My apologies to AmericanPi for forgetting Arabia in the final 8.
She's been added, and the mishap has been corrected.
Let hope arise,
Let darkness tremble
In eternal light
Alma Coin, 15
Daughter of President Farrow
Sailor and I have become fast friends. It took me a few weeks to figure out who she was because I wasn't buying the whole transfer student thing. The immigration border is too tight in the Capitol. They aren't going to let more than needed come in. After I had found out we fought for a good week, and then we were good again.
"Aunt Alma," says Adela as she hands me a flower from inside the field in front of the training building.
"Thank you, sweetheart," I say with a smile as I pick her up and we walk into the building.
She hasn't talked to very many people since the murder of her parents, but I'm one of the lucky few. I apparently am now living in her old toy room, so she would often come into my room early in the mornings wondering where her toy chest was. I had it brought back in; it's a huge room, I can go without a corner of it.
"Are we going to see your mommy today?" ask Adela as Sailor pushes the button on the elevator door.
"We sure are," I say. "Mommy is under a lot of stress because the Hunger Games are almost over, so I thought we'd surprise her with cute toddler time."
"I'm the cute toddler!" says Adela with a smile as the elevator opens.
Standing in the elevator are the Rabbel twins, Alexander and Alexandra, they are talking in a heated conversation, but when we get on the lift, they instantly stop talking. I smile at them and press the button to the basement floor where my mom would be.
"So how have you been?" ask Alexandra, "I can't imagine watching the games this year has been boring?" she says looking at me.
As Alexandra talks, instantly a hot, wet, liquid runs down the side of my shirt. I lift Adela away from me and see that she's very pale and that the source of the fluid is because she peed herself.
"Adela! You haven't done this in months!" I say as I sat her down and inspected my shirt.
"Here," says Sailor as she reaches into her backpack. "I've always learned to come prepared when working with children."
She hands me a red v-neck t-shirt, and I wait for the elevator to hit the basement floor before picking Adela back up.
"Well, that's why I decided not to have children," says Alexandra as she gets off the lift. She waves to Adela as she gets off the lift, and Adela runs behind my legs. She begins to cry, and Sailor and I are beyond confused as to what's happening.
I see Sailor's head spinning with ideas as she continues to think of what just happened. We arrive at the basement floor, but before we can make it off the elevator, she stops me from exiting and presses the emergency stop button on the lift. The elevator doors close, and she looks at me like she just won the jackpot at a slots machine.
"We've been trying to figure out how one person could take out Richard Mastiff, as in the golden glove, professional body builder, turned businessman Richard Mastiff. What if there wasn't just one, but two?"
"Two murders?" I ask confused.
"Yes!" says Sailor as she is getting swept up in excitement. "And we've been looking into people that aren't in the cabinet with access to the President's home, but how weird is it that we didn't get an alert that an unknown face was on the grounds? That means the cameras recognized who was breaking in!" says Sailor. "Then we have Adela having this heart attack in the elevator when she sees the Rabbel twins," she continues, "What if we can't find who killed the Mastiff's because we aren't looking in the right place? What if the Rabbels are the killers?"
"Sailor that's a lot of speculation."
"Adela, sweetheart," says Sailor as she squats down the ground.
Adela walks over to her with a scared look on her face. Sailor reaches into her bag and pulls out a new dress for her to put on, and as she is changing Adela, she asks her questions.
"Sweetheart, where you so scared of those two people?" asks Sailor as she zips up the back of Adela's dress. "Did they do something to you?"
"Please don't let them hurt me like they did mommy." she says with tears welling up.
"What did they do to mommy?"
"They hurt her badly, and she didn't wake up," says Adela sadly. "Now I don't have a mama."
"Believe it now?" asks Sailor as she picks Adela up and releases the emergency lock on the elevator. The doors open and standing before us is Alexander Rabbel with a smile on his face.
"Superb girls," he says. "Now step back into the elevator," he says as she pulls out a gun from his pocket.
