Chapter 30: Tributes, Victors, and Conspiracies
Author's note: I hope it doesn't seem like I'm dragging this story on and on when these Games are pretty much over but I feel compelled to build dramatic anticapation. Enjoy.
Day 15 of the Games, 11:59 pm arena time:
In the Gamemakers control room after the malcontents had been taken into custody, the Gamemakers returned to their regular job of managing the arena.
One of the Gamemakers at her console knew her job at the appointed time, and on the approximate minute she tapped some panels to create the images of Susanna Xavier, Dennis Green, and Blaze Trenton to appear in the sky of the arena and on the televisions of the viewers.
Plutarch Heavensbee looked at what was left of the arena on the giant holographic map. There were only nine islands left; the eight surrounding the center island F6. He watched the blips of the three remaining tributes. Amanda Snow had followed after David Crane after she had stuffed herself at the feast and then looked through the supplies at the mouth of the cornucopia. But she had lost David Crane's trail and was now heading in the opposite direction of him. Beverly O'Malley and David Crane had veered in each other's direction, but we're still very far away.
"Alright everyone." said Plutarch Heavensbee. "I think we can give our tributes one more challenge before they face each other again."
He had several choices of different things that he could do. And more than a hundred Mutts ready to sick on them. He decided to go with sending in Mutts. But which one to use?
"Send in the Fallen tributes." he ordered.
A few of the Gamemakers at different consoles then began tapping panels in a logical sequence.
"However, let's wait till after sunrise." Plutarch added. "Just so that they are well rested when they face the mutts."
One of the Gamemakers in the corner of the room by the name of Tray Wilson had a very secretive look in his eyes as he looked from side to side to make sure that no one was watching him, and then began tapping at different panels very quickly and expertly to do something that he wasn't supposed to be doing.
Amanda Snow was walking on a path on the island just east of the cornucopia. She was thinking with sadness at the death of her last two allies. Since the start of the Games there had always been at least one person with her at any given time. And now she was all alone.
As far as she knew, her last two opponents were wounded. She had a number of healed scars thanks to her little container of alien fungus medicine, though now it was almost gone. But other than her healed scars, she was at full strength. She still had the advantage. She had a full complement of throwing-knives, a full stomach, a backpack of choice supplies, and two swords; the shorter titanium one that was a gift from a sponsor, and a longer and heavier redundant one that she got from the clearing on the alien planet. She walked on searching for her meager competition.
Katniss Everdeen and President Paylor were talking together in private.
"So what do you think?" asked Paylor in a tone of worry and concern. "Do you think that the malcontents will try something desperate again?"
"What else can they do exactly?" asked Katniss.
"In theory, the only thing that they could do was maybe try and blackmail us and force our hands by kidnapping children and threatening their lives or something?" said Paylor. "I don't know? I'm just throwing out hypothetical scenarios?"
"Well, that doesn't sound like something that the people of the districts would do." said Katniss.
"I believe you're right." said Paylor. "That particular thing would be pretty darn extreme. If they wanted to do something like that, then I don't think they're quite that desperate yet. I'm pretty sure that they were only willing to break into the Gamemakers control room if it meant that no one would get hurt, and even if they did kidnap children and threaten their lives to blackmail us, and let's say that we didn't give into that blackmail, do you really think that they would live up to their threat? ... I think it would be a very desperate empty threat."
"I get your point." said Katniss. "But it might be wise to take a few precautions."
"What would you have me do?" said Paylor.
"Personally, I think that Amanda Snow will be safe once she is out of the arena." said Katniss. "If she wins the Games of course."
"Of course." said Paylor. "But how do you figure that she will be safe?"
"Because the malcontents would have no reason to kill her after she's a victor. They were prepared to try and get her to die in the arena before the Games are over. But I can't see any one of the district citizens walking up to Amanda Snow on a darkened street corner and stabbing her in the back with a knife. This I'm sure of it. All we need to do is maintain order until the Games are over."
"Your proposal?" wondered Paylor.
"I've been reading in history books what our ancestors prior to the nuclear war used to do to maintain order under desperate situations that they anticipated would happen shortly."
"And what is it?" prompted Paylor.
"You could declare 'Martial Law'." suggested Katniss.
Paylor's eyes widened in surprise.
"That might sound a little extreme." said Paylor with reluctance and concern.
"Just to keep the malcontents under control until the Games are over." said Katniss in a tone of reassuring comfort. "And the Games are almost over anyway."
"Well, ok." said Paylor in a tone of reluctance. "But I'm not happy about it, and I am not coming to this decision lightly."
