AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hey, so remember how I said that I wasn't going to abandon any of my Hunger Games stories no matter how long it took? Well, I wasn't lying on that front. This one was not so much a lack of inspiration considering I've got it mapped out in "The Victors' Chronicles". Whatever the case, he's the long-awaited 21st chapter of the 94th games. The games are nearly over at this point, and I'd like to apologize again for the 114-day gap between chapters. I'll try to do better with #22 and so on.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 21: Five, Four, Three...

There was something to be said about the Painted Tributes from District 12. Rumors around the district held a consistent belief that many of these reapings in the district were not in fact random, but were more chosen from a lottery of any of the children bold or audacious enough to mark themselves in such a way. Whatever it was, these nefarious tributes always inspired the more rebellious types to look to them as examples, heroes, and role-models.

Sudi Ontanago was no exception. For one, she had inspired Cadence, but also many others, both back home in District 12, and in some of the other rebellious districts as well. Her predecessors had been similar, and it was really the "Painted Tribute" mentality that was pervasive throughout District 12, much to the chagrin of the Capitol's ego.

All great things were doomed to come to an end at some point or another, however. Cadence actually stumbled across Sudi and Xandra's camp, and followed the former of the two from the shadows. He didn't want to kill her while Nazir and Serendipity still drew breath, but he also knew that alliances were unlikely this late in the games, especially since there were only 5 tributes left. If he gave away his position, that meant Sudi would easily be able to track him, because he knew that her tracking skills were far superior to his own, and that he would likely die against her much sooner than she would against him. His anger was not directed at her the way it was for Nazir and Serendipity. If he confronted either of those two, he was not worried about his abilities. Perhaps a bit of bravado, but at this point he was more concerned about avenging Lucia rather than surviving, and so he was just waiting for the right person to take out his pent-up anger on.

Unfortunately, it seemed the odds were not in his favour. Something sprang right in front of the bushes where Cadence was hiding, and suddenly the air was filled with smoke that made Cadence dizzy and unconscious. It was unclear if Sudi or her ambusher had thrown it, but whatever the case, the two tributes were now fighting as they crawled away from the smoke.

Cadence came to a few moments later and they were gone. A purplish haze hovered a few inches above him, and so he crawled on his stomach through the grass and bush to try and get out of its range. The noise of metal against metal was heard off in the distance, as if two tributes were going at it in a death match, which they were. Cadence was too far off to really race to the aid of anyone, but he continued to slowly make his way towards the sound of the noise.

Sudi had run into Nazir, and the two of them were clashing with daggers in each hand, creating a high-speed clash with a whirlwind of steel. Incidentally, despite all of the conflicts and enmity that the career alliance and the outlier alliance had formed against one another between now and the beginning of the games, neither Nazir nor Sudi seemed too angry at this, and appeared to be treated it more as businesslike banter, much like how the District 1 girl and the District 12 girl from the previous year had been in their final duel. It was merely a necessity to help advance the games.

"Not gonna lie," Nazir pointed out, "your trick against Faren was brilliant."

"I was pretty sure I was toast with that, actually," Sudi chuckled as she crossed her blades to deflect a thrust that would have otherwise gone through her left eye and out the back of her skull, "so no hard feelings about Gabriela then?"
"None apart from the notion of the Hunger Games," Nazir nodded, "I'll miss Gabriela when I go home, but even if she was alive, it'd be me or her at the end once Xandra, Cadence, and Serendipity are dead and gone, so it's moot at this point."
"Fair enough," Sudi took the offensive for a while, whirling around fanatically and putting Nazir on the defensive as their blades struck one another almost as if this was a choreographed routine.

"And what of Mani?" Nazir asked, "Poor bastard didn't even make it out of the bloodbath?"
"He was my friend," Sudi shrugged, "but I didn't stick around to see his final moments. I only saw Faren go for him and figured it was either him or Mani. Obviously the face we saw in the sky that night answered that curiosity effectively enough."

