My mouth hung open, and Gaz stared at the ground as she marched up to the stage. People began to mutter stuff like, "She won't survive," and "She's too puny."

Right as Gaz was about to climb up onto the stage, I ran up and thrust myself in front of her, pushing her back behind me. "I volunteer to take her place!" I gasped, panting as though I had just run a marathon.

People stared at me. People from our area NEVER volunteered as tribute, because the tributes from our area usually bite the dust first.

However, Mr. Dwicky smiled at me. "Okay then, little boy! Now people, THIS is what the Hunger Games is all about right here!" he gushed. I fought back a glare.

Gaz's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Dib? No!" I looked back at her in slight surprise. This is the first time that she really ever showed me any signs of concern towards me.

Her face paled when I pushed her away from me. "No, Gaz. You aren't going to die within this year." I hissed in her ear. Gaz slapped me. "And so you are going to go and die for me? Me? I've done nothing but try to hurt you!" Tears were in her eyes as she told me this, and I looked away.

"You're my sister, Gaz. I love you." I muttered, and she just continued to stare. "Dib. Let me do this."

I shook my head again, and Tak walked and picked up Gaz, who didn't do anything but stare at me with a shocked gaze. Tak smiled at me mournfully. "Go for it, Dib." she told me. But I could tell that by the way she looked at me, she knew that I would die within the first hour of the Games. But that was fine, because I knew it, too.

I went up to the stage, and no one applauded for me. The whole place was silent, and then people started to wave goodbye to me. My heart sank to my toes.

Dwicky pretended that he didn't see anything, but I caught him give me a sympathetic look. That just made me feel worse, thank you very much.

Dwicky smiled to the audience. "Now, that is what we call spirit!" he said. No one smiled, no one gave me the thumbs-up, and again, no one clapped. But I would just feel offended if anyone clapped, anyway.

Dwicky turned to me. "Now, Mr…"

"Dib. My name is Dib." I said quietly.

Dwicky chuckled. "Dib. That's quite a strange name, don't you think?"

I adjusted my glasses and bit back a stinging retort. Instead, all that I muttered out was, "My mother thought of the name."

Dwicky shrugged. "It's just a name. It doesn't matter if your mother or your father came up with it. It's just a symbol of your identity." he pointed out, crossing his arms. I sighed inwardly-if only he knew…

But wait. Why were we talking about names? I nearly face palmed until Dwicky changed the subject. "Now…erm…that was your sister?" he guessed. "You seemed pretty protective of her."

I shuffled my feet nervously. "Uh…yeah. Gaz is my sister." I said.

Dwicky looked up at the crowd and walked over to giant bowl of names again. "Well, okay, that's enough of getting to know Dib Membrane. Let's just draw the next name, shall we?" With a toothy grin, he pulled out another name.

Dwicky cleared his throat. "Zim Vasquez." he read in a clear voice. My muscles relaxed when he didn't call out Tak's name, but I just stiffened again when I got a good look about my fellow corpse-uh, I mean tribute.

He was a tiny, skinny fellow with raven black hair and purple eyes. His skin was a sickly green color…and no, not the nauseous kind of green, but the actual color. My eyes flashed. Him? Oh no…

Dwicky asked for volunteers, but no one volunteered. I just heard one psychotic green-dog-thing clapping insanely. Zim glared daggers at the object.

I remember him from a while ago. And by the look on his face when he got a good look at me, he remembers me, too.

It was a cold, winter day. My family was literally starving to death, including me, and even though the hunger weakened me, I still urged myself to move on. I had to trade these old teddy bears for food. So far, I was unsuccessful.

I was just about to give up until the delicious scent that can only come from a bakery filled my nostrils. They were baking bread…oh I wished that I had some of that bread so badly. As if on cue, my stomach growled loudly, and my arms wrapped around it. I groaned. The hunger was too overwhelming. It was like a disease to me. A virus.

I look around frantically for food. If I couldn't trade, I was going to have to scavenge. Luckily, I found a trash can right next to the bakery. I knocked it over, and it's contents came spilling out. I was about to grab all the food I could carry, but a woman came out and shooed me away. There seemed something almost robotic about the lady. Behind her was a strange green kid, staring at me with wide, curious eyes.

The door closed to the bakery, and I sank to my knees, utterly defeated. I buried my face in my hands and began to sob. My family was going to die because of me…this was all my fault!

Suddenly, I hear the bakery door open again. I was about to run away, but it was just the odd green kid. He was holding bread, and he threw it in my direction. The bread burned my hands, but I didn't care. It was food! Without thanking him, I scurried away before anyone could find me with unpaid bread.

When I got home, I split the loaf of bread with my father and my sister. They were delighted at the bread, though Gaz really just wanted pizza. I snapped at her about how it just wasn't that easy anymore, and she was silent after that.

A few bites into my share, I realized something a little bit off about the bread. It seemed…BURNT. The bread was burnt! But I shrugged the thought away, though. Did it really matter? Either way, burnt or not, it was still food!

Dib was snapped out of his flashback when he felt something in his hand. He looked down, and saw Zim's gloved hand intertwined with his own. Zim was scared. Dib sighed…who wouldn't be? But this kid…he didn't want him to be scared. And he really wanted to thank him for the bread….but how could he now? Zim was his mortal enemy now. They were going to try to kill each other. Dib looked down at his feet.

Well. This wasn't going well at all, was it?