THE FIFTY NINTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Land Down Under"


INTRODUCTION

After a short but much-needed break, Head Gamemaker Feodore Elliot was back for the task of leading the Hunger Games once more. Much of the Capitol was heavily anticipating his return. The games of the year prior had been rather poorly received by the audience. One critic even described the games as a "senseless and disconnected jumble of events leading to a dreadful anticlimax." For the remainder of Trillium Hawk's life, he would be associated with the failure of the fifty-eighth games, and one could say it ruined his career. But Feodore was back, and he had no shortage of future arenas bouncing around his imagination. The remainder of his career was sure to hold some of the most exciting Hunger Games yet.

The career districts produced what could be called their most curious pack yet. The two District 1 tributes were siblings and had trained beside each other ever since they were old enough to visit the academy. The boy was the youngest career this year at only fifteen, but he really packed a punch in terms of his resilience and had a whole lot of practice with wolverine claws and brass knuckles. The girl was much more conventional, preferring bows to do her killing. She was a lot more graceful than her brother, who was sometimes awkward. District 2's tributes both claimed to be descended from the same Dark Days war hero, but they were so similar in appearance that nobody could tell which one was telling the truth. Even ancestry tests couldn't tell for sure. The boy was named after the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus. He requested that poppies be carved into the hilt of his swords, the symbol of sleep, as if the blade would be the last thing his enemies saw before falling asleep forever. The girl was extremely spontaneous and flexible, a unique quality of tributes from conventional District 2. She earned the highest odds of winning with her mastery of weaponry, particularly with bows and axes. District 4 provided a brother-sister pair just like District 1! They both had very similar names and similar personalities, often finishing each other's sentences and dressing identically. The boy scored higher, showing off his trident skills, while the girl scored a meager nine as she used her looks and charisma to impress the Capitol more than her weaponry talents. The training scores of the pack were remarkable: four tens and two nines.

The outlier group had a couple standouts, though few of them were notable for anything other than their high training scores. Three eights were earned. District 6's Azalea was a true underdog, working every day to support her two younger brothers ever since their parents died in a car crash two years earlier. She was clever enough to get through the puzzles in the training center and also was something to look at. Jaguar from 10 was a master of blades, having often used them to slay cattle in his home district. He was also a fast learner and charismatic enough to earn over the hearts of the Capitolites. Oliver Awesome from District 11 had possibly the most comedic last name of any Hunger Games tribute thus far. Olive was quirky and knew all the right times to crack jokes. Sevens were scored by Modem from 3, Acer and Holly from 7, and Voile from 8. The rest of the tributes earned between six and three in their private sessions. Coincidentally, there were many more sub-fifteen year-old tributes this year, with three twelve-year-olds, two thirteen-year-olds, and two fourteen-year-olds. There were no volunteers besides the six careers. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Tiger Sterne, 15, (10) 6-1 and Tigris Sterne, 16, (10) 6-1

District 2: Morpheus Parsons, 17, (9) 7-1 and Calandra Shaven, 18, (10) 4-1

District 3: Modem Ulrich, 13, (7) 16-1 and Sync Brunk, 15, (4) 39-1

District 4: Tidello Bowman, 17, (10) 5-1 and Tidessa Bowman, 17, (9) 8-1

District 5: Oliver Pepper, 12, (3) 42-1 and Ember Damokosh, 14, (3) 38-1

District 6: Merlin Torrac, 18, (6) 20-1 and Azalea Larke, 17, (8) 10-1

District 7: Acer Will, 16, (7) 15-1 and Holly Pigeon, 16, (7) 14-1

District 8: Voile Mastrodanatello, 14, (7) 17-1 and Lille Sore, 12, (5) 20-1

District 9: Elisha McCaulife, 18, (5) 19-1 and Misha Fairchild, 18, (4) 36-1

District 10: Jaguar Hu, 18, (8) 9-1 and Hattie Quimby, 13, (6) 23-1

District 11: Peach Macklemore, 17, (6) 21-1 and Olive Awesome, 18, (8) 11-1

District 12: Gannon Randolph, 12, (4) 35-1 and Fable Munoz, 15, (5) 26-1

HGBO Bets: 9% on Calandra, 8% on Tiger and Tigris, 7% on Morpheus, Tidello, and Tidessa, 6% on Azalea, Jaguar, and Olive, 5% on Modem, Acer, Holly, and Voile, 4% on Merlin and Hattie, 3% on Lille, Elisha, and Fable, 1% or less on Sync, Oliver, Ember, Misha, Peach, and Gannon.


