23rd Hunger Games

Winner: Jackleigh District 4

For the past few years, the Gamemakers had done a terrific job with the arenas; they were creative and exciting. The only problem was that the arena was a bigger killer than the actual tributes themselves. This should've been a problem but the Capitol loved the arenas and would even go as far as to make them into museums. Besides, with the Quarter Quell coming up, the Gamemakers had more than enough to deal with so the dramatic arenas continued. This year's arena would leave even the victor broken.

District 4 had been invited into the alliance between Districts 1 and 2 a few years ago now but they had only won once since then. In fairness, Districts 1 and 2 hadn't won since then either but they already had the reputation. District 4 needed to earn its own reputation as one of the 'Career Districts'. This year's tributes for District 4 were fresh out of training and ready to go. They had been advised by their mentors to join the alliance with Districts 1 and 2 as the other District 4 tributes had done for the past few years but the tributes this year would find that a lot harder than usual. Of course, they could all agree to form an alliance during training but nothing was definite till the Games began.

This year's arena was tough. It was an abandoned city with huge skyscrapers and overhead wires hanging everywhere. There was plenty of food and water inside the remains of shops and when that ran out, the tributes could always eat the rats that were hidden away down the sewers. The arena was the perfect place for archers and as the Career tributes had been trained with all weapons, they were at a huge advantage already. But there were some other tributes who favoured a bow and arrow if they could get their hands on them so the Career tributes would have to be on their guard.

When the gong went off, there weren't many tributes that went to the Cornucopia because if they found a decent hiding place, they wouldn't need a weapon. This meant that there were plenty of long-range weapons to go around and the Career tributes were unable to go after any of them in the fear of being struck dead by arrows. This year no one made the Cornucopia their main base, not even the Career tributes. Everyone claimed a building of their own and either found a place to hide or set up their weapons to target anyone stupid enough to go out into the open. Then…nothing.

For quite a few days, no one moved and no one died. The Capitol was bored and the last thing the Gamemakers wanted was for the Capitol to be bored. But still nothing happened. The Gamemakers had a plan and they were willing to risk the wrath of the President for it to work. It wasn't until the President threatened the Head Gamemakers life that the plan was put into action.

It was midday when it came. The sun was at its highest point and was shining brightly so the tributes didn't suspect that anything was wrong. Suddenly clouds rolled in but these weren't ordinary clouds. Thick black clouds covered the whole sky, blotting out the sun entirely. Some of the tributes noticed the sudden darkness, but after all, they were only clouds so the worst that could happen was a storm. They were right, in a way but this wasn't any ordinary storm.

First came the thunder. Huge booms that echoed through the arenas and deafened the tributes. Then came the rain. It came down like bullets drenching even the tributes who were inside the abandoned buildings. But then the rain got worse, it got hot. Starting from a mildly warm temperature, the rain got hotter and hotter until it was unbearable to touch. After a few minutes the rain turned to fire. It burst through the derelict buildings and instantly scorched anything in its path. But it didn't just go through buildings; it went through tributes as well. When the rain had become heavier, the few tributes that were still outside retreated inside but bricks wouldn't be enough to save them from the engineered fire that the Gamemakers had created. Any tribute that was hit by the rain would instantly lose that part of skin and would be in agony for a long time, meaning they were more likely to be burnt again. Over the next hour, the rain continued to come down, heavier in some places than others and the tributes scurried around like rats trying to avoid it. If you were hit in the right place, you could die and quite a few tributes did. Finally after about an hour and a half of panic, the rain stopped and the tributes were safe once more. But the fire rain would be back and it would probably be even worse the second time round.

Whilst it was raining, the Career tributes were split up into the two District 1 tributes and Jackleigh and both District 2 tributes with the girl from District 4. They had both gone into different buildings once the fire rain had started and didn't bother to try and regroup when it became safe to go outside. But there was still a threat of the fire coming back and most of the tributes had realised this. Burnt out buildings wouldn't protect them this time but where else could they go?

