Okay, here's the thing about summaries. They're the short versions of things. You don't get all the details. Not everything happens on the scale you want it to. Things are more two-dimensional. You know what, I could have just given you a list and left you wondering what happened, how things played out, what the arena was like. I'm sorry I can't do the full story, I'm way too done with this fandom for that. But I wanted to do something more than the bare bones placements. So here ya go, the 20th Games (or what they might have been.) Hope you can appreciate something that's not the full version. :)

DAY ONE

The first thing the tributes were aware of as their glass tubes rose into the arena was a frigid wind. Dressed in simple cotton shirts and trousers with leather boots on their feet, they couldn't help but shiver. Several of the Careers were more prepared, shifting on their plates to keep their circulation going. All eyes turned to the Cornucopia- not shiny and golden, but a giant wicker horn, seeming to only be a sized-up version of the original. It was even complete with food spilling from its mouth- loaves of bread, fresh fruits, chicken, everything the tributes could remember from their homes.

As the clock ticked down, a murmur rippled around the circle of plates. No one could see any weapons, nor any supplies that were located more than five feet from the horn. Many now swung their gazes to their surroundings- fallow fields stretching out around them with no place to hide.

"Aelie!" Odrey's thin voice made everyone flinch in the wind and everyone saw him pointing to a few buildings in the distance- the only shelter anyone could see. They strained their eyes to try and see the details, and some recognized thatched roofing.

The gong went off while most tributes were still staring at the faraway town. Tiernan, nearly quivering with excitement, was the first off his plate, dashing to the Cornucopia and diving inside. As other Careers advanced towards the horn, he let out a raucous cheer and leaped back out clutching a sharpened pole. Sintra and Thierry advanced on him from both sides, and even with a weapon Tiernan took off with his metaphorical tail between his legs. Other tributes were dashing through the fields now, and the Careers, arming themselves with the few weapons found in the back of the horn, grudgingly gave pursuit.

"Split!" Viera hollered out her orders for the Pack. Thierry, Sintra, and Griffin ran towards the town, following at least twelve other tributes who were on the run. Viera, Ita, and Romany remained behind to hunt any returning competition and collect supplies. The three girls were successful, as five tributes circled back nearly immediately. Nairi Grey of Ten snuck up behind the horn, looking for supplies, but she didn't see Viera stalking her until there was a spear through her back. Kilim, shaking with fear and cold, attempted to grab a hunk of cheese before Ita knocked him flat on his back. Her sword slashed across his throat with horrible precision. He did not draw another breath.

Romany screamed as three tributes ran towards her, and Viera came to join her. The trio split, and Viera followed two of them as Romany stayed put. Oiyana Vir nearly bowled her over, but she gritted her teeth and held out her spear like a pike. As the boy from Twelve swerved around her, she swung her spear to follow his path-nearly instinctually- and opened a huge gash in his side. At the same time, his allies Sorrel and Korry were attacked by Viera. Sorrel ducked the first swing and continued straight to the Cornucopia, snatching up a satchel of food and vanishing back into the fields. Korry, not so determined, skittered away from Viera and tripped over his own feet. She plunged her spear through his neck and a spatter of blood cut across her grim face. Oiyana's screams cut off as Romany muttered apologies over and over before finishing him.

Nobody else returned to the Cornucopia.

Thierry caught up with Ardith Renville in the fields, cutting her down just as she reached her ally Braelin. The other girl was caught with his scimitar's handle in her gut and collapsed, wheezing, but her allies appeared from the buildings to defend her. Terran Provost, seeing his district partner bleeding out on the ground, swung at Thierry with an ash pole he had found among the huts. Kendal dragged Braelin away from the Career and rejoined the fight with a handful of dirt. She flung it into Thierry's face and forced Terran away from the fight as the boy from One rubbed at his eyes.

Griffin found Tycho hiding in one of the very first huts, but Sintra followed him in and, as Griffin hesitated, she sunk a knife through his eye and waltzed back through the door. Tycho continued screaming, however, and the boy from Two, feeling nauseous, put him out of his misery with a twist of his neck.

