THE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES
"Xanadu"
Considering the level of utter chaos that had reigned supreme in Panem over the last three years, it was surprising how peaceful the year of the 112th Hunger Games really was. The war had completely cooled down, every district had been starved of its nuclear weapons, and there was little reason to do everything but look upward to a long and rocky path of recovery as the next several years ticked past. The time period known to historians as the Great Reconstruction began this year. Headed by Stinn Hawke and his cronies, the chief goal of all humanity became rebuilding society and refashioning the norms and customs that had been lost during the war. Some population centers were still tainted with radioactive debris and impossible to live in, but most were safe once more, and funding initiatives to reconstruct cities and industrial centers began in earnest as the very nature of the way humans lived and behaved began a long period of change. People were optimistic about the upward trajectory of Panem after the war, and Stinn Hawke was glad to see it; he'd led his nation through war and destruction with incredible cunning, tact, and skill, and history would remember him forever. Garnet Russo served his twelfth year in the position of head gamemaker, hinting at a more abstract arena than those labyrinthine and geometric that the nation usually saw under his guidance. Ciara Grant remained just as famous and scandalous as ever, jet-setting around Panem scooping up her various lovers just for the tabloids and for the sweet, sweet bread and circuses. Ciara's mother was in poor health, and would die shortly after the end of the 112th games; many could tell she spoke with much less zeal this time around.
The careers were much better than last year, stronger-knit and more likely to get along in the arena. Narcissus from 1 was the star of the show; insanely attractive with huge muscles and enough talent to spread equally over an entire career pack, many suspected he was the closest a tribute had ever come to earning a twelve along with Brutus Cordley. Those two were proof to many that the highest training score was literally impossible to earn. His district partner was a satisfactory career. Her name was Venera and she had smooth black hair and narrow eyes, a unique look for 1, and she preferred the crossbow and shogei – a weapon in vogue again after several decades of Hunger Games obscurity. A pair of twins from District 2 volunteered into the games this year; the boy slightly stronger than the girl. Laertes and Ophelia were both skilled swordsmen, and Ophelia in particular had a formidable knowledge of poisons and things like strangulation. The boy from 4, Nantucket, was another incredibly powerful tribute; these were the first games in many years that multiple tributes earned an eleven. Nantucket was strong and likable and had the standard surfer look; he gave Narcissus a run for his money. The last career, Portia, was quiet and contemplative and rather unconventional, but she was likable and suave and everyone thought she would go far.
The outliers were an unmemorable, forgettable bunch. The strongest was Samaro from 3, and he stood out only because of his training score: a seven. He was only fourteen, though, which made things more impressive. He answered Ciara's queries about his score very evasively, drawing intrigue. There were a few strange patterns in the outliers this year. Notably, two outliers shared names with previous victors: Isaac from 5 Amelia from 6 (in fact, there were two previous victors with her name). There was also a shortage of younger tributes this year; all but three tributes were fifteen or older. The last standouts were the tributes from 13. Plato and Aris Steele were siblings rigged into the games, just for the fun of it, and everyone was excited to see how they would fare in the arena. There were no volunteers besides the careers. Here are the tributes:
District 1: Narcissus Diamond, 18 (11) 3-1 and Venera Breault, 17 (10) 4-1
District 2: Laertes Gaul, 17 (10) 5-1 and Ophelia Gaul, 17 (9) 7-1
District 3: Samaro Gao, 14 (7) 16-1 and Cordiana Skane, 15 (4) 29-1
District 4: Nantucket Stockton, 17 (11) 3-1 and Portia Buckland, 16 (9) 8-1
District 5: Isaac Vian, 16 (5) 24-1 and Olessie Genserec, 17 (3) 35-1
District 6: Garett Deeley, 18 (5) 23-1 and Amelia Wendel, 18 (5) 24-1
District 7: Durion Raskin, 16 (4) 28-1 and Ludmila Blair, 17 (5) 22-1
District 8: Travis MacDougal, 18 (5) 24-1 and Chenille Mittal, 17 (6) 19-1
District 9: Jonathan Poppyseed, 17 (3) 36-1 and Delilah Sue, 13 (2) 45-1
District 10: Tanner Selden-Bann, 15 (5) 27-1 and Fiona Witten, 13 (6) 20-1
District 11: Orchard Chapuys, 18 (5) 22-1 and Magda Dereham, 18 (6) 19-1
District 13: Plato Steele, 14 (3) 40-1 and Aris Steele, 17 (5) 24-1
HGBO Bets: 20% on Narcissus and Nantucket, 12% on Venera, 11% on Laertes, 8% on Ophelia, 7.5% on Portia, 3% on Samaro, 1.5% on Chenille and Fiona, 1% or less on Cordiana, Isaac, Olessie, Garett, Amelia, Durion, Ludmila, Travis, Jonathan, Delilah, Tanner, Orchard, Magda, Plato, and Aris.
THE GAMES
Garnet Russo was known for his abstract arenas; those that defied categorization as one kind of landscape or another and instead rethought the very foundations of the games. This year's arena took the idea of "abstractness" to a whole new arena. White and pink mist swirled over the tributes as they rose up into the arena, a faint rosy smell that was both revolting and luscious at the same time somehow. They were in an enormous landscape of caves, mountains, and strange runes carved into large boulders and cliffs. The ground was made of a pink crystal substance as slick as ice, and the pink fog was so thick the tributes could hardly see ten feet in front of them. Loudspeakers played ethereal harp music for the entire games, while a firm but creepy male voice read a very old poem called "Kubla Khan" about a beautiful Opium high. Indeed, the arena was meant to make the tributes feel they were on drugs. As one travelled in one of the cardinal directions, the landscape took on a different form. Northward, huge cliffs beetled over a frothy red ocean. Eastward, ice caves held hidden supplies. Southward, there were clusters of fountains that sprayed out the pink mist that clouded over the arena. Westward, the arena was the most treacherous, with spiky unstable glassy rocks and geysers that shot a red substance like acid lava. Hardly ten seconds after they entered the arena, every tribute seemed to be driven crazy by the harp music, the deep male poetry reading, and the sheer nothingness of the pink foggy drug high all around them. Not knowing what the actual hell the arena entailed, every tribute headed into the bloodbath this year. As a result, an enormous bloodbath ensued: one with fourteen deaths.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Narcissus and Nantucket, the fastest runners, were the first to reach the cornucopia. The weapons were just as formless and strange as the arena itself; Nantucket struggled to find the perfect trident among the fields of weirdly twisted weapons while Narcissus settled for the first crossbow-like object he could find. Ophelia and Laertes stuck together in the opening moments while Portia and Venera ran amok. Nobody knew exactly how to tackle this arena; the only way to find out was to just start killing.
