126thhungergames

[126thhungergames]

126th Hunger Games: The Finale

“24 hours left.”

The words were loud and clear. Five tributes remained, if Musa counted correctly, which she always did. She traced her finger against the rough letters printed on the bottle of the chemical substance. After the attack, the brunette career hid behind the large boxes near the staircase. She made sure she did the math correctly and ingested the exact amount of the antidote needed according to her weight. 

The handcuffs made it a bit hard for her to work her magic, but she had no other option. She managed to snatch her boomerangs from Brekker’s backpack, but she didn’t want to risk drawing attention to the noise she would certainly make if she tried to break through the chains.

She had to admit that she didn’t see the girl from Seven at all. What was her name again? Cassie? Kendra? 

Kasia.

The girl without an alliance who made it to the final five and managed to outsmart two careers and kill one in the process. What a fucking irony.

Evan tried to chase her down and kill her on the first day only to have her kill him on the last.

As much as she hated to admit it, she missed him. Probably a Stockholm syndrome.

Even though Musa’s survival was secured as far as the nerve agent was concerned, she swore to herself that the girl from Seven would be leaving this place in pieces. She didn’t have problem with rest of the tributes, as long as they didn’t get in her way, but Kasia was going to go down.

Sebastian looked at Catrine who was sleeping soundly, her breathing shallow, but even. She was wounded deeply and Sebastian feared how long she was going to make it in such state. 

He brushed his fingers against her hair, moving them down her left cheek, stopping at her lips. Even injured, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He didn’t realize it before, but now he knew he would do anything for her. 

The only thing that bothered him was that no sponsors have bothered to send them medication yet. He assumed that the Capitol probably cancelled the sponsorship for the next 24 hours. After all, the two of them were careers and the entire scene that played out was exactly what the Capitol lived for. 

He could only imagine the panic on the faces of fancy Capitolan people, sitting in their comfortable homes and worrying whether their investments are going to pay out.

Surely he and Cat were the current favourites. 

“Sebastian.” She whispered, shifting his attention to herself. 

“Shh, it’s alright. Rest.” He replied to her in quiet voice. She winced in pain as she tried to sit up and Sebastian was slowly starting to realize that she might not make it for longer than half a day.

“We need to end these games.” He stated, fixing his gaze on her. If the sponsors had sent her medication for wounds, there wouldn’t have been any problem. However, with each second that passed by, both of them realized more and more that no help from the outside world would be provided for them.

He couldn’t lose her.

“This place is secluded enough. Stay here and wait for me.” 

The fact that she didn’t protest was enough proof that she was truly unwell. She didn’t ask what would happen once he killed all of the tributes and only the two of them were left alive. She didn’t want to consider the option, even though both of them were thinking about it.

“I will finish this.”

There were two things that woke Soyeon up. The voice of Gamemakers and unnatural nausea that caused her to throw up.

“18 hours left.”

18 hours. That meant she has been breathing the nerve agent for 12 hours now. She wanted to stand up, but instead threw up once more, this time along with blood.

It appeared that she didn’t exactly have 18 hours left. She had managed to kill only one person with her carefully set traps, which was a pitiful number. She had to think of something quickly, otherwise she’ll be just another corpse.

She was clever enough to set up the traps. However, it wasn’t proving to be useful to just sit around and wait. She’d need to lure the tributes in. Surely the nerve agent must be already working on them too. 

She could only imagine how irritated must that make them. The only thing she needed to do was to show her face around and surely they’d be out for her blood.

“I hope you’re watching, Capitol. Because I am about to give you a show.”

However she wasn’t stupid enough to go without a weapon. During the preparation of her traps, she also made transportable balloons filled with acid, in case someone came too close to her hiding. She grabbed two of the balloons, putting them safely in her backpack, making sure they wouldn’t burst out in the wrong moment.

The show was just about to begin.

Musa was choosing her steps carefully. She wasn’t making any sound, which was actually proving to be quite difficult in a place where everything creaked, but she managed.

What she didn’t expect though, was running into Sebastian.

The two careers stopped in their walk and looked at each other, wordlessly. Neither of them knew what to say and both of them were armed.

Musa had no interest in his death. She couldn’t say the same about him.

“I don’t want to kill you. I’m looking for Seven.” She broke the silence, holding a boomerang in her hand, just to be safe.

“I can synthetize the cure.” She added quickly. “There’s a large section of medication down the hall, I already injected myself and I can do the same for you. Just let me have Seven.”

“I didn’t take you for such an avengeful type.” Sebastian chuckled in her direction. “You betrayed our alliance.” He stated as a matter of fact and Musa wasn’t really surprised he brought that up. “Lucky for you, I never much cared. Unlucky for you, my partner is wounded and I’m not waiting around the next 18 hours to watch her die.”

“Cat is injured?” She frowned, but quickly kept talking when she saw him draw out his sword. “Wait. Think rationally. You know I’m a strong opponent, so whoever wins the fight is going to be fatally wounded. You think the others won’t take an advantage of that? Even if you win, how are you planning to protect Cat if you’ll be barely holding onto your life?”

“Let me have Seven. You can go and chase the other one. When all is done, meet me downstairs on the first floor. I’ll synthetize the cure for you and Cat, heck I’m sure I’ll be able to find antibiotics for her and the three of us can walk out of here, alive and well.”

There were few seconds of silence. Sebastian looked like he was thinking about her words, battling an inner fight in his mind. Her words made sense. She knew it and deep down he knew it too.

“You’ll keep her alive?” He asked eventually.

“I’ll keep all of us alive. There’s no need to shed unnecessary blood.”

“Fine. If I’m not down by three hours-”

“I’ll take care of Cat, don’t worry.”

“Unlucky for you, my partner is wounded and I’m not waiting around the next 18 hours to watch her die.”

That was the only sentence Soyeon heard and the only sentence she needed to hear. The career girl from two was injured. She wouldn’t even need to lure her anywhere. The two balloons of acid would be more than enough to take out the wounded girl.

And oh what a pride it would be. To kill one of the strongest, if not the strongest, tribute in these Games. Soyeon would not only be a victor, a survivor, but also a hero.

Now she only needed to find the girl. Sebastian wasn’t stupid, so he probably hid her pretty well. Meaning, she had to look for tsome sort of quiet place, maybe one that no one knew about.

Fortunately, over the days spent in the factory, she knew it like the back of her hand. And there were only few places that were entirely out of sight.

Soyeon chuckled to herself, only to cough out more blood than before. Her time was coming dangerously to an end. If she wanted to survive, she needed to act fast, before the two careers found her.

Though by what she witnessed, the two didn’t appear to be very friendly, so she assumed one of them would be dead soon and the other one wounded. 

Things were starting to look out really well for her.

After hours of wandering around the factory, trying to find the girl from One, Kasia got her hopes up when she heard light feminine footsteps.

Unfortunately for her, it was not One, but the other female non-career tribute, whose name she didn’t deign to remember. 

She wanted to end her life, quickly and painlessly. It would be one less person to worry about. Besides, surely out of the five of them, this girl was the weakest one. There was no way she would stand any chance.

However before Kasia could raise her axe and skillfully end the girl’s life, she noticed that the girl wasn’t aimlessly wandering as Kasia originally thought. Oh no, this girl knew exactly where she was going, even avoided all the traps that Kasia was sure she would fall into. 

Perhaps this girl was weak, but she sure as hell knew her way around here as if it was her home.

Therefore, Kasia settled for following her. She had done so already in the games and each time she was invisible. She wanted to know what was this girl’s play.

Originally Kasia’s target was the girl from One, but now her curiosity got the best of her. Besides, she still had plenty of time. She didn’t know whether she had the cure in her, but the fact was that over 12 hours passed and she still didn’t feel any effects of the nerve agent. 

Perhaps it was because she was strong and healthy, perhaps not. Either way, she wasn’t about to take any chances.

Catrine’s head throbbed and she was still massively bleeding from the fight. She couldn’t remember where she was, she could only feel the coldness of the ground underneath her.

She vaguely remembered her conversation with Seb.

“17 hours remaining.”

The Gamemaker’s voice brought her back into the reality a bit, but she was still feeling dizzy. She hated feeling like this, weak and vulnerable. She was one of the strongest tributes and now she was laying there, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

She had to trust Sebastian that he would take care of everything, even though she hated herself for not being able to help him. She couldn’t think of losing him.

Few minutes later, she heard footsteps coming her way. Was Sebastian really that quick? She didn’t hear any gongs, but then again she was sleeping for the past four hours or so, so maybe she just didn’t hear them.

“Seb?” She asked as the footsteps came closer to her.

When she heard a feminine laugh, she stiffened.

“Nope, try again.” It was that girl from three. Or maybe five? Catrine had honestly no idea as she dismissed the girl as a weak tribute and therefore didn’t bother to remember her name.

“Look at you. What a true victor you are. Alone, weak, defensless. Is this some sort of a new careerish reverse psychology?” The girl taunted, laughing at her own words.

Catrine knew her fate was probably sealed, but if this girl expected her to beg on her knees, she was dead wrong.

“Who are you even?” Catrine dismissed her in a cold stoic voice. The girl scoffed and looked quite offended by her words.

“Soyeon Zhou.” She snapped at her. “It will do you good to remember the name.”

Arrogant. That was the first word that came to Catrine’s mind when she looked at the girl. If Catrine had even half of her strength, this girl would be an easy target.

“And what makes you so important Soyaron?” Cat retorted back at her. She didn’t know whether she just wanted to make the girl angry or buy herself more time, hoping that maybe Seb would come. Either way, it seemed to do the trick.

“It’s Soyeon!” She exclaimed loudly.

As Soyeon exclaimed the words, chaos ensued. 

She thought she was being alone, however, she couldn’t be more wrong. Out of one corner jumped out the girl from Seven and from another direction ran the boy from Two.

Judging by their expressions neither of them expected to find themselves in the situation. Soyeon took advantage of the second it took them to snap back into reality and took out her two acidic balloons and threw them both at the two tributes.

Her aim wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t terrible either. The balloon she threw at Sebastian landed on his right arm, which wasn’t really life-threatening, but seeing as it was the hand he held weapon in, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself as efficiently.

The other balloon she threw, landed, right in the middle of Kasia’s chest, causing the girl the scream in pain and fall on her knees.

That was all Soyeon needed. She had no other weapons and the last thing she needed was to get in the middle of a fight like that. She sprinted off, hoping that she wouldn’t be followed for now.

Sebastian cursed underneath his breath. How could he be so stupid? He left Cat by herself, not thinking of the fact that someone could find her. He thought he hid her well enough. Apparently not.

The district Three girl fled away, though he would hunt her down later.

He had other problems to face. Namely, the District Seven girl.

She was injured, but so was he. His fighting arm was threatening to fall off, the acid eating its way all way through his muscles. The pain was almost unbearable, but he had to swallow it. For Cat.

He swung his sword at her with his left arm. His aim was terrible, but he managed to cut her exactly at the spot where she was wounded. She stumbled back, spitting blood on the ground and clenching an axe in her hand.

She was going to throw it straight towards him, however, a strong whip encircled her ankle, making her fall down.

She looked to her side, only to find Catrine who was already half-dead, holding the whip with the last bits of her strength. Before Kasia could make her move, Sebastian was already by her side, plunging sword through her shoulder, piercing it from both sides and therefore trapping her on the ground.

That was it. That was the end of her.

“You’re not mine to kill.” He clicked his tongue at her, looking her over. Kasia frowned in confusion. Why didn’t he finish her off?