Aelie and Odrey had found each other but not their ally Arcas. They were frantically searching through the buildings, and had found proper houses past the thatch-roof huts. The boy from Nine, however, was nowhere to be found. Until, that is, they heard a scream. They took off at a run to the source of the sound and their hunch was confirmed- it was, in fact, Arcas' scream. Odrey leaped at the attacker in a fit of bravery as Aelie rushed to Arcas, who was huddled on the ground in the middle of an open space between buildings.

"Hey, whoa! Stop!" Odrey's startled target shoved the boy to the cobblestone road and they all heard a sickening snap. Odrey had tumbled over as he fell, landing on his head and snapping his neck. Aelie looked up in fear at Calisto Milas, who was standing, shocked, in front of her. "I didn't… he scared me… I didn't mean to…"

Arcas was crying. "He just scared me, we both turned the corner, Aelie…"

He was unhurt, but Odrey was dead. Aelie grabbed Arcas and ran.

Tiernan stumbled upon Geneva Torres as she entered the town, and she was knocked to the ground with a blow to the head. Winded, she barely managed to catch a glimpse of her attacker and roll away from the pointy end of the stick.

"Of course it would be you, asshole," she muttered, throwing herself at his feet and bringing him down to the ground as well. He kept a hold on his spear, however, so Geneva scrambled to her feet and dashed away. Her nose was broken and her shoulder scraped up, but otherwise she was all right.

The Careers regrouped in the bitter wind as seven cannons fired. "Pretty good for such a tiny rush for supplies," Ita offered, "We certainly won't need to worry about food, we kept all but one pack."

Viera nodded bitterly at the memory of Sorrel Keating scampering away with that one pack. "Who did we get rid of?"

"Nairi, Kilim, Oiyana, and Korry are all here," Romany listed the four unlucky tributes who returned for supplies.

"Girl from Eleven," Thierry claimed his kill proudly.

Griffin can't meet Romany's eyes. "Tycho."

"Okay, that's six. One for each of us?" Ita suggested hopefully.

"I killed two," Viera stated flatly.

"Credit for boy from Five goes to Griffin, not me," Sintra explained, biter.

Thierry's eyes lit up. "Sintra, the great and powerful slut, not a killer? Who would have thought! I can't believe you didn't take out half of them in one go!"

"Shut up," she growled.

"Oh no, sweetheart, you're the only Career who didn't get a kill. Can't let you live this one down!"

Sintra's arm moved in a blur through the air and Thierry fell to the ground, gurgling and clutching at the knife in his throat. Another cannon fired.

"I think you'll find that I did indeed get a kill, sweetheart."

As the Careers arranged their lonely encampment at the giant horn, tributes moved like mice through the buildings, barricading themselves in huts. Sorrel cried herself to sleep, having lost her district partner and alliance. Arcas tried to comfort Aelie in his guilt; she tries to brush off his efforts in her grief. Terran tried to smother his anger by tending to Braelin, and he was grimly joyous to see Thierry's face in the sky that night. Calisto shivered all night long, all powers of sarcasm chased away by the reality of murder. Geneva, having survived her encounter with Tiernan and losing no one she knew, felt a glimmer of hope as she fell asleep.

DAYS TWO, THREE, AND FOUR

The sun rose in a cloudless sky, banishing the chill that had been in the air since the bloodbath. Scared tributes migrated further and further away from the Cornucopia, exploring the little town they've found shelter in. Maxim and Trista were the deepest into the buildings, sheltered in a large stone house with three rooms. Maxim kept watch at the windows as Trista explored the other areas, and they find little miracles all over the place. Despite rats here and there, they discovered packs of food and supplies hidden in some of the buildings, and Maxim kept a shard of stone in his hand at all times. They were still innocent.

Adjacent to the Cornucopia field is a grain field ready to harvest, and Geneva has adopted it as her shelter. The tall stalks easily conceal a person, and it's easy to be alone. She has even dug a hole for further protection against the elements.

Braelin was badly bruised in Thierry's attack, and Kendal suggested that she may have suffered internal bleeding. Terran was shaken from his resolve by Ardith's death and all thoughts of his brother had vanished from his mind. Detached from reality, survival was his only goal.

Sorrel and Calisto, equally disturbed, took refuge in the same decrepit stone building on the outskirts of the village, although they were unaware of the other's presence. Calisto slept under a table in the front room; Sorrel climbed into the rafters and tried to keep herself together. Her flippant attitude had shattered with her alliance.

