AUTHOR'S NOTES: For some reason, this was actually one of the last chapters I wrote, and I don't really know why.I had no trouble writing it once I did; I think I just had too much fun writing some of the chapters out of order. It made things feel a bit more randomized to me. Whatever the case, here's the 68th chapter and one of the last 'bridge' chapters I need. As such, I'll be able to keep the 3-times-a-week schedule all the way to this fic's completion, and so the finish date (when I post chapter 99) is going to be around the 30th of September unless something comes up. I'll tweak my profile accordingly if anything does though.
Happy Reading!

The 68th Annual Hunger Games

While most districts had produced at least a couple of victors by the time the 68th Annual Hunger Games rolled around, there were a few that floundered in terms of performance. Sometimes it was just bad luck, other times they were a menace similar to District 12's "Painted Tributes"—dangerous tributes that drew too much attention to themselves and got taken down before the games had ended. The strategies were sound, however, and these tributes did not often get forgotten very easily.

Whatever the case, the Gamemakers hardly cared what district won the games as long as the tributes in question played by their rules, which all of them always did—once the tributes were in the arena there weren't any rules. There were a few actions that had undesirable consequences, but there was nothing stopping the tributes from still doing these things anyways. Fortunately for anyone who wanted to come out of there alive, there wasn't anyone that foolish this year.

Like nearly every other year since their inception, the career pack formed this year as well, with Lance Newell and Selena Drake from District 1 watching the recaps to size up their comrades from District 2. Obsidian Tsun and Rey Kazera did not disappoint, proving to be viable contenders and worthy tributes from District 2, to no one's surprise.

Districts 11 and 12 also formed an alliance that year, and after noticing that Melanie Hicks and Carver Tabris from District 9 actually seemed like they might stand a chance rather than being the usual bloodbath fodder that they had developed a reputation for being. The alliance was definitely confirmed after the two District 9 kids scored symbolic 9s in training. It was not very high compared to the 11s and 12s that the four careers scored (or even the 10s that both District 3 kids took), but it was more impressive than the usual 5s or 6s their district and District 10 were better known for.

Once the tributes caught their first glimpse of the arena, they knew they were in for a treat, and not necessarily in the good way. Outside of the cornucopia clearing, the arena appeared to be some abandoned warehouse district of a derelict city. Perhaps there were still goods and usable items in these buildings, for the supplies at the cornucopia were scant, and seemed to mostly just hold various weapons of all kinds.

10 tributes died that morning, and in an odd twist of fate, they were carved right along district lines. The less urbanized districts: '4, '7, '10', '11, and '12, all lost their tributes. District 9, despite being the grain district, was actually a rather urbanized place outside of the fields, with factories and granaries dotting the landscape, and with those tricks in mind, both Melanie and Carver had hightailed it from the cornucopia and avoided the bloodbath entirely. The pairs of tributes from Districts 3, 5, 6, and 8 managed to escape as well, but scattered like cockroaches in the wake of the career tributes seizing the cornucopia before panning out to find out where the goods were.

Luckily for the other tributes, Districts 3 and 5 did not form an alliance, because they would have likely had a heyday with the kinds of gadgets they found in the warehouses. District 6 wound up finding tracker-jacker hives and fire, and so took the example of a few of their predecessors from a decade or two ago and got high from the insects. Heating the venom removed the poisonous toxins, but the hallucinatory effects remained, and considering that these two were fairly drug-addled like much of District 6, this was exactly what they wanted.

It did wind up costing them their lives the next day, when Rey and Obsidian wandered into their warehouse looking for supplies. They were both so blitzed that the District 2 pair looked at each other, shrugged, and both killed a District 6 tribute before making off with the supplies.

Carver and Melanie were a bit more secluded. They had made their way to the tallest warehouse, climbing a few rickety stairs and ladders to earn this vantage point. Armed with bows and slingshots, they used a couple of cracked windows as their murder holes, aiming down at anything or anyone that might have crossed their path.

