THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"A Winter's Ball"
INTRODUCTION
The Great Panemian Reconstruction continued on its rocky course, headed and funded by President Stinn Hawke. His political genius was unmatched by any politician Panem had seen before, and Stinn expertly donated the necessary resources to the rebuilding efforts across the country while simultaneously poisoning his enemies and quieting rebellion in the few cases it did pop up in the districts. The year of the 113th Hunger Games is best remembered as the year the Cordley Plan was implemented. The bane of history students for centuries to come, the Cordley Plan was a complicated set of government accords designed to give financial aid to the districts in the aftermath of the nuclear war. Districts 1 and 2 were given effectively a blank check with which to reconstruct, and this led to intense corruption as those whose families received the Cordley money embezzled it for personal needs and wants. The mayor of District 4, bitter at not receiving the same benefits as 1 and 2 despite being a career district, resigned in a rage, and power switched into the hands of the Burgundy family, an old-fashioned house from District 1 who had migrated westward in the late 80s. This led to controversy and several coup attempts: the main focus of Stinn Hawke's peacekeeper forces this year. The Hunger Games continued along right on schedule, with virtually every member of the gamemaker team the same as last year. Garnet Russo was one of the most beloved head gamemakers in history, and he would not be leaving the position any time soon. After the unbelievably abstract arena of the year prior, Garnet announced this year's arena would be back to square one, one of his typical labyrinthine arenas with twists and turns meant to drive the tributes mad. People weren't completely sure what this entailed, but they were excited for whatever it did.
This year had a gold-star example of a perfect career pack. District 1 provided their standard fare, brilliantly clever and attractive tributes who were sure to go far. The boy, Malbec, was an expert with throwing knives, while the girl, Glamour, preferred spears. District 2, as usual, provided the strongest pair. Ulysses was stoic and silent and skilled with swords, and he was the son of District 2's head trainer, which gained him sponsors from the get-go. The girl had an even bigger advantage straight out of the gate. This Anastasia Talbot was the ninth child of the famed Talbot family to enter the Hunger Games, a cousin of the eight who'd competed previously. She was likable and levelheaded and very smart, earning an eleven by showing off her axe and sword skills. District 4 provided the weakest pair, but they were still very dangerous. The boy, Moby, was a slim dark-haired creature who liked daggers, and he was one of the youngest careers ever at only fifteen. Meanwhile his partner Theodocia was more unconventional and silly and liked bows and arrows. This was the first games in history where every career tribute earned the same score as their district partner: the 1s scored tens, the 2s scored elevens, and the 4s scored nines.
The most memorable outlier this year was Sommer Kennedy from District 11, who volunteered in place of her younger sister. She was the first outlier volunteer in seventeen years, the last one being Itsuki Tanner back in the ninety-sixth games. Sommer was very likable and powerful enough, earning a seven, and many were eager to see how she would fare in the arena. The other main standouts were the tributes that earned sevens: Caspum and Thicket from 7. Caspum was a conventional District 7 lumberjack with a charming kind of appeal, while Thicket was more exotically beautiful with heavy Asian heritage. Both were axe fighters, and both earned the highest reasonable score usually given to outliers. The rest of the tributes scored between six and two. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Malbec Radford, 16 (10) 6-1 and Glamour Barron, 16 (10) 6-1
District 2: Ulysses Emerson, 17 (11) 3-1 and Anastasia Talbot, 18 (11) 3-1
District 3: Zeta Huntley, 16 (5) 24-1 and Anora Warden, 15 (4) 29-1
District 4: Moby Goffman, 15 (9) 7-1 and Theodocia Stauffer, 18 (9) 5-1
District 5: Ursa Ceder, 13 (4) 36-1 and Juno Dumornay, 17 (4) 28-1
District 6: Winnie Longworth, 18 (6) 14-1 and Annley Flake, 17 (5) 23-1
District 7: Caspum Gine, 16 (7) 15-1 and Thicket Li, 18 (7) 12-1
District 8: Warp Jain, 17 (5) 24-1 and Ashleen Venzo, 15 (3) 41-1
District 9: Farro Reimann, 18 (5) 22-1 and Kayla Litin, 18 (4) 25-1
District 10: Curan Shier, 16 (3) 40-1 and Zea Quon, 13 (2) 45-1
District 11: Theodore Temes, 17 (5) 24-1 and Sommer Kennedy, 18 (7) 15-1
District 13: Azarias McKinley, 18 (5) 21-1 and Reece Mithun, 17 (4) 26-1
HGBO Bets: 16% on Anastasia, 15% on Ulysses, 9% on Malbec and Glamour, 8% on Theodocia, 7% on Moby, 5% on Sommer, 3% on Caspum and Thicket, 1% or less on Zeta, Anora, Ursa, Juno, Winnie, Annley, Warp, Ashleen, Farro, Kayla, Curan, Zea, Theodore, Azarias, and Reece.
THE GAMES
The uniforms the tributes found in the launch rooms were incredibly ornate: the girls found long, flourishing rococo-style robes that swept the floor with silver threading while the gentlemen had specially-trained avoxes fit them into old-fashioned dinner jackets with lush patterns on the sleeves. A calendar on the wall of each launch room showed the date: 17 December 1916. This implied the games this year would be based off some specific historical event. When the tributes entered the arena, many were dumbfounded with shock. They were in the dining chamber of an enormous palace on a winter's night. The central room, which contained the cornucopia, was lined with mahogany dining tables covered carefully with glassware, silverware, and all the food the tributes could hope to eat in a month. Much of this food, though, was laced with cyanide. The ceiling displayed a stunning recreation of the classical style, with feathery designs that rolled into one another as beautifully as a breeze. As the tributes walked outward, they would find the palace flush with throne rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, closets (private chambers for the royals), servants' quarters, and much more. The cornucopia held spears, swords, and throwing knives – weapons favored by District 1 tributes. Also, some crowns were provided that had spiked edges that could be used to gore and kill. Outside the palace, rocky gardens spread out for several meters, then gave way to a dense evergreen wintry forest. The arena was also traversed by a broad river, cold as ice.
