Jordan's POV
As I watch the most recently awakened tribute walk down the hill to the beach with Cato, I remember my awakening.
One minute, I am laying on the ground with an arrow in my heart and my friend Kaden holding my head up, promising it will be OK, and the next I am in complete darkness. Then there was the surgery. It was a heart operation that, I later learned, was performed on several of the Awakened Tributes. The excruciating pain is all I remember from that.
Then when I woke up after that, Cato introduced me to After The Games. It is an amazing little camp, set on the beaches of District 4. There are several buildings designed to rehabilitate us and introduce us back into the world, or whatever they plan on doing. But being from 4, I spend as much time as possible by the water.
After being reaped for the 50th Hunger Games, and seeing how they spoil children before they kill them, I would not put it past the Capitol to do all of this just to execute us. I am only thirteen, so I am not the most strategic person, but it is the only thing I can think that they would do to us.
When the newbie joins us, he seems nice enough. He is quite but friendly, and is about my height, but looks far different. I have short blonde hair, and his is long and black. I have a long face, his is round. And I am slim, he seems muscular. But we both have red eyes, just like all of the Awakened.
I do not pay much attention to him though, since new tributes join us daily. Kaden was woken a few days ago, but did not need surgery because he died of poison gasses. The doctors told me they have removed all of it from his system, and that he should wake any time now, but it has not happened yet.
I enjoy a huge breakfast of exotic fruit and bread from several districts before heading over to the ocean to swim. I love the water, and it has always helped me concentrate and through this program, sooths my confusion. I think that is why they picked District 4 as the location for ATG: the ocean.
After about an hour of diving, surfing, and jumping waves by myself, I return to the beach. I take a towel from one of the staff, then dry off and slip on some sandals and a white outfit before heading to the lounge. It is a large room with high ceilings where we can relax and just hang out, but since I am pretty anti-social, I avoid it. Today I go there only because the hospital is underneath. I enter the room, noticing the fireplace has been extinguished for the day, and cross directly to the row of three elevators, pushing a button to summon the one in the middle.
The bottom five floors are for holding tributes after their surgery, therapy, or whatever needs done to keep them alive. They stay in a single room until they are conscious enough to join the rest of us above ground, then a volunteer Awakened Tribute takes them to the world above. Even though I do not have too, I have been visiting Kaden's room as much as possible. Except for meals, night, and a few short swims, I am always waiting for him to wake up and I have a feeling today will be the day.
When I step into his room, I am shocked – Kaden is awake.
He was fifteen when we were in the Games, and the strongest of any of us. He came with me from 4, as that was the Quarter Quell that twice as many tributes were selected. We were extremely close, so I am ecstatic to see his tall, strong body sitting up in the bed.
"Kaden!" I scream as I run towards him and jump on the bed to tackle him. At first, it seems like this has offended him, but then he realizes that I am being friendly and relaxes.
"Jordan," he says weakly, "Where am I?"
Where to start… I think.
So, I explain everything to him. I tell of our deaths, the Gamemakers' tubes of gel, the years that have passed since, and the new program they are using to Awaken us. Of course, he is skeptic and confused, but so was I and everyone else we woke up. I gather some clothes for him from a cart in the hall, and he continues to question me as he dresses.
"How can you trust these people!?" He yells. "They put us in the Arena, Jordan. They let that kid kill you, and then, if what you're saying is true, they killed me!"
"What options do we have, Kay?" I counter. "They brought us back to life, they can't be all bad."
After more questions, he gives us and agrees to leave with me.
"So what do we do?" He asks, flipping his long, brown hair and standing, towering me by over a foot.
"We just sort of hang out," I shrug. "Sometimes the doctors hold classes or therapy, but we just chill out. The beaches haven't changed at all."
"You mean we're back in 4?" He gasps.
"Yeah!"
We spend the rest of the day outside, in the water for most of it. Sometimes, Kaden asks me a question I can't answer, like when After The Games ends or who is in charge. I just have to give him the best answers I can, saying, "Whenever the Capitol decides," and "President White I guess."
When answering his second question, it does occur to me that the new president may have something to do with our Awakening. The process started a mere month after her inauguration (which followed Snow's death).
That evening, after a luxury roast pig dinner, I show my ally to the District 4 building. There is a building for each district on the camp. Inside, specialized housing, counseling, and foods are provided only to the Awakened from that District. I show him our room. Since we were from the same Games, we were paired as roommates.
"I wonder how that works for our girls from our Games," Kaden laughs. "They both died in a sword battle right after you…" Then, out of nowhere, his face becomes angry. "She did it."
"Who did what?" I ask, unlocking the door with my fingerprint.
"Olivia. She was the one that shot that arrow. She killed another tribute from 4 and she didn't even have to!"
"You mean the one that shot me?" I inquire, realizing I have not considered who my murderer may be.
He only nods and asks, "Where is she?"
I shove him inside (which I could never do if he resisted) and shut the door. "No harm, Kay. It had to be done."
"There were others," he argues, "She didn't have to go after someone from her own district and so young."
"It's been twenty-seven years. If they would have left me alone, I would be forty by now. I'm not young," I remind him.
"But you were," Kaden says softly, now thinking. "So were Annie, and Jamie, and Rams."
Annie and Jamie were Kaden's younger sisters. They were both four when he left for the Games, and he always told me how much he cared about them. Then there was Rams, a different story. Rams was another boy about Kaden's age. They had dated for a while before Rams was reaped the year before us.
I chuckle in my head thinking about how, in every District except 4 and the Capitol, a guy dating a guy is illegal.
"I bet they're still alive," I tell him, talking about the girls. "They're only going to be thirty-one now."
"I never want to see them," he says coldly. "Because I know that the government won't let me stay, then they'll just have to handle losing me twice."
I had not thought of that. That is a possible plan: reintroduce us to our districts and families for a short time, then rip us away. Maybe they would execute us, or turn us into avoxes, or reap us for the Games again.
After a long while, Kaden changes the subject by asking me to turn the lights on. I had forgotten them.
When lit, our room is spectacular. It has sea-green walls and light, brown, shaggy carpet. Two beds rest against one wall and a bathroom door on the other. The other two walls hold the door, and a row of open windows that overlook the ocean with curtains of a bright blue. All over, paintings and shells remind me of a high-class, District 4 home. I believe it resembles the mayor's mansion.
"You've got to be tired," I say. "Awakening and swimming all day."
"Yeah, but I'm almost scared to sleep. How will I not dream about the Games?" He reminds me. "In my mind, I was in the Arena yesterday, gagging on whatever that gas was."
"It isn't easy," I confess. "I have nightmares a lot, thinking about it all. Not even the arrow, just the fear of the place."
"Well you know that I'm here for you next time," he grins.
In the Arena, he had made me his project. I am so small and weak, that Kaden chose to protect me the same way he had always done for his sisters. I actually trusted him in there, and always felt safe. A lot of people thought he was just crushing on me, which may have been true, but he was a great friend and ally.
When I climb into my bed, closest to the windows, he sits at beside me and ruffle what little bit of hair I have.
"You're still safe ya know," he reminds me. "I'll make sure of it."
I decide now is a good time to confess my fears, "Kaden, I feel like we're just more entertainment for the Capitol. Like this is all going to end and we'll end up dead, for real this time."
"Didn't I pro-"
"You can't take on the entire Panem government," I interrupt.
"We could run," he suggests.
"From paradise?" I question. "I think if we try to escape, it'll just make things worse."
He just laughs, "That makes no since, but your logic is cute."
Then he slides into my bed, trying to comfort me from the nightmares.
Awkward.