📘 CHAPTER 21 — THE THREE LEFT
The arena feels smaller now.
The air hangs heavy after the Feast, thick with the scent of smoke and the metallic tang of spilled blood. Hayley and Jordan move slowly through the broken field, leaving the Cornucopia behind. The silence is wrong — too complete. No birds. No wind. No distant footfalls of other tributes.
Only three left.
Hayley.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cv3UmHdGV
Jordan.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZFa2j4M6c
And the last tribute — a District 9 boy named Larken.
A ghost of someone who hasn’t been seen since Day Three.
“We’re being herded,” Jordan says. He wipes his blade on a tuft of grass. “They want a finale.”
Hayley nods. Every step feels monitored. Cameras hum softly in the trees. Even the sky seems to watch them.
As they approach the remains of the storm-broken forest, Hayley’s legs tremble, exhaustion weighing her down. Jordan notices immediately.
“Sit,” he says, and his voice is firm in a way she doesn’t argue with.
She sinks against a fallen tree, chest rising and falling. Jordan kneels in front of her, rummaging through the Feast backpack. He pulls out a small packet of grain bars and places one in her hand.
“You need strength,” he says. “We both do.”
She eats slowly, watching him through her lashes. His jaw is tight. His movements are too sharp, too controlled. The fight at the Feast took something from him — something she can’t name.
“You okay?” Hayley finally asks.
Jordan huffs out a laugh, tired and humorless. “Not even close.”
She doesn’t touch him, but her voice softens. “We’ll get through this. Together.”
He meets her eyes.
Something flickers across his expression — relief, fear, something warmer — and then he looks away.
Together.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7WJ1EQmUE
Even though “together” can’t last.
📘 CHAPTER 22 — ECHOES IN THE TREES
They travel deeper into the forest, hoping to find water before the Gamemakers force the final confrontation.
But the forest has changed.
Branches bend unnaturally, shaped into arching tunnels. Leaves shimmer with a faint blue glow. The ground feels too soft, like stepping on carpet laid over stone. Jordan touches the bark of a tree; it vibrates gently, humming with mechanical energy.
“It’s rigged,” he murmurs. “The whole forest is wired.”
Hayley tenses. “For what?”
The answer comes seconds later.
A scream — distant, guttural, filled with terror.
Larken.
Jordan grabs Hayley’s hand and pulls her into a crouch behind a moss-covered root. The forest around them crackles with electricity, the air warping slightly as a series of holographic projections flicker alive.
At first, they’re static images.
Then they move.
Faces — distorted copies of fallen tributes — emerge from between the trees, whispering, crying, shouting accusations. Their voices echo in looping patterns.
Hayley’s breath catches.
Marin.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKslyXQxxV8
Her friend from District 7.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndAYNEFaht
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Begging.
Her knees nearly give out. Jordan steadies her instantly, hands gripping her shoulders.
“It’s not real,” he whispers. “Hayley, look at me. It’s not real.”
But it sounds real.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCvsCDOS9c
It sounds like the girl she grew up with.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaq0ijv465F
It sounds like the person she promised she wouldn’t lose.
Hayley claps her hands over her ears and squeezes her eyes shut. Jordan pulls her close, shielding her from the illusions with his body.
The holograms flicker, distort, then blink out.
Silence returns.
Hayley’s breathing is ragged. “I… I almost ran toward her.”
“That’s what they want,” Jordan says. “Confusion. Fear. Panic.”
Hayley trembles. “I can’t do this anymore.”
Jordan cups her face, forcing her to meet his eyes. “Yes, you can. You’ve done more than anyone expected. You saved both of us.”
“Why?” she whispers.
He hesitates.
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Because if you die, I lose myself.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2WWTKGScU
Because you matter.
But he says none of that.
Instead:
“Because we finish this together.”
Hayley nods — not because she believes she’s capable, but because she believes he believes she is.
And that’s enough.
📘 CHAPTER 23 — THE TRAP
By dusk, they reach the Marsh Belt — a wide, dark swamp surrounded by crooked trees. Mist clings to the ground like spilled milk. The water ripples with unseen shapes.
“This is the last zone we haven’t searched,” Jordan says. “Larken’s here. He has to be.”