He turned around, to check on Catrine, not moving away from his spot.

Kasia took advantage of that and swiftly reached for a knife in her boot.

“Sebastian, watch out!” Catrine exclaimed, but she was too late.

“But you are mine.” With those words Kasia lunged forward as much as she could, given the fact she was pinned to the ground by the sword and cut his throat open. 

BOOM.

Musa knew something wasn’t right, when she saw the district three girl, running from somwhere and soon after heard a gong.

Since Musa managed to break through her handcuffs, her hands were free and she was more or less in her full strength. She sprinted after the District Three girl, pinning her to the ground once she chased her down.

The girl yelled and Musa held her still with her knees, keeping her boomerang against the girl’s throat.

“Where are they?”

The girl was too frightened to speak, which only made Musa chuckle more.

“Listen you have five seconds to tell me exactly what happened and whose gong that just was before I cut you open with my boomerang.”

“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know. I injured the girl from Seven and the career guy you spoke to before and then I fled!”

“You’re lying. How could you, a simple girl from three, injure the two of them?”

“I’m not fucking useless. I threw acid at them. I wanted to kill the girl from Two, when both of them just appeared. I honestly thought they were dead already, I didn’t expect them to show up!”

Musa scowled at her. If that was the truth then it could have been anyone’s gong. She didn’t want to kill anyone other than the girl from Seven, but apparently this girl had more thirst for blood in her than Musa anticipated. She couldn’t risk it.

“I really wish you had stayed away from all this. You could have been alive.” Musa commented quietly and pierced the girl’s throat, watching her bleed out.

BOOM.

Kasia had no strength to fight anymore and it seemed that neither had Catrine. In fact, Kasia wasn’t even sure whether the girl was alive anymore. After she tried to warn her partner about Kasia, she seemed to stretch one of her wounds, causing her to pass out.

The entire scene was quite pitiful.

“Hey. You alive?” Kasia asked, though it came out more as a grunt. The girl didn’t answer her, but Kasia noticed her shallow breathing. So she was alive.

Kasia couldn’t stand up and she couldn’t pull out the sword out of herself either. It was stuck too deep in the ground and the more she tried to wiggle her way out, the more she hurt herself.

“Fuck.” She cursed loudly, grunting from the pain.

“16 hours left.”

Again, she cursed. And then again when she saw the girl from One approach her.

The girl threw one of her boomerangs at her, pinning Kasia’s left shoulder against the ground. Now she couldn’t even move a muscle, being pinned by the two weapons, one from each side.

“You brought this on yourself.” The girl told her, carefully walking around Kasia’s pinned body. “You made an enemy out of me, when you killed Evan. In that moment I swore to myself that my face would be the last thing you’d see. I was going to make it quick.”

“But then you thought you could prey off of an injured woman. When that didn’t work you slaughtered Sebastian and by the look of you, I assume you had to take an advantage of a moment when he wasn’t paying attention.”

“Snake.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Kasia muttered under her breath. “You’re the snake in here, you hypocrite. These are the Games. I’m sure you killed people too.”

“Yeah, I did. When the rules were different. We were offered a chance, we could have made it out alive, all of us!”

“I’m not going to apologize, I don’t regret a thing. I’m a survivor.”

“No, not really.” She stated and sliced her chest open with her second boomerang. 

BOOM.

As soon as the gong sounded, Musa turned her attention to Catrine.

“Cat? Cat, c’mon talk to me.” She squeezed her trapezoid muscles and sighed in relief when the brunette in front of her opened her eyes.

“Musa?” She whispered quietly, looking around, disoriented. “She killed Seb.” Catrine added after couple of seconds, looking at Kasia with tears in her eyes.

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, she’s dead. She’s no threat to us anymore.”

“I’m dying.” Catrine stated.

“You’re not. I can get you antibiotics, I can-”

“It’s too late.” She whispered and deep down Musa knew she was right. Even if she sprinted to get the meds and quickly did the math on dosage, it still wouldn’t be fast enough.

“Wil you stay with me?” The brunette asked and Musa nodded her head, taking Catrine’s hand into her own and softly humming her a song from their district.

It only took few minutes for her to close her eyes and let out final breath.

BOOM.

5th place: Sebastian Morozov (D2) - killed by Kasia

4th place: Soyeon Zhou (D3) - killed by Musa

3rd place: Kasia Lefévre (D7) - killed by Musa

2nd place: Catrine Vega (D2) - succumbed to her injuries

1st place: Musa Flores (D1)

[126thhungergames]

The Sixth Day Continues

Soyeon was surprised when she heard the twist and she had to admit that it was perfectly Capitolan. A moral dilemma - kill everyone and ensure your safety or wait until the nerve agent works its miracle and have half of the tributes survive.

However, these are the Hunger Games and the ten tributes have already made it quite far. Soyeon doubted that anyone would want to leave it to a coinsidence. Which was why she managed to equip almost the entire fifth floor with traps. 

Though she had been working on it way before the twist was announced, it seemed to come in handy now.

All of the staircases from the fourth to fifth floor were covered with a sticky oil. There was a tiny almost invisible rope tied across the hall which would trigger buckets of acid falling down. The pipes were covered in a strange substance that would give anyone who touched it painful and itchy rash.

Soyeon was quite proud of her work. It lacked a bit elegance but it was genius in every way. 

She smirked to herself and climbed up into her fortress- one of the few places that were safe, yet it enabled her to look down at her masterpiece and anyone who would dare to enter her kingdom.

“Let the Games begin.” She muttered to herself and checked her left arm. From her fingers to her elbow it was covered in rash, a price she had to pay while setting up her work. It itched to no end and parts of her arm were bleeding, but unfortunately she had no bandage or dressing to cover it with.

However, if things go according to the plan, hopefully the other tributes will manage to slaughter each other before the promised 24 hours run out.

“We need to get to the second floor.” Musa announced as soon as the Gamemakers’ speech ended.

Evan gave her a confused look. “What’s on the second floor?”

“Remember when we were in here on the third day? I remember seeing a large cabinet with several chemical ingredients. Maybe we can find there the antidote.”

“I doubt the Gamemakers would leave an antidote in the arena. They said that half of us were already injected.” He tried to argue, but Musa’s expression remained unchained.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Maybe there are the chemicals needed to create the antidote.”

“And when did you become the chemist’s apprentice?”

Musa groaned in despair at him. “For once in your life, Brekker, trust me on this.”

Evan rolled his eyes at her, but eventually agreed to her plan. “Fine. Let’s go, then.”

However, the career pair didn’t notice Camila who was lurking in the shadows and listening to their entire conversation. She decided to follow them quietly and if the career girl is correct, maybe she’ll be able to snatch an antidote for herself too.

“The plan stays.” Cesare whispered in a stoic voice with a gaze that could cut through the ice.

“We could all survive. Without putting ourselves at risk!” Hephaestus argued in a low voice as the two allies were slowly approaching the place where Cesare claimed the careers were.

Cesare scoffed. As if. The careers were never merciful nor team players. 

“The plan stays.” Cesare repeated. He didn’t have time or the desire to explain to the Eleven tribute why exactly they can’t give up on their plan. 

Hephaestus looked reluctant to agree, but he didn’t say another word and followed Cesare. 

The two tributes stepped downstairs from the fourth floor to the third. According to Cesare, the careers were spread around the third floor, scavenging for other tributes. At least, that is how it was until the twist was released. Hephaestus still hoped that somehow they could all come to an agreement. 

After he left Josephine alone to her death, his conscience was bugging him. He didn’t want to have any more blood on his hands.

“Jackpot.” Cesare muttered as they turned around the corner and spotted in the distance three careers who seemed to fighting quite pationately about something.

The two tributes quickly retracted themselves back so they wouldn’t be spotted and Cesare instructed Hephaestus to go around the corner, while Cesare decided to go in the other direction. That way they would have the careers caged in.

The hunt was about to begin.

The career alliance rejoined few minutes after the announcement, while the bombs were still exploding. 

Marco was standing in front of his two other allies, all of them standing in silence. 

“So, what now?” Catrine asked, her eyes flicker from Marco to Sebastian.

“We continue as intended. There are 7 tributes alive who should be digging in the ground already.”

“You want to kill them all? You heard the twist-”

“I heard that only half of us has the antidote running through their system. We don’t know which one. Maybe none of us has the cure.”

Catrine sighed in frustration at him. “We are the careers, the Capitol’s favourite entertainment! You really think that the Capitol wants to watch five careers, dying as they choke on their own blood? And have some band of tributes whose names no one can even bother remembering win?”

“I am not taking the risk. And neither should you! What kind of a fucking career are you even?” He asked accusingly and moved closer to her.

“Back off!” Sebastian interfered, shoving Marco off.

Marco laughed and drew out his mace. “I can talk to my girl however I want.”

Sebastian wanted to quickly retort at him that it didn’t seem like she was Marco’s girl when she was kissing him just few minutes ago, but Catrine interrupted him.

“I’m not your girl.” 

“Really? Because you were very friendly in these past days. Was it just to secure your place in the alliance? You’ll spread your legs and suddenly-”

“I had a higher score than you, moron. If anything, it was you who was securing their place with me.”

“Then why was it you who crawled into my bed in the middle of the night back in the Capitol like a common whore?”

Catrine, looked down at the ground, furious and at the same time humiliated. 

“That’s enough!” Sebastian had his sword ready when he swinged at Marco, holding a knife in his other hand. However, as soon as his sword clang against Marco’s mace, two tribute lunched at them.

Fight ensued. It was difficult to say who was fighting whom.

Sebastian was attacking Marco, while at the same time fighting off Hephaestus. Marco was trying to resisting Sebastian’s attack, however it was evident that he was losing against the district 2 tribute. 

Catrine was using her whip against Cesare who revealed himself to be far more skilled than Catrine gave him credit for. Cesare was attacking the district 2′s tribute with his sword and though she was a tough opponent, the two seemed to be almost evenly matched.

Hephaestus was lunging himself at Sebastian, but each time the District Two dodged his attack or otherwise protected himself. Hephaestus needed to change the tactics. Soon, District Two will have finished District One and Hephaestus knew that he had no chance against Sebastian in a single handed combat.

With a swift move, Hephaestus turned around to lunge himself at Sebastian’s District partner instead. Using the element of surprise, Hephaestus managed to severly slice through Catrine’s backside, making her stumble back and momentarily lose her balance. She defended herself with her whip, wrapping the whip around Hephaestus’ ankle and making him fall to the ground.

However that left her exposed to Cesare who was looking forward to finish the District’s Two tribute.

In the meantime, Sebastian put a stop to the pathetic fight that Marco was putting up and sliced through his throat like a knife against butter, ending his life.

The gong that signalled his death startled Cesare for just a millisecond, but that was enough for Catrine to dodge his attack, while having her grip still on Hephaestus’ ankle. She was pressing her other hand against her side to stop her internal organs from spilling out.

Sebastian didn’t hesitate and stabbed Cesare in the gut. Before his gong resonated, Hephaestus jerked his leg violently, making Catrine lose her grip on the whip and started running away.

Sebastian kicked Cesare’s dead body away and cursed loudly. He wanted to chase after Eleven, but Catrine wasn’t in a state in which he could leave her alone.

“I will murder you even if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”

Kasia was following the three tributes who entered her floor. Well, technically she was following a tribute who was following the career pair. Two gongs have sounded since she started following them and Kasia wondered who it could be.

It certainly was the girl from Three who had built a fortress out of the entire fifth floor. Kasia could tell it swarmed with traps just as soon as she stepped her foot on the staircase. 

