Author's Note: The POV of Switz Wingly is the same as it was in the original story.

Switz Wingly, District 7

Something pokes gently into my side. I roll over in response. Come on, Mom, it's not a school day…

"Switz…?"

I'm poked again before I suddenly realise where I am. Snapping to wakefulness as quickly as possible, I sit up hurriedly enough to make myself a little bit dizzy.

"Ah, you're awake!" I register my sister's voice, but my eyes aren't awake enough to see her. I blink a few times and register nothing but Liet and the mountainside beside me.

"Wait…" I try to remember what exactly happened before I fell asleep, but… "Liet? What happened last night?"

"Um…" My sister wrings her hands. "We took a break here, and you fell asleep."

"Wha-Well, why didn't you wake me? We can't just stay on the side of the mountain! Anyone could…" My voice is getting too loud for something said to my sister, so I quiet down. "…Anyone could find us here, you know."

"I-I know… You just… You looked so tired, and… I-I didn't want to wake you up."

I sigh. "Liet, that's a dangerous thing to do, okay?" I stretch a little. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah. I tried to stay up for watch, but…" She looks at her shoes in a downcast manner.

"No, that's fine," I reassure quickly. "We didn't get attacked, so… No harm, no foul, right?" She nods uncertainly. "Yeah. Just be sure to wake me up next time, okay?" I ruffle her hair.

Well, there shouldn't be a "next time". I shouldn't have fallen asleep. Shouldn't have stopped in the first place.

"Come on. Let's go find some shelter." I shuffle around so Liet can take her usual piggyback position, but she hesitates. "What's wrong?" I turn around quickly. "Is your leg hurting? Because I think we have some more band—"

"No, no, I'm fine." She clambers on, and I stand up, starting across the mountain.

The first crater we run into is the swamp. Not going there again, that's for sure. I keep walking.

A few tiring minutes later, we come across another crater filled with deciduous trees, and I survey the area quickly before deciding to go in. I clamp my hands onto the crater edge and pull. But it takes me a good minute to finally heave the two of us over.

Sheesh, am I really that weak? I know I didn't have any breakfast, but for cripes' sake, I slept through the whole night and then some. I should be plenty refreshed enough.

But I'm not feeling any better. Not only am I still worn, I've also gotten a pretty nasty headache—from sleeping on rocks all night, no doubt.

No time to complain, though. I have to secure us some shelter ASAP.

Finally having gotten into the forest crater, I sweep my hands across each other and start across the compacted dirt. There's not much to go through for the first metre, but then the trees start to spring up. I weave through them, careful not to bump Liet against anything. About three more metres in, the trees become draped with hanging moss, and I have to continuously pull clumps aside just to see what's in front of me. It's gotten hard enough just trying to peer through the mostly-obstructed shafts of sunlight.

"—not that good."

I freeze.

"What's wrong, Switz?"

I shush my sister and listen again. Sure enough, voices are coming from deeper in the crater. Other tributes are here. And if other tributes are here, this isn't safe.

I turn around and march back out of the forest. The sunlight hits me again, making my headache throb, but I don't stop for a second until I've heaved us back out of the crater.

Liet doesn't comment; she must have heard the voices, too.

I look around the mountainside. The only other crater I can see is some sort of desert, but it'll have to do. There seem to be enough cacti to cast a protective shadow.

So, taking a deep breath, I set off for there.

Ciano Idalya, District 6

With a high-pitched yawn, I roll over on the grass and stretch. Is it morning already? The sun's up, so I guess so!

My stomach grumbles, so I bet it's time for breakfast. I find Lude—he's not far away, since I went to sleep right next to him because it's still kinda scary out here—and to my surprise, he's still asleep.

"Lude?" I poke his shoulder, but all he does is let out a droning snore. "Lu-ude? Hey, Lude?" I shake his shoulder a little. "Are you okay?"

With a sudden snort that makes me jump, he pulls his arm away from me and blinks open his eyes.

"Oh!" I clap my hands together cheerfully. "You're awake!"

"Wha...? Yeah..." He squints and sits up, rubbing his eyes. "You woka... woke up before me?" Confused, he looks up at the sky. "Ah!" he yelps, scrambling to his feet. "What—what—what... I-it's, like, ten o'clock!"

"Huh?" I look up, but I still don't know how you're supposed to tell time with the sun. I can just tell it's morning. He must be really good if he can tell it's ten o'clock!

I look back over at Lude, who's roughly shoving a knife into his pocket and picking up his main, spiky weapon.

"Come on; we're going."

I blink. "What? But we just woke up!"

"Well, we should have woken up earlier," he counters, grumbling under his breath. "Ten o'clock! What kind of soldier sleeps in until ten o'clock?"

A little bewildered, I timidly ask if we're going to have breakfast first.

"It'll take too long to pry that stupid alligator open. It's almost lunchtime, anyway. So come on, we're going." He grabs the first canteen he sees and hops the crater wall impatiently, glaring back at me to hurry up. I scramble over the ridge as fast as I can—I don't want to make him angry—and stand next to him for a second, scared he's changed his mind about carrying me piggyback, too.

"Hurry it up, will you?" he grumbles, stooping down a little. Relieved, I climb on.

Lude immediately rockets down the mountainside like me running away from something scary. I have to struggle to hang on until he finally starts slowing down. A little winded, he pauses to take out the canteen. As he unscrews the lid, I think more and more how good water sounds right now...

"Lude?"

He pauses, turning his head to look at me. The serious, almost-crazed look hasn't left his face, and I shrink down a little.

"I'm thirsty..."

He just looks at me for a second, and then heaves a sigh and holds the canteen up. With a thanks, I let go—I drop a little to the ground, but not enough to hurt—and take it. I tilt the canteen against my lips and get a big mouthful.

And then I spit it right back out.

"What is it now?" Lude demands, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"I-it tastes yucky," I say sadly, handing the canteen back to him.

"Yeah?" He looks over the thing for a second and takes an experimental sip. He holds it in his mouth, but from his face it looks like he can't pick out anything. He spits it back out, just in case, and pours a little of the water into his palm. With a sound of surprise, he rubs it with his fingers.

"There's... some sort of pulp in here," he says out loud. "I... guess we shouldn't drink it." Glancing at me with more of a "was not expecting this" look than a glare, he dumps the stuff from his hand and sets the canteen down on the rocks. "Thanks."

I blink. "You're... welcome?"

Seeing I'm not completely sure why he's thanking me, Lude says, "I think it was poisoned. I never would have noticed—your sense of taste is a lot better than mine, I bet."

"So..." My eyes widen. "I saved your life?"

"Looks like it."

"Yay!" I chime, jumping over to hug him in my cheer. He smiles at me before suddenly looking down.

"Okay, we'd better get going now," he starts, swallowing thirstily. I climb onto his back again, and he resumes climbing.