But there was hope.

The sewers weren't being affected by the rain, if the tributes could find an entrance, they would be safe. Unfortunately quite a lot of the remaining tributes had this idea including both of the Career groups.

The sewers may have been safe, but they were small and cramped and there weren't many entrances meaning that quite a lot of tributes ran into each other, which resulted in many fights breaking out in the sewers. Most of the tributes had long range weapons that they'd barely used so many tributes died from arrows in the neck or a spear in the side. One of the fights that caught the Capitols interest was the one between the Career tributes. Both groups had gone inside the sewers through different entrances but hadn't stayed where they were so it was inevitable that they would meet. The District 1 tributes were the first to start it. Hearing the footsteps of another large group of tributes, they turned on Jackleigh who actually did a pretty good job of holding them off, suffering only a flesh wound to the shoulder. When the other half of the Career tributes found them, they rushed in to help Jackleigh as the District 1 tributes had broken the alliance. The girl from District 4 took out the boy from District 1 with a few well placed arrows to the stomach and heart and the other two went for the girl from District 1. She put up a good fight and managed to badly wound the girl from District 2 with her spear before she died from a spear to her stomach. As the girl from District 1 died, the girl from District 2 was trying to stay alive but with a spear in her side, she suffered from severe blood loss and couldn't manage to hold on for more than a few minutes.

The Capitol assumed that this would be the end of the bloodshed for now but no one expected the remaining Careers to turn on each other. The remaining District 2 tribute had just lost his partner and blamed the District 4 tributes for her death, he didn't feel they'd tried hard enough to save her. Seeing red, he grabbed his bow and arrow but before he could even put an arrow in place, the girl from District 4 had shot him with her own arrow. All but two of the Career pack had been killed within fifteen minutes.

The Gamemakers could've left the District 4 tributes to patch themselves up and everyone expected them to go and focus on one of the other remaining tributes. But the Hunger Games had never been fair on anyone so why should any tribute believe they might be left in peace. In the sewers, the tributes were safe from the fire rain, so the Gamemakers decided to bring the fire rain to them.

They didn't notice it at first when the air suddenly began to get very hot inside the sewers. Then the whole sewage system burst into flame.

Tributes scrambled out from where they had settled down to try and get back up to the surface. The District 4 tributes were still weak from the Career's fight and struggled to get going. They ran together, Jackleigh in front, the girl lagging behind. Suddenly Jackleigh heard a scream, turned round and saw that she was gone. The girl from District 4 had been swallowed by the flames and if Jackleigh didn't get going, he would be as well.

Half the tributes that had made it down into the sewers were engulfed by the fire that no one had been expecting. However, for the ones who made it to the top, there would be little time to rest. Jackleigh had made it to the surface with minor burns on both his legs. He was just about to sit down to see what he could do about them when it began to rain. Like all the other tributes, Jackleigh ran for his life but there wasn't really anywhere to go as none of the tributes were anywhere near a building strong enough to withstand the fire. Howls and screams echoed across the arena as the rain came into contact with skin. Already suffering burns, Jackleigh really struggled to keep going when the rain touched his legs. It was agony but he had to keep going. Jackleigh had always been a fast runner and he had been trained for years so he just managed to make it to a safe building. His legs were in a really bad way and it was unlikely he would make it through the night, so he had to hope that no other tribute would make it. It felt like hours had passed watching the rain and listening to the screams but no one came and Jackleigh was declared the victor just before he passed out in pain.

The doctors took him into surgery immediately and they managed to save his life, but not his legs. With the burns Jackleigh had received, it was easier to amputate both legs. After recovering, Jackleigh was well enough to go on the Victory Tour and then begin life as a mentor. But he didn't last very long and died a few years after his own Games at the age of 25. This year even the victor barely survived so the Gamemakers had to down-play the arenas for a while afterwards.