Katniss nodded in understanding.
"After martial law has been declared there is something else that I want to do."
"What is that?" said Paylor, curious.
"I want to hold a press conference and tell the country who really killed my sister."
Paylor had a look of worry.
"It might cause us more trouble if the people know the truth about that." said Paylor.
"I think that it may reduce the people's negative feelings towards Amanda if the people know that President Snow did not kill the children in his front yard."
"I don't like lying, but I was willing to merely conceal certain information about that for the benefit of the unsteady people at the end of the war." said Paylor. "But if you want to do this, then I support the Mockingjay."
Seen on the television screens across the country:
The TV screen showed a podium in an official looking auditorium. Then an announcer's voice.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of Panem!" the voice introduced.
President Paylor then walked onto the stage and stood in front of the podium.
"My fellow citizens of Panem. It is my duty and responsibility to inform you that as of thirty minutes ago I formally declared a state of Martial Law in all 13 districts and the Capitol. When I say 'Martial Law', what I mean is; the entire collective might of this country's military force will police the streets and guard and provide extra security for key government areas. Businesses will open later and close earlier. The entire country is under curfew, no unauthorized people may leave their homes after sunset or before sunrise except in the case of a medical emergency. Crimes of any kind against anyone will be dealt with swiftly and forcefully, but carefully, the military personnel on patrol in the streets will still adhere to the Peacekeepers code of conduct of kindness and benevolence and will render immediate assistance to anyone who requires it. This action of declaring 'Martial Law' is being done on a civil matter of public insecurity that has come up. I assure you this is very temporary, and will last only a few days, maybe a week. I thank you all for your understanding and cooperation."
Reporters there in the auditorium began standing up, raising their hands, and shouting questions as well as taking pictures.
"And now, the Mockingjay would like to to a few words."
Paylor then stepped off the stage and Katniss Everdeen took her place in front of the podium.
"Citizens of Panem. You are all aware of the event that took place live on television during the final moment of the war in front of President Snow's front yard. You all believe that it was President Snow who dropped those bombs on those Capitol children... including my sister Prim. And then on the day of President Snow's execution I shot President Coin instead."
She paused to allow the people to take in what she was saying.
"For all of the horrible things President Snow had done, something bad that he didn't do should not be pinned on him. President Snow did not drop those bombs on the kids in his front yard."
There was then confused murmuring among the reporters in the auditorium.
"Many of you will not believe me, and you don't have to, but I feel compelled to tell you. President Coin killed my sister and everyone in President Snow's front yard. She took a District 13 Hovercraft and put the seal of the Capitol on it and bombed the Capitol children to turn President Snow's few remaining supporters against him and be President Coin's shortcut to the end of the war."
There were shocked responses of disbelief from all of the reporters there.
"And that is the reason I killed President Coin... because she killed my sister. I don't know who else among the District 13 people were in on the conspiracy, but in defense of District 13, don't blame them. Just blame President Coin, and she has gotten what she deserved. As I said a moment ago, you don't have to believe me. But to me it is the truth. And I thought that you should know. Thank you."
The reporters were on there feet eagerly asking questions. But Katniss left the room without comment.
Backstage, Paylor and Peeta patted her on the back in encouragement, telling her it must have taken a lot of courage to say what she said.
"President Paylor, I would like your permission to send my Tribute a special gift." said Katniss. "A token. That will get a few more of the malcontents to support her."
Back in the arena, around 9:00 am. Amanda was still searching. She thought the had been on David Crane's trail, but had lost it. She thought of the fact that he killed Blaze. She then felt an uncontrollable wave of misdirected anger. She wanted to avenge Blaze. She knew it was the Hunger Games, and therefore they would have killed each other anyway, the only difference now was that to her it now felt personal. She knew it was unreasonable but she didn't care except for the idea of the satisfaction she would feel of making David suffer.
It was then right at that moment that a silver parachute floated down right in front of her face. She grabbed it out of the air. It was a very small box. Cube shaped, less than two inches square. She opened the tiny box. Inside there was a gold Mockingjay pin, identical to the one Katniss Everdeen wears. She could tell it was a cheap carbon copy; Katniss Everdeen's pin was pure gold, while she could tell this one was iron-pyrite. There was a note in the box.
It read: 'Amanda,
A lot of people in the districts support you regardless of what Dennis Green told you. You are now unofficially an honorary Mockingjay. Wear the pin with pride!
Katniss,'
Amanda felt overwhelmed. This was a huge honor.
