— EUNICE —

I STAND on my terrace watching the scenery fly by as our hovercraft travels towards the Capitol City, and the wind blows into my face. Not hot this time, but cool. Almost cold.

If I hadn't known I wasn't in the Games anymore, I would have shuddered, chills running up my body, from the cold. And I would have run.

This reminds me of how I was running from myself in that dreaded arena. And now I'm on my way to save all the people I killed. Maybe this will be the way I face the monster I once was?

But how, exactly, will I face myself? Or the victims that died at my hands? Could I ever bring myself to admit I mercilessly killed them?

Or would I just stay a shell of myself? My relationships with Zoey and Kunboss are crumbling. I just can't talk to them, or Gwyneth, for that matter. I'm not even the Eunice I used to be. But then again, no one is the same. Not even Gwyneth.

I see fear trembling in her eyes every time our gazes lock. Just like in that arena, she's so close yet too far for me to reach. And at this point, I don't even know what's home and what's not anymore.

My eyes stay fixated on that ray of light in the distance. It's a sunny day with no clouds - it brings me back to my last day in that arena. I still remember how we stood under the hot sun, confused and dazed. I still remember how the sky broke into two, and the ray of light appeared in the distance.

I still remember how we decided to unite. How we were going to leave everything in the arena behind.

And now, is truly the test of our faithfulness.

Everything reminds me of my past- but everything has changed now. For the better. The New Regime is gone for good, and the Adelaide Woods soon will return to normal. At least as normal as it could be.

I don't have anything to worry about, could I?

"Eunice?"

I hear a shout coming from downstairs. The voice belongs to Kunboss.

I quickly rush down the stairs and almost run straight into him.

Felicity is on the call. She says she has arranged for people who know the technology to assist us in our plan.

"Natalia Riggs will be escorting you and meeting you there. Good luck on your venture, and I hope everything is successful."

I watch from the window as the sky turns pink, and day fades into night. The time passes with playing board games and video games with everyone. I realize that the stylists are all really good at games- we talk about our childhoods and how the Adelaide Woods was before Byrok's invasion. They were thirteen when the New Regime took over- older than we were.

They remember more, and we spend the rest of the day lounging around and listening to each others' childhood stories.

We find out about how Ophelia learned to style - and how she decided to style for the tributes. It all started because she had a genuine passion - yet it led us to realize how people from Byrok had feelings too.

We learn about how Emma, Sophie and Marius were brought from the Adelaide Woods. They were all friends, all students at the Adelaide Academy of Styling Arts, but only until Byrok took them - the top students in their class - to help style the tributes in the Games and help them look their best on the occasion of their death.

We sit in a circle listening to Emma talk about how it felt. "It was.. torturous. When I first saw Gwyneth, it was really just a moment of sadness. It reminded me so much of when I was younger - and it really just made me sad that she might die," she recalls, and a tear falls out of her eye.

Gwyneth hugs her. "It's okay, I'm here now, I never died," she jokes, and Emma chuckles.

A loud beep followed by the disembarking reminder startles us, and we get ready to leave the hovercraft.

— ZOEY —

Kunboss takes my hand in his, and the warmth spreads from his hand to my body. And for the first time since we were revived, I feel that peculiar feeling again.

Something inside me blooms seeing him. Something inside me bursts, and I just look forward to seeing him every day.

Is it what I think it is?

Holding hands, we step off our hovercraft, every step getting us closer to our bright future.

— GWYNETH —

Natalia comes running. This is the first time I've seen her in something other than the officials' uniform.

She dons an oversized sweater with an A-line skirt, and her hair is tied in a half-ponytail. Her bangs perfectly frame her face, and she looks... well.. better than she did. She holds a large tote bag in her arms. I wonder what's in there.

I almost can't recognize her until she shouts for us and I come to my senses.

We start walking, and once we reach an unfamiliar skyscraper, Natalia leads us inside and presses the lift to the basement.

She then produces seven lab coats from her large tote, and gives each of us one. The elevator gives off a ding, and we enter.

My ears fill with liquid as we descend lower and lower, at least 15 floors below the lobby. We exit once the lift makes an unstable stop, and see a dark room.

Guards block the entrance.

"Great. What's left of Rochbok."

This was Byrok's technology, and it was brought here just for the citizens' entertainment and reviving dead tributes? Just for the Hunger Games?

My heart makes an abrupt leap as I look around, at my friends, and at the guards.

Cadence produces the keys on a black chain and gets ready, poised behind Aiden.

I look to Natalia.

3.. 2.. 1.

Mission, started.

We lunge towards the guards, pinning them to walls. The guard retaliates, squirming and trying to kick Kunboss in his area, but Kunboss manages to hold him off while Aiden punches him.

Meanwhile, Eunice, Zoey and Natalia are fending off the other guard.

I catch sight of a slender silhouette. Cadence hides in the shadows, bringing her hood above her head.

I wink at her. She nods.

I kick the guard once. Message sent.

The silhouette jumps towards the lock.

Time freezes the moment the keys make contact with the sensor. Natalia walks up to it and presses a few buttons in a complicated order and I suspect it's the code for extra security.

"Is it working?"

BEEP!

The doors to the dark labs slide open, and we run in, leaving the helpless guards behind, pursuing Mission Thirty-Nine.