THE SIXTY SEVENTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Happy Campers"


INTRODUCTION

Head Gamemaker Falcon Thorne knew that he had a lot to beat after the Capitol audience applauded his masterpiece of the year prior heartily. The crystal palace arena had been thrilling and mysterious without being confusing nor overdone, and it was one of the most exciting games yet in many opinions. Yet it was the job of every gamemaker to keep improving each year, and Falcon sat down with his team to think up a grand new arena for the sixty-seventh games. Meanwhile, President Snow ruled the roost for another year, and he faced the next of many hurdles throughout his presidency. While his political supporters in the Capitol were still strong, their numbers were beginning to crumble as some members began mysteriously disappearing. Talk of rebellion was rising in the districts once more for the first time in ages. A few strong droves of peacekeepers managed to quiet most of the riots, but it was ultimately Falcon's responsibility to lead a terrifying Hunger Games that would pacify the districts for another year.

The career pack was nothing special. All six slots were filled by well-trained volunteers, and none of them scored lower than a nine. District 1 provided a classically beautiful duo. The boy really stole the show this year. He was a popular model who often starred in television commercials, and he was lanky and stunningly handsome. The 1 boy was also charismatic, charming, and always ready to party. He could make anyone laugh, and one could say he was a wild spirit at heart. The female was a shorter and pudgier girl, but she was extremely quick and great at staying unnoticed. District 2 offered forth the strongest pair. The boy was hailed as the descendant of a famous Dark Days war hero, and he had the dark hair and angled face of a fierce warrior. The Capitol loved him for his all-in-it-for-the-honor career attitude, though he was humble enough to keep from coming off as cocky. He would be dangerous. The girl had a sort of exotic beauty to her, and she could charm any audience. Her plan to come off as sexy during her interview fell flat in the first few seconds, so she resorted to joke-telling to win over sponsors. District 4's duo was the weakest, as was the norm. The boy was born with six fingers on his left hand and only four on his right, making him one to remember. He was very cunning and ambitious, and President Snow was even said to have taken a liking to him before the games began. The female was a more tall and slender girl who was very pretty, and she was fiercely loyal to her district and to the Capitol. A true career tribute if there ever was one. Both District 4 tributes were steadfast classics who liked tridents, though they would have to make adjustments because no tridents would be supplied in the campground arena. The training scores of the pack weren't out of the ordinary: three tens and three nines.

This year's crop of outliers was a weird one. There were a lot of quirks and abnormalities, and the statistics were anything but ordinary. None of the outliers scored higher than a seven, but there was a plethora of sevens and sixes. Sevens were earned by Fiberre from 3, Engineer and Aprila from 5, Tread from 7, and Quentin from 9. Tread of 7 was second cousins with Victor Blight Holzer. Hunger Games enthusiasts would argue for decades whether he counted as a legacy victor given how distant his relationship was with Blight, but he would mostly be counted as a legacy in fact files about the games. Tread was shier than most but was a stellar user of axes, and he was also one of the few openly gay tributes. Another standout came from District 3—the female, an older girl named Fiberre, was the daughter of an extremely wealthy Capitol business tycoon. Despite Fiberre's carefree upbringing, she still managed a seven. Sponsor gifts paid for by her father were sure to rain down upon her in the arena. Additionally, there were no tributes younger than fourteen in the games. It was the first games in history without any twelve- or thirteen-year-olds. Finally, these games had a much higher proportion of volunteers than usual. In fact, four of the outliers were volunteers! Engineer from 5 had been an orphan since age two and had spent the last fifteen years jumping between orphanages. After an intense beating from a peacekeeper after failing to meet labor quotas, Engineer volunteered believing his life had little worth left. Yewwa from 7 volunteered in place of her twelve-year-old sister. Harry from 10 had been diagnosed with terminal cancer a week before the start of the games; he volunteered to save a life knowing that he would be dead soon anyway. The final volunteer was a sad one. Sue from 10 had been dating a nice boy for four years. On her seventeenth birthday, her boyfriend bought her a stuffed bear. Sue was furious; she wanted a ring, and she threw the bear into a nearby field in anger. When her boyfriend walked into the field to retrieve the bear, he was run over by a tractor and killed. Sue volunteered as a form of suicide after learning that the stuffed animal had a ring inside it. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Augustus Braun, 18, (10) 3-1 and Silk Edgerton, 16, (9) 7-1

