We had to savour our moments of blithe and extend them out for as long as we could. It was one of the few things that we would be able to hold onto, that the Hunger Games and the Capitol and President Snow would never be able to take away from us.
Our love. Our happiness. And our hope.
•
It's time for the 66th Annual Hunger Games, and 15-year-old Toni Abbot of District 1 is absolutely dreading it. Not because she believes she is incapable of winning -- no, she knows otherwise -- but because she despises the Games, loathes the Capitol, and is appalled by President Snow, the man who runs the country of Panem and relishes in each year's dreadful Hunger Games. Where 24 tributes go into the arena -- two from each of the twelve Districts, one boy and one girl, from the ages of 10 through 18 -- and one one exits as a victor.
Toni is determined to win the Games, but one thing sets her back. Or, rather, two people. One 10-year-old boy whom she has loved as a brother and a friend since the day he was born, and one 17-year-old boy who she meets on the night of the opening ceremonies of the Games and immediately decides to be friends with. Both of them are there with her, in the arena. She fights every moment not just to keep herself alive, but to keep them alive, too. She loves them both too much to let them die, and she absolutely refuses to even think for a second about killing them herself. She just can't do it.
So Toni finds herself at a dire crossroads; which path she will choose to take, even she has no idea. But eventually, at the very last possible moment, everything will fall into place. Except for the things that are broken or left behind, that is. She wonders without really knowing that she is if her heart will ever be one of them.
•
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NOTE: This is a re-write of the original book, however I did not want to simply edit the existing chapters since it might not qualify for the Wattys, and deleting chapters gets rid of the reads for that particular chapter.
"And now we honour our fiftieth anniversary. As a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district will be required to send twice as many tributes."
Melia Cressview. Ember Cressview. Bailey Birling. Haymitch Abernathy. All from District 12. All from the Seam. All in the Hunger Games.
Twenty-five years before Katniss Everdeen ever sets foot in the arena, there is another group from District 12 who grows in the hearts of those in the Capitol. Each comes with skills and attributes that will help or harm them in the arena, and each has one thing they are fighting for.
Whether they live or die, these will be the biggest Games yet.