The tributes were expecting the countdown to appear, but that didn't happen. Instead, a hole opened in the ceiling and the head gamemaker, Garnet Russo, descended, bedazzled in a furry costume inlaid with fabulous jewels.
"Welcome, welcome!" he said in a strange foreign accent, "To the 113th annual Hunger Games. But before we begin, I'd like to give you all a history lesson. This year's games will be based off a very specific historical event, and I think the added context will come in handy."
They were all listening. He went on. "Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a great war forced the auspicious king to leave his throne to assume command of his army. When he departed, he left his wife in charge of the palace and the crown. However, this woman was like a puppet, her every action dictated by a mystic she believed could heal her ailing son."
"Soon, this man was the most powerful figurehead of the nation, the leader in all affairs of state. With the queen wrapped around his finger, many thought him to be a dark influence over the government, and a plot was hatched to kill him." Garnet paused for effect. "A grand prince invited him to a fantastic Christmas feast and laced the food with enough poison to kill a horse."
"That, my friends, is the story of this year's arena. The ghost of this man will relentlessly wander the palace in search of human blood. If you kill him, he will be replaced by a carbon copy, so the arena will never be free of his wrath. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoy this trip back in time we've worked so hard to prepare for you. May the odds be ever in your favor. Oh, and one more thing. It smells like almonds."
And in a matter of moments, he was gone. The tributes were now chilled by something other than the sight of snowflakes flying past the windows. Some were familiar with the historical story of this year's arena, but that didn't make them less afraid of the spirit lurking within its halls: the spirit of the man who'd so coyly snatched control of the crown. The tributes who'd gained a knowledge of poisons in the training center knew what Garnet was referring to when he said "it smells like almonds": cyanide, one of the most infamous poisons in history. But most of the tributes didn't know or care. All they cared about was making it through the bloodbath with their lives. Because of the vast stores of food around the cornucopia, a larger than average number of tributes decided to run from the bloodbath this year. They stuffed whatever they could grab inside their fists and clothes while the others burst forward, ready to get the party started.
The anti-careers came together even before the careers did. They'd made loose plans to ally in the training center but weren't sure what would actually happen until they saw the arena. Now they agreed conditions were ideal. They were the tributes from 7 and 11: Caspum, Thicket, Theodore, and Sommer. As they scrambled for weapons, the careers hurried to assemble. Theodocia was the first to find her favorite weapon, and she fired her first arrow a moment after she'd slung the quiver over her shoulder. Juno from 5 went down screaming bloody murder, the first to die as the bloodbath began in earnest.
Juno Dumornay, District 5 Female: 24th, Killed by Theodocia, Bloodbath
Malbec made the next kill, flinging a throwing knife into the base of the girl from 10's neck. The girl gurgled sickeningly and fell to the ground, dead. Malbec looked around to see if anyone had seen the kill, but they hadn't; a fight between the careers and anti-careers was already brewing, and tributes were rushing to help their allies as the rumble began.
Zea Quon, District 10 Female: 23rd, Killed by Malbec, Bloodbath
As the fight began, two tributes who hadn't yet joined it each made a kill. These tributes were Glamour and Moby. Glamour took her turn first, launching a lithe throwing spear into the chest of the profane gangster boy from District 8. As Warp fell, Glamour turned suddenly around and found herself face-to-face with a strong outlier, Winnie from 6, who had been sneaking up behind him to end his life. Glamour cried out for assistance, and Moby rushed to her aid. Together, they made quick work of Winnie; Glamour skewered him through with her spear, while Moby flung a dagger into his gut.
Warp Jain, District 8 Male: 22nd, Killed by Glamour, Bloodbath
Winnie Longworth, District 6 Male: 21st, Killed by Glamour and Moby, Bloodbath
The careers and anti-careers slowly circled each other in front of the cornucopia, gazing into one another's eyes and wondering who would make the first strike. Nobody could deny the anti-careers' first few blows were powerful. Sommer found herself courageously taking on both Malbec and Ulysses, while Caspum and Thicket ganged up on Glamour and Theodocia. That, though, was before Anastasia Talbot joined the party. The stunning career girl came flying out of her hiding place, sending food and dinnerware flying in all directions, and turned sharply on her heel to hurl one of her throwing axes into Caspum's neck. The boy was decapitated in one fell swoop, and Anastasia bared her teeth ominously as the real fight began.
Caspum Gine, District 7 Male: 20th, Killed by Anastasia, Bloodbath
When Thicket found herself disarmed of her weapon, she grabbed a sharp crown that sat nearby as a last resort. It was far from a useless last resort. The prongs of the crown were extremely sharp, razor-lined in fact, and Moby Goffman went down screaming as Thicket gored one of the spikes straight through his left eye. The slimy ball fell to the floor in bloody pieces, and Sommer finished Moby off by scoring a heavy line across his chest with her cleaver.
Moby Goffman, District 4 Male: 19th, Killed by Thicket and Sommer, Bloodbath
The streak of four consecutive male deaths was broken. Ulysses broke away from the fight to deal with the last of the anti-careers, Theodore, who'd originally chickened out but returned to the scene of the crime at his district partner Sommer's calling. With one less tribute to deal with, at least just for a moment, Thicket and Sommer found it less grueling to make their next kill. Glamour had turned her attention away from the fight for a split second to view the Ulysses-Theodore duel, and that was all it took for Sommer to force her cleaver into her neck. Glamour screamed and screamed, and the anti-careers knew right away things were getting out of hand and it was time to leave; Ulysses was back in the fight, having knocked Theodore out cold, and four careers was simply too many to face.
