2 Weeks Earlier
Willow
I gasp for air as I bolt upright, a shock forcing its way through my body. A scream escapes my lips as every essence of my being protests any mouvement. My mind races with so many thoughts I'm left with nothing. My mind is so busy it fails me and my thoughts are blank. A voice soothes me to my left but my screams continue as I cover my ears with my hands, rocking back and forth to try and lull myself back into the peaceful sleep I was so rudely woken from. The light burns my eyes even after I squint them shut. Slowly my thoughts make sense once more as I remember why I was so peacefully sleeping.
I died.
The games killed me.
Rye sat with me as I died.
I'm dead.
A hand is lightly placed on my back, causing me to whip around and smack an arm away. A man stares at me, a smile on his face. His cheeks are damp. I shouldn't go as far to say he's a man, more likely a boy, maybe 19 at the most. The young man looks at me, saying something that I don't hear. My ears are ringing and the only sound I hear is my own heartbeat. My eyes are wide and I assume I resemble a deer in headlights. I don't want to look away from the young man, but my instincts pull me away and I press my hands to my ears again. This time I don't scream, but I find myself whispering three words over and over again. I don't know why at first, but after a few seconds it makes sense to me again.
"Cassius. Troy. Rye." I repeat again. I inhale sharply as I'm finally able to put a name to the man sitting next to me.
"Cassius." I whisper, slowly removing my hands from my ears and turning to look at him. He smiles and nods.
"Cassius." I repeat once more. He nods again and his smile broadens.
"Hey." I reach out to touch his cheek, but as soon as my fingers meet his face a painful shock of electricity sends me reeling back. Someone behind me clears their throat and I turn my head to see someone standing in the doorway. It takes me a second to put a name to the face, but then I realize its Troy, my mentor, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Troy." I say, confusion spreading through my mind. Troy smiles at me and walks over to me.
"Good to see you." He says as he leans over the bed to hug me. Like with Cassius, a shock greets me instead of him. I reel back again and look confused at my hands. I look up to Troy for an explanation when I realize something else.
"I died." I say. Troy nods. I look over to Cassius to see his smile has faded.
"You died too." I state, looking at Cassius. He nods and look to Troy.
"You're still alive, right?" Troy nods too, glancing briefly to Cassius. I want to ask so many questions but no words fall from my open mouth.
.
Troy sighs and begins to speak.
"You're not dead." This simple sentence confuses me and I close my eyes tightly to try and let myself fall back into the sleep of death.
"I know." Cassius says, placing a hand on my back. This time there's no shock. I look up at Cassius, but he's looking at Troy.
"This is going to be a lot to take it, but just hear me out, alright?" Troy says, pulling up a chair from across the room and sitting at the foot of the bed. I realize now that I'm in a white room with multiple machines along the wall. I see a trio of tubes implanted in my wrist and trace them to what I assume are heart rate monitors and an IV machine, but I'm far from educated in the medical field, or any field for that matter. I nod to Troy and he continues;
"Your stylist, Dew, and I worked very closely together. Dew has a lot of friends in the Capitol, friends with a lot of power. We'd been planning a way to rescue as many tributes as we could. This isn't new for this year either, we've been doing this for the past two games.
The gamemakers were testing a new tracker, a cheaper alternative to what they've been using in the past. The liquid is injected into the bloodstream and deactivates when the tribute dies.
We managed to gain the support of the retrieval crew and convinced them to help us. When the tributes were collected, we made sure they were dead so the tracker serum was deactivated and attempted to revive them. The serum doesn't reactivate so we bring them here to re introduce them life, like you."
Troy looks at me like he's explained the most simple thing in the world. I look to Cassius and he's shaking his head.
"That explanation didn't work for me, what makes you think she'll get it?" Cassius says.
"She's a little smarter than you." Troy says with a laugh. A grin creeps onto my lips and then I realize something, theres no pain. I had a massive gash on my lips from the games and now i can't feel any pain. I touch where the wound should be and find nothing but soft skin.
"We fixed all of your injuries too, even the wound that…" Troy trails off, seemingly not knowing how to finish his sentence.
"Killed me?" I say, guessing how that sentence was supposed to end. He nods and continues.
"You've been in an induced coma for a few days. We had to shock you to bring you out, sorry about that." I smile slightly, still not understanding everything. Then, another question escapes my lips before I even realize it.
"Rye?" Troy nods.
"He's okay." There's a long pause. "He won after you died. He's on his way to Twelve right now." Troy says. I can tell he's keeping something from me by the way he talks.
"Does he know?" I ask. Troy looks to his feet and shakes his head.
"No. Maybe a dozen people other than the rescued tributes know. It's too dangerous." I bury my head in my hands, trying to make sense of all this.
I died in the arena. I was rescued and revived. I've been in a coma. I woke up. I'm alive. Rye doesn't know.
One more question pops into my head.
"You said you rescued more. The others are alive too?" I ask Troy, he look at Cassius and he replies instead of Troy.
"Some of them. They got eight not including you and me." He pauses. "You're the last one to wake up." I nod slowly.
"Who else is alive?" I ask hesitantly, not sure if I want to face the people I've killed. I know there are a lot of them, I wasn't exactly humane in the arena. Cassius take a moment to think and then begins listing off names and districts,
"Athena, the boy from 3, Kai, the girl from 6, both from eight, and both from eleven." Both from eleven. That means my killer, Dale, is alive. For a brief moment rage fills me, but then I remember, I killed both the girl from six and the boy from three. They feel the same way toward me. I dark thought crosses my mind.
I'm glad most of the kids I killed aren't here.
The evil in that thought scares me, the games changed me. The games made me someone who is glad they don't have to face the kids they murdered. The games make me a coward.