AUTHOR'S NOTES: And shortly after Chaff comes our good friend Brutus. There's also a Clove that appears in this chapter. Like the Glimmer from a few chapters ago, it's just another name, and not someone we know. Also, anyone with further questions is more than welcome to send me a message as well. I'm happy to clear anything up if something is unusual or unclear. That said, here's today's chapter. The next one might be delayed because of life-related reasons, but upon my return, I will post the following chapter as soon as possible.
Happy Reading!

The 53rd Annual Hunger Games

Considering that it had been over half a century since the inception of the Hunger Games, a lot of things had changed since the beginning. The arenas were more complex, the training centers were more refined, and the tributes came out stronger. Extending the training period by a couple days had definitely seen an increase in performance, and thus much fewer tributes died of natural causes, and more ended up victims of attacks from mutts, hazards, or other tributes.

But even this was not enough. The Capitol Gamemakers had to ensure that year after year, the event remained exciting, perhaps if nothing else, to keep the citizenry (of the Capitol, anyhow) blind to the sordid reality of what these games were celebrating and what they entailed.

Whatever the case, the 53rd Annual Hunger Games was fixing to be one of the games the Capitol enjoyed flaunting to their audiences. The usual career packs were definitely going to form, and cheers erupted from the District 1 crowds as tributes Clove Esmeralda and Marcus Clay reached the stage. Over in District 2, a few would-be tributes actually had to be hospitalized from the ferocity of Aela Burns' ascent to the volunteer stage. Her partner, Brutus Gunn, lived up to his name by being just as fierce in his fight to volunteer for his district.

Judging by the performances of the tributes in the training center, it was clear that if none of them stepped up to form alliances, that there was a high chance the careers would go unmatched this year. Nefeni and Rolf from District 3 did not step up, although Mercer and Azura from District 4 did at least form a loose alliance with the careers, bringing the 1-2-4 alliance back to life for this year's festivities.

District 1's Clove wowed the crowds at the end of the training week by scoring a perfect 12, and her allies Brutus, Marcus, and Aela all scored 11s. Rolf and Nefeni scored 7s, while Mercer took a 9, and Azura took an 8. No one else scored higher than 7, and so they were all but ignored by the betting crowds and would-be sponsors. Perhaps some of them had deliberately tried to keep their scores low for deceptive purposes (shadier places like District 11 or District 12 was notorious for this when they weren't going all out and scoring frighteningly high), but until they revealed themselves as being dangerous, most of the Capitol audiences would have their focuses elsewhere.

12 tributes were massacred hardly 2 minutes into the games, giving only half of the tributes a proper glimpse at the mountainous arena surrounding them. The snow-capped mountain vistas extended for what seemed like miles, and under the colorful skies and adrenaline rushes from the opening minutes of the bloodbath, the cool temperatures were easy to ignore at first. There were weapons and supplies spilling from the cornucopia, but food was minimal, which meant it was probably on the mountains or in the valleys below. Perhaps some of the birds circling the mountains in the distance were edible.

Brutus took command of the career pack, despite Clove receiving a higher score. She seemed okay with it, considering that it had been a few years since the careers had been able to properly turn on one another, and she, like the rest of them, was itching for more of that when the time came. As such, Marcus, Clove, Aela, and Brutus didn't fear getting stabbed in the back by one of their allies while there were 8 other tributes out there, especially since two of those were Mercer and Azura, who had honored the alliance thus far. Ideally, they would be the eyes and ears of the careers.

Two days in, and Nefenie and Rolf were glad they geared up as they trekked through the mountains. The high altitude rendered chilly temperatures, and the fact that they were bundled up was what kept them from freezing. A blizzard hit one of the distant mountains, keeping them wary.

Far below them, the pair from District 4 were scouting out the much warmer valley. Most of the tributes had gone this way, and so there was much more action down here. It was another three days before Mercer and Azura rendezvoused with their comrades from District 1 and District 2, by which time three more tributes had been taken down by Brutus and his gang. A day later after Mercer finished scouting his section of the arena, a cannon fired, only for Azura to return with news of the last other tribute's death. All that remained now were the tributes from Districts 4, 2, 1, and 3; the latter of which had not been seen the entire time. Usually when that happened, they were set up and geared up with nefarious traps or homemade weapons. Not wanting to risk this, Brutus and Aela both agreed (behind Azura and Mercer's backs) with their District 1 allies to spare District 4 for the time being.

