75th - part 1
“On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors in each district…”
johanna
Fuck off. I mean seriously, you can’t make this shit up. I start to laugh uncontrollably, spilling the wine that I poured for myself earlier when I expected to watch the announcement semi-casually. Nope, instead I’m going back into the games. After all the promises the Capitol made me, made all of the victors, the entire fucking country. I was supposed to be safe! I did my time in the arena and I’m still paying for it every fucking day with nightmares and trauma and everything else. Is that not enough for them? Really? They wanna try and kill me, maim me, break me into a thousand pieces for their entertainment again? I toss the wine glass at the projection of Snow on my wall, screaming so loud that I can’t hear the glass shatter as I sink to the ground. I’m going back into the arena. I’m going back. I can’t. I can’t…
Blight bursts through my front door, panting and crying. He does a little disoriented spin, then kneels on the wood floor beside me. He’s sobbing like a baby, wailing loudly and blubbering to himself. I feel my own tears trickle down my face, but I’m not gonna try and stop them. This is my chance to cry. After this, I’m shutting down and getting to business, because there’s no way I’m going down without a fight.
Snow doesn’t get to do this to us without consequences. So I’ll bring the fucking consequences, even if it kills me. I’m done playing his Games. No matter what, I’m going to make him regret this announcement.
“Get up,” I bark at Blight after we’ve both cried ourselves hoarse.
He looks at me, his eyes puffy and bloodshot, and sniffs. “Why?”
“We need to get in shape.” Maybe I should take a bit longer to process this, but there’s not enough time. The Careers have probably never stopped training, and if either of us want a shot at coming home, we have to catch up quickly. I’m not gonna keep sitting here on the floor feeling sorry for ourselves, wasting time that we could use to train.
katniss
I fly out the door before I can fully process the announcement. It’s pouring down rain, but I hardly register the chill of the cold water hitting my skin. Instead, I sprint through the district, heading for the woods until I remember that the fence has been electrified ever since Cole’s Victory Tour. I turn around and run in the opposite direction. I just need to go somewhere, anywhere.
I find myself in one of the empty houses in the Victor’s Village, but despite the fact that I’m shivering from the cold and panting from the running, I still feel like I’ve been set on fire. I ball up the front of my shirt in my fists, stick it in my mouth, and scream until my voice goes. Then I curl up in a ball on the floor of the abandoned house and force myself to think about what this means.
I am going back into the arena. I never once thought that this could be a possibility, and I thought I had come up with every creative way for Snow to punish me. But this…this never occurred to me.
At least I only won two years ago. The other victors will be going up against longtime friends and allies, but I haven’t had a chance to get to know most of them. Except for Johanna and Blight, and Haymitch and Cole of course.
Oh shit. The thought of the four of them makes my whole world crash around my ears, because now I’m faced with losing at least two of them. Blight might be spared, since there’s an older male victor from 7 who’s probably at least 70 years old by now. But Johanna is the only female, just like me. And either Haymitch or Cole…one or the other.
There’s no way I could kill any of them. Would they kill me? A year ago, I would’ve thought that Johanna and Blight would kill me without thinking twice about it. But now, I’m sure that we wouldn’t be able to kill each other. Which means I can’t win these Games unless someone else kills them for me.
No, what am I thinking? There’s no way Snow will let me out of this arena alive. He won’t make that mistake twice. Even if I manage to win, he’ll probably arrange for some kind of accident and I’ll never make it home. Is it even worth trying? I’ve basically been handed a death sentence and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I have to save Cole. He deserves to come home, and he might actually have a chance if I help him.