A/N: Here's another chapter! Some crazy stuff is going down in the nation of Panem right now. Already it's a nearly unrecognizable place from the country we see in the trilogy. I know not many people are reading this fic anymore, but I love writing it and I'll keep doing so until I run out of ideas. Which won't be for a long time… happy reading ;)


THE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Dig Dug"


INTRODUCTION

After a year of post-war reconstruction and prosperity, hysteria began to overtake the citizens of Panem once more. Even though District 13 was thought to have forfeited its entire supply of nuclear weapons to the Capitol, it was found to be hosting several dozen still, buried or stowed away across the nation or stored on submarines and ships in the surrounding waters. Capitol forces successfully seized or disarmed most of these explosive devices, but the fear that rogue rebels from 13 still possessed atomic weapons would continue for decades. The nuclear threat grew even further when the first two districts developed atomic weapons for themselves. District 2 came first, a group of rogue scientists fashioning fifty or so crude explosives in the uranium-rich mountain regions of their district. District 1 came next, burrowing and purifying uranium illegally in the northern forests of District 7. After the war, the Capitol had severed some connections with these districts; they were no longer invulnerable, and nuclear deterrence became necessary to protect themselves in the aftermath of the destruction of 12. The Capitol did not risk armed confrontation with these districts for fear they would retaliate with their newfangled bombs. Meanwhile, these districts did not dare deploy their arsenals, knowing the Capitol could destroy them instantly just as they had done to 12; the Panemian Cold War was beginning, and it would continue for decades, tensions raising higher and higher as more groups around the nation developed nuclear weapons. Before long, it was time for the annual Hunger Games, and the Capitol public swept aside the looming threat of nuclear annihilation to focus on the newest edition of the annual death competition. Garnet Russo served his seventh year as head gamemaker. Last year's games had been interesting, if not exactly groundbreaking, and more than anything they displayed the artistic voices of Garnet and his team. He truly was an expert of twisting, turning, amorphous arenas, ones where it was easy to get lost and eventually lose one's very sanity. Stinn Hawke remained president for the twenty-ninth year. He knew he could trust the Hunger Games team to avert the people's attention from the brewing cold war. Ciara Grant, the games host, still basked in the attention garnered by her clever auxiliary Hunger Games a few years earlier. Now, she focused both on the current 107th games and the upcoming 110th games, the first year to follow the new rule whereby every ten years the games would feature twice the number of tributes. As reaping time eventually came, Ciara focused solely on the current games and the tributes it would feature. They sure were a bunch of screwballs.

The careers were weaker than average, and they weren't likely to get along well. The tributes from 1 were eccentric and playful and extremely weird. The boy, Bling, specifically requested that his stylists dress him in the most unusual outfits imaginable, which certainly helped him to stand out even if his training score wasn't spectacular. The girl, Carmine Thibault, was the second of the famed Thibault siblings. She was also the most eccentric, with wide eyes and bouncing feet and a gaze that was leery and almost creepy. They both preferred knives to do their fighting. District 2's showing was slightly better. Their boy, Cinna, was injured in the training center, holding him back slightly. But he was still a fine sword fighter, and he was sure to provide some classic bloodshed in the arena. The girl, Marcella, was just as conventional, a daring and likeable fighter who scored an impressive ten. District 4, like last year, gave the most impressive pair. With district industries re-shifting after the war, funding for the academy in 4 had increased drastically; eventually, they would overtake 2 as the most powerful career district. Their boy, Nautica, was the most popular tribute in these games. He had the classic surfer look that struck a chord with Capitol audiences, and he was muscular and confident and everyone knew he would go far. His district partner Salinia was very goofy and silly, to the point where her warrior side was simply shocking to see. She scored a nine, preferring spears, while Nautica went with the classic trident.

Very curiously, the two most popular outliers were both twelve. Jeeter from 6 was able to score an impressive seven despite being the youngest tribute this year. He was fast and clever and very funny, and he was the Capitol's favorite. Another twelve-year-old, Scinto from 10, matched his score of seven. Scinto was wilder and more hot-headed, but they got along very well. Jeeter and Scinto were sure to get lots of screen time in the arena. The only other tribute who scored a seven was Rhubarb from 11, an older boy with impressive strength and size. There were two other alliances the outliers formed. Tallulah from 6, an older tribute who scored a six, allied with some of the younger tributes, vowing to protect them and keep them safe in the arena. The Capitol was touched by this but unsure how long she would be able to protect them. Also, the pair from 13, Ivy and Mike, were siblings. They got along well and hoped banding together could help them progress through the games. There were no volunteers besides the careers. Here are the tributes:

