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After all the action so far in the Third Quarter Quell, this chapter's far more reflective. I hope that you all enjoy it :)


"Wish I could show you

Wish you could see through my eyes

Tomorrow shines through

But I'm missing yesterday."

- Grant Nicholas, 1999.


The 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Third Quarter Quell) - Day 1, 7.30 pm

Blight Gunn (47), District 7 Male (victor of the 46th Annual Hunger Games)

Feeder - Yesterday Went Too Soon (1999)


I stand at the tree line on the edge of the beach, watching the waves roll in, hidden from plain sight by the foliage. As the sun sets over the arena, the scene is quiet; tranquil, even. Such a far cry from the scene of carnage that took place on this very shore just a few hours ago. There's barely a sound in the arena. For the first time in years, I feel completely and utterly alone. As though nobody is watching me. I am in complete privacy. Of course, Johanna and the others are only a hundred yards up the slope away from the Cornucopia, but it feels like miles because of the dense, verdant foliage that blocks my path back to our temporary camp. For now, I'm on my own.

Good. I need time to think.

I only made my way down here for one purpose, really. I want to watch the death recap alone. I heard the cannons earlier just as everyone else did, so I know that eight of us are already gone, their suffering already at an end.

I don't have to wait long.

The sun finally dips below the horizon and the first night in the arena approaches. But before the last light of day is gone, the sound of the national anthem of Panem reverberates around the arena and the death recap begins. I try to steel myself as the first face appears in the sky. It's Luke, the man from District 5. I didn't see what happened to him today, as he was bleeding out on the floor even before I reached the cornucopia. I never knew him that well, if I'm honest. He was quite a recluse, keeping his problems to himself and his alcohol. He was alright for a few years, but by his mid-twenties he barely spoke to anyone. Still, I feel sorry that he's gone. He was a good kid, and maybe without the Hunger Games causing him to go through too much too soon, he might have made something of his life.

Second in the sky is the face of District 6's Blake Carlton, another victor whose life turned to substance abuse. Unlike Luke, I actually knew Blake rather well. He wasn't always as incapacitated as he was by the end. Those first few years after my victory, he was only just beginning to feel the call of the morphling. I've barely seen him in the last decade, excluding when he's had to mentor. Predictably, tributes stuck with him haven't fared too well in the arena. It's a shame he's gone, too. We've all led troubled lives, and I guess some of it are able to cope with it better than others.

The third face in the sky is Cecelia, the young woman from District 8. She was one of the few who I thought had managed to put the Hunger Games behind her. Of course, her situation was different to mine and that of Manu others. Cecelia won as a survivor, not a killer. She doesn't have the same experiences as the rest of us. Still, she'd managed to shake off any traces of the arena and settle down with a family in District 8. She's even got - had - three children. Poor kids. I can't deny that I'm proud of Cecelia. She's managed to do what so many of us victors couldn't. She put the arena behind her and moved on. She didn't deserve to meet her end in the place that she has spent the last fourteen years forgetting.

Next in the sky is Cecelia's district partner, Woof. He was an old man, and I knew him well enough to know that he never really thought he could escape the arena for a second time. He knew the end was coming, to a degree. I imagine that he must have fought, in the end. He would've at least made an effort, even with the odds heavily against him. The last time I saw him, he was still on his pedestal at the start of the Games. I wonder how long he lasted.

The fifth dead victor to be shown is Holly Thorpe, the woman from District 9. I'll be honest, I expected her to find a way through the first day. She wasn't old, or destroyed by drugs, and she hadn't given up, either. She was strong, both mentally and physically. Maybe she couldn't match the Careers, but I'm sure that she'd have been able to hold her own against most of the others. I guess she was unfortunate enough to be singled out by the Careers back at the cornucopia. To me, it seems to be the only logical explanation to her death.

While I may have felt upset by the faces in the sky so far, the sixth face, which belongs to Marcel of District 9, is the first to cause me pain. I knew Marcel, and I knew him well. He won just a few years before me, and can remember watching his Games on television when I was thirteen. After the Games, he coped with the shocks of the arena in a similar fashion to me, in that neither of us really reacted at all. We didn't break down and become insane like Annie has done, or turn to drink or drugs like Blake and Haymitch, or return to normal life like Cecelia. We just accepted our new identities as victors and tried to make the most of what we could do with our adult lives. Even though we were fighting for different districts, I can remember years where we would help each other out with mentoring, giving suggestions and tips once all of our district's tributes were gone. I remember one year when Marcel and I helped Michelle Lopez, an elderly District 9 victor, bring Holly Thorpe home alive once our tributes were gone. Although we only met once a year at most, Marcel was a good friend, and he will be missed.

Next in the sky is the face of Indiana, the woman from District 10. Another who I barely knew, despite being just a few years older than me. She mentored a fair bit for District 10, but outside of the Career Districts, inter-district alliances are rare in the arena. She worked closely with her cousin Fernando, who was regularly her co-mentor, but barely spoke to any of the other victors around. She was far more secluded than some of us, who either loved the limelight or couldn't escape it like her. When she did bother to converse with the rest of us, she rarely spoke to me, and when she did it was only small talk. I never really knew her like I did many of the others. She won't be pitied, as she wasn't crippled by age, disease or substances, and I didn't know her well enough for her to be missed.

Counting the dead on my fingers, I realise that there is only one more face to appear in the sky. One of the four from District 11 or 12. Either way, it's a loss to the alliance that plan to break out of the arena. We've either lost a protector or one of the protected themselves.

Fearing the worst, I'm pleasantly surprised to find Seeder's face in the sky. It sounds awful, as I knew her well and it is an awful shame and a disgrace that any of the victors have died today, but of the four, she was the most expendable. The oldest and weakest of the four aforementioned victors. Her sacrifice will be honoured, both by the rebels and on a more personal level by me. It's hard not to develop some sort of attachment to someone who you've known for thirty years of your life. I somehow managed it with Indiana, but she was an exception.

Then the anthem comes to an end and I am left in the darkness of the arena, upon which night has now fallen. I know that I cannot stay here much longer - Johanna and the others will be expecting me back, and I honestly doubt if Johanna can keep her cool for much longer having been left alone with Nuts and Volts for more than an hour. I know that they drive her insane, but she understands that we need them for the plan. If it wasn't for that, she'd have abandoned Beetee when he sustained injuries at the cornucopia. We've not yet figured out how best to treat them.

But I suppose I can stay just a few more minutes in the calm of the night, where I can mourn my losses in peace. It seem strange to think that after all we victors have survived, we can be killed off so easily. But we can be. Marcel, Seeder and the others may be the first, but there will be more.

I just hope that Katniss and Peeta's cannons aren't the next to fire.


A/N: If you liked today's chapter, please review! Constructive criticism is welcomed :)

P.S. We're now halfway through the Quell chapters! Twelve down, twelve to go :)