A/N: Thanks to ThatHufflepuff, mangesboy01, Oxenstierna D. Yuki-Rin, richards25, I-am-Cashmere-of-district-one, RealFiction and District4Girl for reviewing!
Here's another 'Catching Fire' victor, and one of my personal favourites.
I hope you enjoy the chapter :)
"Ah, oh come on!
We've got our backs to the wall!
Get on, and watch out!
Before you kill us all!"
- Tom Meighan, 2004.
The 63rd Annual Hunger Games
Cashmere Adlington (15), District 1 Female
Kasabian - L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever) (2004)
The capsule begins to rise, and I'm plunged into darkness.
It's been a long wait to get this far. I may be young for a Career, but I know that I have potential.
Every tribute from District 1 must survive the trials in our Training Centre to earn the right to compete. Against a field of girls much older than myself, I emerged victorious. Maybe I was foolish to enter the trials at a young age (I could've waited until I was eighteen), but now my decision has been justified. I was the one who survived this year's trials. I've killed before to get this far, and I'm sure that I'll kill again once I'm in the arena for real.
And the reason I'm doing this?
My brother.
We both joined the Training Centre at the same time, although it was clear from the start that he was a notch above the other trainees. I'm almost certain that there's a victor within him somewhere. But my twin brother and I should never have to enter the arena together. That would be torture in more ways than one.
That's why I volunteered my name for the trials early. Gloss, at just fifteen, is above anyone in the years older than him. I knew he wouldn't think to volunteer his name any earlier than sixteen (only one fifteen-year-old has won the Games, and that wasn't due to their own merit). I may only be just over fifteen, but I'm talented with ranged weapons. Maybe I'll lose with strength, but I don't need it to win.
Well, that's half the reason why I volunteered early. It's true that I planned to enter the Games without my brother, but I did this partly so that I would be remembered first. District 1's got a tonne of potential victors coming through in the next few years. I may be the first of a long line. Among others, I may not be remember, but if I can say that I was the first... Well, that's something to brag about. Any why be a victor if you can't claim the glory?
I'm certain this'll be the start of a big era for District 1. There's myself and my brother, who will hopefully both win the Games. There aren't many promising girls, but there's a couple of lads that give Gloss a run for his money. And, oddly enough, they aren't older than him. Maybe he has the edge on strength, but there's an expert swordsman in the year below us; Gabriel, I believe his name is. His time will come in a few years. And the archer in the year below him, who I've seen around the District. He looks deadly, too. Give them a few years, and they'll be victors in their own right.
But my time is now.
I come out into the arena, which seems to be fairly simple. We start on our pedestals, which stand alone in a large lake. The water looks calm and cooling all around us, and the summer sun beats down from above. It's a good thing we've been given jumpsuits to wear. Forty yards in front of me (and all the other tributes, in fact) is the golden horn that is the cornucopia, standing alone on a small sandy island above the lake, calling out to me like a beacon. That is where I need to be as soon as the action starts.
It's a good thing I can swim.
Looking around the arena, I quickly spot the other Careers; my allies. My district partner, a clumsy and useless (for a Career, of course) boy of seventeen called Glamour. I doubt he'll be much use for long. Around the pedestals,I see my other two allies, the tributes of District 2, ready to swim to the cornucopia. We aren't allied with District 4; their two tributes were young (although one is the same age as me), and neither showed any real skill. They'll be as easy as all the others to kill off, when their time comes.
Suddenly the gong sounds, and I dive quickly into the water. I try to swim as quickly as I can, but I'm disappointed to find that I'm the fourth tribute to reach the island. As I pull myself to my feet, the boy from District 4 is already launching himself back into the water, a backpack on his back and a longsword in his hand. Cursing my bad luck to be stuck in a water-based arena without District 4 as allies, I turn my attention back to the cornucopia, which I reach at the same time as the boy from District 2, Gaius. I follow him into the cornucopia, where all the supplies are hoarded. He ignores the supplies at first, heading straight for the weapons, where he silently picks up a short swords and heads outside, where the few tributes who were brave enough to venture to the cornucopia are just coming ashore. Soon, painful screams fill the air as the first victims of the 63rd Games are cut down. I avert my attention to the weapons, hoping to find anything - knives, daggers, axes, spears, whatever - that I can throw, but eventually, a reflex bow hidden away in a corner catches my eye. Grabbing a quiver of twelve arrows with it, I exit the cornucopia just as I see Gaius cut clean through the girl from District 4.
Well, that's one threat dealt with.
I'm pleasantly surprised that not many tributes have arrived at the cornucopia at all, and with four already lying bleeding in the sand, I shoot my first arrow through the neck of the boy from Five, who's the only tribute left standing apart from the four Careers. However, the cannons don't sound, so the bloodbath is not yet over.
Looking out from the cornucopia across the lake, I realise that although a few tributes have swam away to the steep cliffs (or, on the other side, verdant woodland), many tributes are still rooted to the spot, stuck on their pedestals.
Slowly and calculatingly, I shoot them down, one by one. My accuracy is not brilliant, and so some tributes aren't hit cleanly, and they flounder in the water, injured. It takes a few minutes for these injured tributes to fall below the water for a final time.
Listening to the cannons fire, I smile, satisfied with my performance thus far in the Games. Maybe my actions have been merciless and brutal, but nobody is going to win the Games by just being a pretty face, are they?
The 63rd Games were unusual for a variety of reasons. Firstly, many of the high-scoring tributes died at the cornucopia victim to Cashmere's bow. Three of the tributes that she killed had scored higher than seven, and one of them, the boy from District 8, had been joint favourite to win the Games prior the bloodbath.
Another interesting fact about the Games was that the entire Career Alliance was almost stopped by a single tribute; the boy from District 4, Rhys. Having killed both the male Careers by staying in his comfort zone around the lake, and picking off tributes who strayed too close to him. Fourteen tributes were killed during the Games by Rhys and Cashmere alone.
With just two Careers left, Cashmere and the girl from Two split peacefully, and two days later, the girl from two killed off Rhys, the last non-Career threat, taking the number of tributes down to five.
At this stage, the Gamemakers raised the level of the lake, flooding the low-lying woodland and forcing the five remaining tributes to climb up the steep hills to large flat, high plateau that made up the other half of the arena. Being a large open, space, the three tributes who survived the flood (Cashmere, the girl from Two and the girl from Seven) were forced to confront each other almost immediately. Cashmere, who now used throwing knives scavenged from the body of the boy from District 6, killed off the other two girls before they could get within range of her, crowning Cashmere Adlington of District 1 the victor of the 63rd Annual Hunger Games.
A/N: If you enjoyed today's chapter, please review! As ever, constructive criticism is welcomed :)
I'm sure some of you probably noticed some minor foreshadowing for some of my other stories in this chapter ;)
P.S. My second competition, for the victor of the 69th Hunger Games, is likely to fraw to a close within the next week, so if you're still looking to submit a chapter, there is time, but it is quickly running out. Basically, if you want to enter, you need to get a move on :)
I'll be looking forward to your entries :)
