THE NINETY EIGHTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Disco Sweat"
INTRODUCTION
Panem had a lot going on in the third-to-last year of the first Hunger Games century. Excitement for the fourth Quarter Quell had games fever on overdrive, with sales of victor memorabilia at an all-time high. Organdy Karat's main social networking account officially broke the world record for the most widely followed social media account in Panem's history, and she featured make-up tutorials and pictures of herself and her friends around Panem virtually every day. By this point, she also had her own line of make-up packages that were being dished out to her fans in the Capitol and District 1. Mars and Pluto also had their names in fame, even by victor standards. They were both dabbling in the acting industry by this point, as were some of the other popular victors like Taj and even Sycamora. Meredith, Sickle, and Kasey were a tight-knit group of die-hard BFFs, and Pixel and Surge were as close as ever before, the experiences of being the two youngest tributes to survive the games binding them like oath. Wystella and Robina kept in the shadows, Wystella hiding under extensive plastic surgery in the academy of District 2 and Robina doing her maid's duty in the Victor's Village of District 10. This was when Robina's depression was at its peak, and suicidal thoughts ran rampant through her head. She and Wystella almost never interacted in person, only on devices created in District 3, and even then they were forbidden to discuss anything that wasn't public knowledge. This burst of victor-obsession of course put victor prostitution on overdrive, and the more desirable victors like Dock, Organdy, and Mars were spending practically every night in a different hotel room with the highest bidder. Stinn Hawke continued to rule the roost in Panem, keeping his twelve districts in a stranglehold with his theocratic and totalitarian rule. By this point, he'd started to relax ever-so-slightly with the whole religion ordeal; he was growing somewhat tired of being worshipped as a god, if that was possible. Stinn was steadily growing older and wrinklier; another president would likely be on its way sooner than later if his term wasn't cut short before then. The recently-discovered settlement across the ocean, Starlight, remained uncontacted by those in Panem, and its existence was still a secret kept by only the highest-ranking government officials. Amidst this victor and games mania, Edison Jayasinghe released small quips of his second arena; he'd captivated the Capitol's hearts with the airport arena of the ninety-sixth games, and he swore that this year would not disappoint. However, his reputation was starting to take a tumble when he was found to be sharing a bed with the president's niece. Sex scandals were not new in Panem, but the Capitol was surprised nonetheless, and Edison knew he could put the odds right back in his favor by making the ninety-eighth Hunger Games the grandest yet. He was willing to give it his very best shot, and the Capitol citizens gripped the sides of their sofa and movie theater seats, preparing to be wowed by the newest Hunger Games.
The career pack was satisfactory, but not ridiculously overpowered; after a career victory, Edison was hoping for an outlier victory, or at least a strong outlier group to make one possible. District 1 provided one of their more lacking duos. The boy was one of Panem's richest citizens, and he was somewhat lacking as far as weaponry was concerned due to his easy-going life. The girl was much more satisfactory, and she had the stereotypical blonde hair and flirty wink. District 2 provided the strongest pair overall, and both of them were quite popular in the Capitol. The boy was District 2's mainstay, the super muscular sword fighter, while the girl was short and feisty and spirited. They both earned tens. District 4 put on a varied showing. The boy was the weakest, and the youngest this year at only fifteen, but he had definitely earned his promotion into the pack via his spear skills and his looks. The girl was the overall strong this year. She was dangerously beautiful and extremely feisty, and she was a very fast runner. She was the early favorite. The pack earned one eleven, two tens, a nine, and two eights.
The outliers weren't a stellar batch, but there were a few standouts. Ratchet from 5 was a track star back in District 5, and he had some smarts on his head as well. He didn't have a rich family or an enormous fan base, but he was sure to go far, if he survived the bloodbath. Tuva from 7 was the classic blonde-haired, hatchet-wielding 7 girl. She was much smaller than the towering Ratchet, and her small size let her hide and relocate extremely quickly. This would prove to be an advantage in this particular arena. There weren't any other tributes to score any higher than a seven, and there were no volunteers outside of the careers. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Luscious Goldclaw, 18, (8) 10-1 and Beauty Esteban, 18, (9) 5-1
District 2: Hyperion Raffod, 17, (10) 4-1 and Pandora Shale, 17, (10) 4-1
District 3: Silicon Hanley, 12, (4) 29-1 and Cordette Novoa, 16, (4) 30-1
District 4: Galleon Bolzan, 15, (8) 13-1 and Thama Seawell, 16, (11) 3-1
District 5: Ratchet Fearn, 18, (8) 14-1 and Kea Borah, 13, (3) 36-1
District 6: Tariro Sammogia, 16, (6) 20-1 and Nyasha Gullota, 17, (7) 15-1
District 7: Joud Zevin, 18, (4) 29-1 and Tuva Fanger, 17, (8) 14-1
District 8: Yarn Stossel, 13, (3) 36-1 and Annalace Witherell, 15, (4) 32-1
District 9: Briley Monaci, 18, (5) 22-1 and Emelyn Lane, 18, (5) 24-1
District 10: Bear Theodos, 17, (7) 15-1 and Larke Jean, 16, (6) 18-1
District 11: August Clod, 14, (3) 34-1 and Fiberra Witten, 15, (5) 25-1
District 12: Antonio Scotts, 17, (4) 27-1 and Sia Torandra, 12, (3) 37-1
HGBO Bets: 28% on Thama, 17% on Hyperion and Pandora, 15% on Beauty, 9% on Luscious, 5% on Galleon, 3% on Ratchet, 2% on Tuva, 1% or less on Silicon, Cordette, Kea, Tariro, Nyasha, Joud, Yarn, Annalace, Briley, Emelyn, Bear, Larke, August, Fiberra, Antonio, and Sia.
THE GAMES
Deep in the catacombs under the arena, the tributes could hear the murmuring of a large crowd. The sound was muffled as though it were far away or underwater. The noises of laughter and stomping feet blended together into a creepy rumble that made the tributes shiver. When their pedestals clicked into place, they saw where the noise was coming from. They were standing in the center of an enormous dance floor made of panes of a sparkling, glowing material. They changed color unevenly and sporadically. The dance floor was a circle-shaped clearing in the center of the enormous, moving maze that constituted the entire arena. The maze was loaded with traps, dangers, mutts, and more: Silicon and Cordette from 3 would probably have an advantage this time around. The dance floor was crowded with thousands upon thousands of human mutts, holding glasses of sparkling wine and laughing and dancing their mechanical lives away. The only weapons the horn contained were machetes, throwing knives, and sickles. The other supplies were fancy clothes and sugary fruit and drink, as well as tall pink party glasses. Several of Edison's closest friends were mixed into the crushing crowd, surrounded by miniature force field bubbles so that the tributes wouldn't hurt them. A thin mist floated through the air, designed to disorient the tributes and distract them from their task of reaching the maze.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
It was mayhem as the tributes rushed to and fro. The six tributes who would usually have formed the career pack were so far apart from each other. The moment the gong rang, the tributes disappeared into the crowd, and the careers couldn't even find the outliers, let alone each other. The tributes had all made friends and enemies across the board; if one thing was for certain, this would not be your normal Hunger Games.
