Chapter 4: The Quell

Justin and I say goodbye to Ivo in a whirlwind the next day. My mentor hugs me close and whispers to me: "You can do this, Megan. Tressa would be very proud of you."

I know he's only trying to make me feel better. Maybe when this is all over, Ivo can at least go on living. He can, which is probably why Justin volunteered. We've both been long dead anyway. It just took us some years.

When I am pushed up into the arena, I am surrounded by water. The drugs from the morphling I took this morning are starting to wear off. There's the Cornucopia, on an island in the middle of this sea, with rocky spokes jutting out to create wedges that trap two tribute pedestals apiece. I am confined with Johanna Mason of District 7. Even though she has no axe, I bet she would not hesitate to kill me with her bare hands.

Also: I can't swim. And I don't know how many of the Victors trapped in here can either.

So when the gong goes off, I leap from my pedestal and reach the nearest rocky spoke in one bound and flee into the trees. I take off into the jungle trees.

I hide throughout the day, just like I did on my first and only complete day fifteen years ago. But unlike that first day, only eight cannons are heard. After the sun finally falls, the faces of the dead appear in the sky:

James Logan of District 5. Justin (I feel a pang of guilt). Woof Casino and Cecelia Sanchez of 8. Daniel Bernhardt and Marian Green of 9; the former is a surprising death. The District 10 female, I think her name was Tiffany. and Seeder from 11. That's it.

I wonder how Justin placed. I am sure he made it to the island somehow, he would have run into the fight bravely, but likely would have been the first to go. I nestle into the trees and vines and go to sleep.


Two cannons awake me during the night. And soon, I hear screeching.

It is the wee hours of the morning, judging by the lightening of the sky and air around me. And then I see the reasons for the screeches. Monkeys, attacking three tributes. I recognize the crop of blond hair instantly: Peeta Mellark of District 12. He's with his lady love, Katniss Everdeen, as well as Finnick Odair of District 4. Weird alliance, but to each his own.

And the monkeys won't let them escape to the safety of the beach that I know is just beyond. In fact, one lunges at Peeta feet from my hiding place.

I don't think. Only act. I throw myself in front of the boy and take the fangs of the beast myself. His bite stings like nothing I have ever felt in any needle and certainly not in any arena.

I can already feel myself slipping away as gentle hands carry me out of the jungle trees and onto the beach. And then into the soothing tide. I see Peeta's face and hold onto it like a lifeline, as he speaks soothing words.

"See the pretty sky?" And he makes me look up at the rising sun. "All those colors! Don't think about anything else."

So I don't, as I slip away from this life. I hope he can win and be with his girlfriend. Unlike many of my colleagues, I believe their love story is real. I sacrificed myself for him and he didn't even know my name.

But maybe it's better that way.

BOOM.