The Careers hunted Tiernan that day. They combed the grain field (badly, since they missed Geneva), and went through the huts. However, only Aelie and Arcas had sheltered in the huts, and they had fled in the early morning as far into the town as they could bear to go. Tiernan returned to the Cornucopia and tore through nearly half of the food stores.

Aelie, horribly grieved by Odrey's death, had very little on her mind as Arcas led her into town. The second night in the arena, he could barely get her into a house to rest. They were at the center of the town then, a plaza surrounded by closely set, two-story, stone and wood buildings. Aelie blankly remarked on the primitive quality of the houses. The ordinariness of the comment struck Arcas- he thought that it was nearly a boring thing to say in the Games. All in all, the second day was uneventful.

The night, however, was not calm. The Gamemakers were ready to release the terrifying wild card of the Games and nothing, they said, would be boring from then on.

A metal plate quite like a manhole cover shifted in the middle of the town. It opened a tunnel in the ground and with the press of a button back in the Capitol, rats poured from the hole like a flood. It was a small swarm, perhaps thirty or so rodents, but it was more than enough.

Aelie and Arcas, in a house on the plaza, had no way out. The rats found their scent and followed it in a squeaking horde, attacking in the dead of night.

Arcas screamed as the first rats sank tiny, needle-sharp teeth into his leg. Aelie jerked awake just as they found her as well, and then both children were up and running outside. The rats followed at first, leaping at the ankles of the tributes, but animal nature is animal nature and soon Aelie tempted them away with the food they had discovered. They had both suffered numerous bites on their arms and legs, and thin streams of blood trickled down to the ground, marking their trail.

That trail, in the morning, alerted the Careers to easy prey. Viera was on edge thanks to Tiernan's continued existence, and Sintra was starting to toy with her. Romany stuck close to Ita in case of any trouble, and Griffin was too wary of all his allies to interact much at all. They hunted that day around the edge of the village, and that's where they found the blood. They simply followed it to the edge of the grain field, where Aelie and Arcas were trying to clean up the rat bites. They circled the pair, ambushing them for a scare.

The scared kids didn't stand a chance. Sintra and Viera had them pinned on the ground in an instant, and Arcas fainted right away. "Get rid of him," Viera commanded, and Sintra slit his throat.

Aelie began to cry, but Viera slapped her once and she froze.

"Nice little trail you left for us," Ita commented dryly. Aelie couldn't think of a reply, but looked over at Ita in complete despair. Viera followed her gaze.

"You wanna go to Auntie Ita?" she taunted, hauling Aelie to her feet and giving her a shove. The girl from Three stumbled in Ita's direction. "Go on, Two, show her some love."

Ita sighed, unsheathing her sword. "At least this won't hurt as much as a spear would."

She lunged forward, her sword piercing Aelie's frantically beating heart. With her last breath, Aelie coughed weakly in Ita's face and closed her tear-filled eyes.

Two cannons fired; hovercrafts appeared on the horizon, coming to collect the bodies.

Most of the tributes were scared to move for the rest of the day- the first non-bloodbath casualties had only made the Games more real and more terrifying, and things could only speed up.

Geneva saw the execution of Aelie and Arcas and used the opportunity to steal some food from the stores. She alone was not holed up in the town, but that changed during the fourth day. She made her move overnight, after the faces of the dead appeared in the starry night sky. At the same time, Trista and Maxim snuck out to the grain field after realizing that the Careers were hunting near the buildings every day.

The fourth day brought rain. Nasty, dirty rain that felt grainy on the skin and matted the tributes' hair into knots. It kept people inside and the Careers were forced to move their camp to the outermost huts to avoid the miserable rain. The rats scattered through the houses, finding nests and other rats to mingle with. The ground became muddy-slick and even after the rain passed, low clouds kept the arena in mist until the night fell. The misery of the rain was the last day of rest.

