A/N: Thanks to RealFiction, byrnebella, nevergone4ever, mangesboy01, RunnergirlI, richards25 and charliesunshine for reviewing!

Apologies again for the lack of chapters in the last week, I'm currently off on holiday. Apart from enjoying myself on the beach, I have also been doing a fair bit of reading, mainly of Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)'s 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. If you haven't read them, it's definitely a series that I'd recommend.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's chapter :)


"We tumble and fall, forever we'll crawl

Forever we'll be, tumble and fall."

- Grant Nicholas, 2005.


The 57th Annual Hunger Games

Yvonne Grady (17), District 5 Female

Feeder - Tumble and Fall (2005)


"Calm down, Yvie," Aaron scolds me, and with good reason, too. I've been protesting stubbornly all afternoon. Maybe it's due to the malnourishment or maybe it's the sleep loss, but either way, I'm not happy.

The days in here feel too long, and the nights feel too short. In an arena set in icy, arctic terrain, the cold is also a factor to be considered. Due to thick down coats, the cold isn't usually a problem for my district partner Aaron and I, but we have our own issues.

Maybe it's affecting everyone else too, but I'm finding myself to be increasingly infuriated by almost permanent snow blindness, as I have no way of protecting my damaged eyes from the bright rays reflecting directly off of the constant sheets of metre-thick ice.

Hopefully I won't have to spend much longer in here. Since arriving in the arena, we've made a conscious effort to put as much distance between us and the cornucopia as possible. Now, Aaron and I find ourselves at the edge of the arena on a steep, snow-covered slope that reaches a near cliff-face a hundred yards further uphill. We've taken care to avoid the Careers, who make up four of the remaining ten tributes. Assuming that I've counted correctly, I only know one of the other surviving tributes by name; Titus. The tall boy from District 6 seemed intimidating from day one and scored a nine in training, so I know that he has potential, but I haven't seen him since the Games began.

Currently, I walk behind Aaron across the snowy slopes, as my district partner insists that we should keep moving through the arena. He says that we should try to learn all of the arena, but so far all our walk has resorted in is tired legs and aching feet; it all looks the same to me under the snow.

I'm relieved when Aaron finally sets down his crossbow and his backpack to set up a makeshift fire. The sun is beginning to creep down below the jagged, daunting horizon as we stop to eat. I welcome the chance for a rest, making small talk whilst preparing myself for the inevitable walk to our overnight resting place, down the slopes to the darkness of the snowy forest that constitutes over eighty percent of this arena.

However, the walk never comes.

Aaron is still attentively arranging his backpack when the first tremors run through the ground. For a minute, we think nothing of them, but then the intensity increases, and one knocks Aaron onto his back. It only takes a few more seconds before we hear a loud rumbling, like constant gunfire, cannoning around the arena.

"Avalanche! Go!"

I don't need to be told twice.

I begin to feel the ground break up beneath me as I begin my sprint downhill. Aaron is a few paces behind, but I already know that he won't catch up with me. He is taller and stronger than me, but he is much heavier and slower than I am, too. Add in the fact that his rucksack is much heavier than mine, and I don't hold much hope for him.

After what feels like several minutes (but in reality was probably thirty seconds), I risk a glance over my shoulder. Looking back, the whole cliffside appears to have been turned into an icy liquid, which hurtles down the snowy hillside after me. I can just make out the dark figure of Aaron, twenty or thirty paces behind me, the writhing mass of the avalanche looming just over his broad shoulders.

I almost lose my footing in the snow, which forces me to revert my attention to descending the slope. As I turn, I notice a figure in the snow below me, further down the slope. It takes me a while to recognise him, but I find that the boy is Titus, from District 6. His coat (along with most of his body) is blood-stained, and he has no weapons and no supplies. Yet as both myself (armed with my short, curved sword) and the avalanche bear down on him, he stands still on the slope.

I consciously prepare myself for a fight, but he doesn't even move as I hurtle past him at full speed. As I pass him, I notice that beneath the dried blood all over his face, Titus was smiling. His eyes had an excited glint in then. Considering his position, I'd be tempted to call him mad. But I'm not about to stop running and encourage him to escape the avalanche, either. It's his funeral, after all.

I keep running long after I enter the forest, way past the furthest reaches of the avalanche. When I finally run out of energy, I collapse to the ground in the centre of a snowy clearing within the forest, completely exhausted. I lie spreadeagled on my back, staring up into the crisp blue sky when I realise that Aaron is nowhere to be seen. I don't even know if he survived the avalanche.

I guess I'm on my own for now.


The first week of the Games were dominated by the prominence of one tribute; District 6's Titus, a tribute who lacked mental stability, resulting in him becoming a deranged cannibal. When the Gamemakers finally chose to stop him by interfering with an avalanche, three other tributes were eliminated too, including District 5's Aaron.

This left six tributes in the arena, including three Careers. When no deaths came for three more days, the Gamemakers organised a feast, successfully drawing all six surviving tributes to the cornucopia.

Yvonne then won the Games at the fast due to strategy. She was the last to arrive at the cornucopia, and by the time that she had arrived, the arena was down to three, and she was the only tribute to be in perfect physical condition. The other two tributes, the girl from Two and the boy from District 9, both had wounds that would almost certainly be fatal. This gave Yvonne an easy job to finish the two tributes and become the victor of the 57th Annual Hunger Games.


A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)

P.S. Thanks to anyone who has already submitted a chapter for my second competition! There's still plenty of time before the 69th Games, so keep sending in those chapters! :)