Alyssa of Nine (Reimagining the Hunger Games)

Chapter Twenty-One: The Finale

As soon as I see the symbol glow white on the golden falcon, another short message briefly appears. I read it quickly.

Now that you young tributes have almost reached the end,
The last two survived, when the others met death,
The spectacular final battle is near at hand,
But to progress any further, a payment must be made.
Now that the final battle is almost at hand,
Blood payment must be made on this falcon of Panem,
But who will be the victor?
Only one can live to tell this tale...

So I think about the words I just read, and after a few seconds I realize they mean only one thing. I have to cut one of my hands and press my blood on the falcon. So, I find my gold dagger and as I take a deep breath, I press the blade down on one of my hands and I make the cut. Grimacing against the stinging pain of it, I press the palm of the hand I just cut onto the symbol on the golden falcon. And I watch as the entire pyramid begins to crumble, leaving nothing standing but an enormous battleground amidst the ruins.

***

The Capitol

One of the senior gamemakers says to another, who has just created the battlefield Alyssa is standing in the middle of, "All right Marius, impressive work on that battlefield, but not impressive enough. The President says we need to give the audiences what they want to see, we have to give Alyssa of Nine the battle of her life. So, let's bring a mutt into the battlefield."

"A mutt, sir? Just the one?" the other gamemaker named Marius asks. While the senior gamemaker says, "Now don't question anything you've been told to do, it's an order, not a request. You already know what happens to anyone who doesn't obey Snow's orders."

And Marius says, feeling a sickly fear begin to creep over him, yet not allowing it to become obvious to all his colleagues, "It's crystal clear what can happen, sir. I'll configure a mutt onto the battlefield right away."

"Good. But one more thing Marius. Make sure this mutt doesn't look like a threat. Snow wants it to appear as an existing human we all know of very well."

"And who exactly might that be?"

"The young man who apparently loves her enough to try to help keep her alive. Noah Linwood."

***

As I stand on the battlefield, I see no sign of Adonis, or of anything else, yet. I look around me but everything is pitch black, quiet, except for the smallest amount of silvery light cast over the arena by the full moon above. It's too quiet. What is about to happen, I don't know.

But I begin to slowly reach for the gold dagger where I have it concealed, having learned in this arena to expect that even in the quietest moments, or especially then, any threat from a silent killer could be heading my way. And then, I hear someone call my name. And all around me, several lights around the battlefield come on. That someone calling my name sounds so warmly familiar...but it can't be. Still, I call back ever cautiously. "Noah?"

And the other person who walks out onto the battlefield does look just like Noah, and he says to me, "Alyssa, Alyssa, Alyssa. Why do you look so afraid now? It's like you don't believe it's really me! Come on, you know me better than this, you're safe now, much safer than you've ever been at any other point in this arena. Yet, you've always pulled through. Remember my letters? I had that much faith in you always. If you'll come with me, we can both team up against Adonis. We'll be unstoppable."

"And what about you? We can't both survive." I don't as much as move another inch toward him. Something just doesn't feel right about this. Noah then moves closer to me, and I begin to step back. "I don't even know for sure if it's you, or if I should believe it. I want to be able to be with you again, but what if it never happens? Is this  even really you?" I ask him.

And Noah says, beginning to sound impatient with me, "Alyssa, don't play stupid. Of course it's me, what else were you expecting? A Capitol mutt in disguise? Is that the way you really see me Alyssa? Come on now. I'm your mentor. Come with me, and you will have your victory."

And suddenly, I see clearly what I was supposed to know all along. Of course it's not Noah. The real Noah would never encourage me to just go along with anyone or anything that seemed trustworthy if I couldn't see where it's loyalties lay, or even, if I couldn't trust whether or not it was actually even human. It was something I had to learn quickly even in the community orphan home of District Nine. And as soon as I say, "You're not Noah Linwood, and you're not my mentor. You're not even human." I yell.

"Now you will die!" The fake Noah growls and the mutt begins to show its' true, hideous form.

Come at me! I think boldly as I quickly pick up a spear that has also appeared in front of me, and I begin the who knows how many hours long battle with the mummy mutt to kill it.

***

After the destroyed mutt dissapears, I hear him approaching me. Adonis Lasseter, the Career I hated most throughout these Games. He also has a bloody hand, which leads me to believe that he'd been waiting in the shadows for this moment to claim the victory he considered himself entitled to as a Career, to kill me and make a gruesome spectacle of doing it. Well, I can't run from this, and I certainly won't lay down and allow him to win so easily, not when I think about Marina, Jayden, Matthew, and what Adonis almost did to me earlier in the Games. I may be an orphan from District Nine, but I'm also going to survive.

"Hello Alyssa of Nine," Adonis sneers at me. "I must admit that I'm impressed that someone like you would have made it this far. You seemed so sniveling and pathetic back in the Capitol. But as bitter a pill as it is to swallow, there was always more to you than meets the eye, orphan girl."

"Didn't they ever teach you at your old Career Academy that you should never judge your adversaries based on face value, or an act?" I throw at him. "You're just as arrogant as the rest of them you fool, and it's going to cost you."

"What the Hell would you know about it, you never had to live through any of it! Ever since I was only eight, hearing from my instructors that the Games were my life and that's all I had! Having ruthless parents who only cared about me becoming a cold-blooded killer just so I could win if I was reaped, or die forsaken by them if I didn't! The ironic thing is, I always wanted to win. Who doesn't actually want to win, especially at these kind of Games, when it's kill or get killed?"

I didn't want to sympathize with this cold, cruel, twisted person standing in front of me, clutching his weapon of choice as if it were one of the only things that could save him now, and I wasn't about to pity him. If there was anything I learned about Adonis, he was not the kind of person who would want pity, and many might say he didn't even deserve any sympathy.

But it's because of these Games that we are both here, pitted against each other with no other choice but to fight until one of us is dead and the other is a victor. It's because of these Games that Careers like Adonis are brought up and trained the way they are. And it's because of the Capitol that the Districts suffer. But only one of us can win.

"I must say, that if only you hadn't been an orphan from such an outlandish district, and your parents weren't known to be criminals, then I might almost see it as a waste. But I'm going to have to kill you now. I can't have trash like you surviving, can I?" Adonis says as he is advancing toward me. He has a very sinister looking knife in one of his hands.

"Goodbye Alyssa Whitestone, no one will ever miss you." But he never gets to kill me when I realize that I have somehow very fortunately backed up onto the yellow stone representing higher ground and safety. Suddenly, the ground rumbles and bursts  around Adonis with about a million scorpion mutts that cover him as he screams and collapses. And as the scorpions leave Adonis dead on the ground, I hear the cannon one last time.

I stand back up from where I tripped back in my horror at Adonis' gruesome end rather weakly, realizing only now just how exhausted and in need of medical attention I must be. A Capitol aircraft is coming in to take me back to the Capitol, and to collect Adonis' body, just as I hear Claudius Templesmith announce, "Ladies and Gentlemen, may we present the winner of the 73rd Hunger Games, Alyssa Whitestone..."