Perhaps it was someone from the other career alliance. 

Kasia was far, but she could still faintly make out the words those two careers spoke.

“This is it.” The brunette claimed as they stopped in front of the cabinet that was filled with chemicals. Kasia wanted to use the cabinet herself, but all of the bottles had only their chemical name written on it and since Kasia hasn’t exactly passed chemistry lesson in the school, she didn’t want to tamper with it.

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I’m positive. Look, I was right. This is paralidoxime chloride, it reactivates the enzyme that has been posioned by the nerve agent, as it-”

“Alright, you’re clever, I understand. What now, we just ingest it?” Kasia could see the brunette’s lips widen in a smug smirk as the boy next to her praised her intelligence.

“Aye, but you must know the correct dosage. Otherwise it either won’t work or you overdose yourself.”

“What is the correct dosage then?”

“Uncuff me and you shall find out.”

The boy pursed his lips, but eventually nodded his head and began taking out the keys from his pocket.

Kasia had to act quickly. She couldn’t risk the career girl getting uncuffed. With a quick swing, Kasia threw her axe at the District 4 boy in the same manner as she did with the Eight girl. As always her aim was impeccable. Sort of. She didn’t hit the head as she originally had intended, but she hit the spine which worked the trick too.

The District 9 girl who has been following the two careers the entire time without the knowledge of Kasia’s presence sighed loudly and looked at Kasia with a frightened expression on her face. She tried to run, but she was too hurt and therefore slow. It took Kasia four elaborate steps to make it to the girl and snap her neck.

Unfortunately in the meantime, the district one girl has managed to flee, along with the antidote. Kasia cursed loudly.

Hephaestus was tired. He has already escaped the careers twice. It was strange though. District 2 could have easily chased him down or thrown something at him. Seems, like his district partner’s health was more important to him.

“29 hours left.” The Gamemaker’s voice sounded through the factory like an echo.

Hephaestus chuckled. Only one hour and there were already 4 gongs to be heard. One for that career boy. One for Sorrentino. He wondered for whom were the other two. Maybe the District 2 girl died from her injuries. After all, he did cut her pretty badly.

He was starting to feel guilty, when he mentally slapped himself. She was a career, a killer. If nothing else, he was doing a service to everyone else.

Noticing a staircase he ran to it, decided to climb up to the highest floor. It sounded reasonable enough. If District 2 decides to eventually come after him, he’ll see him coming. 

Even if not, at least he won’t have to deal with any possible danger from the upper floors.

His whole body ached as he made his way through the old stairs, careful not to make a sound. Finally he managed to reach the fifth floor, almost breathless. Normally he had an above average stamina, but he wasn’t yet recovered when he engaged in the fight with careers once again and it worn him out. 

He touched the pipes for support, only to hiss in pain as he felt a painful and itchy tingling through his arm. Few seconds later, an unpleasantly looking rash appeared on his dark skin.

“Fuck.” He cursed loudly, but continued in his step. His arm iched like hell, but he knew he couldn’t stop.

As he continued walking across the halls, he tripped over a thin rope, which caused over a liter of acid splash right onto his back.

He was screaming as the acid was eating him up, destroying everything in its way from flesh through muscles to bones.

10th place: Marco Glass (D1) - killed by Sebastian

9th place: Cesare Sorrentino (D10) - killed by Sebastian

8th place: Evan Brekker (D4) - killed by Kasia

7th place: Camila Overhill (D9) - killed by Kasia

6th place: Hephaestus Adair (D11) - killed by Soyeon’s trap

[126thhungergames]

The Sixth Day

The pain that Camila was enduring was endless. She waited for sponsors to send her something, if not to heal her, then at least to relieve her from the pain, but nothing came. She spent the entire night on the tree, without sleep and constantly crying and screaming from pain. She made quite a noise and therefore it was rather surprising that no one came to find her. Probably they were all on the other side.

“Good morning, fellow tributes. Two hours from now, all of the arena, except for the factory will become dangerous. It is advised not to be in those parts of arena, unless you would like to be blown into smitherins. May the odds be ever in your favour.” 

Camila didn’t know whether to laugh or cry from her lack of luck. She would need to make a run for it if she wanted to make it in two hours which was nearly impossible. Her entire body burnt and ached and she didn’t have enough clothes to bandage herself, so there were still some parts of her bloodied flesh and raw muscle showing off. She didn’t want her family to see her like this.

‘Maybe I should just stay here and wait until it blows over.’ She laughed at her own lame attempt at joke. ‘Felix would find it funny.’ 

Felix.

What would he think if he saw her like this, contemplating about her own suicide?

“He would think that I’m a fucking coward.” She answered herself and with all her strength she started slowly lowering herself from the tree, being careful about her wounds that were almost covering her entire body.

When her feet touched the ground she looked around herself, spotting a bridge in a far away distance. She sighed loudly. This would be painful and she will most likely get killed in the process.

As she started moving, she noticed a fallen branch and picked it up, using it as a cane to support herself.

“You can’t break me, Capitol.” She muttered loud enough for the ‘audience’ to hear and started walking.

When the career trio heard the announcment, Marco concluded that there are probably more tributes in the factory, since the Gamemakers chose to make it the ‘meeting point’. It was evident that the final bloodbath was coming and if it wasn’t today, then it would surely be tomorrow. 

Therefore the career alliance split up and decided to meet in the two hours as Gamemakers announced. Which was an absolutely stupid decision, according to Sebastian, but he kept his opinion to himself.

Sebastian tried to think who was left as he wandered the halls, sword in his hand and knife in the other. There were three of them plus their two former allies. That was already five out of ten. Then the district 11 tribute who escaped them the other night.

Also if he recalls correctly, he hasn’t seen the face of the girl from seven in the sky. Nor the snob from nine. That was 8 people. Two more.

He turned around the corner, lost in his thought only to have a whip swinged at him. He reacted swiftly, without giving a thought to who it was in front of him and shielded himself with the sword, ripping the whip away from his attacker’s hand and pressing the person against the wall, his knife at their throat.

“Cat?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, when he found out the person who attacked him was his district partner.

“Dammit, Sebastian! You startled me.” She cursed, breathing heavily. 

“Why did you attack me?” He asked her and a flicker of hurt flashed on her face for a second.

“I didn’t know it was you! I heard some footsteps, so I thought it might be Eleven.”

Her explanation sounded reasonable enough, but nevertheless he didn’t retract his knife from her throat.

“Why would you even think that I wanted to attack you?” She asked him accusingly.

“The numbers are decreasing, the final bloodbath will come soon. Two of our allies already switched sides, why not you?”

“Are we seriously having this conversation, right now? Besides, it’s not my loyalty that should be questioned.”

He scowled at her comment, pressing the blade harder against skin, though he made sure that he wouldn’t cut her for real. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You said that you didn’t care about me. You are the one who barely even talked to me for the past three days. You are the one who looks at me as if I was some nuisance. I am the one who wakes up every morning, surprised that you haven’t betrayed us, betrayed me, yet. And I keep waiting for you to snap and --”

She was stopped in the mid sentence as Sebastian closed the gap between them and kissed her with all the passion and pent up frustration for the past few days. He inserted his tongue in her mouth and she arched her back in pleasure.

They shouldn’t be doing this. Not when there were other tributes around. When there was Marco around.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to stop. She ran with her fingers through his hair and he dropped the knife that was previously held against her throat. Their tongues moved together as if they were dancing.

After a while, the two pulled themselves apart for an oxygen pause, however their bodies still remained glued to each other.

His hand was on her hip, drawing small circles underneath her shirt and her arms were wrapped around his neck. They spent few seconds in a complete silence, just looking at each other.

“We shouldn’t--” She tried to find the right words, but couldn’t find them.

Sebastian enjoy this sight of her, with her hair messy, speechless and breathless.

“I’ll kill him.” He stated, putting his hand on his sword tucked into his belt.

She shook her head at him. “Sebastian--”

“You don’t have to lift a finger, I can handle him on my own.”

“I don’t doubt it. But it’s too soon, there are still too many tributes left alive.” She tried to reason with him.

“Then I’ll kill them too.” He argued back. 

“And then what?” She asked in half-whisper. It was the feared question that lingered between them. What happens when there’s only two of them left?

“Then we’ll figure it out.” He replied her. He wouldn’t stand it to see her die, but at the same time, he didn’t want to be the one to end up dead. Hopefully the Gamemakers or the fate will change up the game. 

Cesare was polishing his sword against the strangely shaped metallic box, when he heard heavy footsteps. Good. So far it went according to his plan.

He recognized the figure approaching him even without turning his head to the side and continued polishing the sword as if he didn’t notice anything. He had already seen Eleven before, so he knew the two of them were in the same sector of the factory. However, Cesare couldn’t be the one to come to him. That would make him seem like the weaker one, the one at disadvantage. 

“Sorrentino.” Hephaestus called at him, his deep voice resonating through the halls. However long before, Cesare had scavenged the factory within an audible radius and there knew that there wasn’t anyone in the distance but them who could be bothered by the noise.

“Hephaestus Adair.” Cesare drew out his name, as if it was the name of a poem that was about to be presented to the audience. 

“What is your problem?” He shouted at him, keeping a safe distance. Reasonable. He might be stronger, but Cesare had the technique of a swordsman and a weapon to go along it.

Cesare stood up from his place, looking his sword over and admiring his own reflection. He was taking his time, which made Hephaestus quite impatient.

“Correct me, if I’m wrong, my friend.” Hephaestus scoffed at the nickname. “But, I am not the one who stands here and uses a tone of voice that could easily be mistaken as a shout.”

“Cut the pretty words, Sorrentino. You’ve been following me.”

Cesare chuckled, meeting his gaze. So the Eleven tribute wasn’t all brawns and no brains, after all. A pleasant suprise, indeed.

“You speak the truth.” Cesare nodded in agreement and pointed his sword in Hephaestus’ direction. “I’ve been meaning to propose a suggestion in your direction. An alliance.”

“Y’all must be mad!” Hephaestus exclaimed and laughed as if he had heard the greatest joke of century. “The clock is ticking. The games are ending.”

“And the careers are winning.”

“You want to take down the careers?” Hephaestus asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I do. Then, we can separate or duel or anything that fancies our minds, but until those self-obsessed brats are breathing, we will show a mutual respect and sense of loyalty towards each other.” Cesare pronounced, walking closer to the other tribute, until the two boys were only few inches away. “Do we have an accord?”

Musa was trailing after Evan, her hands still handcuffed. There were reddish circles forming around her wrists from all the struggling. If Evan recalled correctly, they had around 20 minutes to get to the factory. Luckily for them, the giant factory was already on the horizon and they’d be there in even less than that.

If only Musa would stop struggling. It was obvious that she despised being chained up like an ordinary weak tribute. That girl was remarkable when it came to weapons, fighting technique or overall intelligence, however she lacked the kind of brute strength that Evan had and that was where had bested her,

“Alright, time to make a wager. You release me and once I win, I’ll make sure you’ll be remembered. I could have something named after you.”

Evan rolled his eyes at her behaviour and wondered whether her attitude would ever fade. “Yeah, like what?” He questioned.

“A trash can, for example.” She stated and in return he twisted her arm, enough to hurt, but not enough to cause any damage.

“Oh c’mon, why the sour spirit? It would be gilded. Maybe.” She continued, but Evan decided to ignore her.

“Silent treatment, how mature.” She added and abruptly halted in her step, which made Evan jerk back and raise his eyebrow at her.

“If you won’t walk, then you’ll be dragged.”