Two girls turned around and fled for their lives as soon as the gong rang: these tributes were Kea from 5 and Fiberra from 11. As the two of them disappeared into the depths of the arena, the others rushed forward, struggling through the elbows and hips of the dancers to reach the cornucopia. The horn spun in circles on the dazzling platform where it was affixed. One girl grabbed onto the turn table and pulled herself up. Thama Seawell grinned deviously and cackled slightly as she stretched to her full height, peering over the heads of the dancers. She could only barely make out the far-away wall of the shifting maze.
Suddenly, Thama heard a shuffling noise behind her, and she turned sharply on her heel. Silicon from 3 had managed to reach the horn surprisingly quickly, and the twelve-year-old boy had grabbed a sickle, ready to eliminate competition early or die trying. Silicon was foolish to think that he could take down Thama, but there was no turning back down, and he realized his fatal mistake too late to be saved. Thama lunged, knocking the wind out of the smaller boy, and Silicon collapsed. He instinctively wet his pants and curled up into a ball, and Thama hurriedly grabbed a sickle of her own, slashing open the 3 boy's chest and spilling the first blood of the ninety-eighth Hunger Games.
Silicon Hanley, District 3 Male; 24th, Killed by Thama, Bloodbath
Now the tributes were starting to make progress. Bear, the bullish boy from District 10, shoved aside a dancing couple and pulled himself onto the elevated turn table that held the cornucopia. He dashed into the horn and started searching for weapons, trying his best to stay out of sight of Thama from 4 and Luscious from 1, the only two careers to have reached the horn. Bear's district partner, Larke, was the next tribute to reach the cornucopia, and she perked up when she heard Bear's screams. She turned her head to the left, and her heart sank when she saw Bear struggling and thrashing in Luscious' hand, his strong fingers forming a death grip around his throat. Bear was a strong boy, but Luscious was stronger, and Bear closed his eyes, waiting for death to take him.
It did not. Just as Bear's face began to turn purple, Luscious' grip on his neck suddenly loosened. Luscious fell in a heap, and Bear saw Larke's machete lodged firmly into his back. Larke stood behind him, jaw set and lips forming a solid line. The 10s silently teamed up, staying close together as they sprinted past Luscious' corpse to raid more supplies from the dazzling cornucopia.
Luscious Goldclaw, District 1 Male; 23rd, Killed by Larke, Bloodbath
While the 10s went about their business, the two bloodbath deserters elbowed their way through the crowd, hurriedly trying to reach the maze as the screams of the bloodbath victims were gradually overpowered by the deafening roar of the dancers. At age thirteen, Kea Borah was the faster mover of the two. She shoved past two teenage girls and an old man wearing too much cologne and nearly screamed as a new swell of the crowd moved in to crush her. Kea yelped in shock as the artificial men and women closed in on her. Fighting back with only her fists was difficult work, and Kea quickly started to tire, even with adrenaline powering her movements and her resolve.
Fiberra was a different story. She had at least some kind of weapon, a broken glass that had once held sticky pink vomiting tonic. When she was tackled by two of the mutts, Fiberra reacted quickly, swiping the glass with all the force she could muster. The shorter mutt's knees buckled instantly as the sharp glass tore over his neck, and blood stained his fancy clothes after he landed. Both Kea and Fiberra were putting up a mad struggle to keep from being trampled, both with relative success. Time would tell if they could hold the fierce mutts off for very much longer.
Things were moving quickly at the cornucopia. Beauty from 1 and Pandora from 2 had tentatively teamed up; they were not only on the hunt for outliers, but for the three other careers: Hyperion, Galleon, and Thama. Beauty had a belt of throwing knives, and Pandora was armed with two twin sickles. She was disappointed that this year's arena lacked swords of any kind. Hyperion was hunting wildly on his own; he'd armed himself with twin machetes, and he slipped through the crowd, taking breathers in the emptier pockets before they closed. The heat and noise was stifling, and Hyperion almost missed the glint of the 9 boy's golden blond hair. Hyperion immediately broke into a run, shoving through the crowd to reach the boy. Briley saw the dancers toppling and opened his mouth to cry out, and before he knew it, Hyperion was on top of him, carving his machetes in straight lines across his throat. Briley tried to scream, but he was already choking on his own blood. Hyperion landed him a well-placed death blow before vanishing back into the undulating crowd of dancers.
Briley Monaci, District 9 Male; 22nd, Killed by Hyperion, Bloodbath
Ratchet from 5, Tariro from 6, and Tuva from 7 had made rather good friends in the training center. Ratchet and Tuva were both more than happy to help Tariro out when they first heard his gruff screams. Moments earlier, he'd been tackled by the ravenous Thama, and she had him pinned against the side of the horn. Thama's sickle was inches from his throat, and Tariro squealed, praying that either help or death would come quickly.
Ratchet and Tuva burst out of the crowd at the same moment, and Tariro breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the look on his face, Thama flinched, jerking her head to the right, and Tariro leapt out from underneath her, bursting toward his two allies as Thama roared with rage. The three of them stepped backward, and Tariro saw for the first time that they were both armed: Ratchet had a machete and Tuva had two throwing knives. Tariro backed slowly away to look for a weapon of his own, leaving Ratchet and Tuva alone to deal with the bloodthirsty girl from District 4.
Thama's first few blows were powerful, the first of which carved a deep gash in Ratchet's chest. Tuva let out a high-pitched sound like a battle cry as she put in her all, hurling herself toward Thama and abandoning literally all forms of caution. All Thama had to do was reach her sickle back. When Tuva landed, she was too disoriented to move for a split second, and the next instant Thama had pierced a deep hole in her back. Ratchet ran for his life as Thama peppered dozens of small to medium holes in Tuva's chest and back while she struggled for freedom, flopping like a dying fish.
Tuva Fanger, District 7 Female; 21st, Killed by Thama, Bloodbath
Fiberra was making impressive progress through the crowd. With her broken glass, she was the lone bloodbath deserter with a weapon, even if it wasn't a very good one. She reached the front stone wall of the maze roughly an hour after it had all begun. She felt her way along the wall until she felt a faint groove in the stone. Fiberra tugged, and the door opened up like magic. A grown man stood behind the door, and Fiberra almost lunged, but then she recognized his face: it was Edison.
"Congratulations, Ms. Witten. You are the tribute to reach the maze. As a reward, here is a map to help you on your way. May the odds be ever in your favor." Fiberra nodded and sprinted into the maze, her footsteps echoing over the stone wall like thunder. The starry sky overhead cast leaping shadows and flecks of light over the cold ground. Fiberra sprinted onward for as long as it took her legs to give way.
