AUTHOR'S NOTES: And now that I'm back from my trip, here is the chapter just as I promised. Times like this make me glad that I have a few extra chapters written in reserve, because there's no way I would have been able to crank this out right here and right now.
Anyhoot, Chapter 54. Happy Reading!

The 54th Annual Hunger Games

After the theatric games of the year before, the Capitol as well as the career districts wondered if the 54th Annual Hunger Games was going to be able to top it or not. With this many games to look back on, it was fairly easy to gauge which tributes would do well and which ones wouldn't. Some, like District 5, tended to produce hit and miss characters, with many powerful victors emerging in the last 54 years, and other times bringing kids that died in the bloodbath. Others, such as District 12, didn't have very good win records, but still posed a solid threat one way or another using dangerous and often times subversive tactics to their advantage.

Unlike the previous year, this year the careers would face a potential challenge in some of the outer districts. While they weren't terribly shabby in terms of performance, they had to recruit Leo and Leanne from District 3 to counterbalance the 5-strong alliance that faced them: Martin Soleli and Lydia Dakara from District 11, Kaden Boggs and Madison Keaton from District 12, and Tiffany Waxler, the girl from District 10. While District 9 usually stuck to itself though occasionally joined up with these outer districts, this year the pair grouped up with District 8 and District 7 instead, and with them went Tiffany's partner. Districts 4, 5, and 6, not wanting to be on the short end of the deal with no allies, formed a sort of nonviolence pact with each other so that they had a somewhat decent chance of escaping the bloodbath.

The scores that year were all fairly high. From 12s and 11s among the careers and outliers to 7s and 8s among the lesser-performing tributes, no one that year scored below a 7, which was remarkable all things considering. How that translated in the arena was another issue entirely though. It wasn't a bloodbath if no one died.

There was a bloodbath, however, and 9 tributes died from it. Among them was the entirety of the 3rd alliance ('9, '8, '7, and the boy from '10) as well as a girl from District 4 and a boy from District 6. The rest of them fanned out and ventured into the foreboding rainforest that surrounded them on all sides. The cornucopia had had plenty of weapons, but they and salves were all it contained this year, which meant that the cornucopia was not likely going to be a very safe spot to stick around at. Machetes were particularly common among the assortment of weapons. Given the sheer amount of brush and foliage around them, it made sense. It just meant that there would be a lot of bushwhacking.

The jungles seemed to be devoid of most life though. Despite this, most of the water appeared to be clean and the plant life appeared to be edible. Two tribute deaths later and they realized that there was an abundance of poison water and flora, which might have explained all the antidotes and salves at the cornucopia. The tributes from the outer districts played it safe and had a better time deciphering what was toxic and what wasn't, due to their time spent outdoors and their time spent at the corresponding stations during training.

It was after a few days that most of the tributes came to the conclusion that other than plants, there did not seem to be any other life forms out there in this arena (barring other tributes of course). This, however, was where they were wrong.

The career pack did not survive day 5. Instead, all of them apart from Leo and Leanne found themselves attacked by enormous ants and insects. As if their unnatural sizes weren't terrifying enough, their pincers were both sharp and poisonous, and made quick work of the unsuspecting tributes, who were trained more for combat rather than survival or outdoorsmanship. While they were able to fight off some of these large insectoids, they were outnumbered due to the subtlety of the creatures in their initial strike.

Immediately after the anthem that evening the remaining tributes froze as they saw the faces of four of the career tributes appear in the sky. Food became dangerous to carry around, and the surviving tributes watched their backs more closely this time around.

However, there were no more ants on day 7 or 8. Instead the flow of the games was more combat-based. Tiffany managed to score two kills named Leo and Leanne, but not before they wiped out the rest of her alliance barring Lydia. The two girls continued on their trek, as the only remaining tributes were from Districts 5 and 6.

The next morning while Tiffany was keeping watch, the ants returned. They were faster than they were before so even as she woke up Lydia, the creatures gave chase.

"I'm sorry, Lydia…" Tiffany whispered as she pushed her old friend to trip her up. The mutts attacked her and slowed themselves down as a result, and she beelined it for where she assumed the camp of the remaining two tributes was. Instead of attacking them, she grabbed her bag full of food and slung it at them, splattering them with the fruits and other sticky, sweet edibles they had harvested from the jungle.

All it took from there was her to scamper up a tree as the invading ants continued their pursuit and found the remaining two tributes. They put up a good fight, but with Tiffany throwing things at them from her tree, they were too overwhelmed to fight both her and the ants, especially since the latter was a much greater threat. As a result, it only took a few intense minutes before the remaining two tributes were dead, and the games had ended. The ants disappeared rather than pursue Tiffany (although a few appeared to start climbing the tree before vanishing), and just like that, she had become the 2nd victor from District 10 after all these years, and the 54th victor of the 'games.

She was not completely traumatized on her return to District 10, but Tiffany was understandably terrified of ants and spiders, even if the ones back home were much smaller than the gargantuan ones she had faced in the arena. It was an almost comical thing to be afraid of, but no one really understood the terrifying reality of what she had been through. It was one thing to see it on TV, but to experience it live and firsthand… that was how the nightmares were born.

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)
54HG: Tiffany Waxler (#2, District 10)