22nd Hunger Games

Winner: Elektra District 3

The 22nd Hunger Games was one of the few Hunger Games where the victor used brains to win instead of weapons, although in this case, the victor used a combination of both. It was the Gamemakers fault – once again they made the arena too extreme so the tributes had to struggle to try and stay alive before they could even consider killing anyone else.

Despite not being a Career tribute, Elektra caused a bit of a stir at the Capitol because she was blind in one eye so she would be at a disadvantage to everyone else. However, the Capitol decided that Elektra wasn't a serious contender so it hardly mattered; besides she could still see, even if it was only through one eye. 17 year old Elektra was quite small for her age but surprisingly, she didn't focus on the survival stations like all the other weak tributes did. She practised at the weapon stations proving to be reasonably good with an axe and knife. Elektra scored a 6 from the private evaluation.

The arena this year was a mountain range with high winds and treacherous paths that the tributes could use to get around. On one hand the arena provided lots of shelter in caves along the mountain tops but on the other hand, food would become a huge problem for the tributes.

The Capitol tried something different this year and decided to spread the tributes out much more than usual so only the ones who wanted to fight would have to get involved in the bloodbath. There were ample supplies dotted around each tribute if they wanted to make a quick getaway and that is what most of them chose to do.

Elektra didn't join the bloodbath but she did linger near the Cornucopia for longer than most of the other tributes because she wanted to gather as much food as she possibly could so once she went into the mountains, she didn't have to come back. The choice to stay behind resulted in her having to kill a tribute with a knife she had picked up. After she has taken as much food as she could carry, Elektra made of into the mountains to get as far away from everyone else as possible. After a few miles, Elektra decided that her best bet at survival would be to get as high as possible. So she picked one of the tallest mountains and began to climb. By the time she got near the top, night had fallen so she found a cave and settled down for the night.

Elektra had succeeded in getting away from all the other tributes as not many of them had chosen to climb all the way to the top of a mountain and the ones that had had picked other mountains closer to the Cornucopia. Consequently, Elektra was left alone for the next few days and didn't receive any attacks whatsoever. In fact, hardly any tributes were attacked during the first few days of the Games because food had become a huge problem for all of them. The only animals were birds and tributes who had taken rucksacks from the Cornucopia found that they only contained three or four day's worth of provisions. Elektra, however, had enough provisions to last her for about a week and a half and that was if she ate a decent amount everyday. But she barely ate anything and saved up a huge amount of food that none of the other tributes knew about.

It was five days into the Games and four tributes had died of starvation already, when Elektra did something that baffled the Capitol. She started giving food away! Elektra would head down her mountain and leave a tiny amount of food down there before climbing back up again. The Capitol was completely lost. Did Elektra not understand the aim of the Hunger Games? Did she want to help other tributes survive? What the Capitol hadn't realised was that Elektra was creating a trap. She was trying to lure tributes up the mountain where she could kill them. And it worked.

A few hours after Elektra left some food out, the girl tribute from District 12 came across it and, as she hadn't eaten all day, she ate it. Then she saw that there was more food higher up the mountain. It must have fallen out of another tributes rucksack. The girl from District 12 scampered up the mountain in search of more food. But she wasn't stupid and as she got nearer the top of the mountain, drew her sword out and proceeded with caution. Eventually the girl from District 12 reached the top and saw Elektra standing there. They stared at each other for a moment before Elektra charged at the girl who had a sword in one hand and two apples in the other. Elektra slammed all her weight into the girl and the apples went rolling off the side of the mountain…along with Elektra's knife and the other tributes sword!

The girl from District 12 had managed to wrench the knife out of Elektra's hand but she had dropped her sword in the process. The girls tumbled onto the ground and rolled around in the dirt, each trying to press their fingers around the other girl's throat. Elektra was the stronger of the two and managed to pin the other girl to the ground and slowly squeezed the life out of her until the cannon fired.

This had proved that Elektra's plan to lure tributes towards her with food would work but she had lost her weapon in the process so she now had no way to fight them. The Capitol had been impressed with the idea and disappointed that it had fallen through but Elektra wasn't finished yet. The next day she left food out as before but this time when a tribute reached the top, they were met with the remains of a fire. No food. No Elektra.

Elektra's next victim, the boy from District 7, had an axe in hand but had no one to attack. Suddenly he felt a weight hit him from behind and he was pushed towards the edge of the mountain. He fought but his feet slipped from under him and he stumbled, letting his attacked push him over the edge. His screams echoed for what seemed like hours as he fell until the cannon eventually fired. Elektra had hidden when the tribute had appeared and then sneaked up behind him and pushed him from behind. She wasn't particularly strong but she was strong enough and she had the advantage of catching her victim unaware.

As the tributes starved, more and more were lured by the food. They were all so weak and starving that it was all too easy for Elektra to push them off the mountain. As the Games came to an end, Elektra had more than one tribute a day but she herself was becoming weak as she was using just about all her food to kill the other tributes. The Hunger Games was becoming a battle of exhaustion.

On the final day, the last tribute came staggering up the mountain having eaten all the food that was laid out for them. It was the boy from District 1 as even the Career tributes had been starving. Maybe he knew it was a trap but he was starving so he might as well try to end it. He came carrying a weapon but it was really no use as he was stumbling around from hunger and exhaustion and nearly took himself off the mountain by accident before Elektra even came out of her hiding place. It was over in a matter of minutes.

Once again, the Gamemakers had got it wrong. Their idea of a perfect Hunger Games never seemed to go to plan even though the Capitol didn't normally notice when the Gamemakers messed up. This time there simply hadn't been enough food. Even tributes who risked going back to the Cornucopia came away empty handed. The birds disappeared after a few days as the Gamemakers didn't want tributes with a bow and arrow to have any advantage other the others. But in the end there had been bloodshed and that was all that mattered to the Capitol.