All-Stars: Non-Careers

Chapter 4

Blaise Wesley

Dying wasn't as hard as I thought. DeMarcus must have won and since he was the Victor, the Capitol let him bring me back to life. That was really weird, and it hurt my brain to think too much about it. It was also weird that Tillo was in the room instead of DeMarcus.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Getting you ready for the Resurrection Games," she said. I guess they didn't let him after all. But I could still see him again when I won. I hoped he wasn't too much older.

Ryker Merlin

I couldn't understand why they'd pick me. I didn't do a good job. I wasn't even a very good person. Panem didn't lose much when I died. I hoped they didn't leave anyone else behind to make room for me. I was actually a little embarrassed to be alive again. I only hoped everyone forgave me.

Of course, life was cheaper now. I didn't have to be a good person to get picked. I only had to be entertaining.

Arter Wire

I was dead. It was like nothing I ever knew. It was like nothing. I'd been over the edge, where no one ever came back. As soon as I came back to life, I wanted to know more about being dead.

There were so many dead people in history- a lot more than there were living people. It was an entirely knew world. It was so easy to move one way, but I went the other.

I tapped the skin on my arm. It was warm and alive, but what made it that way? What was it that changed living flesh to dead? I could control this body, but I wasn't just a body. I was dead, but I was still there somewhere, or they couldn't have brought me back. There was so much I didn't know.

Torchy Conden

What is going on? What is going on?

I was dead. Something weird was going on, but I knew I was dead. I couldn't begin to say how freaky that was. I knew the Capitol was weird, but they'd never done anything like this. Did they stuff me back into my body like a zombie? Why would they want to do that? Maybe they needed more Avoxes.

The room didn't look anything like I remembered. It was like they built a whole new building while we were in the Arena. It only took a few weeks for the Games to play out. They must have been really moving.

I looked as good as new. They cleaned me up like they clean up Victors. There was no need for that if I was an Avox. What was going on?

Alice Silvin

I couldn't fly anymore. I was flying with Anise, and then something dragged me down into this bed. Why'd they have to go spoil it? At least I wasn't sore anymore, but I hadn't been soar when I was flying either.

I wasn't in the Arena anymore. Before Anise came, I felt sick. Maybe they took me out of the Arena to fix me up. They didn't usually do that. That was nice of them. I hoped they didn't put me back in. I didn't mind going back home and not winning. I hoped Cierra won. She could come visit me when she was done.

Incense Balboa

Why'd they do it? I wasn't going to win this time either. They couldn't hurt me anymore when I was dead. But that wasn't enough for them. I had to do it all over again.

Did they have any idea what it was like for us? They couldn't imagine the horror and terror we went through every second until death set us free. I couldn't bear it again.

I stared at the ceiling and concentrated on something else. I counted the tiles, row by row. They were neat and even. They made sense. Not like the rest of Panem.

Haber Dasher

Unbelievable. Unacceptable. Inconceivable!

A man killed me. How could this happen? It didn't make any sense. Someone must have cheated. One of the Gamemakers- a man, no doubt- must have set this up. But obviously the rest of the Gamemakers were sorry and wanted to make things right. The cheater was probably fired (Avoxed, if they did things right) and there would be nothing stopping me this time.

No more funny business. This time things were going to go right.

Silver Flower

All those poor children. They were so cute and so innocent that the Gamemakers never got tired of watching them. They watched them die over and over so they could coo over them and pat themselves on the back for being so mournful over the poor tragic victims.

I'd been through the Games. I knew their terror and pain. No one deserved this, the little ones least of all. I couldn't save all of them. I probably couldn't save any of them. I could only do all I could to make the Games a little less terrifying for them.