“I will walk.” She replied quickly in a steady voice. “After you tell me the real reason why you haven’t killed me yet.”

“I told you already-”

“You told me the version for the Capitol. I want the real one. There are no cameras in here and we still have time to make it to the factory.”

The two of them were in fact already in the factory’s areal, so it would be less than a 7 minutes walk before they reach the entrance. 

“The cameras are everywhere.”

“Not in here, at least not ones that would be able to hear us. It’s the camera’s blindspot. Or deaf-spot if you wish to be literal.”

“Nevertheless, I stand by my word.” He spat out at her and made a step to move, but she didn’t budge. Instead, she chuckled bitterly.

“You think I believe that tale? If you wanted torture, you could have had it when you captured me. And don’t give me the excuse that there were still too many tributes alive.”

Evan pursed his lips into a thin line, looking down at Musa, while clutching her upper arm. He wanted to retort back at her, call her a foolish lunatic, tell her she’s delusional, but every version of that sentence sounded pathetic to him. 

“Why am I still alive, Evan?” She pushed further when he didn’t answer her. “Do you like me?” She added the question in almost a whisper.

He scowled at her. “What? Fuck, no-” He looked to his side, averting her gaze. “I don’t. I mean.” Fuck, he was stuttering like a teenage fool. He could hear her smirking. Thank the Gods that Panem wasn’t watching this. 

“Define like.” He added at last and glanced at the amused brunette in front of him, who only widened her smirk at that. “Wipe that off your face.” He commanded her, regarding her cheshire cat grin.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” She replied, but this time with something that could almost be called a genuine, maybe even flirtatious (?) smile.

“Dead men tell no tales.”

“Well lucky for me, I’m a woman. Besides, I think we’ve already established that you will not be killing me so soon.” She retorted quickly. “Shall we continue?”

The clock was ticking and the Gamemakers as dramatic as they often were, counted the last five minutes down. Almost everyone, besides Camila were already inside, but in the end, even the injured brunette managed to stumble inside in the last few seconds.

As soon as the last second hit, several bombs placed across the arena started going off, making a mess out of the entire terrace. It took over half an hour until all of the bombings went off. Technically they were all unnecessary as every tribute was safely in the factory, but a point needed to be made.

“Congratulations, tributes. You have safely made it to the factory. As soon as the bombings went off, the factory has locked down, meaning no one can enter or get out. 

There are two possible outcomes of this year’s Hunger Games. 

Right now, you’re breathing a deadly nerve agent. Those educated now that its effect on human body can cause nausea, tighteness in the chest, vomitting, bleeding from the eyes and ears, coughing up blood, hallucinations and eventually in all cases death.

All entrances to the factory shall be unlocked in 30 hours. All the people that remain alive until then will be considered victors. However, you only have 24 hours at most, weaker characters approximately 20 hours to survive.

In order to show you Capitol’s generousness, half of you have been injected with an antidote before you’ve stepped into the arena. 

The doors will also be unlocked if there is only one tribute remaining. 

Will you leave it to the odds or secure your survival as a sole survivor? May the odds be ever in your favour.”

Locations of the remaining tributes:

- 1st floor -

West Sector: Camila Overhill

South Sector: Evan Brekker, Musa Flores

- 2nd floor -

------------

- 3rd floor -

East Sector: Catrine Vega, Sebastian Morozov

South Sector: Marco Deveraux

- 4th floor -

West Sector: Kasia Lefévre

South Sector: Cesare Sorrentino, Hephaestus Adair

- 5th floor -

North Sector: Soyeon Zhou

[126thhungergames]

The Capitol Interviews

“The screen flashes to the image of two Capitolan hosts, Prada Blooming and Plabos Shine. Prada is as usual dressed in a silver flashy costume that shows just the right amount of cleavage and matching straight white wig in a Cleopatrian style. Plabos is styled in golden shades, from his suit to his high spiky wig. The two of them look like the moon and sun.

“I must admit, Plabos, when we started this year’s games, I had my doubts.” Prada started, nodding her head as if she wanted to emphasize just how worried she was about the course of the games.

“I hear what you’re saying. The bloodbath, which happens to be my favourite, turned out to be quite the disappointment with only one tribute killed.”

“Luckily the careers made up for it, quite efficiently. They managed to slaughter almost an entire alliance on the first day. Quite, impressive, I’d say.”

“Impressive, indeed. Especially when you consider that until now the careers have killed together 10 tributes. That is almost a half and we’re still not finished.” Plabos flashed a smile to the camera and turned back to Prada.

“We’ll be tuned to see what other surprises they have for us. Until then, let’s hear what the tributes’ families have to say about the entire situation.”

District 1: Musa Flores

The screen zooms in on the image of Flores family, which consists of her parents, older sister and younger brother.

“Musa has shown herself to be every bit of a career since day one. It was surprising when she betrayed her allies, especially since there were still plenty of them when she did so. How did it feel when her attempt at escape was halted by the District Four tribute?”

The Flores parents kept their mouth shut, pondering on what to answer when Sienna, Musa’s sister, interjected. “My sister can be sometimes foolish and reckless. However, I have no doubt that the cards will soon turn around.”

District 1: Marco Glass

District 2: Catrine Vega

District 2: Sebastian Morozov

District 3: Soyeon Zhou

District 4: Evan Brekker

District 7: Kasia Lefévre

District 9: Camila Overhill

District 10: Cesare Sorrentino

District 11: Hephaestus Adair

[126thhungergames]

WDWDTL: Fifth Day

It was middle of the night when Nicole woke up to the sound of Soyeon getting up from her usual sleeping place and started gathering up her things. Cesare was soundly sleeping few feet away from the two girls.

“Where are you going?” Nicole asked and Soyeon jumped, startled by the voice of the raven haired girl. 

“It’s Day 5.” She stated as a matter-of-fact and continued packing her things. 

Day 5 was well-known in the history of Hunger Games as the most gruesome day. Not even the bloodbath could top the damage that is usually cause on the fifth day. 

“Exactly. Are you trying to get yourself killed by going on your own?” Nicole asked her, trying to keep her voice low enough so that Cesare wouldn’t wake up. 

Soyeon stopped in the middle of putting her blanket into the backpack and looked into Nicole’s eyes. They could barely see each other in the night, but due to the fullmoon outside, they were able to distinguish approximately each other’s features.

“No one has died since the bloodbath. Do you think this is going to go down smoothly? Half of us is going to be dead in the next 24 hours. I intend to be in the other half.”

“You don’t know that! Maybe-”

“Look, I know you are a big name in your district and probably in the Capitol too, but these are the games. And when someone lunges at you with a sword in their hands, not even a silver package from the sponsors is going to save you.”

Soyeon seemed to be finished with packing and picked up her backpack, standing up and turning around to leave.

“I could help you.” Nicole tried to reason with her.

“You could. But you could also get me killed. I won’t take the chances.”

They were outside in the woods, in an early morning when it happened. The mist was almost invisible and became thicker only when it already encircled them. They tried to run. They really did.

The mist burnt their flesh like an acid. It felt as if there was no way to escape. Wherever they went, the mist followed and became only more intense. They tried not to scream. The last thing they needed was to drag attention to themselves.

“Guys, look!” Camilla yelled and pointed with her index finger at the mist. “The mist doesn’t reach the tips of the trees. We could climb them and save ourselves!”

The two boys looked at her as if she were insane. They wondered how it was even possible that she had the strength to talk. 

The three of them were weak, their clothes burned and their flesh was red and painful. However, it was the only chance at survival. 

Camila was the first one to climb the nearest tree. She was hurt and with each movement she winced in the pain. Felix followed after her and then Remi did too.

She was getting weaker the more she climbed up, her panting became louder and she could feel her skin tearing up and exposing the raw muscle. She cried loudly in pain, she wanted to let go. It was unbearable.

With the last bits of strength and determination she never knew she had, she hoisted herself up and finally reached the branch that wasn’t covered with mist anymore.

Her vision was clouded with tears of pain, however she brought herself to look down at her two allies. So far they were climbing up and that was all that mattered.

Few more branches for them to go. Three more. Two more.

That was when the branch under Felix’s foot broke down, sending him flying down and taking Remi in the process. She could hear the loud snap of Remi’s neck, followed by loud gong indicating his pain.

“NOOO!” She screamed. She wanted all of them to make it out. 

It didn’t take long for the mist to thicken even more and soon, Felix’s gong followed.

Musa excused herself from her group of careers, using the excuse of needing to wash herself. The main river was toxic, however the career five managed to find another stream of water that was safe to be used.

She didn’t expect to be in the alliance this long, however, it was true that the numbers haven’t been decreasing since the first day. Marco had been furious that there was no kill made on their part for three days. She knew that if another day had gone by without anyone dead, Marco would have started killing his own allies most likely. 

As she reached the crossing, she turned left, exactly the opposite direction of the river stream. This wasn’t as she wanted her escape from the alliance to go, but she wasn’t able to sneak out during the night with Catrine and Evan watching. The two were insistent on being the guard for the night and Musa didn’t want to seem suspicious by pressing the matter. At least she managed to have her boomerangs with her.

She was only able to make a few steps, before someone spun her around and pinned her to the tree. Out of reflex she swinged her boomerang, however her hand was caught in a firm grip which made her wince in pain and drop the boomerang.

When she opened her eyes she was faced with none other than Evan Brekker.

“What do you want, Brekker?” She spat out, angry at him for assaulting her like this, angry at herself for not seeing it coming. Had it been a fair battle, or at least a battle she was prepared for, she would stand a chance. But now she was cornered like a prey, waiting to be slaughtered.

“This isn’t the way to the river.” He told her in a pretended innocent and concerned voice. As if he was just a good citizen, helping others find their way.

“Is it not? My bad, then, let me just turn back-” She replied in a sarcastic tone and tried to wiggle out of his grip only to be pinned back where she was before.

Evan clicked his tongue, looking at her from head to toe and pursed his lips, as if he was debating on what to do with her.

She hated feeling like this. She could try to go for a kick in the groin, but he would see it coming and other than angering him, it wouldn’t do it any good to her case.

“Brekker, let me go!” She tried to fight him, but she had no chance against his strength. In the next second she was spun around, her hands twisted behind her back, feeling something metal being put around them. As she turned her head she realized she was handcuffed. “What the fuck?”

She could hear him smirk behind her, his hands firmly gripping her forearms and his lips almost touching her left ear.

“I told you I would be the last thing you see before you die.”

Musa gulped, trying not to let fear overtake her and she pleasantly surprised herself as she managed to keep her voice steady. “Why not just get on with it then? Why the handcuffs?”

He chuckled at her response, spinning her back to face him. “I intend to make your death worthwile, long and messy, with the entire Capitol watching and with only the two of us left alive.”

“How romantic.” She retorted, which only made him tighten the grip on her arm and he dragged her behind him like a weak prisoner, away from the river and away from the career nest.

Kasia watched the two tributes from her hiding, like a cat, waiting for the perfect moment to hunt the mice. They were an easy target. Popular with the Capitol, rich and charming, most likely raised up between fluffy pillows and golden showers. However, in the games? They were like a walking prey. 

The boy was by far way weaker than the Escobar girl. Which meant she needed to attack the girl first and use the element of surprise on her. Kasia didn’t doubt that she would able to get them even if she ran towards them with a loud roar, but then again, better be safe than sorry. 

She clenched the axe in her hand and waited for the perfect opportunity and that presented itself in few seconds as Escobar crunched down to search through her backpack for something.

