District Twelve's Daria "Dare" Nettle's POV

Zeal should of killed her. That's all I could think of as Zeal carried me away from the District Three pair, one of which was dead from what I could tell.

Zeal had killed before, he had killed back in the district with his gang of thugs that terrorized the district and made things harder for us common folks then they already were. Zeal had killed before, he had killed that District three male, Kendrick, just now, so why wouldn't he kill that girl? It would of been so easy for him, just run up to her and smash her head in like he did with her partner. But instead, he grabbed me and ran away from her.

I wined in pain as I remembered the beating that she and her now dead partner had given me because Zeal hadn't charged in with me. That idiot had just stood there and watched. That is, until Kendrick started to beat me and I called out for help. That was when my partner came to my aid and completely destroyed the District Three male, slamming his head into the wall before throwing his dead body away while screaming at him to stay dead.

It was weird, and I was confused by his words. My red headed ally shouted that the guy he was beating was dead and should of stayed dead. How could someone of been dead when he was still alive? Had he been planning on killing him in the first place? Maybe Zeal was just really slow and really was planning on charging, but was just too slow to process everything.

Either way, I wondered still about that situation. It was kind of weird for Zeal to be mad. He was mad at Kendrick for some reason, and as far as I know, Kendrick had never done anything to him in the past. Not in the Capitol, not in this game, except maybe fight us, and Kendrick was from District Three, not the district that we, unfortunately, call home.

It was funny, I had to tell my ally to attack that purple haired girl when she first attacked us, and just now, I had to ask him to save me before he even made a move, but he acted different each time. I wondered why. Even if he was stupid, shouldn't he of been able to at least think about attacking someone that was attacking him? Did he even know that he was in the Hunger Games? Even Zeal couldn't be that stupid to not realize what kind of situation he was in. Could he?

"Zeal?" I asked, hearing that my voice was rough and weak. I tasted thick warm liquid mixed with metal.

Suddenly, the lights above us sprang to life, blinding me. I closed my eyes as I felt myself being raised up in the air even further, feeling my stomach touch something with a point in the center. It was probably Zeal's face with the point being his nose.

Why had the lights suddenly gotten turned on? Were we at a stage of the game where they decided that they didn't want us in the dark anymore? Were we not finding each other fast enough to satisfy the audience?

I guess it didn't matter, I was grateful that the lights were on so that we wouldn't be stumbling in the dark, even if I was blinded by the sudden brightness.

"What?" I heard my carrier ask as he continued to run, my body bouncing up and down, his nose digging softly into my side. It felt, strange, but pleasant. Almost like how my daddy would carry me when I got injured. But I knew that this person wasn't my dad, so it made it not as pleasant.

"Why didn't you kill her?"

"You were going to die if I did." He answered automatically, like he didn't even have to think about in the slightest. "And I don't kill."

"Yes you do," I told him, thinking back to just moments ago and when he had told me that he had indeed killed a only one that he would confess. "You killed a person back home and you killed a person just now."

"Same person," He quickly said. "And he was hurting you."

I opened my eyes to glare at him, but the lights blinded me, so I closed my eyes and mentally glared at him.

"I don't know what your talking about, but the person who you killed was Kendrick, not some person you killed back back home." I spat at him, wondering why he was even denying it when the whole thing was right in front of him. "And I was fine. In fact, I am fine. Caia wouldn't of been able to kill me. Put me down and I'll show you I'm fine."

"Fine." My partner answered before I felt myself suddenly fall before I felt excruciating pain ripple through my entire body.

What the fuck?

"What the, fuck?" I cried out as I felt the pain in my body get worse then it already was as I coughed painfully. Each rush of air hurting my throat and chest. "Why the fuck, did you do that?"

"You told me to." He answered unemotionally. That really pissed me off for some reason.

"I told you to put me down," I snarled at him. I was so mad that I managed to open my eyes, fight the blinding light, and glare at him with my eyes open. Sure I had to squint badly and the light did somewhat blind me, but I managed to keep my eyes open and stare at him. "I didn't tell me to drop me."