Hayley’s skin prickles. “And the Gamemakers want us here. Which means—”
“—there’s a trap.” Jordan finishes.
They step carefully across the twisted roots, listening for any sign of movement. Frogs croak softly. Something splashes in the distance.
Then—
A faint clatter.
Hayley freezes. Jordan holds up a hand, listening.
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Then a hiss.
“It’s coming from the clearing,” Hayley whispers.
They edge forward, pulling apart a curtain of vines.
Larken stands in the middle of the clearing, staring at a metal cage half-submerged in swamp water. Something inside it thrashes violently.
“What is that?” Hayley murmurs.
Jordan swallows. “Mutts.”
They watch as Larken extends a trembling hand toward the cage latch.
Hayley tenses. “We can’t let him—”
“Wait,” Jordan whispers.
But it’s too late.
Larken opens the cage.
The swamp erupts.
A massive reptilian mutt — slick black skin, glowing turquoise eyes, razor teeth — lunges out, slamming into Larken and dragging him into the water.
Hayley flinches. Jordan grabs her arm to stop her from bolting forward.
“Hayley — you can’t save him.”
The water churns red.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8DTADQKcL
A cannon fires.
Hayley buries her face against Jordan’s shoulder. “It’s just us now.”
Jordan holds her tightly.
“Just us.”
But nothing about those words feels comforting.
📘 CHAPTER 24 — TWO LEFT
The Capitol reacts fast.
As soon as Larken’s cannon echoes, a deep chime rings through the arena. The sky flickers to a new shade of crimson — a warning color.
Hayley’s heart pounds. “This is it.”
Jordan nods. “The finale.”
The swamp clears of mist almost instantly. The trees straighten. The water drains in unnatural spirals, revealing a wide, circular battlefield of thick mud and broken roots.
At the center sits a raised platform of smooth, black stone — too perfect to be natural.
The Final Ground.
Jordan steps in close to her. “We go together.”
Hayley grips her spear. “Together.”
As they move toward the stone platform, the air vibrates with distant cheering. The Capitol is watching. The entire nation is watching.
Hayley’s chest tightens.
She and Jordan stand at the edge of the platform.
There is no one left to fight.
No enemy.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2v0e8KdAjE
No mutts.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnc06teAgss
No traps.
Just them.
Jordan’s throat bobs as he swallows hard. “Hayley… you know what they want.”
She nods slowly. “Only one victor.”
Her hands tremble. “I’m not fighting you.”
“I’m not fighting you,” Jordan says immediately.
A heavy silence settles between them.
Hayley steps backward. “We’ll refuse. Both of us. They can’t—”
The ground shakes violently.
Hayley falls to her knees as spikes shoot out of the mud around them, forming a tightening circle. Jordan rushes toward her, pulling her away from the spikes as they snap shut like jaws.
“They’re forcing us,” Jordan growls.
Another spike erupts — closer.
Hayley’s voice breaks. “Jordan—”
He grabs her by the shoulders, eyes fierce. “Hayley. Look at me.”
She does.
If there’s ever been a moment when the romance between them glows under the surface — it’s now.
“If one of us dies,” he says, “the other has to carry the truth. What the Capitol really does. What this place really is.”
Hayley shakes her head violently. “I won’t kill you.”
“You won’t have to.” Jordan pulls out a handful of poisoned berries from his pocket — scavenged days ago. “We do this together.”
Hayley stares at them, horrified. “Jordan—”
“They can’t kill us both,” he says. “Not when they need a victor. Not when the districts are watching. This forces their hand.”
Hayley breathes fast, panicked, refusing to accept the idea.
Jordan steps closer.
“Trust me.”
She does.
Without speaking, she takes half the berries from his palm.
They stand side by side.
Raise their hands.
And lift the berries to their lips—
When a blaring siren stops everything.
A booming voice echoes across the arena.
“STOP! STOP IMMEDIATELY!”
Hayley’s heart pounds violently.
The Gamemakers have broken.
“By decree of the Capitol…”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3clHc5l2c
a trembling voice declares,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyce6IEVrT
“…both tributes from District Seven…27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMcpeTHm4j
are hereby declared winners.”
Hayley drops the berries. Jordan exhales shakily.