The Careers had plenty of time to chat cheerily after their kills. Ita didn't participate, but Sintra and Viera talked plenty of strategy- although, to be fair, Viera talked most of the strategy and Sintra lounged around fondly telling old stories from her childhood. Griffin approached Romany and apologized for killing her district partner, trying to explain his actions away. Romany made him face up to the deed and forgave him, saying Tycho was less important to her than her own life. Griffin, rendered silent by her reply, spent hours reflecting on his own choices, and realized that he had played into his parents' hands by trying to help his brother. He resolved to go home and make them own up to their actions. He also decided to not forgive himself until things were all right again.

Sintra, bored, approached Griffin. "You know, you're sorta hot."

"Excuse me?"

"Can you not take a compliment? Do I need to spell it out for you?"

"Maybe…?"

"Oh, come on, you must be stupid. I'm very attracted to you. I'm bored. I'm hot and single." She leaned toward Griffin seductively.

"You sort of sound like a prostitute at the moment."

Sintra sighed and rolled her eyes mightily. "Okay, whatever."

Braelin had partially recovered from Thierry's attack and explored her alliance's shelter enough to discover a good weapon hidden under the hearth of the building. Kendal claimed the short sword quickly and no one contested her claim- Braelin had little interest in weapons and Terran was still emerging from his new shell of survivalism. Kendal was effectively the leader of the alliance at this point.

Calisto was bitten by a rat as he attempted to patch a leaky wall in 'his' hut.

Tiernan began to hunt after the rain stopped.

DAYS FIVE, SIX, AND SEVEN

Before dawn of the fifth day, Tiernan discovered Kendal, Terran, and Braelin. Seeing Terran as the biggest threat, he attacked him first with a war cry, which effectively spoiled his advantage of surprise. Terran sat bolt upright and his head collided with Tiernan's, giving the alliance enough time to become alert. Kendal grabbed her sword proudly and grabbed Tiernan's attention just long enough for Terran to scramble away and grab his makeshift staff. With two members of the alliance armed, Tiernan started to lose his nerve, but he charged Kendal nonetheless, engaging the one he saw as an easy kill.

Kendal was fierce but untrained, and although her blade was sharper and better balanced than Tiernan's, she had less skill and a shorter reach. She scored a shallow cut on his arm but the duel was still short- he impaled her on his spear, skewering her torso all the way through.

The scream probably woke up all the other tributes.

She flailed her sword wildly, and with the spear through her body she had Tiernan in a much closer range. She cut him across the neck and he let go of the spear and lunged for the sword. With his artery emptying itself all over the ground, he collapsed. His cannon fired a few seconds after Kendal's.

Terran grabbed Braelin, grabbed the sword, and ran. The exertion was overwhelming for the girl from Seven and by the time Terran chose a suitable building, she was clutching her stomach in pain. Something inside her was wrong, and Terran revisited the theory of internal hemorrhaging.

Tributes were having real problems now. Ita was having symptoms of illness- slight fever, nausea, headache- and Calisto's rat bite was definitely infected. Geneva, in her migration to town, had also sustained wounds from rat attacks, and she had noticed several rotting rodent corpses in the plaza.

On day six, the Careers split. Sintra and Viera went hunting in the grain fields, nearly scaring Trista and Maxim into giving up their location but still not successful. Romany and Griffin were tasked with caring for Ita, who had developed a rash and black patches around her lymph nodes. She was hallucinating her family at that point. Romany revealed her fear of Sintra and Viera, and Griffin agreed. Ita would be dispatched if she was useless, and then Sintra and Viera would have little reason to keep the lesser Careers around.

So they decided to run as soon as Ita's condition changed for the better or the worse.

Braelin began to cough up blood around midday. Terran tried to quiet her, but she had already attracted attention. Luckily, it was only Sorrel who eavesdropped on the pair. She was loath to abandon relatively pleasant tributes after her alliance was gone. Maybe she was falling to pieces or maybe it was desperation for human interaction, but she hung around long enough to see Braelin succumb to her injuries and continued to watch Terran while he was left alone.

Overnight, Ita began to retch up a soupy black mixture and only Griffin was awake to watch his district partner die. He did not have the strength to shorten her pain, but he managed to hold in his tears when her cannon fired and the rest of the Careers awoke. He and Romany shared a look, knowing that they would be leaving soon.

They broadcasted her picture immediately, and all the tributes awake knew that somehow, a Career had died. Sorrel, seeing Terran awake, made her move. She slipped into the building under cover of shadow and whispered in his ear. "Hey, Eleven."

