Outlaster- A Hunger Games Tale

Chapter 23- Lights Out

Max made his way out of the woods to see Ximena standing in the center of a ring of fire.

"D'you think that's a good idea?" Max asked, smirking.

"I hope you realize I had no other choice," they responded, crossing their arms.

"Have you thought for once that maybe sad and weak Maxtess Baker was a lie?" he chuckled. Ximena's face dawned with realization.

"What...? So you mean you were acting?" Ximena questioned. Their head was spinning.

"Yep! every little weak mistake was an act! I mean, it's the Hunger Games. You can't let the tributes know your weaknesses. Why do you think Alaya died so easily?" Max stepped forward, towards the ring. "And now there's you, the only one left. Don't worry, I'll make your death the slowest - and the most memorable."

"You're mad!" Ximena yelled. Tears sprung from their eyes.

"No, I am a genius!" Max pulled out his sword. "It all started with Alaya. I made myself appear foolish. I had to make her think I was never going to win, and she actually believed it. Stupid girl."

"She is not stupid!" Ximena yelled up to the boy.

"You mean 'was.'" Max corrected with a devious smirk.

"She was not stupid," Ximena cried.

"My next decision was to go into the arena with no resources. I had full confidence that I could survive easily. I hired a few of the other tributes to kill off the ones I knew would be a challenge," Max explained, crossing his arms.

"Haliey," Ximena whispered to the sky.

"Aw, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings? Turns out you did the work for me. Thanks, by the way!" Maxtess laughed, strolling closer. "Now, where was I... Oh yes. I did my research on Jay and Q'uira - turns out they had a thing for each other! It was easy to get those two. Ondri killed off Jay. I heard a lot of cannons that night."

"Q'uira? Oh no... Not-"

"No, not Maliery. Q'uira, like I predicted, stayed with Jay's dead body. The little girl only gained some more trauma, plus risked her life to stay with Jean. Right - I forgot to tell you about Jean.

"I got Paul to tell his 'story' to Reva. I did my digging, and found out Reva didn't believe they were going to win anyway. They asked Paul to kill them, get it over with." Max looked at Ximena, a grin on his face.

"Why?"

"A magician never tells his secrets, hon. Now the whole Ryan, Rian, and Jean thing was uncalled for. It did set up Mal and Jean's death though, and got us here." Max paused, "Did I miss anyone?"

"Yeah," Ximena responded. They wiped their tears away.

"Who?" he asked.

"You." Ximena charged at him with their spear. They knocked him over and the two tumbled over each other, punching and kicking. They were both bleeding heavily in a matter of seconds.

"You're never going to live!" Max screamed, pushing them closer to the fire. "If I die, you die with me!" He punched them in the face, causing them to flinch. They were in a full wrestling match now.

Ximena pushed Maxtess's hand into the fire, causing him to scream. He shoved them over and their back hit the flames, hair burning. They managed to get on top of Max and started stabbing him with their spear, screaming like Q'uira had done when she'd avenged Jay.

"LIGHTS OUT!"