I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
Elodie Sash, 13
District 11 Female
The rocket lands softly on the surface of the moon. I read a book once, that back in the dark days, people trained for years to become a astronaut. Yet, here I am at 13 years old about to walk on the surface of the moon.
The structure our ship connected to sits in the shape of a large circle. There is a dome on top of structure, and I'm assuming that this is where the finale is going to take place. Then again, I also assumed that it would be on the last ship too.
No one has said anything since the strangulation of the girl from 9. She sits in the seat next to the girl from 4 just lying there. Her eyes once so full of life now wide open, and unblinking. I've had a lot of time to think about my time here on earth because of eyes like that.
I'm not happy with who I've become.
"Tributes, welcome to the final stage of the 31st Annual Hunger Games!" says Alexandra with shrill tone in her voice. "The final stage will work like this, you will be broken up into pairs, and pair by pair you will enter the arena and fight to the death. In this death match anything goes. Your pairings have already been selected at random. The following tributes have been matched up."
I hear a page turning over the intercom, and Alexandra clears her throat.
"Pair number one, Lenovo and Elodie."
I freaking knew it.
"Pair number 2, Dove and Whitney. Pair number 3, Dailen and Cortana, Pair Number 4, Arabia and Ember." says Alexandra. "These pairs are final. There will be no swapping. The first pair up is Lenovo and Elodie. Please make your way out of the pod, and follow the lights."
The door opens and the rest of the tributes sit there looking nervous, well, except Arabia, as I get up and walk past them. Lenovo is already halfway down the hallway by the time I reach the beginning.
"Lenovo please wait at the end of the hall." says Alexandra as I make my way to the end. He turns to face me, and I turn to face him and stick out my hand.
"Good luck," I say.
"Thanks," he says taking my hand. "You too."
"Elodie walk down the right corridor. Lenovo walk down the left." We begin to follow the path laid out before us, and when we get to the end of our respective hallways a door opens up in front of us. We go in, and we are standing on opposite sides of what looks like a gladiator arena.
"Tributes, when I say go, you will begin your fight." says Alexandra. "Ready? Set? GO!" she screams. I run to the center of the room where there sits two swords that are in knots in the center of the room. I begin to work at the knots when Lenovo comes towards me at full speed and punches me hard in the face.
I fall backwards and grab ahold of my head as he begins to work frivolously on the knots that trap the sword inside the hilt. I sit up and begin to untie the knots that are on my own sword.
Come on Elodie. This is not the time to freak out.
We manage to get our swords out at the same time, and before I can figure out how to even hold this thing, Lenovo slams the sword on top of my own. My sword falls to the ground and I let out a scream as he brings the sword down close to me. I roll out of the way and stand to my feet and begin to run to the other side of the arena. I look behind me and see Lenovo just walking casually towards me with both swords in hand.
"Fuck," I say as I look around the room for anything that can be used as a weapon. After seeing nothing that I can possibly use, I decide that aversion is my best weapon. I begin to walk towards him, and then stop when I'm about 10 feet away from him. He looks at me confused and then smiles.
"You might as well just stop running." he says. "We both know how this ends."
"With you in a body bag." I say hoping that my face isn't revealing the fear I'm feeling in my heart.
He runs at me swinging his swords and I take a step to the right and trip him. He screams as one of the swords cut him on his arm. He turns around with a look of fury in his eyes and I turn to run when I hear a roar behind me, and a blade cutting deep into my back.
I look down and see the sword sticking out of my stomach. I suddenly become very cold as I sink to the ground and fall to the side. Lenovo appears next to me and leans down as I begin to cough up blood.
"You better win." I say to him as I continue to bleed out. "I didn't just lose to a loser. I lost to the victor of the 31st Hunger Games."
"Don't worry." he replies as the world begins to get fuzzy. I see his mouth move, but I can no longer hear the words that are coming out of his mouth. The lights begin to fade from the world around me, and I start to shiver I'm so cold.