Not wanting to waste any second, Kasia threw the axe with a precision that even careers could envy her and the weapon landed straight in the middle of the girl’s face, followed by a loud gong. 

Her district partner immediately screamed and started to look around himself for the source of danger. Kasia cursed under her breath, he was going to drag unnecessary attention to himself and to her as such. 

She ran from her cover towards him, trying to land a blow to his stomach. However it surprised her when he picked up his fencing sword and cut through Kasia’s fist. It hurt, but the adrenaline took over her body and she paid no attention to it. She picked up a knife from her boot, protecting herself as Cesare lunged at her.

He surprised her, because he was actually quite skilled with the sword and the more he moved, the more he became confident and consistent in the fight. Whereas Kasia was slowly starting to internally panick. She was stronger than he was, but he had better technique and his sword was more dangerous than her hunting knife.

After what seemed like hours, Cesare managed to swat her knife away and she was left defensless, with his sword at her throat. She panted heavily, prepared to join her elders.

“Do it.” She whispered breathlessly.

He looked her over and raised his sword to strike a final blow, when they were interrupted by a loud sound of someone trying to get inside the factory.

Kasia used the interruption and kicked Cesare in the groin, sending him to the ground. She didn’t want to temp the fate and rather fleed.

Celia looked at Cassim who was lying on the ground, covered in blankets, his expression blank and his eyes bloody. She knew he didn’t have much time left and that he was in great pain, but she didn’t have the heart to give him the mercy of killing him.

Even though she was from a career district, she wasn’t able to kill a fly, let alone a human being. Especially one she cared about. 

She wanted to ask him whether she should fetch him some water, when heavy footsteps approaching interrupted her and the words died out in her throat.

The cave was quite light during the daytime and therefore she could easily distinguish the features of her district partner and behind him the career girl from one. Though it was weird that the career girl was chained up and dragged by Evan.

“Look who we have here.” Evan whistled as he saw the injured Cassim and his helpless ally. Before he moved further to them, he grabbed the career girl and pushed her to the ground, sticking a stake through her handcuffs and to the ground to keep her from going away.

“What is-?” Celia couldn’t find the right words, trying to ask why Evan’s so-called-ally was being put in handcuffs.

“Oh this? This is Brekker’s twisted idea of a foreplay.” Musa answered for him, smirking in the process. Whether Evan heard her or not, he didn’t let it show on himself. However, Musa pushed further.

“Should I cheer you on, darling?” Musa mocked sweetly. “Give me B, give me E, give me K, give-” She was cut off as he picked up another stake, but this time, pierced it through her hand.

“You know, the record for the longest time of killing someone in the Hunger Games is 17 hours. I’d say we should push that, don’t you think?” He spat at her as she winced in pain.

Celia was confused from the scene displayed in front of her. For a moment it felt as if she and Cassim weren’t even there and the two careers were lost in their own sick and twisted game.

Perhaps if this was someone else, they would take advantage of the situation and attack the career duo, however, even with the element of surprise, Celia would be no match for Evan. Besides, she couldn’t leave Cassim, even though he was on the bridge of dying.

In a matter of seconds, Evan clunched his spear and it almost appeared as if he wanted to pierce Musa’s heart in it, but he shifted quickly and sent the spear flying straight in the middle of Cassim’s chest, killing him immediately.

Celia’s knees became woobly and she felt to the ground, crying and screaming at the image of her ally. However her cries didn’t last long as soon she felt Evan’s hands on her neck and heard a quick snap before everything went to black.

Marco has been spitting fire ever since their two allies left them in the morning. Catrine was honestly surprised that he didn’t see it coming. She knew that Musa would leave them the second she excused herself to clean herself. Catrine didn’t stop her, because, why should she. This way at least she has a reason to kill her on the spot, without having to explain herself.

However, the person who surprised even her was Evan. She expected him to hang around the career alliance till the very end. Now she was stuck with two vengeful men and she was unaware of whom to trust anymore.

Before the games started, the plan had been simple. She would seduce Marco, wait for him to do the dirty work, stick with him till the end and then betray him. Hell, maybe he would even sacrifice himself for her. He was the perfect manipulator and charmer, but he was no match for her feminine weapons. 

Then the game slightly changed when her district partner figured out her plan. She already knew him from their district and the two of them were constantly flirting with each other, even though they never acted upon it. So when he found out, she didn’t hesitate to let him on the plan. 

Marco had been cautious about Sebastian, so Catrine had to make him believe that she had Sebastian under control. In other words, Sebastian knew that Catrine was playing Marco, while Marco thought that she was playing Sebastian.

It sounded easy enough in the beginning. Now? Not so much.

Marco was growing restless with each day. He wanted the numbers to be already reduced by half by the third day. Naturally by the hands of the careers. However that wasn’t happening and it made him angry that he wasn’t in control. Not even Catrine was able to make him feel better anymore.

As for Sebastian, Catrine had no idea where she standed. Despite what she has been telling herself since the beginning, she grew a strange fondness towards her dark haired district partner. However, she was beginning to wonder whether he cared at least a bit. Whether it wasn’t her that was being played.

Marco shouted loudly, which made Catrine flinch, but she didn’t say anything. The three of them were in a factory, searching for other tributes, but once again it seemed that they would be without luck. That was until they spotted someone in the shadows, running across the corridor. As if on clue, Marco started sprinting towards the person, with Catrine and Sebastian in the row.

After few minutes of running, their chased tribute walked into a dead end and had no way of escaping.

“Please, let me live.” She pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks. Catrine recognized her as the girl that escaped them on the first day. Violet Forks or something like that.

“Ooh, look who it is.” Marco chuckled and swinged his mace in front of her threateningly. “The one that got away.” He stated dramatically, enjoying each word.

“Catrine, love, this is the girl who hit you with a boomerang, isn’t she?” He asked in a sweet tone, his eyes fixed upon Violet. 

Catrine rolled her eyes, finding Marco’s dramatics unnecessary. “That would be her.” She replied in a stoic tone.

“Would you like to enjoy her yourself or will you let me have the honors?” Dramatic, indeed.

“Suit yourself.” She replied him. Maybe he would finally calm himself down a bit after he killed a tribute after all those days.

He didn’t wait any longer and swinged his mace across her body, forming a clean cut that was coloured in red the same second. He kept cutting down at the girl’s body, making her screams echo through the factory.

Catrine was tempted to close her eyes and look the other way. But the last thing she needed was to look weak in front of the cameras. 

Hephaestus heard the loud gong the minute the girl’s screams ended. He was crouching by the pipes, along with Josephine since the careers entered the halls. Unfortunately, the two of them were too close to the career group to run away and therefore hiding was their only option. 

He was a skilled tribute, along with Josephine, but he didn’t want to risk the confrontation. After all, they were in a disadvantage, as there were three of them. Also they were heavily armed, while Hephaestus only had a self-made spear and Jo had a rusty knife. 

After few minutes of silence, Josephine took a step back, still in the crouching position, only to stumble upon something metal and loud. 

Josephine cursed at herself, having done the greatest Hunger Games’ cliché. Hephaestus expected to hear the footsteps of careers, but nothing happened. He thought that maybe they were too far away to hear it and the two of them were safe.

“Well finally, I thought you two would never move.”

The two tributes were startled by the voice and abruptly turned to face the leader of the career group, Marco Glass. How long has he been standing there?

Immediately the two of them stood up, pressed against the pipes and drew their weapons at the career group.

Hephaestus launched himself at Marco, trying to hit him with spear, only to have it cut in a half by Marco’s mace. Luckily he managed to catch both halves of his former spear and started forcefully hitting Marco with them. He was less skilled than Marco as far as technique went, but he was surprisingly stronger than him.

Meanwhile, Jospehine wrestled with the tributes from two. She was fighting bravely, however it was obvious that she was going to succumb soon.

Hephaestus used his body strength to shove Marco to the ground and for a second he was faced with a moral dilemma. He could try to help Josephine, but he would risk only more confrontation. He could continue his fight with Marco, maybe even succeeding in killing him, but then he would be left at mercy of the district two tributes, who were going to be soon finished with Jo. Or he could be a cowardly bastard and run to save his life.

The latter option has won.

Before Marco could stand up, Hephaestus glanced quickly at Josephine, trying to catch her gaze and tell her he was sorry, but she was too preoccupied with the fight. So without a word he started sprinting through the pipes as fast as he could, considering his body size. He could faintly make out Marco’s cursing or Josephine’s loud screams. He didn’t stop.

Only when he heard the loud gong, he took a second to stop a mutter a quiet prayer for his ally’s life.

17th place: Remi Kirimi (D6) - killed by the fall

16th place: Felix Dogan (D9) - killed by the mist

15th place: Nicole Escobar (D8) - killed by Kasia

14th place: Cassim Mortensen (D8) - killed by Evan

13th place: Celia Ilia (D4) - killed by Evan

12th place: Violet Forbes (D10) - killed by Marco

11th place: Josephine Eartheart (D5) - killed by Sebastian

[126thhungergames]

WDWDTL: Second Day

“Celia, wake up.”

Celia opened her eyes at the soft voice waking her up and blinked few times, adjusting to the mild light shining through the windows of the factory. The pair of tributes found an old factory after escaping the careers and getting lost in the woods. Celia was happy to stay in hiding in the woods, but Cassim insisted that they would be dragging too much attention to themselves.

“How many?” She asked almost in a whisper. Cassim looked on the ground, avoiding her gaze.

“Seven.” He muttered after a long pause. Celia only nodded, her expresion saddening.

“We should get moving.” He observed and Celia agreed with him, lifting herself on her elbows and standing up. They didn’t have any supplies, since they fleed the bloodbath before the careers could murder them. 

However, that meant that they had no food, no blankets, no water, nothing. Hopefully the factory would provide them with some of the supplies, since coming back probably wouldn’t be a smart choice.

Celia removed the dust from her clothes and followed Cassim towards the staircase. They were currently on the third floor on the western side of the factory. There appeared to be one more floor above them and the duo went to inspect it.

“Do you think someone else is in here?” She asked as they walked upstairs, the old staircase creaking underneath their feet.

“In this factory? Probably. It appears to be quite big.” He answered honestly and noticed Celia’s somewhat worried face. “But I don’t think we’ll run into anyone in here.”

It was early in the morning and Sebastian was appointed as the guard for the night when Catrine had woken up with a low whimper. It was a quiet sound but it resonated loudly in the peacefullness of the early morning. Sebastian straighten hilmself up and looked closely at Catrine who was starting to open her eyes.

He didn’t want to admit it, but part of him was worried about her when she suffered injuries from their attack near the factory. He made sure no one else was awake before walking closer to the place where she slept.

“Cat?” He asked cautiously and Catrine blinked few times, before raising herself up on her elbows, looking directly into his eyes.

The words he wanted to say died in his throat when her hazel eyes focused on his.

“Yes?” She asked questioningly, her words lacking any kind of emotion. It struck him, but he made sure not to let it show on him. After all, he was the bloodthirsty career and his sponsors couldn’t see him caring about his district partner.

“Are you okay?” He asked, barely in a whisper and if he weren’t so close to her, she probably wouldn’t even have heard him.

The only answer he got was a stern nod from her. They spend few seconds looking at each other, no words spoken and as he made a move to go back to his former place, he was halted by her voice.

“I thought you didn’t care.”

Sebastian clenched his teeth. He did care.

He wanted her to know that, he wanted her to see that he was more than a mindless killing machine. He wanted to show her how much he cared. How much it hurt him to see her cuddling up to Marco, even though it was their plan all along. He wanted to win the games with her. She was never his enemy. Instead, he said the biggest lie of his life.

