Author's Note

I do not own the Hunger Games.

District Seven Male, Terro Fields, 18

The glass bridge was a little unnerving, but otherwise stable and secure. Terro still found himself testing each step before he made it.

Two stayed oddly close for her, keeping her head up and her attention focused on him.

"There must be a trick somewhere," she said.

"You sound so sure," said Meredith with a frown.

"The Gamemakers would never make this so easy. It's like the tunnels. There must be something up ahead."

"Or maybe we're meant to just push each other off," said Terro.

Two glanced at the other bridges around them. "Maybe."

It would be the kind of sick stunt the Capitol would pull. They wanted to watch the tributes turn on and kill each other when there was no need to.

Terro's attention lingered on the three tributes from Two. They hadn't chosen a bridge yet, and were instead looking at each other and searching the other tributes as though they were prey.

As though they were looking for someone.

Or making a choice.

"Come on. Keep going," said Terro.

If there was another trap on the other side, they'd be best to be among the first ones there. Timewise, it would buy them more of a chance.

On one of the bridges to their left, there was a terrible scream, and a flash of green almost flew straight over the edge.

"Micah!" cried Two.

The little boy from the hovercraft. Terro had almost forgotten about him. For a moment he hung over the edge of the bridge, and then Sage hauled him back up.

"Are you okay?" Two shouted, but the two must have been too far to hear them, as neither replied.

"From Seven?" asked Meredith.

"Yeah. There's a lot of us."

"Seven's being punished," said Two, and no more than that.

The bridge led to another metal door on the other side, this one with a flashing five on the front. Terro frowned as he pulled out his keycard. "It must be connected to the other door."

"Maybe," agreed Meredith as he swiped his card.

The door swooshed open.

District Two Male, Alexios Macedon, 18

Three levels in and only eight tributes dead. And not many by their hands. Alexios hefted the knife in his hands. Throwing knives weren't his preferred weapons by far, but spears were too big and unwieldy to have brought through the tunnels, across the abyss, and then up those climbing slopes.

"Pick a target," he muttered to Aelianna.

Freya was still looking at the pair from Nine, but they were too far away now. She'd have to wait until the next level to make her strike.

"The rebel girls," said Aelianna, pointing out the three girls that had appeared as rebels in the video they'd been shown before entering the arena. The three were only just reaching one of the doors, scanning their first card to get through.

Alexios grinned. "Let's go."

"What about–" protested Freya.

"A later time," Alexios called, waving for her to follow.

They had to dart around several tributes to make it to the right staircase, including one of the boys from Eleven, who was only just dragging himself up onto the high ledge. Freya slowed as they passed him, planted her boot against his chest, and pushed him from the ledger, sending him clattering to the bottom of the wooden slope.

"I knew I liked this one," laughed Aelianna.

They rushed up the glass staircase to the door the three girls had gone through not so long before. Alexios swiped his card and the door swooshed open. "Let's go then."

District Three Male, Andrew Preston Howard, 16

An alliance with Zale had made statistical sense. They were brains and brawn, giving them an advantage against the rest of the tributes.

An alliance with three of the tributes from Four was more of a risk. They would help each other before they helped him.

He'd have to see what the situation was once they were into the next waiting space. If the Fours preferred each other…

But then being alone in a place like this might be worse.

Up ahead, the pair from Four they'd followed were slowing down, watching something to the left.

"What are they doing?" grumbled Zale.

Andrew shrugged. "Does it matter? I thought you wanted to catch up?"

"I thought we were racing!" Zale yelled ahead.

"They're going for the rebel bitch!" Arika replied.

"What?"

"See?" Arika pointed out to the left. Two bridges later, the Twos were quickly gaining ground on the alliance of the three loud girls, and even as they watched, the boy grabbed at the girl from Five, catching her backpack and spinning her round. She screamed, and the girl from Four spun round, dealing the boy a hard punch to the face. He lost his grip on the girl, but managed to keep his balance.

"You show them!" shouted Arika, clapping her hands.

"Should we really be supporting this?" asked Tristan.

"It seems a bit macabre," agreed Andrew. Just because this was the Hunger Games, didn't mean he wanted to watch three girls die.

The boy grabbed the girl from Four instead, spinning her round and forcing her towards the edge of the bridge. Even from where he was, Andrew could see her eyes were wide with fear.

"I can't do this," he muttered, turning away to continue to the other end of the bridge.

District Seven Male, Micah Bradley, 14

Micah could see it coming, and even though he was too far away to stop it, he started running nevertheless. A King should protect his people.

Up ahead, the pair from Eight got nearer and nearer to Jarrod and Amarine. Jarrod was relying on her to stay upright, dragging his leg across the bridge.

The boy from Eight had a knife.

"Jarrod!" Micah screamed, the name tearing its way from his mouth.

Jarrod half-turned, raising his arm to defend himself as the knife came in towards him. Amarine shrieked, stumbling backwards and dragging Jarrod with her. He staggered, waving his injured arm.

The boy from Eight pushed him.

Jarrod screamed as he fell, tumbling over the edge of the bridge. Unlike Micah, he went entirely over the edge, tumbling head over heels into the drop below.

Amarine screamed.

The girl from Eight turned on her, grabbing her jacket.

This time the yell came from Micah. "No! Leave her alone!"

The girl faltered as she shoved Amarine towards the edge. Amarine wobbled, but managed to throw herself down onto her front.

Micah started to run. "Get away from her! Leave her alone!"

The boy was barely taller than him, but he was thinner and lithe, while the girl was shorter and thinner. As Micah sprinted for them, the boy gave Amarine a kick, forcing her legs over the edge of the bridge, and then turned and ran.

