"The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it's no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won't come."
―J.R.R. Tolkien,The Return of the King

Quentin Reiss, 18, Sector A

It's well into the late morning by the time I finally open my eyes.

Less than a second later, when I roll over to make the long journey out of bed, do I remember the aching of... well everything. I groan at the memory of the fight that happened last night just hours after dark and well past when we all should have been inside for curfew. Thinking back I know that I should have brought someone with me, but it's easy to say that as an afterthought. The truth is I didn't think they would come after me so soon. I was lucky there were only two of them, and that neither of them had anything more deadly than their own strength.

I got out with nothing but bruises and a possibly dislocated shoulder, which I find pretty impressive to say the least. Nevertheless I can't even pretend that I didn't lose that fight. I scold myself for a moment, promising as I always do that I will keep my mouth shut around the boys I know are trouble.

Fat chance.

I'm not a pushover anymore, and though I definitely lose more fights than I win, I'm fending for myself just fine in my eyes. I've only been in this hellhole for a few months now and I've already made a decent reputation for myself. A few more months from now and maybe I'll get picked up by one of the crews. That would certainly make things easier for me if I had someone I could sort of trust to watch my back. District Zero can be a pretty scary place if you don't keep an eye on yourself.

The ache in the back of my head tells me to stay in bed, but I know that I've got to get back out and show the guys who messed with me that I will not be kicked down for good. It's the way of life here, constantly having to prove that you're tougher than the people around you. If you can't at least fake it you're going to get eaten alive in this place.

The seven boys that I share my room with are already long gone, probably off to the mountain or whatever it is they do all day. Luckily none of them seem the type to cause trouble, at least not for me which is all I can really ask. I can't even imagine how tough things could have been if I shared a room with one of the boys that tried to beat the living shit out of me last night.

I shove everything I own that is of any importance to me into a bag and sling it over my shoulder. One of the most important lessons I have learned upon coming here is that if there is anything you care about you keep it close. Processing will pay for odds and ends that look valuable, and they don't care where people got them from.

I can feel all eyes on me from the second that I step into the hallway. I haven't gone to the bathroom yet to check the damage, but by the stares I'm getting right now I can tell that it won't be good. I see one of the bullies come around the corner and I silent groan to myself. I've only been awake for a few minutes and already my day is getting off to a pretty bad start.

When he passes me I dodge out of the way, and sure enough I was right to anticipate the push. His arms hit nothing but air and he stumbles. I bite my tongue, but it does nothing to wipe the smile off of my face.

I may have dodged the initial push, but when the second comes from behind me I am not expecting it. I catch myself on the wall before I hit the ground and turn myself in his direction. His face is bright red and once again I have to consciously dim the brightness of my smile.

"You ain't so tough," he smiles down at me, crossing his arms as if to dare me to make a move on him. I'm not stupid, I can be almost certain that there will be more from his crew not too far away. I hold his gaze but I do not make a move on him. The boy is a twig and I could easily take him, but that's what I thought a few days ago and look what that brought me last night.

Just before he turns around to leave he spits on me. It takes everything I have not to immediately wipe the disgusting saliva from my neck, but manage to hold his stare until he continues in the opposite direction. When he's out of sight I use the bottom of my sleeve to wipe it away and wish for some sort of sanitizer. District Zero is nothing like the Capitol, where everything is clean and perfect and sanitary. I still haven't fully adjusted to the differences.

As soon as I enter the cafeteria I can feel that something is wrong. Usually the place is full of yelling and arguing over portions, but today it is eerily silent except for the clattering of dishes. Everyone is either watching the doorway or the Peacekeepers that are posted around the sides of the room. Some look fearful, most look angry. It isn't until the Peacekeepers move away from the walls that I realize the difference. Their uniforms are not white.

In a second everybody in the room is moving. One of the Peacekeepers grabs for my arm, but three boys I barely recognize tackle him to the floor before he can reach me.

The smallest of the boys turns and yells at me in the harsh Zero accent, his brown eyes wild. "What are you doing, scum? Run!"

So I do, but I don't make it far. Not even outside of the doors before I am flanked on all sides by more of the black-suited Peacekeepers. They tell me not to be afraid, and one of them slams the door of the cafeteria just before more people can get to me. I don't understand what is going on, but with no other choice I allow them to lead me away.

Cadria Arias, 17, Sector A

I bite my lip as I stare at the door to the Plant. It's a big building, almost as big as the barracks, but no one pays it much attention as they pass by. I try not to pay it much attention too, so that people won't know my intention of going inside, but it's hard to ignore when you've been planning the day for so long.