“I don’t.”

When Remi woke up, his allies seemed to be already awake. After their unpleasant encounter with the careers, the trio managed to find themselves an abandoned cabin and luckily for them, it was stashed with few supplies. Though there were enough of them only for one night, it was still a pleasant supplies.

“Oh look, the Sleeping Beauty is awake.” Felix exclaimed dramatically when he noticed Remi waking up. Remi chuckled only at his comment, glad to see that Felix’s humour is still intact.

“We should move.” Camila stated, folding an old blanket.

“Or we could stay here.” Felix commented, jumping into a dusty loveseat, slouching as he did so.

Camila glared at his lazy approach. Remi could see that she was already feeling better than yesterday, mostly thanks to the medication that was sent to them from Capitol. Remi honestly didn’t expect a sponsor gift so soon, especially for them, since they weren’t even the career tributes, but for some reason as soon as they found the cabin, a metallic parachute made its way to Camila.

“Seven people died yesterday. I’m not going to be the eighth.” She replied fiercly, leaving next to no room for arguing. 

Before Felix could retort with yet another impeccable line, Remi decided it was time to speak up.

“I agree with Camila. We should move.”

Felix scowled at the two, obviously disappointed that they weren’t willing to agree to his genious plan.

“But this seat is so comfy.” He whined, which only earned him a smach across the chest from Camila. He winced in pain, commenting something about BDSM in arena before getting up and exiting the cabin along with his allies.

Hephaestus looked at his ally as she ate the distasteful food, however is was still better than nothing. The two of them found the large factory immediately and hid in the basement. Luckily for them, that was where the buffet was. The food that they found wasn’t as delicious as in Capitol, but it wasn’t poisonous and it kept them from dying from hunger.

“It’s quiet.” He commented softly and Jospehine raised her eyebrow questioningly between the bites.

“No gong.” He explained to her and she shrugged her shoulders.

“Seven people died yesterday. Everyone is probably in hiding.” She tried to justify the situation and continued eating. “Be grateful we’re alive.”

She had a point but still he wasn’t able to shake off that bad feeling. It was already after lunch time and the entire situation felt like the quiet before the storm type of scenario. 

Jospehine stood up from the table and jumped over the counter, looking through the supplies. She squatted over to pick up some clean plates and dishes.

“What some pseudo-arena-made porridge?” She asked him in half-smirk and he laughed at her comment.

“I would love to.” He replied her, finding her humour quite refreshing. 

She proceeded to make the meal out of the limited supplies and surprisingly when she brought the plate to him, it was quite edible. As far as arena standards went. 

“How long do you want to stay in here?” She asked him once he finished the porridge.

“I don’t know, Jo.” He replied honestly and sighed. “I don’t feel comfortable with the image of running around the forests where anyone could see us. The factory at least provides some sort of camouflage.”

“Yeah, but what if someone finds us in here? At least in the forest we can run away from the danger.” Hephaestus nodded at her words. He understood her pointed, but still he didn’t want to give in. 

“Look, how about we spend another night in here and we’ll move the next day?” She offered when she noticed that he was reluctant to go with her previous idea.

“Fine by me.” He agreed finally.

Violet’s day was almost over and she was gratefuly for the peacefullness of it. After yesterday’s encounter with the careers, she wasn’t ready for another confrontation. Her whole alliance murdered in front of her.

“Frederig Lancaster.” Beautiful white hair, honest to the core and entertaining dramatic nature. She was going to remember him like that.

“Ezekiel Blanco.” Dark appearance, heart of gold and quiet yet wise aura. She was going to remember him like that.

“Aurora McKinnon.” Kind eyes, helper of the world and always wanting to see the best in people. She was going to remember her like that.

“Frederig, Ezekiel, Aurora.” She repeated the names over and over again. She couldn’t break down. No. Violet had to win. She had to win for them. They were her allies and while they were screaming and dying at the hands of those vicious careers, she escaped. 

She left them.

“No, no, no.” She tried to convince herself that it wasn’t her fault. That they would have died eventually and there was nothing she could have done to stop it.

She needed herself to believe that, otherwise she was sure to crack.

“I will win for you, guys.” She whispered. She didn’t care that she was talking to herself and most likely sounded crazy. She had what it took to become a victor. And that is exactly what she was going to be after this mess ended. 

A victor.

[126thhungergames]

WDWDTL: The Arena

[126thhungergames]

WDWDTL: First Day

The platforms pushed them through a long glassy tube, emerging on the surfaces half a minute later. The tributes were then faced towards each other in a perfect half-circle. The countdown was in front of them, modern and visible. It was the only thing that resembled Capitol in the arena. 

The place where they stood appeared to resemble an old train station. The temperature was chilly, but their clothing offered enough warmth, so it wasn’t an issue. The smell, however was almost unbearable. The odour of dead rodents and chemicals filled their nostrils, making some of the tributes’ face form an unpleasant grimace. Whatever was creating the smell would certainly not benefit them.

Violet used the few remaining seconds to look at the tributes around her. Over the last two weeks she managed to get an approximate picture about everyone and while her knowledge made her comfortable, she knew she was standing against strong opponents. Unfortunately this year, the careers weren’t the only ones that should be feared. 

The Cornucopia didn’t look like usual and if Violet didn’t know from watching past Hunger Games how it looked, she probably wouldn’t even notice it. The supplies were gathered inside of the old broken train that looked as if it was about to break in any second.

She noticed there were significantly less supplies than usual and wondered whether it’s even worth it, running towards it. 

Behind her, in the distance was a huge factory that seemed quite dangerous. On her left side she could see greenish river and behind it a forest, clouded in a mist. She made a mental note to herself to somehow find her way towards it, once the bloodbath ends.

Musa looked at her allies, counting down the seconds herself. She could tell outright that they weren’t to be trusted. She didn’t know the whole story, but she knew that Marco and Catrine were awfully close and most likely planning a deception of their own. Sebastian seemed like an easily manipulated mind, caught in the games of the other two.

Musa made sure that she wouldn’t let anything on, after all, the career alliance proves to have many benefits and she made sure she would use every one. After the numbers decrease, she would be on her own. The last thing she wanted was getting stabbed in the night or worse.

25...24...23...

The seconds were going down. She could feel the adrenaline rush through her veins. She wasn’t particulary fond of killing, but she did enjoy victory. And she wouldn’t settle for anything less.

Kasia’s legs started speeding as soon as the countdown hit zero. Her eyes were set on the set of supplies inside of the old trains, but she wasn’t the only one. Fortunately she was the fastest and jumped quickly inside the train, grabbed a larrge backpack in the speed and continued running further, through the various compartments in the train.

She could hear someone running after her. ‘Guess, careers don’t like others taking their stuff.’ She smirked to herself and took a quick turn left into one of the closed compartments. Locking herself in, she could hear the banging on the door a second later. 

“Open up, Seven!“

She recognized the voice as Evan’s and could hear him trying to break in. She wasn’t an idiot and knew that it was matter of seconds until Evan wins the battle against old wooden door. She could fight him, but she didn’t want to take such risk so early in the games.

Imporvising, she noticed the window in front of her and broke the glass with her elbow. She then proceeded to remove the shreds with her hand so she could fit in, hissing in the pain as few shreds made their way under her flesh.

She jumped out of the window almost at the same time as Evan burst into the compartment, cursing when he saw her escaping through the window. She ran as fast she could, zig-zagging so she would avoid the spear her threw at her. She was tempted to pick it up, but she was afraid that he might chase after her and therefore she kept on going, slowing down only after couple of minutes when she realized she wasn’t being followed.

Evan returned to the ‘Cornucopia’ just in time to hear the first gong. He could see Catrine, whip in her hand, holding a now fresh corpse with the end of her whip, drowning him in an acid puddle. If her remembered correctly, it was the annoying boy Tristan, with whom no one wanted to make an alliance.

“Did you get her?“ Marco asked and Evan snapped his head towards him, giving a curt shake of his hand. He could hear Musa muttering something like ‘incompetent‘ as she searched through the backpacks. He wanted to retort something back, but realized it would be better if her just killed her later and gave the Capitol a good show.

“Where is everyone?“ Evan asked as he noticed that outside of the train, besides Catrine and her victim, no one was around.

“They all left.“ Musa replied him

“You mean, escaped.“ He corrected her bitterly. “What kind of bloodbath is this with only one person dead?“

“There would two, if you didn’t let Seven escape.“

“Let me correct my mistake then and raise the number to two.“ Evan replied and pointed his spear at her threateningly.

“Enough!“ Marco silenced them, before they could massacre each other. “Everyone take a weapon, we’re going hunting.“

“Someone should stay behind to guard the supplies.“

“For example Evan.” Musa said in a pretended sweet voice.

‘I will fucking kill you.‘ He mouthed at her to which she only smirked. The rest of his alliance jumped out of the train and headed east. Evan sat on the stairs of the train, holding spear in his hand, his eyes set out to watch any tribute that might be foolish enough to try to ambush him.

Aurelius trailed back behind his alliance that was trying to find a way to overcome the greenish toxic river. Felix kept suggesting that it might not even be toxic, but no one wanted to take the chance.

“We could use these two stones.“ Remi pointed at the two medium-sized boulders. 

“You think two stones will be enough?“ Aurelius asked. Doubt was evident in his voice as he looked at the wide river. 

“If we jump enough.“ He replied.

“We could kill someone and use their body as a bridge.“ Felix remarked in a serious voice, which earned him a punch to stomach from Camila. He winced slightly and put his hand on his chest, opening his mouth in a pretended offended gesture.

“What? I’m just getting into the whole Hunger Games spirit.“ Felix defended himself and smirked.

“Don’t let your spirit fade then.“ Aurelius commented as he saw a group of four armed people in the distance, coming in their direction.

“Don’t encourage hi- fuck.“ Camila paused in her sentence as she noticed the group as well.

Remi quickly picked up the first boulder and threw it as far as possible into the river. He picked up the second one and jumped with it onto the first one, slightly wavering as he did so. Aurelius was worried that he would fall into the river but somehow Remi managed to keep his balance. Once again Aurelius remained surprised just how athletic Remi was.

The group was already quite close and by the silhouettes Aurelius noticed that it was the career group. 

Remi threw the second boulder into the river at the same time as one of the careers threw his knife at them, hitting Camila in the shoulder. She winced in the pain, stumbling and falling to the ground. Felix quickly picked her up before the second flying knife could do any more damage to her. 

Remi was already on the other side, hidden in the trees and waiting for the rest of his allies to follow him.

Felix didn’t spare any moment and grabbed Camila, both of them lunging onto the first boulder. Camila slipped, but Felix steadied her and neither of them fell down. The career alliance was dangerously close and things were not looking out good for them.

Celia and Cassim didn’t wait and ran as fast as they could further into the woods, not following Camila and Felix across the river. 

Aurelius remained the only one and as he glanced at the pair balancing on the boulders, he noticed another knife flying at Camila, piercing her legs and making her stumble into the river. Fortunately Felix managed to catch her before she dived into the toxic river, but she managed to recieve severe burns from the river nevertheless. 

Aurelius wanted to follow them, but he was stopped by a strong whip that circled his ankle and made him fall. He was at their mercy. 

He could feel the sharp tip of sword pressing to his throat, cutting through his arteries and veins. He could feel the warm sticky liquid leaving his body before succumbing to the void.

“Let’s go after them.“ Sebastian exclaimed as he stood up from the lifeless body he just violated, looking at the two boulders in the river. 