They turn toward each other —
And for the first time, they allow themselves to collapse into each other’s arms.
Together.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZPhDQZTF4
Alive.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNhf69ZrmK
Victors.
But not safe.
Never safe.
📘 CHAPTER 25 — THE RETURN
The hovercraft lifts them from the arena.
Hayley sits on a metal bench, wrapped in a silver blanket, trembling as the arena shrinks below. Jordan sits beside her, his hand near hers but not quite touching — as if he’s afraid that any pressure might break the fragile reality of survival.
Doctors swarm them. Officials whisper. Cameras flash.
Hayley feels detached, floating somewhere outside her own body.
“You okay?” Jordan asks quietly.
She shakes her head. “Are you?”
“No.”
Their honesty is the only real thing in the room.
When they reach the Capitol, crowds roar. Confetti explodes. Reporters shout questions. Hayley’s vision blurs as lights blind her.
Jordan steps closer, half-shielding her.
She leans into him — not romantically, but instinctively, like reaching for gravity.
“You’re not alone,” he murmurs.
She believes him.
For now.
📘 CHAPTER 26 — THE VICTOR’S MASK
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Ceremony rehearsals.
All of it designed to turn them into symbols, not people.
Hayley is fitted into elaborate dresses, painted in Capitol colors, praised for her “heroism.” Jordan is dressed like a warrior prince, every muscle and scar highlighted.
The Capitol cheers their “romance,” though no romance was ever spoken aloud. They call them “the star-crossed survivors,” twisting their alliance into love even though neither of them ever said the word.
At first, Hayley protests. “We weren’t— it wasn’t like that—”
Her prep team hushes her.
“It is now.”
Her stylist leans in. “The Capitol needs a narrative. They choose yours.”
Hayley feels sick.
But during the interview night, she sees Jordan’s eyes glimmer with the same exhaustion. The same disgust. The same silent rebellion.
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They smile.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyPBw4322a
They hold hands when commanded.
But the entire time, their fingers tremble.
Because they both know the truth.
Their victory was a spark.
And sparks start fires.
📘 CHAPTER 27 — A SEED OF REBELLION
When they finally return to District 7, the train station is overflowing.
Cheers shake the air. People cry openly. Flowers rain down on them in waves.
Hayley feels the tears burning before she realizes she’s crying.
Jordan stands beside her, stunned, staring at the faces — families, workers, elders — all looking at them like they are hope made flesh.
An older woman pushes forward, grabbing Hayley’s hands.
“You proved we can fight back,” she whispers. “You proved we can win.”
The crowd around them erupts into a chant.
“DOWN WITH THE CAPITOL!”
Hayley freezes.
Jordan stiffens.
Peacekeepers rush into the square shouting for silence, swinging batons, breaking the crowd apart.
Hayley’s breath cracks.
She caused this.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpjBV1tIeK
They caused this.
And the Capitol will not ignore it.
📘 CHAPTER 28 — NIGHTMARES
Hayley dreams of the arena every night.
Marin’s hologram screaming.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNYY7l3WFJ
The twins’ bodies falling.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1pK0rpCMh
Jordan’s wrist slipping through her fingers at the ridge.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu54SHsantK
Larken’s blood dissolving in the swamp.
She wakes drenched in sweat, fists clenched so tight her nails draw blood.
Jordan visits her one morning, dark circles under his eyes.
“You too?” she whispers.
He nods slowly.
They sit side-by-side on her porch steps, shoulders almost touching but not quite.
“I don’t know how to be normal anymore,” Hayley says.
Jordan laughs softly — broken, tired. “Normal doesn’t exist. Not for us.”
She turns her head. His profile is strong in the morning light, but the exhaustion makes him look older.
He meets her gaze.
“You saved me in there,” he murmurs.
“And you saved me.”
He hesitates. “I don’t want to lose you now.”
Hayley’s breath hitches.
“You won’t,” she promises.
But part of her knows the Capitol will make sure it isn’t that simple.
📘 CHAPTER 29 — THE WARNING
Weeks later, a Capitol envoy arrives in District 7.
President Aurelia herself appears on every screen — smiling, poised, terrifying beneath her beauty. She praises Hayley and Jordan for being “symbols of unity.” She calls their double victory “a gift to the nation.”
