maddiereid97
In District 6, where trains never sleep and childhood ends early, sixteen year olds Russell Robbins and Violet Mercado have done the impossible. They have carved out a small, stubborn piece of happiness in a world that exists to break people like them.
Russell, known as Rusty to the handful of people who matter, is an orphan who lives with his weary uncle and fiercely protects his little sister. Violet is the middle child in a bruised but still breathing family, trying to fill the impossible space her dead mother left behind. For two years, Rusty and Violet have believed in a future that poor kids in District 6 are not supposed to believe in: one where they turn nineteen, get married, maybe have children, and grow old together in spite of everything the Capitol has planned for them.
The day before the Reaping, they cross a quiet, invisible line in their relationship. In a final stolen night, they give each other everything, clinging to the hope that they will survive another year untouched. Rusty is sure the odds will never touch them. Violet is not so sure, but she lets herself believe him.
On Reaping Day, belief shatters.
Violet's name is drawn.
In a heartbeat, every plan Rusty has ever made collapses. The future he wanted, the life he built in his mind, burns to ash while the square watches. He could let her go to the arena alone, like so many other boys have let girls go to their deaths before. Or he can do the one thing that terrifies everyone in Panem more than the Reaping itself.
He volunteers.
He does not volunteer because he is brave. He volunteers because he cannot imagine breathing in a world where Violet does not. In his mind there is only one promise left to make: wait for her, or die with her.
Thrust into the blood soaked spectacle of the 64th Hunger Games as the star crossed pair from District 6, Rusty and Violet are an instant story for the cameras. The Capitol adores them, dresses them as a tragic romance in motion, and sells their love...