District 1: Bling Dolmer, 16 (8) 10-1 and Carmine Thibault, 17 (9) 8-1

District 2: Cinna Slater, 17 (9) 7-1 and Marcella Hosare, 18 (10) 4-1

District 3: Harlin Corkern, 16 (5) 24-1 and Novelia Monts, 13 (3) 45-1

District 4: Nautica Dilworth, 18 (10) 3-1 and Salinia Faulkner, 18 (9) 6-1

District 5: Fumer Cambria, 13 (2) 47-1 and Lindsey Ohm, 18 (5) 21-1

District 6: Jeeter Castro, 12 (7) 14-1 and Tallulah Bracken, 17 (6) 18-1

District 7: Worm Plinius, 12 (3) 47-1 and Falyn Frysch, 18 (4) 25-1

District 8: Oslo McGavern, 15 (5) 26-1 and Rochelle Weaver, 17 (4) 26-1

District 9: Jesus Perez, 15 (3) 42-1 and Risa Howard, 17 (5) 23-1

District 10: Scinto Caloss, 12 (7) 13-1 and Rufana Bleck, 18 (6) 17-1

District 11: Rhubarb Torren, 18 (7) 15-1 and Tila DeShaun, 17 (4) 28-1

District 13: Mike Curran, 16 (5) 24-1 and Ivy Curran, 18 (5) 23-1

HGBO Bets: 24% on Nautica, 17% on Marcella, 12% on Salinia, 11% on Carmine and Cinna, 7% on Bling, 5% on Rhubarb, 4% on Jeeter and Scinto, 2% on Rufana and Talulah, 1% or less on Harlin, Novelia, Fumer, Lindsey, Worm, Falyn, Oslo, Rochelle, Jesus, Risa, Tila, Mike, and Ivy.


THE GAMES

This year, the tributes' pedestals were not completely flat. They were tilted slightly inwards, toward the cornucopia. In fact, the entire arena was sloped. It was shaped like a bowl, with the cornucopia at the lowest point. The tributes were inside of a massive open-pit diamond mine, on a distant continent that was now void of human inhabitants. The bowl-shaped mine was miles in diameter; it was a gargantuan trek to the "rim" of the bowl, but there was flat land as well as water and supplies for anyone who managed to finish the difficult journey. Over the centuries, nature had reclaimed the mine; a thin layer of dirt covered the stone, with thick undergrowth and rope-like vegetation having taken root underfoot. The mutts were all small, but they were deadly: snakes, spiders, scorpions, and little rats and mice with razor-sharp teeth. In the flat, slightly forested land at the edges of the bowl, there were Tracker Jackers. The cornucopia, at the bottom of the bowl-shaped mine, held all the standard weapons: knives, bows, swords, spears, and one trident put there for Nautica from 4 to have his fun. The arena was burning hot, and with no part of the arena permanently shaded, dehydration would be a huge concern. When the gong rang, three tributes ran from the bloodbath: Novelia from 3, Fumer from 5, and Worm from 7. They were the kids that Tallulah was protecting, and she had ordered them to flee from the bloodbath and find a safe place to hide while she fought for water and weapons in the opening minutes.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

The tributes rushed forward, kicking up dust and tearing away at the dense undergrowth as they ran. The tributes from 4, Nautica and Salinia, were at the front of the onrush. They were the fastest tributes by a country mile and were eager to get killing. Salinia made the first kill, grabbing onto a wiry boy and forcing him to the ground. The boy gasped in pain as his skin was pressed and scraped against the rough ground, and everything went black as Salinia thrust a spear that sat near him into his neck.

Harlin Corkern, District 3 Male: 24th, Killed by Salinia, Bloodbath

Nautica, the other career from 4, grabbed a spear of his own but quickly discarded it. He was searching for the trident he knew the gamemakers had placed there specially for him. By the time he found it, Marcella from 2 had reached the cornucopia and attacked a small girl, Risa from 9. Risa fell under the bite of Marcella's deadly blade, dying just as Nautica lofted the trident he had been searching for.

Risa Howard, District 9 Female: 23rd, Killed by Marcella, Bloodbath

Mere feet away, Risa's district partner Jesus was frozen in place, unable to move or think, utterly paralyzed by the sight of his district partner lifeless and covered in blood. Nautica attacked him from behind, spearing the three prongs of his trident through his chest. Marcella helped him out by thrusting her sword into his gut, killing him.

Jesus Perez, District 9 Male: 22nd, Killed by Nautica and Marcella, Bloodbath

Carmine from 1 was joined in the cornucopia by the boy from 2, Cinna. Carmine took a pair of machetes and held them tight, trying to get a feel for the weapons' handles. Meanwhile, Cinna took a shogei, a kind of knife popular in the early days of the Hunger Games but no so common in the second century. Cinna hurled the blade at a girl who was running past the mouth of the cornucopia. She fell like a skewered animal, and Carmine finished the job, raking the machetes across her chest.

Lindsey Ohm, District 5 Female: 21st, Killed by Cinna and Carmine, Bloodbath

As Lindsey fell, she had knocked into another girl, Falyn from 7. Falyn jumped to her feet, disoriented, only to find herself face-to-face with Nautica and his deadly trident. Her life ended as Nautica thrust the prongs into her chest.

Falyn Frysch, District 7 Female: 20th, Killed by Nautica, Bloodbath

By that point, all of the careers were armed: Nautica with his trident, Salinia with her spear, Marcella and Carmine with their blades, Cinna with his shogei, and Bling (the only one who hadn't yet killed) with a pair of curved kukri knives. Meanwhile, the two pairs of allies were gathering supplies. Jeeter and Scinto were scoping out the region near the cornucopia for weapons while the careers were distracted in the initial onrush. Meanwhile, Ivy and Mike were prowling near the pedestal ring, hoping to make a kill before the bloodbath ended.