THE GAMES

This year had another one-hundred percent natural arena, similar to the Irish countryside arena of the fifty-seventh games. It was modeled after the Australian outback in the olden days, before the continent was buried under rising sea levels. The soil underfoot was red and crumbly due to high mineral content, and in some places the ground was just solid rock. Scruffy bushes and boulders were strewn around the arena. One would expect water to be scarce in such a barren landscape, but the stuff was rather plentiful in small watering holes and streams around the arena. Swarms of kangaroo mutts with amazing strength bounced up and down over the sun-baked earth. Koalas also dwelled in clusters of eucalyptus trees near water sources. Dingo mutts also hunted in packs every here and there, ready to gobble up any unsuspecting tributes. Brush fires were a risk, as the dry vegetation was perfect kindling if the sun was ever focused too directly on one point. The tributes would likely need to do much of their physical activity in the cool of the night, although there were short periods of cool when clouds blocked the sun during the day.

Hot sunlight shone down upon the tributes. They were in a dusty square of scrub terrain about a mile in diameter. Beyond that, tall rock formations stood out of the ground and clusters of boulders could provide shelter to the tributes. The hot wind rustling the bushes created an unnerving, almost creepy sound that set the scene for the carnage that was to come. Noting the bareness of the land that surrounded them, all of the tributes decided to head into the bloodbath.

The careers sprinted to the cornucopia and found it stocked chiefly with spears, swords, and bows. Calandra swept up a bow and aimed for the nearest tribute: a boy from an outlying district with a long last name. The boy spotted Calandra nearby and started to zigzag away to avoid her arrows, but it was in vain. A volley of three arrows found homes in his shoulder, ribcage, and hip, and his blood ran through the cracks in the sun-baked earth.

Voile Mastrodanatello, District 8 Male: 24th, Killed by Calandra, Bloodbath

Tiger and Tigris from 1 armed themselves as quickly as possible (Tiger with a pair of lethal brass knuckles and Tigris with a set of wolverine claws). The duo worked together to corner two girls against the wall of the cornucopia. Tiger attacked the older of the two girls, ramming his knuckles into her nose and crunching the cartilage underneath. Meanwhile, Tigris slashed open the abdomen of the other girl. They were dead in minutes despite their best efforts to escape.

Ember Damokosh, District 5 Female: 23rd, Killed by Tiger, Bloodbath

Sync Brunk, District 3 Female: 22nd, Killed by Tigris, Bloodbath

A few seconds earlier, Tidessa had grabbed a spear. She zeroed-in on her first prey, a boy from the poorest district of Panem who was struggling to escape the horn with a few jugs of water among other things. Tidessa poked her spear into one of the boy's water packages, causing it to splash onto the ground. The boy tried to run but slipped on the wet earth. Tidessa poked several holes in his bloody torso with her spear before running off to look for more prey.

Gannon Randolph, District 12 Male: 21st, Killed by Tidessa, Bloodbath

Morpheus found the sword he had requested from the gamemakers hidden in the back of the cornucopia. The hilt was shimmering red and engraved with poppies. The 2 boy thrust the sword into the back of a nearby girl. She let out a disgusting gagging sound. It was the last sound she would ever make.

Hattie Quimby, District 10 Female: 20th, Killed by Morpheus, Bloodbath

After wrenching her arrows out of the dead Voile's body, Calandra fluidly attacked her next prey. A few seconds earlier, one boy had collapsed to the ground, bleeding out slowly from a stab wound administered by Morpheus. Calandra finished the boy off, shooting two arrows into his chest.

Elisa McCaulife, District 9 Male: 19th, Killed by Calandra, Bloodbath

Now that six kills had been made, the duo of Tiger and Tigris split up to cover more ground. Tiger was sprinting in one direction when another boy rammed into him. Tiger and the boy fell to the ground in a heap. The outlier boy struggled to untangle his limbs from the 1 boy as he proceeded to bash in his skull and tear open his flesh with his spiked brass knuckles.

