out a small musical instrument. It looked like a recorder but was much smaller and was made of a solid, shiny metal. Feodore nodded, and Ivory stepped back into the crowd. The tributes were called forward in district order, with Raven from 12 being the last.

The head gamemaker spoke again. "The instrument you hold in your hands is an Irish whistle. To play the instrument, simply blow into the mouthpiece."

Some of the tributes put the whistles to their lips to test them. "No! Not now!" Feodore barked. "If at any time in the games you feel as if you have lost all hope, blow into the whistle to be saved. The whistle can deliver you from almost any danger, but it has some limitations. Firstly, each Irish whistle can only be used once. As soon as you blow into it, it will shatter. Additionally, they cannot be used in the bloodbath. If you find yourself in risk of life or limb during the opening minutes, the whistle cannot help you. Finally, if you die in the games, the powers of your whistle will die with you. You cannot use a whistle that once belonged to a dead tribute. My deepest congratulations to every single one of you. May the odds be ever in your favor," said Feodore. He then began pointing out doors for the tributes to enter. In minutes, all of the tributes were in the launch rooms, and the games were ready to start.

When the gong rang, two tributes fled immediately (Gene and Steema from 5, close friends and allies). The rest of the tributes decided to fight out the bloodbath in hopes of impressing the sponsors or amassing supplies to help them in the difficult weeks to come.

Mason was the fastest runner of the lot, and he found his way to a weapon in no time: a whimsically curved sword the length of his arm. He tactfully made his way through the sea of waist-high grass and attacked his first victim, an outlier boy who had tipped over and sprained his ankle on his way to the cornucopia. Mason slashed the sword across his chest, bringing forth a fountain of blood. The boy yelped and groaned as the 2 boy continued scoring open his torso with his weapon.

Raven Douglass, District 12 Male: 24th, Killed by Mason, Bloodbath

Mere seconds later, Ivory managed to corner Raven's district partner against the cornucopia. Ivory swept up an axe that sat in a nearly cluster of yellow blossoms and hurled it toward the girl as hard as she could. The blade of the weapon cut through the air and buried itself into the base of the girl's neck. She was sent unconscious instantly and slid down against the side of the horn, never to rise again.

Melanie Nezzer, District 12 Female: 23rd, Killed by Ivory, Bloodbath

Mason wrenched his sword out of Raven's torso and fluidly spun around on his heel. About twenty feet away, two tributes were rolling around on the ground and fighting over a pack containing loaves of bread. Mason dug the tip of his sword into the forehead of the first tribute, knocking him aside. The other tribute was paralyzed with shock and unable to move or speak, and she was easy work for Mason and his years of practice.

Velour Klyosov, District 8 Male: 22nd, Killed by Mason, Bloodbath

Pixel Perricone, District 3 Female: 21st, Killed by Mason, Bloodbath

Dorsal ran all of the way into the cornucopia for a trident, and he hurled it at the first sign of movement. One young boy screamed as the prongs of the trident buried themselves into his abdomen. He tried to drag himself away, but Dorsal was at his side in no time. Dorsal tore the trident out of the boy's torso and speared it through his neck, sealing the pitiful boy's fate for good.

Auberon Juliano, District 12 Male: 20th, Killed by Dorsal, Bloodbath

Camelot snatched a pair of nunchucks off of a countertop in the cornucopia, weapons placed specifically there for her. The career girl waved her two twin weapons through the air and slammed the spiked tips into the head of a nearby boy. The boy cursed and fell like a stone, staining his fingers with blood as he rubbed his head. Camelot resiliently swung the weapons into either side of his head until he passed away from head trauma a couple of minutes later.

Cosmo Dobens, District 6 Male: 19th, Killed by Camelot, Bloodbath

After Cosmo's life force drained away fully, Camelot turned around and felt the bite of a sickle in his gut. Cattail and Sunflower had made a goal to kill at least one career on the first day to impress the sponsors, and Camelot was the easiest target. Cattail tore his sickle out of Camelot's body and let Sunflower do the rest. Camelot was too stunned to move as Sunflower drilled her sickle into his torso, twisting it in circles to cut open more organs and arteries. The career girl was dead in seconds.

Camelot Fonseca, District 2 Female: 18th, Killed by Cattail and Sunflower, Bloodbath

The two District 4 tributes teamed up to make their next kill. Dorsal used his trident to point out the willowy boy from District 7 about twenty yards away. The two four'ers pounced and immediately went in with their weapons. Dorsal shoved his trident through the boy's foreleg, and Mariana used her two twin swords to hack his torso to ribbons.