Back at the cornucopia, Cinna and Marcella dueled with the strong boy from District 11, Rhubarb. Rhubarb was a mound of muscle, and he was very talented and very powerful. Cinna held his shogei by the handle instead of the chain, more appropriate for close combat, while Marcella danced around with her sword hoping to strike hard. Rhubarb smacked Cinna in the mouth hard enough to send him reeling, and he spiraled to the ground, unconscious. Infuriated at seeing her district partner defeated, Marcella tackled Rhubarb, making him feel the bite of her sword in his chest.

Rhubarb Torren, District 11 Male: 19th, Killed by Marcella, Bloodbath

Marcella turned around to pull Cinna back to his feet, but Cinna was dead. Two seconds early, Tallulah had run past, hoping to flee the bloodbath and find her tiny allies now that she was well-stocked. In the blink of an eye, Tallulah tore the blade off the ground and thrust it into Cinna's neck. Now she was off, searching for the place where the others were hiding with the blade locked in her grip tightly.

Cinna Slater, District 2 Male: 18th, Killed by Rhubarb and Tallulah, Bloodbath

Nautica and Salinia teamed up to make their next kill. Two girls were fighting over a spear, yanking it back and forth. The girls had identical ages and training scores; it was hard to tell who woud win. Neither of them did. The pair from 4 came careening out of nowhere. Nautica attacked one of the girls, deftly slaying her with the prongs of his trident. Meanwhile, Salinia speared the other girl to death, effectively killing her.

Rochelle Weaver, District 8 Female: 17th, Killed by Nautica, Bloodbath

Rufana Bleck, District 10 Female: 16th, Killed by Salinia, Bloodbath

The strong twelve-year-olds, Jeeter and Scinto, found their path away from the horn blocked by Ivy and Mike. A fight immediately ensued, with Jeeter and Ivy meeting in combat while Scinto clashed with Mike. Not one of them escaped the fight unharmed; they were all covered with cuts and scrapes in a matter of moments, and bruises would form on their flesh from the fight in due time. The fight ended when Jeeter thrust one of his knives into Mike's throat, killing him. Mike collapsed, and Ivy knelt at his side, weeping and listening to his last words. Jeeter and Scinto fled, taking the opportunity to run for their lives now that the bloodbath was nearing its end.

Mike Curran, District 13 Male: 15th, Killed by Jeeter, Bloodbath

Only one more death occurred during the bloodbath. Bling, the eccentric boy from 1, had been bleeding and suffering for several minutes; earlier, he'd been attacked by Tallulah, who had put a knife into his gut in self-defense. By the time the bloodbath ended, Bling was unable to move or speak. He knelt on the ground, sobbing and gurgling as his body slowly shut down. His district partner, Carmine, decided to put Bling out of his misery, tearing open his abdomen in several heavy chops.

Bling Dolmer, District 1 Male: 14th, Killed by Tallulah and Carmine, Bloodbath

Unlike last year, when the career pack was entirely intact after the bloodbath, only four of them survived this year. Carmine was a little shaken after killing her district partner, but she quickly adjusted as the others also scrambled to organize and orient themselves. Nautica and Salinia decided to sort the weapons, not wanting to seem lazy to the cameras despite being the undisputed leaders of the pack. Meanwhile, Marcella and Carmine chatted quietly between themselves while they laid out of the food rations and created a hunting plan. They didn't have much in common, but they still got along. Hunting would be difficult in this arena; the sloped edges of the mine were treacherous and tricksy. While the careers hunted on the first day, they saw Tila from 11 nearby, but couldn't reach her in time because of the sheer inhospitable nature of the ground. Garnet was trying to drive them insane like he did every year, and it sure was working.

Tallulah tried to be as strategic as possible as she moved through the arena with the three small tributes she was shepherding. As the sun moved through the sky, she realized, long shadows were cast over different areas of the mine. If they kept moving, they could keep in the shade all day. Novelia from 3, the oldest of the three (though she was scarcely thirteen), tried her best to garner food from the arena. She kept piling up herbs and shoots, and when night fell she made a kind of salad for all of them to enjoy. The two others, Fumer from 5 and Worm from 7, were too terrified to do anything but follow meekly behind Tallulah. Supplies were tight in the group of four, but they let Tallulah have the largest helpings anyway, hoping to somehow repay her for protecting and helping them. Meanwhile, Jeeter and Scinto made remarkable progress up the side of the crater-shaped mine. They could move quickly because they were so small; for the first time in games history, they seemed to be using their youth as an advantage, not as a drawback. At night, they squeezed into a little cove in the rock that a larger tribute wouldn't be able to enter. Jeeter stood guard while Scinto slept, and they switched out the roles halfway through the night.