District 2: Isolt Joliffe, 17, (10) 4-1 and Petra Wodtke, 17, (10) 4-1

District 3: Moniter Rojas, 14, (4) 47-1 and Fiberre Monson, 18, (7) 16-1

District 4: Fjord Lee, 18, (9) 6-1 and Duna Rossi-Wilcox, 18, (9) 7-1

District 5: Engineer Matern, 17, (7) 14-1 and Aprila Simonite, 18, (7) -1

District 6: Rivet Nelson, 18, (5) 20-1 and Fuse Evangeline, 18, (4) 46-1

District 7: Tread Waite, 17, (7) 14-1 and Yewwa Branch, 16, (6) 20-1

District 8: Crochet Valley, 14, (5) 27-1 and Venice Bardwell, 17, (4) 44-1

District 9: Quentin Clifford, 16, (7) 17-1 and Lisa Mchugh, 16, (5) 24-1

District 10: Harry Davidson, 18, (4) 40-1 and Sue Eskridge, 17, (6) 19-1

District 11: Tiller Fraise, 17, (5) 24-1 and Leguma Titchen, 14, (4) 52-1

District 12: Todd Miracle, 15, (4) 39-1 and Libby Ward, 15, (5) 22-1

HGBO Bets: 12% on Augustus, 9% on Isolt and Petra, 8% on Fjord, 8% on Silk and Duna, 6% on Fiberre, Engineer, Aprila, Tread, and Quentin, 3% on Yewwa and Sue, 2% on Rivet, Crochet, Lisa, Tiller, and Libby, 1% or less on Moniter, Fuse, Venice, Harry, Leguma, and Todd.


THE GAMES

The arena this year was a simple one. After a very elaborately crafted arena of the sixty-sixth, Falcon was shooting for something that would draw the attention more toward the action and bloodshed. The arena was an unassuming campground. The cornucopia sat in the lobby of the visitors' center, and it was made of a bright silvery metal that almost hurt to look at directly for more than a few seconds. The supplies were kept in duffel bags and burlap sacks, and the weapons were mostly brute force weapons like awls and blades like knives. A thick forest spread outward from the cornucopia, running even to the edges of the arena. The trees were very tall and completely parallel, making them creepy to say the least, especially on cold, misty mornings. Five wide gravel paths wound through the woods. One of the paths led to tent campsites. While the tents didn't have air conditioning, they supplied sleeping bags and many toiletries and some weapons. The second path led to trailers; they were very warm, cozy, and had electricity and working toilets. These would be the ideal hiding spots, but also the first places the career tributes would search for prey. The third path led to crudely-built wooden cabins. They had beds inside, but were still very cold and didn't provide many materials. The fourth path led to empty sites. The fifth and final path just grew thinner and fainter until it disappeared. Tracker Jackers were absolutely everywhere; they flew in swarms through the trees and over the gravel. If a tribute was caught off-guard by a particularly large swarm, they were in big trouble. Water was plentiful in small lakes throughout the forest. Food was of abundance if one knew how to find it, mostly in the forms of edible plants and fruit from the trees.

The twenty-four tributes of varying genders, ages, and skin tones found themselves in the lobby of the visitors' center. Several of them peered out of the windows and open doors, and they were able to get at least some idea of what the arena was like before the games began. Others had no idea what lay outside of the small building, and they would have to escape the bloodbath with their lives to find out. The smell of pine smoke and tree sap was consistent, though, so they all had the idea that the arena involved lots of trees.

When the gong rang, two tributes (Aprila of 5 and Tiller of 11) avoided the bloodbath. The rest of the tributes, unsure of what lay around them, decided that heading into the fray was their best bet.

Augustus lead the charge this year. He was the fastest tribute by a wide margin, and he found himself a weapon before any of the other careers, a spear. Augustus twirled his spear excitedly in hand as he scanned over the droves of outliers. He sprinted toward a smaller boy who was crouched on the tiled floor of the visitors' center, tearing open a pack containing beef strips. The boy swiveled around just as the tip of Augustus' spear entered his neck. He fell onto the pack, staining its contents with his blood, and Augustus quickly left to search for more prey.

Engineer Matern, District 5 Male: 24th, Killed by Augustus, Bloodbath

Fjord, another fast runner, picked up a long awl that was leaning against the cornucopia. In one fluid motion, he grabbed a nearby outlier boy, threw him to the ground, and drove the awl into his forehead. The boy screamed as Fjord cast the metal tip of the weapon farther and farther into his flesh. A stab to the heart was enough to kill him once he was unconscious.

Moniter Rojas, District 3 Male: 23rd, Killed by Fjord, Bloodbath

Isolt and Petra, the duo from 2, ganged up on a weaker girl. They each had axes, and the girl screamed as the blades of the weapons glinted in the electric lights overhead. She held out her arm to shield her face. Isolt's axe buried itself into her wrist, and her entire hand was cut off. The girl fell backward, cradling the stump of her arm, and Petra crunched her axe into her skull to polish her off.

Leguma Titchen, District 11 Female: 22nd, Killed by Isolt and Petra, Bloodbath

After tugging his spear out of Engineer's neck, Augustus fluidly attacked his next victim. About twenty feet away, two district partners were struggling to lift a massive sledgehammer off of the ground. The two partners screamed as Augustus barreled toward them, and they dropped the weapon onto the boy's foot. With the weight holding him down, he was helpless as Augustus skewered his spear through his stomach. As he died, the girl fled into the forest.

Todd Miracle, District 12 Male: 21st, Killed by Augustus, Bloodbath

Duna had run all of the way into the cornucopia, but it was worth it. She now held two wicked-looking hunting knives the length of her arms, and she was eager to test them on her first victim. A nearby outlier screamed as Duna's two knives dug into her chest, and she staggered to the ground, coughing up blood.