On day 4 a girl from District 8 went in with one of the boldest and most audacious moves seen by a non-career tribute. She had scouted out the careers' camp, and waited for Rey and Obsidian to go on another of their tribute-hunts. Selena was resting, and she was the girl's primary target. However, with Lance on watch duty for the moment, she would have to get by him to reach Selena. When she realized this, she swapped targets, going all in with a lance in hand, and perhaps ironically, lancing Lance to death. He barely managed to bellow out when the girl impaled him, but it was enough to wake Selena, who slept with her hand around her sword, and thus was able to slash the girl from District 8 before she could escape, and killed her.

Nights in these warehouses and abandoned factories were chilling, since the moonlight and starlight couldn't penetrate most of the buildings short of through the glass windows (broken or intact), and obviously there was no running power (or perhaps the electricians in District 5 might have already harnessed it and won the games by this point). Carver and Melanie stayed hidden in their tower, while Rey went on a solo mission to take out District 3. Selena also split from the group to try and find the District 8 boy to avenge her own partner. '8 would pay for what they did.

It took a couple nights for these tributes to find their quarries. Rey silenced the pair from District 3 in a single stroke, ending their lives in Night 7. Selena gave chase to the boy from '8, and the ruckus woke up the pair from '9. Rey was about to close in on the District 8 boy with Selena, but suddenly, an arrow struck the District 1 girl in the head, courtesy of Melanie. Carver followed up with a shot aimed for Rey, but the other boy got in the way and was taken down. The problem now was that Rey knew where the arrows were coming from, and she responded so swiftly that neither one of them saw it coming.

She whipped out a throwing axe and launched it with such velocity that it went right through the window, spraying Carver with glass and lodging itself right into Melanie's chest. She did not know there were two tributes up there, however, and so after she saw the hovercrafts poke through the roof to collect Melanie's body (and then Selena's and the District 8 boy's) she figured her work was done, and she moved on. Carver might have tried shooting her then and there, but he was scrambling for Melanie's bow before they took her body away.

The next day a rather violent exchange took place between Rey, Obsidian, and the pair from District 5. They had built some makeshift lightning machines, and managed to electrocute Obsidian into submission before taking him down. They sustained serious injuries from him and Rey in the meantime however, and in their weakened state, they fled from Rey. The girl didn't make it, and the boy dropped dead not too long after. Rey originally thought she had gotten the kill, but there was an arrow in his back that did not belong to her. She knew where it came from now.

Despite Carver's attempts, Rey stormed the warehouse, chasing Carver all the way up to the roof. Other than his bow, which Rey managed to strike and shatter, all he had was the axe Rey had thrown into the chest of his partner, and he didn't really know how to use it as effectively as the career girl now advancing towards him.

Rey began moving closer and closer to Carver, twirling her axes and licking her lips. There was nowhere to run; nowhere to hide, and she knew it. She launched one of her axes at him again, although was caught off-guard by Carver's comeback. He threw the axe at her, where it cleanly lopped off her right arm just above the elbow. The boy was stronger than he looked. Rey staggered back, clutching her injured limb, and her brief immobility was all Carver needed to grab a blade, shove Rey over, and cut her throat, thus ending the games. Rey's cannon fired, and Carver stood atop the rooftop of the warehouse triumphant, having become the 2nd victor from District 9, and the 68th victor of the Hunger Games.

Victors were a rarity in the grain district, and so it was unsurprising that he was hailed as a hero. Like Olivia before him, Carver turned to drinking heavily, as one way to get his mind off of the games, but also because District 9 produced some mighty fine brews. Like every victor before him, his life was changed forever by the games, and like many others as well—he seldom ever spoke of it again.

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)
55HG: Zak Dreggite (#4, District 4)
56HG: Zoroka Chandaki (#9, District 1)
57HG: Cecelia Sanchez (#4, District 8)
58HG: Meili Meisha (#5, District 6)
59HG: Zhin Lyautey (#6, District 3)
60HG: Lucas Drazen (#10, District 1)
61HG: Kara Petersen (#5, District 7)
62HG: Enobaria Taos (#11, District 2)
63HG: Gloss Zianja (#11, District 1)
64HG: Cashmere Zianja (#12, District 1)
65HG: Finnick Odair (#5, District 4)
66HG: Elroy Trujillo (#12, District 2)
67HG: Varric Svenja (#6, District 11)
68HG: Carver Tabris (#2, District 9)