My heart thumps in my chest as her choking wail echoes through the clearing. I carve the knife deeper into her grimy flesh, wishing to close my eyes.

Focus…you must do this if you want to win.

They called it the very first 'Hunger Games'. Those unearthly creatures, with their blindingly vibrant skin, shrieked in excitement when the President spoke in a cryptic tone. They all knew something we didn't, but nothing, even the brutality of the rebellion, could prepare us for the brutality that was what we were about to experience.

When the concept had been explained, my vision blurred, and my knees clacked together. The Capitol wanted us…to…kill each other?

The idea was so absurd I almost laughed. Murder ripped apart the very soul.

And yet, I crouched on the ground in the chilling darkness, ending the life of a person who is just as terrified as I am. She blinked salty tears from her eyes as she drew her last sharp breath.

My eyes bore into her lifeless ones in anguish.

Wh-what had I done?

Tears sprung from my eyes as I howled with fury at myself. I lowered my back on the grass, positioning myself exactly like the dead girl. Steadying the silver dagger in my trembling fingers, I slowly grazed along my wrists with the steel.

I was able to form one thought before my eyes flooded with blackness.

I'm nothing but vermin.