Fuse Evangeline, District 6 Female: 20th, Killed by Duna, Bloodbath

Fjord zeroed-in on his next victim. One girl had collapsed inside of the cornucopia, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she cradled herself, having a panic attack as she was unable to handle the stress and pressure of the games. She let out a mewl of pain as Fjord drove his awl into her stomach, and she died swiftly after her lungs began filling with blood.

Venice Bardwell, District 8 Female: 19th, Killed by Fjord, Bloodbath

Isolt and Petra cornered a sobbing girl against the wall of the visitors' center. She begged for them to go away, but they didn't listen. Isolt and Petra grew closer and closer like a pack of hyenas. At once, they both pounced. Isolt's axe found a home in her chest, and she fell to her knees as Petra chopped off her left arm with one fluid swipe of her weapon.

Lisa Mchugh, District 9 Female: 18th, Killed by Isolt and Petra, Bloodbath

Silk made her first kill. She'd been stalking a young boy around the cornucopia for several minutes, and it was only when the boy fell to his knees to grab a pack that Silk went in for the kill. The boy cried out as Silk's knives dug into his chest. He fell at the feet of another career, Duna, who finished him off with her two hunting knives.

Crochet Valley, District 8 Male: 17th, Killed by Silk and Duna, Bloodbath

Augustus finished off the bloodbath. With a single, strong thrusting motion of his spear, he dispatched the nearest boy. The boy crumpled immediately, and Augustus grinned as gore flew through the air. The boy's writhing form was easily stilled with a few more pokes of the 1 boy's spear, and he was completely dead in less than a minute.

Rivet Nelson, District 6 Male: 16th, Killed by Augustus, Bloodbath

With the bloodbath at its conclusion, the careers took hold of the cornucopia. Their pack was completely intact, unlike some other years. Isolt and Petra, the amicable duo from 2, sat in the back of the cornucopia organizing supplies. It would have been dark, but Silk had affixed a flashlight to the ceiling which illuminated the entire interior of the cornucopia. Fjord and Duna ran off together to search the visitors' center for useful supplies. They returned ten minutes later with several bags of chips and a thermos of water that they'd found in one of the desks. Meanwhile, Augustus hunted the lands immediately around the cornucopia. He noticed that the arena was shaped like a spider, with five paths shooting out from the central horn, and he noted this in his mind as he returned to the horn to commence the official hunt.

The outliers spread every which way, some of them heading down the marked paths and some delving straight into the uncharted woods. Fiberre had an awl from the horn. She ran into a thick area of the wood and killed several rabbits expertly; a few impressed sponsors sent her salt to preserve their meat. Aprila alternated between walking and jogging down one of the paths for the entirety of the first day, and she was pleasantly surprised as the first row of tents came into view. The girl raided several of the tents and piled their supplies into one, which she slept in. Tread couldn't believe his luck; he'd managed two axes from the cornucopia, as well as a belt of knives and several slabs of nutritious meat. Venturing down one of the paths brought Tread to an empty site, where he buried himself under a thick layer of cool leaves for the night after sipping water from a nearby lake. Yewwa was one of the hardiest tributes 7 had seen in ages, and that was saying something. Sweat dripped down her face, but she didn't whisper a word of complaint as she trekked through the woods. At nightfall, she collapsed, smeared with dirt and sweat, in a clearing after finding her only pack filled with bread rolls and rope. Quentin's only possession was a jar of green liquid: deadly poison. Luckily for him, he found the area where the warm and well-lit trailers were; he crashed in a large RV, munching on snacks and browsing the channels on television. He always kept the jar of poison in sight for fear of losing it. Harry, the boy who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, shoved all of his supplies into his backpack and ran straight through the woods, having no objective but to place as much distance between himself and the cornucopia. Harry collapsed with exhaustion near a sweet-smelling lake around noon, where he made camp. Sue had a collection of rather useless gadgets: a slinky, a yo-yo, and a container of putty. The girl was extremely disappointed that she hadn't managed to grab anything more useful, but she kept onto everything in case she needed it. Sue rested in one of the tents, and she stuffed one sleeping bag inside of another for extra warmth. Tiller managed to kill a large chipmunk with his bare hands, and an impressed sponsor promptly sent him a shovel. He dug himself a little hole at nightfall, and he dropped inside before covering himself with a layer of leaves. Libby made water her number one priority, as the only thing she had from the horn was an empty thermos. After a few hours of searching, she found a small lake, which she made a stick and branch shelter beside. As long as the girl regularly returned to the lake, water would not be a problem for her. There was relative peace in the arena as day turned into night.

At two o'clock in the morning, Duna woke her allies with a start. It was about halfway through her shift when she saw the two eyes staring at her from the dark, glowing like cats'. Duna reached for her two hunting knives while the other careers slowly grabbed their weapons. Only a few of them actually saw the eyes of the creature, Silk and Isolt among them. Augustus and Petra didn't know what they were up against, but they didn't think Duna was joking about the threat and they got into their ranks.