By that point, a number of tributes had left the horn, with a much smaller number of stragglers still gathering supplies. Beauty and Pandora were hunting wildly still, as were Hyperion, Galleon, and Thama, who were extremely ununified, in all different parts of the dance floor. Galleon was the farthest from the horn, and Thama was the nearest besides Beauty and Pandora, who were still on the cornucopia platform, gazing over the crowd for outliers. Tariro met back up with Ratchet about an eighth of a mile away from the cornucopia. He was quick to notice the absence of Tuva, and the look in Ratchet's eye told him everything. Tariro's district partner, Nyasha, dashed off into the crowds, moving slowly and inefficiently through the heavy group of manufactured people. Yarn from 8 and Antonio from 12, whose pedestals had been situated next to each other, had teamed up a few moments after the gong. They were stumbling through the crowd with no supplies except for a single knife in Yarn's left hand. Antonio ran straight into a tall, thin boy from the lumber district—he'd thought him to be just another mutt. Joud Zevin was surprisingly gentle despite his intimidating appearance, and he joined into their little group. Cordette from 3, Annalace from 8, Emelyn from 9, August from 11, and Sia from 12 were the only tributes not doing anything exciting. The four of them were still at the cornucopia, gathering supplies and trying not to be crushed under the feet of the excited partyers. Annalace was the first to abandon, then August, Sia, Cordette, and finally Emelyn.
Bear and Larke dashed through the crowds, the mutts falling like rag dolls under their machetes as they went. They left an extremely obvious path behind them, but there wasn't really any way to diminish the trail of blood; it was all they could do to keep on keeping on and hope nobody would see them. In a few minutes, however, they caught onto another tribute's trail. Larke spotted the glint of Emelyn's tribute token, a silver bangle, through the crowd of mutts. Bear quickly caught on, and the 10s followed Emelyn silently. When she entered the maze, they slipped in behind her, moving especially quietly to keep their wildly echoing footsteps from being heard.
August was having the worst luck of all the tributes. He'd taken the risk of heading into the bloodbath, but he'd been too nervous to recover any of the most valuable supplies because he was too terrified to run past the careers. He squeezed his way through the crowd with nothing but his bare hands. It was less than an hour before his lack of weaponry spelled his doom. August let out a scream as a mutt elbowed him sharply in the side, and he stumbled to the left, only to be hit in the chest by another. He was thrown around like a ball in a pinball machine being piloted by a maniac, and he quickly fell, bleeding and gasping for air. It was a matter of moments before they were onto him.
August Clod, District 11 Male; 20th, Killed by dancer mutts, Bloodbath
The careers finally abandoned the cornucopia, gradually breaking away from the horn and sprinting in the direction of the looming maze. Galleon left the cornucopia first, holding a machete in each hand, and he abandoned his search for his allies in favor of reaching the maze where the gamemakers wanted him to be. The only other careers without kills, Beauty and Pandora, were already a significant distance away from the horn, and they were getting closer and closer to the maze by the minute, cutting their way through the mob with surprising speed. Hyperion and Thama left separately, moving in completely opposite directions. It was hard to keep track of directions in the sheer mayhem of the dance floor.
Fiberra was moving the quickest; with her map, she managed to avoid most of the maze's threats, and she moved with incredible speed through the winding hallways. Fiberra turned a corner and saw a large computer monitor blocking her path; beyond it, the hallway disappeared into darkness. Fiberra tapped the monitor, and it starting glowing with blue light, displaying a complicated block puzzle she had to complete. Fiberra pushed the hair out of her face and began.
Ratchet and Tariro reached the maze next. The moment they stepped through the door, it slammed closed behind them, and they heard a loud growling noise. Tariro turned around and banged on the door; it wouldn't budge. The large shape that turned around the corner was a ferocious beast: the eight-legged spider mutt of the eighty-eighth games. It was the size of a car, and it slowly approached them, pincers clicking and mouth foaming. Ratchet charged, and the mutt lashed out. Its sharp leg scraped his bicep, and Ratchet hissed as blood starting leaking from the wound. Tariro was frozen dead in his tracks, dumbfounded with terror. By the time he found the energy to move, the spider had pounced, and it was too late for Ratchet to save him. It dug its teeth into Tariro's chest and cracked several of its bones, injecting its poison deep into his body. Tariro twitched and moaned, and Ratchet ran, turning corners aimlessly in his mad sprint toward safety.
Tariro Sammogia, District 6 Male; 19th, Killed by spider mutt, Day 1
The hours ticked by as the tributes fought their way through the maze. Beauty and Pandora leapt and bounded through the maze, and they quickly heard the footsteps of the three allied outliers: Joud, Yarn, and Antonio. The girls slowed to a walk and stayed a safe distance behind the three boys, slowly following them on their path through the maze. When the hallways got thinner, Beauty and Pandora had to walk single file; they were waiting to reach a more open area before going in for the kill, just so they could put on more of a show. Hyperion was stalking through the maze when he heard the creepy noise of echoing laughter. The clown mutts from the ninetieth games appeared from around every corner, and Hyperion seized up slightly. The first slash of his machetes sent one of them toppling, and the others hissed with fury. Hyperion fended the clown mutts off for a long time without killing them, unable to target a single one without the others taking his back. Cordette from District 3 had an intense fear of water. When she came to a large pool of water that she was meant to cross via a set of precarious stepping stones, Cordette turned straight around, avoiding it like the plague. She kept running into water-themed challenges and puzzles, like the gamemakers were trying to torture her, and she shook like a leaf in a heavy wind as she shuffled through the maze. Galleon and Thama bumped into each other near the outskirts of the maze. For a moment, they stood with their weapons pointed at each other's chests, then they lowered them, recognizing each other. The 4s were of course attacked in ten seconds, and they got into their battle positions as soon as they heard the scuttling of the huge crab mutts from the eighty-third games. The crabs' crusty flesh went crunch as Galleon and Thama attacked, cutting them down and squishing out their lifeblood with admirable speed.