I try to focus my eyes on the bits of trash in front of me, picking half-heartedly through the pile that has nothing much more interesting than wrappers in it. I can feel the metal scraps weighing heavily in my pocket, but fear keeps me from making the trip over to the Plant yet. Today is the day, but maybe not yet.

I force myself to stand, putting all of my effort into making my face look tough like the crew kids. I have never been one of them, never been asked to be even, but I have memorized the muscles it takes to make your face look like theirs. Only other crews mess with crew kids, and right now I don't see any of the usual ones around. This part of the mountain has too many guards around that crews tend to leave it be, but that doesn't mean it's safe for me to just walk on up.

There are people around here that would do a hell of a lot for the metal in my pockets. It will get a good price, and valuables are getting harder and harder to find around here without thieving them. When I was younger I had plenty of things taken from me, mostly right here outside the Plant, but since then I've learned.

"Aye! What's a girl like you doing here, doll?"

"I'll take her home- safe and sound she's right to be!"

I say nothing as I pass the pair of older men. Neither of them are scary. I used to think the adults were scary, but it's the kids my age that you ought to watch out for. The worst they can do at their age is yell out to me, but I'm used to that since I been hearing it for so long.

One more look around tells me that there are no crews close enough to get to me before I can get to that door. I walk as fast as I can without looking like I'm up to no good, but in the time it takes to reach the door all my confidence has pretty much vanished. There is no hiding where I'm going now, and I can feel people's eyes on me as they begin to notice.

I push through the double doors before anyone says anything, but I know that the second I go back outside they'll be waiting for me. Most people bring more people with them to wait outside the Plant for them, but not me. I don't have anyone tough like that, just me really. Liam's too scared to even come in here, that's why I do it for him. Two times out of three I get home without any of the money I was paid, but that one time is enough to keep coming.

"You just gon' stand there or what?"

I look up and see a big man staring at me from behind a desk. His voice sounds kind of funny on account of him being behind glass, but I don't laugh. My hands are still shaking from just the thought of getting thieved from. I don't have any business laughing at his voice, especially when it would only bring more trouble my way.

"I have metal," I say firmly. There's no point in making my time here any longer than it should be, not with those people probably waiting for me.

This catches the man's attention. Metal is rare and one of the most expensive valuables people pick from the mountain. He slides open a little square on the glass and reaches out a hand covered in a blue glove. I reach into my pocket and drop the two crumpled sheets of metal into his palm. I hold my breath as his hand disappears. I know that it's metal, but sometimes they try and tell us it isn't so that they don't have to pay as much. I know what I know, though, and I won't be cheated especially if there's a chance I might actually get this money back home.

"Five for it all," the man says.

"Ten," I retort without hesitating. It used to scare me to argue with them, but I've come to learn that they always offer less than it's worth at first.

"Seven," he counters. "Final offer."

"Seven," I echo sheepishly. I think I know it's worth more, but it always scares me when they say final offer. I haven't tested if it will actually be their last offer, but I don't want to walk out of here with the sheets still in my pocket. It's dangerous enough keeping them on me for as long as I did.

"Alright," he grins. "Put out your hand so I can scan you."

I do as told. This is what always happens when you go anywhere you wouldn't usually go, like the Plant or the Warden's House. I never asked why they do it and they never offered a reason. It's just how things work here.

He looks down and squints at something I can't see from where I'm standing. Then he looks back at me. "Stay right here, I have to get your coins from the back."

This has never happened before. Usually they keep all the coins with whoever is at the desk. I bite my lip but don't argue, though something doesn't feel quite right. I can't place the feeling, but it's there rumbling in the pit of my stomach.

My breath catches in my throat when I see the black-suited man approach me from around the corner. I don't have to look long to know what he is, seen enough of them around here over the years. I want to run but my feet are frozen in place and the man easily places a pair of cuffs around my wrists.

"Don't worry you're not in trouble, sweetheart." His voice is warm as it touches my ear, but I've never in my life felt my blood run this cold.

Micah Theron, 18, Sector B

I come back up from the cafeteria, thankfully without incident, holding a cold glass of water. It was the closest thing I could find to ice, which I would have had to get from the infirmary. There was no way that Xavian was going to let me go there, evidently that's only the place to go if you're dead or dying and even then it would have to be by force.

Xavian's-and my- room is on the tenth floor of the barracks. We share it with four other boys around our age, but all of them are okay in Xavian's eyes. He once told me about the boy that he kicked out of our room when he welcomed me to live with him. He says he was happy to get rid of him. I would be lying if I said I didn't know what that meant, and I don't lie.