They didn't have time to breathe. Roaring, the enormous bear mutt burst out of the darkness, attacking Duna. She staggered backward into the nonexistent safety of the careers' camp, but the bear pursued her. At one point, Petra managed to lop off part of the bear's snout. It swiped its talons through the air, and they raked across Petra's chest. Petra fell backward into Isolt's arms, crying as blood spouted from the wound. Augustus tried to draw the bear away from Duna, but it was a futile endeavor. The bear mutt dug its claws into Duna's abdomen and tore open her skin, ripping off strips of bloody flesh. It was a rather nasty sight, and the careers struggled to put it out of their minds as they continued their attempt to off the rogue bear mutt.

Duna Rossi-Wilcox, District 4 Female: 15th, Killed by Bear Muttation, Day 2

The large bear targeted Augustus after Duna's cannon shot sounded. He was the closest career, and the largest one who would make the tastiest snack. Augustus danced out of the way before poking his spear into its flesh. The beast's skin was punctured by a good three or four inches; it stood up on its hind legs, roaring, and unleashed its wrath on the first career it came across: Isolt. Petra screamed as Isolt was lifted into the air, struggling in the strong sandwich of its claws. Isolt was toast. After his cannon shot, the bear slid back into the shadows, its thirst for blood satisfied for the time being.

Isolt Joliffe, District 2 Male: 14th, Killed by Bear Muttation, Day 2

In the morning, the careers were feeling very disheartened. Their once-mighty alliance had been cut down to a mere four members. They were all trying to clean up the ransacked camp. Silk was running to and fro shoving the torn stuffing back into the sleeping bags, trying to take her mind off of Duna and Isolt's gory deaths. Meanwhile, Augustus was caring for Petra. He'd gotten a bit of disinfectant liquid from his sponsors; Petra hissed as Augustus applied the medicine but it ultimately helped her on the way to good health.

They returned to the visitors' center later that day, where they told Fjord everything that had happened. In the time they were gone, Fjord had organized the supplies into six categories, based on which career he thought would be most likely to need them. After hearing the news, Fjord had to bunch everything together into four groups. Their spirits were at an all-time low. Augustus hated seeing everyone so dreary, but he had another trick up his sleeve.

Augustus sprinted into one of the rooms of the visitors' center, a small kitchen, and found a few bottles of whiskey. He ran back to the cornucopia and lifted the bottle into the air, dumping it all into his mouth in one gulp.

"What was that, twenty seconds?" Fjord said. "I can do eighteen!"

"Sixteen."

"Fourteen."

"I'll challenge."

And so the party began. Petra found a CD in one of the back rooms, and she loaded it into the CD player. Cheered on by the festive music, the careers clapped and stomped as Fjord and Augustus raced to down the whiskey in the fastest time possible. Meanwhile, Petra was teaching Silk how to square-dance, an old District 2 tradition, and Augustus broke the ice by stacking the paper cups into the highest towers he could. Silk broke away from the square-dancing ordeal to help him out, and their tower almost reached the ceiling before it fell, landing right on top of Fjord, who laughed and said he was glad it was only paper. Afterward, Fjord started showing Augustus how he did various hand gestures with a six-fingered hand. Their party lasted until nightfall, when they were too tired to celebrate any longer. They were asleep the second their heads hit their pillows, and they didn't even think to set up shifts.

The next day, Day 3, Quentin finally decided to put his poison to use. He'd been contemplating whether his morals allowed him to use it on another tribute, and he eventually decided that nothing was off the table as long as it wouldn't make the gamemakers or President Snow angry. Quentin grabbed the jar of green liquid and set out into the woods.

About ten minutes later, he arrived at the camp of another tribute: Harry from 10. Harry was away, searching for food, and he had left his thermos of water completely unguarded. Working as quickly as possible, Quentin unscrewed the cap of the thermos. He poured about a third of the contents of the poison jar into the thermos. Quentin screwed the cap back on and shook the thermos heavily before ducking behind a large rock, waiting for Harry to come back.

Harry returned about half an hour later. He'd been attacked by a swarm of Tracker Jackers, and it'd taken him ages to make them go away. Harry knelt beside the thermos of water and splashed the cool liquid over his face and into his mouth. Screaming, gasping, and shaking, Harry fell slowly forward as the highly acidic solution ate away at his face and throat, ultimately killing him in less than twenty seconds. Quentin ran out of the shadows and pilfered him of his supplies before fleeing.

Harry Davidson, District 10 Male: 13th, Killed by Quentin, Day 3

The rest of Day 3 was deathless. The careers were at the horn sleeping off their hangovers, so the outliers were free to move around without worrying about the careers. They didn't know this, of course, but it gave many Capitolites peace-of-mind that their favorite outlier tributes were safe for the time being.

Tiller found his way to one of the log cabins. It was very cold and drafty inside, but there were also plenty of blankets and several snacks in the cupboard. He never let his shovel out of his sight. Aprila finally left the tent she was hiding in to search for water. Unsurprisingly, there was a medium-sized lake less than a mile away; she filled a sponsored water canteen with the cool liquid before returning to her tent.

On Day 4, Falcon sent three large swarms of Tracker Jackers into the arena. Three tributes would be attacked, but only one would be killed. Time would tell which of the three tributes would fall victim to the vicious wasp mutts.