Ratchet ran as quickly as his feet could carry him, shaken from the deaths of both Tariro and Tuva. He quickly came to his first puzzle, a sandbox from which he was meant to recover a list of items. A timer popped out of the ground, and Ratchet hurriedly started digging, not wanting to know what happened if time ran out. Kea, one of the two initial bloodbath deserters, was the very last tribute to reach the maze. As soon as she stepped through the doors, they all closed, sectioning off the dance floor for good. Kea from 5 was slowly winding her way through the maze, and she heard the absentminded murmurs of another tribute. Kea ducked into the shadows, and Annalace from 8 slowly came into sight. Kea stretched to full height, and Annalace jumped ten feet into the air. Instinct told her to run, but then she realized it was just the girl who had scored a three in training, not a deadly career like Beauty, Hyperion, Pandora, Galleon, or Thama. Kea and Annalace started moving through the maze together. Nyasha had reached the maze after an extremely long and physically exhausting sprint, and she was prompted to complete a parkour puzzle involving lots of long jumps. Nyasha turned to avoid the puzzle, but a wall popped out of the ground, trapping her near the parkour. She curled up and closed her eyes for just a few minutes to regain her energy before attempting the puzzle. Bear and Larke followed Emelyn through the maze, keeping a safe distance between her so they wouldn't be spotted. Emelyn eventually came to a large silver pedestal bearing a thousand scattered puzzle pieces. A timer popped out of the crowd giving Emelyn five hours to complete the puzzle. She instantly dropped and began sorting through the pieces, and Larke and Bear waited for her to finish it and clear the way for them. Fiberra labored away at the block puzzle, trying her best to keep from getting frustrated whenever she couldn't assemble the various shapes she was prompted to construct. She'd been making stellar progress up until then, but this puzzle was really holding her back; tensions grew higher and higher as she had four hours, three hours, two hours left to finish the task. Sia crept hesitantly through the maze, crying. She was only twelve years old, and she was from the least prestigious district in all of Panem; she felt hopeless, and she just cried out louder as the hippogriff mutt from the seventy-ninth games turned its corner, flapping its beautiful wings. Sia's instinct forced her to run, even though she didn't want to; she just wanted to die and have this ugly death game over with. In a matter of moments, she felt the claws of the mutts on her back, and she fell screaming, blood pouring in torrents from her torso. She bled out in under a minute, and the hippogriff turned away, sniffling with pride.
Sia Torandra, District 12 Female; 18th, Killed by hippogriff mutt, Day 1
Emelyn assembled the pieces of her puzzle with extreme speed. As the scene came together, she saw the scene from finale of the thirtieth games, where Barley Chisolm shoved a bloodied, young Sparrow into the depths of the yarn-maze that constituted that year's arena. The last metal piece clicked satisfyingly into place, and the walls lowered, revealing a continuation of the hallway. Emelyn smiled with satisfaction and raced through the new gap. She was too excited to see the shadows Bear and Larke dancing over the stone.
Cordette from 3 was living her worst nightmare; every corner she turned, there seemed to be some kind of water-related trap or puzzle, and Cordette turned back, retracing her footsteps and ultimately running in circles. Finally, the gamemakers caused sturdy stone walls to rise out of the ground, trapping Cordette in a very small space with a pool of freezing-cold water she needed to cross. The water was only chest-depth, but it terrified her, and Cordette just curled up beside the pool, crying softly to herself as the countdown ticked closer and closer to zero.
Just as Emelyn stepped through the doorway, she let out a loud scream. Larke had a firm grip and a strong hand, and she managed to lodge her machete into Emelyn's back with astounding force. Emelyn fell to her knees, screaming, and Bear and Larke brushed right past her, not even bothering to say sorry as they passed her. Larke glanced backward once, grimacing at the sight of the flopping girl. Then she blinked heavily once, and she and Bear continued on the path that Emelyn had cleared for them.
Emelyn Lane, District 9 Female; 17th, Killed by Bear and Larke, Day 1
Joud, Yarn, and Antonio continued their odyssey through the grand maze, with no idea that Beauty and Pandora were following close behind. The gamemakers sent a swarm of bat mutts from the eighty-eighth games in their direction to steer them toward the more open areas of the maze, where the career girls would finally be able to attack them and give the Captiol the bloodshed they were hoping for. Kea and Annalace covered a huge distance on the first day, managed to scope out a solid fifth of the maze before night came. Around "nightfall", their first challenge appeared. A glass monitor vaguely prompted them to strike the falling objects in the right direction. Red and blue foam cubes starting falling from the ceiling, and Kea and Annalace started hitting them left and right, sending them tumbling into the proper-colored chutes. It seemed like a silly game, but the stakes quickly rose as the cubes dropped faster and faster and turned different shades of red and blue. By the time it all stopped, they were too mentally and physically exhausted to go on any farther, so they just curled up and went to sleep.
Galleon and Thama got along well, and they made decent progress through the maze. They were actively hunting rather than blindly running, which kept them from moving as ridiculously fast as Kea and Annalace. They were still extremely popular however; the cameras mostly focused on them, the gang of five moving through the north end of the maze, and the Bear-Larke duo, who were sprinting down the new seat of hallways that the late Emelyn had opened up for them.
Joud, Yarn, and Antonio spent most of the first night searching for a place to sleep. Beauty and Pandora followed close behind; their time was ticking closer and closer, and they knew they would have three more kills under their belts in a matter of moments. Skin crawling with anticipation, the careers watched and waited while the three boys crowded together in a wide open room made of dark, blackish-blue stone. They charged the moment that all three of them were snoring.
Antonio woke up screaming as two of Beauty's throwing knives landed in his neck. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. He clawed at his throat, trying hurriedly to dislodge the weapon while he trembled with agony and panic. His lungs had already begun to flood with blood, and he was conclusively doomed; while Antonio bled out, Joud and Yarn scrambled, the vision of the dying miner boy engraved into their memories.
Antonio Scotts, District 12 Male; 16th, Killed by Beauty, Day 1
Pandora tackled the strongest of the two boys, Joud from 7. Yarn ran down an obscure side path in an attempt to escape, and Beauty followed him, desperate not to lose him after stalking him and his allies for so long. Joud tried and succeeded in fighting back, bravely holding Pandora off for five entire minutes. His strategy was a combination of backing away and glancing back to deal small blows with his fists. It was only a matter of time before he fell prey to Pandora's deadly sickles, however. Joud's screams carried for hundreds of meters, bouncing up and down in pitch as Pandora scraped open his chest with two heavy chops. Before long, he had to clutch his chest to keep his organs from tumbling straight out of his body. He was gone in moments.
Joud Zevin, District 7 Male; 15th, Killed by Pandora, Day 1
Yarn was a fast runner, an extremely fast runner with adrenaline powering him onward like electricity. Once Joud was dead, Pandora turned away and ran the opposite direction that Beauty had gone, hoping that the two girls could close in on Yarn and leave him with nowhere to run. That was exactly what happened. Beauty chased him about a hundred feet down the thin side corridor before Pandora stepped out of nowhere, blocking his path. Yarn started scratching at the walls and trying to pull himself up, trying literally everything he could to escape. He was in ribbons by the time they were finished.
