"Nuh uh. Doesn't make sense that they'd give us a big special with love triangles and "romanceology" only to kill half of us off in the first thirty minutes. This is the Capitol. They like surprises but they also like stories."

Howard would shake his head, but his migraine makes it feel like every sudden motion is sending a knife up his sinuses and through his eye. Maybe he's being overly optimistic, but he hasn't bought into the idea that everyone has died for good.

"You notice the people who died are part of the pairs they set up in the special, right? You and John, Tim and Stephanie, R and Julie." Howard's picked his way through the wreckage of the Cornucopia to identify bodies. "My bet is that they want to do a 'true love will find you in the end' plot twist."