The siblings from 2 landed the first kill. Ophelia and Laertes were running on opposite sides of a younger girl, Amelia, who'd been strongly considering fleeing the bloodbath because the gamemakers had placed her between two careers. Not knowing what to do other than scream as the twins closed in on her, Amelia was at least glad her death was swift as they dug into her with their strangely misshapen swords.
Amelia Wendel, District 6 Female: 24th, Killed by Laertes and Ophelia, Bloodbath
The next to go down was the promising Chenille, who'd already grabbed some food and water and was now trying to escape the bloodbath with her life. Laertes picked up a blade Amelia had been holding and launched it into Chenille's chest, killing her just as she passed the pedestal ring.
Chenille Mittal, District 8 Female: 23rd, Killed by Laertes, Bloodbath
Narcissus' crossbow was a great threat in his experienced hand, and all were eager to see whether his high level of promise would come to fruition. It did. He killed two tributes then, firing arrows into the bodies of two young boys who were running toward the horn as part of a trio. The boys fell to their knees, screaming at the cruelty of it all, and Venera finished off one of them with a slice to the throat as she passed.
Tanner Selden-Bann, District 10 Male: 22nd, Killed by Narcissus and Venera, Bloodbath
Plato Steele, District 13 Male: 21st, Killed by Narcissus, Bloodbath
Plato's sister Aris ran for her life, abandoning her brother and his friend in a mad rush to escape. Aris was just about to escape the pedestal ring where survival of the bloodbath was almost a guarantee when Nantucket saw her escaping. By that point, Nantucket had snatched up a little curved spear: impractical for throwing. He chased after the girl for nearly a minute before skewering the weapon through her throat. Her life left her almost instantly.
Aris Steele, District 13 Female: 20th, Killed by Nantucket, Bloodbath
While he was at it, Nantucket made the next kill in rapid succession. As he returned to the horn to make more kills, he saw the faint outline of wily Cordiana through the pink mist. He pounced out of the fog and managed to shove her to the ground before she even knew what had hit her, and with a hard thrusting motion the spear went straight into her neck.
Cordiana Skane, District 3 Female: 19th, Killed by Nantucket, Bloodbath
Venera made the next kill. Nearby, two boys were fighting ferociously over a jug full of water – one of the most precious goods provided in the cornucopia this year. The older boy, Garett, was actually losing the fight; Durion had smacked him in the mouth, and he was caught unawares as Venera came charging. Durion might have caught a short glimpse of the young lady careening toward him before everything went black, and Venera sliced the dagger over his chest, ruthlessly killing him.
Durion Raskin, District 7 Male: 18th, Killed by Venera, Bloodbath
As Durion fell, Garett ran for his life – unfortunately, straight into the path of Portia from 4. Portia had found the only trident in the cornucopia: a weirdly whimsical weapon with a ridiculous number of prongs. Five of them fit straight into Garett's chest, ending his life right away.
Garett Deeley, District 6 Male: 17th, Killed by Portia, Bloodbath
Portia turned away from Garett's dead body and buried the prongs of her trident into the chest of a nearby boy, who was bleeding out from a wound inflicted by Narcissus. Orchard was an inch from death, and he barely felt it.
Orchard Chapuys, District 11 Male: 16th, Killed by Narcissus and Portia, Bloodbath
By that point, a sort of anti-career force had assembled on accident. Anti-career alliances were a trend from the 80s and 90s that were going to make a comeback soon, and the bloodbath of the 112th games was an early intimation of that. Samaro from 3, Travis from 8, Jonathan from 9, and Magda from 11 had ganged up behind the cornucopia and vowed to make a run for the supplies and attack the careers for all they were worth. They all armed themselves with blades – Samaro and Jonathan found the most vicious-looking – and all at once they attacked.
Their first few blows were powerful. Samaro and Jonathan tackled Ophelia at the same time, overwhelming her with attackers from both directions. Samaro dug his blade into Ophelia's gullet and barked for his friend to do the same. Jonathan dragged a heavy red line over Ophelia's chest, and the career girl screamed for her allies to rush to her aid as she died. The showdown had begun in earnest.
Ophelia Gaul, District 2 Female: 15th, Killed by Samaro and Jonathan, Bloodbath
Red streaks flashed over Laertes' face when he saw the bloody dead body of his twin. They'd been companions literally since birth, and Laertes knew at once that he had to avenge Ophelia's death. He wasn't sure which of the anti-careers had killed his sister, but it didn't matter to him. He buried one of his blades into Travis' death, sending him to the ground, and Magda quickly turned onto him, avenging the death of her own ally with a crossbow dart straight to the jugular. Their limbs fell in a heap, and they died within moments of each other as the fight continued.