Nefeni and Rolf were still waiting for the blizzards to pass, although their mountain stayed conspicuously safe. By morning 10, they finally realized why. The birds that had seemed to circle the mountains consistently off in the distance were actually large eagle mutts, and when they spotted the tribute pair on the mountainside, a half dozen of these creatures made quick work of the pair, ending whatever plans they had before they could even be made.

The death of District 3 also meant trouble for District 4. Unfortunately for them, Mercer and Azura were not fast enough to stop Clove from reacting, and with two deft movements from her dual-swords, she had killed them both with a smirk.

"With '3 gone, that just left our pack. We've got what we wanted, it seems."
"Draw your weapons and fight!" Brutus warned the others, all of whom scattered in that moment. They spent the afternoon resting up, with eyes on each other. Later near sundown, they returned to confront each other and began a vicious melee.

Brutus took an upper hand because of his strength and devastating blows. Instead of trying to kill right away like his (now former) allies were attempting, he went in for their arms and legs to try and cripple and disable them. It was because of this tactic that he managed to first take down Marcus, then Clove, and then his own partner Aela, before he stood triumphant over their corpses like a gladiator who had survived his fight. Considering that that was the origins of the Hunger Games to an extent, it was rather theatrical to watch Brutus Gunn become the 10th victor from District 2, and the 53rd victor of the games.

Because of how the games went down, this year's events were well-remembered for being one of the games that established a reputation among the career tributes for ganging up, killing off the weaker tributes, and then turning on themselves to finish each other off and end the games. It was rare that this actually happened considering some of the other forces that often came into play such are mutts, arena hazards or events, backstabbing tributes or ex-allies from Districts 3, 4, or 5; or because of powerful saboteurs from Districts 12 and 11. However, when it did happen, it made the games go out with a bang just as Brutus had done—and it helped the man live up to his name in the meantime…

VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)
11HG: Maius Karuha (#2, District 2)
12HG: Iunius Karuha (#3, District 2)
13HG: Hilda White (#1, District 10)
14HG: Minali Otoyome (#2, District 3)
15HG: Willow James (#3, District 1)
16HG: Lark Chandnea (#2, District 11)
17HG: Woof Casino (#1, District 8)
18HG: Leah Holden (#2, District 7)
19HG: Zeruda Mezkiel (#2, District 6)
20HG: Muscida Lee (#2, District 4)
21HG: Kada Lahka (#4, District 2)
22HG: Gleam DiFronzo (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ivette Coronado (#3, District 5)
24HG: Olivia Thurman (#1, District 9)
25HG: Laurel Fox (#1, District 12)
26HG: Daron Armstrong (#5, District 2)
27HG: Cobalt Evans (#5, District 1)
28HG: Lyme Golding (#6, District 2)
29HG: Ash LosDias (#3, District 7)
30HG: Challis Worth (#2, District 8)
31HG: Beetee Latier (#3, District 3)
32HG: Fletch Crossley (#4, District 5)
33HG: Seeder Howell (#3, District 11)
34HG: Price Emerson (#6, District 1)
35HG: Leto Irizari (#7, District 2)
36HG: Jackson Kjelle (#5, District 5)
37HG: Zerviah Hawke (#3, District 6)
38HG: Wiress Plummer (#4, District 3)
39HG: Nephi Lott (#3, District 4)
40HG: Miriam Luxio (#7, District 1)
41HG: Marcelina Kovac (#6, District 5)
42HG: Niles Lincoln (#8, District 2)
43HG: Blight McKay (#4, District 7)
44HG: Sagittaria Svenja (#4, District 11)
45HG: Dezna Meraxa (#4, District 6)
46HG: Alice DeSiete (#3, District 8)
47HG: Aurum Zianja (#8, District 1)
48HG: Layla Aranai (#9, District 2)
49HG: Chip Sangster (#5, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)
51HG: Derrick James (#7, District 5)
52HG: Chaff Mitchell (#5, District 11)
53HG: Brutus Gunn (#10, District 2)