Yewwa awoke to the faint whining of the mutts' beating wings. She rolled out of the ditch she was sleeping in, and her heart leapt into her throat. The swarm was descending onto her, and several had already landed on her skin. Yewwa grabbed her rope, her only possession other than half a loaf of bread, and prepared to fend off the wasps. She held both ends of the rope in the same hand, creating a loop reminiscent of a lasso. Yewwa swung the rope, beating away a few of the Tracker Jackers. About a fifth of the swarm took the hint that the 7 girl was not to be messed with and flew away. Two of the wasps landed on her cheeks and stung her. She was temporarily blinded from the poison; she hadn't taken enough to give her hallucinations, but it was enough to send her through a world of hurt. She fell onto the dirt after finally fending away the rabid wasps, exhausted from the encounter.

Several miles away, Sue awoke to a nasty surprise. The night prior, Sue had left the entry flap of her tent open to let the breezes in and keep the inside from getting too hot. Sue screamed and scrambled to the back of the tent as the swarm began trickling in through the entry flap. In no time, they had reached her. The exit was hopeless, as it was blocked by the swarm. She grabbed her only blade-like weapon, her slinky, and began cutting her way out of the tent.

Meanwhile, Libby was struggling to hold her breath as long as possible. Having chosen to make camp beside a lake, she was able to simply jump into the water and avoid the Tracker Jackers. But she couldn't hold her breath forever, and she eventually had to come up for air. She took a tiny breath, and she barely escaped the stingers of the wasps before falling beneath the water line once more. She didn't know how long she could keep on like this, but she wasn't going to give up.

On the other side of the arena, Sue was making significant progress cutting her way out of the tent. Unfortunately, she just wasn't fast enough. By the time she'd cut a slit large enough to fit through, wasps had landed on her arms and bare legs. She struggled to swat them away as she forced herself out of the slit. She was overwhelmed in seconds. At once, their spiked stingers dug into her flesh. Sue fell back into the tent, laughing softly, staring all around. The tent was upside-down, no—all of the colors were inverted and polka-dots were swaying here are there. The Tracker Jackers were all wearing funny hats and turning into people she knew, an invisible hand was slamming her against the walls of the tent: needless to say, she was dead in less than an hour, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen in her final moments.

Sue Eskridge, District 10 Female: 12th, Killed by Tracker Jackers, Day 4

Days 5 and 6 were both deathless. The careers did a lot of hunting over the two-day period, but they didn't find any prey. Their pitfall was that they had chosen to return to the cornucopia at the end of the every day, meaning that they had a lot more moving to do than if they had moved their camp around. Augustus, the charismatic leader of the pack, was always looking to raise the spirits of the others, whether by telling jokes or starting games whenever the allies were dreary. He was at the front of their ranks, and his spear would be able to frighten most any tribute. Petra quickly got over Isolt's death, and she walked just behind with Fjord. The two tributes actually made good friends, and they did most things together whenever they had a choice. Silk was in the back, the shy and small District 1 girl that she was. Despite her meager appearance, she was very shrewd, and she managed to embezzle lots of extra food while she was splitting the supplies up at each meal. The pack was functioning much better with four members than with six; while none of them said it out loud, they were secretly thankful for the deaths of Isolt and Duna at the hands of the bear.

Meanwhile, the outliers weren't doing a whole lot. Fiberre was being piled with sponsor gifts, many of which she had no use for. Her rich father's cash had sent her several sleeping bags, a small machine to heat her tent, a pair of sound-cancelling headphones, a few books to keep her occupied, and so much more. Fiberre felt a little guilty having all of these luxuries while the other tributes could have been starving, but she wasn't complaining. Aprila jumped between the tents, raiding each one of its supplies before moving onto the next. In this way, she had a virtually inexhaustible supply of food, though this supply would disappear completely if Aprila wandered too far away and couldn't find her way back to the tents. Tread hunted with a sponsored axe, but he wasn't hunting for tributes. His goal was to purge the nearby lands of mutts so that he could sleep more peacefully. On Day 6, the boy managed to kill a few deer, and he felt more comfortable in his shelter by the lake even though the deer mutts were harmless anyway. After her masterful defeat of the Tracker Jackers, Yewwa was showered with sponsor gifts. The greatest of these was an axe, the weapon of her district, and she practiced with it as she rested in a small cave. Quentin's killing of Harry had gotten him a few loaves of District 7 bread. If he was smart, he would have carefully rationed the bread over the next few days, but Quentin was so nervous that he ate nearly half of it by sunset. Now that he'd made a kill, the Capitol would be expecting him to make more, and he wasn't sure if he was up to that caliber.

Tiller and Libby were both hunting for food when they spotted each other about a hundred yards off. Instead of killing or ignoring each other, they allied. The 11 girl and the 12 boy quickly got to work. Libby packed up her home by the lake and filled her thermoses with as much water as they could hold before walking back to Tiller's log cabin alongside him. Both tributes were glad that they weren't completely alone anymore, and the Capitol was happy that there was an outlier alliance to stir the pot a little.

