Drane Almeda- District 11- (16)- Victor of the 122nd Hunger Games

The sandstorm that the Gamemakers had whipped up, combined with the dry heat of the air around me had made my throat go completely scratchy, like sandpaper. The sandstorm had popped out of nowhere this morning, pushing me towards the center of the arena. The heat had been relentless these past five days, and it had killed off nearly every single tribute in the arena, except two. I was one of the two remaining tributes; just a lanky, agile girl from District 11. This year the games had gone by much too quickly for the Capitol's liking, I could tell.

I could barely see five feet in-front of my face, but I knew where the storm was leading me. Since there were only two of us left, I was bound for the cornucopia, bound for the final brawl. The sand whipping around my body stung when it collided with me. I brought nothing with me on my trek to the cornucopia except for my water bottle, which had run out of water just as I had started the journey, as well as my arsenal of knives.

The only other remaining tribute in the arena was the girl from District 5. I never knew the girl by name so killing her should be easy. I had never killed anyone in my life before; I haven't even killed anyone in this arena. I knew that that was going to change in no time at all. The elements took out many, many tributes this year. Ten tributes died at the Bloodbath, another four tributes on the second day, five on the third day, and three more the fourth. Now, only one more had to die.

I was never good at combat. I only learned how to throw knives during training. Unbeknownst to me, I had an impeccable talent at the art of knife throwing. Yet, in the arena thus far, I haven't been able to see my talents come to fruition.

My time in the arena went by with the blink of an eye. With a stroke of luck, I managed to get a backpack from the cornucopia. I had apparently hit the lottery, because the backpack I had chosen came with everything I had needed to survive for a week. I had three bottles of water, food for a week, and my knives that I was fortunate enough to find at the bottom of the pack. After bolting away from the cornucopia, I ran, and ran, and ran. I only stopped when I could no longer see any tributes in the vast, enormous desert that had spread out before me on that first day. Then, with another stroke of luck, I managed to find the smallest of caves for me to squeeze into it for the remainder of the time in the arena. I only poked out my head to see who had died at the playing of the anthem each night.

The cave was by no means comfortable, the floor was jagged, and it was one of the tiniest spaces ever imaginable. But somehow, I managed, and I had only emerged when I knew that there were just two of us left.

I sped up my pace a little, trying to find the cornucopia in the blinding tornado of sand. I was tired from walking, but I could not stop; I would not stop until I reached the end, and emerged victorious. My unrest grew greatly as I played with the tips of my blades. Any second now and the brown cornucopia should come into my field of vision. I could sense it off in the distance, and I took one of my blades out of the belt draped tightly across my waist. I knew I was getting close, because the sandstorm that was created by the Gamemakers' fingers was beginning to slowly dissipate.

As the winds decreased, my visibility began to increase. As if on cue, I spot the brown cornucopia in the distance. As quickly as the sandstorm had been conjured, it faded away into nothingness. I saw my goal right in front of me now. The girl from District 5 was sitting atop the cornucopia swishing her legs to and fro. I noticed the temperature skyrocket, and knew that the Gamemakers had cranked up the heat for the final battle. I brandished the dagger like it was a sword, and walked slowly to the girl, who was holding an axe. The axe would be cumbersome for her, I thought, she gets one throw, and if she misses I would have an open target to throw at. I wouldn't dare let her get too close to me.

My adrenaline soared, as I thought about my little brother at home, along with my mother and father, who would both be agonized at my death. I'm sure the Five girl had something to live for as well, but I couldn't think about that. That made her more human. That made her harder to kill.

The girl's features became more clear to me as I approached. She had curly brown hair and a small nose, mouth and eyes. She looked ready to pounce. I loomed ever so close to her, but stayed out of axe throwing distance, and called out, "I guess it's down to us!"

"Guess so," she responded. With that she stood, and lifted her axe into a combat position. I jumped into action, and sprinted the rest of the way towards the cornucopia. The other girl jumped into combat as well. With a swift leap down from the roof of the cornucopia, we were both on a level playing field. The girl began to run towards me, trying to get within striking distance without throwing her weapon. But the cumbersome axe slowed the girl tremendously. I darted around her as she approached and continued to slickly maneuver around her attempts to slice me in half. She kept trying to cut me, but I was always out of her grasp. I knew that the strategy would never win me the games, but it sure did tire my opponent. Soon I could tell that the girl was exhausted. Her breath became extremely ragged, and I realized how much of a fighting chance I had.