Ewan Bollinger, District 7 Male: 17th, Killed by Dorsal and Mariana, Bloodbath

Liege was the last career left without a kill, but that would soon change. The 1 boy armed himself with a bladed whip and threw the leather strap at the nearest girl. She screamed as the whip wrapped around her arm and neck. Liege yanked back the weapon and watched as the girl was dismembered and almost decapitated by the force. The girl wobbled back and forth before falling backward like a domino, nearly knocking over her killer in the process.

Lexie Ascarrunz, District 6 Female: 16th, Killed by Liege, Bloodbath

Mason swung his curved sword and tackled a girl to the ground. The girl reached for her weapon, but Mason snatched it up and threw it aside where she couldn't reach it. She let out choked pleas, but Mason didn't listen, and she was dead in seconds as the boy slid the sharp tip of his sword into her stomach.

Aurora Howley, District 7 Female: 15th, Killed by Mason, Bloodbath

Meanwhile, Ivory was stalking a small boy around the clearing, hiding behind supplies whenever he looked over his shoulder. Finally, the boy knelt to pick up a pack, and Ivory pounced. She swung the blade of her axe into the boy's torso. He jumped and let out a mixture of a scream and a gasp as Mason leapt out of nowhere and gored his sword through his left eye. The two careers stood back as he sprawled out on the ground, dead.

Cable Stevens, District 3 Male: 14th, Killed by Ivory and Mason, Bloodbath

The careers all thought the bloodbath was over, but they were wrong. Mason gasped as an enormous weight slammed into his back and shoved him to the ground. The tricksy Scipio from 9 had been following the strongest career tribute around for the entire bloodbath, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and eliminate him. Mason growled and tried to shove Scipio off of him, but the outlier boy was too strong. Nearby Mariana leapt at Scipio and worked together with Ivory to tear him off of the District 2 boy's back. Finally, Scipio flew backward and landed in the grass with a thud. Ivory and Mariana went in with their weapons, and the boy was a mess of guts and ribbons of bloody flesh by the time they were finished.

Scipio Myers, District 9 Male: 13th, Killed by Ivory and Mariana, Bloodbath

With the bloodbath at its conclusion, the careers took hold of the cornucopia. Ivory and Mason, the two strongest tributes this year, banded together and hunted the lands immediately around the cornucopia for prey. They returned less than an hour later reporting that they hadn't seen any signs of other tributes. Meanwhile, Liege and Mariana sorted weapons and other supplies from the cornucopia. Dorsal just did yoga and told the audience stories about fishing. The others urged him to put himself to some kind of use, so he had the idea to bind a flashlight to the ceiling of the horn to keep it illuminated at night. Dorsal achieved this by tying a rope horizontally from one end of the horn to the other, and hanging the flashlight from the rope. Once Ivory and Mason returned, the careers went hunting, eager to thin the crowd of outliers before they got too strong.

The outliers scrambled every which way, wanting to get as far away from the cornucopia and the careers as possible. Gene and Steema started heading toward the fake mountains in the distance. The allies became incredibly confused as they seemed to be making no progress at all toward the mountains. The Capitolites had a laugh as they tried to make measurements and calculations to guess how far away it was and how long it would take them to reach it, when, in reality, the mountain range was just an illusion. Gene and Steema settled down at the base of a tall flower-covered hill when night fell, clutching their whistles. Organdy's only pack bounced between her shoulder blades as she jogged away from the horn. A few minutes before nightfall, she heard the sound of rushing water, and she found her way to the lake that was making it. Organdy took a quick sip and laid out her supplies: two twin knives, a coil of rope, a small vial of poison, and, of course, her whistle. Heidi was a logical girl who liked patterns and organization. She found her way to one of the lanes and walked down it, picking and eating flowers along the way. Heidi grew nauseous around noon and had to stop moving for the day. Young Everly's only turnout from the bloodbath was a knife, and she expertly killed one of the wooly white sheep using skills her mother and father had taught her back home in District 10. The sponsors were so impressed that they sent Everly means to preserve the meat as well as some fresh water and a change of clothes. Cattail and Sunflower ventured about three miles away from the horn and settled down in a ditch filled with mist, the ideal hiding spot. The brother and sister from 11 went out hunting, knowing that they had to do some intentional killing for these games to end. Once night fell, Cattail and Sunflower returned to their shelter for the night. Most of the outliers were well-stocked and content, but none of them were safe from the gamemakers. As the games continued, they would face great challenges. After all, only one of the tributes could leave the games with their life.