“Leave them.“ Catrine grabbed his upper arm, bringing his attention to herself. “We still need to take care of the tributes on this side. Besides I doubt that girl will live to see the next day.“

Sebastian clenched his teeth, unwilling to agree with her, but at the same time her words were reasonable. There were still tributes on this side.

“Fine.“ He muttered under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear. She nodded her head and went towards Marco, whispering something in his ear.

Sebastian scowled at the picture. He disliked seeing them together like this, but he knew that he can’t say anything if he wants his plan to go smoothly.

“Awfully close, aren’t they?“ Musa smirked teasingly. Sebastian knew exactly just how close they were and he had a feeling that Musa did too. He knew that Musa wanted to see him snap, get angry or cause a scene. After all, it wouldn’t be strange to his hotheaded nature. However, this time, victory had to come before pride.

“We need to move.“ He stated, ignoring Musa’s rhetorical remark. 

Else waited, hidden in the ruins, not too far from the train and heard the heavy footsteps as the group of careers passed by the metallic structure that she was hiding. She waited for ten more minutes, to make sure they were indeed gone and weren’t able to hear her before limping towards the train.

Her plan was easy, pick up some supplies and then leave before they could come back. When the countdown went to zero and everyone started running away, Else used the opportunity to hide. With her disablity she would be only dragging attention to herself and anyone could see her as an easy target. 

As soon as she reached the train, she steadied herself with her arms and half-jumped in. She smiled as she realized the train was empty and started looking through the supplies. Her back was facing the rest of the train while her eyes occasionally checked whether the careers weren’t coming back. 

After few minutes she realized she had everything she needed and grabbed the backpack, standing up from the pile of suplies only to bump into a muscled body. 

She jumped, startled, but before she could make any further movement she was pinned against the wall, strong arm encircling her neck. Her eyes were looking straight into Evan’s and she wondered how long he had been there.

“Tsk, tsk.“ He clicked his tongue, grimacing a wide smirk. “It’s rude to steal.“

“I wasn’t-“ She tried to defend herself, but the words died out as Evan pressed his hand strongly against Else’s windpipe, cutting off her oxygen intake. Her limbs felt limp and she tried to grab onto something, but without success. 

Soon her eyelids closed and her body weakened.

“Another gong.“ Marco muttered as they proceeded in their walk. 

“Good, at least finally something is happening.“ Musa retorted and Marco didn’t want to admit it, but she was actually right. It was shameful that only one person got killed in the bloodbath. He didn’t expect everyone to flee so cowardly before they could even pick their weapons. 

Marco stopped in his track, raising his arm in a gesture so that the rest of his allies would understand and stop as well. He heard voices, not too far away from them. They were almost already at the large factory, but the voices seemed to be somewhere behind the corner.

He motioned for Musa and Sebastian to go around the block, while he and Catrine continued walking in the same direction. 

As soon as they took a turn left, they noticed a group of four people, trying to enter the factory, arguing in the process. Marco smirked at Catrine, well-aware of how easy catch this group appeared to be. Catrine nodded at Marco and at that movement, he lunged forwards with mace in his hand.

Catrine was right behind him with her whip and as soon as the group of tributes spotted them, they tried to run away, only to be cornered from the otherside by Musa and Sebastian. 

Marco swinged his mace at the white-haired boy at the same time as Musa threw her boomerang at the tall girl from Ten. 

Musa’s boomerang missed the girl, however Marco managed to pierce the boy’s throat, resulting in a loud gong.

In the meantime the tall girl from Ten broke the window of the factory with the boomerang Musa threw at her and climbed up, trying to get inside the factory, only to have Catrine grab her by the ankle with her whip. Catrine tried to pull the girl to herself, but surprisingly the girl fought back and threw the boomerang at Catrine, hitting her shoulder and making Catrine release the grip on her whip.

Musa threw another boomerang at the dark-haired boy, who was already on the ground, one boomerang already pierced in his skin. At the same time, Sebastian was cutting through the flesh of the dark-skinned girl Aurora. 

Marco made sure the two didn’t need any help and rushed to Catrine’s aid. He was genuinely concerned about her and helped her up, though she kept repeating she was alright. The wound on her shoulder didn’t look too deep, but it sure looked painful.

Musa threw her third boomerang at the boy, piercing his heart and ending his life.

Aurora, Sebastian’s victim was screaming in pain as he made more cuts through her body, giving Capitolans the show they wanted. 

“Sebastian.“ Musa called his name, her eyes motioning at the tortured girl. “Would you please?“

Sebastian rolled his eyes and finally pierced the girl’s heart, ending her loud screams.

“Thank you.“ Musa replied him and looked at Marco who was holding Catrine close to himself. “Perhaps we ought to go before she gets an infection.” She muttered and Marco nodded at her, walking towards the path they came.

Soyeon and her alliance were already in the factory when they heard loud screams and the voiced of careers. They looked at each other and ran as fast as they could, before the careers could come inside and make a dinner out of them. Even though Marco promised them immunity during the first day, she didn’t want to risk a confrontation. 

The group of tributes climbed the stairs only to find out that the path before them is extremely narrow and right above a large barrel which seemed to have some toxic chemical inside of it. 

“Forget it. No way I’m going there.” Sahalia exclaimed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well unless you want your head to be chopped off by the careers, I suggest you move.” Soyeon countered her.

“Didn’t you say you had a deal with Marco? What’s the issue then? We’re covered for today.” Sahalia argued and Soyeon chuckled bitterly.

“With Marco, yes. However, I’m not sure how the rest of the careers would be on board with the idea, so unless you want to test the theory, keep walking.”

Sahalia seemed reluctant to move and Soyeon scoffed at her, moving past her and stepped onto the narrow path. The ‘ground’ was metallic and seemed to be firm. However, it was a bit slippery and Soyeon had to pay extra attention not to slip. She didn’t look behind her, but she heard footsteps, so she assumed the rest followed her.

In few minutes she was already on the other side safely. Nicole was the second one after her to go. 

Cesare and Sahalia were in the middle of the path, when Sahalia slipped and almost dragged Cesare with her.

“Get off me.” He scowled at her and stepped back so she wouldn’t drag him with her.

Sahalia was holding onto the metallic structure with one hand before slipping inside of the barrel with loud screen. Her gong followed shortly.

Cesare joined the two girls in few seconds, but no one said anything about Sahalia or the fact that Cesare refused to help her. 

24th place: Tristan Nielsen (D7) - killed by Catrine

23rd place: Aurelius Kent (D5) - killed by Sebastian

22nd place: Else Gauthier (D12) - killed by Evan

21st place: Frederig Lancaster (D3) - killed by Marco

20th place: Ezekiel Blanco (D12) - killed by Musa

19th place: Aurora McKinnon (D6) - killed by Sebastian

18th place: Sahalia Ricci (D11) - killed by toxic acid

Well, well, well. The careers have certainly outdone themselves. First day is over, let our dear tributes sleep and we’ll see what tomorrow has prepared for them.

[126thhungergames]

Where Do We Draw The Line: Tributes

Musa Flores

Marco Glass

Catrine Vega

Sebastian Morozov

Soyeon Zhou

Frederig Lancaster

Celia Ilia

Evan Brekker

Josephine Eartheart

Aurelius Kent

Aurora McKinnon

Remi Kirimi

Kasia Lefévre

Tristan Nielsen

Nicole Escobar

Cassim Mortensen

Camila Overhill

Felix Dogan

Violet Forbes

Cesare Sorrentino

Sahalia Ricci

Hephaestus Adair

Else Gauthier

Ezekiel Blanco

[126thhungergames]

The Battle Between Our Own People

[126thhungergames]

Evangeline

Daphne

Sebastian

Lana

Baltazar

Almudena

[126thhungergames]

The Capitol

[Tribute No. 1]

Erica Crane- The Human Chameleon {Daughter of Headgamemaker}, 19 years old

[Tribute No. 2]

Blaine Aragon- The White Knight {Son of Peacekeeper}, 18 years old

[Tribute No. 3]

Ciara Leska- The Feathered Pain {Daughter of Stylist}, 22 years old

[Tribute No. 4]

Eleazar Templesmith- The Beast {Nephew of HG Announcer}, 17 years old

[Tribute No. 5]

Odette Sovegon- The White Swan {Daughter of Gamemaker}, 17 years old

[Tribute No. 6]

Freadrick Certie- The Doctor {Son of Peacekeeper}, 19 years old

[Tribute No. 7]

Carmen Cor- The Red Rose {Daughter of Sponsor}, 19 years old

[Tribute No. 8]

Carlos Lingetee- The Fashion Statement {Son of Headstylist}, 19 years old

[Tribute No. 9]

Elsa Udinov- The Golden Girl {Daughter of Socialité}, 18 years old

[Tribute No. 10]

Toshiro Makaso- The Athlete {Son of Stylist}, 17 years old

[Tribute No. 11]

Kathlena Vodov- The Nymph {Daughter of Model}, 17 years old

[Tribute No. 12]

Omega Tetra- The Underdog {Son of Peacekeeper}, 18 years old

[Tribute No. 13]

Dove Snow- The Innocent  {Daughter or President}, 16 years old

[Tribute No. 14]

Kaddar Sky- The Thief {Son of Gamemaker}, 16 years old

[Tribute No. 15]

Delilah Flickerman- The Clean Soul {Daughter of Interviewer}, 17 years old

[Tribute No. 16]

Holden Mouse- The Charming {Son of Socialité}, 17 years old

[Tribute No. 17]

Saphira Chané- The Huntress {Daughter of Headtechnician}, 16 years old

[Tribute No. 18]

Vanir Twenty- The Raven {Son of Gamemaker}, 15 years old

[Tribute No. 19]

Artemis Solar- The Phoenix {Daughter of Counselor}, 18 years old

[Tribute No. 20]

Craven Nova- The Untamed Spirit {Son of Sponsor}, 20 years old

[Tribute No. 21]

Carolina Feather- The Fox {Daughter of Sponsor}, 18 years old

[Tribute No. 22]

Uriah Tuva- The Writer {Son of Sponsor}, 16 years old

[Tribute No. 23]

Teresa Skeeter- The Wildchild {Daughter of Headpeacekeeper}, 16 years old

[Tribute No. 24]

Zephyr Skeeter- The Fighter {Son of Headpeacekeeper}, 15 years old

[126thhungergames]

Who are they?

“The first one is Marissa Jar. She was raised by a single mother who was arrested and executed for treason. The girl had no other living relatives, therefore District 1 sent her off to the Oxtroff Centre.”

“Next we have Anthony Irons. Promising boy, even attended the District 1 academy training for some time, however he was arrested when he was caught stealing food for his family.”

“The Clenshaw twin siblings. Both parents died during an incident at the workplace and the children had no one else to take care of them., so Oxtroff was the clear choice.”

“Bonnie Meadowes, the youngest one. She is not an Oxtroff kid, however her sister is under suspicion of rebellion against the Capitol.”

“Why isn’t the sister reaped instead of the youngling then?”

“Her sister is twenty years old and therefore unable to be reaped. We do not have enough evidence to properly arrest her, but we can punish her sister in the meantime.”

“Next one. William Attano. Born mute and deaf, his overly traditional parents didn’t know what to do with him, so they sent him away.”

“Moving on to District 4 we have the alluring Daphne Thorne, also not an Oxtroff kid, but older brother was part of the terrorist attack from few months ago. He died in the process, but the justice can be still served through his relative.”

“Nathan McTavish, his teachers claimed his to be insane because he showed homosexual tendencies.”

