Sorry for the long wait...

Way seven: Original strategies

Probably only works in early Games.

Amazing luck required.

Mink is a light, skinny and short boy.

The bag in this chapter is a very big sport bag. I bet people will still find this one a bit unrealistic.

NOTE: I will not mention every cannon this chapter.

Mink Oxford, 16

District ten male of the 21st Hunger Games

Day one, 24 tributes remaining

After twenty years of killing children all the districts finally realised the Games weren't a one time thing. Some districts had realized it earlier, district one, two and four send in trained tributes since the eleventh Games. I felt sick standing on the platform waiting to kill or be killed. The careers, as people called the trained tributes, were sick bastards:something had to be done.

I quickly took off my shoes without bothering to get rid of the tie. The additions of the mines were in my favor. I didn't know how high the mines reached. Maybe I would kill myself without having a chance of doing anything. I waited until the countdown reached ten seconds, shoes behind my back. When it did I tossed my shoes with a high curve through the air, at the mines surrounding my neighbours, the girl from four and the boy from two. They didn't look at me and probably didn't know how they died. From the moment I saw the shoes were actually going to land on the mines I closed my eyes. It felt like my ears were getting ripped from my head. The pain was unbelievable. After some time a beep took the pain's place. I tried to ignore it and took off. Into the forest that surrounded the cornucopia.

I sat down after running for half an hour. I took off my bloodsoaked socks. My feet were bleeding and covered in blisters. I knew it was worth it tho. I took some leafs and tried to clean my feet with it. Suddenly a parachute fell from the sky! A sponsor seemed to like my action. A new pair of perfectly fitting shoes closed around my feet. Satisfied I tried to walk around a bit. Every step hurt my feet but I really didn't care! I had killed two careers! That meant the remaining four had to hunt very carefully. Seven cannons sounded. A nice bloodbath result. One of the next problems I had to solve next was my lack of supplies. I didn't get any from the bloodbath so I had to find another way. I started walking in the opposite direction from the cornucopia again. I looked out for resting tributes. An hour later of walking very slowly I noticed a girl sitting against a tree. I identified her as the girl from eight. She was a slender tall girl with black long hair, that almost reached her waist. I climbed a tree that was near her tree. She had probably just decided to set up camp so she was organizing her huge bag. I sat between the brown leafs of my own tree and waited for her to go hunting or something like that.

After an hour of just sitting there in silence she took off. She hid the bag in a big bush, it was to big and heavy for her to comfortably hunt with. I waited one more iturnity just to be sure she wasn't going to come back instantly. The bush was great cover if you wanted to hide something, except if someone knew you hid it. I grabbed the bag from the bush. It was a big black sports bag. Big enough for me to fit in. A plan built in my mind. At first my plan was just to take the bag. Now it was more. I unzipped the bag and quickly looked through the stuff. I drank some water and put some dry meat in my back pocket. I also found a knife with a sharp blade, that would do. I unloaded the bag in a bush behind the tree I had hidden in and I removed all my marks. Then I climbed into the bag with the knife, zipped it and waited again, carefully listening for footsteps. Some time later I heard the footsteps I waited for. So many ways this could go wrong. Someone pulled the bag out of the bushes. Maybe it would feel a little heavier but I was very skinny and short so it would just feel like it was a bit stuck in between the branches. I heard the sound of unzipping and leaped forwards. I noticed I was on the ground and I jumped to the girl, who had reacted to the surprise attack by picking up her knife. She tumbled over by the impact of my body hitting hers but while she did she managed to stab me in the upper left arm. I stabbed back without aiming and cut through the skin on her waist. I took the knife out and stabbed again, this time I made a large cut on her stomach. She punched me surprisingly hard on the chest and I fell backwards, off her. I quickly recovered and took off. Away from the girl that was stronger than I thought. I looked over my shoulder to check if she was behind me but I saw her sitting against the tree. She gave me a deadly look before I entered the shadows of trees and bushes. Two more cannons sounded that night.