Merlin Torrac, District 6 Male: 18th, Killed by Tiger, Bloodbath

A few seconds into the games, Tidello of 4 had tripped on a rock. He had been sent skidding over the ground and had broken his ankle as well as two bones in his leg. Tidello was unable to move as the bloodbath played out around him. The career boy was helpless as Jaguar of 10 approached him and cut him to ribbons with a sword.

Tidello Bowman, District 4 Male: 17th, Killed by Jaguar, Bloodbath

On the other side of the cornucopia, Tidessa instantly recognized the boy's dying screams as those of her brother. She ran to his aid and saw Jaguar kneeling and stealing his supplies. Tidessa lunged at Jaguar, and he barely managed to sidestep fast enough. The 4 girl was staring at the corpse of her brother, tears streaming down her cheeks. Jaguar stabbed his sword into her back, working the point of the blade through her skeletal structure and out her front.

Tidessa Bowman, District 4 Female: 16th, Killed by Jaguar, Bloodbath

Meanwhile, Morpheus was sword-dueling with the boy from District 11. He wasn't very skilled, and Morpheus managed to disarm him in a few seconds. Now that the coast was clear, he put in his all. Morpheus swung his sword repeatedly into the boy's neck until his head tumbled off of his body and landed on the ground, splashing blood onto his legs.

Peach Macklemore, District 11 Male: 15th, Killed by Morpheus, Bloodbath

Calandra made the final kill. Several minutes earlier, she had fired an arrow into a girl's back and then abandoned her to die. The blow wasn't fatal, though, and the girl was still squirming on the stones trying to dislodge the projectile from her back. Calandra finished the job she had started about half an hour earlier, plunging an arrow into her heart.

Holly Pigeon, District 7 Female: 14th, Killed by Calandra, Bloodbath

The careers quickly set to work putting the cornucopia in order. Tiger and Tigris took a few minutes to nurse their wounds. They were exhausted from the bloodbath and spent the next few hours sitting cross-legged on the hot stone ground sorting rations. Morpheus hunted the lands immediately surrounding the cornucopia and returned about an hour later with nothing. Calandra noticed how much dust was building up on their weapons and supplies. She affixed a box fan to the ceiling of the horn to keep the air circulating. That way, the dust could never settle for long. Once their duties were all finished, they went out to hunt, leaving Tigris behind to guard the cornucopia.

Only nine outliers were left, but this would still be plenty for Feodore to mess with. Modem risked his life collecting several mechanical items in the bloodbath. After settling down by a small watering hole, Modem killed a small mouse and used it as bait in a scorpion trap that he assembled. Oliver was miserable. He was so pure-hearted that he couldn't even bring himself to kill the flies that were swarming around him. He clambered up into a cluster of eucalyptus trees. Koala mutts milled around him, and Oliver had a few laughs at their clumsy movements. Azalea had several weapons from the horn, including a pack of three throwing knives. She set up her camp in the shady area at the base of a rock formation and quickly went out hunting. At nightfall, she returned to her home and vowed to keep up her hunt the next morning. Acer was cautious of the bushes; due to the high heat, he was scared that they would catch fire. Acer stuck to the barest areas of the arena whenever possible, and the Capitol was growing a bit bored of him as he walked around with his axe swinging at his side. Lille and Misha ran into each other around noon but turned away from each other, not yet physically or mentally prepared to do any killing. Young Lille was traumatized and ran as fast as she could until she collapsed with her pack near the edge of the arena. Misha was relatively unfazed but was quickly growing hungry. She set out on a search for food but found nothing. Jaguar was probably the most popular tribute. He was responsible for the deaths of both District 4 tributes. A group of sponsors pooled their money together to send him a pair of sound-cancelling headphones and a fan, which allowed him to sleep in comfort despite the heat of the night. Olive's mentor urged her to go hunting, but she had received a lot of painful cuts and scrapes during the bloodbath and wasn't yet prepared. She settled down in a small cave and applied medicine to her cuts. Fable came across a hollow mound of sticks and straw. She saw it as a good source of shelter and felt around inside to make sure it was empty. She was shocked as a mother kangaroo came leaping out, agitated by her prodding. Fable swerved in the opposite direction and lost the angry kangaroo after about an hour.

