Part 1: Clove

I'm dying. That much is obvious. The blow that Thresh landed on my head with that rock is certainly fatal. I feel him remove the rock after bashing me with it—from within my skull, that is. I had been so focused on the District 12 girl that I had never heard him coming up behind me. I can hear Enobaria now, yelling at me for being too focused on my objective and not noticing the ambush coming up from behind. At the same time I can hear Katniss and Thresh talking. From what I can make out, they're discussing the District 11 girl's death and Katniss's role in it. I hope he nails her with that rock.

Instead, I hear him telling her that he's going to spare her this once, "for the little girl." He can't do that. The Gamemakers can't let him do that.

I can hear Cato yelling close by. My name, I think. Everything is fading, my vision, my hearing. Even the pain in my arm from Katniss's arrow is starting to disappear as well. I hardly felt anything from the dent in my skull. I'm slightly aware of Thresh and Katniss leaving the scene and of Cato kneeling beside me.

"Clove, don't leave me. Please don't leave me. We can leave the arena together. We can win. Please, Clove…." His face swims into my rapidly-decreasing field of vision, and then disappears again. In that brief glimpse I see fear, anger,…and grief, in his eyes. Everything is fading around me. The feel of the grass is disappearing and so is the blue of the sky. As the physical world goes away, the memories start playing through my head. My first steps and words, walking through the town square with my little sister Calliope, being accepted into the Academy, training with my friends and Cato, graduating from the Academy, the Reaping, the Parade, the Interviews, the start of the Games, everyone I killed at the Cornucopia, the tracker jackers, the deaths of Marvel and Glimmer, and now my own. I can't help but wonder, "Did it have any meaning, my life?"

I hear Cato call my name one last time, and then the darkness claims me. I'm not dying anymore. I am dead. As a sensation not unlike sleep comes over me, I get the feeling that I'm moving in a downward direction. I'm also feeling a lot of warmth on my back.

I wake up but keep from opening my eyes. How I can I open my eyes? I'm dead. I shouldn't have a body, yet I can feel my arms and legs. Hesitantly, I will my limbs to move and they do so. Maybe I'm not dead. Maybe it was all a dream, a nightmare, and Cato and I are going to the feast today to ambush everyone. Heart pounding, I open my eyes and look up.

Rock. A rock ceiling instead of the green canopy that I fell asleep under. I sit up and look around cautiously. I'm in a cave. A rocky tunnel with a reddish hue. The strange thing is that there are no light sources around, but the cave appears to be well lit. I stand up and nearly hit my head on the ceiling. There are two directions I can take and they both end in inky darkness. I choose to start walking forward.

After about a dozen steps, I realize something. It's not getting any darker. I turn around and look back at the place where I woke up. I can barely see it. I turn back, take a few more steps, and then look back again. My waking spot has been completely lost. The light is following me. I continue walking. The tunnel is completely straight and level, yet the patterns in the rock seem familiar. I reach inside my jacket for a knife to make a mark on the wall, but freeze. "What the?" I'm wearing my clothes from the arena but all my knives are gone. I yank my jacket off and then look through my pockets. No weapons, no food. Great.

I settle for memorizing the patterns in the cave wall on my right and continue on, watching the right wall. A few minutes later, I come across the same pattern. This can't be happening. I can't be walking in circles. The tunnel has no offshoots and it doesn't curve at all. This time I run and in no time at all, I come to the same place again. I look on the ground for footprints and find nothing. The cave's floor is solid rock. I'm suddenly overcome with a sense of fear so intense I can barely breathe. I collapse to the ground and hug myself. "What's happening to me?" I whisper.

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" comes a mocking voice from the darkness. I'm on my feet in a second as a man walks out of the shadows towards me. His skin is lightly tanned, and he has blond hair and blue eyes. He's dressed in what looks like a Peacekeeper's uniform, only it's red. He could compete with Finnick Odair when it comes to male appeal. Any other place than this and I would appreciate his looks a lot more.

"Where am I? Who are you?" I shout, getting into a defensive position. That uniform doesn't look like the real deal, but there's no telling what this guy can do.

He flashes me a disarming smile. "Explaining your location would probably cost you some important brain functions, like breathing. Who I am is an easier question. My name is Stalvo. Welcome to my domain, Clove."

"Stalvo, huh? Dumb name. Where are my knives? If you've taken them, I swear I'll strangle you, yo…AAAAAHHHHHH!" Pain explodes through my entire body and I hit the ground. It feels like someone is sticking me full of red hot knives.

The pain ends as quickly as it begins. I lay there gasping for air as Stalvo stands over me seething. "You will show me the proper respect, worm. I was in the company of the Most High when your race was nothing but dust," he bellows. I notice that his eyes have turned a poisonous shade of yellow.