Mink Oxford, 16

District ten male

Day two, 15 tributes remaining

I woke up very early. In the morning I had to look around to find out where I was. A random bush. I looked around and saw the path I had taken last night. I snuck through the bushes and behind the trees. Soon enough I found the tree where I had looked at the girl the day before and I looked at the bush where I had hidden the stuff. Gone.

I climbed into the same tree again and saw the girl in her tree. Still asleep. With the bag full of goodies hanging from a branch above her. I needed more food. The meat wouldn't last me long. I also had to drink something. So the plan for today was to steal the bag again. This time I had to be more careful. My shoulder was still hurting from the cut but it stopped bleeding. In my feet I had many little cuts from branches and rocks that torn through my skin. Most of them also stopped bleeding. I looked at the girl's tree and thought of a plan. It wasn't going to be easy to steal the bag because I had little to no tools. I walked to the tree closest to her tree in silence. It was a big one with the first branches low to the ground. It was an easy climb to the top and I noticed I was a meter above the bag. It would be very dumb to climb from my tree to hers and try to grab the bag because of all the risks you had to take.

But I went for it.

With tigerhang I tried to get to the bag. I chose the biggest branch that reached closest to it. At the end of the branch I noticed I had to cross a big gap to reach the other branch. It was a jump that no one could make from the position. Even I wasn't going to take this huge risk so I retrieved. I quickly thought of a new plan. It was more stupid. But could work. For the plan to succeed I needed a long branch that I could use to push down another branch. In a few minutes I had found a good one and I climbed the tree with the branch in my hand. It took longer this time and I made a bit of noise but the girl still slept peacefully. I poked at the bag but couldn't make it. I leaned a bit forward and brought my branch down on the bag-branch. I did it in one very fast motion, so the end of branch with the bag on it bended downwards. The bag, hanging from his handle only, slided down the branch and fell to the ground. The girl had woken up by all the noises and looked around. Without any hesitation I jumped out of the tree. I landed on my feet, the bruises and wounds started hurting again. I scooped up the bag from the ground and put the handle around my shoulder. I started running away and heard the girl dropping out of the tree. I had a bit of a lead but that wouldn't last long if I had to carry the massive bag. I wasted some time unzipping it. But it was part of the improvised plan. I took a bottle of water and some food out of the bag while running and turned around a tree with a bush next to it. I tossed the items into the bush. Water and food in bush next to tree. I memorized. I looked around and saw that the girl didn't stop to pick up the items. I took the rope and tossed it into a bush with purple berries. Rope in purple berry bush. The girl was getting very close to me now so I suddenly turned around and threw the bag at her feet. Because she was still running, and the bag was still filled with a sleeping bag, two knives and some warm clothes, the girl tripped. She landed with her face on the ground, I turned around, ran to her, stabbed her in the leg and ran away. I ran the same way we came and grabbed the items I had hidden before. The rope was an easy one but it took me some time to find the food and the water. With my pockets filled with food and water bottles I sat in a random tree. I didn't go back to the place where the girl used to camp and I was pretty sure she wasn't either. The only thing I knew was that she wasn't dead, her face wasn't shown in the sky.

Mink Oxford, 16

District ten male

Day three, 11 tributes remaining

These Games were going so fast..