But then her smile fades.
“Any further acts of rebellion,” she says softly,27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLUM3MSucm
“will be punished with absolute severity.”
Hayley’s blood runs cold.
Jordan’s fists clench.
The message is clear.
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You two will pay if it continues.
That night, Hayley sits alone in her room, staring at the ceiling. Her family sleeps down the hall. Jordan’s house lights flicker through the woods.
The Capitol is tightening its grip.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCSkhCKTuO
Preparing for something.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWp79XZcQT
Waiting to strike.
And Hayley realizes something terrifying.
Her victory didn’t save her family.
It endangered them.
📘 CHAPTER 30 — BONES OF THE ARENA
The nightmares worsen.
Hayley wanders into the woods one morning, bare-foot and shaking, drawn by a feeling she doesn’t understand. Jordan finds her there, sitting on a rock, hugging her knees.
“You weren’t home,” he says quietly.
“I couldn’t breathe.”
He sits beside her.
They say nothing for a long time.
The forest is quiet — too quiet. Even the birds seem frightened.
Jordan finally speaks. “I keep thinking about the berries.”
Hayley nods. “Me too.”
“We almost died,” he says. “Not because of the Games. But because we refused.”
Hayley studies him. “Would you do it again? If we had to?”
Jordan’s jaw flexes. “Yes.”
She exhales shakily. “Me too.”
When their eyes meet, something shifts.
Not romance.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkKP5mFop6
Not yet.
But understanding deepens into something powerful — something the Capitol cannot twist or control.
📘 CHAPTER 31 — A QUIET REVOLUTION
Months pass.
The Capitol tries to parade them as perfect Victors. They force interviews, promotions, televised dinners. Hayley learns how to smile without meaning it. Jordan learns how to lie with his eyes.
But beneath the surface…
Whispers spread.
Districts begin to ask questions.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Yh4oU5OQB
Protests flare.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDb6HgZm4P
Symbols of defiance appear carved into trees, painted onto old factory walls.
All inspired by one thing:
Two tributes who refused to kill each other.
Hayley starts receiving letters — coded messages slipped under her door.
“The Games are breaking.”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJQcouT8Zb
“You showed us the Capitol is afraid.”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAJpoG0Avt
“We are waiting.”
Jordan receives them too.
One night, he knocks on her window. Hayley lets him in silently.
He sits on her floor beside her bed, holding a letter in shaking hands.
“They think we’re leaders,” he whispers.
“We’re not.”
“They think we can save them.”
“We can’t.”
Jordan looks up at her, eyes burning with something fierce.
“But maybe… maybe we can try.”
Hayley feels something ignite inside her — equal parts fear and fire.
📘 CHAPTER 32 — A NEW BEGINNING
The Capitol summons them for a Victor gathering.
Something feels wrong the moment they step off the train in the Capitol — too many Peacekeepers, too many cameras, too many eyes that linger a second too long.
Hayley’s skin crawls.
Jordan walks close enough that their shoulders brush. “Stay with me,” he murmurs.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
During the ceremony, President Aurelia raises a glass and smiles her perfect smile.
“To our beloved victors,” she announces, “symbols of unity.”
But her eyes lock on Hayley and Jordan with a quiet threat.
The audience claps.
The lights blaze.
And Hayley knows — without being told — that the Capitol is planning something.
Something awful.
Jordan leans in just an inch.
“We’ll face it together,” he whispers.
Hayley’s heart steadies.
Not because she feels safe.
But because she knows something now:
Their victory wasn’t the end.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBg3gdIPrM
It was the beginning of a fight far bigger than the arena.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYMoNdSRZj
A fight the Capitol will try to crush.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatQU53oswu
A fight they never asked for — but cannot walk away from.
Hayley looks out at the sea of Capitol faces.
Her fingers brush Jordan’s — barely touching.
But enough.
A spark.
A promise.
A quiet rebellion.
And the beginning of a story far from over.
⭐ CHAPTER 33 — THE ASHEN MORNING
Hayley woke to the faint crackle of dying embers and the gentle rise and fall of Jordan’s breathing somewhere behind her. The night had been restless, filled with distant booms and shifting ground, and every time she opened her eyes, she expected the arena ceiling to collapse into the forest canopy. But the morning arrived instead, quiet and gray, thick with drifting ash that made the air feel heavier than usual.
