Chapter Sixteen

We go the entire next day walking through the woods. "How about we go to the cornucopia and see if anyone's there?" I'm just as eager for the 67th Hunger Games to end as the Gamemakers are, so I lead the two of us in the direction I perceive the cornucopia would be.

The sun is beginning to fall, and I can smell the saltwater. I smile until I hear grunting and the shouts of someone. I stop Mason, and put a finger to my lips and motion for him to stay where he is. Slowly making my way to the tree line, I glance through the branches of the tree closest to the beach I can find. Ceaser and Rory are having a fist fight not ten feet down the beach from where I am standing. Ceaser's sword is only about three feet away from me, and Rory's bow and arrows are nowhere to be seen.

This is too good of a chance to pass up. Ceaser's back is to me, so I walk behind the tree line until I'm closer to his sword. I glance through the new tree I'm behind. Ceaser and Rory have made it to about a foot of water, but Ceaser's back is still to me. The sword is still right in front of me. I know Ceaser doesn't need a sword to kill anyone, but it will throw him off at least a little bit. I dash through the trees to the sword and run back to the trees without looking back at Ceaser.

I run back to where Mason is and toss him the sword with a smirk. "C'mon, kid." We race through the trees dodging rocks and tree roots. When I feel we're far enough away from the cornucopia, I stop for a breath. I drop my trident to the ground and lean forward on my knees. "You can drop it wherever you want. He won't really come looking for it." A canon sounds in the distance. "Hopefully he didn't make it out of the fight with Rory." The sword falls to the ground, but Mason doesn't say anything. I turn to him, "What is it?"

"I should leave," he kicks the ground around, "I don't want it to come down to the two of us and you have to kill me, Capri." He's right. There's only three of us now. "Thank you for taking care of me as long as you did, Capri. You can make it out. I know you can."

I grip his arms and fall to my knees in front of him, "No, don't leave me." As much as I didn't want to get attached to this kid, I did. I feel a few tears fall from my eyes. "Mason, no," I shake him, "you can make it. You deserve it. You only killed one person, and that was because Ceaser all but forced you to. Please. I'll go. If anyone deserves to make it out, it's you, Mason."

He shakes his head at me and gives me a forced smile. More tears fall from my eyes. I hang my head so he won't see. After a moment, I drop my arms and fall to the ground. He kisses the back of my head, and I hear his footsteps walk away. I lie there for hours sobbing. Mason will die, and that isn't something I have control over. He will die so that I can win.

When I lift my head, I see that it's dark. I also see our backpack resting on the ground next to Ceaser's sword. In a sudden rage of anger, I toss the sword at the trees. Moments later, it comes hurling back at me. I throw myself to the ground until I hear it come into contact with a tree.

Laughing quietly to myself, I look up and see that the tree Ceaser's sword is stuck to has a beautifully large canopy above it with a branch not far from where the sword is stuck. The only way for me to win is to kill Ceaser or Rory. My best chance of killing either is trapping him. The anthem plays and Rory's face fills the sky.

With a smile, I pray my plan will work. I cut down some more vines from nearby trees. Climbing the tree with Ceaser's sword, I tie my net to the branch almost directly above his sword. As quickly as I can, I set it up so that when he pulls out his sword, the net will trap him. I work through the night testing the trap so as to make sure that it works. Finally I get it to work without a hitch. By that time, I can tell that the sun is nearly about to rise, so I don't bother with sleep. With any luck, I'll be out of this arena by tomorrow.

About halfway through the day, a canon goes off. I pray that it was Mason so that I don't have to kill him. I've been marking my path by carving out sections of the trees that I've past with one of the knives Mason left in the backpack. I have to find Ceaser so that I can get out of this damn arena. I'm faster than him, so I should be able to pull this off.

I stop for a few minutes to eat the last of the dried meat and nuts in our backpack and finish off my water. The gamemakers will want to end this, so hopefully they're leading Ceaser to me.

I wander for a while longer, still marking trees as I go. I'm about to mark another tree when I hear, "Four!" I don't have to turn to see that Ceaser is now running towards me. I shoot off in the direction that I came, stopping every so often to check the trees, catch my breath, and make sure Ceaser is still following me. This is it. This is the end of the 67th Hunger Games.

When I see the sword stuck in the tree, I go on the tree nearest that on the opposite side from the way I ran. If I put the sword between him and me, he won't be able to resist. I rest against the tree and wait for a few moments before Ceaser appears. When he sees his sword, his face becomes furious.

"You?!" I smirk, but I continue breathing heavily to make it seem like I'm out of breath. I toss the backpack on the ground. Ceaser smirks and goes for his sword. Within moments he is hanging from the tree.

"Yeah, me."

He begins begging me to save his life. When I can't listen to it any longer, I toss my trident at him. He cries out in pain. I don't want to watch him die, so I walk away towards the beach. When I am finally there, the canon sounds. I sit on the beach where the water meets the sand and enjoy the water.

Claudius Templesmith's voice fills my ears. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present to you the victor of the 67th Hunger Games. I give you the tribute of District Four –Capri Covell!"

A/N: Once again, I hope you all are enjoying this story. Thank you to everyone who commented, favorite, and followed since the last update.

So, now Capri has won the Games. I will be out of school most of this week, so I will try to devote some time to writing and planning because I am still writing Chapter Twenty….hehehe…. I blame my recently resubscribed-Netflix-ensued Gossip Girl obsession.

This is week four of the Saturday update, so let's see how far we can go.

If you don't like something about my story, I would love to know what it is. Please leave a review about what you do and don't like about what I'm writing so that I can get better. Also, if you have any ideas about at what point I should end this story and start the sequel, that would be welcome. Or if I should just continue updating on this story. Thank you and have a splendid day!