Alayza Mont POV

Crap! I died!

I glared out at the lab coat clad men and women staring at me.

"I didn't need your help. I had it," I said.

"You were dead," one of the women said.

"That's your opinion," I said. The Games were mine to win. Obviously someone cheated and that's why they had to bring me back. Whoever it was, they probably executed him.

"Did you guys bring Thompson back too?" I asked.

"Yes, him and a few others from your Games," a man said. It was no matter. I'd just kill him again anyway. This time the Games would be fair and I'd win like I was supposed to. Peppermint got lucky. Oh, yuck. She was going to be a mentor. What did she have to teach? I'd have killed her too if things had gone right.

The door opened and a man carrying a microphone walked in. He waved aside the doctors and approached me.

"I'm with the Capitol Times. Do you have any quotes for the people of Panem?" he asked.

"She really shouldn't-" one of the doctors started.

"Buzz off. I got this," I interrupted. I turned to the reporter. "Tell Panem I'm back and this time things are going to happen the right way."


Caldwell Brax POV

Apparently I died and scientists in the Capitol brought me back. That sounded right, even if I didn't understand all the science. It was really important. What was important was all these people staring at me and poking me. They made my skin crawl. I wrapped my arms around myself and focused on the pulsing line of the heartbeat monitor by my bed. It stayed the same and made a soothing noise.

"Are you all right?" a man asked me.

"I'm okay," I said without looking at him.

"This one's a little odd," another doctor said to the first. "If he lived here he'd have been tested by now."

"Do you know why you're here?" a third doctor asked.

"A bunch of us are going to fight again," I said.

"That's right," the man said.

"But we already lost once so we're not very good fighters. This Game will be boring," I said. The man seemed to think that was funny.

"I hope not," he said with a laugh. It's not very funny when people die. Obviously they don't understand that.


Haber Dasher POV

Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable that any boys would be considered All-Stars. As soon as I heard the twist I was overjoyed to think of a group of girls alone in the Arena. We would work together and make our own society. It would be paradise. Then the Capitol had to go let the snake into the garden.

"How many boys were allowed to come back?" I asked.

"Thirty, I think," the doctor (a woman) said.

"More boys than girls? Who picked?" I asked in horror.

"The Gamemakers and the people," the woman said.

"Someone must have rigged the votes," I said. But then, at least there were twenty other girls to ally with. If we all banded together we could get rid of the boys on the first day. Things weren't all bad.

I was also pleased to hear that Sky won the Games I participated in. Despite some setbacks, us girls still came through. We'd been doing very well lately, with the exception of Erwin. Nobody liked him anyway, which only proved my point. I looked forward to another year of certain victory.


Ryker Merlen POV

I guess they accepted my apology, since enough people liked me that I got chosen. That was nice, but it didn't change the fact that I was most likely going to die again. I'd already had to come to terms with death once before, and it didn't get easier the second time. Every few seconds the thought would return like I was realizing for the first time that I was going to die. I'd reject it and refuse to believe it. Then it would slip inside me and I would know that everything I planned was all for nothing. I would look ahead and see my family mourning me all over again, and envision my final moments knowing I'd failed to survive once more.

I didn't know what to think about the Capitol. Was it good for them to bring Tributes back only to kill them again? At least no new children would die and one of us would live. Did that balance out all of us who would die twice? The scary thing was that by Capitol standards, this was positively angelic. How do we live in a country like this? Even the Dark Days were better.


Boy, Eight gets the worst girls.