I'm sorry. This is a terrible ending.

Chapter Fifteen

It could have been District 12. It could have been district 13. It could have been the real world, oh so many years ago, the world of New York and California and the pyramids of Giza, but it wasn't. It was the fanciful, mystical fairyland that was the Capitol.

And it burned. It burned well. You could do well with fire, log burning and metaphors of rebellion and such, but what fire really was was heat. Heat burned. Heat hurt. And it shone brightly, proudly, not at all ashamed at its murders. Much like the Capitol itself had been.

People ran, screaming, through the villages and towns as nuclear bombs rained from the sky. And the funny thing was, only one bomb had been sent. One warning bomb on the president's mansion. How could you send one bomb and bomb with many? You could call it a miracle, but miracles are wonderful, beautiful, shiny, and, above all, helpful. This was in no way a miracle. The best you can call it is an act of God.

Through the panic, the Capitol fought back. They sent planes to bomb district 13. This was not a war between the Capitol and the districts. This was a war between the Capitol and The District.

It hurt her eyes and throat, to stand in a burning house. And yet, she was not afraid. Because she was finally being sent home.

"After all these years," muttered Alexandra.

She vaguely felt herself being dragged out of a fire. She was lying in the middle of the street, screaming people all around her.

She opened her eyes.

"Are you okay?" asked the boy above her.

"Andrew?" she asked.

He nodded. Alexandra had half expected him to supply his real name. Perhaps he didn't have one.

"Are you okay?" she mumbled.

"Kind of burned, but it's okay. I've lived through worse."

"You were different then. So was I."

"The world is ending. This is it, then. Is there anywhere else to run to?"

"Stop being so melodramatic."

"You're the one on the ground."

A building behind him caught fire, and some people screamed.

"There are places that Panem isn't," mumbled Alexandra. She shut her eyes.

"Alex! Don't die on me!" he shook her gently.

"I don't mind," she said with her mouth half closed.

"I do! Come on!" he slung her over her shoulders and ran through the crowd.

He was aware of her complaining as he ran, but at least that meant she was still alive. He got tired and started to walk. Where to go? To the districts, possibly up into the wild north?

"I could really do with some divine intervention right now," he said.

"Katniss," mumbled Alexandra.

"Katniss Everdeen? Where is she?"

"Possibly in 12. Can we catch a train?"

"Catch a train? Are you crazy?"

"Maybe hijack a helicopter?"

He looked towards the sky. There were helicopters. One was hit by a bomb and came to the ground in flames.

Meanwhile, the gods watched.

"We could have done it quickly."

"No. They deserve it."

"Couldn't we have gone with a plague?"

"That takes too long."

"We could never hijack one," he said.

"Has anybody you know got a helicopter?"

"Well, there was this family in two who actually owned a helicopter, very wealthy, practically Capitol-"

"Perfect. Let's go. And take me off your back."

"Sorry."

Alexandra lowered herself to the ground and brushed herself off as though some dust had gotten on her clothes. Andrew half expected her to say something like, Oh, blood comes right out with the right mixture of soap and baking powder! No worries!

"All right, you point the way," she commanded. He led and they began to walk. Andrew noticed Alexandra walking with a limp.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Alexandra.

"That was a long time ago. The man who owned it probably died already."

"Did he have any heirs?"

"No, I was the only person who lived with him."

"No relatives to leave it to?"

"Nobody younger than himself."

"So, you were the only person who he knew and was close to. Who do you think he included in his will?"

"Wait… Are you saying he might have let it to me?"

"Yes."

"But I can't just go in there and claim it!"

"Seeing is believing! You go up there and say, 'I'm… whatever you called yourself…"

"Erin Tell."

"Really? So, you say, 'I'm Erin Tell! Could I please read the last will and testament of… uh…"

"Jonathon Tell."

"Jonathon Tell, and I believe he left me something.' Then they'll look at you and believe it. Their brains will fill in all the details for them."

"But I'm probably dead! Long dead, ix feet under!"

"Naw. You can't be dead if you're standing right there in front of them!"

"But how do you explain that I'm still seventeen?"

"You're not seventeen."

"I look like I am."

"It's a long walk to district two," said Alexandra. "Can we hail a cab?"

"What? I didn't understand that sentence. There's a bus to ride."

"Where?"

"Bus stops over here."

Despite the mayhem in the Capitol, the bus stopped at the bus stop. Alexandra and Erin climbed on.

"You got a real name, Erin?" asked Alexandra.

"Nope."

"Cool."

They rode in silence.

"Are they in love?" asked Aphrodite.

"Aphrodite," said Athena. "The human race is rapidly declining. Get over it."

Katniss Everdeen walked off the train with a camera around her neck. She was a reporter.

She went to the Everdeens' house and knocked on the door.

Her mother answered.

"I'm sorry, we don't want to talk to any- Katniss?" she did a double take, then leapt up and threw her arms around her daughter. "Oh my god, I missed you so much."

"Mom," she said. "Is Prim…" she trailed off.

"She's in the kitchen," said her mother.

Katniss froze. "She won?"