“Sierra Hale, accused of many small crimes such as theft, vandalism and the usage of illegal herbs.”

“The boy from District 5, Leigh Bram, is also not part of the Oxtroff community, though he does come from a line of rebels and terrorists.”

“Next we have the pretty Alianor Tierra. She tried to desert her district along with her parents and two brothers. They were caught southeast in the woods. The parents were properly punished, while the underaged children were sent to Oxtroff.”

“Heath Podmore. He was signed up for the Oxtroff Centre by his family who believed him to be suffering from hallucinations, though he has been in Oxtroff for over nine years and hasn’t showed a single time any sort of hallucinating. Personally I think his family just wanted to get rid of him because he was a jerk.”

“Margaret Ameen, feisty girl, helped with the rebel attacks 7 years ago. She served as a distraction while the rest of them almost blew up our entire entertainment centre.”

“Fendrel Holt, though he’s not associated directly with the rebel attacks, we found him at one of their nests few years ago.”

“Jill Martelli, an arsonist. Set her entire house on fire, while her entire family was still inside. That girl is nuts.”

“Charles Laswick, the only one who has been an Oxtroff kid since birth. He’s the longest resident in there. He was left on a porch in District 8 orphanage, but they were already full and struggling to take care of the kids they already had, so he was sent to Oxtroff right away.”

“Vandala Vance, found her when we were searching through terrorist camps in District 9. Put up quite the struggle even as a child.”

“Edgar Barlow, murderer. Killed one of our Peacekeepers during Reapings in 9, four years ago.”

“Cedany Leswell, district 10. Her parents wanted to marry her off to Capitol to ensure themselves a better well-being, when she refused they signed her up for Oxtroff.”

“Asher Donel, suffers from severe depression and anxiety. His parents thought Oxtroff would help him heal.”

“Gloriana Newsome, rebel to the core. Found her vandalizing Capitol-promoting posters, though her crime record goes further than that.”

“Clayton Dust, another outsider. His parents are under the suspicion of the terrorist attacks from few months ago. Nothing has been confirmed, so we are taking the boy as a form of justice.”

“Sarah Ester was signed up for Oxtroff when she was six. Not much is known other than her being part of the largest rebel community group in district 12.”

“The last is Cassius Udinov, not an Oxtroff kid, but he was caught stealing few days ago. They wanted to transfer him to Oxtroff, but I told them to bring him straight to Capitol for the Games.”

[126thhungergames]

The First Group

We woke up in an air-conditioned building and for a while I thought the Capitol was playing a prank on us. It was until I remembered what day it was and realized that this was no prank. This was the arena.

I was the first one to wake up. It seemed that we were in a furniture shop, judging from how many beds there were and the prices that hung above our heads. I lifted myself on my elbows and looked around the room. Anthony was the furtest one away from me, snoring on a comfortably looking couch. Lucinda was soundly asleep in a hanging chair near my bed and Sandor was two chairs away from us, sleeping in a narrow bed.

Suspitcion dawned upon me when I couldn’t find anyone besides my allies. Where was the rest? 

I removed the covers from me, feeling the comfortable heat leave my body, thought right now I couldn’t be bothered by that. I walked over to Luce, shaking her lightly.

“Wake up, Luce.” When I saw she was slowly waking up upon my words, I moved over to Sandor. 

[126thhungergames]

An agreement

“For the thirteenth time Heath, it’s a no.” Gloriana growled at the boy who once again came to ask whether he could be in her alliance. 

I couldn’t help but led out a quiet laughter. It was honestly amusing how he kept coming back even though the dark-skinned girl has rejected him each time. Though I didn’t really understand why she protested so much. Even though Heath was a jerk, he could manage himself in a fight and so far there was only two of us in the alliance. We needed more people and we needed to gather them fast, otherwise we would be stuck with incompetent losers.

“Name one reason against my presence in your alliance. Vandala wouldn’t mind, right darling?” He turned towards me and I scowled at the pet name.

“Leave me out of this, Heath.” I responded indifferently, knowing that the final decision is up to Gloriana. It always is.

“Because I said so.” Gloriana retorted him, shifting his attention back to herself.

“I really do hope you don’t aspire to be a lawyer one day.” He muttered sarcastically, though kept his trademark smirk on his lips. It amazed me how nothing could put that boy off.

After few more sentences of Heath’s convincing and Gloriana’s denial, the boy left their table and probably went to look for other possible allies.

“’Rian, we need allies.” I whispered to her through clenched teeth, making sure no one from the other tables heard us. I didn’t want to sound desperate, but we only had one day and I didn’t like our odds.

“Relax, we’ll get them, better ones than that punk.” She replied nonchallantly and bit into her sandwich.

“Really, like who? Clenshaw siblings are with Marissa and probably Anthony too. Tell me who else is there left, because I’m opened to suggestions.” I didn’t want to sound as bratty as I did, but the truth was that we needed some strong allies and we needed them fast.

“Like...” Gloriana licked her lips and looked around the cafeteria. When she finally spotted the person she was looking for, she jumped out of her seat, leaving the unfinished sandwich on her tray.

I could hear her talking to Nathan McTavish in the distance and while I couldn’t make out the words they were saying, his firm gaze and head shaking in refusal were enough for me to figure out their conversation. I could see Rian trying to persuade him further, but he was already walking away from her.

“Does he already have an alliance?” I asked her when she sat down back in her seat angrily.

“No. He just doesn’t want to join us. For Panem’s sake, he’s supposed to act like a career, not like a bratty child.”

“Rian, you know that the word career means nothing. We are all Oxtroff kids. There are no districts or distinguishions.” I reminded her.

“But not everyone is an Oxtroff kid, isn’t that right?” I could see her eyes spark up in a hope.

“Yeah well unless you want that child from three or the frightened boy from your district in an alliance, I don’t really see how that’s our advantage.” Rian scoffed at my words and pointed her index finger on a girl that I barely noticed before. She had ginger hair and straightened posture and while she looked like she could own the place, she seemed like an outsider in the nest of kids who have known each other almost their entire lives.

“Who’s that?”

“That is our new ally. She’s from four and if I remember correctly she has a career training.”

“Why is she here then? I thought only the bad seeds were in these Hunger Games.”

“Who cares. The only thing that matters is that she’s skilled. Relax, Vandala. We need allies and she’s the perfect option. I promise we’ll keep an eye on her in the arena if she tries anything.”

[126thhungergames]

Things are about to go down

We knew nothing, besides the fact that we weren’t supposed to kill each other and while on one hand I welcomed this unexpected twist, I knew that the Capitol would never go easy on us, which made me curious and at the same time nervous about the arena and the possible mutts. Judging from the looks on everyone’s face, it seemed that everyone was as sceptical as I was. The Capitol was never merciful, no matter how the last year’s Hunger Games went. They wouldn’t lower themselves into making favours for the tributes. Especially, when the group of 24 teenagers weren’t regular tributes at all.

They were mostly rebels or criminals of some sorts or at least associated with some ‘terroristical groups’, as the Capitol liked to call it. And some of them simply didn’t fit in the system. Like me.

I’ve been having hallucinations since I was a little child and for a long period of time, I’ve kept it to myself. However, as I grew older, I couldn’t hide away the fact that I was seeing shadows all around me, shadows that no one else could see. I was always worried they might hurt, though that never seemed to be their attention. Nevertheless, my family decided that signing me up into the Oxtroff Centre would be the perfect place for me. I’d like to call it a hospital, but it was nothing of that sorts. It was located in the outskirts of Capitol, which quite surprised me. After all, the great leading district prided itself on having exclusively Capitol born citizens, with the exception of some past victors. Anyway, the Oxtroff Centre was an old-looking building, resembling the architecture of churches from the pre-Panem times. It was isolated and no one could see anything except for the forest and some mountains far away. It didn’t matter though, even if they were located on the loudest street of Capitol, they weren’t allowed to exit the building and no one was allowed to enter, except for when a new recruit arrived.

Oxtroff Centre was the place for all the underaged bad seeds that Captiol wanted to get rid off. The kids that went there were only from the Districts, never from the main city itself. Though it needs to be said that it was not all that bad. We had our school lessons there, we lived there and we even created some sort of community in there. The Centre was our life. We weren’t allowed to communicate with our families, but most of us were alright with there, since our families were the main reason as to why we were there in the first place.

The teachers were ignorant and didn’t deign to hide their hatred for us, but somehow we managed. The food was barely edible, but some of us were raised having little to no food, so even the disgusting Capitolan meals were like a five star restaurant for us. The dorms were modest, usually designed for two or three students at most. The nights were cold and the blankets too thin, but it was still better than the alternative.

The alternative, a rather medieval one, was having your tongue cut off and be a servant for the Capitol. This punishment was still a threat for anyone who dared to defy the system, but luckily the new law for the protection of minors passed fifteen years ago and therefore everyone who was under eighteen and showed any kind of rebellion or just simply didn’t go by the Capitolan standarts, ended up in the Oxtroff Centre.

As I looked at the group of people around, I recognized everyone, except for five people. I wondered how they ended up here and mainy why they ended up here.

My thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a Capitolan woman who just entered the room. She looked modest, by the Capitolan standarts and if it weren’t for her green wig, I would bet my life on her being a District person. 

“I am Allana DeLioncourt and I shall be your guide through the preparation for this year’s annual Hunger Games. As you already know-”

“Why us?” Sarah, a rebel from twelve raised her voice, interrupting the Capitolan woman. I liked Sarah because of her attitude, but this time I feared that her defiant nature wouldn’t do her much good in here.

“-this year’s Hunger Games are special. While you are not obliged to-” The woman tried to continue, ignoring the Sarah’s input, but the ravenhaired girl interrupted her again.

“Maybe you did not hear me clearly, I asked why us?”

The woman glared at Sarah and if looks could kill, Sarah would be lying dead on the floor. However, this Capitolan woman didn’t realize that she wasn’t dealing with regular tributes. We weren’t scared children as we already knew our fates were sealed.

“You interrupt me again and I will make sure you die first, slowly and painfully.” Allana spoke in a quiet, yet firm tone, aimed at Sarah. I could see that Sarah was trying to find the last bits of her self-control to keep quiet and not retort some snarky response back.

“I am glad we understand each other,” the woman smirked and continued in her monologue, “You are not obliged to kill each other, though you are not forbidden from doing so.” Some of us scowled at that sentence. Most of us know each other, some of us have even grown up with each other and whereas not all of us are best friends, we certainly have no reason to go and murder each other if we don’t have to.

“You will be however, forced to form groups of four. An alliance, as you might call it. By the end of today I want all of you to announce to me with whom you are in an alliance. It must be precisely four people. Not a one person less, not a one person more. You will be given five days to practise your skills, whether mental or physical ones. Most tributes go immediately for the weapon stations, but bear in mind that for what the Capitolan has prepared for you, you shall need you knowledge as well.”

[126thhungergames]

Before we fall, we shall rise

District 1: Marissa Jar & Anthony Irons

District 2: Lucinda Glenshaw & Sandor Glenshaw

District 3: Bonnie Meadowes & William Attano

District 4: Daphne Thorne & Nathan McTavish

District 5: Sierra Hale & Leigh Bram

District 6: Alianor Tierra & Heath Podmore

District 7: Margaret Ameen & Fendrel Holt

District 8: Jill Martelli & Charles Laswick

District 9: Vandala Vance & Edgar Barlow

District 10: Cedany Leswell & Asher Donel

District 11: Gloriana Newsome & Clayton Dust

District 12: Sarah Ester & Cassius Udinov