Day 2 passed, deathless. The careers made remarkable progress on their hunting trip. Since this was one of the flatter arenas, there were only so many places the outliers could hide. Tiger, Morpheus, and Calandra had stopped in a grove of eucalyptus trees when an arrow grazed Morpeheus' ear and shattered on the ground a ways back. The arrow belonged to Jaguar. The careers chased Jaguar for miles under the hot sun. Jaguar had something at his camp that could help him. He sped to his camp and unlatched the door of the scorpion trap he had been sponsored a few hours prior. The dozen or so deadly black scorpion mutts scuttled out and swarmed around the careers. They were so distracted trying to pick them off that Jaguar was free to escape.

The morning of Day 3, a cannon shot shattered the silence of the arena. For much of the wee morning hours, Misha had been strolling around looking for a reliable water source. Around nine in the morning, she came across a bush of luscious red berries. Misha wolfed down the berries just as the pack of dingoes that the bush belonged to came into sight. As one could imagine, the pack of dogs wasn't very happy to see that the 9 girl was trespassing on their land.

The girl screamed as the dingoes growled behind her. She grabbed her knife and slowly walked backward. "Good doggies?" Misha's voice quivered as she tried to reason with the mutts. "Stay."

But there was a world of different between a vicious dingo mutt and a house dog, and the mutts were on top of her before she had time to run. They sank their teeth into her flesh and hacked open her abdomen and neck with their claws. Once she was like an empty juice box, the wild dogs returned to their berry bush to feast some more.

Misha Fairchild, District 9 Female: 13th, Killed by Dingo Muttations, Day 3

Days 4 and 5 were deathless. It turned out that the boiling heat wasn't the only danger of the arena, and the mutts and vegetation could be vicious as well. On their journey back to the cornucopia, the careers were attacked by a swarm of fierce dingo mutts. One of them bit Calandra in the shoulder and Morpheus in the hip. Tiger, the only one to escape unscathed, finished the dogs off while his allies nursed their wounds. At the horn, Tigris acted as their nurse and helped them on their way to recovery. With his mechanical talents, Modem assembled a rather curious-looking contraption. It generated a powerful electrical current whenever touched by a human on either end. The electrical current would be completed by passing through the prey's body, killing them in minutes if not seconds. Modem set out on a search for a tribute to test out his creation on. Oliver was only able to find small pools of water, all of which he depleted within the first few sips. He did most of his searching at night, and he tried his best to avoid the scorpions. Lille collapsed with exhaustion in a bed of dusty-red flowers after a whole day of running. Lille found some water hiding in the stems and leaves of the blossoms, enough to satisfy her for the time being. Jaguar rested in a small cave and feasted on sponsor foods and the condensation that built up on the walls. Olive was attacked by a swarm of giant tarantulas. She escaped with her life but received a nasty bite on her shoulder that oozed ugly green pus. Fable wandered through the scrub terrain, feverishly searching for water. She felt a raging thirst and couldn't survive much longer without liquid intake. Acer used fibers from the scruffy bushes and a few sponsored ropes to assemble a series of snare traps. They proved efficient and captured at least a dozen small rodents by the end of Day 5. Azalea was hunting when she spotted one of Acer's snares. She followed the trail, curious as to where it would lead.

Mere minutes into Day 6, Azalea got her answer. The trail of snare traps brought her to Acer's camp just as the boy was returning with four dead mice piled in his arms. Acer dropped the mice and sped in the opposite direction. Azalea followed after him and cornered him against a rock formation in less than a minute. He had nowhere to run and could only squeeze his eyes shut as the girl's throwing knives dug into his chest.

Acer Will, District 7 Male: 12th, Killed by Azalea, Day 6

Day 7 came about with two deaths, less than thirty minutes apart. Lille had depleted her water source from the flowers the night before and was prowling over the rocks ever since, in desperate search of water. The hot sun took out its wrath on her, and her life force was drained out of her by dehydration.

Lille Sore, District 8 Female: 11th, Killed by Dehydration, Day 7

Lille's cannon shot served as an alarm clock for many of the tributes. Fable took it as a sign to get up and moving. She had walked less than a mile when three figures came into sight on the horizon: Tiger, Tigris, and Morpheus. Fable fell flat on her stomach, hoping that she could drag herself to safety without being spotted, but the careers had seen her and were racing in her direction.

