The country was spun into a ten day-long period of national mourning when 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞 was assassinated by a District 9 man who was infuriated at his decision to enact the Hunger Games upon the citizens of Panem. Why it took him eight years to actually carry out the deed we may never know, but he was tried and hanged for his crime nonetheless. Many district citizens saw this as an opportunity for a rebellion, a spark that could be nurtured into a roaring flame. Riots sprung up around the country in uncontrollably large numbers. Thousands were killed. But, after almost six months, the attempted rebellion was defeated by the Capitol. The man who took 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐮𝐬' place was a very curious and clever man, with keen and intelligent eyes. His name was 𝐒𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫, and he appointed a new Head Gamemaker; a forty year-old woman named 𝐑𝐡𝐞𝐚 𝐒𝐳𝐚𝐬𝐳. 𝐑𝐡𝐞𝐚 in turn appointed a team of about thirty Gamemakers, and they all met up to create a new grand arena.
The arena was a mountain range. Huge mountains stretched to the sky, their tops capped with snow. At the feet of the massive mountains was a lush green field bursting with lovely flowers of every color imaginable that covered the entire arena. An assortment of cool streams scissored through the arena that would provide the tributes with a sufficient source of water. The entire arena was surrounded by a roaring river so lout it left a thumping sound in the tribute's ears if they went near it. The sky was spotlessly blue. During the daytime the arena was a very comfortable temperature: a warm and constant stream of sunlight curtained the arena, interrupted by the very frequent, cool breezes. At night, the temperature of the arena was imaginably cold; in some parts of the arena it was twenty degrees below zero at night. In order to avoid hypothermia deaths in the nighttime, the Gamemakers filled the field in front of the cornucopia with heating packs, coats, water heaters, and hot water bottles. In previous years all of the supplies were inside of the cornucopia, but now it was the first year that the supplies were in the field. However, the items increased in value the further away they were from the tribute's pedestals.
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The District 1 male instantly captured the audience's attention as the strongest tribute; he was attractive, confident, and had the highest odds of winning. The District 1 female was very tall for her age, and equally valued the physical aspects of battle as the mental aspects of battle. The District 2 male received the highest training score, which is actually quite ironic because he did not seem as strong or confident as the District 1 male who had received a lower score. The District 4 female received the lowest score of all the careers, something that she was a bit ashamed of. However, she revealed in her interview with the master of ceremonies that she was determined to show the audience what she was made of in the arena.
The tributes emerged into the mountainous landscape shocked and confused as to why the field in front of the cornucopia was filled with supplies. It soon sank in that it was on purpose and that the Gamemakers wanted the tributes to have ready access to much-needed supplies.
The gong played its familiar note in the distance, and the tributes were off. Not a single tribute fled away from the horn. Perhaps they realized that whatever was provided must be important or the Gamemakers wouldn't have placed it right in front of their pedestals. They could not be more right.
While most of the outer district tributes were distracted collecting backpacks and cases and the like, the careers were darting towards the very mouth of the horn to gather weapons that were essential for killing. When 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐚 reached the cornucopia, he received a curved blade about a foot long with a menacingly jagged edge. Silently prancing over to a girl who was leaning over to pick up a backpack, 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐚 lifted the blade into the air and then brought it down, sinking it into the girl's back before she had enough time to scream.
𝐓𝐨𝐦, the tribute who had made an impression to the audience as the strongest tribute, thought back to how they had snubbed 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥 from the career pack because of her weakness. Knowing that she would keep pestering them repeatedly, 𝐓𝐨𝐦 picked up a bow and arrow off of a nearby table and aimed for 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥, who was in the cornucopia riffling through a blue crate of water bottles. 𝐓𝐨𝐦 nocked an arrow in his bow and released it. His aim was perfect, and the tip of the projectile sank into the poor girl's back as she fell forward and died.
Now at the cornucopia and grabbing up as many weapons as possible was 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢. 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 was in the process of shoving weapons into an empty backpack when she saw a tribute dart across the mouth of the cornucopia. The opportunity was too sweet to resist. 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 picked up a set of shurikens off of a nearby table and darted out of the cornucopia, hurling them at the back of the tribute's neck as a spray of blood exploded from the puncture site.
In the field in front of the cornucopia, a girl sat hurriedly riffling through a backpack and taking inventory of its contents. 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚, wielding a spear, pounced up upon the girl and planted the weapon into her back as she howled in pain, desperately attempting to remove the weapon from her skin. She bled out and passes away soon after.
In a very prone position in the mouth of the cornucopia sat a boy tearing open backpacks and looking for something. 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧, seeing an easy opportunity to make his first kill, snuck up upon the boy wielding a menacing, jagged edge dagger. However, the boy's keen sense of hearing heard 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 sneaking up upon him, so he grabbed a dagger of his own off of a nearby table and plunged it into 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧's chest in self-defense. 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧's bloody corpse collapsed on top of him before he had time to scramble away. However, after a few seconds he was free.
After receiving all of the supplies he needed, 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱 turned sharply on his heel and began storming away from the cornucopia into the mountainous landscape beyond. However, it was a mistake for him to run in a prone position: a completely straight line with his back to the cornucopia. 𝐓𝐨𝐦 saw 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱 as an easy target and so shot an arrow, which sunk into the tender flesh between his shoulder blades as he fell forwards onto the rocky ground.
𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚, weaponless, crouched behind a crate in the cornucopia with hopes to wait out the bloodbath and come out once it was all over. Unlucky for her, however, 𝐁𝐚𝐡𝐳 saw 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚 walk into the cornucopia. Knowing that her odds of winning would increase the more killing she did, 𝐁𝐚𝐡𝐳 picked up a long metal baton and smashed it across 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚's face, effectively shattering her skull and killing her.