Day 2 passed, deathless. The careers had severely underestimated the amount of food they needed to take with them. After their breakfast on Day 2, they were out of food already! They returned to the horn and restocked on supplies. The pack got back to hunting soon after, leaving Dorsal behind to guard the cornucopia. The careers were becoming increasingly unnerved by the lack of mutts and other dangers. The meadow seemed almost too peaceful. Finally, at exactly noon, the career pack found their first mutts. It started when Mariana stepped in a patch of blossoms and brought up a cloud of green dust. But it wasn't dust. It was a cluster of tiny creatures with beautiful wings. Every fairy seemed to be different. Some rode tiny horses, some wore crowns. Mariana let out a yelp and tried to escape, but the cloud of fairies followed her. As they flapped their wings, they filled the air with a sweet smell. It smelled like pine smoke and daisies—pixie dust! The careers could feel their brains going foggy as they inhaled the smell. Mason stumbled out of the swarm of fairies and placed his shirt over his mouth to filter out the fairy dust. Mariana managed to stagger away to safety as well. Ivory escaped soon after. Liege was the exception. Liege was trapped in the cloud of green fairy mutts, rolling around and laughing hysterically on the ground. Ivory, Mason, and Mariana dragged Liege away and shooed away the fairies until they were all gone. Liege was under the spell of the pixies. For the next few hours, he didn't really speak real words and just cackled mysteriously. Ivory put up with him for district loyalty's sake and headed back to the horn to heal him while Mason and Mariana continued hunting.

A few hours past noon on Day 3, Mason and Mariana returned to the cornucopia and met up with Dorsal, Ivory, and Liege. Everyone was happy to find out that the fairy spell had worn off of Liege; he was back to normal. That night, Ivory volunteered for first watch, starting back and forth around the cornucopia with her axe. She regularly checked on the others to make sure they were asleep. Ivory may have seemed like a normal career, but she had a secret. From the instant she volunteered, Ivory's plan was to kill her allies in their sleep. Ivory heard the soft snores of all four of her allies. It was now or never.

Ivory started into the horn and crept toward Mason. Best to eliminate the strongest one first so he wouldn't be bothersome later. Ivory lifted the hatchet into the air, and the blade of the weapon clanged against the roof of the cornucopia. The four sleeping careers bolted awake instantly. All at once, they shone their flashlights onto Ivory.

"Traitor!" Liege spat as he grabbed his spiked whip. "There's no place for traitors in these games!" Then he pounced. Ivory reached for her whistle, but Liege snatched it out of her hand and threw it aside. Ivory begged for Liege to get off of her, but he didn't listen. The District 1 boy swung his bladed whip around her torso and yanked it back sharply. Flesh and tissue tore away from the girl's body, and her lungs starting flooding with blood. The traitor girl was dead in minutes.

Ivory Codrescu, District 1 Female: 12th, Killed by Liege, Day 3

Days 4, 5, and 6 passed without incident. Feodore had been hoping for a death or two, but the tributes were moving around his arena enough to keep the Capitol entertained. He also had a reputation for sparingly interfering with the natural flow of the games, one that he did not intend to break. After Ivory's death, two major changes occurred in the career pack. Firstly, everyone treated Liege completely differently. They had once seen him as one of the weaker careers, but after his killing of Ivory they all treated him with a newfound kind of respect. Mason tried to get their attention back on him, as he liked being the leader of the pack and thought that Liege was challenging him. Secondly, the careers grew extremely untrustworthy of each other. They had thought Ivory was the most loyal a career could get, and after her true colors shown, they were forced to question the bonds they thought they once had between each other. Dorsal was paranoid particularly strongly. He could often be found muttering to himself about how the others were planning to kill him and moving his sleeping bag and supplies so that the others would never be out of his sight when he slept. Gene and Steema kept journeying toward the snowy mountains well into Day 5 until Emily sent them a note that the mountains were just an illusion. Gene and Steema were very embarrassed and tried to keep themselves hidden from the cameras. Heidi moved her home every day, though she favored flatter areas where she had an undisturbed view of the surrounding terrain. Heidi's entire diet consisted of meat from the sheep. Organdy was sleeping on the morning of Day 6 when she rolled over and kicked her bottle of poison into the small pool of water she was living off of. In the morning, Organdy took a sip of the water and collapsed, gasping and shaking as the powerful poison began to shut down her body. Panicked, the girl grabbed her Irish whistle and blew into it. A single shrill note belted from the whistle, and the instrument shattered, shards of metal flying every which way. Mere seconds later, a silver parachute of thick yellow liquid landed in the grass a yard away. Organdy downed the entire antidote and sighed, saved. Cattail and Sunflower were hunting late in the evening on Day 6 when they spotted young Everly moving through the grass about a hundred feet away. The two District 11 tributes ran toward the girl, and she fled in the opposite direction the second she spotted the glint of their sickles in the sun.