I glanced down at the nearly fifteen knives I had, and looked at the one I still had in my hand. It was time to start throwing. The girl was near the opening of the cornucopia, the same thing that had supplied me with these knives just days ago. Locking onto my target, I slashed the small knife her way. Swiftly, the girl jumped into the interior of the cornucopia just in time for the blade to swish right by her. After she saw it go by, the girl leaped back out and around the big, horn-shaped structure. I followed her, grasping another shiny dagger by the handle. I didn't want this to go on forever, my throat was becoming as scratchy as ever and my muscles were sore with fatigue.

I rounded the cornucopia and saw the girl dashing off away from me. "Turn around and fight me you coward!" I spat at the girl, which was ironic because I was doing the same thing she was doing to me only moments ago. The girl didn't stop, she was using my tactics that had just previously worked as well on her! In that moment I thought of everything that being a victor would do for me. I would be famous, I would have money (something that my family lacked back in District 11), and I would be safe, and most importantly I would get to see my family again. I felt a new stream of persistence coarse its way into my blood as I sprinted towards the tribute.

The exasperated girl began to slow down in front of me, she stopped zig-zagging and I knew that I needed to take my shot. As the Five girl turned around, I whipped another blade her direction. I missed by mere inches. By this time I could see that she wanted to throw her axe at me, and my prediction was right. With what seemed like all of her strength, I saw the axe fly from her hand and spin end over end as it headed towards me. The attempt of the girl was foolish, as her fatigue was marked by inaccuracy. The axe fell to the ground about ten feet to my right, and I knew that it was time to take my chance. I pulled out another dagger and used my entire strength to throw it at the girl. Using up my entire strength also didn't do wonders for my accuracy. I was aiming for the head to make it as swift and painless as possible, but instead the fast-moving dagger dug into her upper leg, causing her to squeal out in pain. The tribute had crumpled to the ground and I knew the battle was nearly won.

I ran to the girl and turned her onto her back, I ripped the knife from her open wound and she cried out once more. I looked into her deep brown eyes which were losing life rapidly. I prepared to quickly gash her neck to end her suffering mercifully, but I had one last thought. "Do you want to say a goodbye?" I asked the to the now dying girl. I would want to have the same thing granted to me on my deathbed.

The girl was gasping at this point. She managed to sputter out her last words, "I tried my best."

She then lied quietly, waiting for her inevitable fate to come. I readied myself for what would be my first kill. I leaned into the girl's ear and whispered to her, "I'm sorry." Then I placed the sharp metal blade against her neck and stabbed as hard as I could.

I heard the cannon almost instantaneously, signaling that the girl was dead. I let go of the blade and crumpled onto the ground next to her as her warm, crimson blood spurted out onto my body. Tears began rolling down my face and everything became a blur- I remember the hovercraft coming, and me getting up and placing my hand on the ladder and being frozen into place, and that was it.

I woke up screaming.

Tears were rolling down my face as my brother shook me out of my nightmare. I told my brother to get off of me as I rolled over on my bed and attempted to stifle the tears. My efforts were futile, I will never be able to stifle the tears. My time in the arena had left me with scars that will never fade, no matter how many Capitol surgeries I received. The day I won will always be the day that haunts me forever. I wished it was me in that girl's place, then I wouldn't have to deal with all of the suffering I was put through. Now I felt that winning may not have been the best outcome, maybe dying was better.

I decided to give you a little taste of what may be to come as I wait for tributes to be submitted. So please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter and of Drane, and if you'd like to see her pop up again in the future ;). So yeah, I'm still in need of tributes so if you'd like to see your tribute in my story just go to my profile and fill out the form there, then PM it to me. Make sure to read all the instructions there. I'm not planning on doing all of the reapings, but i will have in-depth POVs of each character before the games start, so you will get to see each character in detail. I may do 4-6 reapings depending on how I feel. Let me know your thoughts and be sure to submit a tribute! :)