I liked the parts where I had to think of plans. It was like a game, I knew we played for our lives tho and I tried to remember that all the time. I hoped I didn't have to kill anyone. The careers just deserved their karma and I hadn't killed the girl. I had taken a few risks these Games and I didn't feel like taking many more. But I had to if I wanted to win. I woke up in the morning and looked around me for the cause of a loud growl. My eyes followed the ground to find three big brown bears on the ground. I didn't like the addition of bears.. They were extremely scary. One of them tried to climb the tree and came too close to me. Were these bears going to kill me? Didn't the gamemakers like my actions? I had bad news for them then, I wasn't ready to die yet. I dropped out of the tree, on the opposite side of the bears, and started running. I had already ate and drank some of my food and water. The rest of my stuff was in my pockets. While I ran for my life I thought of a plan, but couldn't think of anything that would save me in this arena. My only hope was that the bears weren't supposed to kill me, only push me in the right direction. The running was at a very unpleasant speed and it was longer than I had imagined. When I entered an open area with a big river the bears turned around and slowly walked away. I decided to run stream upwards to the waterfall. The waterfall was beautiful but all the water falling down made one of the loudest noises I had ever heard. On the waterfall there was another big rock around a meter from the edge. I walked around in the trees around the carefully, constantly checking my surroundings. Suddenly a girl ran at me. It was the same girl as the days before! Her black hair was dirty and she still had a cut in her leg so she didn't run that quickly. Two bears ran behind her. I turned around and started running again. I was still tired from my trip but she was injured so we were running at the same speed. She revealed a big knife. I thought about a way to get out of this situation. The girl was ten meters behind me and probably wouldn't risk throwing the knife. The biggest problem were the bears. At first they weren't meant to kill but now they might. The girl and I were in the same boat this time, hunted by bears. Suddenly I remembered that someone told me you could survive a bear attack: "not being the slowest in the group", of course he was joking at the time. I turned around and threw my knife at her legs, it cut through her skin in her left leg. It was somewhat above the cut I had caused the day before. The girl yelled and slowed down. She started running at a slower paste and one of the bears jumped on top of her. I killed her. I thought disgusted by myself. A cannon one of the bears didn't stop running after me. We arrived at the waterfall fairly quickly. Another tribute ran out of the bushes. I sighted.

The tribute was a boy. Long brown hair covered one of his eyes. His other brown eye looked scared. He was short and skinny. I thought he was the boy from five. He saw me and grabbed the mace from his belt. I was weaponless and out of breath from all the running. Chanceless. The bear that was behind me had disappeared. I sprinted to the other side rock with my last energy and turned around there. The boy ran around the rock and looked at me, surprised that I stopped. My hands pushed against his body with all power left in me. The boy fell backwards off the waterfall. I looked down there and saw loads of rock with the boy laying down there. He wasn't dead yet, but maybe he would die soon. I ate my last food and drank some water while looking for a good tree to sleep in. I had to get more food and a weapon soon. My luck was going to run out someday. A cannon sounded, was it the boy I pushed off the cliff? Did I kill another kid?

The faces in the sky that evening answered my question.

I killed four kids.

Mink Oxford, 16

District ten male

Day four, 8 tributes remaining

I woke up that morning and drank my last bits of water. I had nothing. No knife. No food. Nothing.

I had to get supplies in some way, without a weapon. My final decision was to have a look at the cornucopia. There were still four careers and three other outliers, so I hoped for the career breakup to happen soon. Suddenly a voice galmed through the arena:

"Goodmorning tributes! Today we will be having a feast! The feast will start in two hours!" Well, that might force the career breakup. I thought about attending the feast. It would be suicide. But maybe I could snatch some supplies after the feast ended? I walked the next hour to get to the cornucopia. It was a peaceful trip and made me forget about the Games a little bit. I sat down in a bush beneath one of the trees that surrounded the open area. It wasn't a perfect spot to look from but it would do. I could clearly see four silhouettes standing in a group, the careers. They were all armed and had a backpack, clearly aware of the soon breakup. The other tributes were nowhere to be seen. Of course that didn't surprise me, no one wanted to run into four careers. I laid down in a more comfortable way and waited for the feast to begin.

When the table, stacked with loaves of bread,rose the careers waited a minute to see if an outlier wanted to die. When they didn't see anyone they ran into four different directions. No one came in my direction because I was exactly between two of them. It was a unsuspected move of them tho. After a yell at the opposite side of the circle one cannon sounded. I realised how stupid I was. They weren't running away, they were checking the bushes for people like me! I stood up and started running as fast as I could. No one saw me but it would be easy to hear me. I looked over my shoulder and saw someone running through the bushes. The tribute was coming my way. But a very big tree was in my way. I ran around it and saw a branch hanging above my head. I grabbed onto it and pulled myself upwards, with my feet against the tree. The branch above the one where I was had far more leaves on it that could serve as cover, so I tried to get to that one as well. I could put one foot in a bump in the tree and get myself up there without too much trouble. I laid down on the branch and waited. Another cannon sounded as the career past by my tree. It was a boy and he started looking through some nearby bushes.