"No. Madge volunteered for her."

"No! Madge!"

"Madge won. The Capitol is trying to revive her."

"The Capitol?"

There was a knock at the door. Katniss opened it.

It was Artemis. "Katniss! We must go, now! Take your family with you, please!"

"What?" asked Katniss, bewildered.

"Katniss! Just come!"

"Mom, go get Prim," said Katniss to her mother.

Katniss's mother rushed away to find Prim.

"Katniss," said Artemis. "Your world is ending. Will you rejoin the huntresses to save yourself and your family?"

"Of course, but where will we go if the world is ending?"

"We have places."

Katniss looked outside to find a previously nonexistent train sitting there. Suddenly two people came running towards her, but stopped when they saw the train.

"That's Angeles!" said Katniss. "And that boy. Is he related to Katia? He looks like her."

"He is her son," said Artemis.

They eventually saw Artemis and her squadron and approached slowly and carefully, like approaching a tyrannosaurus rex.

They arrived at the door.

"We will all go." Said Artemis. "Angeles and your Katia's son, too."

"Katia?" asked Erin.

"You will never see her," said Artemis. "Get over it."

Katniss's mom came out with Prim. They ran towards the train.

Once they were inside, Katniss looked out the window and saw darkness. Was it the night? Then she saw the planet Earth.

"We're in space."

"Of course."

"I can see the destruction."

The planet looked terrible. Brown and bombed over. While Katniss was watching, a grey cloud suddenly spread over the Earth's surface.

"What is that?" she asked.

"The dead are being released from the underworld."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere else. A place where your kind are still picking their noses and eating it for dinner, and stick figures on cave wall are considered great art."

"Another world?"

"Another planet. Right now it's just a random lump of rock with bacteria growing on it. A very big lump of rock, and very intelligent bacteria, but it's still a lump of rock no matter what you try to call it."

"How can you just leave the human race like that?"

"We should have done so when you people had almost died out. You have to let a planet run its natural cycle, and we didn't. That's why we had to terminate the dominant race. We normally don't grow so attached."

"Terminate? Wait, normally? You've done this before?"

"Where do you think all those strange creatures come from? The satyrs and such?"

"But is this always how it plays out? There isn't ever a happily ever after? It's always blood and tears and death and pain?"

"I'm afraid so."

"And you just watch! Why?" Even as she asked this, Katniss knew the answer. The gods were the Gamemakers, and the humans had been the tributes. Country on country, maybe, but a Hunger Games nonetheless. And then, when the Hunger Games had almost been over, there was no victor, and the gods just had to intervene. You can't have a Hunger Games without a victor.

"What do you suggest we do?"

"Don't you have lives?"

"An immortal life is hardly a life at all, Miss Everdeen."

Katniss sighed. "It could have gone differently," she said quietly.

"It could have, but it didn't. Such is the way of the universe."

Katniss wanted to protest, but she knew Artemis was right. The universe was full of tributes. Sometimes you just had to accept that you were a tribute and not a Gamemaker, and that you actually were a piece in their games.

Katia watched the army of the dead come forth from the ocean. A dark cloud was rising in the sky. They looked confused, in need of a leader. Katia stood on a rock and started to speak.

"Listen to me!" she shouted. "Your world has ended! You have been released from the Underworld!"

They were intrigued. A living voice among the dead was louder than a ticking bomb in a steel room.

"The living era has come and gone," she continued. "And there is room for a new civilization! A civilization without gods! A civilization without necessity, with no war, no plague! The civilization of the dead will never die!"

The dead cheered, a sound hardly audible above a whisper.

"We should start," said Katia, "By building something! Go get some rocks!"

The dead began to organize themselves. Some were sent to get rock, others to hunt food and water. Katia was made queen, and remained queen even after death. Slowly, over thousands of years, old inventions were recreated, and new ideas were on the rise. The world was slowly patched up.

And then, one day, a strange craft fell from the sky.

A ghost boy found it and immediately contacted Katia the Queen.

She prodded it, and some people came out.

"Greetings!" one said.

"You are gods," said Katia.

"Yes! We claim this planet!"

"We used to have gods. They abandoned us."

"We will not abandon you! With us, your civilization will last forever!"

"No, it won't. We won't be bothered by the odd lightning bolt, and will not burn our stuff for some useless arrogant deity, so if you could please get in your ship and leave immediately."

"We are gods! We will not be spoken to in this manner!"

"Leave. Now."

The gods turned around and climbed back into their vehicle. It made a low rumbling sound and was gone.

"Katia," said the ghost boy. "There are other gods. There are other worlds."

"Yes, but we don't need them. Gods only get in the way."

"But they're gods!"

"Our civilization will last forever with peace and hard work. Not through worshipping useless things."

The boy left to tell his family of the day's events. Katia sat back. Despite the sunshine, a chill ran across her back. She knew this world couldn't last forever. Sooner or later, somebody would figure out how to kill a dead man, and there would be war, and there would be Hunger Games, and worst of all, there would be a decline. A slow gentle decline. Yes, eventually this race would die, for real. Because nothing lasts forever. Not even the gods.