"Put. Down." Zeal said slowly. "Drop." Him speaking slowly, trying to figure out the difference, only fueled my anger. Didn't he know that I was in pain? Why did he have to drop me instead of gently putting me down like he should of? "It's the same."

I felt my whole body shake as he finished his sentence.

It's not the same! There's a difference between putting down and dropping!

Okay! That was it! He made excuses, he let one of our attackers get away, and he was dropping me around like I was a disposable toy. Nobody, and I mean nobody, treats me like that, not even some muscle head from a feared gang.

"Fuck you!" I shouted before I slammed my fist into his body, feeling like I punched a stone wall. My fist radiated with pain as I loudly groaned and shouted in pain.

I couldn't tell if my attack had done anything to the brute, but right now, I didn't care, I just wanted to hit him. "Fuck! You! Fuck! You! Fuck! You!" I shouted as I hit him over and over, feeling more and more pain wash over my fists.

I started to get irritated with the pain in my fists, and Zeal didn't even sound like he was in any sort of pain, so I started to kick him while swearing abuse to him. I heard a satisfying howl of pain as my boot connected to his leg.

I continued my assault on him, kicking and punching, but mostly kicking since it seemed to be the only thing that could damage him, taking great pleasure in it.

This game, this horrible, horrible game that I had treated as such, wasn't something that you could just avoid and ignore just because you wanted to. If it were all possible, I would quit right here and now and go back home to my mom and dad and friends, but I couldn't, and neither could Zeal.

Now because of this dumbass, the chances of going back home were lowered. Caia was still alive, a threat that we could meet again in the future. The next time we meet, she might not be as nice as she was before. The games were real, and you have to accept that there's going to be loss of life, otherwise your the one that's going to that'll return home dead. I didn't want that, but Zeal seemed to have a death wish for the both of us.

Even now, as I attacked him, he wasn't fighting back. It made me wonder why I was ever worried about this guy back home. "Nobody likes you and your so called friends would shout in joy at your death!" I shouted to him. "Your leader will probably say something like: I'm glad that retard is out of our lives, he was only a-"

It felt as if I had been hit in the face with a brick. Harsh pain rushed through the side of my head as I felt myself fall to the ground, landing painfully on my side.

So now he was attacking, why? Why was he attacking now of all times? He could of attacked Perla, or Caia, or Kendrick at anytime by himself, but now that I was his attacker he decided to start thinking on his own? Why now of all times?

"She wouldn't say that." The gang member spat bitterly. I felt even more metallic blood flow onto my tongue. I spat it out, but more warm liquid replaced it within seconds. "We're friends."

"Some friends." I managed to say, finding my voice was raspy as it choked on blood and pain. "What makes you think your really friends with her?"

"Because we are." He answered stupidly.

"That's not an answer!" I shouted at him, feeling the side of my face pulse painfully. "I'm friends with Livi because we share the thirst of adventure. I'm friends with Skene he's funny and easy to get along with."

I thought of my two friends and the adventures he had together, the trouble and pain we got into because we didn't take the safe route to wherever, the laughs we had and the talks we had. I started to think about how it all started. "I meet Livi while exploring an abandoned coal mine."

We weren't supposed to be in there due to it being dangerous and unstable, but that didn't stop us from going in it. I got lost, Livi got lost, we both meet each other in the mine and began to explore it with each other and our oil lamps. Striking up conversations of how we loved nature, but also loved not letting boundaries, with acceptable limits such as severe law breaking, get between what we wanted to do.

Then there was Skene. "I meet Skene because of a dare."

Skene was someone that looked, even when he was only twelve years old, intimidating, and nobody wanted to go near him. Even as a young kid he already looked almost like an older kid then a little one. And I, being the daredevil that'll go anything outside of murder, was dared to ask him out on a date, with a reward of a couple of coins. It didn't matter the outcome, I'd of still gotten paid whoever it turned out.

Me being fearless, walked up to Skene and asked him out, with kids from school hiding out of sight from us.

Skene, not being used to being talked to by anyone other then his parents, didn't really know how to react, so he just said yes. I got two extra coins and a friend that day.