He suddenly brightens up again, but his eyes stay yellow. "You left your knives behind in the physical realm, Clove. You see, you're dead. You died in the arena, killed by Thresh, a tribute from District 11. How absolutely ashamed your family and your district must be of you."

"Shut up," I scream. I jump up and slug him in the face. No sooner do I make contact with his flesh than I'm struck with the same pain again. I drop again and this time the pain lasts several seconds longer. "Ooowww, what are doing to me?" I groan.

"Nothing much. I'm just giving you small tastes of the punishment you're about to take for your sins. Let's see now." He takes a list out of a pouch and studies it. "Murder, lying, cheating, lusting. Yep, just like everyone else who comes here. All, or almost all, of the sins in the book."

"Where is here?" I ask, still wincing from the pain. His grin widens and before my eyes his teeth turn sharp like a predator's.

"Why, Hell's Gate of course." He begins transforming right in front of me. His pupils turns into slits, the yellow iris of his eyes overcomes the whites. His fingernails turn into claws, shredding the list, and I can see the same coming out of his shoes. His uniform turns into a disgusting combination of scales and fur, and two huge leathery wings extend out of his back. I press myself into the tunnel's wall, instinctively trying to get away from this monstrosity. When he's done, he looks like a muttation, a cross between a man, a bat, and a reptile.

He grins horribly down at me. "Welcome to the rest of your existence." He snaps his fingers, or rather, claws. The tunnel dissolves and light explodes in my face. I'm falling down into what looks like a sea of fire. I can smell the stink of sulfur and burning as I plummet into the fiery abyss. I scream and scream and scream as I fall. I can hear Stalvo's mocking laughter. I look up to see him circling me as I fall. He smiles at me. "What did you expect? After all you've done, this is your reward. Enjoy."

I look down and manage to give one last scream just before I hit the ground. A fall of that distance, I should've broken every bone in my body. All it does is hurt terribly. The ground is burning hot, and there are flames all around, burning uncontrollably. I stand up only to get nearly blindsided by a big man. He howls miserably and disappears into the flames. Looking around, I realize that there are thousands upon thousands of people stumbling around in the flames, fighting each other for the clear patches of ground only to be pushed back in. Part of training at the Academy involved learning about the warriors of the past. I see plenty of these. Centurions, samurai, Huns, Mongols, ninja, every type of soldier from every war. Alongside them are absolutely ordinary people, all wearing different types of clothing from every culture imaginable. The extraordinary are also here. A huge 12-foot man stumbles by, wailing in a bass unmatched in District 2. There are even peacekeepers and Capitol citizens walking around in the inferno.

A shriek sends many cowering to the ground. I look up just in time to get raked across the face by a horrific caricature of a bird. I'm sent flying into a patch of fire. The pain I felt when Stalvo tortured me is nothing compared to this agony. I stumble out of the fire only to nearly get shoved back in. "Murderer!" screams the bird as it flies away. I'm now aware of hundreds of similar creatures, flying, walking, and even crawling through the masses, inflicting pain as they go. A sudden burst of agony shoots up from my leg. I look down to behold a worm-like demon, yes, they could only be demons, gnawing on my leg. I manage to kick it off. "Yes, a murderer of children," it gargles as it crawls away.

"I only did it because they told me to," I wail. "I was just doing what they taught me to do."

"Yes, that is what you were taught." I turn to behold a minotaur towering over me. "But you didn't fight it. You took to it like fuel to a fire." He backhands me into the glowing flames. "You enjoyed it," he rumbles as I shove my way out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I shriek. "Just please make it stop."

"You only live once, Clove." Stalvo leers as he lands on top of me. "After that, there's no going back." As he raises a forearm to deliver a blow, I realize for the first time just what a monster I was in life. Just how I used my life to harm the innocent. That I'm getting what I deserve right now.


Time passes. How long have I been here? A day, a month, a year, ten years? Time loses all meaning as I live my afterlife. There's no food and no sleep, but I hardly notice any desire for both. This place doesn't allow for either. Fire licks at my body as I fight my way out of a patch of the stuff. Hellfire burns like ordinary fire, but it can't kill you, just hurt you. What should be third-degree burns on my legs leaves no physical evidence as I run out of the blaze. Suddenly a man hits the ground right next to me. As if it wasn't enough to be locked in a supernatural furnace along with demons as jailors and tormentors, there's also the risk of having a new arrival land on your head.

As I turn away to avoid a tentacle attempting to draw me back into the flames, I hear the man cry out in a familiar voice. "Clove?" In shock, I turn back to behold one of my mentors from my Games. It's Brutus, dressed only in a pair of pants and wearing that look of horror/terror that most newcomers have. Never would I have imagined seeing any expression like that crossing his face. No sooner do I open my mouth to speak than a huge hellhound grabs him from behind and throws him into the inferno I just exited. I run before the hairless monster of a dog can grab me as well.

