My eyes flutter open. Where am I? What's going on? I breathe heavily and smell smoke. I look up and see the sun every now and then. Where am I?

I hear someone running and quickly sit up. Maybe they'll help me.

"Hey! Hello!" I shout, running toward the footsteps. A boy who looks to be a bit older than me rushes out of the trees.

"Woah!" he shouts, suddenly taking out a sword.

"Don't hit me!" I shout, not sure why he has a sword. "I just was wondering if you could tell me where I was?"

The boy blinks and doesn't put the sword down.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Where am I?" I repeat.

There's a boom from above and the boy quickly shoves me along the path.

"What's going on?" I ask after another boom sounds.

"Run!" the boy shouts. So I do. I don't know what from, exactly, but if someone tells you to run, you run.

"Okay, you can stop now," the boy says after we run for a while.

"What the heck is going on?" I ask, breathing heavily from the run.

"You honestly don't know?" he asks, staring at me with disbelief.

"Not a clue," I say. "I just woke up here a few minutes ago."

"You're in the Hunger Games," the boy says.

"Hunger Games? What's that?" I ask. "Like, are we supposed to eat something? 'Cause I'd gladly do so. I'm starving."

"No," the boy says. "It's a game where we have to kill each other."

I burst out laughing.

"Yeah, right," I said, laughing hard. "Like anybody would do that!"

"I'm serious," the boy says, his face hard.

I slowly stop laughing as I realize something: He's not joking.

"Why... why do we have to kill each other?" I ask.

"It's the way the Capitol shows us who's boss," the boy says.

"The Capitol?" I ask. "As in the Capitol building?"

"What?" the boy says, obviously confused.

"The Capitol building," I repeat.

"Where is it?"

"Uh... Washington D.C."

"Where?"

"Washington D.C. I thought I already said that..."

"What's Washington D.C.?" The boy blinks, confusion filling his face entirely.

"It's a... um... a state in America," I say. I look at the boy's face and see that he looks American. He should know what Washington D.C. is...

"America?" the boy asks.

"Honestly?" I say, awe filling me. "You honestly don't know what America is?"

He shakes his head slowly.

"Guess you've never heard of the President, either, have you?" I ask.

"President Snow? Yeah; I've heard of him," the boy says.

"Who?" I ask. Who the heck is President Snow?

"President Snow," the boy says.

"Never heard of him," I say. "I've heard of George Washington, though. And Abraham Lincoln."

"Who the heck are those dudes?" the boy says.

"They're practically world-famous!" I exclaim. Why do neither of us know what the other is talking about?

"How much do you remember?" the boy whispers.

"I..." I start to say, pondering what I remember from before I woke up. That's when I realize it: I remember nothing.