Glamour Barron, District 1 Female: 18th, Killed by Sommer, Bloodbath
The anti-careers made the split-second decision to abandon Theodore. He was still out cold, and it broke Sommer's heart to leave him behind, but she knew they couldn't afford to drag him away and waste precious time. Anastasia turned away from the fight to bury her axe into Theodore's chest, ending him.
Theodore Temes, District 11 Male: 17th, Killed by Ulysses and Anastasia, Bloodbath
In only one moment, the four-member career pack split in two. Ulysses and Anastasia stayed at the cornucopia to cut down more outliers, while Malbec and Theodocia raced after the anti-careers. Much drama would come about from this later, but for now all the cameras focused on was the bloodbath. Ulysses and Anastasia made three more kills before the bloodbath was over. Anastasia was next, turning away from the scuffle to attack the boy from 3, who was trying to escape down the north hallway with several packs. Anastasia swung her axe straight into his ribcage, sending out a gushing torrent of blood, and in an instant he was as gone as the old Russian empire.
Zeta Huntley, District 3 Male: 16th, Killed by Anastasia, Bloodbath
Ulysses went next. He'd been dueling with Reece from 13 for several precious moments when, at last, his sword landed in her gut. Reece stumbled backward into a table, which buckled under her weight, sending glass shards flying in all directions. Anastasia screamed as the shards buried themselves in her face, neck, and breasts. In a moment, Ulysses would rush to help her, but for now he was concerned with finishing off Reece, which he did by swinging his long blade across her neck.
Reece Mithun, District 13 Female: 15th, Killed by Ulysses, Bloodbath
Ulysses helped Anastasia to her feet and began tearing the larger glass shards out of her skin, but found it to be a long and difficult process. Besides, Ulysses didn't know whether he was making the problem worse by removing the glass shards and letting the blood start to flow, so all he did was drag her inside the cornucopia for a later time when he'd be able to help her. Anastasia, though, was desperate not to show weakness, and she staggered up to her feet and buried her hatchet into the chest of a girl running nearby. The blow wasn't enough to kill her, and Ulysses finished her off by sliding his sword into her abdomen. "You need some help, sweetie," Ulysses grunted as the cannons fired.
Ashleen Venzo, District 8 Female: 14th, Killed by Anastasia and Ulysses, Bloodbath
Anastasia's sponsors in the Capitol were more than happy to send her all the healing medicines he needed. Ulysses considered disposing of her right then and there; as the only two tributes who'd scored elevens, Anastasia was his prime competitor for kills and sponsors. However, in-fighting this early was never a good look, so Ulysses decided to keep her alive at least for just a little while. Anastasia was utterly humiliated; a major part of her brand was her attractiveness, and with blood leaking from holes in her face and neck this was effectively ruined for the time being.
"Just… go help them. Malbec and Theodocia," she warbled, trying not to cry. That would be even more embarrassing. "I can stand guard by myself. It's okay."
Ulysses shook his head, repeating his signature line. "You need some help, sweetie."
Anastasia clearly did not like being called "sweetie". Her face turned as red as a hot stovetop. "Just… go." She murmured. "Get the anti-careers. I'm fine, really."
Speaking of the anti-careers, Thicket and Sommer had flung themselves into a small dressing room and blockaded the door with several pieces of heavy furniture. Successfully barricaded, Thicket and Sommer had all the time in the world to develop some kind of plan. Malbec and Theodocia were waiting right outside, developing a plan too: a plan to sabotage the room. They were banking on the fact that the spirit of the mystic would be able to pass through walls; Theodocia reasoned that four tributes in one place would draw its attention in no time, and then the anti-careers would have no choice but to break out of the small chamber and into the hallway. Then they'd be like sitting ducks. It wasn't a flawless plan, but it would have to do.
The outliers this year were divided into two categories: those who stayed in the palace and those who left its warm walls and ventured into the woods. The cameras covered the palace lurkers first. Anora from 3 ran screaming through the hallways of the palace, utterly traumatized and heartbroken after seeing her romantic partner Zeta Huntley axed in the chest by Anastasia near the end of the bloodbath. Anora found a room with a nice big window as a last resort and then barricaded herself in. It was a lush reading room with comfortable furniture and plates of tea and cakes. For some reason, Anora mistrusted the tea and cakes, but she still eyed them longingly as the evening passed. Farro from 9 and Azarias from 13 had allied prior to the games, and they made fast progress through the palace as the day passed. They were the first tributes to encounter the spirit of the mystic: the translucent but nonetheless terrifying figure of a large hairy man with heavy jewelry and a cross around his neck. The ghost chased them for nearly an hour until they finally evaded it, collapsing in a small wine cellar laden with bottles of alcoholic drinks. Farro warned Azarias against drinking the liquid, but they were both too thirsty to resist, and by evening they were both blackout drunk. Fortunately for them, the drink they had consumed was not poisoned. The same could not be said for Farro's district partner, Kayla. She'd run from the bloodbath with many of the banquet foods stuffed into her clothing, not knowing it was all filled with cyanide and the moment she took the first bite her life would end. Her family had hurriedly researched the historical event on which this year's arena was based, and they were screaming at her not to eat any of the banquet cakes. Too bad she couldn't hear them. The moment Kayla took the first bite, mere minutes into Day 2, her body stopped working. Hers was one of the cleanest corpses the games had ever seen, but the putrid smell of sour almonds lingered over that place for hours.