"Who the hell are you?" He spun around, trying to see his visitor in the dark.

"Sorrel from Twelve. You've lost your alliance, I've lost mine. I can't stand being alone and I don't think you'll be able to either. Wanna hang?"

Terran couldn't help but laugh. "Wanna hang? Are you serious, it's not like we're going to be buddies."

"As serious as I can be at the moment."

"I'll make a truce with you, sure, until… top five. Then we're alone."

Sorrel sat down next to him. "That'll do, Eleven."

Geneva and Calisto both woke up in the morning feeling significantly worse than before. Calisto could hardly move due to his infected foot and new symptoms like dizziness, cold sweats, and hallucination. He attempted to cry for help but no sounds made it past his swollen throat. Geneva was nauseous and feverish but still mobile; she tottered through town, whimpering feebly.

The Careers were not hunting, luckily for her. Griffin and Romany had split after Sintra and Viera had fallen back asleep. Now, on the morning of the seventh day, the girls were trying to track down their lost allies, who were now the biggest threats in the arena. Food was running short for everyone, thanks to Tiernan destroying half the supplies in the early days. Trista and Maxim had resorted to eating heads of grain and they were bloated and ill from that bad habit. Their sickness, though, was mild and they spent most of their time in a small clearing they had created in the grain, talking about their homes. They had made a pact that if one of them lived, both of them did through memory and stories.

Celebrities of the Capitol made many comments about the beauty of finding a kindred spirit in the Games and the tragedy of imminent death for the youngsters. Gamemakers were upset because the rats had not found their way to the two youngest remaining tributes, and they were evading the plague. Games enthusiasts hated the pair for their lack of bloodshed.

Terran and Sorrel were changing locations to allow collection of Braelin's stiff corpse when they ran into the delirious Geneva. Coughing up chunks the color of coffee grounds, the girl barely fixed her eyes on Sorrel's face. She giggled and hiccupped a bubble of blood, misting the pair's faces with red droplets as it popped.

"You're sorta cute, you know that?"

Sorrel exchanged a wary look with Terran. "Um, thanks?" She took a quick step back as Geneva staggered forward, spitting up lumpy blood. "I think we should get out of here."

They skirted past Geneva and broke into a run. A cannon fired mere minutes later.

DAYS EIGHT AND NINE

"Tributes, it has come to our attention that many of you are lacking food. To assist you in your competition, we will be providing a feast in exactly twenty-four hours in the town square. We cannot guarantee any sort of goodwill between you, but we can guarantee a true banquet."

Calisto heard the message but the plague had rendered his comprehension void. He tried to call out, but his swollen tongue blocked most of his mouth anyway. His last thought was entirely lucid.

I could have done so much better.

He would have preferred to keep hallucinating. The newest wave of pain pushed him into unconsciousness. He never surfaced. Eight tributes remained.

Trista and Maxim, desperate for true food, clutched each other's hands as they traveled back through the grain field. They dared not poke their heads up to pinpoint their location, but they depended on trampled grain stalks to show them the way.

Terran and Sorrel saw the Career girls stake out a place near the town square. They both brought up the possibility of attacking them while they don't expect anything, but they shot it down both times when they were reminded of the Careers' superior weapons. Sorrel hoped for a sponsor gift, but nothing came. As cruel irony would have it, a parachute descended from the sky… for Viera. She opened it, showed something to Sintra, and the two girls gave each other a short nod. As far as Terran could see, it was a small flask of something.

Terran and Sorrel, however, were feeling a little fuzzy and detached.

Everyone had crept to the plaza under cover of night. All eight tributes were ready to get food- Romany and Griffin had supplies, but Romany was nervous about the nibbles around the edge of all their food. She was wise- rats have been everywhere.

The sun rose on the ninth day and no feast was to be seen.

"Twenty four hours," groaned Sintra, "That must put it just a little before noon. We still have a couple hours."

Viera nudged her one remaining ally and pointed at movement behind the curtains of a nearby house. They caught a glimpse of a short boy with glasses. "Boy from Seven. Probably with the girl from Six."

"They'll be easy targets. Not the important ones, but let's keep an eye on them."

Griffin noticed the girls' focus. "Romany, they're watching others. They don't know where we are."