Yarn Stossel, District 8 Male; 14th, Killed by Beauty and Pandora, Day 1
The first few hours of Day 2 were pretty quiet and timid. Beauty and Pandora were drunk off their killing of the three outlying boys, and they hunted wildly all throughout the second day. They were the most popular tributes left in these games after Thama, and their sponsors kept them flush with water and whatever other supplies they needed. In the first half of the day, they encountered the throwback camel mutts from the eighty-seventh games, the ghoul mutts from the eighty-fifth games, and the living hedge sculpture mutts from the ninety-fourth games. Them, and the other careers, were weathering the arena's threats and challenges quite well. Hyperion was all on his own. After his escape from the clown mutts, he'd come to a room with a checkered floor. He was prompted to cross it without triggering the flames, which spurted in jets from the ceiling whenever a bad tile was stepped on. Hyperion had to carefully toss small stones onto each of the plates to test them, and he ruled out about half of the tiles for sure before noon. Galleon and Thama were hunting just as wildly as Beauty and Pandora. However, Galleon was starting to get exhausted—Thama wanted to hunt, hunt, hunt, and Galleon wanted to rest, rest, rest. As they burst through puzzles and mini-mazes and mutts, Galleon was starting to consider breaking away from his much stronger district partner.
The outliers weren't up to very much either. Cordette stayed completely still next to the pool of water she was meant to cross. The timer had less than an hour left. She took a small step into the water around the thirty minute mark and was instantly swarmed by five eel-like creatures that lived in the depths of the water—Cordette's fears weren't without justification after all. Ratchet had finished the sandbox puzzle just in time, and he was now resting in a large, open chamber nearby. He was just too shaken from the deaths of his allies to do any moving, and the gamemakers didn't force him, as the cameras needed a little down time without the strongest outlier in these games on the prowl. Nyasha was still resting beside the parkour challenge. What she had meant to be a short power nap had stretched on for hours, and the gamemakers were considering terminating her with some throwback mutt just to reduce the tribute count. Kea and Annalace arrived at the outer reaches of the maze even faster than Fiberra, the girl with the map. The outer wall of the maze was made of a smooth, silvery material, and there was no way to climb or avert it; it trapped them inside the arena. With the threat of mutts off the table for a few hours, they settled down and fed themselves on sponsor foods. Bear and Larke continued exploring the newly-opened section of the maze. Their only trouble was with a pair of lunar rover mutts from the eighty-fourth Hunger Games. Despite the rising stakes, Bear and Larke got along extremely well, and they had a simultaneously snappy and comedic dynamic that the Capitol gobbled up. Once again, Fiberra was moving the fastest. With the huge advantage of her map, she could mark the locations of the deadly mutts and traps. Her sponsor group worked together to send her a throwing knife, which she tucked into her pocket. Fiberra made the decision to start hunting now that the tribute count was dwindling so low, and the gamemakers were more than happy to provide her with a victim to kick off the second day.
A glowing pathway on the ground led Fiberra to the sound of splashing water. She was careful to mark the path on her map before turning the corner to investigate. She was expecting some lethal mutt or dangerous career, but all she saw was the small girl from District 3 resting at the water's side, crying softly. Fiberra slowly approached, a drooping weight in her step. Cordette turned her head slowly upward and opened her mouth wide to scream, but there were already a throwing knife in her neck. Fiberra grimaced as she retrieved her weapon before staggering away. Now only half of the tributes were left.
Cordette Novoa, District 3 Female; 13th, Killed by Fiberra, Day 2
In no time at all, Day 2 was in full swing. Bear and Larke got up bright and early to resume their hunting. The shifting maze had opened up a path to a new section they'd yet to explore. Bear and Larke were willing to do so. They were tempted to split up to cover ground faster, but Larke was adamantly against it. Her fear of separation stemmed from fear of the arena itself, as she felt more comfortable with her ally at her side. They moved in an awkward manner for the next few hours, winding and turning without much of a pattern. They quickly left the section of the maze Edison had actually intended for them to explore, and they had to be steered back with a few mutts.
Nyasha finally mustered the courage to finish the parkour challenge. One of the gamemakers' deluxe timers had appeared out of nowhere, counting down to her doom. She trudged to the back of the room, giving her as much running space as possible, and made the first jump. Nyasha completed the first half of the course with relative success. She finished with less than five minutes on the timer, and the back wall of the chamber opened wide, revealing a new deadly section for the terrified girl to explore.
Beauty and Pandora were still hunting, their resolve strong and their legs refusing to give way to the long hours of running that this year's arena demanded. Pandora hadn't talked to her friend Hyperion since the training center, and she felt oddly lonely without him, but she didn't let that distract her from everything at hand. After fighting off a hedge mutt and finishing a jigsaw puzzle depicting the moment of Amelia Bankston's victory, Beauty and Pandora heard the noise of claws striking the cold stone floor.
"Don't fear, children. I'm quite fond of you." The creature that appeared from around the corner was the sphinx mutt from the ninety-fifth games. "Answer my riddle, and I'll let you free. Don't, and I'll have to… how shall I say this?"
Both girls knew exactly what would happen if they failed to answer the riddle. The sphinx turned toward Beauty. "I give you a group of three. One is sitting down, and will never get up. The second takes as much as is given to him, yet is always hungry. The third goes away and never returns."
Beauty had heard the riddle before. "Stove, fire, and smoke."
The sphinx smiled and turned toward Pandora. "What always runs, but never walks? Often murmurs, never talks? Has a bed, but never sleeps? Has a mouth, but never eats?"
Pandora couldn't answer, and both of the girls screamed as the sphinx mutt tackled her, pummeling her into the stone ground with its claws and tearing open her torso like a dog tearing open a chew toy. Pandora was dead in a matter of moments, and Beauty just watched, wide-eyed, as the mutt flapped its wings and rose up out of the maze. She tore her eyes away from Pandora and sprinted half a mile away from her, something feeling like it was biting at her gut.
Pandora Shale, District 2 Female; 12th, Killed by sphinx mutt, Day 2
The tributes quickly got to work on the new puzzles in the maze. Beauty stopped dead in her tracks when a puzzle loomed out of the darkness: a 3D puzzle. The pieces were scattered on the floor, and the puzzle's metal frame was suspended in the air. The timer was already ticking, and Beauty got to work, sweating as she struggled to assemble the crumbling pieces. Galleon and Thama were still hunting ravenously, with Thama several steps ahead and Galleon taking the rear. Galleon had yet to make a kill, and he knew he would be the first tribute Thama would pick off at the final eight. However, he was nervous about breaking away from his strong district partner. Hyperion continued throwing small stones onto the tiles, noting as the flames did or did not fire down from the ceiling, scorching the walls of the room. He was pretty sure he'd cleared a defined path to the opposite end of the room, but he was still apprehensive about moving; everything here relied on his memory, which wasn't extremely good. Bear and Larke were also hunting. Their relocating and hunting schedule suited both of them, and neither of them complained when they grew tired. Halfway through the day, they came to a thick metal gate with a single lock. A ring of a hundred different keys sat on the floor, and they started fitting in the keys, eager to get past the obstacle and find a quiet place to sleep.