Kayla Litin, District 9 Female: 13th, Killed by cyanide, Day 2
Then there were the three tributes who left the rococo-style palace entirely and explored the forest instead. It was freezing cold and rather inhospitable but offered the most shelter and distance from the careers, which a few outliers liked. Ursa from 5 was the youngest tribute in these games and was surprised to have survived the bloodbath. He'd run straight into the fray expecting to be killed but had instead escaped alive with a thick winter jacket, which encouraged him to brave the frigid forest. Ursa at last came to rest in a tight birch thicket near the force field and tried to sleep. Annley from 6 had run to the forest in order to avoid the ghost that Garnet said wandered the palace; she wasn't sure exactly what the ghost did to kill tributes, but she didn't want to find out. Terrified and out of her mind with worry, Annley travelled in circles around the palace for the entire day before coming to rest at the bank of the wide river that traversed the arena. She drank some water but stopped when she remembered a tip she'd heard in the training center and instead warmed the water in her hands before drinking it. It was a laborious process but well worth the effort. Curan from 9 was moving quietly through the trees in the early morning of Day 2 when he saw a pack of wolves about a hundred feet away, their eyes glowing in the dark like cats'. Curan miraculously fended them off by punching them in the eyes and noses, and some impressed sponsors gifted him a quality winter jacket and some dried beef. Grateful, Curan sang the Capitol's praises all night and then curled up for bed. It had been a long day in the arena, and everyone was eager to get some rest.
Day 2 was deathless. For the first half of the day, the cameras focused on the tributes inside the palace, particularly the careers, all of whom had ganged up on the anti-careers and were desperately trying to break into the room they'd blockaded themselves into. A high-strung Anastasia suggested using fire, but Ulysses logicked her out of it as Theodocia and Malbec began the long process of carving away the door itself. The brittle wood broke easily, and Thicket and Sommer were sweating bullets inside as they saw the sharp tips of the knives breaking through the wood. They were banking on the fact that the ghost of the mystic would make an appearance sooner than later, distracting the careers; surely six tributes in one place would attract its attention? For Day 2, at least, they had no such luck.
The middle and later hours of Day 2 were filled with little but Annley's return to the palace. She was nearly frozen to death out in the wilderness and desperately longed to feel the warmth of the palace's cozy interior. She snuck in through a window broken by Anora in a desperate attempt to escape the careers (she'd returned to the palace a few hours later unharmed and unseen) and then found cover as soon as possible, resting in a servant's quarters in the upper levels of the magnificent palace. The only other tributes actually moving at that point were Farro and Azarias, who woke up horribly hungover after their night of drinking and stumbled to a more comfortable spot to sleep off the thick haze that hung over both their heads. The rest of the tributes were staying pretty still: Ursa was satisfied to wander aimlessly through the forest for the time being, stealthily avoiding wolves whenever they appeared. Curan was sponsored a spile with which to garner water from tree trunks, which helped greatly as he no longer had to eat the snow that lay thick and fluffy over the icy ground. Anora was shaken after her close call with the careers but recovered quickly, settling down in a cramped cabinet full of old moth-eaten clothing. There was peace in the arena as day turned into night.
For the first two days, the ghost of the mystic who'd taken control of the crown long ago had done little but wander peacefully albeit ominously through the castle, scaring away tributes. On Day 3, though, things became grim. Farro and Azarias at first thought the approaching spirit was nothing more than a hallucination of their drunken minds. But when it began charging, dagger raised high, the boys knew it was time to run. The ghost chased after them for nearly two hours, chasing them very unfortunately toward the location of the careers, who were still camped out outside the room where Thicket and Sommer were barricaded.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Azarias yelped as they turned the next corner; suddenly, there were the careers, gazing at them from down the hallway. Farro yanked Azarias back around the corner, but it was too late; they'd been seen, and they were now cornered between the ghost and the four-piece career pack. At the same time, the girls inside the blockaded chamber realized what was happening and began dragging away the furniture they'd used to barricade the door; it was time to make a run for it. Eight of the twelve tributes in the arena were now in one place, and three of them would be dead by the time this was over.
Farro and Azarias scrambled for their weapons, pulling out the wicked daggers they'd been sponsored the day prior. The careers split up efficiently and quickly: Malbec and Ulysses targeted Farro, while Anastasia and Theodocia ganged up on Azarias. The careers were strong, but the allied outlier boys were literally fighting for their lives, and adrenaline powered them on with incredible strength. In fact, the first tribute to die in the eight-way tribute scuffle was a career. Azarias' fist had connected with Anastasia's chin, and she stumbled backward just for long enough to distract Theodocia. Azarias suddenly swiped his dagger across Theodocia's throat, drawing forth a torrent of blood, and she fell to her knees, clawing pitifully at her neck and face as the blood came forth faster and faster. She was gone in moments.
Theodocia Stauffer, District 4 Female: 12th, Killed by Azarias, Day 3
Anastasia's axe had been specifically fitted for her grip, an arc of pure destruction. As Farro reeled, Anastasia leaped out of her place at the back of the group and swung the axe in his direction. Farro would have been beheaded in one fell swoop had he not ducked out of the way; the weapon flew over his head, even singing off a few of his stray curls. All eyes were trained on Anastasia Talbot as she spun through the fray, eyes trained darkly on victim after victim as she lashed out with her weapon. Eventually, though, careers and outliers alike were united against a common enemy: the ghost. Its icy fingers landed on Malbec's arm, and he screamed in pain as the skin turned black with frostbite in a mere instant. Malbec, Ulysses, and Anastasia fought from one direction while Farro and Azarias fought from the other, struggling to keep their supernatural attacker at bay.
None of them noticed Thicket and Sommer slip out of the door and down the hallway, silent as church mice.
At last, the careers and anti-careers working together banished the ghost. You couldn't exactly dismember it, but slicing through its ice-cold form seemed to make some of its body parts dissolve for a few moments. It was only completely banished when they had made its entire body disintegrate. They accomplished this in about fifteen minutes.
"Wait!" Anastasia shouted. "Stand guard at the door. I'll chase after these two. Make sure they don't escape!" Ulysses nodded curtly and beckoned for Malbec to stand guard in front of the door with him. Just out of curiosity and boredom, Malbec reached out to turn the handle. The door opened smoothly, with no sign of a barricade in sight. Confused and slightly alarmed, Ulysses and Malbec stepped into the room they'd been struggling to break into for so long. It was completely empty.
"Where… where the hell did they go?" Ulysses stammered.