"You-"
BOOM.
It's not a cry you hear at night.
It's not someone who has seen the light
It's a cold and it's broken
Hallelujah
Whitney Kaull, 14
District 8 Female
"Dove and Whitney. Please make your way to the end of the hallway and follow along the lighted path before you."
"Don't we get to know who won?" ask Dove anxiously as she unbuckles her seatbelt and walks towards the exit of the pod.
"No," says Alexandra as I exit and begin the walk down the abandoned hallway. I stop and wait for Dove at the end and turn to her.
"Good luck,"
"Good luck," she says as we walk down the same hallway that just moments before both Elodie and Lenovo traveled before us. One of them is dead, and one of them is alive. My money is on Lenovo, his survival instincts are far greater than what I was seeing from the girl from 11.
When I get to the end of the hallway the door opens, and I'm standing in the opening to a roman styled arena. Dove appears on the opposite side, and in the middle of the field is two tridents. There are giant ropes that are attached to the tridents, and I'm assuming we need to untie them before we can use them.
"Tributes when I say go, you may begin," says Alexandra. "Ready? Set? GO!"
Both Dove and I sprint to the center of the arena and begin to untie the knots in a frenzy. The first few knots I was able to break through quickly, but when it got down to the bottom I was having more trouble. I nervously look over at Dove who is at the same point as me in the ropes. She is now biting the ropes and trying to loosen the bottom of them.
When I finally untie the last knot, so does Dove, and we both grab our tridents and back away quickly from the center of the arena. She begins to circle around me, and I'm left slow spinning as the 12 year old from 10 makes her way around me to look for an opening.
"This is nothing personal." she says as she continues to move.
"I don't take it as such." I say, "I wouldn't expect you to lay your life down for me."
I hear her feet beginning to take up a run, and I lift my trident just in time for hers to smack into mine. She continues to try and jab me with her trident as I continue to deflect blow after blow. I use the back of my trident and hit Dove over the head with it in between her jabs. She staggers to the side and falls over.
I rush over to where she is and lift my sword up and over her. She closes her eyes shut as tears begin to well up. "Just make it quick, okay?" she says.
I lift the trident up and bring it down on top of her head. Her eyes fly open, and her cannon sounds moments later.
BOOM.
"Congrats tribute." says Alexandra over the intercom. "Please make your way to the door your came out of, and you'll notice a new hallway on your right. Enter that hall, and then go into the second door on the left."
I lean down and touch Dove's face as I hold back tears for this 12-year-old girl who didn't deserve to be here. She had her whole life ahead of her, but now, now she's dead. And it's my fault. It's because of me.
"Don't worry, Dove," I whisper to her. "I'll win. I'll win for you."
I stand up and walk towards the exit of the arena and turn around just in time to see Dove's body being picked up by a hovercraft. I turn down the new hallway and then enter the second door to my left. It's a small room with a single couch and a screen. I realize we are allowed to watch the battles as they continue.
"Great," I say. "More death."
Look at the stars
See how they shine for you?
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow
Cortana Ramslee, 18
District 3 Female
Dailen and I walk down the same hallway that the other tributes walked down. Same pattern of him going to the left, and I'm going to the right. When we enter into the the rooms at the end of our own hallway we see the arena that the other tributes have been fighting in.
Where now two more have died.
I make a note to add the two unknown tributes into my arm when Alexandra's voice comes on over the intercom. "Tributes, are you ready? Set? GO!" she screams.
I run to the center where it looks like two giant ropes are connected to a tiny dagger. I begin to work on the knots, and make quick work of it as Dailen continues to struggle. He looks up and sees how fast I've whipped through the knots and right as I grab the dagger he slams into me.
The blade flies a few feet away from me, and I wince as he begins to wrap his hands around my neck. He looks unsure of himself as he starts to squeeze. As he is readjusting, I use my knee to hit him in his private area. He falls to the ground in pain as I manage to shimmy out from under him and grab the dagger from the floor.