Morpheus burst out of nowhere and thrust his sword into the palm of Fable's hand. She screamed and got to her feet, but she was so scared that she couldn't see straight. Fable blubbered nonsensically and spun in arbitrary directions, hoping for the best. Tiger and Tigris were at her side in no time. Tiger rammed his lethal brass knuckles into her head, causing a sickening crack as a portion of Fable's skull was blown inward. Finally, Tigris fired two arrows into her chest, ending her life for good.

Fable Munoz, District 12 Female: 10th, Killed by Morpheus, Tiger, and Tigris, Day 7

Days 8, 9, and 10 passed without incident. Much of the Capitol was beginning to grow bored, but Feodore was hoping to draw this empty period out a tiny bit just to make the follow events more exciting. Morpheus, Tiger, and Tigris visited Calandra at the cornucopia and restocked on weapons. The gamemakers sent two strong kangaroos onto them. Since they were surrounded by weapons, it was easy for the careers to kill them. Modem heard the sound of rushing water and found his way to a softly murmuring stream hidden from sight by an overshadowing rock formation. Modem hoped that some other tribute would hear the sound of the water and come to him. He was eager to test out his little electrical contraption. Oliver sustained himself off of water from small pools. Deathly afraid of the careers and mutts, Oliver never stayed in the same place for more than an hour for fear of fading into the background. Azalea and Jaguar ran into each other on Day 10. They were the two strongest outliers, and, instead of killing each other, they allied. Jaguar knew of some large water sources for him and Azalea to hunt near, and they spent the rest of the day on a search for other tributes. Olive's tarantula bite was becoming increasingly vile, spouting pus and blood whenever she moved. A sponsor sent her a bandage to quell the bleeding, but this did little to stop the oncoming infection.

On Day 11, an emaciated and tired Oliver heard the sound of rushing water and followed it to a flowing stream. Modem was hiding behind a nearby boulder, ready to test out his electrical trap. The second that Oliver was in close range, Modem hurled the metal ball at the boy with all of the force he could muster. Oliver instinctively caught the metal sphere. He began screaming as the powerful electric current ran through his brain. It was a rather nasty sight to see the boy contorting and shaking, and his brain was completely fried in a few minutes.

Oliver Pepper, District 5 Male: 9th, Killed by Modem, Day 11

That left the final eight: Tiger Sterne and Tigris Sterne from District 1, Morpheus Parsons and Calandra Shaven from District 2, Modem Ulrich from District 3, Azalea Larke from District 6, Jaguar Hu from District 10, and Olive Awesome from District 11.

At daybreak on Day 12, Olive rested in a dusty square laden with scruffy bushes and boulders. A wild dingo mutt attacked her, and Olive expertly slayed it with her knife. Wanted to roast the meat to eat later, she prepared to start a fire. Olive used a shard of glass from a broken package as a means to focus the sun's rays onto a square of brush that she assembled. In seconds, the fuel was smoldering, and, before she knew it, Olive had a roaring fire.

But the fire was getting out of hand. Olive was preparing a spit to roast the meat when a nearby bush caught on fire. She let out a yelp of shock and beat out the flames with her foot. By the time it was extinguished, three other bushes had caught on fire! The dry vegetation was perfect fuel for the hungry inferno, and the fire was spreading faster than she could put it out. Out of desperation, Olive poured her entire water supply onto the fire to kill it, but it was hopeless.

Options exhausted, Olive had no choice but to run to flee. But as she began running, the smoke filled her lungs. She coughed and screamed for fresh air. Olive tried to stagger to safety, but her eyes were watering so much that she couldn't see. She died from smoke inhalation in a few minutes, the first to die as the brush fire tore over the arena. A not-so-awesome death, one could say.

Olive Awesome, District 11 Female: 8th, Killed by Smoke Inhalation, Day 12

Most of the nearby tributes saw the fire coming and had time to run away. Modem dunked himself in the river so he wouldn't be as flammable and tore in the opposite direction of the flames. Azalea and Jaguar put their shirts over their faces to keep from breathing in the smoke and ran to high ground, where the fire would be less likely to reach them.