Laertes Gaul, District 2 Male: 14th, Killed by Magda, Bloodbath
Travis MacDougal, District 8 Male: 13th, Killed by Laertes, Bloodbath
For almost an entire minute, Magda had been working on cornering Nantucket against the wall of the cornucopia. The second strongest tribute in these games was far from easy to take down; it was only with the help of another outlier, little Fiona from 10, that they were able to kill him. Fiona was about to flee when she made the split-second decision to help her fellow outliers in need. She picked up a blade and shoved it into Nantucket's windpipe, who Magda had finally managed to slam against the wall of the horn as Samaro and Jonathan were busy fighting Narcisuss and Venera. Fiona fled screaming, unable to deal with what she'd just done, and Magda finished the job by shoving a dagger that sat in a cluster of dusty red blossoms nearby into her chest.
Nantucket Stockton, District 4 Male: 12th, Killed by Fiona and Magda, Bloodbath
Venera turned away from fighting the anti-careers to kill an older girl, Ludmila from 7, a mischievous character who knew she was going to die anyway and decided to play a handful of practical jokes on the careers during training. Venera fired a volley of two darts into Ludmila's throat, and she fell with a slight smile on her face, knowing she'd wrought all the mischief she could in her final days.
Ludmila Blair, District 7 Female: 11th, Killed by Venera, Bloodbath
No more deaths occurred in this year's bloodbath. The anti-careers had no choice but to flee with three careers now fighting them: Narcissus and Portia were at the front of the fight, while Venera tried to move backward behind them to keep them trapped from both sides. They made a crafty escape and sprinted into the depths of the fog. Jonathan was so shocked that Samaro had to yank him along at times. At last, all three of them escaped, and the careers abandoned the chase after roughly an hour. The anti-careers were quite literally lost in the ether.
It was difficult to keep track of the tributes in the thick pink fog; with few notable landmarks, the cameras focused more on the tributes' locations within the shape of the arena more: for example, drawing contrast using vastly different camera angles and sound effects between those in the caves and those near the sea. The careers were undeniably in a bad spot; three of their members were dead, and a well-liked anti-career group was on the prowl eager to attack them quickly before they had time to rack up their typical popularity. Venera was the most injured career; in the final scuffle with Ludmila she'd sustained a number of extremely painful bruises and was now bleeding internally. The wounds wouldn't kill her, but her vision swam as she treaded through the arena with her allies. Originally, Portia had stayed back to guard the horn, but within minutes it became clear that Venera couldn't continue. She and Narcissus returned to the horn and dropped off Venera – then Narcissus and Portia began the first real hunt. In such a small group, they covered immense ground on the first day; it was less than two hours before they landed their next kill.
The tiny girl from 9, Delilah, had headed into the bloodbath but gotten second thoughts at the first sight of crimson splatters and the first noise of screams. Now she was lost and scared, completely alone in the arena, and a note from Narcissus' mentor Noble alerted her to the position of the mouse-like girl without a second thought. To the audience, she was completely disposable. It was almost horrifying to watch as they tracked her down like a hound, closing in on her from several meters away in both cardinal directions. She screamed and screamed as the weapons came flying, Narcissus' crossbow darts and the prongs of Portia's trident entering her body a split second after she learned her life was in danger. She fell onto her hands and knees and tried pitifully to crawl toward safety but found herself utterly trapped, pierced and prodded at by the duo of vicious careers until her life left her.
Delilah Sue, District 9 Female: 10th, Killed by Narcissus and Portia, Day 1
These games were progressing incredibly quickly; merely three hours in, all but nine tributes had lost their lives. Interestingly, the nine tributes who survived the first day were divided into three even categories: three careers, three anti-careers, and three loners. The cameras mostly focused on the loners as the first day passed. Isaac Vian from District 5 already had a sizable portion of the crowd paying attention to him because of his name (which he shared with a past victor, Isaac Crandall of the first Hunger Games decade). Knowing this, he tried his best to tough out the first day even though he was in unbearable pain and confusion as his body adjusted to the arena. The pink fog that filled the air was a gentle hallucinogenic drug that tried to constantly lull the tributes into senselessness and tiredness. Isaac was travelling toward the ice caves but didn't make it there on the first day, instead resting in the center of a pile of huge rocks that looked almost like an altar to the Hunger Games gods. Isaac was well-stocked, with three blades and quite a lot of food and water, and he slept well. His district partner, Olessie, was travelling the opposite direction, toward the sea. She could hear the ocean frothing madly underneath the cliffs from miles away, and for Olessie it was do-or-die; she was determined to reach the edge of the arena on the first day. She made it, but only after several bouts of screaming because she was so exhausted she didn't feel she could lift a finger. Unable to do anything now but lie helplessly where the cliff dropped off into the fizzy pink ocean, Olessie lay still and let the hallucinations play through her mind. Fiona was heading in the same direction as Isaac, and in fact they came very close to each other numerous times throughout the day. Since the ice caves carried limited supplies, it seemed to be a race against time as to which of the two loners would reap the gains before their opponent. Fiona's supply stock was large but lacked advanced weaponry, her biggest weakness. If she reached the caves first this would not be a problem.
The anti-careers, meanwhile, were lost and confused, stumbling in a tight knot through the arena giggling as the pink frothy air rolled over them. Samaro was particularly fascinated with the sky, which was a vivid shade of maroon and began to look like a field of crimson ink as night fell. Jonathan, the largest of the three, felt the effects of the drug the least strongly, and he felt utterly humiliated at his allies' helplessness. He had to literally tug and yank them over the ground at times. One thing was for sure: Jonathan was both loyal and determined. This fact helped with his popularity factor quite a lot. A group of young Capitol women enamored by Jonathan sent him a fan-like device that cleared the pink mist away, letting him and his allies recover in their small bubble of safety. Samaro was embarrassed at how utterly overtaken he'd been by the drug, while Magda was more pragmatic and wanted to think of a way to counteract its action on their bodies. For now, though, it didn't matter what the solution was; they were all dead tired, and it was time to rest.