After a short time he gave up and turned back to the cornucopia. I turned around so I could see a bit of the cornucopia. The four careers were all there and started fighting. I saw it actually was a three against one. The loner lost quicker than imaginable. He managed to dodge a punch, then got tackled and killed by a sword. The tribute that tackled rolled over and grabbed two machetes. She, I guessed it was a girl, attacked the sword boy. The puncher also attacked him with an axe. The boy managed to block the incoming machetes and tried to block the axe. But it planted into his leg. He ignored the pain and stabbed the machete girl back. He first went for her torso but then clutched the sword to her wrist, taking out one of her weapons. She dropped the machete in that hand and with the other one she ran through the axe-girl's stomach, who didn't suspect a thing. A cannon rang and the girl with the machete kicked the dead body of her machete's blade. The boy with the sword took the given time to recover from the pain in his waist. When the girl turned to him he swung his sword to her legs instead of her head, knowing she would guard deadly places to strike. The girl yelled in pain when the sword almost cut through one of the legs. The sword didn't make it entirely through tho, forcing the boy to get the sword out before the girl would strike back. Unfortunately the girl did it before the boy could react and slashed through his hand, that the boy used to protect his face. The girl didn't step backwards because she didn't want to give the boy time. Instead she stepped forwards, punched the incoming arm with the sword away and ran her machete through the boy's stomach, who fell to the ground. She stabbed once more and a cannon verified her success.

Two others left.

I dropped out of my tree and ran in the cornucopia's direction. I knew the girl was wounded and had seen the stuff piled up next to the cornucopia. Of course I ran for the stuff. I ignored the career girl, who tried to get to me as fast as possible but couldn't really keep up with her injured leg. I grabbed a random backpack from the pile and opened it up. It was empty so I started throwing stuff into it. Within half a minute I had a nice backpack filled with food and a long belt of knives. I started running to the woods. Because I didn't want to take on the girl in a close battle and I had never shot a bow before. When I arrived at the forest I heard the sound of wood burning and noticed some trees were on fire. They were going to drive me back I realised. The fire spread insanely fast in my part of the arena. To my right there was no fire. The last tribute. I turned around and walked to my left. I would have to take on the career if this was the finale already. I hoped she hadn't seen me turn around yet so I could still get the element of surprise. When I arrived at the mouth of the cornucopia I saw the girl sitting on a crate. She stood up so she could fight back a little bit. But the last remaining tribute surprised her. He ran up to her from the back and tried to slash her throat from behind. He only made a little cut before the girl planted her elbow into the boy's stomach. He stumbled backwards a bit. They were very close to each other while I was a few meters away. I was kind of career looked over her shoulder to see if I would attack. I pulled up my shoulders and she turned around, starting to fight the boy. Why? I asked myself as I pulled away my jacket, revealing the belt with knives. I started tossing them at the tributes. one of the knives landed in the girls shoulder. While she was distracted by the pain the boy attacked, he rammed a spear into her stomach. A cannon sounded. I kept tossing knives. The boy picked up the dead body and started walking in my direction. I looked at him disgusted. That was just inhuman. I tried not to look at the girls eyes. When he was near enough I sprinted in his direction, he just managed to throw away the body before I tackled him. I jumped on top of him and started repeatedly stabbing him. Within a minute his cannon sounded.

My rage was gone.

"Mink Oxford you are the winner of the 21st Hunger Games!"

I'm going to finish the SYOT before updating this. Because school is about to start again and I want to have the SYOT finished in the first weeks of school.

Ciao