As I flee, I remember back to when he gave a speech to me and my classmates at the Academy. He preached about emulating the warriors of pre-Panem history, to fight as the Vikings who hoped to win glory and a place in Valhalla did. I watch as one of these very men, a berserker, is pushed into the flames by a Nazi officer, who in turn is wrestled into the blaze by an escaping woman. She screams a line in a foreign language, French perhaps, before running full speed into a demon with an alligator's head.

As he bites her, I laugh. Not at her but at what I was taught. "Is this Valhalla, Brutus? Is this where Odin entertains the best warriors? Because I'm not impressed!" I hope the big oaf can hear me through the din of Hell as I add my music to it. Hell's orchestra. The roar of the fires combined with the screams of its inhabitants and the laughter of the demons create a song that would make Snow straighten up.

Not long after Brutus shows up than more people start arriving. Most of them are District people along with Peacekeepers. It's not long before droves of Capitol people join us down here. I almost enjoy fighting them to stay out of the flames. "Burn you creeps, burn! I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and your Games," I shriek as I kick a girl my age into the waiting claws of a demon. Outwardly I make all the appearance of blaming them for my afterlife, but on the inside, I know that it's truly my fault for being down here.

Later there's a decrease in the number of newcomers. Since I've arrived I've seen an influx of Victors, District people, Peacekeepers, and even Capitol citizens. Something must be up topside. I'm not able to think much on that since I'm too busy fighting people to avoid the flames. I'm much better at fighting my own kind than I am at avoiding the demons. I used to think that mutts were ugly beasts; they have nothing on the creatures that torment me continually.

I'm suddenly slammed to the ground by an arrival. I jump up and glare at her. She's a middle-aged woman with grey eyes and grey hair that's too perfect to be real. She's staring at me, looking like she knows my face and is trying remember who it belongs to. I hear another scream above me and I look up in time for another arrival to land on top of me. I crawl out from under him to look into the eyes of President Coriolanus Snow of Panem. We stare at each other in recognition. Before either of us can say anything, the woman interrupts us by tackling Snow. "This is all your fault, Snow," she screams as she attempts to strangle him. "You knew and you told her, didn't you?"

Snow manages to shove her off into a patch of hellfire. She screeches and jumps back out. "Why yes, my dear," he grins. "I told your Mockingjay the truth, and she killed you for taking the life of her sister. As to our present location, you would have come here eventually, according to what you were planning to do."

She about to strike him when my old friend Stalvo comes out of nowhere and picks her up like a struggling insect. Snow is grabbed by a vulture-looking thing that joins Stalvo above us. It grins and says, "The type that believe they were doing the right thing and continue to do so while they're here are the most fun. Up for dragging them through the fire, friend Stalvo?"

Stalvo grins terribly. "With joy, Keelrate. With joy." They proceed to fly low over the inferno, dragging Snow and the woman through both the fires and the struggling masses. Their shrieks are audible long after I've lost sight of them.

I turn and continue on my way, avoiding the flames and demons as much as I can. What is happening up there? A coup? A war? Whatever's happened, it's cost Snow his life. I think back to what he said to the woman. The Mockingjay? It can't be the bird. It must be a person of some significance if Snow is referring to whoever it is by their title. What I wouldn't give to hear one of the songbirds right now. Or have a glass of water. Or some warm stew. Or see a glimpse of …

"Cato!" I scream. I see him fighting his way out of a crowd. He sees me, yells my name, and starts running toward me. I break into a run as well. I dodge people intent on staying out of the fire and demons intent on worrying their prey. We're 15 feet away from each other. 10 feet. 5. I can't believe this is happening. How long has he been down here? Did he die in the arena? Yes, he's wearing the clothes he had in the Games. It's a big place, so it's not surprising that we didn't see each other until now. Together, things will be much better with him at my back. We're about to collide when it happens.

I feel the familiar grip of Stalvo's claws dig into my shoulders and hoist me into the air. I see Cato getting grabbed by Keelrate. Keelrate grins up at Stalvo. "How about we drag these lovebirds through the flames, but in different directions?"

"Capital idea," chortles Stalvo. They proceed immediately. I manage to scream Cato's name one last time before I'm sent hurtling along on Stalvo's flight. The pain alternates between burning in the fire and slamming into bodies. Finally he throws me down and prepares to take off again.

"Why?" I scream at him.

He turns and grins. "There can be no comfort in Hell, Clovy." He flies off without another word. That's when it happens. It's been happening since I died, but this finishes it. My spirit truly breaks down, and so do I. I, Clove, tribute of District 2, Career, killer, warrior, am a waste. My entire life was a waste. There's nothing I can do to make anything right. Nothing.


