With that we say goodbye to three tributes who put up an amazing fight for the finale. We thank each and every one of you for putting all of your hard work into making three tributes that we loved to read. We hope to see you in APOG19 and perhaps as a victor?Â
As soon as Sutter was done stitching himself up, the ground began shaking and a hole slowly started to pull him underneath the ground. It wasn’t long before Sutter dropped, grunting as pain shoot up his bad leg when landing. The space around him was dark and cold and very lonely. No other tribute was in sight but he knew everyone else was down here somewhere. He strapped his pack tight around his shoulders, keeping out his machete just in case.
It seemed there was only one way to go, which the Gamemakers obviously did for a reason. They were trying to lead him somewhere and he was ready to find out. With a slight limp, he began walking through the tunnel. The ceiling wasn’t high enough so he had to duck down a bit as he made his way as quickly as possible. Curiosity pushed him to keep going, eager to figure out what this whole thing was. Clearly this was just another obstacle of the arena, but what was it for? After a few minutes of walking, the ceiling grew and the walls widened. On the other side there was another tunnel, possibly the only other way in and out. He had a feeling he knew what this was but his suspicions were confirmed when he heard footsteps coming from the other tunnel. A small smirk spread across his lips when he saw a familiar face walking through the other side.
Down the dark tunnels Kyan went.  Ducking his head lightly, he wondered what awful events the Gamemakers had in store for him.  Since he was alone, he thought only he had to endure this underground fate for having avoided the party of the Games up to the Top Eight.  He continued traversing through the dark tunnel, and decided to prep for whatever may come ahead.  As he walked, he pulled out his rope and his knife, using it to slice the rope up into two 3-feet long ropes.  Like he had done so many times before back home, he tied a knot on each of the two ropes, toward the ends, and continued walking.  He hoped that he wouldn’t run into any trouble.  However, he soon learned how wrong he was when he reached a large antechamber where he came face-to-face with a tall, dark silhouette.  Sutter.
“Sutter,” Kyan began as he took one small, hesitant step toward the boy.  He recalled the lighthearted times they shared back at training, but Sutter appeared to have no sympathy for those moments.
"Nice to see you again, Kyan," he snickered as he tightened his grip on his machete. His blood boiled with anger as he looked at the boy. It was Delilah’s District Partner and even though he had nothing to do with what had just happened prior to this, he was still connected to the girl in a way and that just added fuel to his fire. It was evident that the Gamemakers were just pushing everyone together in attempt to make the numbers drop. Sutter’s eyes remained glued to Kyan, examining any injuries he might have. They may have once been considered friends but that was at the Capitol. Here those titles disappeared and Sutter was ready to take the boy down. All he could think of was that he came from the same place as Delilah, the girl who tricked him into killing Tessa. It made the drive to kill him double, his whole body filled with adrenaline and rage. He wanted to make Tessa proud and the only way to do that was by going home, which meant Kyan had to die. "Seen your girlfriend lately?" Sutter mocked, slowly walking towards the boy with an amused grin on his lips.
"She’s not my girlfriend," Kyan retorted, slightly annoyed at the assumption a few people had made before. Kyan stared back at Sutter, crossing his arms over his bare chest that had slashes down the middle of it. "Where’s Tessa?" He asked softly but was clearly unafraid and didn’t actually care about the answer. Sutter gritted his teeth, his grip around his machete so tight that his knuckles began turning white.
"She’s dead because of that bitch," he snapped, his scowl slowly turning to a wicked smile. "And now you’re going to die because of it." At this threat, Kyan’s hand gripped onto his spear. He could see the anger in Sutter’s eyes, aware this was not going to be like the fun they had had during training.
“Come on, Sutter,” Kyan chuckled nervously, both his hands still holding the ropes.  “We had such a good time at the rock-climbing wall.  Hey, I even let you beat me at rock-climbing.”  Kyan hoped the lightheartedness of the topic would melt Sutter’s already broken heart.  However, Sutter remained stoic, his face still expressing the same anger and animosity. "Sutter, I had nothing to do with Tessa’s death. Don’t blame me for what Delilah did," Kyan defended himself, not wanting to be the victim of revenge against his partner. He knew only one of them was coming out of this alive but he could at least try to calm the boy down so he wouldn’t get ripped to shreds.