On Day 7, the career pack struck lucky. After five days without making a single kill, their spirits were so low that even Augustus had a hard time staying cheerful. The portion of the group that was hunting (Augustus, Silk, and Fjord) had settled down for their noon meal when they heard the crunching of leaves nearby. A few minutes earlier, Aprila had seen the careers coming, and she barely had time to duck behind a nearby tree before they settled down. At that point, the girl was staying as still as a stone behind the trunk, praying that the careers wouldn't walk around the tree. If they did and they saw her, she would be helpless.

Aprila swore as a leaf crunched under her foot. Before she could lift a finger, the careers were on top of her. Aprila screamed in terror, struggling to drag herself away, but she wasn't fast enough. Augustus thrust his spear into her chest, and Fjord cackled as he drove his awl into her neck. Petra, who was standing a few feet away, finished her off, approaching and cutting a good inch into her neck with her axe like it was a block of firewood. Aprila died from her wounds soon enough, and the trio left quickly before the body began to stink.

Aprila Simonite, District 5 Female: 11th, Killed by Augustus, Fjord, and Petra, Day 7

Everything that happened with the careers on Day 7 paled in respect to what happened with Tiller and Libby. Tiller was beginning to grow feelings for Libby; in fact, he was falling head-over-heels in love. He hadn't spent that long a time with any girl before, and his girl smarts weren't enough for him to realize that Libby didn't share his feelings. In fact, he was getting on Libby's nerves. But Tiller wasn't smart enough to realize that; he thought Libby liked him back, and he was excited.

The next day, Day 8, Tiller was furthering things even more. They were sitting beside each other eating breakfast when Tiller suddenly fell onto Libby. Before she could protest, Tiller pressed his lips against hers and began passionately smooching her. Libby tried to politely get out, but Tiller didn't listen. In fact, he just figured her movements were due to the thrill of the romantic experience.

"Please get off of me," Libby said firmly, finally finding her voice. "And don't do that again."

Tiller got to his feet and staggered backward, taken aback with shock. In his mind, it was headline news that his affection was unrequited. Tiller simply said, "Bye, then," grabbed up a few supplies, and ran in an arbitrary direction, abandoning his ally.

After Tiller disappeared, Libby fell backward into the branch shelter she had assembled a few hours earlier. She was glad to be free of that annoyance. In fact, Tiller was almost completely erased from her memory already.

She went running the moment she heard his screams.

Libby burst into a clearing and couldn't believe her eyes. The careers had caught him: Petra was holding onto Tiller's left side, and Augustus was clutching his right. Tiller struggled and kicked, but he wasn't strong enough to escape. Libby fell behind a nearby tree trunk to avoid being seen as they went in with their weapons. There was a crunch as Petra buried her axe into his chest, and Augustus' spear rattled inside of his throat.

Tiller Fraise, District 11 Male: 10th, Killed by Petra and Augustus, Day 8

Libby let out a cry of terror from behind the tree trunk—her position was revealed. The careers dropped Tiller and raced toward her, and Libby stumbled backward, mind racing as she prepared to fight the careers. They fell into their ranks—Augustus in the front, Petra and Fjord behind, and Silk in the back. Libby held out the only weapon she had, a long knife, and begged that the careers not come any closer.

Augustus just laughed and ran forward with his spear. Knowing she had no chance of escaping on foot, Libby fought back. She swiped the air with her knife, barely nicking the skin on Augustus' neck. Hissing with fury and pain, Augustus fell to the ground. Before Libby knew it, Petra was knocking her to the ground. The 12 girl toppled backward like a domino, Petra on top of her. They rolled around for several seconds, wrestling for their lives. Meanwhile, Fjord and Silk stood back. It was common career rule that nobody steal another's kill, and Libby's life was rightfully Petra's to take. About a minute later, Libby inflicted a severe wound. She thrust her knife upward and buried it into the flesh in Petra's neck. Petra fell, gurgling, as blood pooled up in her mouth. With her last ounce of energy, Petra cast the blade of her axe into Libby's side, and her last words were a curse to the girl's name.

Petra Wodtke, District 2 Female: 9th, Killed by Libby, Day 8

That left the final eight: Augustus Braun and Silk Edgerton from District 1, Fiberre Monson from District 3, Fjord Lee from District 4, Tread Waite and Yewwa Branch from District 7, Quentin Clifford from District 9, and Libby Ward from District 12.

Libby groaned, rolling around on the leafy forest floor. She fought with every cell in her body to cling onto life, but the wound Petra had inflicted was too severe for her to survive for long. She passed away two minutes later, the blade of Petra's axe still buried solidly into her side.

Libby Ward, District 12 Female: 8th, Killed by Petra, Day 8

Little of excitement filled the long hours of Day 9. After eight days of intense summer head, Falcon began cooling down the arena slightly. The cool breezes were pleasant, and the temperature averaged sixty degrees Fahrenheit. The careers returned to the cornucopia after sleeping the night away in one of the log cabins. Augustus, Silk, and Fjord returned to the cornucopia as soon as the sun rose. They'd left the supplies unguarded for long enough, and they needed a supply restock anyway. At the cornucopia, the Capitolites got their first good look at how each career was faring.

