Hunger Games: All-Stars

Chapter 19

Zach Connouis POV

It was so weird having Jay back again. It was also so weird having me back again. We were like a pair of zombie friends.

"So what happened after I died?" Jay asked.

"Everything happened. Your dad fell apart and now the whole town's in ruins. You were supposed to take over when he died, so nobody knows what to do," I said.

"Wow, guess I gotta get home then, huh?" Jay said.

"Guess so. Course you'd have to beat me and you're a goof," I said. We both knew one of us was going to die, but that didn't seem as real as our friendship. Hopefully that would last.

"How's Flora?" Jay asked, and I winced. I knew it was coming but I'd been dreading it since I learned Jay was back.

"She's... not so good. She took it hard," I said. I watched his face closely.

"Is she okay?" he asked. I looked at the ground.

"She's dead," I said.

"What?" I heard all the pain I was looking away from so I couldn't see. "What happened?"

"She killed herself," I blurted. I wanted to let it all out and get it done with. In doing so I threw all the pain on Jay. When I saw his face it broke my heart, but I knew it wasn't half the pain he was feeling. There was nothing to say. Sometimes you just have to say nothing at all.

Natasha Trent POV

There was a lot to see in the Games Center. Last time me and Alex spent almost all our time training. That ended really well, so we decided to stop and smell a few roses this time around. A lot of roses, in fact, since the Center had the biggest greenhouse I'd ever seen. I broke off a rainbow-petaled lily and wondered at how something so beautiful could come from such a cruel place.

"That's Natasha Trent!"

I turned around and saw a little boy tugging at his mother's skirt. His voice was urgent but thin, like he was trying to whisper but didn't realize a whisper was supposed to be quiet. The boy's mother shushed him and pulled him closer to her.

"She's the one who killed everyone," the boy "whispered". I tried to pull Alex into the next room, but it was too late.

"What are you talking about?" he asked the boy, who started and looked up at him.

"She went crazy and started killing people," he said. Alex turned back to me, and I couldn't bear his gaze. I ran from the room and he followed, calling after me. He caught up to me in a room full of ferns and grabbed my arm.

"What's wrong?" he asked. My throat was tight and I burned in shame.

"It's true," I said. Hardship didn't make me into a hero. It made me a monster.

"I didn't want you to know. I was hoping you'd never find out," I said. Alex pulled me into a hug and I pressed against him, seeking comfort. Once he found out all I'd done he'd never want to hug me again. He'd be ashamed of me.

"It doesn't matter what happened. That wasn't you. None of us are what it makes us. None of us want to kill. It's okay," he said. As soon as I heard that the tears came flooding out and I let out all the pain I'd been holding it since I came back. Even worse than what I'd done was knowing my brother could never love me again. Hearing him say he did was the best thing I ever could have hoped for. No matter what happened, even if I died again, I'd die as me. I wasn't a monster.

Alex Trent POV

Natasha and I were up long into the night discussing our plans. The first time around, we discussed how we were going to win. This time, things were different. We knew the most likely outcome, and we shifted into damage control.

The elephant in the room was what we should do if we were the last two left. It wasn't likely to happen, but we needed a plan for everything. We both wanted the other to live, of course, but we had to be practical. If we could choose who went back, we had to do what was best for Tyger.

"You can provide for her better," Natasha said.

"You're a better parent," I retorted.

"That won't do any good if we have no food," Natasha said. Honestly, I wasn't really listening to her arguments. No matter what, I was determined that it would be her.

"Which would Tyger choose if she was here?" I asked.

"You," Natasha said immediately. She was right, too. If Tyger had to pick one of us to live with, she'd want me. Tyger was fiercely independent and utterly opposed to any suggestion that she could ever need help. She'd want my tough love, not Natasha's maturity.

"Well, what does she know?" I sputtered.

"The question is, which of us is best for her?" Natasha said. "And you know it's you. You can provide." Maybe she was right, but I couldn't quantify life like that. I wasn't more valuable than Natasha just because I was more skilled at certain things. Neither of us deserved to die.

"It doesn't matter," Natasha said. "We're not going to be the last two. We need a plan for everything, but that's just so remote it doesn't matter. The Games will decide which of us goes home, if either of us do." I knew she was right. We had to let this go. We were only pretending to have any control. Neither of us would decide what happened. All we could do was hope.

Kestrel Hood POV

It's not easy being Makarios Komenus' son. With all the Victors from Two he was able to get permission to mentor me on my own. Thompson was with Crag and there were only two of us anyway, so it wouldn't give me any advantage.

"What do we do in the Bloodbath?" my father asked as we sparred with short swords.

"Kill the slow," I said.

"What do we do the first night?" he asked.

"Kill the strong," I said.

"What do we do after that?" he asked.

"Clean up the rest," I said.

"What do you do when only our kind are left?" he asked.

"Kill each other," I said. It was an old catechism we'd gone through a million times. Since the day I entered school everything had prepared me for the Games. Mathematics to calculate our fiercest opposition. Chemistry to poison them. Physics to break their bones. Logic to outsmart them. History to know them. I graduated high school a killer, not a scholar. It bled into every part of my life. If it was easy to take a life, taking possessions meant nothing. If language was only to break others, kind words weren't needed. Death was the culmination of life, and to master death was to master life. In winning the Games, I would find the meaning of life.

There's Kestrel. I think the only ones left are Xzavier and Cordin. I'll do them next.