Everly was nimble and quick, but so were Cattail and Sunflower. The young girl had a head start, and the two District 11 tributes lost her twice. But the girl's young body couldn't keep running forever. A few minutes after midnight, Everly collapsed, unable to move any farther. Cattail and Sunflower caught up to her and dug their sickles into her chest. The girl reached for her whistle, but it was gone, having fallen out of her pocket during the chase. Blood poured out of Everly's mouth and ran in torrents down her neck. In less than half an hour, Everly had lost too much blood for her little body to keep fighting.

Everly Ibes, District 10 Female: 11th, Killed by Cattail and Sunflower, Day 7

No deaths occurred for the remainder of Day 7, but one tribute had a near-death experience. Heidi was strolling through the meadow with her supplies when, all of a sudden, the career pack appeared out of nowhere. Heidi didn't have time to react before Mason hurled his weight at her and knocked her to the ground like a domino. Mason pressed the tip of his sword into her neck and was about to kill her when Heidi snatched her whistle and blew. Mere seconds later, a fierce growl pierced the air. Mason looked up, screamed "bear!" and fled. The bear chased the careers away from Heidi, and the girl ran toward safety as soon as she could.

Over the last few days, Dorsal had been growing increasingly crazy. By the time Day 8 came around, he was completely nutzo. Dorsal flopped around randomly, stuttered out nonsensical words and phrases, and made strange sculptures with the careers' supplies. As soon as the careers returned to the horn on Day 8, crazy Dorsal pounced toward the nearest career (Mariana, his very own district partner) and threw her against the wall of the cornucopia. Mariana cried out. The other careers ran to help her, but it was too late. She was dead from head trauma before the others could reach her.

Mariana Stang, District 4 Female: 10th, Killed by Dorsal, Day 8

Without a second thought, Mason dug his sword into Dorsal's back. There was no way in Panem they were letting this crazy boy continue living. Dorsal toppled over and died all in the span of two seconds.

Dorsal Truitt, District 4 Male: 9th, Killed by Mason, Day 8

That left the final eight: Liege Naples from District 1, Mason Kittridge from District 2, Gene Favara and Steema Baldwin from District 5, Organdy Flora from District 8, Heidi Lux from District 9, and Cattail Orchard and Sunflower Orchard from District 11.

Days 9 and 10 passed, deathless. The duo of Liege and Mason split up to cover more ground. Liege headed toward the fake mountains to hunt. Mason travelled in the opposite direction. He spent both of the days digging several traps which he then covered with grass and leaves to camouflage. Gene and Steema were attacked by a swarm of fairy mutts. They were both on the ground and to the point of almost blacking out when Steema blew a single shrill note into her whistle. A powerful gust of wind came, and the fairies were all blown away. Organdy fell into one of Mason's traps on Day 9 and began to starve. She struggled to escape the trap with all of her might, but it was hopeless. Organdy had already used her whistle and there was nothing to save her this time. Sunflower and Cattail spent the days developing a plan to raid the cornucopia. They were running dangerously low on supplies and sponsors and needed to make a splash to keep themselves relevant. Sunflower and Cattail planned to attack the horn at noon on Day 12.

Day 11 came about with two deaths. The first one occurred just as the sun was rising. Organdy's entire body was bloody from banging against the sides of Mason's trap, and infection was beginning to take hold. The girl had no hope of escape. She grabbed a rock and drew a heavy line down her left wrist. Organdy hissed as blood poured out of the wound. She repeated for her right wrist and fell slack against the side of the trap, weeping quietly to herself until she died from blood loss a painful three hours later.