She pushed herself up slowly, wincing at the soreness in her ribs from yesterday’s sprint through falling debris. Her hair was stiff with soot at the ends. Her throat felt raw. She blinked against the dimness — the sky was almost fully blocked by the smoke the Gamemakers had left hanging as if they wanted the tributes to be lost in a nightmare.
Jordan stirred and sat up across from her. His face was streaked with dirt, but his eyes were clear and alert.
“You didn’t sleep,” he said softly.
“Not well,” she admitted.
He looked at her for a moment longer than necessary before nodding. “We should move. They’ll try something else today.”
She already knew he was right. The arena had been escalating — earthquakes, fires, acid mist, engineered beasts. The Gamemakers were done teasing. The final third of the Games was always the bloodiest.
They packed silently, careful with what little they had left. A half-empty water pouch. Two protein rations. A handmade knife Jordan had crafted from a metal shard. Her spear, worn but reliable. And the mockingjay pin she kept tucked inside her shirt to remind herself she was more than a piece in the Capitol’s game.
When they stepped out into the open, the forest no longer looked like a forest. It was skeletons of trees and silent gray earth. No birds. No wind. Just the faint, sour smell of something burning far away.
Jordan scanned the horizon. “They’re pushing us.”
“Toward the ridge,” Hayley murmured. “That’s where the last tributes were spotted.”
The thought made her stomach tighten. She wasn’t afraid of them — she was afraid of playing exactly into the Capitol’s hands. Every path was being shaped for maximum entertainment. But they had no other choice.
As they walked, Hayley felt the quiet tension building between them again — the subtle kind, the kind that came from shared danger and silent promises. The kind that didn’t need to be spoken. Jordan walked slightly ahead, scanning for threat, but he always angled himself so she was within his reach.
And that, more than anything, made her determined to survive.
After two hours of climbing uneven ground, they reached the ridge. The world dropped off sharply into a canyon filled with thick fog. Something moved in the mist below — something large. Something waiting.
And across the ridge, on the far edge, stood the remaining tributes.
Three of them.
The Capitol’s favorite killers.
Jordan exhaled. “So this is where it ends.”
Hayley tightened her grip on her spear. “No,” she whispered. “This is where it begins.”
The air changed — she felt it in her bones.
The final stage had arrived.
⭐ CHAPTER 34 — THE HUNT THAT WASN’T
The three tributes across the ridge were exactly the kind the Capitol loved: tall, armored, clean-faced, and armed with weapons Hayley could only dream of having. Their silver plates gleamed despite the ash falling like snow around them. They weren’t dusty or tired or scared. They were prepared because the Capitol had prepared them.
Pack favorites.
Sponsors’ darlings.
Jordan stepped slightly in front of Hayley, though he didn’t block her view. He wasn’t shielding her; he was matching her stance like they had become two halves of one strategy.
The tallest tribute, a boy with blond hair clipped perfectly short, smirked.
“You finally made it,” he called across the gap. “Took you long enough.”
Hayley didn’t answer. She watched his posture, the angle of his knees, the way he kept his fingers near his belt. A throwing blade, she guessed. Maybe two.
The girl beside him twirled a long metallic spear with practiced ease. Her eyes were cold, her smirk colder. “We were hoping for more of a challenge.”
Jordan scoffed. “Sorry to disappoint.”
The third boy didn’t speak. He held a curved hook-like weapon and watched with a predator’s stillness.
Hayley scanned the canyon between them. The fog churned in unnatural patterns. Whatever beast the Gamemakers had placed down there wanted blood.
An idea sparked.
“They expect us to attack first,” she whispered.
Jordan nodded. “And die doing it.”
The Careers took a step forward, raising weapons.
Hayley held her breath.
Then — a sharp mechanical click echoed through the canyon.
The earth beneath the Careers shifted.
A platform.
A Gamemaker trap.
Hayley’s heart slammed against her ribs. “Jordan—”
“I see it.”
The Careers didn’t.
With a violent grind, the ground beneath them dropped like a snapped elevator cable.
They vanished into the fog with a chorus of screams.
