"I had my stick. Assuming I didn't get a chance to escape into the arena, most of the other tributes' mined platforms would have gone off in rapid sequence before we were allowed to move, I would have fled with no supplies into the arena, and anyone I ran into would have died of internal burns that I'm sure would look very strange on an autopsy report. And then I would have never, ever come back the next time I found a door."

Pause. "That's if I actually had to go. If Lynnis hadn't stepped up, the seventeen-year-old Career girl in training would have socked her in the nose and volunteered and the girl Four Careers would have been a year younger than they're supposed to be until we hit a cohort that had two - they put in occasional backups for that in case one dies or defects."