Galleon and Thama were hunting roughly one hour after noon when they heard the footsteps of a small girl. Nyasha had been turning back and forth through the maze since she completed the parkour challenge, her fingers drumming incessantly against her thigh. Every corner she turned, she expected to see a career or a deadly mutt, but most of the time it was just another puzzle or challenge. Thama ducked into the shadows, tugging a stunned Galleon down with her, and they watched with bated breath as Nyasha strolled closer. Nyasha was dead before she even knew what had hit her. Thama leapt out of nowhere, her sickle glittering in the sporadically-placed lighting of the maze. The sickle landed in her back, slicing through like butter.
Nyasha Gullota, District 6 Female; 11th, Killed by Thama, Day 2
The nearest tribute, Ratchet, perked up at the commotion. His first instinct was to run, but he found himself walking toward the sounds of the footsteps. It was just some dying outlier he would have to finish off, he told himself. Big mistake.
As Nyasha died, Thama heard Ratchet's shuffling behind her. She turned on her heel and lashed out with striking force. Ratchet hadn't been expecting a burst of energy so sudden, and the wind was knocked out of him when the blade of the sickle connected with his chest, just below his heart. He fell with a crunch, and Galleon bit his lip as he watched Thama torture and murder the boy over the course of the next half hour. His cannon finally fired, and Thama gestured for Galleon to follow her away from the boy and the enormous bloodstain that painted the floor around him.
Ratchet Fearn, District 5 Male; 10th, Killed by Thama, Day 2
Bear and Larke's hunting endeavors finally found them another tribute around sunset on Day 2. They'd finally made their way past the gate puzzle, unlocking a somewhat large stretch of the maze that was empty of mutts and challenges. Several hours passed, and the 10s started growing suspicious of the sheer inactivity of it all; they were expecting mutts or jets of fire to assault them the instant they passed the gate. The reason the gamemakers weren't attacking them was because there were two other tributes nearby, and the duos would meet if they kept in the small space for long enough.
Kea and Annalace were still tracing the edge of the arena, and they entered the newly-unlocked sector through a narrow gap that had opened up when the 10s had unlocked the gate. Kea and Annalace's sponsors had been pooling together their money for several hours to send them something. A silver parachute finally drifted down around noon, containing a spool of thin, almost invisible thread. Kea tied one end of the thread to her finger, and Annalace tied the other end to hers. Then they went their opposite directions and started exploring. They didn't think there were any other tributes in the immediate vicinity, so they were not worried about the string being cut or noticed. They couldn't have been more wrong.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Kea noticed that she could no longer pull the thread taut; it merely dragged along the ground, following the finger where it was anchored. The only explanation was that it had been cut somehow. Seconds later, Annalace's high-pitched, girlish screams shattered the silence of the cold, stone maze. Bear and Larke attacked had Annalace from opposite directions. At first she only saw Larke, and she turned around, only to be met with the bite of Bear's fist in her gut. Annalace stumbled backward, the wind knocked out of her, and it took all of her control to keep from tumbling to the ground. She was effectively trapped between the 10s, however. While Larke poked lots of small holes in Annalace's chest, feeling for her heart, Bear fell several steps back, waiting to join in if things got messy. They did not, and Larke managed to off the girl from District 8 easily. After her killers left, the walls shifted to seal off the space containing Annalace's corpse, so the gamemakers could collect it.
Annalace Witherell, District 8 Female; 9th, Killed by Larke, Day 2
That left the final eight: Beauty Esteban from District 1, Hyperion Raffod from District 2, Galleon Bolzan and Thama Seawell from District 4, Kea Borah from District 5, Bear Theodos and Larke Jean from District 10, and Fiberra Witten from District 11.
Beauty was having extreme difficulty with the complex 3D puzzle she was meant to complete before the day was over. Three hours had already passed since the challenge had begun, and she'd fit less than two dozen pieces into the frame. She was starting to seriously panic now, and she breathed heavily in and out, heart thumping a million miles an hour while she tirelessly sifted through the pile of disjointed steel pieces. Looks and a flirty, ditzy attitude weren't everything in the games after all.
Fiberra Witten was still on the prowl. The next puzzle that popped up, she marked on her map, and then investigated. A low-lying table held hundreds of stones of three different colors; Fiberra was prompted to sort them by color and size within the time limit. She quickly figured out that there were five different sizes of stones, and as she started making piles, the timer ticked down to her doom with a menacing, regular click.
Hyperion Raffod was still stuck in the explosives room. He'd been testing the waters for roughly four hours now; sooner than later, he would be forced to take a risk and make his way across the dangerous floor where one wrong step could kill him. He stepped onto the first tile, which shifted slightly under his weight, but ultimately held firm. It was jarring to see the massive boy stepping so carefully and delicately over the floor. Hyperion made his way about halfway across before taking a break; he wiped the sweat off his forehead and ate his lunch, trying not to pay attention to how much distance he had left to go.
Beauty was not doing well. She burst into tears when the timer said she had only a single hour left, then thirty minutes, then twenty minutes, then ten minutes. Several hundred pieces still laid on the floor, while less than eighty were fixed properly into the frame. When she only had two minutes left, Beauty collapsed on the floor, rocking back and forth and holding her pretty self as tears streamed down her face. The explosives lit off the instant that the countdown ran out. By the time the smoke cleared, the entire area of the maze had been demolished. The walls shifted to section off the ruins, where there was now no room, no puzzle, and no Beauty Esteban.
Beauty Esteban, District 1 Female; 8th, Killed by explosives, Day 2
Galleon and Thama continued fighting their way through the maze, cutting down mutts and breaking through puzzles with extreme speed. The sheer enormous amount of work to do helped distract Galleon from all the unwanted thoughts rushing through his head. All the while, Thama burned with fervor. She seemed perpetually eager to make progress through the maze, even though there didn't seem to be any kind of end goal or location to reach.
The fire of Day 2 started to cool down after that, when what could be considered late evening arrived. Hyperion made his way precariously across the room. The timer was ticking down and down. He was too terrified to make more than a few meters' progress every hour, and the knowledge that one wrong step or kicked pebble could spell his doom kept him from taking any risks. Galleon and Thama hunted, fending off the old mutts that came their way. They found their path blocked by a complicated jungle gym above a pool of toxic purple liquid. The fumes from the liquid were enough to make them feel like vomiting. They were intimidated by the difficult puzzle but managed to cross it with little difficulty. They settled at the other end and curled up to sleep. Kea was scared and flustered, and she avoided every puzzle she found. Without her ally and protector, Annalace, she felt extremely exposed, and the spooky maze was making her mind wander to very scary places. Bear and Larke had enough sponsor backing to get away with a few hours of inactivity at the end of the second day. They were both tired after almost two days of continuous exercise. There weren't romantic feelings between them, no matter how much the Capitol tried to make them fall in love. They were each sent a pair of clothes, and their sponsors hoped they would change in front of each other, but they just stuffed them into their bags for later. Fiberra's next puzzle was extremely daunting: hundreds of colored ropes hung from the ceiling, each of which would grab onto a tile on the floor when it was pulled. Each floor tile was mounted on an axle, and it would flip over when stepped on unless it was stabilized by the corresponding rope. Fiberra tugged on one rope and felt with her foot for the one tile that wasn't moving. Over the course of nearly two hours, she made her way across the maze, continuing onward even as night fell and a small metal device zipped down to show her the faces of the dead.