Organdy Flora, District 8 Female: 8th, Killed by Herself, Day 11

Tensions were rising in the alliance of Gene and Steema. It was far too late for their little alliance to continue, and they both knew it. But there was a thing called district loyalty, and neither of them wanted to kill the other. Around noon on Day 11, Steema's mentor sent her a note that she had better do the deed soon or the Capitol would send mutts to kill off both of them.

Gene was kneeled over and working to break their camp when Steema began trekking toward him, lofting her knife in the air. Gene turned around and gasped just as the knife entered shoulder. Steema couldn't bear to watch as the boy crumpled in a heap, a dark pool spreading around him.

"I thought we were allies!" Gene cried out as he died. Steema didn't reply. She had looked away because she couldn't bear to watch the death.

Gene Favara, District 5 Male: 7th, Killed by Steema, Day 11

The morning of Day 12, Liege and Mason returned to the cornucopia and ate their breakfast side-by-side, absorbed in conversation. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment that Sunflower and Cattail planned for their cornucopia raid.

The two District 11 tributes bowled into the clearing. Cattail snatched up a belt of throwing knives, and Sunflower grabbed a crossbow. Liege and Mason were on their feet and barreling toward them. Before Sunflower knew it, Mason was on top of her, pinning her wrists and ankles down. Sunflower reached for her whistle, but Mason saw her and severed her hand in a few heavy slices of his sword. Sunflower closed her eyes and slowly bled to death, murmuring a prayer that Cattail would be alright.

Sunflower Orchard, District 11 Female: 6th, Killed by Mason, Day 12

On the other side of the clearing, Liege gritted his teeth as he dueled with Cattail. Mason reached their fight in seconds and sided with Liege. There was no way Cattail could win against two highly-trained careers. He turned around and ran. The careers were faster than him, though, and Liege hurled his weight at his back and sent him toppling to the ground. Before they could touch him with their weapons, Cattail grabbed his whistle and blew into the mouthpiece. Suddenly, Mason and Liege both froze. Feodore was freezing them with electrical charges so that Cattail could escape. The 11 boy grabbed the first pack he saw and high-tailed it away from the horn before the careers came back to life.

Day 13 was deathless. Liege and Mason worked together and set more traps. They spotted Heidi a few minutes before nightfall and stalked her for hours. Steema was attacked by fairy mutts and barely managed to escape from her life, though she was under the impact of the fairy spell for the rest of the day. Cattail was a little traumatized after the disastrous attempt to raid the cornucopia, so he hid for an entire day at the base of one of the hills.

The duo of careers continued stalking Heidi several hours into Day 14. Finally, Heidi stopped to sip water from a lake, and the careers pounced. Liege buried the teeth of his bladed whip into Heidi's back and yanked back the strap, pulling out long noodles of blood-lathered flesh. Finally, to finish the girl off, Mason slit her throat with his sword. Now, only four tributes remained.

Heidi Lux, District 9 Female: 5th, Killed by Liege and Mason, Day 14

One more death occurred on Day 14. Cattail had hunted for hours and was just about to rest when he spotted footprints in the dirt underfoot. The 11 boy followed the footprints until he spotted Steema at the top of a nearby hill. Cattail slowly crept toward Steema before slashing his sickle across her back. Steema crumpled to the ground and tried to drag herself away, but she wasn't fast enough. Cattail buried his sickle into her wrist.

At that, Steema jerked suddenly sideways and was sent rolling down the hill. Cattail followed her, but he had to go slowly down the hill to keep from sliding. Steema rolled up and down the terrain like an unraveling mummy. Before long, Cattail had lost her.

Steema came to a stop near a small cluster of trees. She tried to move, but she was too tired. She was also losing lots of blood from her wounds. Her cannon shot pierced the silence of the meadow a few minutes later.

Steema Baldwin, District 5 Female: 4th, Killed by Cattail, Day 14

Day 15 and 16 were deathless as the final three milled about. Liege and Mason split up once more, Mason heading toward his traps and Liege in the opposite direction. Cattail practiced for the finale with his sickle. In the early morning of Day 16, he killed a sheep and made a cloak from its hide. Cattail wasn't from District 11, and nobody knew for sure how he was able to do it, but he got tons of sponsors afterward. Mason and Cattail were the two most beloved tributes of the year, and Liege had been mostly forgotten by the audience. In any other games, Feodore probably should have killed off Liege with a mutt. But Feodore's favorite kind of finale was a career against outlier finale, and he wanted to have a backup career in case something happened to Mason.