"I don’t give a shit! She’s not here but you are, so you’re going to pay for her." On this, Sutter pulled out one of the shuriken from his pocket and threw it as hard as he could. The blade hit above Kyan’s eye, leaving a long scratch by his eyebrow. The boy raised a hand to his face, bringing it back down to find blood on his fingers. He frowned, raising his eyes to meet Sutter’s bloodshot, anger-filled ones. He didn’t want to hurt Sutter but he left him no choice. If he wanted to survive then he had to fight back.
Why am I always cleaning up Delilah’s messes, Kyan thought as he straightened his position back to Sutter who was now ready to attack again.  “So, I guess there’s nothing I can say to change your mind,” Kyan gritted his teeth.  A broken man is a dangerous man, and Kyan had the unfortunate luck of being the first opponent Sutter faced right after Delilah murdered Tessa.  Sutter glared down the boy from Four, his revenge unwavering.  “Fine,” Kyan sighed.  He didn’t want to fight, especially someone he had gotten along with, and his words were clearly not getting through to the emotional boy.  Gripping his two ropes with one hand, Kyan slowly pulled out the lighter from his pack and held it tightly in his hands.
Kyan needed to work fast so he quickly lit both his ropes with the lighter before tossing it into his pocket.  With both ropes aflame, he held one in each hand as Sutter came once more.  Bracing himself,  Kyan waited until the boy was close enough to attack.  In one swift movement, Kyan brought his elbow up and knocked it under Sutter’s jaw, causing the boy to back a bit.  Kyan couldn’t rely too much on his injured legs so he figured he’ll have to utilize his upper body.  Sutter, only angered by Kyan’s defense, charged again.  His anger made him more aggressive but it also made him sloppy.  Not allowing Sutter to get within range again, Kyan whipped his right rope toward the boy.  Sutter raised his left arm to protect himself from the fire and a muffled groan escaped his lips.  The small confinements of the chamber made it difficult for Sutter to dodge the fire so the fire poi left a first degree burn on the arm.  Kyan began spinning the ropes, using the two-beat weave to create two circular walls between the boys.
Angry by this trick, Sutter pulled out his grappling hook and tossed it toward Kyan, hoping for it to interrupt the fire-weaving and hit the boy.  The hook broke the circle but it landed amongst the tree roots behind Kyan.  His eyes flew to the weapon that had barely missed him, and this distraction gave Sutter enough time to approach Kyan and swung his machete, cutting across Kyan’s stomach. Kyan screamed, backing up a bit to cover the bleeding wounds with his hands. Taking the chance, Sutter ripped out the spear and threw it across the room so the other boy couldn’t have it.
A pained groan left Kyan’s lips as the scratches on his chest opened up again and the stitching on his right calf broke, a small trickle of blood bleeding down both injuries.  Kyan narrowed his eyes at his attacker and raised his ropes once more, this time wrapping one around Sutter’s ankle and pulling it forward, causing the boy from Seven to fall onto his back.  Using the other rope, Kyan repeated whipped onto Sutter’s chest, leaving dark burn marks across the fallen boy’s body.  Each hit caused Sutter to flinch upward against the pain until finally, before Kyan could land another hit on the boy, Sutter rolled onto his side and pushed himself up.
Sutter approached him, but Kyan quickly raised his war hammer and swung it, connecting it with Sutter’s bad leg. He let out a loud scream, gripping onto his leg as collapsed to the ground. Seeing the opportunity, Kyan held Sutter down and pressed his bowie knife against his throat. Sutter thrashed around underneath Kyan’s grip, attempting to break loose but in return just got the blade pressed down harder.
"Don’t you want to be with Tessa, Sutter? I can help you get to her if you let me. I’ll make it quick but you have to stop moving," Kyan offered, hoping that Sutter would take the bait and let him just kill him. Sutter stared up at Kyan, pondering over the thought of being with Tessa again. He wanted nothing more than to be able to hold her in his arms again, to be able to look into her bright blue eyes that seemed to smile for her. It was lonely without her by his side. The spaces between his fingers with empty now that hers weren’t there. "I can see how much her death has affected you. You’re angry, I get that, but don’t let it consume you. You’re far too good of a person to turn into a bloodthirsty killer. If you’d let me, I’ll make it as painless as possible and you can be with her again. Is that what you want?" A tear built up in Sutter’s eye, feeling conflicted with his choices. He wanted so desperately to be with her but he knew what Tessa would want him to do. She would want him to fight, to live. He stared up at Kyan, who didn’t seem to notice that he was slowly loosening his grip on the knife. Silence between them lingered for a few seconds before Sutter finally made his decision.