On the morning of Day 2, something very unusual happened. In front of every tribute, a figure appeared in the pink mist. She was a dark-skinned girl with extensive body ink and ornate diamond jewelry. In her lap sat a large string instrument: a dulcimer. As the girl played, beautiful music floated through the air, like the music a snake charmer plays to coax cobras into dancing on rugs. Portia was the first tribute to see her. She was standing guard while Narcissus and Venera slept, but at the first sight of the girl all thoughts of her allies left her. The deep male voice that read the poem over and over became louder, louder, louder. It seemed to be coming from within Portia's head itself.
And all of a sudden, there was a loud POP! and the blood rushed to Portia's head. She felt as though her body was being squeezed through a tight rubber tube, and there was the faint scent of flowers as the first true hallucination began. All across the arena, the tributes were startled awake by the sensation of having been submerged in a dark, fizzy bath. Their bodies were floating apart, they were floating through the air. Ants were creeping up on them, devouring their bodies; they were disappearing into the mist…
An hour later, the hallucinations stopped. The tributes crawled to their knees and found their bodies untouched by ants that were never there. Garnet was trying to break their sanity by inciting particularly intense hallucinations sporadically throughout the games. The actual effects of the hallucination were inspired by those of Tracker Jacker poison and an old drug called heroin. Recovering from the hallucinations was difficult; for the rest of the day, a heavy haze seemed to loom over each tribute's consciousness. The only tribute who moved a sizable distance of Day 2 was Fiona Witten. She was small, but she was dogged and determined, and she had her little heart set on being the first tribute to reach the looming ice caves. By the end of Day 2, Fiona was less than a mile from the first of the caves. In fact, the caves formed a huge yawning cavern network, and one had to explore for hours before finding supplies, her mentor informed her. Fiona was more than prepared to do so.
The first half of Day 3 was filled with little but Fiona's arrival at the ice caves. She got moving quickly after the dulcimer girl, the harbinger of the crazy drug high that followed, disappeared. She found the caves to be easy to navigate; thin red lanterns with uncanny shapes lit the way as she delved deeper and deeper. By the end of the day, Fiona had reached the roaring subterranean river that was, in fact, slowly draining the pink ocean. Feeling safe but unsatisfied, there was little left for Fiona to do but let the pink mist lull her into its buzzing, fizzy sleep for a few hours.
It wasn't until the end of Day 3 that all hell broke loose. The careers figured by this point that there was no use leaving one of their members behind to guard the cornucopia; it was difficult to even find through the dense fog, and there were only six outliers left anyway, a smaller than usual number for Day 3 of the games. Venera wasn't happy about this; she was the most traditional of the three, and she had a very specific vision in her mind of how the games were supposed to go. Despite her apprehension, Venera was overruled by Narcissus and Portia, who wanted to just get moving and cover as much ground as possible before things got even wilder. Venera ultimately agreed, but only because she didn't know when the damsel with the dulcimer might appear next.
As she soon realized, that was the right decision. The careers were less than an hour into their afternoon hunt when a note drifted into Narcissus' lap telling him the anti-careers were nearby. He showed the note to the others and instructed them to stay as still as possible; hopefully, lost and dazed, they might stumble straight into their midst. That was exactly what happened. That morning, Magda had taken charge of the anti-careers; she'd realized she was the least memorable of the trio and wanted to boost her popularity by acting as the forerunner even for just a little while. Jonathan, who sure needed a break from being so responsible, was glad to comply.
That meant, of course, that Magda was the first to die. Narcissus whipped out his crossbow-like weapon the moment her figure emerged out of the dull red haze. "Get them, quickly!" Narcissus shouted. Portia and Venera rushed into formation, preparing for literally any number of tributes; they didn't remember how many anti-careers remained, a memory the drug haze had wiped from their brains. Magda fell in a mess of blood as Venera and Portia figured it might be just her, their weapons sliding into her chest and neck respectively.
Magda Dereham, District 11 Female: 9th, Killed by Narcissus, Venera, and Portia, Day 3
That left the final eight: Narcissus Diamond and Venera Breault from District 1, Samaro Gao from District 3, Portia Buckland from District 4, Isaac Vian and Olessie Genseric from District 5, Jonathan Poppyseed from District 9, and Fiona Witten from District 10.
Indeed, there was more to the anti-careers than just the meager forces of Magda Dereham. As soon as Jonathan smelled danger, he pulled Samaro back into the mist to await further developments. As Magda died, all they could see were the faint looming forms of the careers standing out like spirits of those long gone. It was an ominous image, and Jonathan shuddered in true fear for the first time in the games. Jonathan muttered for Samaro to prepare his weaponry, and they crept slowly around the careers, eventually placing themselves behind the careers' backs.
Narcissus was out cold before he even knew what had hit him. Samaro's blade was at the ready, and he dragged it like a box cutter over the vicious career boy's neck, severing contact with his brain immediately. The moment Samaro struck, the ruse was up; Samaro and Jonathan had no choice but to run.
"Split up!" Samaro screamed. "Throw them off!"
"But…" Jonathan seemed apprehensive about being completely alone for the rest of the games.
It didn't matter. They really had no choice but to split up. Jonathan and Samaro ran in opposite directions for the rest of the day. Back at the scene of the crime, Venera and Portia were unable to do anything but try and make Narcissus' exit from the world more comfortable. Portia, the more sensitive of the two, offered to transfer his final words to the camera microphones, while Venera insisted on just getting the death over with; as his district partner, she wanted his death to be as fast as possible. It seemed an argument would break out between the two, but the loud cannon shot shut both of them up. Portia nodded morosely and led Venera away.
Narcissus Diamond, District 1 Male: 8th, Killed by Samaro, Day 3
Days 4 and 5 were deathless. The cameras focused on the loners rather than the careers and anti-careers; with so few tributes left, it was important to cover everybody and the gamemakers had more than the time necessary to do so. The cameras were particularly enamored by Fiona and Isaac (who'd reached the caverns late on Day 3 and were now exploring them). Midway through Day 5, the damsel with the dulcimer appeared again, bringing the tributes into the dark, rumbling bubble bath that signified the hallucinations were about to begin. It was both a blissful and horrible feeling, and when the tributes woke up they had no idea who or where they were. Isaac was travelling down a treacherous slope deep in the cavern system when it all happened, and the shock of hearing the enchanting dulcimer music made him stumble. When he woke, he was battered and bruised, and it took a whole day before the aches and pains had completely ceased.