Those were his last words. He roared in agony as the knife drove through his skin and out his navel. He turned around in alarm but caught only a short glimpse of Thicket Li standing behind him, hand clasped firmly on the leather handle of the weapon lodged into his abdomen. Malbec and Ulysses fell to the ground in a heap, and Thicket and Sommer yanked their blades out of their dead bodies, unsure exactly how to feel. "Come on," Thicket murmured. "Before Anastasia comes back." And they sprinted away.
Ulysses Emerson, District 2 Male: 11th, Killed by Thicket, Day 3
Malbec Radford, District 1 Male: 10th, Killed by Sommer, Day 3
Anastasia heard two cannon shots and had no idea she was now the only career in the arena; she figured, of course, that her allies Malbec and Ulysses had successfully broken into the barricaded room and killed the two anti-careers. Feeling proud of how great the careers were doing after all the setbacks they'd faced in the first few days, Anastasia was powered onward. However, only one of the tributes she was chasing ended up dying, and it wasn't directly at her hands strangely enough. Farro was that unlucky someone. But if he wasn't killed by Anastasia and her axe, then how did he die?
Well, because of the scuffle with the ghost, Farro and Azarias were several precious strides ahead of the careers; cloaked in shadow in a region of the arena that was not terribly well lit, they had time to duck into a room to hide. They seemed to be repeating the anti-careers' strategy as they shoved heavy furniture in front of the door to barricade themselves in. Anastasia howled with fury and began banging at the door to break it down; they didn't have much time to think of a plan. Ultimately, the only solution was to break the window (unlike the room where Thicket and Sommer had been hiding, this room had a large glass casement through which sunlight streamed brightly). By the time Anastasia broke into the room, Farro and Azarias had broken out of the room, and when Anastasia felt the icy wind flowing in through the shattered window she knew at once what had happened.
For the outlier boys, it was out of the frying pan into the fire. Yes, they'd escaped the palace… and stumbled straight into the midst of a pack of wolf mutts. The mutts were drawn together several minutes earlier by the smell of so much luscious human blood, and Farro let out a scream as the first chorus of sharp claws raked against his leg. He turned around suddenly, and he let out a scream with Azarias in stereo. Three mutts, silver fur shining in the apricious winter sun, were organized in triangle formation and more than ready to strike. Azarias ran for his life, selfishly abandoning Farro to die at the hands of the mutts. They took long enough to kill him that Azarias had more than enough time to escape. By the time Farro was dead, Azarias had delved deep into the forest and was now out of sight and earshot. He still covered his ears, though, so there was no chance of hearing what happened to Farro.
Farro Reimann, District 9 Male: 9th, Killed by wolf mutts, Day 3
That left the final eight: Anastasia Talbot from District 2, Anora Warden from District 3, Ursa Ceder from District 5, Annley Flake from District 6, Thicket Li from District 7, Curan Shier from District 10, Sommer Kennedy from District 11, and Azarias McKinley from District 13.
Days 4 and 5 were deathless, utterly slow and lifeless. Garnet wanted to let things draw out a little after Day 3, on which four tributes had died in rapid succession, and that was what he would have. Shortly after the quadruple-whammy, Anastasia returned to the original scene of the crime and found that she was the only remaining career. Furious and humiliated, Anastasia swung her axe into the wall and grunted in annoyance. Her entire life, she'd been raised with a very specific image of how the games would be, and her rose-colored image of a glorious loyal career pack with whom she would fight bravely until the very end was quickly collapsing around her. Anastasia knew it would be a good idea to follow Azarias into the forest, but she wasn't in the mood to face the wolves, and besides, she wanted to return to the cornucopia just for a little normalcy for once. She spent the next two days stalking throughout the arena, looking more like a pouty little girl than anything else, but found no victims.
The anti-careers, meanwhile, had several outlier encounters over Days 4 and 5. Sommer and Thicket were eager to get moving after being shut up in the small room waiting on tenterhooks to live or to die for two and a half days straight. The anti-careers got along well, and they covered immense ground over this two day period, sprinting over the crimson carpet with haste and efficiency. In the early morning of Day 5, they saw Annley's shaking form about fifty feet away. The girl ran for her life, and nothing really came of the encounter, but it established a solid fact to the audience: Thicket and Sommer were more than just willing to kill, they were ready to do it whenever the opportunity presented itself.
There were four tributes that didn't belong to the careers or the anti-careers, and all of them had been almost completely forgotten. They were Anora, Ursa, Annley, and Curan. Anora spent these days doing little but explore the palace. She eventually settled down in a room at the corner of the palace, which had two large windows overlooking the snow-covered forest. She closed the curtains and barricaded the door with furniture, rendering her safe and comfortable inside the small sleeping chamber. A tribute in the forest, Ursa, saw her form flickering in and out of view as she closed the curtains and shivered in fear at the sight of another human after five days of solitude. Speaking of Ursa, he was holding up pretty well in the forest. Ursa had been wandering through the undergrowth for an entire work week at this point, and he'd faced wolf mutts more than once: the secret, he'd learned, was to punch them in the nose, and they'd scamper away like scaredy cats. The other tribute living in the forest, Curan, was less well-off. He shivered out of cold and panic as he wandered through the snowy forest, leaving obvious footsteps, but he didn't dare return to the warmth of the palace; he was terrified of ghosts, having grown up in a religious family, and couldn't bear the thought of being in the same building as one. Curan stayed near the palace, though, where the fewest wolves were. That was one secret of the arena he'd picked up on, helped to the realization by a cryptic note from his mentor Steer. The last tribute, Annley, sat well with her previous decision to return to the palace. She'd been the first to realize how inhospitable the forest really was, and she was glad to have the warmth of the heated building to keep her from freezing to death. Now, Annley rested in a large reading room in the upper levels of the palace. She was fascinated by a poem called "Lord Canterbury's Courship", written before the days of the Great Disaster. The books kept her distracted, and some Capitol bookworms who admired her for this sent her a case of mashed potatoes and some water. That was enough to keep her satisfied for a few days; she knew how to get by on only a little food unlike Anastasia and the wealthier tributes.