Morpheus was supposed to be guarding the cornucopia, but he had fallen asleep a few hours into his shift the night before. By the time the 2 boy screamed to the others that a brush fire was coming, it was too late. The sleeping careers scrambled to their feet but had nowhere to run. The bushes and grasses surrounding the horn were engulfed in crackling fire.

Tiger sped into the horn and grabbed a blanket. He doused it in as much water as he could find. Placing it over him like a cloak, he picked a direction and ran to safety. Calandra got down on her hands and knees and scuttled after him.

Morpheus and Tigris clawed their hands through the smoke. They found each other and grabbed onto one another, hobbling in one direction together. But with the loss of clear sight, they didn't travel far before disaster struck. Tigris stepped into a flaming bush and screamed as the fire licked her feet and legs. She collapsed to the ground, pulling Morpheus down with her. Their clothes caught on fire three seconds later, and it was all over from there.

Tigris Sterne, District 1 Female: 7th, Killed by Fire, Day 12

Morpheus Parsons, District 2 Male: 6th, Killed by Fire, Day 12

Only one more life was to be taken that day. Azalea and Jaguar were fast runners, but they couldn't run from the fire forever. Before long, they came to a dead end. Fire closed in on all sides of them. Jaguar pointed toward a group of boulders and suggested they climb on top of them. The fire couldn't reach them there, but the lethal smoke certainly could. Azalea took in a whiff of the smoke. She was so shocked that she lost her footing and tumbled sideways into the brush fire. Jaguar watched in earnest as her corpse was burnt to a crisp. A later victor would say that Azalea's death was the most traumatizing they viewed as a child watching the Hunger Games.

Azalea Larke, District 6 Female: 5th, Killed by Fire, Day 12

Dark clouds began rolling in, and, in minutes, fat raindrops were pouring down and hydrating the dry, cracked earth. Once the fire was extinguished, the tributes rushed to fill whatever container they had with the clean, cool water. Tiger and Calandra, the two surviving careers, tried to find each other but were unable. Tiger headed toward the more uneven areas of terrain in search of rivers, whereas Calandra moved south toward the eucalyptus trees where there would be more food. Virtually all of Modem's supplies were destroyed in the disaster, and all he had was a bowl, a knife, and a sickle. It wasn't much, but if he played his cards right he might still be able to pull out the win. Jaguar sustained a rather nasty burn to his calf. Using some sponsor medicines, he disinfected the wound. Jaguar rested in a dark, cool cave and waited for time to do its healing.

Day 13 came about with a singular peak of excitement. Tiger was milling about when he spotted a figure about a quarter mile away. He raced after the figure and found himself grasping onto Modem of 3.

"Please don't kill me!" Modem begged, thrashing in the 1 boy's grasp.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. I want to make a deal," Tiger said.

Modem couldn't believe his ears. "How?"

And Tiger explained his plan. He wanted to venture to the cornucopia and dig up the mines surrounding the tribute pedestals. If Modem was able to successfully reactivate them, Tiger would let him go free. If he tried to make a run for it, the career boy would kill him.

Tiger and Modem drilled to the horn together. Modem quickly grabbed a shovel and started digging. Before long, his shovel clanged against one of the mines. Tiger watched carefully as he pried it out of the earth. Once Modem had dug up four mines, he began reactivating them. It was tough work, but Modem was from District 3 and adrenaline was helping him along.

"That's that," Modem said, sweating bullets. "If you need to touch them, touch them on the edges so they don't explode."

Tiger grabbed onto Modem's collar.

"It's time for me to go now," Modem said, voice shaking.

"You're not going anywhere," Tiger spat.

"But you promised…"

"There's no such things as promises in the games."

Tiger snatched one of the mines off of the table and hurled it at the 3 boy. He scuttled out of the way just as the mine beeped and then exploded. The shockwave sent Modem flying, and he fell to the ground in a heap. His organs starting failing him one by one. How ironic. Being killed by the weapons that he had activated himself.

Modem Ulrich, District 3 Male: 4th, Killed by Tiger, Day 13

Days 14 and 15 passed deathless. Tiger took one of the explosives with him every time he went hunting. They were virtually fool-proof weapons. All Tiger had to do was get far enough away from the tribute and then toss it at them. Boom! They were dead. Calandra heard the explosion that killed Modem and figured that the gamemakers were creating them. She ran for cover and cowered down for hours until her mentor sent her a note that there wasn't any danger. Calandra felt rather stupid and stayed away from the cameras for the next few hours. Jaguar had a skirmish with Calandra on Day 14. A long chase ensued, but Jaguar eventually managed to escape by ducking into a small cave.