The morning of Day 17, Liege caught Feodore's attention. The 1 boy looked as though he was trying to get as far away from the cameras as he could. Whenever he saw a camera, he made a sour face and ran from it. After nearly three hours of searching, Liege collapsed in a patch of grass that he believed had no cameras. He was wrong, of course. Nearly a dozen nearby cameras were trained on him, watching his every move.

Liege grabbed a rock and slammed it into his arm. What on earth was he doing? Liege did this three more times. Did this boy have a death wish? Finally, the realization struck Feodore. Liege was trying to gouge out his tracker like Diamond Griego of the twenty-fifth games.

Feodore's hands flew over the control panel like lightning. In mere seconds, an explosion shook the earth. Liege and everything in a twenty foot radius was blown to smithereens. By the time the dust settled, there was literally no sign of Liege had once existed. Even his cannon shot was drowned out by the boom of the explosion.

Liege Naples, District 1 Male: 3rd, Killed by Explosives, Day 17

The crop of twenty-four tributes was narrowed down to a final two. It was one of the most coveted finales in history up to that point. Mason was the strongest tribute District 2's academy had seen in the last decade, with the exception of Brutus Cordley. The boy had almost the entirety of the masonry district cheering for him. But, Cattail was the true underdog. Everyone had seen how loyal and faithful he was to his sister Sunflower, and there was no doubt that he would make a great victor.

On Day 18, fires started in the north and south. Mason was in the north, and Cattail was in the south, and the two tributes were driven together. The blazing inferno spread over the grass and left a charred wasteland behind it. Finally, the cornucopia came into their sights. They leapt on top of the cornucopia and tried not to inhale too much smoke as the world burnt around them.

Mason was the first to make a move, thrusting his curved sword toward Cattail's neck. The 11 boy blocked the blow with his sickle and spun around before burying his sickle into Mason's calf. Mason hissed as blood poured from the wound. He was so taken aback that Cattail managed to sever two of his fingers in less than five seconds. Mason collapsed, and, with the last ounce of his energy, cast his sword upward. The sword buried itself perfectly into Cattail's heart.

The two tributes fell together on the roof of the cornucopia. The hovercraft descended, ready to collect the victor as soon as one of the tributes died. They both put up a good fight. In the end, Cattail's wound was much more severe than Mason's. At least he was with Sunflower again.

Cattail Orchard, District 11 Male: 2nd, Killed by Mason, Day 18

"Mason Kittridge of District 2, you are the victor of the fifty-seventh Hunger Games!" Feodore sang.

Mason flashed his signature charming smile, but even that was difficult given how little energy he had left. The team of Capitol doctors poured out of the hovercraft to heal Mason and take him away to the fortune and fame that would envelop his life.

Mason Kittridge, District 2 Male: Victor of the Fifty-Seventh Hunger Games, Day 18


AFTERMATH

District 2 welcomed Mason home with wild applause. After two consecutive years of placing second, the masonry district was elated to gain another victor. With him, their count had expanded to a whopping fourteen victors, essentially guaranteeing that the other career districts could never catch up to them. Mason was all in it for the honor and just soaked in the glory until he eventually faded from the public eye.

Mason moved into the Victor's Village of District 2, the fourteenth victor to do so.

His victory tour was rather average, but, of course, District 11 was sour because they were hoping that their Cattail could win.

Mason would live to the age of eighty, dying from appendicitis five months before the one-hundred nineteenth annual Hunger Games. He would marry and have six children, one of whom would go on to compete in a future Hunger Games. He would remain almost completely clean of alcohol and drugs, as he wasn't traumatized by his games by any means.


NEWS

Mason moves into the Victor's Village of District 2, the fourteenth victor to do so.

Mason marries his high-school sweetheart and fiancée, Aelia.

Brutus Cordley has his first son, Brutus Cordley II.

Lyme Mabett marries her fiancée of eight months, a man named Gnaeus.

Ashlyn Breston, the victor of the twenty-third Hunger Games, dies in a house fire. A public funeral is held in her memory.


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)
57HG: Mason Kittridge (#14, District 2)


A/N: Here's Mason, our newest victor. I hope you've enjoyed him; he is just a standard career but just know that those kinds of victors will happen sometimes.

I have a new SYOT! It's called "Broken: The 83rd Hunger Games" and I'm currently accepting submissions. Please consider submitting a tribute. Don't think I will be ignoring 23 Cannons to update that story. I will strive to juggle them both! :D