Speaking of Anastasia, she disembarked from the palace and ventured into the forest in the early morning of the sixth day. She wasn't coaxed to do this by her sponsors or her mentor, but Anastasia had had no luck hunting within the palace itself and figured a change of scenery might mean a change of luck. Before leaving the cornucopia hall for the final time, she stuffed a pack full of cyanide-laced foodstuffs to place where desperate tributes might eat them. Sometimes the deadliest weapons are the most unsuspecting.
Five or six hours into her forest prowl, Anastasia was startled by the noise of a cannon shot. Curan had been feeling the long-term effects of hypothermia for two days now, but now literal frostbite was beginning to set in, his skin turning black as the dermis layer of his skin suffered its bitter symptoms. Body temperature now lower than ever, Curan began removing his clothing, the telltale final symptom of death from hypothermia as the body begins expending every last ounce of its energy to keep itself warm as a last resort. By the time Anastasia found him, the hovercraft had already retrieved his body, and all that was left was the angel-shaped mark in the snow where he had fallen through the universe for the final time before falling still. Anastasia actually did notice another pair of footprints leading to Curan's dead body but felt too tired to investigate. That was a matter for another time.
Curan Shier, District 10 Male: 8th, Killed by hypothermia, Day 6
Day 7 was deathless. Anastasia continued hunting through the forest, axe held tightly at her side and swinging nervously back and forth as she traipsed through the thick, puffy snow. Just for the hell of it, the gamemakers sent a pack of wolves after her that evening, and she expertly killed all of them with the axe that had served her well ever since the bloodbath. After a whole day of hunting, though, she came up with nothing, and she decided to give herself the whole night to rest as she noticed her body becoming tired faster than usual. The only other tribute in the forest, Ursa, had no plans of returning to the palace; he'd looted the winter jacket from Curan's dead body (his were the footprints Anastasia had seen but not investigated) and now with two thick furry layers of clothing he was decked out to live in the forest as long as need be. On Day 7, he travelled along the river, thinking it might mean something, but it never led him anywhere, so he left that course of action and delved back into the thick wood. It was hard to believe there wasn't loot of any kind hidden somewhere in that forest, and Ursa was determined to find it before Anastasia.
Those in the palace, meanwhile, were being just as inactive, but at least the gamemakers had the ghost to stir them up. Anora was forced to leave the sleeping chamber she'd been hiding in when the ghost melted through one of its walls, dagger raised and ready to kill her. After pinching herself and realizing it wasn't a nightmare, Anora raced out of the room and down several long hallways, the spirit of the mystic on her six the whole way. Eventually, Anora heard human footsteps: those of Thicket and Sommer as they ambled along hunting for tributes. Quickly, Anora ducked into a small broom closet and left the anti-careers to deal with the ghost. They did it well. Thicket and Sommer had vanquished the phantom completely within minutes and then left to continue their hunt – and then Anora realized the worst mistake of her life. She'd locked herself inside the cupboard – no matter how hard she pounded at the door, it wouldn't open, and when she tried to open the door the handle broke off but left the locking mechanism intact. Trying not to panic as she used up the limited air in the (airtight) space, Anora prayed for help from means in this world or the next. Besides that, there was little she could do.
On Day 8, which was also deathless, the cameras mostly focused on the male outliers, Azarias and Ursa. Azarias, for one, was now living full-time in the forest. The sponsors were impressed that he'd managed to evade Anastasia multiple times over, and they sent him a thin jacket that offered a small amount of protection from the bitter cold. By this point, the snow had stopped falling, and was beginning to turn to slush on the ground. The intrigue of the palace and the snowy wonderland that had reigned at the beginning of the games had also faded, leaving nothing but dread and terror in the remaining tributes. Azarias fended off several more wolves and earned the nickname "wolf warrior" in the Capitol, which certainly helped with his popularity. Ursa was in a worse situation. He found a bushel of dark-blue berries and was unsure if they were edible, so decided to eat just a single one. He immediately screamed as the powerful nightlock worked its way through his body. Ursa hadn't consumed enough to kill him, but it was enough to make him wish it did. As Ursa recovered, the other outliers stood motionless and emotionless, with no idea what to make of the games or the arena.
Days 9, 10, and 11 were all deathless – the most boring and lifeless the 113th Hunger Games had seen yet. It was apparent to Garnet and the rest of the Capitol by this point that the arena was kind of a flop – the tributes who'd barricaded themselves inside the palace were unwilling to move, and those in the forest were unwilling to do anything but repeat the same movements day after day. With only one career (Anastasia) this led to trouble. Liking his neck at the present time, Garnet sent the ghost of the mystic on a wild rampage through the palace, madly attacking tributes. Thicket and Sommer were hit the hardest by far. On Day 10, it became clear that Garnet was planning for a feast in the near future; he was intentionally putting every tribute in a place where they needed something desperately to survive. Thicket and Sommer were both horribly beaten up by the ghost mutt before they managed to kill it, and a very strange infection began to take root in the wounds: a moldy kind of infection that did not seem quite of this earth. It was clear immediately that only gamemaker help could kill off this infection, and only if it came quickly.
Anora spent two days trapped inside her cupboard, terrified of going like the many tributes before her who'd died stuck in closets and cabinets in other entirely indoor arenas. However, the ghost broke her out midway through Day 11 in order to reach her, and Garnet intentionally made the mutt go easy on her so she could escape. After so long trapped inside there, Anora had gone utterly savage, and she was desperate to get these games over with as quickly as possible. The thing she "desperately" needed was food, as all the openly available foodstuffs that weren't poisoned had been taken by this point. Midway through Day 11, Anora came into contact with one Annley Flake, who had just finished her umpteenth reading of "Lord Canterbury's Courtship" and had risen to leave the room when Anora ran straight into her. They fell in a heap on the floor, both yelping in panic because each girl hadn't yet discerned the identity of the other.
