Maize Bono, 15

Finding the Two boy in her woods when she got up in the middle of the night to pee was not the surprise Maize had been hoping for when she requested a miracle, but it was good enough. Danny's face had appeared in the sky and she never learned how he died, but it had spelled disaster for her. There were four Careers still alive, and only two other outliers left. Those were some long odds. There was a time when Maize would have been too terrified to do anything but hope they got rid of each other, but she wasn't like that any longer. She needed to do something to win, or the Gamemakers would just send some mutts to chase her down. One of the Careers wandering into her territory all alone and falling asleep was a critical opportunity.

Her first thought was that she should kill him before she lost her nerve. She had her sword in hand, ready to lop off his head and reap the rewards the Capitol would surely give her, but then it occurred to her that the best tribute to deal with Careers was another Career. If this Career was alone with no supplies, it meant he had either left the Pack or been ejected from it, and that meant that he was no longer working with the other Careers. It wouldn't have the same sort of instant payoff as killing him, but Maize began to think that if she could manage to take him captive, he would be a really useful hostage and help her fight the Careers later on.

There were risks. He could kill her if she handled it wrong, but she was going to get killed anyway if she didn't do something drastic. She slid his sword out of his utility belt, hid it half a mile away, secured her own sword on her person, and searched her rucksack for useful supplies. She found rope. Rope was good. His hands were at his sides. She needed to tie them up, but she feared that would wake him, so she compromised and tried to recall her training at the Capitol. She spent some time at the knot tying station. She didn't pick up the more useful knots well, but she did remember how to tie a noose. Getting it over his head made her anxious, because she had to lift it a little to thread the rope underneath, but he didn't wake up. She thought about waking him up, now that she was fairly prepared for this, but it wouldn't do to tap him on the shoulder. If she was on top of him, she would have a lot more control over the situation.

She climbed on up. He did not wake up. Maize began to fear that perhaps she had missed a cannon and he was dead. She checked his pulse. He was not dead, even though he slept like it. She decided he would wake up on his own terms. She was taking him as a hostage, but there was no reason to interrupt some poor boy's sleep.

When he did wake up, he seemed terrified. His eyes flickered open. He registered that she was sitting on his chest. He registered the noose around his neck. "Good morning," Maize said. He fainted. Or Maize thought he fainted, but he might have just been closing his eyes and trying not to panic. She could relate. She used her left hand to poke his cheek. His eyes open again.

"Please don't hurt me!" he blurted. Maize tightened her grip on the rope just a smidge, in case this was a trick, but then he burst into tears and she found herself sympathizing. No self-respecting Career was about to sob in the Arena if he could help it. It would tank any sponsor prospects he had left after separating from the Pack.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." She eased her weight off his chest. "Where are the other Careers?"

"I left them yesterday. It was so stupid, please just hurry up and get it over with." He looked up at her with big, wet eyes. She recalled the sword at her hip. Of course, she realized. He thought she was going to kill him. In fact, since she had waited for him to wake up, he probably thought she meant to make a show of it. He squirmed a little.

"You're on your own now?" she asked.

"Yes, please, make it fast. Please don't hurt me!"

"When's the last time you had water?"

"I don't remember. Yesterday afternoon. I remember. Please don't hurt me, I'll do anything, I swear." Maize looked at him again. She remembered him from the pre-Games, how arrogant he was, how rude to the other Careers. He scorned anyone whose abilities he perceived as lesser. He was perfectly groomed and perfectly polished.

He was crying. He didn't want to die. "Let's not panic," she said. She had never imagined she would be the one telling someone else that. "I'm only going to hurt you if you try to hurt me first. Got it? I'm not going to hurt you unless you try to hurt me. If you try to hurt me, I have a sword and I know how to use it." He did not offer any response. She thought it would be terribly mean to use her safeguard as a leash, but it also didn't seem like the worst idea from this angle. She tightened the slack on the noose and tugged towards herself. His chin lifted. "Get up," she ordered. He got to his feet slowly, using a careful hand on the rope to steady himself. He did not try to gain control of it or take it off. He was totally pliant, clutching the lead on his noose like a lifeline.

She didn't loosen her grip on the rope, but instead of pulling on it to lead him, she tucked her hand around to his back and pressed softly. "Come on," she said. "We're going to have a talk."

The Capitol was a hard place to live sometimes, Pandora mused. But it did have its advantages. The trouble was all in the education. She had received a proper Capitol education, so she knew that as a steward of the nation, she had a responsibility to make the kind of uncomfortable choices nobody liked to imagine themselves making. Nikolai Fassnacht was a noble man, but also stubborn and idealistic. He was determined to resolve the whole treasonous coup problem without spilling a single drop of blood. Pandora had nothing against optimism, but this was not a realistic goal, and his refusal to take action was only going to hurt more people in the long run. Nikolai used violence as a last resort. That wasn't going to work this time. Pandora knew from experience that a sedative could work miracles. Putting Nikolai to sleep was irrelevant to the solution she had in mind, but that wine-drunk sway right before your forehead hit the table was a very suggestible state of mind. "I need your keys," she told him.

"Okay. Have fun."

"And you should log into your secure portal right now and then give me your tablet."

"Why?"

"No time for questions. It's very urgent."

"Alright." Nikolai signed in and handed her his tablet.

"And remind me how to access the flight path of stolen aircraft?"

"Let me. You'll be too slow." Nikolai took back the tablet and pulled up a display for her.

"And the serial number of the hovercraft that went missing this morning?" He entered that too, then gave the tablet back to her.

"Math question, quick: how many pounds of high-blast yield putty explosive does it take to completely destroy something the size of a large train compartment?" Nikolai blinked sleepily.

"I thought you were asking me questions about hovercrafts?"

"I am."

"Are you trying to explode the stolen hovercraft?" His voice was sluggish.

"Of course not, honeybun," she said soothingly. "Here's an idea. Why don't you take a nap? You sound a little under the weather."

"That's a good idea," he murmured. "I'm sooo tired." Then he slumped over in his chair, arranged his extra sweater into a pillowish shape, and let his friend run away with total control over the Panemian military. (You really mustn't blame him, reader. He was zonked out on sleeping syrup. It didn't seem like a bad idea at the time.)

RIP to Tybalt's pride :(