Ember Steiner- District Two female

There was a strange zen about me as I tied my shoelaces and walked out the door for the next round of hell. I couldn't think of anything worse than what I'd already been through. That didn't mean there wasn't anything worse- I was pretty sure there was- but the fact that I couldn't think of what it would be gave me a blissful ignorance. I would find out what I was about to suffer when it happened. Until then there was only resignation.

Unsurprisingly the next round was outside. It was the kind of weather someone would be hard-pressed to describe other than "a nice day"- the air was warm enough that I wasn't cold in my thin long-sleeved shirt but cold enough that I was glad it was a long-sleeved shirt. There were wispy clouds in the sky that didn't block the sun from showing through. A pleasantly rural two-lane road stretched into the distance, starting in a clearing and winding through trees at some points.

At the start of the road stood Titian ruining the peacefulness of the scene. He wore a green military uniform that looked ridiculous on his reedy frame and a pair of outlandish mirrored glasses. He had a fat cigar in his mouth that he didn't seem to be smoking. Once all the Tributes had gotten out of the armored vehicle that had driven us to the location, he took out the cigar and started his spiel.

Eleanor Cotton- District Eight female

"This is a very exciting day, Tributes," Titian started. He paused all throughout the next sentence and waggled his eyebrows to punctuate the heightened, even by his standards, drama. You're about to embark on the last round of this very special Games. That's right, this round lasts until only of of you is left. How long that takes is of course up to you. But before we start, we have a few things to take care of. Everyone please line up in alphabetical order to receive your numbers."

Whatever that means, I thought ominously. We all started clustering and walking around each other, those of us with surnames early in the alphabet constantly rearranging as we noticed how very many of us there were. At last we were in place and Peacekeepers walked down the line pinning laughably old-fashioned paper signs to our shirts. I was right in the middle- number 5. As they were pinning us the Peackeepers also handed out belts with canteens and tubes clipped on. I looked at the tubes and saw one was cheese paste and one was a sleeve of crackers.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's get to some rules. This final round is very simple. You only have to do one simple thing to win. All you have to do is walk."

Charming Goodwin- District One male

"I call this last round... The Long Walk. Why do I call it that? Because that's what the original story called it. Marvelous piece of work, too. One of the best pieces by one of my personal favorite authors. The rules are simple. Once the walk begins you will begin walking at a minimum pace of three miles per hour. If you fall below three miles an hour you will be given a warning. Warnings fall off after one hour. Receive three warnings at once and you are eliminated from the walk. No physical interference is permitted with fellow walkers but you are permitted to fraternize as much as you please. You may request a new canteen whenever you desire but be mindful of your food because new supplies will be given only once a day. The walk starts at 9 am sharp so you have ten minutes to do anything you need to prepare yourself."

Titian looked at his watch and paid no attention to the Tributes as we milled around and tried to figure out how to prepare. Those who had made friends quickly found each other and stood in clusters. In general there was a loose but definite divide between the Careers standing nearer one side of the road and the outliers standing on the other. Farther ahead on the road small tanks carried armed Peacekeepers to and fro.

How do I even prepare for this? It was so deceptively easy until you really thought about it. I could walk for miles and miles and so could everyone else. I could only imagine how very long it would take for someone to die of sheer walking and what exactly someone in that position would look like.

Jessie Cabello- District Two female

My eyes went from Tribute to Tribute as I ran the odds and estimated their chances. Gabriel and Katrina- numbers 6 and 8- were thin and spindly. I guessed they would be the first to go. Peach and Elara- 2 and 10- I was worried about. Twelves were used to endurance and Peach in particular would continue perhaps more than anyone out of spite so powerful I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she won. Or at least if it wasn't for Eleanor. I knew we were all thinking the same thing. Eleanor was built like a truck. I didn't really know how to envision anyone outlasting her. I didn't know anyone who could walk farther than a machine.

Elara Angelo- District Twelve female

This was a far more insidious and deeply terrifying round than any before it. Right now everyone looked fine. We were gathered at the start of a long paved road and once the round started all we would be doing was taking a slow walk. But that road stretched a long, long way. We were in my homeland- I recognized the topography of Twelve- and I imagined the road must stretch all the way to Eleven. It was longer than I'd even traveled in my entire life before the Games. And once we started we wouldn't stop. On that first step our bodies would start the slow process of failing. For a long time we wouldn't see it and then it would creep in bit by bit in an irreversibly downward spiral. We would get worse and worse and worse and it would only stop when one of us was the sole remaining walker. The rest of us would reach a point where we were so fundamentally damaged we couldn't even stand anymore. Like old age, I thought, and shuddered. We were all going to live out an entire lifetime out here.

Titian looked up from his watch and grinned as he looked out over us.

"Tributes, the Long Walk is about to begin. I give my congratulations to the winner and my acknowledgment of valor to the losers. Walkers, begin your walk!"