There were three tributes who were all by themselves. They were Oslo from 8, Tila from 11, and Ivy from 13. Oslo was quite well-stocked; he'd escaped the bloodbath with large stores of water and food. He wielded a cleaver and a dagger, reminiscent of Haymitch's iconic duel-wielding arrangement from the second Quarter Quell. Oslo only made it a quarter of the way up the slope before it got dark, and he lay down in a somewhat sheltered area to sleep and hope for the best. Tila was scared after her close encounter with the careers. She didn't stop running until she was completely drained of energy. Fortunately, she landed an area rich with herbs and shoots, including a few berry bushes she recognized as edible from the training center. Somewhat reassured, Tila rehydrated herself and settled in for the night. Ivy was utterly traumatized after the death of her brother, and she was furious at Jeeter for killing him. A torrent of emotions attacked Ivy as she ventured upward, a single backpack of supplies strapped onto her back. Tallulah and her small sheep saw Ivy around nightfall and stayed perfectly still, hardly even daring to breathe until Ivy had passed. There was peace in the arena as the first night passed.

In the early morning of Day 2, a cannon shot rolled across the arena. Jeeter and Scinto had woken early that morning. They had searched for natural food and water the night before, but with little luck; the area they were in was rather bare and particularly inhospitable. Now, they decided to gamble again and scope out of a different region of the arena. Scinto was apprehensive about leaving their little home behind, but Jeeter reassured him they were likely to find a similar cove somewhere else. As they stopped to relax a few hours after sunrise, surveying their surroundings, they were spotted by a deadly attacker.

The day before, the careers had left Marcella at the cornucopia when they went hunting. Marcella was drinking thick soup in front of the horn when she saw Jeeter and Scinto, two tiny ants travelling far above. Marcella knew she wasn't supposed to leave the horn, but the opportunity to kill the two most popular outliers in these games was just too sweet to resist. What were the chances of the horn being sabotaged anyway? Jeeter and Scinto saw Marcella scampering up toward them, meaning they had the advantage of height. In this arena, that was all that mattered when determining a winner. The boys began to gather large stones in a pile near their feet. They were waiting for Marcella to come near enough to attack.

Scinto threw the first stone, which careened downward and missed Marcella by mere feet, tearing up a path of plants and dust as it moved. Marcella quickly realized her mistake, but it was too late to turn back. She was humiliated, doing nothing but dodge the barrage of rocks as they rolled down toward her. Jeeter landed the killing blow, hurling a stone that smacked straight into her stomach. Marcella rolled backward, tumbling hundreds of feet down the slope. She landed, bloody and dead, near the horn.

Marcella Hosare, District 2 Female: 13th, Killed by Jeeter, Day 2

Jeeter and Scinto heard Marcella's cannon shot and knew they had mere moments to decide what to do. Should they continue their journey upward, or lay siege on the cornucopia and pillage its supplies? Despite being the more violent of the two, Scinto wanted to keep heading upward.

"No use risking it, in my opinion. They'll be heading back soon. The careers. And we're dead if they catch us," Scinto said.

Jeeter shrugged. "Stay up here if you want. But I'm striking while the iron is hot."

He was already travelling downward. Scinto hurriedly followed him, his heart pounding in his chest all the way down to the horn. It was completely worth it. They stuffed several backpacks each with all the weapons they could possibly hold, then continued to raid the horn of its stores of water and food. Once they had shoved their pockets full of medicine and yet more knives, they ran upward, choosing the shadowy area of the arena so they couldn't be seen.

The careers returned to the cornucopia two hours later, noticing something was wrong. When Nautica saw what had happened, his face turned red and he let out a roar of anger. Salinia's eyes just opened wide in revulsion as she frantically searched for the weapons and supplies that were no longer there. Carmine identified a brown splotch nearby as the place where Marcella had landed. They tried to follow the bloody path upward, but it led to nothing; the little boys had already abandoned that part of the slope. Their spirits were so low that they stayed at the horn for the rest of the day, wondering which tribute or tributes had stolen their treasure trove.

The rest of Day 2, and the entirety of Day 3, did not feature any deaths. Tallulah and the kids (Novelia, Fumer, and Worm) continued travelling all day long, sticking to the shadowed region and moving with it to keep covered. The audience loved Tallulah, and many were touched by her selflessness. She came from a large family and dreamed of being a mother, and her mission in this arena was to protect the three young tributes as much as she could. Fumer and Worm grew more brave as Day 3 arrived, and on the third evening Worm stopped crying for the first time since the launch room. Novelia continued hunting for food, while Tallulah managed their supplies of water. They were running low on water. Fumer volunteered to hunt for some by himself, wanting to be a brave little hero. Tallulah wasn't sure how she felt about that.

The loners stayed pretty still as Days 2 and 3 passed. Oslo was the calmest. He was attacked by a group of scorpion mutts around nightfall but killed them both before they could sting him, crunching them under the flat part of his cleaver. Tila was also attacked by mutts, but she reacted much less calmly. When a trio of large spiders came racing out of the ground, Tila stifled a small scream and ran for her life. Paranoia had completely overtaken her since Day 1; she was terrified that careers and mutts were hiding around every corner. By the end of the day, she was kneeling on the ground, begging that Garnet let her out of the arena. Of course, her begging accomplished nothing. Ivy continued weeping as she travelled, thinking still of her late brother Mike. They had been inseparable their entire lives, and his death made the arena feel freezing cold even though it was eighty degrees. Ivy eventually pulled herself together and began travelling up the edge of the crater. She was far behind the other tributes in terms of upward progress, but she was catching up quickly.