Fiona, meanwhile, was exploring the ice caves in the late night of Day 5 when she stumbled upon the hidden gold. High up on a pedestal sat a large stash of supplies: food, water, medicine, weapons, and more. Reaching the booty wouldn't be easy, of course; Fiona would have to navigate a network of small step-stool pedestals that led upward to the platform holding the supplies. It wasn't long before disaster struck. Halfway up, the small girl made a wrong step and went stumbling down, screaming as she hurtled through the air. She didn't break any bones, but she was in excruciating pain, with the agony concentrated in the ankle she'd landed on and forced for a single moment out of place. She dragged herself toward a more conspicuous location and wept quietly, hoping the pain would fade soon.
The last tribute was Olessie. She'd spent five entire days on the edge of the cliff that beetled over the frothy red ocean, and the mist-form drugs thrown off from the sea had completely eaten away at her young mind. Hallucinations ran rampant through the girl's mind as she walked, and by the beginning of Day 6 every sense in her body had been replaced by one sense in particular: the urge to kill. Olessie grabbed a sharp triangle-shaped stone from one of the strange ritualistic altars in that part of the arena and stalked in the direction of the arena's center, hoping human victims would be waiting for her when she got there.
Speaking of Day 6, it contained lots of movement but few points of note. Venera and Portia were getting along surprisingly well, the audience noticed. It was a pattern in the Hunger Games that, after the death of several careers, the remaining members tend to be so immersed in strife and even flat-out infighting that they stop moving and often lead themselves straight to their deaths. Venera and Portia were near the region of the arena containing the geysers, which sprayed out red-hot lava that ran downhill into the sea. They spent basically the entire day laying out a strict game plan for the rest of the competition. They ranked the remaining tributes by priority of killing, made educated guesses as to where each tribute was (helped quite a bit by hints from Portia's mentor, Syren), and set out to systematically kill the remaining tributes. They weren't actually doing much – most of what they decided was obvious – but the audience liked what they were up to and sent them lots of supplies and further hints.
As Day 6 bled into Day 7, Olessie landed her ultimate strike, but at a terrible cost. She was stalking through the arena, her mind back on murder, as the blood-red sun rose when she saw the faint forms of Samaro and Jonathan moving slowly through the mist. Samaro and Jonathan were in the midst of a heated argument; the drugs were starting to get to them and make them go crazy. Jonathan had woken up that morning to see Samaro sharpening his knives, and paranoia suddenly overtook the 9 boy as he developed the notion that Samaro was doing it to kill him in his sleep. Jonathan had attacked Samaro, and even though Samaro eventually managed to scream some sense back into him tensions were still running high.
They didn't even notice Olessie as she came flying out of the dull red haze, rocks bared and ready to kill. Samaro fell in a heap after the first stone connected with his temple, a loud crack betraying that his skull had broken. As Samaro fell, Jonathan brandished his biggest blade and prepared to retaliate but was unsure where Olessie had gone. In that instant, he thought they'd been attacked by careers, and thoughts raced through his mind as he wondered how in the world he was going to take down both Venera and Portia and live to tell the tale. In the end, though, it was only Olessie Genserec. She fell to the ground after killing Samaro, entranced by the sight of his blood swirling over the slick pink stone, and her senses rushed back to her by the shock of having taken another human's life. With the sharper of the two stones she was carrying, Olessie drew a heavy line down her left wrist, then repeated with her right, letting the blood drain away until she was an inch from death. Jonathan was transfixed with horror at the sight of the gruesome scene, finally deciding just to get the whole thing over with and thus burying his blades into her chest.
Samaro Gao, District 3 Male: 7th, Killed by Olessie, Day 7
Olessie Genserec, District 5 Female: 6th, Killed by herself and Jonathan, Day 7
The rest of Day 7, and all of Day 8, was deathless. This wasn't an accident, either. When Venera and Portia came near the place where Isaac was resting, Garnet fended them away with powerful winds. The gamemakers were planning on executing a twist on Day 9, and they wanted some calm to draw out before the storm, so to speak. Confused by the sudden wind, Venera and Portia believed the gamemakers wanted them to return to the cornucopia and that the games were drawing to a close with only five tributes left. They were only half wrong. It was true Garnet was trying to coax the tributes toward the horn of plenty, but that plan wouldn't begin for another day, when the only mutts in this year's arena would be unleashed. There was always time for a sudden drug high, though. When the damsel with the dulcimer appeared on the eighth night in the arena, Venera yelled for Portia to duck into a safe location, knowing the high was about to settle in. They felt the dark bubble bath and suddenly they were flying through the air, spinning, coming apart into individual body parts, individual atoms…
Isaac Vian awoke from the drug high and felt his body up and down as though to reassure himself that every part of it was still there. For the last few days, he'd been trying to craft small sculptures out of the slick pink stone that made up the arena. His favorite Hunger Games tribute was Nylon Manger, the twelve-year-old from the thirty-eighth Hunger Games whose craft projects made in the arena sold for millions in the Capitol. He just didn't have the talent, though, and it was pitiful and depressing to watch and Isaac struggled to fashion crude figures of past victors from the stone. Isaac was easily the most forgettable tribute and he knew it. On Day 8, he abandoned his little craft projects and picked up a stone he'd sharpened to a razor-like tip. It was time to go hunting.