"That was a cheap move." he says
"There's no such thing as cheap moves. This is the Hunger Games." I say as I prepare to battle with the dagger in my hand.
Dailen runs backwards suddenly and begins making fast work at the knots. I don't know if I should charge him, because knowing my luck, he would get the knife untied right as I came up to him and stab me.
He finishes untying the knife and then circles around me with a half smile. "I'm actually impressed you're still alive." he says. "At the start of this game I never expected you to be here."
"You and me both, bud," I say.
He looks at me with an intense looks as I flinch at him, and he jumps back. Good, he's fidgety. He begins to run at me, and I brace myself for his attack, but the boy is a lot stronger than he looks. I fall to the ground, with my knife still in my hand, and he sits on top of me. He holds the knife over my face and he begins to bring it down and then stops.
He slumps over and begins to cry.
"I can't do it," he says. "I just can't. This isn't me. I'm not this person."
He leans down while still on top of me, and with a saddened heart I bring the knife into the base of his neck. Blood squirts out and he looks at me with a shocked look.
"Unlike you, I am this person. This is me." I say. I grab the knife and carve the unknown tributes into my skin, and then look over at Dailen. "Dailen." I say as I bring the knife across my flesh. He nods and then his cannon sounds.
BOOM.
I worked so hard
And got so far
In the end it doesn't even matter
Arabia Hakim, 16
District 4 Female
Ember stands at the opposite end of the arena to me. When Alexandra yells at us to go, we both sprint to the center of the room where there lies two spears that are tied up, but I have no intention of using them, or letting her use it for that matter.
When she bends down to untie the knots I slam into her and begin to punch her in the face. I continue to punch and punch, until finally she grabs one of my hands and bites my finger. I scream as she knaws on my hand and I fall over. She spits the finger back at me and smiles.
"I'm not going down with a fight, 4."
My hand is pumping out blood like crazy where my index finger on my right hand used to be. The air in this room is burning the wound, but I refuse to let this distraction get to me. I'll mourn for my hand later. Now is the time to defeat my adversary.
"You're going to pay for that," I say quickly as she smiles at me.
"I don't think so." she says as she takes off into a sprint at me. When she gets close enough to tackle me I step the side and grab her by the back of her shirt. I swing her around and throw her against the ground with a loud thud.
She moans as I get on her back and begin to choke her with my hands. It's a lot harder to get a grip on someone's neck when you're missing a finger, and she uses the unfamilar nature of my situation against me, and spins over kicking me off.
I fall and we both sit on the ground breathing heavily. She stands up and cracks her neck and then ushers for me to stand up.
"I thought you were trained for this? You're sucking four. You were never going to win this in the first place." says the girl from 12 as she holds up her fingers pulls them towards her. "Come on!" she says. "Come and get me."
I don't move from my spot as she begins to get more upset.
"COME ON!" she screams. "COME AND GET ME!" she says angry as she lunges at me and I roll to the side.
She lies there on the ground and then suddenly begins to cry. "I hate myself." she says with tears streaming down her face. "I can't do this anymore. I don't deserve this over the other tributes that are still in this game. I am not worthy of this over anyone. I'm a stupid whore from the poorest District in all of Panem."
She runs over to the spears and begins to untie it, and knowing what she's intending to do I run over to stop her. "You can't do that!" I say. "I don't know much about Allah, but I know that killing yourself is against him."
She finally gets the knots untied and then looks aims the spear at herself.
"Ember! You can't do this!" I say as I attempt to grab the spear.
She pushes the dull end of the spear into my stomach, and it knows the wind out of me. I fall backwards and into the ground as she gets up with the spear in her hand and wipes her eyes. I struggle to get breath, or even move as she raises the spear above her.
"I'm sorry," she says. "I've worked too hard to lose. I knew that I couldn't beat your regularly."