Hayley and Jordan scrambled backward as the ridge cracked under the force of the sudden collapse. Dust exploded upward. Something enormous roared from the canyon.
Jordan grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a boulder as a massive clawed shadow lashed out from the mist, snapping at falling debris.
Hayley’s breath shook in her chest.
The Careers were gone.
Not by their hands.
By the Capitol’s.
Jordan whispered, “They don’t want us dead yet.”
Hayley’s fists tightened. “They want something bigger.”
Behind them, a cannon boomed three… four… five times.
Five tributes now lay dead — the three Careers, and two who must have been taken by other dangers at the same time.
Only three tributes left.
Hayley.
Jordan.
And one unknown.
The Gamemakers had cleared the field for a final act.
And Hayley could feel it — the Games were shifting from a hunt to a story.
A story the Capitol wanted to control.
But she wasn’t done fighting back.
⭐ CHAPTER 35 — THE DEAD FOREST
They fled the ridge before the beast below could climb out, moving quickly into what remained of the northern forest — if “forest” was even the right word anymore. Every tree was burned black and split down the center. The air felt colder here, wrong, like the arena itself was holding its breath.
Jordan motioned Hayley to stop.
“Listen.”
She did.
Silence.
Not peaceful silence — forced silence.
Something was waiting.
They proceeded slowly, stepping over charred roots and fallen trunks. The ground crackled underfoot, leaving soft ashes in their footprints. The forest was too still. Too empty.
Hayley’s pulse kicked up.
“This doesn’t feel like part of the arena,” she whispered. “It feels like something… broken.”
Jordan nodded. “Maybe the Gamemakers lost control.”
She hoped they had.
But that hope died when she spotted a glint between two dead trees.
A camera.
Still functioning. Still watching.
She turned away.
If the Capitol wanted a show, they wouldn’t get one. Not yet.
They traveled deeper, and the silence grew thicker, heavier, as if the air were trying to muffle them. Jordan paused again, dropping to one knee.
Tracks.
Fresh.
Bootprints too large to be their own.
“The last tribute,” Jordan murmured.
Hayley swallowed. “Stalker or scared runner?”
“Only one way to find out.”
They followed the prints with heightened caution, every instinct on edge. As they moved, Hayley felt the weight of the Games pressing on her — the deaths, the traps, the endless fear. She wondered how many times Jordan had glanced at her to check she was still breathing.
She wondered how many more times she’d need to glance at him.
After nearly an hour, they found the last tribute.
Or what was left of him.
Not killed by a blade.
Not by a trap.
By something else.
Something the Gamemakers didn’t put here.
Jordan knelt beside the body. “This isn’t arena work.”
Hayley’s skin prickled. “Then what is it?”
A low rumble answered before Jordan could.
The ground trembled.
A shadow moved behind the dead trees — huge, fluid, unnatural.
Not a muttation.
Something worse.
Hayley whispered, “Run.”
And they did.
Through dead forest, through falling ash, through a world that felt like it was coming apart at the seams.
Whatever hunted them…
Was not part of the script.
⭐ CHAPTER 36 — WHAT THE CAPITOL FEARED
They reached a clearing — or what looked like one — and stopped only when their legs refused to carry them further. Hayley doubled over, hands on her knees, lungs burning with cold, acrid air. Jordan leaned against a half-burned stump, chest rising and falling rapidly.
“What… what was that?” he managed.
Hayley shook her head. “Something the Capitol didn’t mention.”
He nodded slowly. “Which means it wasn’t supposed to be here.”
That changed everything.
If the Gamemakers hadn’t created that creature — if they weren’t controlling all of this — then who was?
Or what was?
The sky flickered with sudden static — the projection above them glitching, splitting into warped neon lines before stabilizing again. The air crackled like a broken wire.
Jordan stared upward. “The arena’s malfunctioning.”
Hayley’s mouth went dry. “Or being hacked.”
He turned sharply. “By rebels?”
She didn’t know. But she wanted to believe it.
A sound echoed behind them — not footsteps, not breathing, something different. A dragging sound. A metallic scrape. Hayley’s entire spine tightened.
Jordan reached for her hand without thinking.
She took it — without thinking.
They ran again.
And the world behind them tore open with a sound like metal screaming.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.