Jonathan and Fiona, though, took up most of the screen time. Fiona, after recovering from the injuries she'd sustained by falling, was more than just a little apprehensive about trying to scale the obstacle course again. Her second attempt, she tumbled down in a similar way and was out of action for the remainder of the day with aches and sores. The third time, though, was the charm. She reached the supplies and found herself laden with food and water, medicine, blades, and the ultimate prize of any Hunger Games tribute: the thin, stretchy body armor first used by Cato Hadley in the seventy-fourth games. She made her way carefully back to the ground and then began her way up out of the caves. She'd taken care to remember the positions and shapes of the lanterns leading downward, so she could find her way back out again. Fiona was a small girl, but everyone could see she had a great mind; most of the outlying districts were hoping she would take home the victor's crown, as unlikely as it might seem.
Jonathan, meanwhile, made an embarrassing slip-up. He confidently announced to the audience that he was moving toward the cornucopia by following the sun, failing to realize that the sun in this arena moved around like an undulating spotlight rather than following a straight consistent path. Memes and jokes circulated in the Capitol mocking Jonathan's intelligence – an unfair thing, really; how was he to know how the sun worked in this arena? He ended up just walking in circles, and he'd been doing it for two entire days when his mentor Sickle told him to stop.
Venera and Portia had returned to the cornucopia by that point, and hairline fractures were forming in their previously stable alliance. They were starting to go crazy not only from the gentle, misty hallucinogens but from the deep male voice reading the poem over and over. They'd heard the poem more than three thousand times by that point, and every word was bored into their brains. Whichever tribute won these games would never be able to get that poem out of their mind, Portia said darkly as they curled up to sleep.
On the morning of Day 9, a horrible screeching noise filled the arena. The twist Garnet was unleashing was a devious one: the banshee women from the seventy-third Hunger Games were making an appearance once more. Portia turned around to warn Venera of the threat, but she was already awake, roused by the screeching of the banshees. Spidery blue hands were reaching into the horn out of the mist, and for a while that was all the girls could see. They scrambled for their weaponry, and Portia was the first to strike, loping off the hand of one of the banshee women. It hissed and charged into the cornucopia, revealing its form, that of a wizened old woman that looked like she'd spent a year underground and then been dug up again. Each of the women wore a thin white veil reminiscent of a burial shroud. The tributes didn't know it, but these banshee women were the reanimated corpses of female tributes who died in previous Hunger Games.
"Could have made them a little more…" Portia cracked, but she cut herself off when she realized there was no one to listen to her remark. Venera had been beaten down, and ice was creeping over her body as the banshee women laid their cloaks over her. Venera was frozen in a solid block of ice before long, and the banshees hissed in triumph when her cannon sounded.
Venera Breault, District 1 Female: 5th, Killed by banshee mutts, Day 9
Portia made a beeline for the mouth of the horn so she'd have more space to work, and it was impressive just how quickly she managed to kill the banshees. With a swing of the blade she'd taken from Venera's dead body, she sliced one of the creatures cleanly in half, and it dissolved into mist, lost in the pink frothy void. The other creature – the one with the missing hand – also went down quickly. Her blade cut through its body like a hot knife through butter, and the banshee screamed as she dissolved into mist. Portia Buckland had survived the attacks of the banshee mutts, but what about the other tributes? The audience would have to wait and see.
Isaac knew he'd survived this far by sheer luck; as the least popular tribute left in the games, he'd have to pull some humungous upset if he really wanted to escape the arena with his life. When the banshee women attacked on the morning of Day 9, Isaac was the only tribute who discovered the secret to defeating the banshees, a secret that evaded even clever Fiona. At thousands of places throughout the arena, sharp blue stones were arranged in strange patterns like those of an altar, reminding many of the altar-like structures from all the way back in Gloss' games. Isaac swept up several of these sharp stones and kill the banshees and found that they cringed away at the mere sight of them. When Isaac brought the stones close to the banshees, they dissolved into mist right away, apparently cast away into nothingness by the presence of the ornate letters carved on the stones. Perhaps, Isaac thought, it was some kind of spell for warding away mutts. The gamemakers worked in mysterious ways.
Jonathan woke to the noise of the banshees screaming and felt memories of past games he'd seen on television rushing back to him: these were the banshees from Apollo's games, and they were a sure sign that Garnet wanted him closer and closer to the cornucopia by the minute. Jonathan was more than happy to comply. He swept up his supplies, including the single sword. He was one of the two tributes who hadn't reaped the rewards of the ice caves (along with Portia; Fiona and Isaac had spent most of the games inside the cavern system hunting for weapons), and the lack of heavy supplies kept him from needing to slow down as he raced over the slick stone toward the center of the arena. By this point, Jonathan was the most popular tribute besides Portia; he was clever, fast, and good-looking, and many cheered when Jonathan's face finally came on screen after an entire morning of focusing on Portia, Isaac, and Fiona.
Speaking of Fiona, she spent much of Day 9 (and all of Day 10) either travelling or concocting a plan to take down Portia, the biggest obstacle between herself and home. For Fiona, "hunger" was removed from the name of the game; the ice caves have provided her with all the food she could ever need, as well as huge supplies of clean water and medicine. Included in her stash was enough healing cream to both mend the injuries and dissolve all pain inflicted by the banshee attack. For a tribute as smart as Fiona, it was surprising how long it took her to get the hint that Garnet wanted her to move toward the horn – however, when she finally decided to start moving, she moved quickly and efficiently. At times, she had to make decisions as to which weapons to discard and which to keep, as she couldn't carry all of them.
Fiona was running past the last row of ice caves midway through Day 10 when she saw Isaac's form moving quietly through the arena. The hallucinogens had led Isaac to believe that he was made of glass, and that if he fell he would shatter irreparably into pieces; he moved extremely carefully and therefore slowly through the arena, making him an easy target. Fiona steeled herself for the most difficult task of her life and readied her deadliest sword. She reminded herself she'd literally risked her life for this back in the ice caves and lunged forward, trying to focus on the deep male voice reading the poem and not on what she was actually doing as she ruthlessly hacked open Isaac's chest and neck with her blades. Isaac wasn't just hopeless, he was defenseless. The death of the last unarmed tribute in the arena heralded the end of the games, and all Fiona could find it in herself to do was grit her teeth and keep running. The sooner these games ended, the better.
