Way six: Survive longer than the others and avoid conflict.

(= Hide and be extremely boring)

This is the way for you if you have no other chance to survive and you like to die from being bored.

Triggerwarning: Flora is a savage

Flora Overseas, 15

district 5 female of the 32nd Hunger Games

day one, 24 tributes remaining

I would simply grab that bag, eight meters in front of me lying in the mud, and run away. Not even looking back at the cornucopia to see the bloodbath. But even this, the easiest thing you could do in the Games, wasn't risk free.

When the countdown ended I picked up the bag and tried to run away. But the girl from four saw me as her first target. I fell to the ground because she tackled me. She jumped on top of me and started punching me. The pain was extreme. Every punch I groaned. Suddenly someone pushed the girl of me. I rolled to the right and stood up. I ran away after I got grib on the bag again and I didn't even look who saved me. The arena was a huge undeep swamp and in some areas there were loads of trees that could serve as cover. The cornucopia was on a muddy island. I looked around and saw other tributes running through the water. Loads of them ran into the direction of trees. I decided trees were indeed a good choice. While running the water soaked my shoes and when I was near the trees my pants were wet two. The arena was so gross. My father would never allow me to go into our house with muddy shoes. Dad wanted everything to be so clean that you could see your reflection. All my siblings got tasks assigned to them, I had to clean the whole house with my sister every two days and if he could find anything dirty he would yell at me and lock me up in my room sometimes he would even punch me. My brother had to was the clothes, he washed the clothes in water from the river near our house but he first had to clean the water by heating it. My last sister cooked every meal. My parents were divorced and my father verbit us to see my mother so we had to live with him. I hated the guy, he was crazy. He beat up his own children.

When I arrived at the small forest in the water I tried to find a nice tree to sleep in. I spotted a camera in a tree and an idea came to my mind. I filed my hand with mud from the bottom of the water and yelled at a poorly hidden camera:

"Hey dad! You're an freaking asshole"

I held up the middle finger from my left hand to the camera when I smeared the mud on my face. I laughed, the Games were going to kill me but I could still insult my father.

I climbed the tree with the camera in it and opened my bag. I found a bottle of water, some dried fruit and a knife. Well, that could make me last a bit longer. I started cutting some branches from the tree so I could make the trap I had learned to make in training. The trap wasn't a hard one and within fifteen minutes I had all the resources I needed. I dropped down into the muddy water and wondered if the trap would work in the water.

"Only one way to find out." I told myself while I put down the trap.

Next I wandered around through the swamp forest with my knife in my hand. I passed tree after tree and the leaves started letting in less and less sunlight. In the semi darkness I stumbled around waiting for a sign of life. Then I saw a tiny lizard sitting on a rock calm. Anything is welcome. I thought and I snuck closer to the lizard. In a few seconds I could almost touch the lizard so I jumped forward and with the one strike I had I cut off the tail.. The lizard was gone before I could strike again. Disappointed I walked back to my tree while stopping to attack a lizard several times. After four times I got the hang of it so I came to camp with three lizards, one big one and two tiny ones. I wasn't going to take the risk of building a fire yet. So I fell asleep with only two pieces of dried fruit in my stomach.

Flora Overseas, 15

district 5 female

day two, 17 tributes remaining

The seven deaths of the bloodbath included a career, so things would slow down even more. I woke up on the edge of the branch I chose to sleep on, probably because I turn a lot in my sleep. I dropped down to the ground and checked my trap and was lucky, a duck was in it. The duck looked at me and I felt sorry for him, but it had to be done. I turned the neck around quickly and heard it snap. Then I decided it would be good to roast my food in the morning. So I took some dry branches and built a fire on a dry piece of ground. It took long without a lighter but it worked. The flames swallowed the dead lizards and duck so after few minutes I dropped the roasted, a bit burned, meat into my bag and ran away from the fire so if the careers had seen the smoke they wouldn't find and kill me.