She pinned the pin in her shirt above her left breast. She thought it looked good. Shortly after Katniss had won the 74th Games she had started wearing her own piece of jewelry with the Mockingjay symbol on it, much to her grandfather's irritation.
She had only gone a few more feet when there was a rustling behind a bush ahead of her and someone came out from behind it and into view. But it was not Beverly O'Malley or David Crane. It was a boy. An older boy, almost a man. He was big. Maybe six and a half feet tall, and about three-hundred pounds. But not 'fat' three-hundred pounds, this guy was three-hundred pounds of muscle. He then drew a huge knife.
"Torturing little girls is so much fun!" he said with a sadistic smile.
It was then that she recognized him. It was Hulk Denver, the male tribute from District 2 for the 70th Games to whom she had her grandfather kill in the arena with a poisonous snake. She then grew angry as she remembered how she felt after he slowly and painfully killed the 12 year-old District 7 girl. She immediately knew that this could not be the real Hulk Denver and guessed that this was some sort of laboratory grown Hunger Games tribute look-alike.
She dropped her backpack and then drew her sword.
"I KILLED YOU ONCE BEFORE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she shouted at the humanoid-mutt.
She ran at the humanoid-mutt and swung her sword. The humanoid-mutt dodged out of the way and then slashed her in the face. Blood slowly trickled out of the would because it was not deep, but only because she had seen it coming a split second early and tried to jump back at the last moment, for had she not tried to jump away her entire head would have been cut in half. She didn't have time to reflect on it though because immediately the humanoid-mutt slashed and jabbed at her again and again. She kept moving backward and avoided being hit while she tried to swing her sword.
Another ninety seconds of the battle went on where she got a few more cuts that she was very, very lucky they weren't worse as she continued to unsuccessfully dodge them completely. She also got a lot of bruises from some hard punches and kicks. She managed to throw a few knives at him but they didn't even phase him. Then by mere luck she managed to get passed his guard and chopped off his leg, then his arm, and then stabbed him through the heart.
She withdrew her sword and let out a breath of exhaustion. She didn't immediately realize that the humanoid-mutt with bleeding stumps hadn't fallen over. She then looked back up at it and it was still alive and tried to punch her with its other arm while hopping on one leg.
"Why won't you die!?" said said in irritation.
She then cut off its other arm, then it's other leg, and then finally it's head. Now it was dead.
It was then that several other dead tributes came down the path. They were smaller, weaker, and unarmed, but still started attacking. She threw a volley of knives, but it seemed that they wouldn't die by conventional methods. It seemed that only beheading would kill them.
When she was done with that batch she was even more bruised and bleeding.
She then wondered. 'Why are the Gamemakers trying to kill me now? There's only three of us left. Why aren't they just trying to drive us towards each other?'
Beverly O'Malley was in an ordinary unremarkable forest just south of the cornucopia. She had wrapped a piece of long torn fabric like a bandage around her head where the throwing knife from Dennis Green had cut her. She had a few other scrapes and bruises from her fight with Amanda but it wasn't bad. She then looked at the whip that she held in her hand and began to question it's usefulness. It was a fine weapon, and useful for some things like giving a guy painful pleasure in the bedroom, or torture and floggings, but it was not a weapon of battle.
She then came face to face with several kids. She recognized them as tributes from previous Hunger Games. The Goth was very smart though and immediately surmised that they could not be real, and must be a Gamemaker's laboratory grown duplicates. They each started attacking with their fists. She didn't hesitate. She whipped them in the face one after another. Several of them went down, while others took a little more punishment.
One came at her from the front where she then high jump kicked him in the head.
An older boy came at her from another direction. And she whipped him hard right in the shoulder.
"Take that!" she said.
The guy went down.
A younger girl came from another direction and Beverly flung the line of her whip sideways and it wrapped around the girl's ankle.
"Have a nice trip!" she said humorously.
And the girl had her leg pulled out from under her.
"See you next fall!" she said as she imitated the same maneuver on another girl.
"Take a rest!" she said as she hit a boy in the head knocking him out.
After they were all gone, there then appeared two more. Thresh from District 11, and Clove from District 2, both from the 74th Games.
The mutt that resembled Clove threw a knife at her, and she dodged to the side and the knife stuck in the tree that was right near her, almost behind her but not exactly where her head was. It was subtle, but Beverly was very smart and she noticed. The mutt of Clove had missed on propose. She grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out of the tree.