Skene turned out to be a shy guy who Livi and I managed to kick out the shyness in the boy that hardly talked to anyone, even us. But even when he was a shy, not so little fellow, he had a great sense of humor and made great company for us, even if he didn't talk much. We had only gone out for that afternoon, but he had brought Livi and I years of friendship, all because of a dare. It was a great memory, and I'm glad that I got to meet both my friends.

They had changed over the years though. Livi stopped being so daring and chose to go with some safer stunts while Skene started to think about adulthood, which included finding a special someone in his life, settling in, getting a job, maybe getting a kid or two, and living life in general, something that was common among kids his age.

Things had changed between us, but we were still friends. "We do things together and have fun with each other. How did you and your so called friends meet and why do you do the things you do?"

"Organge." The red head told me.

"Organge?" I asked. "What the hell's that?"

"That place with no parents." Zeal simply said.

"Orphanage." I corrected, before knowing what this was. "You were raised in the orphanage."

"Whatever that is." Zeal commented before he continued. "Ruthie, Russell, Lucy, Darwin, and me, we friends there."

Silence then occurred.

"Why did you become friends?" I asked, wondering how that gang, that I know knew all the names of, had become friends.

Zeal shrugged.

"We just did."

"Why?"

"Because nobody else was."

"So you became friends because nobody else would be with you guys?" I asked, wondering if it could be anything as simple as that. Thinking of those five walking up to each other in the orphanage and saying 'Hi, nobody wants to be friends with me, will you be my friends?'

"Yeah." Zeal answered.

"So that's it then?" I said, thinking of how those five getting together was a deadly toxic mixture just waiting to explode, and bring down the district with them. Those five got together, then started to run chaos around town. "You five got together, left the orphanage, then started to harass us all." Then a question hit me. "Why? Why did you leave the orphanage?"

"Because we had to." He answered simply.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I killed someone."

That was news to me. Was he finally going to tell me about the person he killed? The only one that he claimed to kill when he had killed so many more. What was so special about this person that he remembers only him and nobody else.

"Who?" I asked, needing to know who it was.

"Master Warden." Master...Warden. What kind of stupid name was that?

"Why did you kill this, Master Warden?" I asked, wondering what could of gotten Zeal to kill him.

"He tried to sex Ruthie." Zeal answered. I could hear anger in his voice.

"Don't you mean, tried to have sex with her?" I asked.

"Whatever." Zeal said, like it didn't matter at all. "It was long ago, years ago when, we were young. He's dead twice, he can't hurt anyone anymore."

I couldn't help but feel something about Zeal. Something strange, something that felt like understanding. I couldn't really describe it in any other way. I felt as if he was like my friend, Skene, but also, different still. But there were huge differences between Zeal and Skene.

"So what," I continued, thinking of how him and his friends escaped the orphanage to take out their hate of someone that raped their friend towards everyone else in the district. Did everyone have to suffer because of him? Because of something that happened years ago that they couldn't get over? "You and your friends go out and kill everyone that reminds you of him? Or just because you want to?"

"We don't-" He was about to tell me, yet again. He claimed that they don't kill, but everyone knows that it's a lie, he's only denying it.

"You do!" I shouted angrily at him, looking at him directly in the eyes, wanting him to just confess that he did bad things and that there was no hiding it. "You do kill people! I think that you kill people and you try and deny it! And when your not, your making up an excuse about why you do!"

Silence occurred, and that made feel as if I won, and I did win, Zeal wasn't saying anything, just looking at me like he had nothing to say.

I smiled, knowing that I had won. He wasn't jumping away from the subject anymore.

"We don't-"

"Shut up!" I yelled. "God! Just, shut up!"

A/N: Short chapter, yes I know. It's a crappy kind of reward to those that waited, but, only so much I can do right now. So for now, sorry about the wait and the length of this chapter. The chapters might get back to normal in the next chapter or so. Also, I tried out a new style with this chapter, one that included lots of dialogue. I can see why it works, but, I don't think it's for me.