Grain & Blood | A Hunger Games collection

System Overload- Chapter Two

Iris

I need to figure out the facts. Is any of this actually true? It must be, the article that I just finished reading is an official text from the Hunger Games Archives. Why would it lie? Why should it? If someone twenty years from now wanted to know about the 36th Hunger Games, reading lies would not help them. So why does this say that my name was called in a draw for who was to be resurrected, when I specifically remember dying from Kamalyn's knife marks on my face, why would she have died too? I mean, I did stab her too, but it's not like she would have died from them. Would she? There was a chance but...

I look up from the sheaf of papers at the door. One of the nurses has come in, presumably to knock me out. None of them ever talk to me, apart from one, the one who got the documents. It's as if they think I'm not human, just a mutation of the Capitol's creation. With a sigh, I place the stack of paper on the table next to my bed, waiting for the nurse to inject a shot of morphine into my arm. None of them actually care about me, why should they? I'm just a girl. A girl that they've been lumped with as part of their job.

Instead of shooting the morphine into my arm, she sits on the end of my bed and starts talking.

"You need to know the truth. You've been digging into the past and I know you want to find out what really happened after you died."

"So I did die," I interrupt.

"Yes, you did. At the exact same moment as your opponent did. There was a hasty draw on who was to be resurrected. Kamalyn was drawn. But the camera angle revealed, if you looked closely at the right moment that the other slip had half of a letter K on it."

"So she was chosen as the favourite, because Snow didn't want me to go home to my family. Great. I'll be sure to put him on my list of people to kill."

"Actually, it wasn't because Snow wanted your family to suffer, but that was part of it. But it was more because..." she takes a deep breath and I sit up, "Kamalyn was chosen because she was better."

It takes a few seconds for the nurse's words to sink in.

"So she was better, huh? I killed seven in those games, she killed six. In fact, since I killed her too, that makes eight. And I'll kill her again in a heartbeat. Get me on the first train to District 4, I'll beat her brains out, I'll tear her heart to shreds, I'll-"

"Actually, she isn't in District 4 at the moment."

"Oh right. Victory tour. Where is she now? District 9, laughing at what is left of my family?"

"She was in your district four days ago, and was actually quite apologetic. Like she didn't mean to kill you,"

I laugh a little at that. "No way. If she didn't want me dead, she wouldn't have tried to kill me... what? Four times? Five? To be honest, I lost count."

After a moment of silence, I continue my rant. "So she apologised for killing me in the snarky and arrogant voice that she used to taunt me in the arena and before that. Wonderful. I'm sure Jonen and Clementine feel like they got the apology they deserved."

"Something makes me think that Jonen and Clementine got more than an apology. Something like revenge?"

"What, and killed Kamalyn? Doubted."

"Well, pretty much."

Those words stop me in my tracks, not that I was going anywhere.

"Kamalyn is dead?"

"She was, but luckily the doctors here revived her."

"Luckily? Luckily? Did she taunt you endlessly about your brother, about your attempts to keep him alive? No. Did she slaughter you so you couldn't go home to your family? No. Did she make your life hell when all you wanted to do was stay alive? No. She never spoke to you. You never spoke to her. She was just a puppet in the games, and you didn't care. And what does this have to do with why I'm alive?"

"You were revived because if she died and the doctors couldn't do anything about it, the 36th Hunger Games had to have a victor, and you were next in line. So you were revived. In fact, you were in a stasis chamber for six months."

"So I'm alive to replace her."

"Yep."

"Great. Are you here to kill me, because she is most definitely fine?"

"No, I was here to tell you the truth. And also, you're moving to a shared ward tomorrow. I'll bring you a bag, you can pack your stuff."

"Thanks. Who am I sharing with?"

But the nurse is already out the door.

HI! CaN yOu GuEsS wHo ShE's ShArInG a RoOm WiTh? Good you aint stupid. See you tomorrow. Bye.

-Katherine