They sprang at her. She ran from them. She got to a tree with some low branches where she did some quick athletic moves and hops up the first two branches and then sprang off and kicked Clove in the face. Thresh threw some hard punches at her but his aim with his fist was not very good. Clove threw some more knives and they all missed.
'They won't kill me.' thought Beverly matter of factly.
To someone more naive and less observant it would definitely look real, but the mutts were fighting like children, and only trying to scare.
'Oh well.' thought the Goth in a manner of not caring. 'I can work with that.'
So, for the benefit of the audience she put on a show, matching the Mutts move for move for a little while until she felt they had enough and she cut Clove's throat and wrapped the line of her whip around Thresh's neck and with a hard jerk the neck gave off a loud 'CRACK!'.
She took Clove's knives and went looking for her competition.
David Crane was southeast of the cornucopia after he ran from Blaze and Amanda. He had hoped to kill Amanda himself, he never thought that Dennis would fail. But still, it now meant that he still had the chance to avenge his sister. He would have done it then, but he was in a weakened state with the wounds he had received from Blaze, and if he hoped to win he would need to make a strategic retreat.
He was then face to face with some people. They were kids. He then recognized them. They were dead Hunger Games tributes. But not just any; in particular, they were every tribute that had died by a Gamemaker's trap during all the years his father was Head Gamemaker. He assumed they were not real; that they must be some kind of clone, or android, or illusion, or mutt, or something.
They attacked. He swung the long handled spiked hammer that he stole from Blaze Trenton, bashing in the skulls of one after another. They were a bit of a joke to him. It was too easy, but hey, that's television entertainment for ya.
After he was finished with them, he was then approached by Cato from District 2 from the 74th Games. Though Cato had technically been killed by the Mockingjay with an arrow through his forehead, he had been eaten alive for hours by Seneca Crane's laboratory grown super wolves.
Cato raised a sword. He ran at David to slice him in half. David swung his hammer. The two weapons clashed and clanged against each other again and again but soon enough David knocked the sword out of Cato's hands and a second later buried the head of the hammer in Cato's head. He then took Cato's sword.
In the Gamemakers control room Plutarch Heavensbee looked at the TV screen with the utmost excitement and pride.
"Now that is television entertainment!" he said with pride for his own work. And it was all for show. As soon as this fighting segment with the mutts was over he was going to wrap up the Games quickly.
"Send in the victors." ordered Plutarch.
Several of the Gamemakers begin typing panels.
But then another one of the Gamemakers gave a signal to Plutarch.
"Excuse me sir, could you come here for a moment, I think something is wrong?"
The Gamemaker showed his Head Gamemaker some computer code on his console.
"The difficulty level that the Mutts brain implants are supposed to be is that they are programmed to be easy to beat, and when they fight they are only supposed to scare. However, all of the Muttations that attack Amanda are are set to kill on the maximum difficulty level."
Plutarch was both surprised and appalled. To him this was impossible, and hadn't been this shocked since he was nearly grazed by an arrow during the Mockingjay's first training session and he fell backward into a punch bowl. He still hadn't been able to drink punch since. At the time he had already been part of the Capitol's underground resistance, who's aims were to overthrow the government and create a new world free of slavery. He seized the opportunity to become Head Gamemaker when Katniss Everdeen threatened the Capitol with poisonous berries in the arena.
But on the grounds of reprograming Mutts; No one could hack into the system from the outside, not even a District 3 computer genius. The only way and place to send a signal to the brain implants of the Muttations to reprogram them was at a Gamemaker's personal password code on their own private terminal from right in this room.
That's when it hit him. One of their own was manipulating the Games to kill Amanda Snow. He looked around at all of his fellow Gamemakers sitting quietly at their consoles doing their work. These weren't just any Gamemakers, these Gamemakers he had selected himself and he trusted.
"Can you trace to the source?" asked Plutarch. "Is there a way to find out which terminal in this room the reprogramming was done from?"
"I think so." said the man. "Just give me a little time."
Plutarch then thought. One of the Gamemakers by the name of Tray Wilson had suggested sending in the T-Rex on the alien planet habitat. At the time he had simply denied the suggestion in an offhand frame of mind that they had had enough at the time, but now he really thought about it and considered that the idea to send in the T-Rex was a very unusual move at the time.
Plutarch looked over at the man named Tray Wilson. And then wondered why the man had suggested sending in the T-Rex right after the battle with the warrior Mutts was finished on the alien planet habitat. He then whispered into the ear of the man beside him.
"One more thing. First check the programming of the brain implant of the T-Rex."