"I do. I do want to be with her," he said quietly. Kyan nodded his head, taking a deep breath. He didn’t want to kill Sutter but it was what he wanted so he would help him. Right before Kyan could slash his throat, Sutter gritted his teeth and got ready. "Just not today," he added. His fingers wrapped around a big lock of Kyan’s hair, yanking it to the side to pull the boy off of him. Kyan screamed, wildly whipping around his knife in attempt to be released. He managed to cut Sutter’s cheek, but it was too late. Sutter slammed the boy’s head as hard as he could into a tree root that stuck out of the ground. Kyan immediately got dizzy, his head pounding with his possible new concussion. He became disorientated and was unable to stand to his feet as he laid groaning on the hard ground.
Sutter reached in his pack for his hand axe before kicking Kyan so that he was on his back. The boy’s eyes were closed and at first Sutter thought he had maybe gone unconscious from the hard blow, but then his eyelids fluttered to indicate that he was still awake. Sutter bent down with his hand axe and smirked at Kyan, whose eyes were struggling to remain open. Without waiting a moment longer, he raised his axe then slammed it down to connect with his left wrist, chopping off his hand. Kyan screamed, his eyes popping open from the pain. Before Kyan could move, Sutter raised his axe again and this time chopped off his right hand. The boy let out murderous screams, crying as he attempted to scoot away. “Shut up. You didn’t need them anyway,” Sutter said with a sneer. “Here, catch!” He joked, picking up the unattached hands to throw them at Kyan. “Oh wait, you can’t catch.” Sutter let out a laugh before rolling his eyes at the boy who continued to scream. Kyan did his best to drag himself away from the District Seven boy, but it wasn’t very useful considering he now had no hands to defend himself with.
Sutter walked towards the boy as he pulled out Tessa’s navaja knife. Kyan kicked out his legs in front of him, managing to connect his foot with Sutter’s groin. The boy groaned, doubling over in pain for a moment before forcing himself to push through it. He had work to finish and he couldn’t let that get in the way. “Fucking asshole,” he murmured, clenching his teeth as he limped over to the boy who was bleeding out and still trying to get away. Kyan tried to kick him again but this time Sutter was ready for it. He grabbed his foot and twisted it in an unnatural position, hearing the snap as he broke his ankle. The boy let out even more screams, his whole entire body filled with pure pain.
Eventually Sutter managed to pin him down, putting all of his weight on top of the boy’s cut up chest. Sutter dug one of his cleated shoes into Kyan’s forehead and the other on his chin, allowing him to pry open the boy’s mouth. Kyan tried to escape Sutter’s grip but his weight was too much. Sutter reached his hand into Kyan’s mouth to grab his tongue. He pulled it out as far as he could, which made the boy cry out a bit. Using the navaja knife, Sutter began cutting off Kyan’s tongue, watching as his mouth filled with blood. As soon as it was completely off, Sutter raised it to show him. “How did that feel?” Kyan moaned, gagging at the blood that dripped down his throat. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Sutter joked, laughing as the boy turned his head to the side to help get the blood out of his mouth.
By now Sutter had tortured the boy far behind an appropriate point and figured he should put him out of his misery. He had gotten his anger for Delilah out on Kyan and was ready to move on. He raised his navaja knife, frowning down at the boy. “Sorry I had to do this, Four. Tell Tessa I miss her,” Sutter said before slamming it down. The knife plunged deep down in between Kyan’s eyes, an immediate kill. His cannon boomed, signaling his death once and for all. Sutter stood up and quickly grabbed all of Kyan’s stuff, dumping the contents of his pack into his own so he wouldn’t have multiple packs to carry. Who knew what the Gamemakers had in store for them next, so he would rather have a variety of weapons and supplies to use rather than to let it all go to waste. Sutter glanced back at Kyan’s dead body, his eyes landing on the boy’s unattached hands. Figuring he might find some use for them somehow, he grabbed them and shoved them into his pack too. Sutter was just one step closer to victory, so no matter what happened next, he would be ready for it.
As Sutter mourns his fallen lover, a parachute sounds overhead. Inside is a needle & thread and 2 basic bandages w/ medical tape.
“I didn’t know my daughter very well, but I do know that I’ve never seen her as happy as she was with you. Fix yourself up son, make her proud” -Theo Hale