Day 4 was almost deathless. The careers had recovered from their humbling defeat and were travelling again. Tallulah bore the brunt of suspicion; they knew she was looking after a group of tributes, meaning a cornucopia raid might be necessary to gather enough supplies to take care of them all. Carmine personally suspected that Jeeter and Scinto were at fault; they were the only ones fast enough, she figured, to do such a thing before reinforcements could arrive. It didn't really matter who it was, though; they were re-energized and re-motivated to hunt and kill. None of them needed to stay back and stand guard; the horn was basically barren by this point anyway.

Tallulah was finding it more and more difficult to keep the kids fed and happy. She was beginning to despair as supplies ran low. Sympathetic sponsors were quick to send her everything she needed to feed her kids, but this stream of help was unlikely to continue once prices rose. Novelia, Fumer, and Worm were also starting to wonder what they would do when Tallulah died. Of course, only one of them could leave the arena alive, and even the dim Worm knew that their quartet was unlikely to be the final four. They decided just not to think about it for now, and instead keep following Tallulah like she was the source of all knowledge and strength.

A cannon shot fired moments before midnight on Day 4. The cameras showed Tila, revealing that she had been the next to fall. She was sitting on a flat area of the slope, munching on the last few berries she'd collected back on the first day, when the careers spotted her from a short distance away. Nautica stopped his allies dead in their tracks and pointed out Tila's form nearby, stirring slightly. The moonlight illuminated their path just enough to avoid making any sound. Tila was dead before she even knew what had hit her when Nautica thrust his trident into her back, shoving the prongs through her abdomen until they protruded from her chest. Carmine and Salinia looked pensively at Tila's dead body for a few moments before continuing their hunt.

Tila DeShaun, District 11 Female: 12th, Killed by Nautica, Day 4

The cameras focused almost solely on Jeeter and Scinto during Day 5. They were the first tributes to reach the top of the diamond mine. It had been three entire days of nonstop travel and intense effort, and the large backpacks they lugged with them weren't doing them any favors in terms of travel speed. At last, they reached flat ground. The boys sighed in relief and set down their packs, immediately feeling much safer. The grass up here was thick and green, much different from the straw-like yellow vegetation found within the mine. Jeeter and Scinto knew they were at the very top of the careers' kill list, but they were a few steps ahead of the game and knew they could now afford to relax, if just for a little while.

In the later part of Day 5, Garnet decided to unleash vicious snake mutts against each of the remaining tributes. These games were moving slowly; with so much of the tribute crowd divided into large allied blocks rather than running rogue and alone, very few kills were being made. Garnet hoped that the snakes would cause tensions to break out within the alliances, leading to in-fighting and future conflict.

The tributes were all very still as Day 5 ended. The careers weren't sure whether it was worth venturing past the "lip" of the bowl-shaped mine; they didn't know how many tributes would be living up there. Fractures were forming in the career trio as arguments broke out about trivial matters like sleep times, as well as more pressing matters like food and water distribution. That evening, they could all smell that conflict would break out soon. It was only a matter of when. Tallulah and her kids stayed still. They needed a break day after so long travelling. It was risky not to move with the shadow, but all four of them were too exhausted to continue, especially the three little ones. Tallulah received lots of unsolicited advice from various sponsors. Some of them wanted her to abandon the kids or even kill them in their sleep. Some would even have her believe the kids were planning to attack her when she least expected it. Tallulah wasn't really sure what to believe. Jeeter and Scinto explored the forested area for a few short hours. They just wanted to place distance between themselves and the mine. There wasn't much to explore; the force field was situated about a quarter mile away from the edge of the crater. As night fell, they just rested under the trees with their insane numbers of weapons and tried to sleep. Oslo and Ivy weren't doing much. They were both going pretty crazy, murmuring madly to themselves or pacing anxiously around without seemingly doing anything. Ivy was close to the top of the mine despite her late start, and would probably reach the gold two days from now if she survived the snake attack. Oslo was much more hopeless; he was completely lost, with no idea of what to do or how to act now that five days had passed.

Oslo was just about to fall asleep in the early morning of Day 6 when a bright-yellow snake mutt slithered out of the darkness. He felt a sharp prick in his arm and looked down in alarm, suddenly spotting the serpent hooked into his skin via its sharp fangs. Oslo screamed and tried to tear the snake away, but energy was leaving him; his vision was already growing foggy, fading as his body shut down from the poison.

Oslo McGavern, District 8 Male: 11th, Killed by snake muttation, Day 6

Up on the flat ground, Scinto woke to the faint sensation of a rubbery object sliding over his leg. He jumped to attention and slapped away the snake mutt, which hissed in fury and lunged again. Scinto screamed to awake Jeeter, and they began their epic fight against the swarm of colorful snakes. There were several near-death moments. One snake even wrapped itself around Jeeter's leg. It was about to kill him before Scinto tore the snake in half with his blade. It sure killed the snake, but it tore open Jeeter's flesh as well, bringing forth torrents of blood. Once they were finished taking down their serpentine pursuers, they both tried to mend Jeeter's injury, with little success.