She brings the sharp end of down on my chest, and I feel the cold iron pierce my skin. The blood begins to pour out of me, and I feel cold as the blood continues to drain. She throws the spear down on the ground next to me and then walks towards the door that she entered the arena with.
The world grows fuzzy as the lights begin to dim around me, and I feel nothing on the inside as the darkness around me consumes me.
BOOM
There's a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
There's a little bit of heaven with a wild side
Got a rebel heart of country
Mile wide, there's a little bit of devil in her angel eyes
Sailor Atkinson, 23
Bodyguard of Alma Coin
"Very good girls," says Alexander Rabbel with gun pointing at our direction. "Now step back into the elevator."
Alma takes a step backward into the elevator, and I follow her lead. Alexander follows us inside, and as the doors are closing Alma takes Adela and hurls her out of the elevator under Alexander's legs. The doors close before Alexander is able to do anything and he curses as I use the distraction to punch him in the face. The gun slides across the floor and Alma grabs ahold of the weapon.
Alexander holds his hands up in the air in the act of surrender as he smiles. "Why were you even back here today?" he asks us.
"We were looking for my mom." says Alma as she doesn't waiver holding the gun towards his face.
"You idiots." he says. "They're on their way to the house right now to kill President Farrow. When the finale of the Hunger Games happen, the end of her life happens!" he says.
Alma pulls the trigger and a bullet hole enters into Alexander's head. He falls backwards and lands with a thud against the elevator door, and we press the door open button. Adela stands in front of the door with her hand over her mouth as she looks down at Alexander with wide eyes.
"Is the bad man gone?" she asks me.
"Yes," I say. "He won't hurt you again."
Alma and I grab his arms and legs and throw him off the elevator lift. Adela runs into Alma's arms and we press the button to go up to the main lobby.
"Where do we go?" Alma asks me.
"We need to go and fight in the mansion," I say. "We have a President to protect."
Well, this was an action packed chapter! I have an announcement! For the first time in the History of my time on Fanfiction I will write a story that is over 100k words! I'm super pumped for it!
Eulogies
8th Place: Elodie Sash, District 11 Female, Stabbed by Lenovo Cane- I loved Elodie. A lot of people ask me why I don't kill off my younger tributes earlier, and to be honest, it's because no one sends them in. Elodie was a strong character with room for development. So I kept her around because why would you kill someone just because they were young? She was originally going to be my runner up, but my Victor changed, and now my should have been Victor will be my runner up. So it changed like the entire placings of everyone. So sorry Elodie. You were great!
7th Place: Dove Henderson, District 10 Female, Stabbed by Whitney Kaull- Damn, I honestly didn't know who I was going to kill out of these two because I loved them both so much. I had to rewrite this chapter so many times to actually be okay with which one of these girls were dying. They were both brilliant, and unfortunately for Dove, a twelve year old has never won the games.
6th Place: Dailen Clervani, District 7 Male, Stabbed in the neck by Cortana Ramslee- Ansley, this was one of the tributes that was super hard for me to kill. He was originally going to get seventh, but then I saw you had three 6th places on your profile and I don't play with that number so I gave you Dailen in 6th to break that streak. He was subbed kind of last second, but he was good, and he was a fun character to play with. I just hope I did him justice.
5th Place: Arabia Hakim, District 4 Female, Stabbed by Ember Poxal- And with that is the last of the careers. Arabia was good, and was always destined to do well in these games. Sadly, for her, we had a last minute switch and she was moved down from 3rd place to 5th place. Thanks Pi for submitting a strong character like you always do.
Announcement: I have 7 male spots open for HOB2 and 1 female spot open. Submit while you can! Check out the prologue chapters. This is different than anything I've ever written!
Also, this chapter might be rough? The grammar editor I use didn't find a lot of errors this time...I know I don't normally get all of them anyways. I know I didn't just have 29. Anways, hope you enjoy.
Keep it classy,
Caleb