A cannon shot fired in the early morning of Day 3. Hyperion was less than two meters away from the far end of the tiled room when he met his doom. He was extremely tired and groggy from the sleepless night, and his senses were far from mint condition. All he had to do was accidentally kick a pebble in the wrong direction. It landed on a bad tile, and Hyperion let out a roar of agony as the jets of fire shot down from the ceiling. In seconds, he was reduced to a black crisp. The nearest tribute, Kea, saw the light from the flames and turned the opposite direction, utterly frightened.
Hyperion Raffod, District 2 Male; 7th, Killed by fire trap, Day 3
The second Hyperion's cannon shot faded away fully, Edison's voice spoke into the arena, waking up the six remaining tributes. "Congratulations to all of you for making it this far. You are weathering the riddles and secrets of the maze extremely well. It is time for all of you to return to the dance floor on which these games began. Any tribute who succeeds in reaching the cornucopia will find the things waiting for them to be well worth the trouble. As such sacrifice is a patriotic duty, attendance is mandatory. May the odds be ever in your favor."
Galleon and Thama were the nearest tributes to the cornucopia. The ground at their feet immediately began glowing with a fiery yellow kind of light, and they followed the path, sprinting out of the maze. Kea, Fiberra, and the Bear-Larke duo followed their own paths. Bear and Larke travelled quickly, Fiberra most quickly of all with her map. Kea stumbled slightly along the way, and she fell to her knees, weeping ingloriously. She'd sprained her ankle. Walking was torture, and the gamemakers set off a loud banging sound behind her to make her hobble along faster.
Fiberra was the first tribute to reach the dance floor. She stepped out of the maze, and she was immediately overwhelmed by the thin purple mist and the warmth of the dazzling dance floor. The never-ending mob surged out to devour her, and Fiberra yelped, instinct momentarily leaving her due to panic. Two of the mutts fell under her throwing knife, and Fiberra continued her journey to the horn, elbowing through the crowd. The mutts either fell soundlessly under her blade or cleared the way for her.
Galleon and Thama staggered into the crowd, grinning. They were able to see the cornucopia several thousand feet away, suspended on its spinning platform at the heart of the arena. The dancers immediately closed in on them, and Galleon groaned as he was thrown straight off of the ground. He surfed the crowd for several seconds, separated from Thama just like that. He bounced up and down in an odd cadence to the roaring music. Thama just scowled and continued cutting through the crowd, ignoring Galleon's screams as he was thrown up and down and crushed flat. With his windpipe squashed, he was left helpless as they trampled him, taking no notice as they continue dancing away their mechanical lives.
Galleon Bolzan, District 4 Male; 6th, Killed by dancer mutts, Day 3
Now only Kea, Bear, and Larke were left to exit the maze. Bear and Larke paid little attention to the glowing path laid out for them; they assumed it was some trick of the gamemakers that lead toward an extremely painful death. Not wanting that, they took an awkward sound route, which took them extremely close to Kea. The small girl was racing along as fast as her small feet could carry her; she was moving quickly and therefore clumsily, and she was making a lot of noise.
Enough noise for the nearest mutt to hear her.
Kea turned a corner, anxiously drumming her fingers against her thigh. A hissing dog mutt slunk out of the shadows, its yellowing fangs bared. This was one of the dog mutts from the seventy-fourth games, fashioned from the dead body of Carvis Olive, the wealthy male from District 7. Kea's hands shook so much that she dropped her only weapon, a small can opener she'd managed to snatch from the horn back on Day 1. Her mind went blank of everything, even her instincts, and the rabid mutt leapt onto her and tore her chest open with its vicious fangs. The dog mutt disappeared through a new slot in the wall.
Bear and Larke hadn't heard the barking of the ferocious canine, but they had heard Kea's screams. They stumbled into the room and saw her writhing in agony, slowly dying from the less-than-lethal wound the mutt had inflicted. Larke handed her machete to Bear, and the 10 boy hesitantly thrust the sharp point of the blade into her neck. Larke took her knife back and flicked the blood off the blade, gagging as she tucked it back into her pocket.
Kea Borah, District 5 Female; 5th, Killed by dog mutt and Bear, Day 3
Thama and Fiberra were both making fast progress. Thama neared the cornucopia with extreme speed. She was leaving an obvious trail of dead bodies behind her, but she wasn't concerned; she wasn't scared of the three other tributes, having the highest training score and actually being the strongest out of the original twenty-four. Fiberra had a pounding headache; the flashing dance floor kept throwing her off balance, confusing her eyes and brain. She was overall intimidated by the never-ending crowd, but she kept fighting her way through the mob. One of the mutts elbowed her in the side, and Fiberra threw up, hurling up the entire contents of her stomach in a matter of seconds. Coughing, she stumbled farther toward the cornucopia, the sight of the spinning turntable the only thing keeping her motivated.
Bear and Larke rushed straight into the first line of oblivious dancers, and they were both winded by a passing pack of young men in fancy clothes. Bear let out a scream as two identically-dressed ladies grabbed him by either arm, trying to pull him into their dance. Larke cut into one woman's shoulder, and she disappeared, whimpering. The other woman put up more of a fight, and Bear had to literally break her jaw with his fist before she would leave him alone. The stampede of dancers was so thick they could hardly move, but their resolve was strong, and they fought their valiant way toward the horn with nothing more than a few minor bruises and scrapes.
Thama Seawell dragged herself onto the cornucopia platform, and she grinned wildly as she gazed over the sea of dancers, stretching to full height with a satisfying breath of fresh air. She thought she was the first tribute to reach the cornucopia. She was wrong. Thama turned around just as Fiberra's throwing knife entered her shoulder. She was shocked straight off of her feet, and Thama's knees buckled. She grasped for her sickles, and Fiberra kicked her hard in the chest, leaving her gasping and shaking. Her weapons, fixed loosely in her belt, clattered on the glowing material of the platform as Fiberra dealt her death blow, ending the life of the last career tribute in the ninety-eighth Hunger Games.
