A/N: Special thanks to richards25 and Violagirl23 for reviewing the last chapter!
"Well, it's been such a long time coming, I thought you'd understand."
- Rob Swire, 2008.
The 13th Annual Hunger Games
Rose Taylor (17), District 2 Female
Pendulum - Showdown (2008)
I've known for years that this day would come. Ever since I first joined the Training Centre five years ago aged just twelve, the trainers have always told us that the hardest part of the Games is when the time comes for you to fight your district partner. You should only fight them as a last resort. You should treat your partner as an ally, even within the Career alliance. Defend them over all others.
So, when I was on the train to the Capitol after volunteering for the 13th Annual Hunger Games, I was surprised when my mentor, Augustus, a tall aryan who won the Games ten years ago, tells me not to trust my district partner, eighteen-year-old Crassus. Headstrong and short-tempered, Crassus will never put the group ahead of himself. Plus, he's too stupid to be a good tactical planner, so he'll never survive the arena on his own. Augustus says he was amazed that Crassus survived the reaping trials. I know that the other two Career districts have similar trials, where all tributes from the district who wish to volunteer take part in a mock Games to decide who is worthy of volunteering. I've heard that unlike my district, District 4 don't use proper weapons in their trials. I killed four times to win my trial.
In District 1, the trials are similar, but so many children want to volunteer that being chosen by the Training Centre means next to nothing. In District 1, the first volunteer to reach the stage is chosen. The only benefit of winning the trials is that the winner gets to stand at the front of the crowds at the reaping, giving them the best chance of reaching the stage first.
Of the six Careers this year, only five of us were trained. The girl from District 1 was just a fast runner who reached the stage first. We let her join the alliance, as per our mentors' instruction, but she was too weak to be of any use, and we turned on her on the second days.
The boy from District 4, Michael, was severely injured in a fight with the girl from District 9, and a mutt attack took out the girl from Four and separated myself and the boy from District 1, Sheen, from Crassus. Since that day, we have wandered the arena, a bitterly cold, snowy pine forest, slowly watching the numbers decrease. I've lost track of how many days it has been since I entered the arena, but it's over twenty. Since the split with Crassus a week ago, the other three tributes who remained have been dealt with, presumably by my district partner. Sheen and I haven't spotted anyone in that time.
And then today came the blizzard. Not the most original trap from the Gamemakers, but it's effective. Faced with even colder conditions and a lack of visibility, I have followed Sheen away from the storm until we reached the clearing that holds the cornucopia. Now, as we see Crassus burst from the woods thirty yards from our position, I realise that this will be the final battle of the Games.
Eager to fight, I charge at my district partner, who is still out of breath after evading the blizzard. As I reach him, Sheen's spear flies over my shoulder, far too close for comfort. I can tell almost immediately that it was aimed at me due to the fact that it barely reaches Crassus, and it was five metres wide of him. But now that Sheen has no ranged attack, he's not as much of a threat as Crassus. My adversary raises his own weapon, a one-handed combat axe, to parry my blow, but my sword slices straight through his handle, and the blade of his axe lands on the floor by his feet.
Weaponless, Crassus swings a punch at me, and I move my blade to meet him. Crassus screams as my sword lodges in his forearm, and as he struggles to free his arm, I swing the sword again, causing a deep gash in Crassus' chest.
My district partner cries out in pain as he drops to his knees in front of me, weaponless. This will be so easy now. I raise my blade to swing for his neck, but as I try to strike, I find that I can't.
As much as I know that I should finish this boy, I can't force myself to do it. He's from home. I shouldn't kill him. I know that in the trials, I killed four girl from Two, but back then, District 2 was all around me. Here in the arena, District 2 is just a memory, and Crassus is the only physical reminder of home. I stand with my sword raised in indecision for a second or two. Crassus hasn't even moved; he's made no attempt to save himself. He knows that the game over for him. Crassus' willingness to die plus the imminent threat of Sheen is what convinces me to end Crassus' life. I turn away before his head touches the ground.
Turning to face Sheen, I find the boy from One ten yards from me, his sword drawn. As he lunges for me, I dodge to the right and his sword cuts through the air. I swing for his torso before he has time to react, but somehow he manages to edge backwards slightly. My blade rips the fabric of his coat, but no flesh was harmed.
Then before I can react, his sword comes down hard on me, sinking through my shoulder. I drop my sword and fall into the snow, my shoulder burning with agony.
I lie on my back in the snow and I see Sheen over me, his sword raised. My hand fumbles for the knife in my belt, and before Sheen can lower his sword onto me, I plunge my knife into his foot.
Sheen reels backwards, cursing in pain, giving me time to decide what to do next. I position myself and throw my knife at my unarmed opponent. Luckily, the knife finds him just below his eye socket and Sheen falls into the snow, screaming.
I try to stand to finish him, but a combination of pain, blood loss and exhaustion means that I can't stand up. As more of my precious blood seeps into the snow, I begin to drift in and out of consciousness. I don't even hear Sheen's cannon, but suddenly I see the hovercraft above me, and I know that it's all over.
I've won.
And now I can go home.
A/N: Please review! As ever, constructive criticism is welcome :)
