Image from here
*I’ve skipped quite a lot since this is taking about 50 years, click here if you want to see what bits I’ve skipped, you probably should see what I’ve skipped if you’re reading this ending*
*Dedicated to nikita315 and Renee for voting for Leila to win!*
I can survive. I can win. I can survive. I can win. I can survive.
The endless chant repeated itself in my head, from all the spare moments I had, from collecting food to in my sleep. My will to survive was like an undying flame in my chest, the flame unable to be penetrated by anything. I wanted to win the Hunger Games so I could return home, to see my father and brother and Olivia. I needed to be crowned victor.
It was a dark night. Strips of moonlight rippled across the vast field. I glanced at Jonathan. ‘You want to go to sleep? I’ll keep watch’ he said. A wave of tiredness overcame me. ‘Okay, thanks, Jonathan’ I said. I lay down in the soft, sweet-smelling grass…
BOOM. I sat up, awoken by the cannon. It’s still night, though the sky wasn’t as dark and a crack on orange light burst from behind a hill. It was dawn, which made me wonder what day it was. First day, I met Beth and Quincy left. Second day, all the trees collapsed and Beth died by the tracker jackers. Third day, Jonathan and I nearly died of thirst, the feast was on and nearly all the tributes died. Fourth, Jonathan and I, the only team, ran and hid in the District 10 section, which imitated a farmland. So this was the beginning of the fifth day.
I momentarily forgot why I was awoken so suddenly, when I remembered that the cannon had fired. Another tribute down. Four tributes remaining. 3 more tributes to take down. But who were the 3 remaining? Who was the tribute who died now?
I glanced over to Jonathan. He seems just as alarmed as me. ‘Who do you think it was that died?’ I don’t know why I’m whispering, but I’m scared, I’ll admit. I’m so close to my prize of returning to home, but there’s only 4 more tributes in this life-endangering horrific arena. One of the 4 tributes is me. And one other tribute is standing right next to me.
‘I don’t know, Leila. I don’t know’ Jonathan replies, biting his lip. We stand in silence, looking at the sun rising from behind a grassy green hill. 4 tributes. 2 still teamed. It’s too risky. So I voice up my thoughts to Jonathan.
‘Jonathan’ I began. He turns to face me. ‘What?’ ‘We should end the alliance. There’s not many tributes left, only four. I think it’s time we walked alone.’
Jonathan looked at me for a while. ‘Okay’ he replied finally. ‘But we’ll need to split the supplies.’
In silence, we halved everything we had. In the end, I got 5 knives, a match, some berries and edible plants that would last me for 1 and a half days for one person, and a pen. I was fairly happy with the food and weapons, but what I would do with a pen and a match, I didn’t know. Jonathan and I farewelled, then we parted, Jonathan heading towards the edge of the arena, I towards the Cornucopia. Where the Hunger Games began.
It takes what felt like 8 hours to reach the Cornucopia, although it was probably about 2. I found some more food along the way to the centre, and I hadn’t run into any tributes, which was great for me. BOOM. Alarmed, I look around me, scanning the area around me to check that another tribute wasn’t near me. All I could see around me was the golden Cornucopia, and the 13 sections, each section representing a district. No sign of any of the other tributes. How many tributes are left? I wondered. Before Jonathan and I cancelled the alliance, there were 5. We then split up, and then someone died now. 3 left standing. One of them is me. Who is are the other two? The tall athletic boy from 8, the bloodthirsty District 2 girl, Quincy, or Jonathan?
A thundering roar cuts through the silence. The roar sounds very far away, and it sounds as though the roar came from the District 4 section, which was mostly a large lake. Another roar echoes throughout the arena, this time coming from the District 6 section. The second roar was really loud, which made me certain that the beast making the noise was near me. My heart pounds in my chest, my knife gripped so tightly in my hand that my knuckles were white. Any second the monster should burst out from the District 4 or 6 sections, because the beast making the such a racket would probably be able to move fast. Wait a minute. From what I can recall from watching the Hunger Games previous years, the Capitol uses monsters to drive all the remaining tributes towards the centre when only a couple tributes are left standing. Which means the anonymous two tributes should be here now.