I have no idea how long I've been down here. Centuries probably. It feels that way. At least it can't get any worse. Until they think up ways to make it worse. A new torture they've come up with (they must have learned it from Snow) is to take on the appearance of your loved ones and then turn back when you come running. They've used that one on me with all my friends and family. I'm recovering from one of those attacks when I feel something.

I jerk away and look up, but there are no flying demons trying to catch me. The feeling only increases. It's like a giant invisible hand is gently picking me up. Before I know it I'm off the burning hot ground and hovering it midair. I'm about a yard in the air when someone sees me and yells. In the immediate area every person and demon turns to look at the commotion and me.

For one moment, everything's in a stunned silence. Then with a roar, the demons charge. I'm suddenly shooting upward at a rate of speed I've never known before. I can hear the frenzied screams of the demons behind me. I risk a look behind me. It looks like all the demons of Hell are trying to catch me, Stalvo at their head. The gentle hand goes faster and faster, and they do their best to catch up. We reach the ceiling of Hell and go right through it without a hiccup. Unfortunately, so do they. As we climb, I find myself praying for the first time in both my life and my afterlife.

We continue flying upward through the ceiling. It looks like it's made of some kind of metal, maybe nickel or iron, maybe both. The solidity of our surroundings soon dissolves into a liquid. It reminds me of all the videos about lava I saw at the Academy. It soon becomes solid rock, but much cooler than the metal. Some of the demons are tiring from the chase and are headed back to the Abyss. Not all of them though. Stalvo is screaming at me as he chases us. This hand has to be from someone, a good someone. Nothing is worse than what I've been through.

Now the rock is cold and full of other minerals. Occasionally we fly through a river of lava. I barely feel the heat before we're out of it. Suddenly we're flying up through water. It's an underground body of water. I can't tell how big it is, but I do notice odd shapes moving around through the darkness. Before I can get a better look at them, we're out of the water and flying through the air and back into rock. By now, only Stalvo follows us. I can feel the heat of his breath on my back. He's angry and he won't stop until I'm back in Hell. At that thought I try to find the hand holding me so I can hold onto it.

Stalvo has almost caught up to me. His hands are about to latch onto me when our surroundings change. I have a brief impression of going through pipes and a floor towards an odd machine. Stalvo's scream fills me with absolute dread. The hand disappears and I suddenly feel like I have been dropped into a pool of freezing cold water.

With a start I realize my eyes are closed and open them in terror. I feel restrained and panic. I scream and start to struggle only to realize that it's not a demonic hand that's holding me down. I'm on some kind of table and I'm in restraints. I'm also in a hospital gown. The table is inside a machine that's powering down. A door at my feet is opening and the table is sliding out. The room outside is white and has the sterilized smell of a hospital. A bunch of people suddenly explode through the doors and surround me. They're looking at the machine and at me, talking, taking notes, and arguing. I start to struggle against the restraints again.

"Out, everyone out. Not you." A woman with blond hair and blue eyes in a suit is shoving them out of the room. Almost everyone. She's allowing one doctor and an older man to stay inside. Once the rest of them are gone and the doors are closed, she turns back to me. She's from the Capitol. I can tell from the polished look, though she doesn't make herself look freakish like most of them do. She studies me for a moment. "Take off the restraints." The doctor does so while she pours two cups of water from a bottle. When the restraints are off, she drinks from one of the cups and then offers the other to me. I stare at it and then grab it. I suck the water into my mouth and let it sit there for a moment before swallowing. Heavenly. My arms feel weaker than usual and my entire body feels stiff and weak.

"Clove, what do you last remember?" She's studying me closely, concerned.

"I never went to sleep. Before this I was in Hell."

They all look at each other and then back at me. "You know that you were dead then." It's a statement, not a question.

I swallow. "Yes." My heart starts pounding and before I know it I'm crying. "I was dead and in Hell." I look up at them through my tears and I suddenly freeze. "Why did you bring me back? If you want me to go back to the arena, I won't." I try to get up to run only to fall down. The doctor catches me before I hit the floor.

"You're not going back into the arena, Clove," the other man says, looking me in the eye. "I've been in the arena. Twice. And I wouldn't put my worst enemy through that."

I recognize him. Beetee, a Victor from District 3. I study him and I see no signs of lying. I lean into the man holding me up and sob into his shoulder. He awkwardly holds me as I just let loose.

"Well, this was different from the last one to come back," the woman mutters.

"There are others?" I gasp.

"Just one. She was the first we brought back and boy, was she mad at us. She told us that we had taken her out of Heaven. We also feared that she was the last. After her, there were six others before you. They stayed dead. What was her name again? She's the girl tribute from District 11 for your Games."

I start and then manage to choke out her name.

"Rue."