Isaac Vian, District 5 Male: 4th, Killed by Fiona, Day 10
Something else exciting happened on Day 10, but it wasn't another death. The gamemakers noticed that Jonathan and Fiona were near each other, travelling in almost perfectly parallel lines for several hours, and Garnet set off loud banging noises around them, driving them toward each other away from the source of the noise. Jonathan saw Fiona first and gradually approached her through the fog, banking on the fact that she hadn't seen him. She hadn't. Jonathan appeared out of the fog and scared Fiona out of her wits.
They stood in silence for several moments, glaring at each other. Jonathan could have uttered the stereotypical line, "Is this the part where we kill each other?" but he didn't. All he did was lower his weapon and extend his hand. Fiona and Jonathan were both competent tributes, but they were up against Portia Buckland, a highly trained career who'd earned a nine, and they needed to team up to take her down. It was truly the only way.
Suddenly a note drifted into Fiona's lap. Jonathan cringed backward, thinking the carriage might contain some newfangled device sent by Fiona's sponsors to help her kill him, but it contained only two tiny objects: a slip of paper and a little metal rectangle. Both tributes read the slip out loud at the same time, unsure what to make of the message. It contained only three words: It's part methane.
Jonathan was clueless, but a lightbulb lit up over Fiona's head. She picked up the metal object and read the note carved into it: ONE USE ONLY. It was a lighter. She nodded at Jonathan, who was already starting to run toward the center of the arena. Both of them knew by this point what was going to happen: the gamemakers would begin to clear away the mist, which was flammable, leaving only a small amount trapped inside the cornucopia. Then it would be all clear to light Portia up in a column of flame.
It turned out to be less of a column and more of a fireball. By the time they reached the horn, the mist had completely cleared away, revealing a milky white sky. It was almost uncanny to see the distant reaches of the arena after it had been shrouded in the dull magenta haze for so long. Portia was sitting inside the horn, waiting for the others to arrive, and all Fiona had to do was flick the lighter on and toss it into the horn. Then all hell broke loose.
Fiona and Jonathan were thrown backward, landing battered and bruised on the floor of the arena. The force of the explosion rolled outward and into the sky, blasting the cornucopia to pieces. One of the pieces crash-landed into both Jonathan and Fiona, nearly killing both of them. In fact, Fiona found herself crushed under a large metal plate that had been part of the horn. It goes without saying that Portia was killed instantly. The gamemakers had to literally scrape her body parts off the ground once the games were over.
Portia Buckland, District 4 Female: 3rd, Killed by Fiona, Day 11
Now all that was left was Jonathan and Fiona. Which tribute had sustained the greatest injuries? It was Jonathan. A shred of flying shrapnel had hit him in the head, knocking him out cold, and he was bleeding even faster than Fiona, whose entire lower leg had been snipped off when the sharp piece of metal came flying into it. That wasn't to mention the severe burns newly inflicted on both of their bodies from the sheer heat of the explosion. In the end, though, Jonathan's injuries were far more severe than Fiona's. At least his lifelong wish to die in his sleep came at least partially true.
Jonathan Poppyseed, District 9 Male: 2nd, Killed by Fiona, Day 11
"Fiona Witten of District 10, you are the victor of the one-hundred twelfth annual Hunger Games!" Ciara cheered.
The new victor just lay in silence, unable to think of anything but the pain exploding through her body.
Fiona Witten, District 10 Female: Victor of the One-Hundred Twelfth Annual Hunger Games, Day 11
AFTERMATH
Fiona was welcomed home to District 10 with utterly thunderous applause. Their last victor, Catherine Garner, was more of a liability than anything, and their last "real" victors, Steer and Larke, were getting tired of handling tributes all by themselves year after year; they were glad to have Fiona around not only to lighten the tribute load but also to join the victor "group therapy" circle that was precariously small in District 10. Before the time of the 112th Hunger Games, a thirteen-year-old girl was the only "age-gender" combination yet to win the games; with Fiona's victory, every possible combination of age and gender had won the games. Being so young, nobody could deny it took more than her fair share of luck for Fiona to survive the games, but nobody could chalk it up to sheer chance either; Fiona was strong, smart, and crafty. Her mobility was affected by the serious leg injury she'd sustained when the cornucopia exploded at the end of her games. She had to have a prosthetic leg installed, and she thus joined the circle of victors from Porter to Blight to Meredith afflicted by missing body parts. She also bonded with Viveca Chatterley over the severe burns they'd both received in the explosive finales of their respective games. Fiona was one of the few victors never prostituted; by the time she was old enough, the stage had already been stolen by newer flashier victors. Fiona lived a quiet life filled with trauma, but she got through it with the company of her fellow victors, and she formed many close friendships with them over the course of her time on earth.
The payouts on her victory were high, as 1.5% bet on her.
Her victory tour was pretty unremarkable. Stinn Hawke forced her to read the poem "Kubla Khan" (which had played on repeat during the games) on every stop, which she struggled to get through.
Fiona would live to age seventy-eight, dying from a brain tumor the year of the 177th Hunger Games. She would marry and have two children, neither of whom would compete in the games.
NEWS
Fiona moves into the Victor's Village of District 10, next door to Larke's home.
Noble Drazen enters his first marriage with a niece of Taj King's, Priscilla King.
Klink Byrae dies from Alzheimer's disease.