Augustus, the strongest of the tributes, was charging through each day as strong and optimistic as ever, and his positive attitude earned him quite a few sponsors, one of whom sent him a newer and sleeker spear. Silk was growing a little disheartened from always being treated as inferior to her allies, but she didn't complain. She just followed the rules and went with the flow of things. Fjord was growing extremely antsy and impatient; he had promised his family that he would try to make the games as quick as possible, and he was eager to start another hunt with his allies. All of his requests were overruled by the stronger Augustus, who suggested that they take the whole day to rest at the horn.

As night fell, torrential rainfall poured down onto the arena. Those tributes who hadn't drunk in days scrambled to fill whatever container they had with the rainwater. The rain was actually extremely chilly; anyone who didn't have a shelter would find it difficult to sleep for the cold. One tribute negatively affected by the rainfall was Quentin. He'd left one of the windows of his RV open, and some of the rain came in and landed in his unscrewed jar of poison, diluting it significantly. He would not realize his mistake until the next morning.

Meanwhile, Fiberre was struggling from the cold. She'd been used to always having her warm house to retreat to whenever rain fell in District 3, and being out in the open was really taking its toll on her spirits. Luckily, she found shelter in one of the RVs about an hour after sunset. Fiberre had no idea that the RV was she was sleeping in was adjacent to the one where Quentin was living; they were unknowingly less than twenty meters away from each other for the entire night.

Fiberre awoke with a start the next morning. Quentin had awoken bright and early to conduct a search of all of the RVs, hoping to get supplies. Quentin barged into the RV where Fiberre was hiding, and the 3 girl screamed, scrambling for a nearby window. As she struggled to open the latch, Quentin fumbled with the lid of his jar of poison.

Fiberre's hands were shaking too much for her to push the window hard enough to open it. The girl screamed and slid to the ground as Quentin splashed about a third of the jar's contents onto her back. The highly acidic solution ate away at the back of her neck and abdomen, revealing her ribcage and the tissue around. Her remains were very unsightly. Quentin tried to avoid looking at them as he pillaged the dead girl of her million sponsor gifts sent by her rich father.

Fiberre Monson, District 3 Female: 7th, Killed by Quentin, Day 10

As Day 10 turned into Day 11, and Day 11 turned into Day 12, and Day 12 turned into Day 13, nothing much was going on in the arena. This year truly did have one of the weakest crops of outliers, and none of them were willing to actively stir the pot of the games. Quentin was the only one actively searching for prey other than the careers, but even he was exhausted and discouraged after going so long without putting his poison to use.

Around noon on Day 13, something strange happened. All rainfall in the arena ceased suddenly, and, slowly but surely, the lakes and rivers of the campground arena dried up. Tread, Yewwa, and Quentin, the only three remaining outliers, all noticed this change quickly. Tread had fallen asleep the night prior with his feet dunked into a cold stream, and he woke up in the morning to the sensation of bugs crawling over his legs. The once-swift and cool stream was now a dry bed. Quentin took longer than the others to figure out that the arena's water had suddenly disappeared; he didn't leave his RV for the entire day, and his curiosity was only piqued when the sink refused to pour out any water, instead burbling as though its pipes were filled with air.

Meanwhile, Yewwa was struggling to fend off the swarms of Tracker Jackers all around her. She was like a magnet for the wasp mutts, and she could never go more than half a day without being attacked. Yewwa was always able to take a quick dip and wait for the wasps to go away, but with the lakes and rivers dried up this would no longer be an option.

At noon on Day 13, Head Gamemaker Falcon Thorne's voice boomed across the arena. All six of the survivors could hear him, of course. The acoustics of the arena were exceptional.

"As precisely noon tomorrow, a feast is to be held at the cornucopia. Please think twice about failing to attend. This will be the only announcement." At once, a beacon of light shot into the air, displaying the location of the cornucopia to all.

On Day 14, all of the remaining tributes decided to head to the feast. Augustus and Fjord, the strongest remaining careers, weren't going to pass by an opportunity to rack up a few more kills. Silk had similar motives. Having always been overshadowed by the flashier careers, she was eager to prove herself.

Tread, Yewwa, and Quentin all had different motives for attending. After several days without a drop of water, Tread felt a raging thirst, and he felt he may die from dehydration or possibly starvation soon unless he showed up. Quentin was getting more and more used to the concept of killing, and with his jar of poison he was hoping to kill at least one other tribute during the feast. Yewwa wasn't originally planning on showing up, but at dawn she fell out of a tree and dislocated a bone in her elbow. She eventually managed to correct the dislocated bone, but doing so took so much effort that she had torn open the skin and she was bleeding fiercely. Yewwa knew that infection could be lethal in the games, and she figured it was best to curb infection altogether by grabbing some sort of medicine from an unoccupied corner of the cornucopia.

The tributes assembled around the horn. A large hedge had been planted surrounding the visitors' center, and this would slowly sink into the ground once the flashing numbers above them reached zero. A ten minute grace period had been declared before the feast, during which time the tributes were not permitted to hurt or kill each other.

The gong rang, and the tall hedge sank into the grassy ground. The tributes bolted forward. Augustus, Silk, and Fjord picked up newer weapons; Augustus a longer javelin, Silk a sword, and Fjord a much sharper and sleeker awl.