"We might have surprise on our side. Get in, grab stuff, get out, be defensive."

Griffin nodded in agreement, but he broke into a coughing fit as he did so. Romany slapped her hand over his mouth. "You're not okay. What's that on your upper arm?" It was a swollen black patch of skin. Romany scooted away from Griffin as fast as she could.

The feast was about to begin. Tributes waited in the doorways of houses for the Gamemakers to give the order like some sort of twisted god.

No order came after what felt like an eternity. Sorrel, Terran, Romany, and Griffin had the impulse to run in all at the same time. They burst from two different houses in the same instant, converging on the table full of food. Sorrel found a bag bursting over with fruits and dragged it off among the houses right away, but Terran and Romany charged for the same chunk of mutton. In that moment, there was nothing else in the world and they could not form any other goals. They collided over the meat and in a feverish frenzy Romany pulled back her curved blade and struck Terran with it.

His head went rolling across the cobblestones. Romany fell backwards, mutton in hand, and screamed as the headless body toppled slowly to the ground. Griffin grabbed her under her arms and hauled her away, not wanting to lose his ally while both Sintra and Viera were still around.

The two Career girls converged on the feast as Trista and Maxim watched in horror. They took their sweet time with the food, packing it away and practically drooling over each piece. After they retreated, giving a kick to Terran's body as they passed, the two young tributes emerged from hiding.

What fools were they.

The Career girls sprang at them in an ambush. Trista threw a few wild punches as Sintra attacked her, and got one good swing landed on her jaw. Unable to control her anger, Sintra screamed and grabbed Trista by the hair, hurling her entire body onto the ground. Maxim tried to help his friend, but he was no match for Viera's strong grip.

For good measure, Sintra punched Trista square in the mouth, breaking several of her teeth and splitting her lip. "That's just karma, sweetie," she crooned, "And this is goodbye." She blew a kiss at Trista before sliding a knife across her belly, spilling guts across the dusty ground.

Maxim stared in horror at his friend's body before Viera turned her attention to him. "Was she your little friend, buddy?" He could hardly nod. "Were you in loooove with her?" Tearing up, he shook his head 'no'. "Oh, but how sweet would it be if you were?" He shook his head more vigorously. "Come on, buddy, together in death, that's so romantic. Ever heard of Romeo and Juliet? She was stabbed, he… drank poison. And guess what I happen to have right here with me?" She pulled the sponsor flask from the waist of her pants.

"Please, no," Maxim croaked as she grabbed his hair and pulled his head back.

"Oh, I think it's meant for you. My mentor said to use it for Sintra because she's a threat, but I promised I wouldn't! So that makes it yours, sweetie."

"No, it really doesn't." Sintra strode over to her former ally as she was tipping the flask into Maxim's mouth. She pushed the container away from the boy and removed him from Viera's grasp. "Don't be a bitch, Viera. You're not in charge anymore, so stop acting like you've got so much power."

She drew her bloody blade across Maxim's throat, letting his limp body fall across Trista's legs.

"What was that for?" Viera shrieked.

"First of all, you're sick enough that you're sweating like crazy and shaking and I've been feeling your scorching fever all morning. Also, you must be going crazy to have taunted him like that."

"You took my kill!" Viera lunged, nails out, at Sintra, who ducked and aimed a punch at Viera's stomach. The girl from Four twisted in the air and the blow grazed off her side. Her landing was bad, though, and she dropped the flask on the ground, its clear contents spilling onto the ground. Sintra snatched it up still half-full.

"You said you wouldn't use it on me, which is nice, but I never promised the same. You've underestimated me too long." Viera's next frantic attack was stopped with a splash of poison to the face, and without thinking she inhaled as the cold liquid hit her skin.

She sputtered, trying to clean the deadly fluid from her tongue, but within minutes she was in convulsions on the ground.

"Adios, bitch."

The fourth cannon of the day fired shortly thereafter. Sintra dropped to the ground and clutched her temples, trying to evade the massive headache she had been fighting all morning.

THE FINALE- DAY TEN

Romany and Griffin awoke, drenched in sweat and surrounded by shimmering air. Griffin was not aware if the heat he was feeling was from his fever or another cause, but when he looked at his hands and arms he saw raised black patches covering his skin.