While running I looked around at the environment. The water lessened so the ground became muddy instead of a layer water. There were less trees on this part of the arena but you could run harder through the mud than through the water. My traps would also work better on a stable ground than in the water. I tried to find a good tree again when I spotted a tall boy walking through the trees about ten meters in front of me. I did a step back so I was behind cover again and I tried to identify the boy. His hair was wild and brown and it looked like it wasn't washed for years. He had a large torso compared to his legs and his skin was tanned dark. To me he looked like the boy from ten who got a six in training if I could remember correctly. I didn't fear him but also didn't want to fight anyone so I dropped down into the bushes and waited for him to pass by. He didn't see me and walked by quickly. When he was gone I waited a few more minutes to be sure I wouldn't stand up and he would jump out of the bushes screaming "Surprise!". Then I ran the opposite direction the boy had gone and I heard two cannons. My eyes pointed to the sky and I tried to track the hovercraft. It stopped far away from me so I didn't have to worry.

When a big tree towered above all the others I chose it as my camp. The climb to the top was longer than the last one but that didn't stop me. I looked out over the arena and spotted a group of people, probably the careers, on the south side. Next I repeated the things I did the day before, more quickly and effective this time because I knew what to do:

I made a trap. (Another cannon sounded)

I went out to hunt.

I slept in the tree.

Flora Overseas, 15

district 5 female

day three, 14 tributes remaining

When I woke up I tried to avoid falling out of the tree. But it got harder when I noticed the boy from the day before standing at the bottom of the tree. He held a big spear and looked at me angrily. He didn't look tired and also not injured. His body was covered in mud and his boots were sinking into the wet ground. I panicked, What do I do? Attack? Ally? But I don't want a fight nor an ally. So I just waited, I waited for him to do something. Just in case he attacked me I grabbed my knife. I had done some training with knives so I could defend myself a little bit.

"Get down here" The boy yelled.

"Nah" I answered trying to come over calm and confident.

The boy tried to place his feet on the tree to get up to me but he instantly slided away with his slippery boots. I taunted him:

"Not really a climber mate?" I said with a fake laugh.

His reaction was tossing one of his knives, from the belt I hadn't noticed, at my face. Of course it missed by a few meters, he wasn't a career. He tried to climb again, this time focused at the tree instead of me. I took the opportunity to hide a bit lower than I was earlier at the other side of the tree. So the boy had to find me again and waste time or I could surprise him. I saw him climbing higher and higher into the tree. He was just one meter below me when he found out I wasn't in the old spot anymore. He decided to climb some higher but when he reached my level I swung around the tree, holding on to a branch above me, trying to kick the boy off. Suddenly the branch broke and I flew through the air legs first to the boy. As expected I kicked him off but I fell down too, a bit above him. I tried to get grib of branches while falling but my fingers couldn't get around the wood, so I tried to lean in the direction of a big branch where I could land on. I collapsed on my belly on the branch and extreme pain flowed through my body. I heard something snap, might be a rib I thought. I laid there for a long time, frozen in place in a total silence. Finally I somehow made my way down the tree and I noticed the body lying in the mud. His arms were twisted in an unnatural position and I noticed some of his bones were pullvered, like his leg for example. I stumbled over to him and felt the place where I suspected his heart to be. I still felt a really soft heartbeat. I took my knife and finished the boy. I aldo took the water out of his I slowly walked away and a hovercraft came to take the deformed body back to his district. I took my last energy to eat some duck and to make my way over to a bush that I was going to use as cover. The rest of the day I was unconscious, sleeping or lying there in silence.

Flora Overseas, 15

district 5 female

day four, 10 tributes remaining

I did get a glimpse of all the fallen tributes the past night so I knew there were only ten of us left. I didn't remember who unfortunately. Maybe some careers died maybe they didn't and there were still five careers left. I found out soon enough. When I opened my eyes I heard the galm of a scream in my head and I looked up. I was still in the bushes of last night and the branches pricked into my skin. I looked through the leafs and saw four careers standing next to my bush, just five meters next to me. I turned around, and pain shocked from my ribs through my body, to my side so I could see them well without moving and laid still like a dead corpse.

The girl with the battleaxe and the red hair tried to get to a boy with a sword but the others held her back. She yelled: "You killed him!" Probably her districtpartner I concluded I also concluded they were the only careers left, one died in the bloodbath and one last night.

"Yup, I got rid of the biggest competition."

