It has been a week since the hunger games started, and Tom and Danny are getting worn out. They found a river, so have plenty of water, but food has been an issue. They managed to make a bow for Danny from a branch using the knives they had, and untwisting the rope to string the bow, but the arrows they've tried to make are no good. Tom has got pretty decent at throwing the smaller knife, and they made a spear for Danny, but so far catching the animals they come across has been tricky. The dried fruit ran out the day before, and the foraging trips had barely turned up enough since then. Danny suggested returning to the pile of supplies where they started, to try to find any food that had been left behind, but Tom said no. It was too risky.

That was how they found themselves walking alongside the stream they took water from, trying to catch one of the fishes they had seen flash by. They both missed again, the fish far too quick, barely seen before they were gone again. Danny swears loudly, retrieving his spear and throwing himself down on the riverbank, covering his face with an arm. Tom sits down next to him, rubbing his eyes with his fists, trying not to say anything that will make either of them feel any worse than they already do. Tom looks at their surroundings, wondering how long they can last like this, until someone finds them.

Suddenly, there's a splash downstream, and Tom twists round so fast his neck cricks. Rubbing it, he sees a silver tail sticking out of the water, a few feet down from where he and Danny are. Danny jumps up, and practically leaps forward before Tom grabs the back of his jacket to stop him, wary of whatever killed the fish.

They step forward together, very slowly, to where they can see the fish. it looks as though it is caught in some invisible net, held in that one spot somehow with the water making it sway eerily. Danny reaches out with his spear, giving the fish a tentative prod, and gasping at the reaction. The fish jumps a little and definitely, definitely makes a little spark underwater. Tom crouches, looking for some kind of explanation, and finds it. There are two thin copper wires that blend in perfectly with the riverbed suspended in the water, with the fish caught between the two. Following the wires to the edge of the river, Tom finds them connected to some kind of plastic device, but doesn't dare touch it, worried he might get the same electric shock the unfortunate fish clearly did.

He turns round to find Danny reaching out to the fish, and hisses at him suddenly.

"Stop, Dan! You'll get zapped by the charge!"

Too late, Danny retracts his hand with a yelp, sucking his fingers and looking like a wounded animal.

"But it's the first fish we've got! we could get it somehow...aren't you hungry?"

"Yes, of course I am," Tom says, carefully pulling them both to the side and inspecting Danny's red fingers, "but someone has put this trap here."

Danny looked blankly back at him, the lack of food clearly affecting his thinking process more than Tom's. "So what? It's still food..." he said, almost longingly looking back at the fish.

"Yes, but someone is being clever and deliberately putting a trap here that catches fish, but they don't want to kill people. That thing gave you a shock, but it wasn't ever going to do more than that!" Tom said excitedly, not understanding why Danny didn't look so happy.

"So..."

Tom sighed, thanking any kind of god there might be that he had patience. "So...there's someone out there, someone who set this trap, who is thinking the same as us...someone who doesn't want to kill any more than we do! All we have to do is wait here until they come to get their stuff and ask if they want to join us!"

"Oh," Danny said, finally catching on to Tom's train of thought and getting excited. "So how should we do it then?"

"I think," Tom said, taking on the role of strategist again, "that we should wait in that tree so that we can see who it is, then we can see if we think we want them, although given that whoever it is knows how to set this up," he said, gesturing at the fish still caught between wires, "I would say it's a pretty safe bet that they would be good to be with, and I can't imagine anyone would object to some extra protection and company."

So they do as Tom suggests, climbing a tree nearby and waiting. It seems to take forever; neither of them speak in case whoever set the trap hears them and gets scared off, and they can't move around much for the same reason.

It's late afternoon, with the sun turning everything a gentle golden hue by the time anything happens. All Tom hears is a scrabbling noise, like someone trying to climb up a gravel slope. He nudges Danny, who looks like he's going to sleep, and they sit up straighter, focusing in on a bush below them which is trembling slightly. It goes still again and the sounds stop, but then, after a tense minute, one of the branches moves, and someone comes out.