It was when the career alliance all met together in one pack to hunt down their next unlucky victims when the next few kills were made. 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐚's curved blade easily tore apart a boy's tiny frame.
𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚 then split off from the career pack for the time being in favor of going solo for a bit and ratting out the few remaining tributes. 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚 ran into the cornucopia and picked up a crossbow complete with a quiver of bolts and a stand. She ran into the horn and crouched down behind a black suitcase, planning to fire bolts at any weary tribute that either wandered into the cornucopia or walked in front of the entrance. Within the next few minutes she had made a satisfying two kills and left her hiding place, rejoining her allies.
The careers were able to score one more kill during the bloodbath; 𝐓𝐨𝐦's arrow found its target in the back of a girl who was scrambling away from the cornucopia in a panic.
The careers counted twelve dead bodies surrounding the cornucopia, equating to twelve deaths in the bloodbath. The vast majority of the tributes were well equipped with supplies that would help them survive the frigid nights to come. Those that didn't were in for an unpleasant surprise.
The night of Day 1 was brutal. The wind was so strong that some of the tributes had to bury their feet in rocks to keep from being blown away. The snow shot through the air like bullets, stabbing into the tribute's eyes. The temperature was highest at about ten o'clock, at about ten degrees. At two in the morning, it was about five degrees below zero. The next morning, the tributes that did not have adequate protection for the bitter cold began to show symptoms of hypothermia. However, there were actually no deaths the rest of Day 1. The morning of Day 2 was very warm; a cozy seventy degrees. It warmed the tributes to the bone.
The second day saw two deaths. The first was from a weary tribute that tried to sneak a sleeping bag out of the cornucopia behind the career's backs, but was spotted and had his chest torn apart by 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢's shurikens.
The second death occurred when a girl tumbled into a twenty yard-deep crevice and had no way to escape. The bottom of the crevice was filled with freezing water, and she screamed in pain until she died of hypothermia a few minutes before midnight.
Day 3 saw no deaths until the nighttime. The Gamemakers realized that they needed to really crank things up a notch if they wanted the games to be interesting. However, they went a little too far. Five tributes died of hypothermia in the thirty degrees below zero temperatures at night, including one of the careers. The Gamemakers resolved to never crank things up too far ever again. They had wasted five deaths that could have been entertaining on measly hypothermia.
Only five tributes remained, and the Gamemakers decided that it was time to force the tributes inwards for the bloody showdown that would hopefully end in a victor being crowned. Using recently invented technology, the Gamemakers caused the rushing river surrounding the arena to expand into a huge wall of water that would crash inwards and barrel through the arena, forcing the tributes on top of the cornucopia where they knew they would be safe. Only three tributes actually made it to safety, and that was only because they were close to the cornucopia and had a head start. Two tributes were killed by the freezing tsunami.
Three tributes stood atop the cornucopia, a swirling vortex of frigid water rushing under them and causing the horn to sway and creak. 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 wielded her shurikens that she had used to make three kills. 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟 held his dagger readily in hand. 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐰𝐢𝐧 was weaponless and had made no kills as of yet.
𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟 lunged forward and stabbed the helpless boy through the heart with his dagger, sending his body falling backwards off of the cornucopia and being washed away by the swirling water.
The final battle of the eighth annual Hunger Games was between 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐧 of District 1 and 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 of District 3. However, 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟 was very distracted after killing 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐰𝐢𝐧 and so was in a very prone position to be attacked. 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟 whipped his head around just in time to see the shurikens enter his chest, one squarely impaling his heart. Blood sprouted from the puncture sites of the shurikens, but he was already dead and so it didn't matter in the slightest. The familiar melody of trumpets rang through the arena the instant the boy's cannon faded away fully.
"𝑲𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒊 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒕 𝟏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔!", 𝐑𝐡𝐞𝐚 𝐒𝐳𝐚𝐬𝐳 shouted enthusiastically into the arena as a hovercraft appeared to collect District 1's second victor.
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🅰🅵🆃🅴🆁🅼🅰🆃🅷
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District 1's thirst for a new victor had been quenched the instant 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 chucked the shurikens into 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟's chest. For the past few games the tribute to score second place had been from District 1, and each year District 1 had rang with fury when their victor was "stolen" each year. 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 was worshipped by her home district before settling into the Victor's Village.
𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢's victory tour was very average, and nothing of note happened during it.
𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 moved into the Victor's Village of District 1, in the house across the street from 𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫.
She would happily marry a man at age thirty-two, and the two would remain married until 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢's death. She would never reproduce herself, but she would adopt twin sons at the age of fifty.
𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 would live to the age of seventy-one, losing a battle with skin cancer around the time of the sixty-second annual Hunger Games.
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🅽🅴🆆🆂
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▪ 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐧 moves into the Victor's Village of District 1, the second victor to do so.
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🅻🅸🆂🆃 🅾🅵 🆅🅸🅲🆃🅾🆁🆂
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𝐇𝐆𝟏: 𝐒𝐲𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧 (#1 of District 3) oswordo3
𝐇𝐆𝟐: 𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫 (#1 of District 1) Tommy123
𝐇𝐆𝟑: 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (#1 of District 4) Girllover101
𝐇𝐆𝟒: 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐭 (#1 of District 2) Spyder701
𝐇𝐆𝟓: 𝐌𝐬. 𝐉𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲 (#1 of District 12) txashaun
𝐇𝐆𝟔: 𝐋𝐮𝐧𝐚 𝐋𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐧 (#2 of District 2) Symmetry888
𝐇𝐆𝟕: 𝐌𝐚𝐜 𝐁𝐲𝐭𝐞 (#2 of District 3) stuartlittle16
𝐇𝐆𝟖: 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐢 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐧 (#2 of District 1) Monica1623