Yewwa had ducked into one of the rooms of the visitors' center far away from the cornucopia, hands shaking as she took inventory of a few packs she'd snatched from the horn. She screamed as the door came bursting down. Fjord was standing there, and he cackled somewhat maniacally at the sight of the virtually defenseless girl. Yewwa snatched up a pair of scissors; this hardly counted as a weapon, but it was better than nothing. Fjord pounced, knocking her to the ground on her back. She was dead as Fjord drove his sharp awl into her forehead.

Yewwa Branch, District 7 Female: 6th, Killed by Fjord, Day 14

Fjord raced back into the lobby of the visitors' center and felt the bite of Tread's axe in his gut. Tread had seen Fjord racing down one of the hallways a minute or so prior, and he'd been waiting for him to return. Fjord fell against the nearest wall and slowly slid down it. His mouth was wide open to scream, but no sound could come out. As soon as he was dead, Tread tore his axe out of his abdomen.

Fjord Lee, District 4 Male: 5th, Killed by Tread, Day 14

Augustus and Silk ganged up on Quentin. Quentin had ducked into the dark inside of the horn, and his hands moved at the speed of light as he grabbed up several packs. Quentin ran out of the horn just as Augustus' javelin entered his chest. Instinctively, Quentin threw the remainder of his jar of poison in an arbitrary direction. Silk screamed as the poison splashed her from head to foot, and it began eating away at her flesh in seconds. Silk was dead in less than a minute.

Silk Edgerton, District 1 Female: 4th, Killed by Quentin, Day 14

In the seconds since being stabbed by Augustus, Quentin had begun flopping around on the floor of the visitors' center like a dying fish, splashing his blood everywhere. The sticky red beads had splashed onto the horn, the supplies, and the walls, and it looked like someone had popped a balloon full of red liquid.

Quentin Clifford, District 9 Male: 3rd, Killed by Augustus, Day 14

Tread was kneeling just outside of the visitors' center, stuffing loaves of bread into a pack, when he realized that he was one of the only two competitors left. His senses were up, and he whipped his head around just as Augustus' javelin entered his neck. Tread fell to one side, groaning softly, as his blood stained the grass and flowers red. Augustus stood by and watched as he bled out over the course of about ten minutes, and then the 1 boy was the only remaining tribute.

Tread Waite, District 7 Male: 2nd, Killed by Augustus, Day 14

"Augustus Braun of District 1, you are the victor of the sixty-seventh annual Hunger Games!" Caesar and Claudius screamed, their voices accompanied by the jolly symphony of trumpets.

Augustus just grinned and wiped the blood off of his javelin.

Augustus Braun, District 1 Male: Victor of the Sixty-Seventh Hunger Games, Day 14


AFTERMATH

Augustus was happy to bring District 1 its eleventh victor. He now placed them ahead of District 4, meaning that they were superior to them even if District 2 was superior to them both. True to the Augustus spirit, more money was spent on the celebrations in District 1 than had been spent on any victor prior, and he was just happy to bring jollity to so many people.

Augustus moved into the Victor's Village of District 1, the eleventh to do so.

His victory tour was a work of art, as he turned out be a spectacular public speaker and made many moving speeches, especially in District 7 and District 9.

Augustus would live to the age of thirty-four, the shortest lifespan of any victor up to that point. Augustus would often invite dozens or even hundreds of party guests to his house in the Victor's Village for all occasions, and he was always the life of the party, even more so than a usual host. Cashmere, Gloss, and many other District 1 victors would often find it hard to sleep with his loud music playing late into the night. Being one of the most handsome victors yet meant that he would often be sold to Capitol women for their personal enjoyment, but he was one of the few victors that actually enjoyed it. Augustus had a crazy life, but he enjoyed it thoroughly. Unfortunately, the endless party that was his life was ended far too soon. Around the time of the eighty-third Hunger Games, one of Augustus' party guests slipped a bit of poison into his beer. The killer was never caught, and there is no element of the man's death that remained undisputed. In his lifetime, he would never marry nor have children, fearing that the obligations of having a spouse would get in the way of him living his life to the fullest.


NEWS

Augustus settles into the Victor's Village of District 1, next door to Gloss.

Mason Kittridge has his fifth child, a strong girl named Alsalla.

Margaret Cartmill's daughter, Faye, is born.

Valerie Easton bears a son named Cassius.


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)
60HG: Cecelia Rieffel (#2, District 8)
61HG: Valerie Easton (#15, District 2)
62HG: Enobaria Rigatti (#16, District 2)
63HG: Gloss Linden (#9, District 1)
64HG: Cashmere Linden (#10, District 1)
65HG: Finnick Odair (#10, District 4)
66HG: Victor Xhang (#17, District 2)
67HG: Augustus Braun (#11, District 1)


A/N: With the posting of this chapter, the word count of this story should exceed 500,000 words. How does that even happen!? That's almost twice the length of the Hunger Games trilogy and almost as long as War and Peace... just wow.

We'll be seeing a familiar face next year, even if he's only mentioned once by Katniss in the first novel. Whatever happens, you can count on a great avalanche next year...