Fabian

My head pounded uncomfortably as I slowly became conscious again. At first, all I registered was that I was awake, drifting pleasantly into consciousness. And then my other senses kicked into action, and I realized how much everything hurt.

It was like I had been hit with a train, but somehow, I hadn't died, and I had to deal with the pain. I curled up into a fetal position, moaning softly.

A hand brushed against my cheek, and a cold cloth was pressed on my forehead, wiping off the beads of sweat that had started to form there. "Fabian?" The person asked softly. Her voice was very kind and melodic, and reminded me of my mother's.

With a lot of difficulty, I opened my eyes, and squinted against the afternoon light. How was it I was still alive? I'd been attacked. I should be dead. I owed the girl tending to me my life. Who could possibly want to save me from the brink of death? This was the Hunger Games. Leaving me for dead would mean less competition.

"Oh, good, you're awake," the girl's voice sounded almost…relieved? I attempted to sit up, but I was hit with a wave of nausea. "That's not a smart idea. You've lost a ton of blood. I'm kind of surprised to see you still alive," she informed me. "Who are you? Why did you save me?" I managed to say. The girl was very quiet for a second, but then she appeared in my line of vision.

Confusion, fear, and oddly enough happiness swept over me for a moment. With her dirty blonde hair, bright green eyes, angular face, and steely expression I knew exactly who she was. Nina. But…why had she saved me?

Apparently my eyes betrayed my disbelief, because Nina fiddled with her thumbs quietly before saying, "Look…I wasn't going to let you die. Not like that. And…well…you asked for my help, if you remember. I wasn't going to be cruel and keep running. If you want, as soon as you're better, I can leave. I was wrong to leave when you took care of me, when I almost suffocated. I'm sorry about that, and I just wanted to make up for it. You were just trying to take care of me, but…I guess I don't trust easily. I freaked and left. So I'm sorry, and that's why I'm helping."

It struck me how normal she seemed. I'd never figured Nina out, not really. I'd thought at first that she was a killing machine, hating everyone and everything. Then, when I'd found Alfie suffocating her…she'd almost seemed human, vulnerable. And I'd never quite gathered why she'd run off after she woke up. It had increased my confusion. She was a puzzle, and I could never figure her out.

But now it clicked into place. The cruelness, the ruthlessness, the bravery and slight psychosis…it was all an act. An act to cover herself from the Capitol, and from other tributes, and to get sponsors. Because underneath it all, she was scared. She didn't trust anyone, didn't make any allies because she was scared they'd backstab her, as Alfie had. She saved me because her heart had gone out to me, and she'd taken care of me despite her reluctance. She was real—so very, very real. She regretted every kill she'd ever made, and she carried a guilty conscience with her. She didn't want this any more than I did.

And that was why I grabbed her hand and smiled. I wasn't scared of her. I wasn't using her. It wasn't even out of pity. It was because I finally saw how much she cared. It was because I finally understood her.

~Fighters~

Patricia

I don't know how I kept going, but I did.

I felt like throwing something, I felt like bawling, and I felt a deep hatred boiling inside me for the stupid Game Makers and the Capitol, but I kept moving, I kept walking, and I tried not to think. I tried not to think about Eddie, about my family, about the fact that if I ever made it back home, it would be without Eddie. I tried not to think about the fact that I was in the Hunger Games, the fact that everyone I met here would be dead, and that there was a huge possibility that I would be too.

But who was I kidding? There were seven other people left, and six of them would kill me on sight.

I walked so long that I hadn't realized it was getting dark until I heard the Capitol anthem playing. I looked up in the sky, and I saw the girl's face—Mara—blazing in the sky. Then the anthem shut off. I sighed, and tried to lean against a boulder. Then, someone's voice squawked in protest, "HEY!"

I stared down in surprise. There was a person there, so at least I wasn't going insane. She was very small and thin, with tan skin and caramel colored hair. Her big brown eyes stared up at me in protest, but she didn't try to move up from the ground. "You almost stepped on me!" she accused me.

I was taken aback. She didn't seem scared at all, like she knew that I wasn't going to attack her. And I didn't. Instead, I slung my bow across my back and knelt down near her. "And you are just lying on the ground in the middle of a forest. Excuse me if I didn't notice you," I said sarcastically. The girl just rolled her eyes. "I'm Joy," she introduced herself. "The Career?" Maybe I would shoot her after all… Joy jutted up her chin defiantly. "Yeah. Why?" "Because," I said, knocking an arrow, "It would just be easier for me to kill you in that case."

"Wait! I'm injured. Don't you think it would be nicer of you to just let me live until I died because I can't move my injured leg?" I pretended to contemplate this. "Um…nah. I'm going to kill you, sorry," I said, a malicious grin taking over my face.

I shot the arrow right into her heart. A cannon boomed.

I grinned.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

~Don'tEvenBlink