"Chaotic first meeting," Annley noted after scuttling to her feet. "I was reading. I… uh…" She seemed not to know what to say.
Anora nodded morosely. "We should band together. Anastasia's still alive. We'd stand a better chance together."
As Anora and Annley dashed off together to find a hiding place, the cameras suddenly cut to Ursa and Azarias, the male outliers – both of whom were in dire straits. The effects of the nightlock had taken a serious toll on Ursa's body; sporadically throughout each day, he began spasming and shaking, terrifyingly reacting to the lasting effects of the poison. He moved back to the warm palace, hoping the high temperature would somehow help him recover, and asked the sponsors over and over for help that never came; a sufficient antivenom was insanely expensive at this point in the games. Azarias, meanwhile, had a run-in with Anastasia on Day 11, who axed him deeply in the chest before he managed to escape. Anastasia was extremely tired and honestly just couldn't be bothered to keep pursuing Azarias, and the 13 boy made a quick escape through the labyrinthine passageways of the palace. This wouldn't be the last time they'd meet, however. On the morning of Day 13, the voice of Garnet Russo boomed over the arena, announcing that there would be a feast at the cornucopia at noon the following day, and that attendance was mandatory.
Anastasia made it to the cornucopia first. She knew the path to the palace's very heart better than anybody, and the girl from 2 crouched down inside of the horn, ready for battle. Up until this point, Anastasia had been utterly humiliated, abandoned, and neglected, and she was determined to prove herself to the audience again. She'd always dreamed of making the Talbot family proud by proving herself to be a vicious fighter, and when Sommer and Thicket came storming into the cornucopia chamber she knew at once it was her time to shine.
She struck so quickly the anti-careers didn't even have time to breathe. Anastasia Talbot came bursting out of the darkness and turned sharply on her heel, slashing the weapon with immense force over both of their chests. Not expecting death to come so quickly and unexpectedly, Thicket and Sommer fell in a heap, screaming pitifully as the weapon came flying down on each of them in turn. Anastasia rose up with all of District 2 cheering for her, covered in blood so dark and thick it looked like steak sauce, but she treated it like war paint. Anastasia ducked back inside the horn and waited for further developments.
Thicket Li, District 7 Female: 7th, Killed by Anastasia, Day 14 (Feast)
Sommer Kennedy, District 11 Female: 6th, Killed by Anastasia, Day 14 (Feast)
The rest of the feast, which lasted about ten minutes, did not run nearly as smoothly. When noon arrived the table rose up in front of the cornucopia bearing all the weapons, food, water, and armor the tributes could ever hope to use. Ursa came scampering out of the hallway then, trying not to shake; the effects of the poison were substantially less than they'd been for the last few days, but he was still hopeless without an antidote. He reached out for the bag labelled "5" and poured the grey liquid into his mouth, sighing and yelling out in utter relief as the cure lessened the effects of the nightlock poison he'd consumed so long ago. Anastasia could have pounced then, but she didn't; she was getting a little cocky after killing Thicket and Sommer and wanted to wait for another double-whammy she could execute all at once to impress the sponsors.
She got it, but not how she was expecting. Ursa had snatched a water bottle and was about to pour the contents down his throat when Anora and Annley suddenly came bursting around the side of the cornucopia, weapons bared; they'd snatched daggers that had popped up behind the cornucopia and were now prepared to take down Anastasia or die trying. As they attacked her from both sides, trying to pin her against the interior wall of the cornucopia, they yelped for Ursa to help them in their fight; for now, they had a common enemy, and that gave them a great sense of unity.
They fought well, but not without heavy loss. Anastasia slammed the butt of her axe into Anora's chest, sending her buckling backward, and Annley was right there on chopping block while Ursa desperately tried to corner Anastasia again. She ducked out of the way just in time to avoid being decapitated, and just then Ursa made a desperate attempt to slam her in the back of the head with his bare fist and put her out of combat. Anastasia reeled in fury and swung the hatchet straight into Ursa's chest. He stumbled down, blood gushing plentifully from the wound, and he gathered the energy to let out one final scream before his life left him. Now only four tributes were left.
Ursa Ceder, District 5 Male: 5th, Killed by Anastasia, Day 14 (Feast)
So there were four tributes left. There was Anastasia, Annley, and Anora. But who was the fourth tribute? Many had forgotten until Azarias McKinley came bowling out of nowhere, barreling straight into the heart of the scuffle like a wrecking ball. He sent the tributes scattering in all directions like bowling pins. Anastasia stumbled backward and landed with a heavy thud on the interior wall of the cornucopia and fell to her knees, perhaps for one moment feeling a moment of fear. Annley and Anora took this as an opportunity to run for their lives, and they scooped up all the weapons they could gather before dashing away.
Azarias, though, wasn't going to let them escape that easily. He scooped up a belt of throwing knives that sat nearby and threw three of the weapons in their direction. Annley dodged all of them, but Anora was not quite so lucky. One of the blades lodged into her back, opposite her navel, and Anora flew forward in shock, landing painfully on her front on the rough, scratchy crimson carpet. She screamed as Azarias bared down on her, finishing her off by roughly swiping one of the blades across her throat.
Anora Warden, District 3 Female: 4th, Killed by Azarias, Day 14 (Feast)
After the feast, two whole days passed with no deaths. The Capitolites' hunger for blood and gore was satisfied as a result of the feast, and Garnet was happy to let the tributes mind their own business for a bit while things cooled down again. Shaking from the adrenaline and nerves of the feast, Anastasia staggered out of the cornucopia and made an effort to scrub the blood off of her favorite weapons. She'd been taught her whole life that it was a warrior's greatest point of honor to bear clean weaponry, and that was one morsel of normalcy she was able to hold onto in a games as amorphous and atypical as these. She anticipated the rest of the games being a cake walk, but didn't want to get overconfident; she'd learned that lesson during the feast by waiting for a double kill when she could have just killed Ursa at the beginning of the scuffle and gotten the trouble over with quickly. Anastasia hunted feverishly on Days 15 and 16 but found nobody; Azarias and Annley were hiding well. By this point, Garnet had begun to collapse parts of the palace to block off the exits so that the tributes were trapped inside the palace. This ruffled few feathers, as nobody wanted to venture into the frigid forest this late in the games. This meant one thing for sure, though; the finale was imminent, and it was a good time to start moving toward the cornucopia again.