"Fire!" Romany screamed, and Griffin realized he was not a self-heating furnace but rather being attacked by flames. He ran as fast as he could on stumbling feet out of the stone building, followed by Romany. Turning to look at her, he saw her tongue black and swollen poking from her mouth.

The purging flames swept upon the town like hellfire, beautiful and deadly and all at once the most uncontrollable thing any of them had ever seen. Sintra watched the flames advance from the town square- they surrounded her on all sides but did not come too close.

Sorrel ran as fast as she could, but her shambling feverish gait could not keep up a safe pace. The flames licked at her back and the warmth reminded her of her family's hearth at home. Sooty and dangerous, perhaps, but at the same time warm and comforting.

Fever raged in her mind and she stopped running. Turning to face the conflagration, she smiled at the fire and welcomed it. Flames could purge the illness from her, just as they take impurities from metal.

The remaining three could barely hear the cannon over the crackling of flames.

Griffin and Romany burst into the town square just ahead of the flames, but the fire no longer advances. They look around in the haze and smoke for Sintra or Sorrel but they cannot see anyone.

Sintra, only keeping hold of reality through her goal of victory, crept around the pair and jumped Griffin first, trying to push him into the flames at knifepoint. She failed, however, and he tried to do the same to her in his sick daze. Romany made her way to the overturned banquet table and tried to keep both of her competitors in sight.

It was a long fight- two well trained tributes, of course, were more closely matched than many of the others, but they were both plague ridden. They stumbled over cobblestones and landed blows on imaginary limbs. Perhaps it was by sheer luck that Sintra plunged her knife into Griffin's ribs. He swayed and fell to his knees, not quite dead. I can't forgive myself. I didn't do it. I couldn't do it. I failed. I played into their hands. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Romany, who had taken the opportunity to prepare, began her fight by hurling excess food at Sintra. Her hands had almost no feeling in them due to the extreme heat, and her head hurt and she could not even speak. Sintra, exhausted, weaponless, but determined, powered through the flying chicken legs and round bread loaves in her quest for victory. Romany got smarter and began to throw goblets and plates and shards of broken tableware. Sintra bent down and collected one of the sharp pieces of pottery and Romany crouched behind the table in desperation. She found one greasy platter still on the ground and put it over her head as a shield. Sintra leaned over the table and jabbed downward with the shard, and she had enough power behind the blow to separate three of Romany's fingers from her left hand.

The girl from Five screamed, rising to her feet in abject terror and swinging the platter with her right hand. The grease made it slip away and hit Sintra in the side of the head. She collapsed entirely and Romany, bleeding profusely, knelt down next to her. She was not dead yet. With her hands shaking, and finding it hard to draw breath, Romany picked up the shard of tableware and set it across Sintra's neck, bearing down bit by bit until the skin split.

Two cannons fired. Romany was alone and she was alive.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you: Romany Argent of District Five, victor of the Twentieth Annual Hunger Games!"

Yup, arena inspired by medieval towns, and the Black Plague was the Gamemakers' big dealio. I know others have done similar themes before, but I wanted to stick with my historical/fictional themes from the past few Games and it was a fun theme to have 'all tributes weak and strong succumb to the uncontrollable Capitol wild card'.

I feel really weird ending it here, so I may be back (within a day or two, or not at all. That's the final deal now lol) with the post-Games events that I normally do. There will certainly be some goodbyes made, obits and all that, so you don't have to worry about trying to count out your trib's placement. I gotta finish out the ChaosVerse and all that. I'll update the blog when my computer decides to run BlogSpot again :/

Sorry it's been so long, my dears. So long between my decisions, so long between updates. Nearly stretched eight chapters into a year, lol. And this was meant to be a Christmas gift but then I wasn't able to get on it for two days due to family events and traveling and where I'm at now has dial up wifi... flashback to the 90's amirite?

Love you guys. Thanks for sticking with me, for better or for worse. This isn't the last you'll see of me, (story's not marked complete yet lol), but it's the last SYOT games I'll be doing.

Congratulations to Saige for Romany's victorship. I don't know if you'll ever see it but hey, a victor is a victor!

So uh, if you're still here and you were still interested in a meager summary of the Games, tell me what you thought!