On Day 16, Calandra set out on a quest to find and kill Tiger. She didn't want to face another career in the finale. If she bumped off Tiger, her only competitor would be the boy from District 10, the weakest of the districts. Calandra reached the horn around three in the afternoon and found Tiger kneeling down and taking inventory of a few crates and packs.

Tiger leapt to his feet and ran toward his selection of mines, of which he had three. He hurled one of the disk-shaped explosives at Calandra, and she didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. In a column of dust and ash, Calandra was blown to smithereens. Now, only two tributes were left.

Calandra Shaven, District 2 Female: 3rd, Killed by Tiger, Day 16

On Day 17, Feodore used bloodthirsty dingo mutts to lure the finalists together. Tiger snatched up one of his mines and stuffed his pack with some napalm and matches. A sponsor sent Jaguar a sleek and sharp metal sword to use in the finale. Before long, the two tributes spotted each other over the horizon.

Tiger chased Jaguar to a crystal-clear lake with rolling waves. The 1 boy hurled his jar of napalm at Jaguar, dousing him in the flammable jelly-like substance. He pulled out a match. Jaguar, who figured that Tiger was about to set him on fire, dove into the lake and swam as far away as possible.

Tiger's plan was falling perfectly into place. He hurled the mine onto the water. The instant it made contact with the bottom of the lake, it exploded, sending a shockwave through the water that killed Jaguar instantly. A quick way to go at least.

Jaguar Hu, District 10 Male: 2nd, Killed by Tiger, Day 17

"Tiger Sterne of District 1, you are the victor of the fifty-ninth annual Hunger Games!" Feodore yelled.

Tiger just smiled and let the waves crash over his feet, waiting for the hovercraft to retrieve him.

Tiger Sterne, District 1 Male: Victor of the Fifty-Ninth Hunger Games, Day 17


AFTERMATH

Tiger received a warm welcome when he returned home to District 1. The luxury district had long since given up hope of overtaking District 2 in terms of victor count, but Tiger was a great addition to their growing lineup. He certainly stirred up controversy as well. Utilizing the land mines as weapons wasn't the least rebellious thing a Hunger Games tribute had ever done, but since Tiger was so beloved, nothing could be done. He also went on to ask the families of the fallen tributes to forgive him. This ruffled feathers in the Capitol, but he got off lightly with no punishment luckily.

Tiger moved into the Victor's Village of District 1, the eighth victor to do so.

His victory tour was a work of art, as he turned out to be a great public speaker and actor. District 10 was furious at him for killing Jaguar, whom many hoped could make their second victor.

Tiger would live to the age of the ninety-nine, dying from congestive heart failure six months after the one-hundred forty-third annual Hunger Games. Five years after his victory, Tiger came out as homosexual, and he became a public speaker for LGBT rights in the districts. He would marry and have twin sons via a surrogate mother. Tiger was a nice enough person but would ultimately be overshadowed by some of the flashier and sexier District 1 victors.


NEWS

Tiger moves into the Victor's Village of District 1 as their eighth victor.

Mags Flanagan adopts her seventh child, a young girl named Rosa.

Brutus Cordley retires from his position as head of District 2's academy to focus on raising his children.

Lyme Mabett marries her fiancée Angela Alan.

Lily Eckel gives birth to her first child, a healthy baby girl named Hyacinth.


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)
58HG: Margaret Cartmill (#1, District 10)
59HG: Tiger Sterne (#8, District 1)


A/N: It turns out the District 3 Male from Katniss' games didn't get the idea of digging up the mines from nowhere...

I hope you've enjoyed Tiger. I certainly did. This is the games Katniss mentions in the first book as taking place in a scrub terrain, and I thought modeling it after the Australian outback gave it a perfect fit as one of Feodore's games.

As the 74th games draws nearer, the next few decades will be largely dominated by canon victors. In only one and a half decades, we'll be having Cecelia, Enobaria, Gloss, Cashmere, Finnick, Augustus, Annie, and Johanna! Wowza!