The 100th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 11

My question is answered quite quickly, because as soon as Roslyn leaves my line of sight another person appears in the other direction. A Career, a boy maybe seventeen or eighteen. He’s wielding a sword and sprinting towards me. He’s on his last legs. Bleeding everywhere and missing both ears. One of his hands is completely destroyed, mangled and bloody. But yet he continues to try and win.

I draw a knife and fling it as hard as I can. It slices through his neck and he falls on his back. He whines, staring at me. He’s shocked. I feel a pain in my stomach as I leave him. The cannon goes off in seconds. Five of us are left. I walk in the direction of my stream, to see if I can find the blades I buried. I may need them in the last few hours here in the arena.

When I reach it I see a Career. Another boy, this time about fourteen. He’s floating down the stream, dead. His cannon must have gone off earlier and the hovercraft couldn’t pick him up. As gruesome as it is, I pull him out of the water and leave him on the bank where he can be taken away. The hovercraft is there and gone in seconds, and as soon as I am a safe distance away I vomit into the stream, puking up everything in my system.

I eventually find my blades in the stream. A few have been washed away or have rusted but I salvage a pair of daggers and a spear. I put them into a bag and then go through my supplies again. I take out the remainder of the dried fruit and eat it. I then fill a small bag with empty containers and broken blades and bury them in the stream.

Suddenly, there is a loud noise in the bushes beside me. I push my supplies into the stream and slip in. I swim under a little nook in the bank and hold my bags close. A tribute walks over where I am floating and a load of soil and roots fall on my head. I wait until I am completely sure they are gone and then emerge.

I run to dry myself off, heading through the thicket. Another cannon goes off. I hear a scream and stop in my tracks. I know the voice before I see her struggling on the ground nearby. It’s Roslyn.

Roslyn is trapped by a new kind of mutt. It’s a soil mutt that binds roots together above the ground. She is stuck and the roots are tightening, constricting her breathing. I yank a knife from my pocket and slice the roots. Roslyn cries out in pain and I grimace as I tear up the roots. They continue to grow so I just grab Roslyn’s arm and pull her to her feet. She nods at me thankfully, but both of us know that even though we could beat the rest, there can only be one winner. She takes off without another word.

I cut off a piece of the root and let it wrap itself around one of my swords. It cuts through the metal and the sword snaps in half. I drop it and sprint away. Roslyn is lucky I was there. If I hadn’t been, she would have been torn apart.

I run in no particular direction. It is now late afternoon, and I can tell I won’t see dawn in the arena again, one way or another. About half an hour passes while I run. I’m glad that I have avoided others all this time. It makes things easier.

I turn around a bush to run up a small gap through the trees when suddenly I spot him. It’s the boy from District 9 who scored ten points in training. I’m shocked that he hasn’t been killed. He smiles at me and I freeze. He’s holding a blade. I’m not sure what kind because he has had it sharpened to he point where his own hand is bleeding from just holding it. I gulp. This is the end. He smiles again and flings the blade at me. I have just enough time to let out a scream and then a figure jumps in front of me.

I scream again. It’s Roslyn and she has taken the blade through her side to save me. The boy bends over to get another blade, but I snatch one of my daggers and fling it at his forehead. It tears through his skin and the cannon goes off before he even hits the ground.

I drop down beside Roslyn. She’s crying silently.

“Why did you do that Roslyn?” I say, tears beginning to fall down my face.

She smiles sadly.

“I know Marina. I help out at the younger school sometimes when I have a day off. Marina is one of the kids I always see. She is a wonderful little girl Sylvira. She really is.”

She smiles again and more tears flow.

“I know she is your sister, I saw her at the reaping. I jumped to save you because she needs you. You have to win Sylvira. I knew that from the start, from the reaping. You have helped me so much in this arena. I never expected you to save me from the roots. I thought you would leave me. But you saved my life. Again. Thanks Sylvira.”

She smiles once again and then coughs up blood. She says a goodbye to her family and tells them that she loves them. After a few minutes she tells me to go, there isn’t much time left and that I’m a sitting duck if I stay with her. I say no to begin with but she eventually becomes annoyed and so I agree to go. I give her a light hug and walk away. The cannon goes off as I reach the stream and I fall in, bawling my eyes out.

Three of us remain in the arena. The final hours have arrived. I want to curl up in a ball in a bush and wait for the other two to kill each other but I know that would be cowardly. I dump all of my supplies except for some water, my knives, my daggers and some of the glass knives. I then trek to the Cornucopia.

When I reach it I know I have to win. I have no choice. If I don’t win I lose everything, everyone I ever cared about. And I cant do that. The other two are already fighting in the clearing. I watch for a while and then a cannon goes off as one of them drops to the ground.

The hovercraft takes him away as the other sits and waits. It is a boy. He’s a Career, maybe eighteen years old. He looks like a formidable opponent. He is well built and well armed with blades. I begin to worry but banish the bad thoughts from my mind. I don't need to lose the battle mentally before I even go near him. I get my weapons ready.

I look down at myself. My outfit has been quite wrecked. I quickly sew and mend and end up with a two strap shirt ending above my belly button and a skirt that reaches my knees. I tie my hair up to prepare for the battle. I have a lot of skin exposed, my legs and arms are almost completely bare. However when I look at the Career again I realise he is wearing half a shirt and torn up trousers. I’m not the worst off.

A few minutes later I stride out into the clearing. The Career gives me a smile, beckoning. He is confident. He knows that he will beat me.

"Thinks not knows." I chastise myself.

I smile evilly at him and fling one of my least important knives. It slices the hem of his shirt and one of his sleeves falls off.

I smile again and he glares at me. I run towards him with my knives and fling one at his leg. It hits his calf and he buckles, but not before he grabs me and throws me over his shoulder. He slices one of my shoes off, tearing skin with it and I yank at his hair. He drops me and I stab his leg again. He roars and I jump up. I go to stab him in the chest but he punches me in the stomach and cuts my face.

I scream in agony and grab my glass knife. He bends over to flip me onto the ground and I force my knife through his chest. He roars and collapses. I feel a horrific pain in my stomach. He stabbed me when I stabbed him. I roll away from him and pull my top down to cover the blood soaking my clothes alarmingly fast. I feel life slipping away slowly...... slowly.....