"You didn't give him a fair fight you filthy rat." She responded and she rush forwards, ignorring the arms that held her back previously. The axe swung through the air and was going to land in the boy's waist but he was prepared, he swung his sword defencefully to his waist and blocked his opponent. Then he striked back, the girl didn't have a good defence any more because she had to retread her axe. He stapped her in the shoulder and then once more in her leg. She yelled in pain and tried to roll away but the sword already pierced through her stomach. The boy opened his mouth but before he could say anything three knives hit his body. One in the head, one in the heart and one in the stomach. A cannon rang as he fell to the ground. I thought the knifethrower was a girl but I wasn't certain because she was standing with her back turned to me. The last boy rushed forward with his mace and quickly reached her so throwing was useless. The girl looked chanceless because she didn't have a weapon but suddenly two knifes fell down her sleeves into her hand. When she got grib of them she rushed forward too and took the boy down by surprise. Then she kneeled next to the other girl to slit her throat. The two cannons rang. The knifethrower ran away victoriously and I was glad she hadn't noticed me. The hovercrafts flew in to take the corpses.

The rest of the day I tried to move a little bit. I sat up and tried to stand, what failed missebraly. But I was proud I could sit so I could eat my last piece of duck, my lizards and my fruit. I also took some of my precious water. I shighted, I wasn't going to last long.

Flora Overseas, 15

district 5 female

day five, 7 tributes remaining

I could walk again, my legs aperently weren't broken, so I tried to hunt for food. Food was just another thing I had to worrry about. Just like:

Other tributes, mutts, my watersuply (even with the loads I got from the boy.)

Even tho there were seven tributes left this all still mattered. The seven tributes could last a long time.

"We will have a feast in an hour, goodluck." The announcer's voice galmed through the area.

Well except if that happens. So I walked to the cornucopia in a hike-tempo. Around the cornucopia was a circle without trees and bushes so I had to do some semi-effective discuising. I smeared mud all over my clothes and my face. It wouldn't trick anyone who was looking for someone in a ten meter area around him but it would defenetly work if I was a good distance away. I snuck forward with my face low to the water surface.

15 minutes

I walked very slowly and neared the cornucopia. At first my plan was to just look at the feast instead of participate. But to my surprise I noticed that there was no one on the island.

5 minutes

I laid at the edge of the island where only my head was easily visable. I waited for the five minute countdown projection in the sky to end when I ran onto the island. On the big table was a dinner set-up with the food server on plates. I noticed that the plates with the foods were sieled in plastic so I threw some random plates in my backpack. Then I noticed the district numbered bags and scooped up mine. I saw tributes running to the feast in every direction. I ran around the cornucopia and counted.

Two (an alliance)

Three (the only career)

Five (two solos)

That left only one more.

I ingnored it and ran the direction I came from. I constantly looked around to see if anyone tried to get to me. Luckily no one did and I got to the trees in safety. I climbed one to get a good overview but I still couldn't see what happened. I just saw siluets. One of them pulled up an axe and landed it in an other person. A connon sounded. A sword pierced through someone and another one sounded. Things went on like that untill only one was left. The tribute suddenly also fell to the ground and half an hour later the cannon sounded. Lack of blood? I asked myself.

In the evening the faces on the sky also showed the last career. All the food and water problems faded away knowing it was only one other tribute. In my personal bag I found painkillers. I injected one of them and my pain flowed away. With a giant plate of turkey on my dirty lap I fell asleep, dreaming of home.

Flora Overseas, 15

district 5 female

day six, 2 tributes remaining

I was woken up by the five crocodiles beneeth my tree. They looked at me with their dumb yellow eyes.

"Yes, yes I'm already coming" I shighted while dropping out of the tree.

I started running and the crocodiles followed me. I instantly noticed they weren't supposed to kill me but were designed to drive me to a place. When they "attacked" (a giant leap forward). I had all the time of the world to do a small sprint and then slow down again. I just had to keep running.

I quickly noticed that the cornucopia was our destination and I also noticed the other tribute's crocodile train. She was freaking out. She rushed through the water yelling from fear and water flew everywhere. We both arrived at the cornucopia at the same time and the crocodiles stopped following us. I took my knife and rushed forward. This was it. The girl, around my age, looked very frightened and tried to step back into the water. A crocodile instantly put his teeth into the kid's leg. She hinked forward and dropped her weapon. I tossed my knife at her, it hit her in the other leg while I aimed at the torso. I grabbed another knife from the ground and ran over to her. I punched her in the face. Then grabbed her head and slit her throat. She didn't even try to fight back.

I killed someone again but it was worth it.

Worth it.

"Flora Overseas you are the winner of the 32nd Hunger Games!"

Six days takes long to write.

Please tell me if you want more or less days in one Game.

I like doing three/four better than this.