"This escapee was never going to stay

On an island way too difficult to be stuck in the daze

And all the competition's overcome what may

Temptation's not a word until you've let it go astray."

- Cameron Bird, 2011.


The 10th Annual Hunger Games

Armando Naseby (17), District 4 Male

Architecture In Helsinki - Escapee (2011)


The night sky is calm and cloudless, and I amuse myself by looking upwards at all the constellations. I've been in here for four days, and each day, the faces of the dead have been projected in front of me. Eleven in total now. Thirteen of us remain.

Here, lying on the banks of a wide, deep river, the remains of my alliance are sleeping. I'm supposed to be on watch, but we're so far from the cornucopia, I doubt that anyone's within a mile of us.

Twenty yards from the river's edge begins the jungle. That horrible, crowded, hot place that none of us dare to tackle alone. No vision, and the chances of surprise attacks is dramatically increased. Out in the open, any of us would win one-on-one fights against other tributes.

Except if we fight each other. Against each other, I'm probably second or third best.

Katya, our weakest, would be easy prey, when the time comes. No issues with her. Marcus, the boy from Two, will cause some trouble; strong and well-trained, but he is short-tempered. After what he did to the girl from Twelve on day two, I really, really don't want to anger him.

I know that Leo, the boy from District 1, is by far the strongest tribute in the arena. He's the only one to score double figures in training this year, and easily the one that is trained to the highest level. He's the one that the rest of us have to watch out for.

And that's it for our four-man alliance. Our other two allies are already dead.

Veronica, the girl from Two, was killed off by us after she suffered severe injuries in a fight with the boy from District 11. The boy died, of course, but not before causing a deep gash in Veronica's thigh with his knife. Judging by her condition, we had to finish her off. Veronica would have died from blood loss or blood poisoning within a couple of days anyway, and in the meantime she would've been a hinderance to the rest of us.

And the girl from District 1, whose name I never bothered to learn, was killed by us four last night. Not because she was a bad fighter (she scored second highest of anyone this year), but because of her attitude. Her arrogance, that cocky swagger that she thought was intimidating and her witty remarks about the rest of us all contributed to her own downfall. We didn't kill her for any reason, except that we wanted her to shut the hell up.

And now, a day later, with the numbers declining even further, I feel as though I've run the mileage out of this alliance. Looking at the others, it's either me or Katya that will be turned on next. And Katya's rather friendly with Marcus, so it'll probably be me. Knowing this, I think I need to take my leave. Since the death of the girl from One, I've been careful to keep a good stock of supplies in my backpack at all times, in case I need to make a quick escape. In the the faint moonlight, this is my chance. I might not get another opportunity like this for days.

Getting to my feet on the sandy banks of the river, I turn to leave my allies behind. Keeping my small knife in my left hand (my spear won't be much use in the close quarters of the jungle), I edge away quietly.

When I reach the edge of the woods, I turn back and crouch in the undergrowth, watching the three remaining Careers lying asleep. They look so vulnerable. Hopefully someone will stumble across them and kill one of them in their sleep, making my job even easier. No, wait. Why do I need someone to kill them off for me, when I can do it myself, right now?

I edge back towards the river, trying not to wake the three tributes, who lie together on the sand. I crouch by them, and pause, trying to formulate a plan.

Killing a tribute won't be silent, but I need it to be as quiet as possible. Any noise could risk waking the others. And if I can only kill one, Leo needs to be the one to go.

I shuffle round so that I am crouching by Leo's side. He lies on his back, apparently fast asleep. I know that for a quick, silent death, I'll need to slit his throat, expertly and efficiently. I've never done it for real before, but I know how it's done. We were taught how to in the Training Centre, back at home in District 4.

It doesn't bother me that I'm killing someone. I've killed twice so far in these Games, excluding the Careers that we betrayed. Both times were at the cornucopia; the sixteen-year-old boy from Three, and the younger girl from District 6. And this life is necessary to take. Leo is much more of a threat to me than either of those two were.

Trying to concentrate on the job that must be done, I quickly clamp my right hand over Leo's mouth, and pull back his head, exposing his bare neck. It jolts him awake, but before he has time to say anything, my blade has left a bloody gash through his neck. He tries to scream, but no sound comes, and I can see his green eyes bulge in pain and terror for a moment, then they gloss over, dead.

I stand over Leo's body, pleased with the effectiveness of my work. Silent and deadly. That's the way it needs to-

Bang.

Oh, how could I forget the cannon? I'm awful for such oversights. I didn't think my plan through. I see Marcus stir, and I turn to run down the sand, as opposed to crashing my way through the jungle. I only get thirty yards before I hear Katya's screams, and I know that Leo's body has been seen.

In the weak moonlight, I see the glint of a blade somersault over my shoulder and land in the sand ten feet in front of me. Marcus must have enough sense about him to start throwing.

Turning, I launch my spear in his direction, but my throw is poorly aimed, and the spear lands in the river, five yards to Marcus' right.

I can hear Marcus shouting at me, but I can't make out his words. All I care about is making my escape, and leaving my former allies behind, to fend for themselves without Leo's guidance.

I know that I'm a faster runner than Marcus, and I'm out of sight within a couple of minutes. Once I know that I'm no longer being pursued, I turn away from the river and into the thick jungle.

At night, all you can hear is the white noise of the insects, but I don't care at the moment. No doubt it'll annoy me later on, but right now, I'm just glad that I can't hear the enraged voices of my former allies.

I've made it. No longer are the Careers a constant threat. Now, away from the other strong tributes, betrayal is no longer an issue. I'm the traitor, not them.

But from now on, I'm on my own...


The arena for the 10th Games was jungle-based, split by the river that the Careers had rested by, which ran through the centre of the arena. This year, the kills were distributed evenly within the field, as the Careers were less dominant than usual. Following Armando's disappearance, the two remaining Careers struggled in a leaderless alliance for the next two days until the alliance fell apart, costing Marcus his life.

Alone in the jungle, Armando racked up two more kills as the numbers were cut to five by the end of the first week. On the ninth day, with four tributes alive, the Gamemakers flooded much of the lower land in the arena, forcing the three surviving tributes onto a small rise near the centre of the arena. The girl from District 11 was killed that day by Katya, who became Armando's sixth victim of the Games the following day, crowning him the victor of the 10th Annual Hunger Games, and District 4's third victor in a decade.


A/N: 10 Games in, only 65 to go! Now that the story is well underway, I'm really keen to hear what you, the reader, think about the first 10 oneshots, so pleae review! As ever, constructive criticism is welcome :)

P.S. The next Games will have a familiar face...