"Xavian?" I say as I creep into the room. It's well past the time when we should have left from the mountain, but Xavian has been in no condition to leave the room for the past few days. That's when one of the boys of a crew saw Xavian get a little too close to stealing from his pocket. From what Xavian told me the next day when he came to, he hadn't known that they boy was one of the newest members of Graham's crew. No one messes with his boys, not even Xavian.

He was lucky to get out with a few cracked ribs and a broken nose, not to mention the deep bruising that covers every visible part of his body. In the three years since I was brought here with my father I have seen worse, but not without some sort of weapon involved.

"Took you long enough," Xavian says, his teeth gritted. I know that it hurts him to talk, and I've advised him to just be silent, but silence doesn't look to be something Xavian is fully capable of.

"Sorry," I say sheepishly. I took the long way, up the side stairs near the Peacekeepers' offices, to get here. I know that Graham's crew is still on the lookout for Xavian, and that means probably for the few people that Xavian associates with too. He says that he wouldn't exactly call us a crew, but except for being only a few in number I'd say we basically are one.

When I first came here there were a lot of bullies that saw me as an easy target, and Xavian and his friends took care of that for me for whatever reason. He says that it was just business, that he knew he needed more people that he could trust in this place, but I like to imagine he thinks of me as a friend. I was a scrawny fifteen year-old with nothing to offer him, but he showed me how it works here in Zero. I don't think I would have made it too well without his help, I've never been the violent type and that seems to be one of my biggest problems here.

"I need you to go run some things over to the Plant," Xavian says seriously. I place the glass of water down on the floor beside his bed and he gives me a look. "Wait, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

I bite my lip. "I couldn't find any ice."

"So... Water, gotcha," he rolls his eyes. "Whatever, can you take some things over before it closes?"

"Sure thing." Truthfully, I would never say no to Xavian even if he asked me to jump off the top of the barracks. For better or for worse, he is all the family I have here in Zero. My father is here with me, but he spends all his time in the kitchens and left me for months to fend for myself before Xavian found me. I try not to be bitter about it, but if I saw him in the streets I would head the other way.

"Wait, shit you can't go alone," he says. I open the bag that is tucked underneath his cot, knowing that he must have the stuff hidden in there. I find a small piece of metal and a chain that looks sort of like a necklace. It doesn't look like much, but here in Zero this will go for a good price.

"Why can't I?" I ask. Even though I know he's right and I do not particularly want to go alone, it's nice to put on a brave face once in a while so I don't look like a complete wimp.

"Normally I'd say to test your luck, but this is my shit we're talking about so can it. Go see if Crispin is around, he'll go with you. If not we'll wait til tomorrow."

I nod and shove the valuables in my pocket. Crispin's room isn't very far from ours, and sure enough he's sitting on his cot with the door open when I pass by. He isn't excited about going to the Plant, but as a good friend of Xavian's he only complains a little before he agrees to come along.

"Aye, scum!" My body freezes when I hear the voice. The hallways are mostly empty, with everyone either in the cafeteria or down at the mountain. Crispin and I both turn around and see them, three of the senior members of Graham's crew.

I swallow thickly, wondering if I would be able to make it back to Crispin's room to lock the door before they'd catch me. I know that I wouldn't, and Crispin must know it too. He already has his fists raised, not threateningly but ready to defend himself. I copy his stance, but I'm not sure it's very convincing.

"Boys, is everything alright out here?" A Peacekeeper comes out of one of the rooms nearby and I audibly sigh with relief. Peacekeepers almost never intervene in crew fight, but this one looks like he will. He walks over and looks at each of us in turn, the other boys shrink under his gaze though I'm not sure why. When his eyes reach me, he squints and presses something on the sleeve of his outfit. I've seen them do this before, and I can only guess he's looking at something on his helmet screen.

"Micah Theron?"

I gulp. "Yes."

"Come with me please," he says roughly, grabbing the inside of my arm. I ask him where we're going but he doesn't answer me. I have no choice but to follow him, the black fabric of his uniform rubbing against my arm as we head down the hallway.

Aislinn Keymar, 18, Sector B

The cafeteria is packed this time of the day, which is just perfect for me. I look around for someone that I recognize, settling on a trio of girls that I met briefly a couple weeks ago. The smallest of the girls eyes me suspiciously, but the other two seem unaffected by my presence.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" I ask, placing my tray down in an empty place before they can answer. I slide onto the bench beside the redheaded girl, across from the smallest girl so that she will not be able to see what I'm doing. I haven't been doing this so long that I'm unafraid of being caught, actually the fear of detection is one of the best parts.