This was a point of confusion for Azarias and Annley; they didn't know exactly how long Garnet wanted things to stay quiet and peaceful before the finale. Azarias was near the outskirts of the palace when the regions containing the doorways began to collapse, and he might have been killed if he hadn't dodged the rubble and narrowly escaped down a neighboring corridor. It was awfully cinematic to watch as he ran for his life from the collapse, one of the many iconic images from the Hunger Games that would remain parodied and remembered in the popular culture forever. Annley, meanwhile, was decked out in one of the upper libraries reading again. She found it to be a great way to clear her mind, and while the audience liked how she indulged herself in the poetry she had to remember to stay alert. When the ghost attacked in the early morning of Day 17, Annley was snoozing and didn't see it coming until it was almost too late.
Annley collapsed after the ghost touched her, electricity jumping from the point of connection. After the initial shock, she tried to run from the ghost and its deadly dagger but found the electric shock to be unrelenting. This was a cruel trick of the gamemakers – as Annley desperately tried to drag herself away from the cloud of electricity surrounding the ghost, she was dragging herself toward the cornucopia: an unbelievably long and painful process. Anastasia and Azarias underwent the exact same process, and eventually all of them were in the cornucopia chamber, lured there by the near-lethal shocks of three different intimations of the ghost.
Anastasia stumbled back to her senses the most quickly and found herself bereft of her hatchet. There were only a few scant knives in the cornucopia, but they would have to do. Wanting to kill the other finalists before they fully recovered their senses, Anastasia jumped to her feet and scrambled around inside of the cornucopia for some kind of pocketknife or small dagger. She grabbed a curved blade about half a foot long and put a dagger in her shoe, then walked slowly out of the cornucopia. She was shocked by how silent it really was. Where were they?
Annley and Azarias leaped off the top of the cornucopia as silently as cats, and Anastasia would have been chopped to ribbons if she hadn't glanced up for a single instant and seen her falling attackers in time to dodge them. They landed in utter disarray – an error that spelled their dooms. They knew they were taking a huge risk when they climbed on top of the cornucopia, and it hadn't paid off for them. Now they were in utter disarray and confusion while Anastasia was just waiting on the ground for them.
Annley went down first, dying as Anastasia axed her heavily across the chest. She fell in shambles, and Azarias was frozen in place, dumbfounded with shock as the girl from 2 bore down on her. It all happened in the span of less than five seconds, and the tables turned from one side to another as Azarias was cut to ribbons. Anastasia stood wild, euphoric, and triumphant over the bodies of her final two opponents, waiting for their cannons to fire. Then a smile curled over her face.
Annley Flake, District 6 Female: 3rd, Killed by Anastasia, Day 17
Azarias McKinley, District 13 Male: 2nd, Killed by Anastasia, Day 17
"Anastasia Talbot of District 2, you are the victor of the one-hundred thirteenth annual Hunger Games!" Ciara shouted.
The newest victor just smiled and pumped her fists. At last, she knew she had made her family proud.
Anastasia Talbot, District 2 Female: Victor of the One-Hundred Thirteenth Annual Hunger Games, Day 17
AFTERMATH
District 2 praised Anastasia grandly after her victory. She was the third member of the Talbot family to enter the games and live to tell the tale, and she was glad to follow in the footsteps of her cousins Mars and Pluto and basked in the glory of victory. Anastasia wasn't a planner or mediator at all; she was a brutal all-out slasher, standing as an example of flat-out career brutality for generations to come. Due to her strong shows of patriotism, Anastasia was beloved in the Capitol, and she saw prostitution as her civic duty more than anything to be frank. While other flashier victors came along, she was never truly overshadowed by any of them other than Fox (who still held a level of utterly godlike fame, travelling alongside Stinn Hawke wherever he went). She was a successful mentor, beloved victor, and admired icon for her entire life. Overall, Anastasia was a fantastic example of a career victor who served her purpose well. And she had made her family very, very proud – the one thing she always wanted.
The payouts on her victory were basically nothing, as 16% bet on her.
Anastasia's victory tour was pretty standard fare, and nothing of note happened during it.
Anastasia would live to age eighty-nine, dying from cancer the year of the 184th Hunger Games. She would marry and bear two sons.
NEWS
Noble Drazen marries a Capitol socialite named Renata Gleam.
Klink Byrae dies from Alzheimer's disease.
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)
108HG: Manhattan Osk (#1, District 13)
109HG: Justinius Catcher (#24, District 2)
110HG: Ciana Caltene (#6, District 11)
110HG (Unofficial Survivors): Lamar Zilonis (#16, District 4), Thorn Takahashi (#8, District 7), and Catherine Garner (#6, District 10)
111HG: Zolus Aghayan (#4, District 9)
112HG: Fiona Witten (#7, District 10)
113HG: Anastasia Talbot (#25, District 2)
A/N: Hey guys! I hope you liked this year's arena. It's an idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I finally got the chance to use it this time! I just wrapped up a really challenging but fun European history course so there are lots of historically-inspired arena ideas in my head right now. And of course I had to bring another victor to the Talbot family. I loved writing the original Talbot tribute run so much and I just had to let Anastasia sneak her way in there. Fun fact, she's the first official girl victor District 2 has had since Enobaria!
Thanks for reading, and if you've got time I'd love a review! This might be the last time I see you before 23 Cannons officially surpasses a million words :0