LIST OF VICTORS
1HG: Cordin Frey (#1, District 3)
2HG: Sapphire Waber (#1, District 1)
3HG: Molly Toliday (#1, District 4)
4HG: Amelia Spangler (#1, District 2)
5HG: Misty Sablone (#1, District 12)
6HG: Olivia Seager (#2, District 2)
7HG: Flux Stafford (#2, District 3)
8HG: Brandi Coyne (#2, District 1)
9HG: Isaac Crandall (#1, District 5)
10HG: Velvet Farrow (#3, District 1)
11HG: Mags Flanagan (#2, District 4)
12HG: Slate Ogston (#3, District 2)
13HG: Woof Dozier (#1, District 8)
14HG: Blaze Skalnik (#4, District 2)
15HG: Dina Wilmarth (#2, District 5)
16HG: Beatrice Toland (#1, District 6)
17HG: Amelia Bankston (#5, District 2)
18HG: Markus Gardd (#2, District 6)
19HG: Odius Ruttler (#6, District 2)
20HG: Seeder Kaiser (#1, District 11)
21HG: Freya Digard (#7, District 2)
22HG: Gold Carson (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ashlyn Breston (#3, District 6)
24HG: Dayta Albrand (#3, District 3)
25HG: Diamond Griego (#5, District 1)
26HG: Thor Rosner (#8, District 2)
27HG: Magnet Lisagor (#4, District 3)
28HG: Maria Dutra (#3, District 4)
29HG: Discordia Komine (#9, District 2)
30HG: Barley Chisolm (#1, District 9)
31HG: Marlin Coppi (#4, District 4)
32HG: Wyatt Kerdler (#5, District 3)
33HG: Molly Soltan (#5, District 4)
34HG: Grover Handa (#1, District 7)
35HG: Troy Stiles (#6, District 4)
36HG: Lana Voltaire (#10, District 2)
37HG: Lucy Said (#7, District 4)
38HG: Porter Tripp (#3, District 5)
39HG: Penelope Turek (#8, District 4)
40HG: Beetee Latier (#6, District 3)
41HG: Radiance Clinton (#6, District 1)
42HG: Technik Hartline (#7, District 3)
43HG: Dylan Levitt (#9, District 4)
44HG: Rye Boyum (#2, District 9)
45HG: Chaff Korsmun (#2, District 11)
46HG: Nolan Wrack (#11, District 2)
47HG: Klink Byrae (#4, District 5)
48HG: Brutus Cordley (#12, District 2)
49HG: Wiress Freid (#8, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)
51HG: Lyme Mabbett (#13, District 2)
52HG: Ruby Rayfuse (#7, District 1)
53HG: Lily Eckel (#3, District 11)
54HG: Blight Holzer (#2, District 7)
55HG: Emily Pollick (#5, District 5)
56HG: Sally Vasilia (#6, District 5)
57HG: Mason Kittridge (#14, District 2)
58HG: Margaret Cartmill (#1, District 10)
59HG: Tiger Sterne (#8, District 1)
60HG: Cecelia Rieffel (#2, District 8)
61HG: Valerie Easton (#15, District 2)
62HG: Enobaria Rigatti (#16, District 2)
63HG: Gloss Linden (#9, District 1)
64HG: Cashmere Linden (#10, District 1)
65HG: Finnick Odair (#10, District 4)
66HG: Victor Xhang (#17, District 2)
67HG: Augustus Braun (#11, District 1)
68HG: Iuna Mosier (#12, District 1)
69HG: Alexander Westlake (#2, District 10)
70HG: Annie Cresta (#11, District 4)
71HG: Johanna Mason (#3, District 7)
72HG: Remus Daley (#18, District 2)
73HG: Apollo Reinold (#4, District 6)
74HG: Meredith Powell (#4, District 7)
75HG: Struve Lockman (#19, District 2)
76HG: Porcelain Wing (#13, District 1)
77HG: Router Lowell (#9, District 3)
78HG: Surge Upsdell (#7, District 5)
79HG: Kasey Slosser (#5, District 6)
80HG: Tarquinius Orfe (#20, District 2)
81HG: Talisa Plummer (#12, District 4)
82HG: Poplin Amsden (#3, District 8)
83HG: Pixel Watt (#10, District 3)
84HG: Dock Elizabeth (#13, District 4)
85HG: Sycamora Bromley (#5, District 7)
86HG: Bobbin Chern (#4, District 8)
87HG: Organdy Karat (#14, District 1)
88HG: Sickle Salgato (#3, District 9)
89HG: Admired Thompson (#15, District 1)
90HG: Chipson Harris (#11, District 3)
91HG: Mars Talbot (#21, District 2)
92HG: Arnold Scruggs (#3, District 12), Wystella Knapp (#22, District 2), and Robina Caite (#3, District 10)
93HG: Taj King (#16, District 1)
94HG: Steer Drudgers (#4, District 10)
95HG: Diode Cooper (#8, District 5)
96HG: Pluto Talbot (#23, District 2)
97HG: Vine Lilard (#4, District 11)
98HG: Larke Jean (#5, District 10)
99HG: Poseidon Odair (#14, District 4)
100HG: Rimno Kiely (#12, District 3)
101HG: Aspen Sprout (#6, District 7)
102HG: Dandelion Linwood (#5, District 11)
103HG: Cherry Perlman (#7, District 7)
104HG: Syren Magretta (#15, District 4)
105HG: Fox Sikorski (#9, District 5)
AUX 105HG: Viveca Chatterley (#17, District 1)
106HG: Noble Drazen (#18, District 1)
107HG: Jeeter Castro (#6, District 6)
108HG: Manhattan Osk (#1, District 13)
109HG: Justinius Catcher (#24, District 2)
110HG: Ciana Caltene (#6, District 11)
110HG (Unofficial Survivors): Lamar Zilonis (#16, District 4), Thorn Takahashi (#8, District 7), and Catherine Garner (#6, District 10)
111HG: Zolus Aghayan (#4, District 9)
112HG: Fiona Witten (#7, District 10)
A/N: It's insane to me that five and a half years after publishing this story I'm still writing new chapters! Thanks to anyone still keeping up with this story. I appreciate you so much. Let me know what you thought of Fiona and these games! Until next time (: