9th Hunger Games

Winner: Beatrice District 12

By now half of the districts had a mentor to help their tributes but 6 districts were yet to win a Hunger Games and produce a victor. Some of these districts had come quite close to winning but hadn't quite but some districts hadn't really come close and one district that looked like it would never get a victor was District 12. District 12's only claim to fame was in the 6th Hunger Games, when the girl tribute had thrown up on the chariot ride due to eating too much after months of starvation, causing the games to be postponed that year. Nearly all the districts had had a tribute that came close to winning at some point meaning District 12 had to win soon if it didn't want a reputation as the worst district. Fortunately, the 9th Hunger Games was District 12's year.

It started off well at the reaping. District 12 had been cursed with having very young or small children being picked at the reaping so they had never really stood a chance. But the two tributes drawn out this year were strong and both 17. This was going to be District 12's year!

In training the boy from District 12, Jack, soon found his strength was with an axe and proceeded to spend all his time training with it. District 12's girl, Beatrice, discovered she was pretty decent with most weapons but she was better at hands-on attacks such as choking a victim to death. Whilst Beatrice was alright with weapons, the other strong tributes, including Jack, were killing machines when a weapon was put into their hands. When it actually came down to a fight, Beatrice wouldn't stand a chance and she knew it. She could maybe overcome a scared 12 year old or a weak 14 year old but never one of the big strong tributes, typically from District 2 and 1. She'd have to think of another way to survive.

This year's arena turned out to be perfect for Beatrice although it didn't look like much. It was a big grassy area with endless amounts of boulders and rocks, with little nooks and crannies hidden in the huge field of boulders. The Cornucopia was in the middle of a huge grassy area, with no boulders to hinder anyone's escape when the gong went off. Tributes could either flee or try and fight.

When the gong went off, Beatrice was frozen to her podium with fear. Should she fight or run? Seconds passed and the other stronger tributes had already grabbed weapons and were spreading out to attack. It was too late. Beatrice would never get her hands on a weapon before someone attacked her. She had to flee. With no supplies whatsoever, Beatrice fled to the boulders, all hope of fighting forgotten.

For days Beatrice hid in the boulders, never making a sound, never attracting attention to herself. She ate the bugs she could find under rocks but she needed a water supply. Thankfully an opportunity came late in the night of the first day with the arrival of Jack, the other tribute from District 12. He had obviously been fighting and had a huge gash in his leg that was slowly turning green and was definitely infected. Jack was staggering around, clutching the boulders for support and every step was a gigantic effort. Beatrice knew he would die soon. She should've gone out to help him or at least be there while he died but she stayed hidden in the shadows waiting for a cannon. After a mere 2 hours of watching Jack try to walk, a cannon went off. Jack was dead. District 12 would be grieving right now even more than usual as Jack had shown true potential unlike Beatrice who was hiding away. Beatrice should do the decent thing and walk away. But she couldn't. Jack would've probably got some water which she needed badly. She would have to search his body before the helicopters came to take them away. So Beatrice felt through his pockets and found a decent water supply. Ashamed at her disrespect for a dead person from District 12, Beatrice retreated back into the shadows of the boulders to hide.

On the 6th day, Beatrice could stay hidden no longer. The competition was getting close now and the handful of tributes left were armed with weapons to hunt the other tributes down. If one were to find Beatrice, she would be dead in seconds. Jack had had an axe but Beatrice had left it, knowing she would have no idea how to fight with it. But she was weaponless and even if she did leave hiding where would she go? Unfortunately Beatrice didn't have time to think about this because at that moment, the girl from District 8 came into view, running straight towards her brandishing a sword!

Time seemed to stop as the girl from District 8 charged towards Beatrice. Beatrice would be dead in approximately 5 seconds. She was vulnerable; had no weapons and was utterly alone. She was dead. The girl was getting closer, she couldn't run. The girl raised her sword and… clang! Beatrice had ducked to the side and the sword had hit the hard rocky ground. The girl picked up her sword and whirled round to face Beatrice but Beatrice was nowhere to be seen. The girl looked around wondering what to do and then suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg and fell to the ground; Beatrice had kicked her in the shin and tripped her up. Beatrice tackled her to ground and grabbed hold of her neck, squeezing hard. The girl spluttered and fought to get free but Beatrice had a firm grip and held on until finally the girl fell still. Against all odds, Beatrice had overcome the much more prepared girl from District 8. But to Beatrice, it was a sign of hope. She had a sword now and she had been able to overpower someone – maybe, just maybe, she could win this thing. One thing was certain, Beatrice wasn't going to hide away anymore.

There were now only 5 tributes left including Beatrice and they were all well armed and had all killed at least one tribute by now. They were all fairly close to each other as well, though they didn't know it due to most of the tributes hiding in the boulders. Beatrice had her next run-in with another tribute as she was settling down in a cave for the night. It was the boy from District 6 but he had a half-mangled arm from a fight from a fellow tribute earlier on and as District 6 had no mentor yet, he had received no medicine from sponsors. It was a miracle he could move at all, never mind try and fight a fellow tribute. But he was determined and Beatrice had to fight him even though he was weak and shaking from a fever. It was all over in seconds for him as Beatrice grabbed her sword and slit his throat. One down. Three to go.

Beatrice spent the night in that cave after the body had been taken away and she slept quite well considering she had just murdered someone until she heard footsteps outside. Sword in hand, she crept outside to see the boy from District 1 prowling about, looking for victims. If she was going to survive a fight with him, Beatrice would need the element of surprise. She crept up behind him till she was close enough then threw her sword, aiming for his back. But she missed and got him in the shoulder. Howling the pain, the boy turned round and threw a knife towards Beatrice but she dodged so it only nicked her ear. Frustrated the boy charged towards her and grabbed her sword hand, flinging the sword away and breaking Beatrice's fingers in his bone-crushing grip. Beatrice grabbed his sword with her other hand to try and stop it entering her stomach whilst kicking him repeatedly in the knee. He stumbled slightly giving Beatrice chance to free her injured hand then she punched the boy's shoulder and he fell to the ground screaming. She kicked his sword away then grabbed his neck and squeezed, screaming in pain of her broken fingers. Eventually the boy stopped moving. Beatrice had killed one of the strongest tributes in the Games. This gave her confidence but she was in no shape to fight anyone else and there was still the girl from District 4 and the boy from District 10 left.

Hours passed and Beatrice was feeling extremely weak and light-headed from her fight. But then she heard a cannon. Silence. Then another cannon. The remaining two tributes were both dead. They must've found each other and finished each other off. Beatrice had beaten them without lifting a finger and she was now the victor of the 9th Hunger Games. Finally District 12 had a victor and a mentor to help them!

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