Worm woke up screaming at the sensation of a snake mutt on his torso. Tallulah yelled for the others to scatter, and she lofted up the sword she'd taken during the bloodbath, ready to protect the kids or die trying. The first snake was an easy kill, and it died with one slice as Tallulah slammed her sword downward into its scales. Novelia and Worm fled the scene, but Fumer stayed behind to help kill the snakes, assisting Tallulah even when she urged him to run. They shared a high-five and a hug after taking down the swarm of deadly serpents, then ventured off to find wherever Novelia and Worm had run to.

The careers were all sleeping when the snake mutts laid attack. Salinia was supposed to be standing guard, but she had fallen asleep, snoozing in utter ignorance to what was happening as the snakes surrounded her and her allies. One of the serpents sank its fangs into Salinia's groin, and she screamed in pain and shock, rousing her allies. Carmine slammed away the snake that was trying to kill her, then helped Nautica to take down the one that was out for his blood. As Carmine and Nautica struggled to subdue their serpentine attackers, they completely ignored Salinia, who was thrashing on the ground as she slowly died from the poison. Once calm returned, they knelt around Salinia and quickly honored her, thanking her for being a strong and loyal ally. She nodded once before her cannon fired.

Salinia Faulkner, District 4 Female: 10th, Killed by snake muttation, Day 6

The light hours of Day 6 were empty of conflict. Ivy, the only tribute that wasn't attacked by the snake mutts, slept soundly through the night for the first time in the games. Garnet thought that two snake deaths was enough; he didn't want to go overkill and take down Ivy. Even so, Ivy was in a precarious place; she was wandering near the region where Jeeter and Scinto had exited the mine. If they saw her, they could easily kill her by throwing down a rock or other heavy object to send her tumbling backward toward the cornucopia. Fortunately for her, Jeeter and Scinto were deep in the forest. They'd found a small stream that was safe for drinking and bathing, and it was their new home. They didn't do much other than relax as Day 6 passed.

Trouble was brewing at the other end of the arena. The two remaining careers, Carmine and Nautica, were coming dangerously near to the place where Tallulah and her three sheep were hiding. If the groups met, the outliers would have absolutely no hope of victory over the careers; they would be mercilessly and absolutely slaughtered. Grimly, this looked like it was going to happen. The careers grew nearer and nearer while the quartet rested with no idea that Death itself was coming for them. Carmine and Nautica stopped for the night just before coming into earshot of the group. Their lives had been spared for just one more day.

The next day, five tributes would die, cutting the tribute count from nine to four. Tallulah was a light sleeper. She was planning on waking up early the next morning, which would give them time to see the careers a short distance away and possibly escape with their lives. Unfortunately for her and the kids she was protecting, something else happened that made the careers wake up alongside them: a cannon shot.

Mere moments before, Jeeter and Scinto had returned to the edge of the mine. They had spent two days now in the forest, and just relocating would make the gamemakers happy and keep them from dying for just a little while longer. Scinto peered over the edge and saw something that made his head tilt. He silently gestured for Jeeter to follow his gaze downward. About fifty feet away, Ivy was curled up on the rough stone, shaking as though caught in some nightmare. It was early morning, and mist hung in clouds and tendrils over the enormous hole as Ivy's life ended. Scinto volunteered to do the deed; Jeeter had made their last kill, and they were trying to share the guilt as much as possible as a favor to one another. Scinto plunged a blade into Ivy's chest so quickly and so strongly she never woke up. A cannon shot announced the death of the girl from District 13, waking the careers and Tallulah's group all at once. A massacre was about to occur.

Ivy Curran, District 13 Female: 9th, Killed by Scinto, Day 7

That left the final eight: Carmine Thibault from District 1, Novelia Monts from District 3, Nautica Dilworth from District 4, Fumer Cambria from District 5, Jeeter Castro and Tallulah Bracken from District 6, Worm Plinius from District 7, and Scinto Caloss from District 10.

Carmine was glancing nonchalantly over the arena when she spotted something strange: a human hand visible a short distance away. The quartet was concealed well, but while Novelia was rolling in her sleep she had set a hand in a place not veiled by the ropy undergrowth. Carmine shook Nautica to attention and pointed toward the hand. They approached slowly, unable to believe what they were seeing.

The four tributes were crammed into a small fissure in the ground, packed so tightly that killing them would be laughably easy. The careers glanced at their weapons, then at the four people lying down before them, asleep and helpless. Did they set aside all human morals for a moment? Did they kill the three helpless kids and their motherly protector? Could they?

The screams could be heard all the way across the arena, echoing around the mine like thunder. Nautica and Carmine brought down their weapons, instantly spearing both Novelia and Fumer. Blood sprayed out of their bodies, dousing Tallulah and Worm as they scrambled helplessly. By the time this was over, the fissure would be almost completely filled with blood. Packed so tightly into the small crevice that was now too slippery to climb out of, the four tributes were brutally massacred over the course of about five minutes. Worm, the last tribute to die, literally choked to death on the blood of the tributes who were piled on top of him. Four cannon shots fired, and the careers backed slowly away from the hole. They were covered from head to toe in blood, with splatters radiating from the crevice several meters in all directions. For nearly an hour, Carmine and Nautica did nothing, could do nothing, but stare into each other's eyes. It was nearly half a day before they stopped shaking enough to start walking again.

Novelia Monts, District 3 Male: 8th, Killed by Carmine and Nautica, Day 7

Fumer Cambria, District 5 Male: 7th, Killed by Carmine and Nautica, Day 7

Tallulah Bracken, District 6 Female: 6th, Killed by Carmine and Nautica, Day 7

Worm Plinius, District 7 Male: 5th, Killed by Carmine and Nautica, Day 7

The next two days were deathless. Carmine and Nautica hardly said a word to one another as they continued venturing upward. There were no words to be spoken, nothing to be said. It was one of the most brutal scenes in the history of the games, and even the trained careers couldn't help feeling icky as they ventured away from the site of the massacre. Once they had changed their clothes and washed themselves, they sat quietly and waited for nightfall. The gamemakers weren't yet sure what they were going to do with Carmine and Nautica. There were two ways Garnet could make the finale entertaining; he could kill one tribute from each duo, or he could kill one duo entirely, forcing the other two tributes to fight against each other. Garnet didn't know what he was going to do yet, so he let things play out naturally for a bit while he made his decision.

Jeeter and Scinto were feeling pretty nervous as the days passed. They were unsure whether the gamemakers wanted them to be in the mine or in the forested area above it. They requested a short word of verification from the Capitol, and Scinto's mentor Larke sent him a note telling him they should stick to the forest. The forest was precariously thin in some spots, forcing them to be creative to find shelter. Jeeter was worried about the undergrowth irritating their skin, but lying under the curtain of plants was better than being out in the open so that was what they decided to do.

On Day 9, both duos started moving again. The careers woke up early and went the rest of the way to the top of the mine, emerging on the flat ground. Carmine and Nautica both agreed it was the best place for the finale, and a note from Nautica's mentor Syren confirmed this suspicion. They didn't know whether Jeeter and Scinto were up there too, but they decided it couldn't hurt to hunt. By this point, it was clear that Jeeter and Scinto were the ones who had stolen their supplies back on Day 2; Tallulah didn't seem to have any of their missing supplies on her when they'd carried out the killing.

Speaking of Jeeter and Scinto, they didn't even think about splitting up as Day 9 passed. They knew their combined forces would be needed to take down the careers. They really were adorable young friends, and the audience couldn't get enough of them. They spent the day practicing with their weapons, including kinds of knives they'd never even seen before. They were worried about making noise but ultimately decided it was no big deal. The games had to end sooner than later, and there was only one other alliance in the competition.

When Day 10 dawned, Garnet made his decision regarding the finale. With everything said and done, the tiny allies were vastly more popular than the careers. Even so, he didn't want to turn off the Capitol's career fans by killing both of them. Garnet would kill one career, then drive the other one toward Jeeter and Scinto.

Roughly halfway through the day, Carmine and Nautica noticed a suspicious whirring sound. They weren't worried at first, dismissing it as harmless forest ambience. What they didn't know was that they'd wandered into an area of the forest infested with Tracker Jackers, placed there by Garnet the day before to wreak havoc on the career duo. They settled down for lunch shortly after noon. A sponsor had sent Carmine a feast of vegetables and mashed potatoes, and she shared it heartily with Nautica. They were sitting and laughing and heaving a great time when the humming noise rose to an earsplitting drone. They scrambled for their weapons, recognizing the distinct mutt sound, and prepared to run once they knew the wasps' location.

The first swarm of Tracker Jackers flew in from Nautica's left, nearly swarming him before he dodged. They moved as one body, swelling and undulating like a ball of living slime suspended in the arena. Carmine batted at the wasps and ran for her life, leaving Nautica behind to die. The career boy fell to the ground, rolling and screaming and helplessly swatting at the mutts as they planted their stingers into his flesh. Hallucinations crossed his mind, visions of amorphous purple shapes and bubbles of steam and Carmine's cherry lips. He groaned a few times and then died, leaving only three tributes in the arena.

Nautica Dilworth, District 4 Male: 4th, Killed by Tracker Jackers, Day 10

Carmine was several steps ahead of the game, and she knew just what to do. She reached into her pack and pulled out a jar of perfume. Being a girl from 1, the sponsors had sent her some pretty fancy and ridiculous gifts, including a new celebrity perfume they wanted to advertise by sending it to her in the games. Carmine never thought she'd have a practical use for the stuff, but now it was her time to shine.

Carmine sprayed the perfume in huge, long sweeping motions, filling the air with spritzes of the light pink liquid. The revolting chemical stench masked her smell, and she ended up flinging the entire bottle into the swarm once she was done, felling several of them. Carmine was running straight into the path of the two twelve-year-olds and would arrive in minutes. It was time for the finale.

Jeeter and Scinto saw her coming fast enough to get the high ground. The two of them scampered up into the lowest bough of a nearby tree. Up there, they were veiled from Carmine's sight. In their scramble to climb up, they hadn't hidden their packs of supplies well enough. Carmine squinted suspiciously at the sight of the bulging weapon packs, knowing the other must have been near.

