Hey Guys, here is the next chapter in the sequence. I am on the 4th Hunger Games already! That means only 21 more till the first Quell! So I hope you guys enjoy and leave a review!

-Dn

Chapter 4- Year 4

Victor- Ula Mayfer- District 10

Dead. All dead. Every one of them dead. I heard the sound of the cannon a few seconds ago, signaling that there are only two of us left. I don't understand how a small, meek, girl from District 10 is left alive after such fierce, intimidating, and blood thirsty people are dead.

I remember in training watching people effortlessly handle weapons and learning the difference between edible and poisonous plants. I just couldn't focus the entire week. I was either crying my eyes out, or too scared to move a muscle. I made myself sick with being so anxious and worrying; I nearly missed the opening ceremonies. I remember seeing Sammy standing so tall and proud next to me as I curled up and tried to shell out the world around me. He was such a promising person, I was almost certain he was going to win. He had charm, looks, speed, strength and was smart. He got a ten in training, while I couldn't pull off anything more than a two. A pathetic, measly two.

But none of that matters. He is dead, and I am alive. I have the chance that he lost along with his life. I even saw him die. He died at the beginning, what they now are calling the Bloodbath. It was terrifying! We rose up out of our tubes and I was expecting a lush green forest like past years. I was wrong. Every where I looked was long dark trees that are resting in a dark, murky water. Mud was running from the ground to where I stood and the only source of light was glinting off of the golden Cornucopia. It stood their proud among the dark setting we would be spending the remainder of our days in.

To get to the Cornucopia, you had to move through about ten feet of water and then come to what looked to be a solid surface that was about another 100 yards to the golden horn. Tributes all around me were getting ready to sprint. I saw Sammy looking ready to not run to the horn, but to the District 2 boy on his left. I was still frozen in fear on what horrors this place may contain. The gong rang out and all hell broke loose. Tributes waded in the water to get to a sprint to the Cornucopia. Sammy got to the District 2 boy and after a small struggle, forced his head under the water until the boy was drowned. He went to the Cornucopia and grabbed a sword and was about to make another kill when the 2 boys District partner shot him in the neck with an arrow, killing him instantly.

I somehow managed to get away unscathed and with a black backpack that has been my life line for the past two weeks. I hid and didn't dare to move the entire time. I almost cried every time I heard one of the cannon's boom out signaling someone's death. I tried not to feel sorry for them since I didn't know them, but I wish I did.

I counted the cannons each day and watched to see who they were each night. Eight died on the first day along with Sammy. Then they began to die slowly. I would hear the occasional scream echoing out through the swamp, and sometimes it would be rewarded with a cannon, other times not. I still just stayed in my hiding place, praying no one would find me.

But now there are only two of us left, and I feel like I need to move and make myself seen. I know I can't kill this person, nor will I try. I will just run and hide, being a little animal hiding from a predator.

I stand up and begin wallowing through the marshy waters and muddy grounds of the swamp. I have been lucky I haven't received many bug bites over my time in the arena. So I haven't felt the need to endanger myself to the elements and infection by scratching and creating unnecessary wounds. I do trip multiple times from tree roots that seem to sprout out of no where and create a tangle and uneven ground on the floor beneath my feet.

I walk in what I think to be the cornucopia and don't' stop. I know this will be my last day in the arena. And I also know it will be my last day living, which scares me.

At last I reach the Cornucopia by some miracle. I see where we rose up into the swamp, I see where Sammy was shot and killed, and I see the ghosts of the children who did not survive wandering endlessly hear for all eternity. As I walk up to the island itself, I see blood stains in the mud still, some dried, others appear to be fresh. I just feel death all around me; a feeling I haven't felt the entire Games. It scares me and I just want to go run and hide before whoever is still alive finds me.

I just stand their for a minute, an hour, a day, I don't know but it just felt like an eternity. After that eternity, I hear a distant sound of feet breaking sticks on the ground, feet squishing in the dirt, and a splash that is all to close.

I close my eyes and turn around to see who is alive. I face the person with my eyes closed and slowly open them to see the District 4 boy standing in front of me with a trident and weighted net in his hand. The tridents points are stained with blood and is dented from fighting.

The boy himself is about my height and size. He has a cut that runs from the inner corner of his right eye disappearing down the collar of his shirt on the back of his neck. There is a black discoloration from an arrow in his right arm just above the wrist, and he is walking in a slight limp, favoring his left side for whatever reason. He also seems to carry himself with a sense of confidence that I have lacked from the very beginning of the Games. That fire in his eyes is in an uncontained rage that seems to be thirsting for blood.

He looks at me and starts sprinting at me. I just turn to the side and close my eyes waiting for the pain that will end my life. But it never comes. I open my eyes and see him staring at the water in front of him. His mouth is open in pure shock and I look to see what he is looking at, and I immediately fall under the same spell as him.

The island that we are standing on seems to be rising and we watch, as the ground slowly seems to fall beneath our feet until we are about twenty feet higher than we were before we started moving. Then just like us, the water level begins to rise. The trees begin to fall below the water's surface until all we see is water and the tips of the tallest trees.
Thinking the end of the show is done; the boy resumes his stance to kill me. But I know what is going to happen next, and nothing good will happen. I suddenly realize what this is to the Capitol, something I knew but never truly understood. This is a game, just a show for them to enjoy, and the Gamemakers are giving them a grand-finale.

When the boy charges again, I don't flinch or turn away from him, but instead fix my gaze upon the water where air pockets suddenly begin to burst from the water. He is about five feet from me when a huge brown tail flies from the water and flicks him about ten feet away and knocks the breath out of him. It goes from flicking him to above my head and flying down to crush me aerially. I quickly jump to the side. I don't want to die, not standing still like I thought I would. In truth, I have reached an epiphany determining I am afraid of death and loosing what I have here in this life. I won't play the Capitols game like they want me to, but I won't kill this boy.

I run off to the opposite side of the island where the 4 boy is slowly regaining his breath and standing up. I'd rather take my chances with a human who is trying to kill me as opposed to a giant swamp monster that's trying to kill me.

He sees me coming and has enough time before I can avoid his attack to throw his trident and having it pierce my thigh to my hipbone. I scream out in pain and fall to the ground. I haven't experienced any type of pain of this magnitude in my entire life. I know it didn't strike anything vital, but it still felt like I was dying.

I am able to force myself to stand up and pull the trident out of my leg and throw it to the side before he tackles me to the ground and starts punching me in the face repeatedly. I can feel each punch hit my face, even as my face goes numb. I am aware that my nose is broken, I have broken teeth falling to the back of my mouth and blood running out of the corner of my eye. He just kept punching me, hoping I would just die.

After I have given up hope on life, the punches stop and I hear a scream. I am able to open my eyes long enough to see a giant brown snake looking thing with the 4 boy in its mouth, blood being showered down from its mouth. More screams and it is silenced by a cannon. The beast spits the boy out of its mouth and sinks back into the water below. I look with my good eye at the mangled body that looks just like a bloody piece of meat back at home. The sight of it makes me want to hurl, so I close my eyes and try to avoid every fiber of my being that it screaming in pure pain.

Even when I hear the trumpets playing, it seems to almost shatter my ear drums and I let darkness take over and I am swallowed into nothingness.