Thama Seawell, District 4 Female; 4th, Killed by Fiberra, Day 3
Bear and Larke grasped each other's hands tightly to keep from being separated as the mob tugged at them from all directions. They were roughly halfway between the maze and the cornucopia. Bored of seeing them pitifully fight their way through the mob, Edison "cleared" a small path for them. An explosion went off roughly an eighth of a mile away. Twenty of the mutts were killed instantly, and the flames spread quickly, sizzling over the bodies of the dancers. They fell like stones, landing in piles like dead fish. Edison wasn't planning to burn down the whole crowd, only to clear a path for the two tributes. Fiberra watched from the cornucopia with a vacant expression, secretly hoping as the smoke trailed away into the always-dark sky that at least one of her final competitors would fall under the flames.
Larke rushed away from the fire, tightly weaving through the dancers, and her sweaty hand slipped away from Bear's. She waved out her hand, running it through the thin air spaces between the tightly-packed bodies, but she felt nothing. Larke continued fighting a path away from the fire, and when the flames died down, she raced down the path of scorched bodies that they had cleared. It took her too long to realize that nobody was following.
Bear Theodos, District 10 Male; 3rd, Killed by fire, Day 3
Fiberra stood her ground just in front of the horn's gaping mouth, knees knocking together as Larke leapt up to join her. Larke actually outscored her by one point, but Fiberra had taken down some of the toughest opponents in these games, and it didn't seem impossible that she could bring District 11 its second consecutive victory. Larke had her entire district cheering for her. She was far from an underdog; in fact, she was a rich girl and fashionista back in District 10. But she had persisted through the toughest of obstacles alongside her late ally Bear, and whether she could bring 10 its first female victor since Margaret was for time to tell.
When they first clashed, there was no clear cut winner. While the girls weren't strictly opposed to killing, they weren't careers, so their duel was somewhat drawn-out. Fiberra's throwing knife and Larke's machete both inflicted severe damage in the first few moments. Fiberra managed to land her throwing knife in Larke's shoulder, where it drew a short torrent of blood. However, the bleeding stemmed quickly, letting Larke dive and carve out a portion of Fiberra's chest with her machete. As the minutes trickled past, the girls grew increasingly injured, but neither grew close to death.
It was almost an hour before the battle was resolved. The girls started to get dizzy and light-headed from the flashing lights and from sheer physical exhaustion, Fiberra more so than Larke. When Larke lunged for the thirtieth time, Fiberra's reaction time wasn't fast enough to let her sidestep in time to swerve around the blade. Larke's machete landed in the base of her neck, and Fiberra let out a short cry. The noise quickly turned to a kind of ugly gurgle, and Larke knew it was too late to turn back. She tugged the blade of the machete out of her neck with one heavy yank and then brought it down into her chest. Fiberra did very little, if anything, to fight back. Her cannon shot was almost barely audible over the cheering of the crowd.
Fiberra Witten, District 11 Female; 2nd, Killed by Larke, Day 3
"Larke Jean of District 10, you are the victor of the ninety-eighth annual Hunger Games!" Titanus shouted, alone after Dexter's death.
Larke just fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, trying to staunch the flow of tears now that she could finally let them come.
Larke Jean, District 10 Female; Victor of the Ninety-Eighth Hunger Games, Day 3
AFTERMATH
Larke was celebrated in District 10. Nobody knew about Robina until several years later, so it was assumed that she was District 10's fourth victor and second female victor. Larke was one of the more quiet and reserved victors, and she rarely left her house except for public events. The hobbies she took up were dancing and gardening. She taught dance classes around the district and learned to play five different instruments. She and the now-elderly Wiress, who had mastered the violin, got along well in this regard. Her garden was reminiscent of Seeder Kaiser's. She grew an extremely wide variety of flowers and fruits that fed herself, her family, and the small group of men and women who also inhabited the Victor's Village. Larke had a quaint and uneventful life, but she enjoyed it. For several decades, Larke's sexuality was an extremely hot topic of debate. The only openly gay victors at the time were Tiger and the Remus-Victor pair, and Larke never disclosed her homosexuality, fearing persecution from the people of the deep south, including her own District 10. However, she developed an extremely close friendship with a childhood friend, with whom she may have shared a bed. While there is still some debate today, historians almost universally agree that she was lesbian.
The payouts on her victory were decent, as about 0.9% bet on her.
Her victory tour was quiet and conservative, and she wore black clothes in the districts of the tributes she'd killed.
Larke would live to age eighty-one, dying from cancer around the time of the one-hundred sixty-second Hunger Games. She would adopt two children.
NEWS
Larke moves into the Victor's Village of District 10, across the street from Steer's home.
Arnold Scruggs has his second child, a boy named Etienne.
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)
68HG: Iuna Mosier (#12, District 1)
69HG: Alexander Westlake (#2, District 10)
70HG: Annie Cresta (#11, District 4)
71HG: Johanna Mason (#3, District 7)
72HG: Remus Daley (#18, District 2)
73HG: Apollo Reinold (#4, District 6)
74HG: Meredith Powell (#4, District 7)
75HG: Struve Lockman (#19, District 2)
76HG: Porcelain Wing (#13, District 1)
77HG: Router Lowell (#9, District 3)
78HG: Surge Upsdell (#7, District 5)
79HG: Kasey Slosser (#5, District 6)
80HG: Tarquinius Orfe (#20, District 2)
81HG: Talisa Plummer (#12, District 4)
82HG: Poplin Amsden (#3, District 8)
83HG: Pixel Watt (#10, District 3)
84HG: Dock Elizabeth (#13, District 4)
85HG: Sycamora Bromley (#5, District 7)
86HG: Bobbin Chern (#4, District 8)
87HG: Organdy Karat (#14, District 1)
88HG: Sickle Salgato (#3, District 9)
89HG: Admired Thompson (#15, District 1)
90HG: Chipson Harris (#11, District 3)
91HG: Mars Talbot (#21, District 2)
92HG: Arnold Scruggs (#3, District 12), Wystella Knapp (#22, District 2), and Robina Caite (#3, District 10)
93HG: Taj King (#16, District 1)
94HG: Steer Drudgers (#4, District 10)
95HG: Diode Cooper (#8, District 5)
96HG: Pluto Talbot (#23, District 2)
97HG: Vine Lilard (#4, District 11)
98HG: Larke Jean (#5, District 10)
A/N: Why is it that the shortest games time-wise almost always wind up with the longest chapters? Like seriously, these games only lasted three days yet this chapter is over 11k words long. A bit of a hint about the upcoming fourth Quell—it IS going to be the longest chapter ever. I have some seriously ridiculous, complex, and deranged shit planned for then. You'll see in due time.
How was Larke? This arena was a personal favorite of mine, and yes, I just finished the Maze Runner series. Page 250 hit me hard. If you're a fan, you know what I'm talking about ;)
I should go now. My sister is over with her adorable puppy dog named Olive. We're about to take her for a walk. Stay tuned for the 99th :D