It's the boy from District three. He's one of the younger ones, small and skinny, with dark blonde hair that brushes low over his eyes. Tom remembers seeing him being picked; he fainted dead on the spot when they said his name, and he was always standing a little away from the action in the training room.

Tom and Danny look at each other, and Tom nods once to tell Danny to go.

Danny launches himself out of the tree, knocking the boy over just as he reaches the riverbank, pushing him onto his back and holding him down. The boy doesn't even scream, just squirms furiously under Danny and tries to wriggle free, until Danny straddles him, sitting on his hips to get him to stay still. As Tom grabs his hands to help Danny, the boy goes still, wide-eyed and shaking, panting from his failed escape attempt and fear in every trembling breath.

For a moment the three of them stay like that, with Tom and Danny holding him down, trying to catch their breath, until eventually Tom decides they ought to clarify the situation.

"Don't worry, we're not going to kill you," he says, relaxing his grip slightly on the younger boy's wrists. It doesn't seem to sooth as much as he had hoped it would though, the boy still looks scared and deeply distrustful of them. Tom tries again: "We're not killing anyone, us two. We're just trying to survive, and we think you are too. Do you want to join us?"

This he seems to believe a little more. Tom can feel his arms relax marginally as the boy nods, gulping, still looking terrified. Tom decides they should make him more at ease.

"If we let you up, you won't run away or try to hurt us, will you?"

"No," the boy says, barely a whisper still, but Tom lets go of his hands and motions for Danny to get off him. The boy sits up, rubbing his wrists slightly and still looking wary.

"What's your name?" Tom says, trying to sound gentle as he can after just tackling the boy to the ground.

"Dougie," the boy says, slightly more confident now that he isn't being held down.

"Great. I'm Tom from District 11, and this is Danny from District 7."

"I know," Dougie says, "I saw you around during training and the film of you getting picked. Didn't you..." he trails off, looking at Danny sheepishly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm the one that punched his sister on TV, but it was for a good reason! I needed her to stop before she volunteered!" Danny said, looking annoyed at how he has been remembered.

"Oh, sorry," Dougie says, pushing his hair back nervously and blushing. "I didn't mean to offend you, I have a sister too so I know what it's like..."

"You're from District 3 right, Dougie?" Tom says, getting to his feet again at last. "Is that how you learned to do that? How does it work?" he gestures to the fish caught between wires again.

"Yeah," Dougie says, standing too and making his way over to the river edge where the wires disappear into the ground, pushing aside a clump of moss and showing a black box with switches and a blinking red light. "This controls the power, so you can turn it off to get the fish without getting a shock yourself," at which Danny scowls at the box, as if it's it's fault his fingers are still sore. "It gets the energy from geothermal power, so it's not much, so that it doesn't make the whole river like a massive live wire, and so it doesn't hurt anyone too, of course. The fish don't sense the current, but it's just enough that if they swim into the wires, because there are two it completes the circuit and gets shocked," Dougie says, picking up the fish from the now uncharged wires, seeming more comfortable talking about what he knows.

"But how do you know how to do all this, and where did you get the wires and box and stuff?" Danny says, looking confused.

"Come on Dan," Tom laughs, "He's from District 3. Electronics and stuff...they're all taught how to build and work stuff there!"

Dougie smiles nervously, before adding "I got the stuff at the start. There was a navy bag with a lightning bolt near me, so I just grabbed that and ran." Realising Tom and Danny's blank expressions, he sighs and says, "Navy is the colour usually associated with our district, or at least what we use for our uniforms and the labels on all our containers. I had a hunch I was meant to realise that and it turned out to be right. It had a few components and so I set this up to get food. I have another one to cook it, with a stronger current. That one's solar powered."

"Well, we're glad to have you aboard," Tom says, clapping Dougie on the back and returning the tentative smile Dougie give him.

"Yeah," Danny says, "would've thought some brains and a bit of wire could get you food, eh?"