Chapter 26:

Aion Machai, District Five, Age 18

Victor of the 101st Hunger Games

Part of Aion wishes that he would have been reaped at a younger age. Well, certainly not last year's Games, that…yeah, no thanks, he's glad that neither of his parents were picked considering he's an only child. But like…couldn't he have gotten picked before the careers were back in action?

Well…hardly back in action. The pitiful excuse of a career alliance all but self-imploded at the bloodbath, leaving only two of them left and separated. Quite fortunate for tributes like Aion that are most definitely not careers.

He knows he's not winning any popularity contests in these Games. He's just a pitiful coal worker, working the job no one wants to be working in the District, surrounded by people that had no other choice. But who needs popularity when he has pure determination to get out of the slum of an apartment his family lives in?

Part of him knows he shouldn't be finding comfort in this arena – and the ghost mutts have certainly tried to stop that. But how can he help it when he's in a mansion – albeit, a haunted one – and not his shitty dirt covered apartment in Five? If there's a high probability of his death, he's going to enjoy every last luxury that they offer him.

Aion shoves open the swinging double doors and has to pause, taking in his surroundings as he starts to slowly grin and his stomach lets out a loud rumble. "Jackpot," he whispers before quickly moving into the kitchen, everything made of steel and shining flawlessly. What are the odds they'll have stocked this room with food? He has been getting low on food…not that he can't go a couple days without eating, certainly wouldn't be the first. But if they want to just offer him food…well, he won't turn down the hospitality.

He opens up on of the pantries and has to take a step back, staring at the bags of chips and snacks in it. "Hell fucking yeah," he says aloud as he starts reaching in, pulling his bag around to his front to shove snacks in it. He doesn't even stop to think about how these chips might be gross or poisoned, he just wants some food right now.

Once his bag is full, he opens a bag of chips, the plastic crinkling loudly before he pops a chip in his mouth. He lets out a moan at the saltiness as he crunches on the chip. When did a simple potato chip start tasting like the caviar they gave him in the Capitol? He grabs another chip to eat as he starts shutting the pantry doors and turns around, freezing in place with the chip half raised to his mouth. He stares at the bloodsoaked figure climbing out of one of the cabinets, blinking a couple times and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand to figure out if this is another mutt or a tribute.

The girl stares at him with frenzied eyes and a terrifying grin, making him start thinking it's a mutt, until she starts laughing and he recognizes the grating sound that haunted him during training. Just his luck that he ran into the psychopathic tribute from Three who managed to get herself kicked out of training every day. She doesn't move, her body tense and still with that unsettling grin on her face, covered in blood from whichever poor tributes ran into her before.

And now Aion is one of those poor tributes. You know, he really would have taken the mutts over her any day.

"Well hey there, Pauline," Aion says, trying to be casual as he eats the chip in his hand slowly, trying to stall so he can think of some way out of this that doesn't involve his death. He holds out the bag of chips to her, watching the way her eyes narrow at the offering. "Can I offer you some chips? If salt and vinegar isn't your style, there's plenty more in here."

Pauline tilts her head to the side, studying him with narrowed eyes but the grin still remains on her face. After a few long seconds, she slowly nods her head at him. "Something else will do."

"Sure, sure, no problem," Aion says, trying to keep the casual air about him. He turns back to the pantry, shoulders tense at turning his back to her and not trusting her for one second. But hey, maybe just trying to have a normal conversation with her will keep her from killing him. He opens up one of the doors, starting to browse through the options for her, all while keeping a close ear on her movements. "So, what do you want? We got BBQ, spicy chili, shrimp cocktail, pickle – ew, pickle flavored? They really do come up with anything, huh-"

Aion cuts off as he catches her lunging towards him in the reflection of the closed pantry door and he jumps to the side, causing her hands to slam into the steel door instead of landing on his neck. She lets out a cry of frustration before tackling Aion to the ground, his head hitting the floor hard and making his vision blur. She gets her hands around his neck and grins down at him the whole time as he gasps for air and struggles to get her off of him. His elbow catches her in the chest and she falters for a moment, giving him just enough leeway to buck her off of him. He pushes her aside and scrambles up, refusing to let her get a chokehold on him once more. But he has no weapons and most likely won't run away from her.

His eyes catch the still open pantry door and he punches her in the face as she lunges forward once more, sending her to the floor. He throws himself on top of her, pinning her with his weight as he shoves her head between the door. "You crazy bitch!" he yells as he grasps the door with both hands, all while she scratches at his neck, before he slams the door on her head. A sickening crunch sounds and her actions slow, but Aion doesn't stop at just one hit. Over and over and over he slams the door shut on her head, watching the bone cave in and blood splatter him and the ground around them.

Boom.

Aion almost misses the cannon among the slamming of the door but he pauses for a moment, before giving one final slam of the door on her destroyed skull. "That's not how you repay someone when they offer you chips!" he tells her before leaning back against the closed door, his arms shaking, his neck stinging from the scratches and his throat raw, but damn it, he's still alive.

"Holy shit," he mutters as he puts his head back, hands shaking as he looks at what he just did. Can't say she didn't deserve it…but damn, he didn't know he had it in him to do that. He slowly reaches for his discarded back of chips, thankfully no blood had seeped into the bag, and grabs one with a shaky hand. "I did that."

He slowly crunches on the chip, trying to slow his racing heart, before he turns to the side and vomits. Nope…he can't handle doing those kinds of things. But hey, at least he's still alive. Can't say the same for crazy Pauline.

Welcome to 2021 and welcome back to this story! It's time to get going with this story again, starting with Aion Machai, Victor of the 101st Hunger Games!

Guess who forgot it was Wednesday yesterday lol oops it was me XD But here we are and next week we'll see if I also remember it's Wednesday lol. If not, I'll still post this on Thursday because it's time to crank through updates! We're now getting into the group of victors I've well developed and so I had a lot of them already written and filled in the gaps, so now I have stockpiled through the 116th Games at the time of posting this!

We've seen the head career woman from Two already and next week, it's time to see one of the others!