"A fair point," Nazir knocked Sudi off balance and struck her, shifting the odds back into his favour, "It was Faren, and obviously that little stunt on the platforms proved that you got your vengeance."
"Seems I should feel vindicated then," Sudi chuckled as she slashed Nazir's arm in retaliation for the strike that had staggered her earlier, "or maybe we're rambling too much and not fighting enough."
"Hard to tell, really," Nazir half shrugged before using that momentum to pull back and throw a knife at Sudi which she barely dodged. He pulled out another one and the fight continued.

"I'm sure one of us will be dead soon," Sudi indicated, trying to wear Nazir down as she slashed at his leg to slow his movements. "It's not 'if' anymore. It's 'when'."

And true to her word, within a few minutes, Nazir had thrown another knife, this time his aim striking true to Sudi's vitals. She staggered, and Nazir lodged another blade into her chest just to ensure that she was mortally wounded.

"A talented fighter, you," Nazir commented as Sudi slumped against a rock, coughing up blood.

"We painted tributes are taught… not to fear death," Sudi wheezed, "Nicely… done."

Whether Nazir's aim had been that precise, or if Sudi had simply given up the will to live after two mortal wounds, was for anyone to speculate about. Whatever the case, she went limp a moment later, and a cannon fired to indicate her death. Sudi was gone, and only four tributes remained.

Xandra heard the cannon go off and raced back to Sudi's camp to see if it was her ally that had died, or if it was someone else. She didn't know where anyone but Sudi was at the moment, and so she decided to check in on her last ally. Odds were that if she was alive, she was badly wounded and likely vulnerable.

She learned soon enough that Sudi had died. Nazir's trail of blood from Sudi's attacks, however, proved to be his downfall, for he left a trail as he tried to hobble back to safety. He was limping, while Xandra was in near full health and armed with a large battle axe.

"Just business, friend…" she whispered before jumping out and nearly cleaving Nazir's spine from behind. This shut down his nervous system immediately and took his life at the same time. His cannon went off less than half an hour after Sudi's did, leaving only Xandra, Cadence, and the elusive Serendipity in the games.

Cadence decided to distance himself from wherever Xandra was. He didn't want to have to kill her, and instead wanted to put his full strength against Serendipity. As he fortified his camp and brooded in his solitude that evening, he began to introspect.

Was Serendipity truly his enemy? Or had he gone and done the same thing that District 2's Clove Kazera had done to District 11's Rue Keniye 20 years earlier? Fox Morrowson had been the villain that had slain Lucia. Fox Morrowson…

It was surreal for Cadence to think of. He thought back to the parade hardly two weeks earlier, shortly after the chariot parade.

The girl that had held the elevator door open for them on their way back to their apartments—that had been Fox. Cadence's fists clenched as he realized that for those brief moments, he and Lucia were standing mere inches away from Lucia's future killer.

He wondered again about Serendipity. She had been there too, and suddenly Cadence wondered if he had shared the elevator with his killer at that point as well—or if Serendipity had shared the car with *her* killer.

The anthem that played that evening snapped Cadence out of this thought process, and like the other two remaining tributes, he looked skyward to the fallen tributes.

Sudi Ontanago, District 12…

Cadence hadn't known the girl too well or for very long, but he had admired the wild girl. District 12's "Painted Tributes" always proved to be a wild addition to any game they showed their faces in, and Sudi had been no exception. Her partner Mani had not been as impressive, but Sudi had more than made up for it. Briefly, Cadence wondered what the recaps would show of her. He'd have to win to find out though, and two tributes stood in his way.

Nazir Mateaki, District 2…

Cadence hadn't really known much about him or Gabriela, considering that they were some of his enemies. To him, their deaths were just business even if he had played no part in killing them. Perhaps that was what the Capitol hoped to achieve with these games—to break and desensitize children towards slaying their peers. Cadence had already been relatively insensitive on the subject of death beforehand, and without Lucia to give him a voice of reason, Cadence was more than okay with become a murderer if it could bring him home.

For now though, he slept. There was no telling what tomorrow held, and any careless move by one of the three remaining tributes at this point, could very well be their last.