The long blade of the sword that belongs to the killing-machine District 2 girl is cold against my neck. Her hulking mass towers over me, a massive shadow cruelly laughing as she was about to finish me. But I hadn’t counted on the monster.
A orange thing zooms past me, like a beam of sunlight, its immensely long teeth sinking into the girl’s arm. She screams in pain, and collapses next to me, clutching her arm, a long fang sticking out of her right arm. Her sword clattered noisily to the ground as she dropped it, howling in pain.
The orange beat turned to face me. It was a lion, except that its mane was gone, its fangs long and sickly yellow-green. It slashed at me, but I dived out of the way in time. The monster slammed into the Cornucopia, giving me a moment to think.
My knives were long-range – I would never be able to stab the monster with such a short blade. I needed something long and sharp. Then my eyes found the girl from 2. She was curled up in a ball, her face red and sweaty and contorted in immense pain. Her long sword was lying next to her.
I leapt out of the way as the lion-mutt pounced unsuccessfully at me. Lying on the ground, I picked up the girl’s sword and jabbed it sharply at the lion. The sword sank into the monster’s orange body. It exploded into dust as I got up.
I took a moment to breathe, then went to check on the District 2 girl. In the space of about 2 minutes while I was battling the lion-mutt, her face had changed from bright red to a horrible green. Blood spilled from her wound on her right arm. Her lips sounded out a word or two to say something. I don’t know what she said but I think I know what she wants me to do. Closing my eyes, I drew my one of my 5 knives, and I ended her pain.
Horror overtakes me, as a cannon books across the arena. I close my eyes again and I lie against the cold metal of the Cornucopia. I am one of 2 tributes left in the Games. I have just killed the third tribute.
Something crosses my mind. My eyes snap open, and I stand up, feeling shaky. I heard 2 roars, not one; the other tribute should be here any second.
A random memory comes to mind. My father, and brother saying goodbye. One of them said something like ‘Use your skills that you got from working in the orchards’. What have I learnt from my years of working at the orchard? How to find food, how to climb, – yes! How to climb! In minutes I am standing on the top of the Cornucopia, looking around the enormous arena. Where was the last tribute?
I got the answer almost immediatly. Quincy, holding his spear, the one I retrieved from the body of the District 3 girl, was standing under the Cornucopia. He seemed to be thinking about something, perhaps how to kill me with me standing quite far above him.
I took aim with my knife, but Quincy spoke. ‘Leila, I wouldn’t try and hit me with your knife, because I’ll dodge it and you’ll run out of knives. Come down and fight me, Leila.’ Quincy had a point. I only had 5 knives. Throwing knives worked best when your target was unaware of you throwing a knife at them, like if they were running away. Quincy was fully aware that I could throw knives, and he definitly wasn’t running.
But charging down at him wasn’t going to work. Quincy had an advantage with a longer weapon. My advantage was height. ‘Nah’ I replied, fighting to keep my voice calm like his. ‘I’ll just stay up here’. Stubbornly, I sat cross-legged on top of the Corncopia. I stayed like that for around 10 minutes, with Quincy either glaring at me or pulling an ‘I’m thinking’ face.
Apparently, Capitol residents were getting bored, because suddenly a giant wave, tall as skyscrapers, crashed down on Quincy and I. Suddenly everything was muffled underwater. I swam for the top, even though I didn’t really know how to swim properly. I gasped for air when I reached the top, and I saw Quincy do the same near me. I raised my knife, but I struggled to stay afloat. Quincy seemed to be having no trouble in swimming at me, lifting his spear to point at my chest. My legs stopped kicking and then everything was water and bubbles and Quincy tried to spear me but the water made his spear drift through the water. I snatched it, and with barely any air left, I chucked it as hard as I could behind me, before I swam to the top. Quincy grabbed hold of my foot as soon as I breathed in a breath of air. He was pulling me down, I knew his plan; Quincy was going to drown me. I was running out of air fast, if only I had something longer to stab him – Yes! I reached for the sword of the District 2 girl, which I hung on my belt, and I thrust it as far forward as I could. I got Quincy in the face with my recently attained sword, but I didn’t care, I had to swim to the top for air, black spots were dancing in my eyes.
And I could breathe again. Water was draining, as if there was a massive plug hole. BOOM. Quincy’s cannon. I had lived through this nightmare.
I had won the Hunger Games