"Eh, sure why not. Aislinn right?" The third girl says. I remember her name, Katarina, but the other two I can't place. Katarina has long, tangled brown hair and dark eyes. She's pretty, but not pretty enough to be picked up by a crew boy evidently. That's what usually happens to the attractive girls, they get in with a crew by sleeping with one of the boys. Makes the girls that actually earn their places in a crew look like sluts, but people do what they have to do I suppose.

"You got it," I say. I pick up my fork and start eating, purposely allowing them to get back into whatever conversation they were having before I arrived. I keep one hand under the table so that I won't have to make any sudden movements when the time is right. I want as little of their attention as possible, and that's precisely what I get.

I'm good at what I do, not the best but certainly up there. It's what landed me in this place after all, well my mother and I both. It's the family business, some would say. It's what made our lives possible back in District Eight and it's what destroyed us by getting us deported to District Zero two years ago. It's also what helped us put ourselves back together when we arrived. Thieving is part of who we are, even if it makes us secretly part of one of the most despised groups of people in Zero.

I've only been caught five times, my mother only once since coming here. She's good and I'm getting better each time. Apart from working in the kitchens, thieving is what keeps us from living without. If people were more careful about where they kept their valuables we wouldn't be able to do what we did. Since they're not, well who can honestly say that it's our fault?

By the time I have finished whatever it is that I have eaten, I have already found what I needed and pocketed it. It feels like metal, but I won't be sure until I am in private and can take a proper look. If it's metal than I've hit the jackpot- besides jewellery it's one of the priciest valuables people find at the mountain.

I wait several minutes before leaving, forcing myself to laugh at the bits of gossip that the girls are discussing. I've never quite made friends in Zero, but by the looks of things I'm not missing out on much. I'm a loner at heart, always have been according to my mother, and friends seem useless to me. Theer are only two people in this place that I care about and they're my mother and I. Everyone else is simply irrelevant.

"I have to get back to the kitchens," I say finally, mock frustration thick in my voice. "See you around sometime?"

"Course," Katarina grins. "Small world Sector B is."

I turn around and head towards the kitchen doors. I wasn't lying about that, my shift really does start in a few minutes. I'll pass the valuables onto my mother when I get in, she should be leaving soon and she can make the trip over to the Plant.

As soon as I get inside the kitchens I grab an apron and head over to the soup station, where I expect my mother will be as always. Surely enough, there she is taking the pots off the burners and piling them into the sink. She hears me coming and turns around before I can even say a word.

"You gotta learn to erase the guilt from your face, else someone's bound to catch on."

I roll my eyes, she always tries to give me tips even though I don't want them. I don't feel guilt about steal from the red-haired girl so therefore it wouldn't make any sense for anyone to say I look guilty. I take the last pot off the burner and pass it over to the sink.

Just as I always do, I wrap my mother in a hug and pass the valuables into her apron pocket. She'll move them into her sleeve when she leaves and no one will ever see them. That's the most important part of our plan, to act as if you ain't got anything worth taking. Otherwise another one like us would take it off our hands. The work isn't done when you get the things, you gotta learn how to keep them too.

I flinch and spin towards the door when someone pushes it open. Hardly anyone is in this much of a rush to get into the kitchens, and I get a bad feeling about it as soon as I notice. Sure enough, my suspicions prove right when two men in black uniforms rush in.

My mother throws her arm around me, as if that might do anything to protect me if they are indeed here for me. I recognize their uniforms, as most people in Zero would. The recon team, here only once a year to collect two teenagers from each sector. It doesn't take me an awful long time to realize that I'm the only one in the kitchen that could possibly be of eligible age.

A/N: Alright here we are! The first of five pre-Capitol chapters, featuring the tributes of sectors A and B. I'm pretty excited about how this chapter turned out, and I hope it's giving everyone a decent feel for this new verse that I've created.

Reviews are awesome and always appreciated. Especially with something this different I'd love for people to give me any comments that they think would help me to improve the quality of the story. This is as new for me as it is for all of you, and any help would be happily accepted.

Which is your favourite of these four tributes?

Who are you most looking forward to reading about out of the other tributes?

Comments, questions, concerns?

Since I do in fact have a lot on my plate right now with two collaborations going on along with this story, I am expecting to update roughly once a week. It could be more, depending on what I have going on with those, but I hope to update at least weekly from now on. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, until next time!