Scinto gave Jeeter the signal, and they leaped out of the tree, bringing down their weapons into Carmine's body with all the momentum of the fall. She was cut in pieces by the heavy chops, and she fell in a mess of bloody death as they went in for the real deal. Gore flew as they sliced her open again and again, taking the life of the second Thibault sibling.

Carmine Thibault, District 1 Female: 3rd, Killed by Scinto and Jeeter, Day 10

The two friends backed slowly away from Carmine's dead body. In the last few seconds, the entire world seemed to have shifted. The wind had died down completely. The distant forest noises of birds and Tracker Jackers had entirely faded. Jeeter raised his head slowly, locking eyes with Scinto. They'd been loyal friends for two weeks now, but now it was time to determine the victor. Only one of them could live.

Scinto broke out of the confused trance first and tried to tackle Jeeter, but he rolled out of the way, leaping sideways into the dirt. Scinto barely regained his footing before slamming face-first into the ground, and Jeeter leaped on top of him. A long wresting match began, with the two boys rolling around trying to pierce one another with their knives. Each boy was trying to prevent the other from accessing the weapon packs they'd stowed mere meters away.

Within the next two minutes, they were covered with mud and grass. Scinto spat out a mouthful of dirt and suddenly slammed away Jeeter's knife, and it was all over from there. Scinto began to drive Jeeter toward the ledge, all while Jeeter scrambled underneath his body weight trying to escape. He succeeded in slapping him in the face several times, which almost disoriented him.

Finally, they reached the ledge. Jeeter was mere feet from a bloody, rocky death when he finally managed to force Scinto off of him. So suddenly that Scinto didn't have time to retaliate, Jeeter lifted himself off the ground and grabbed Scinto around his waist, then shoved him off the side of the ledge into the deep mine.

Jeeter turned away immediately. He couldn't bear to watch as Scinto went tumbling downward, tearing up a path of rocks and dirt as his body transformed into a bloody, deformed mess. A cannon fired when he was less than halfway down the mine, and the hovercraft descended to collect the victor once Scinto's bloodied corpse had come to a battered stop propped against one of the tribute pedestals – by some insane coincidence, the same pedestal he had stood on at the very beginning of the games.

Scinto Caloss, District 10 Male: 2nd, Killed by Jeeter, Day 10

"Jeeter Castro of District 6, you are the victor of the one-hundred seventh annual Hunger Games!" Ciara Grant bellowed, signaling for the hovercraft to descend and collect the tiny boy.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Only twelve years old, and a victor? Through a combination of skill, speed, and sheer luck, he had escaped the Hunger Games alive, and Jeeter's life would be changed forever.

Jeeter Castro, District 6 Male: Victor of the One Hundred Seventh Hunger Games, Day 10


AFTERMATH

District 6 happily welcomed their sixth victor. A tribute from the district of transportation hadn't won since Kasey all the way back in the seventy-ninth, and for years they had had the fewest victors of any district other than 12 and 13. There was more than just one thing to celebrate about Jeeter. As far as the public knew, he was the second tribute in history to win the games at age twelve, following in the footsteps of Pixel Watt back in the eighty-third games. There was also Robina Caite, but the public wouldn't find out about her and Wystella until Stinn Hawke's death several years later. The trauma of the games had shaken Wystella like a little bug, and an entire lifetime of therapy under Meredith Powell was needed to even begin to mend the things that had been broken in his young mind. Jeeter would always remember his ally Scinto, and the guilt of killing him would haunt him forever. Despite being from District 6, Jeeter did not grow dependent on Morphling or alcohol, though he did become friends with several of the victors who did. Jeeter was never prostituted; he was too young, and by the time he had fully developed hormonally there were several newer, flashier victors the Capitolites cared about paying for. Jeeter was quiet and unassuming, but he made a good life for himself, seeking comfort in the other victors and quietly submitting to the Capitol's needs until he entered old age.

The payouts on his victory were quite high, as 4% bet on him.

Jeeter's victory tour was nothing special; it passed with the usual fanfare, and the outlying districts were touched by his eulogies.

Jeeter would live to age eighty-two, dying from a heart attack around the time of the 177th Hunger Games. He would marry and bear two children.


NEWS

Jeeter moves into the Victor's Village of District 6, across the street from Kasey's house.

Viveca Chatterley suffers a severe infection that leaves her infertile.

Districts 1 and 2 expand their nuclear arsenals to contain nearly two hundred weapons combined.


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)
99HG: Poseidon Odair (#14, District 4)
100HG: Rimno Kiely (#12, District 3)
101HG: Aspen Sprout (#6, District 7)
102HG: Dandelion Linwood (#5, District 11)
103HG: Cherry Perlman (#7, District 7)
104HG: Syren Magretta (#15, District 4)
105HG: Fox Sikorski (#9, District 5)
AUX 105HG: Viveca Chatterley (#17, District 1)
106HG: Noble Drazen (#18, District 1)
107HG: Jeeter Castro (#6, District 6)


A/N: Thanks for reading! I've been wanting to slip in a 12 year old victor for a few chapters now and this was the right place to do it. Please consider leaving a review, I love to hear them! Hope you liked everything that happened in this chapter, and stay tuned as tensions in Panem rise even higher…