That's it…I said it. I'm fighting for my district partner. It hit me that I said that until it was too late. I practically announced that I was in love with Nazz. But, another thought runs through my head. If I can tell them the real thing, I could save us and Nazz's reputation.

Choosing my words carefully, I decide to speak up.

"Well, I give you the reason why I'm fighting for her. District Peach has little to no victors, except my brother and my mentor. I've wanted to prove that District Peach wasn't soft as people thought it was. I wanted to say that I am a survivor and so is my district partner. I want us to live."

I look and hear all of the reassuring ooh's and sighs of relief. Looks like they didn't want a couple this year. I look towards and she gives a relieved smile towards me, and I smile back. I want to tell her that I loved her so badly, but my reputation will be at stake then. Or they'll want us to be easy prey for the other competitors.

Looking towards the interviewer, I see a smirk had been drawn across his face.

"Well then," he says. "Looks like we got ourselves a hero. Ladies and gentlemen, Eddy McGee. Until next time, next year."

I head back to the district floor, waiting for Nazz to show up and slap me across the face. She does come back up, but she doesn't slap me. She wraps her arms around me and embraces me.

"You really think we could win this year?" she asks.

"I'm sure." I respond.

The next day, we are hounded into the train and headed to the arena. When I get to the doors, the valet hands me a map and a flashlight. I head to my designated train car and carefully unwrap it. I look towards the piece of paper and see the arena that we'll be dying in. Those bastards decided to put us into an urban environment. Yeah, an abandoned, war torn version of the neighboring district, District Cash. I would love to get my hands on abandoned cash there, but I don't know the layout of it. I guess they wanted those bratty Cash kids to win this year. Oh, I'll prove them wrong.

We make it to the arena. They push us into our designated spots and tell us to shut up and keep quiet. If I could punch one of those soldiers, I could've. But, they have guns and I don't have anything…yet. Our mentor gives us a Red tooth earphone, one designated for our specific ear type. As we get pushed up into the arena, George tells us something.

"Eddy, Nazz. Can you hear me?" he asks.

"Yeah, I can" I say

"Same here." Says nazz.

"Ok, listen up. As you know, this is an urban environment. I've looked at the map extensively and I know where to go."

"How do you know that?" I ask." You've never been here."

"Have you even listened, you idiot?" he exclaims.

He goes on to tell us our best bet is to go into one of the abandoned asylums. He tells us that place has been cleared out for decades, and he tells us what the kingdom failed to tell us all. There's a small stash of hidden weapons up on the roof. Our other best bet is to get our stuff from what they call the Slaughterhouse, and get the hell out of there.

"Sounds like a plan." I say.

"Shh, be quiet. The kingdom doesn't know that I gave you these, so shut your mouth."

"WHAT?" I yell softly.

Before he can answer, the sound of the gong goes off. I sprint towards the slaughter house, and I'm the first to bash in the door. I wait for Nazz to come by, but Stone pushes me toward the side and heads to the 'meat packaging station'. I plan to give that asshole what for.

Nazz runs through the door, and I slam it shut. The others are trying to bust it down, so I keep it locked with a chair. I yell to Nazz to head up the stairs, and I say that I'll meet her near the back door.

It wasn't long for the others start to get clever. Some went through the window, others went through the back. Knowing that I'll be outnumbered and defenseless, I head to the west side of the building and into what I think is a secretary's office. I look through the drawers until I find a large Bowie knife. I examine it and see the blade is smooth but the back of it has ridges. I decide to keep looking and I find an axe, not the war type, the chopping wood type.

"Eddy, do you have a weapon?" George yells through the mic.

"Yeah, I do. And I have an axe to spare." I answer.

"Perfect. Now, I'm going to patch you into nazz a..."

There's only static. And the sound of kids screaming and running. And it isn't long until a boy from district Toys runs into the office. He makes a war cry and heads toward me. I duck under the desk and he lunges over it. He sees me get up and tackles me over the desk and we end up on a clinch. My weapons are behind a cabinet, but I don't have time to get them. We eventually wrestle towards the cabinet, and I grab my knife. He sees that I have a weapon, and tries to steal it from me. I keep my grip on it until he decides to make myself slit my own throat. He begins to inch the blade towards my neck, closer and closer and closer until he stops. He coughs up blood all over my face and falls, dead. I look up and see Nazz, blowgun in her hand, and a backpack on her back.

"Eddy, I have the pack. Let's get out of here." She yells.

I grab my knife and my axe and run out the door of the office. We eventually head out of the building and run towards the asylum, about a mile away from where we are. As we head out to the building, we hear gunshots come from the slaughterhouse…