The man then did a quick search. And then he noticed it as he looked at the computer code on the screen.
"Yes. The programming of the T-Rex has been tempered with. Had the T-Rex been sent, it would've killed all of them."
"Check to see if the reprogramming came from Tray Wilson's console."
The man looked up at the Head Gamemaker with confusion and suspicion on his face.
"Sir?" said the man with curiosity.
"I am not trying to prove him guilty, no, I am just trying to rule him out as a suspect."
After another minute of quick-fingered computer work the results came up on the screen.
"Confirmed." said the man. "How did you know?"
"Lucky guess." said they Head Gamemaker. "He must be working for the malcontents who don't want President Snow's granddaughter to win."
Plutarch Heavensbee quietly acted natural as he walked over to the door and summoned the four guards that were standing outside of the door and he asked them to follow him. He then walked over to Tray Wilson's workstation.
"Tray Wilson you will stand up from your chair and step away from your console!" ordered Plutarch.
The guards had pointed their guns at Tray Wilson's head and he put his hands up and he obeyed the Head Gamemaker's orders.
"Tray I know that you have been tampering with the programming of the Muttations."
Tray of course denied it. Plutarch presented the evidence against him. The argument went back-and-forth for another minute until Tray gave up. He then looked at the Head Gamemaker with a sorrowful expression.
"President Snow's granddaughter cannot win! It cannot be allowed! I don't consider myself a traitor if that's what you're thinking. I'm doing this for the greater good!"
"You are stupid, idiotic, and naive for thinking that." said Plutarch in a disappointed voice. "Tray Wilson you are under arrest for political corruption, conspiracy, deliberate willful tampering of the Hunger Games, and the attempted murder of Amanda Snow."
The guards took him into custody and Plutarch sat down at Tray's station. He began bringing up the control functions for the actions of all of the Mutts, but before Tray exited the room with the guards he called back to Plutarch.
"Won't do you any good." said Tray. "I've locked their programming in place. It can't be undone until Amanda Snow is dead."
It didn't do any good. No matter what Plutarch tried, any attempt to reprogram the Mutts that were going to attack Amanda Snow and could not be stopped.
"Get Beetee in here!" Plutarch ordered.
Beetee was in the lounge at the time in the building. He was told the situation and he understood. He rushed into the Gamemakers control room and was given a console to sit down at. He rapidly tapped at panels and he expertly brought up the code onto the screen of the programming of the Muttations brain implants. As he was informed a moment earlier, the brain implants order to kill at the maximum difficulty level was locked in place. He tried to bring up the code within the code and attempt to unlock that. But that that too was locked out. He came up against firewalls and viral interruptions, Tray Wilson apparently had been very thorough.
Beetee attempted to continue to hack through Tray Wilson's handiwork. Plutarch continued to watch the tributes on the television. The victors began attacking the tributes. The Gamemakers had attempted to cancel the order within the computer to send in the Muttation victors, but again Tray Wilson's programming had locked that out as well.
Plutarch watched on the TV as axe wielding Joanna Mason and old Woof along with a few other victors attacked Beverly O'Malley. She defeated them without too much trouble.
David Crane went up against Lyme from District 2 and Chaff from District 11 along with a few others. He defeated them without too much difficulty.
Amanda came face-to-face with the famous and beautiful brother and sister from District 1 Gloss and Cashmere. They both drew knives. Though Amanda was double teamed, she drew her second sword and managed to hold it with one hand though it was heavier but not too much heavier. She did some very fast moves fending off both of them at once. She had practiced that with two trainers in the training center but never was very good at it. This time however she was rushing with adrenaline and was a lot more determined. Gloss and Cashmere managed to give her a few cuts and bruises though in the end Amanda managed to dismember them.
It was about a minute later when she then came face-to-face with Finnick Odair. He wielded a Trident. He attacked Amanda head on. The battle went about the same as it did with Irene Avion. The sword and the Trident clashed against each other again and again as each tried to get past the others guard. Finnick got in a few hard hits. Amanda was deeply stabbed several times by the blade of the trident.
Finnick was just about to finish her off quickly when Amanda dodged the side and threw her titanium sword and it went right through his chest. The humanoid Mutt was distracted just enough that she was able to lunge forward with heavier sword and chop his head off.
She retrieved her titanium sword and then slumped to the ground in a weakened state. She pulled the alien fungus medication out of her backpack and began applying it to her wounds and they clotted quickly.
She then continued on. Wondering if the perils of the arena would kill her before she had a chance to face her last two opponents.
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