Her Victory, Their Life| F. Odair

7. She Becomes a Victor

It was weird. It had been 5 days in the arena. Only one other person had died. The cornucopia was almost picked through. The tide was rising, and the rapids were getting faster.

Emory took the food out of the container that was left and stuffed all of her stuff inside her bag.

She carefully climbed out of her cave and started walking along the side of the rapids. While the whole place was rocky, she was still on edge. There were many places to hide, anyone could be anywhere.

Emory found a good hiding place for herself. She was hidden by rocks and it was a perfect place for a trap. The hiding place was covered in dried blood and there was a jacket laying there with a second bag. Emory quickly opened the bag and searched it. There was some wire, some rope, water, and a few other items. She didn't have enough room in her bag. She stuffed the water into a second pocket and smirked. "I don't think anyone's died in a while, let's make something happen."

"WOO!" One of the careers yelled as a bunch of others laughed. Their pack had grown, they replaced the dead District 4 with District 7. Emory grabbed a loose rock and threw it. "We'll build a fire, Longster, you go see to that!"

The one guy separated from the group and Emory came out from her hiding spot and went around. She whistled and he turned to her. He smirked as she started running back to her spot. She jumped off the rocks and grabbed the rope she had set up. Her sword that she had rigged between two rocks stood up. The guy jumped off the rocks, following Emory. He screamed as he was impaled through the chest. He was still alive. Emory's eyes widened and she grabbed her knife. She lifted his head as he cursed her out. She closed her eyes before slitting his throat.

A cannon sounded and she shoved him off her sword. She took it out of the two rocks and cleaned it against the dead tribute's jacket. 15:9

~

It was day 10 and Emory started her hike towards the waterfall. There, she could hide out and not be heard. One had died, there were only 8 people left. She got closer to the waterfall and a girl came running at her with a spear. Emory dropped her bag and used her sword to slash her stomach.

"You bitch, I'm gonna kill you!" She shouted. She ran at Emory who did a back roll before kicking the tribute's leg out, making her hit her head on the rocks. Emory took her sword and stabbed her right in the heart. She grabbed her bag and headed over to where the girl came from. She wanted to see what she had with her.

She found a blanket, berries, and a bottle of something. She opened the cap and smelled it. Emory gagged on the smell and brought it away from the smell. "Lighter fluid," she whispered to herself. She laughed, "this gives me an idea."

She grabbed the berries, putting them in her bag and picking up the large canister of lighter fluid. As she was walking, Emory could help but think, where was Coran? He wasn't dead or he would've been shown in the sky at night like the rest of the tributes. She hadn't seen him in a while, was he with the careers?

District 1, one from District 7, one from 6, one from 11, both from 5, and one from 2. 1, 7,2, and possibly 5 were together.

Emory opened the lighter fluid and basically cut the arena in half as she spread it over tons of rocks. As soon as it was empty she threw it to the ground and took out a match. She lit it and threw it onto the lighter fluid. It went up in flames and there was a woman's scream then a cannon.

The fire would draw everyone to either the cornucopia where the careers were waiting or to her.

Emory turned around and walked away as the fire continued to spread. She walked until she got to the bottom of the waterfall. She smiled. It was so pretty. It reminded her of home. The only thing that would make it better were some flowers and maybe her family. She looked to the right and found a passageway to the top. She started climbing it when the screaming started. The waterfall had gotten faster and overflowed the rapids and there was a huge wave chasing people closer to the waterfall and to high ground to escape it. There was a scream then another cannon. The only ones left were the careers.

The careers stayed halfway up, closer to the bottom of the waterfall when they looked up and spotted her.

"There she is! Coran get her!" The District 1 guy yelled, and Emory saw Coran run to the passageway. She started running faster up the hill.

He took out his scythe and pointed it at her when they got to the top. "Nowhere to go now." Emory's heart started beating out of her chest. She looked down and the rocks under her feet started breaking. She bounced her foot, making more and more cracks. "I really, really don't want to do this, but I have to get back to my family."

"So do I," Emory reminded him. He scoffed.

"Your family is rich, they're elite, they can stand to lose someone," he glared at her. "My family needs me!" Emory's face turned red, and her eyes got teary.

"Please don't hurt me," she begged him and looked down, the rock was almost there. Coran smirked.

"I'm gonna go home, so I'll enjoy this," he went to walk forward, but Emory dove to the side as the rock under her gave way. It took off a good portion of the side of the hill and went tumbling towards the career pack. Both gasped as 4 cannons sounded almost at the same time.

"You're gonna pay now," he growled. Emory acted quick as she grabbed his leg and rolled them both off the side and into the waterfall. They both screamed as the water got closer and closer.

When Emory finally hit the water, it was cold and fast. She tried to at least get above the current. Coran grabbed her waist and pulled her back down. He used her as leverage to pull himself up. He was trying to swim against the current. Emory swam her way to the top and jumped on his back. She used her hands to cover his nose and mouth. He thrashed around underwater before throwing her off and jumping on top of her.

She hit him. She used her nails to scratch him before she remembered she had her knife. She grabbed it out of her pocket and slashed him in the back. He screamed under water and released her for a breath of air.

Emory got on his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his throat and cover both his nose and mouth again. He dove underwater and tried to throw her off again, but she didn't let go. The rapids became faster and threw them around widely. Emory felt like passing out due to lack to air, but she made sure to stay awake. Coran finally stopped struggling. She released his nose, and he breathed in, taking in water. The cannon sounded and Emory almost sighed it relief. The rapids stopped flowing and she swam to the top, taking a deep breath.

"Ladies and gentlemen. May I present the winner of the 66th Annual Hunger Games!" Emory kept breathing rapidly and climbed out of the water, standing on top of the rock, victorious. She smiled proudly before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.