Micah never considered following them. He skidded to a stop and grabbed Amarine's arms, pulling her back up. "Are you alright?"

"I think so." She pressed her hand to her mouth, tears shining in her eyes. "Jarrod…"

Through the glass bridge, Micah could see Jarrod far beneath them, lying motionless in a pool of red.

"Monsters," Micah muttered. If he was the King and Amarine his subject, then the pair from Eight were the villains.

And Micah knew what one did with villains.

District Five Female, Rusudan Murtov, 13

The smaller girl from Two grabbed at her again, but this time Rusudan managed to duck aside, drawing the small knife from her belt.

"Capitol loyal idiots!" shouted Millie.

"Rebel scum!" came the reply as the older girl lunged for her.

Nixxie pulled free of the boy and threw herself between them, making a shooing gesture with her hand.

"We're not leaving you!" Rusudan replied. Nixxie might be a stuck up bitch from Four, but Rusudan wouldn't see her die for her.

Nixxie made the gesture again.

"Oh no I won't! I'm not leaving you behind!"

Nixxie rolled her eyes and spun round to take a stab at the boy from Two.

"Go; go!" screamed someone to their left. "Just go!"

Nixxie flung a hand behind her, again making the shooing gesture.

"Leave us alone!" screamed Millie, lunging at the smaller girl. She brought her knife up, slicing Millie's arm from the elbow to wrist.

Nixxie ducked under the boy's arm and grabbed Millie's wrist, beckoning for Rusudan as she set off at a run down the bridge. The Twos were hot behind them, the boom of their feet striking the glass loud and threatening.

Nixxie pulled her keycard from her jacket, swiped it across the door, and shoved Millie through. The bigger of the girls from Two lunged at Rusudan as she fumbled for her own card. It slipped through her fingers. She grabbed it, swiping it across the door as she stood.

Nixxie shoved her aside, and she stumbled through the door, crashing into Millie.

"Nixxie–"

Something wet and hot exploded across her back.

The door slid closed.

"We have to go," said Millie, catching her wrist.

"Nixxie–"

"The Twos'll be through soon. We have to go."

Blood dripped down the backs of her legs, pooling beneath her. Millie pulled on her arm.

This time, Rusudan stumbled after her.

They needed to get behind another door before the monsters from Two caught up.

District Ten Male, Callum Tanner, 15

"This is some bullshit," he muttered, glancing around. Many of the other tributes had already ventured through the doors and disappeared, and those that remained mostly had allies against him being alone. "I just need one chance!"

Out on the bridges, a shape in orange had gone flying over the edge. He should have been the one to push them.

"Why won't you let me prove myself?"

If they'd just let him show them what he could do, they'd know he was here to be their man. Erase the rebels and prove the Capitol's strength.

And yet here he was, stimied again.

Callum scanned the tributes remaining. Could he take any of them regardless of them being in pairs? No; surely not. He was strong, but not enough to handle a pair on his own. He'd rather live than get a blade through his knife for challenging them.

He hurried up a glass staircase to one of the doors, labelled with a glowing number '6.' Not many had come this way. If he was lucky, it'd be someone weak that he could actually take a shot at. Callum swiped his keycard and hurried through.

There was chaos on several of the other bridges.

One group of tributes were fighting, another looked to be cheering them on, and on a third a boy had just tumbled over the edge of the bridge.

Two tributes in the green of District Seven were just disappearing through the door on the other side of his bridge. Callum grinned. Only the three of them, and he might be able to take them by surprise.

This might just give him a chance.

District Four Male, Tristan O'Cleary, 16

Nixxie had been bitter, angry, and lashing out against the academy trainees.

But that didn't mean she deserved to be cut down like an animal.

Even Zale and Arika looked slightly stunned, staring over at the tributes from Two. Alexios cleaned his sword on Nixxie's pants and waved it at them. "How many've you got?"

"Asshole," muttered Arika, swiping her keycard across the door.

"You must have known he was going to kill her," said Zale.

"There's killing her, and then there's… that."

Tristan had to agree. They didn't even need to kill each other in this arena. They just had to survive the traps left by the Capitol.

"Does this mean I was right?" asked Zale.

Arika frowned. "About what?"

"The Twos."

"Fuck that." Arika stepped through the door. It slammed closed behind her.

"Bitch," muttered Zale, swiping his own card.

When the door opened again, Arika was gone.

"What?" asked Tristan, looking around the small space beyond in some vague hope Arika might somehow be hiding somewhere.

She wasn't.

"Very funny," grumbled Zale, stepping through.

Again the door closed.

This time Tristan was more wary as he swiped the door open. But as it slid into the wall, it became terribly apparent that Zale too was gone.

"Great," he muttered as he hurried inside. Unless there was a corner, or a trapdoor or something that they'd fallen down, which would at least mean the three of them were all together–

There was a whirring sound, and a wall slid into place behind him.

"Well, that explains the disapppearing," he muttered, continuing forward. As he walked, a door opened up to his left. There was nowhere else to go, so after poking his knife through the dooray to check for traps, he entered.

District Eight Female, Meredith Singer, 18

Iris's words had had her prepared for the worst on the other side of the far door, but instead it opened to reveal a short corridor. Terro stepped inside.

And the door slammed closed behind him.

"Terro!" squeaked Iris.

"We just have to open the door again," said Meredith, and swiped her card.

When the door opened again, Terro was gone.

"Oh," she managed.

"Terro–" called Iris, but didn't enter. Instead, she turned to Meredith. "Go on, stay on the step by the door."

"I don't think–"

"Go!"

This time Meredith entered, lingering on the step as Iris told her to. The door opened and closed behind her ad Iris entered.

"It must happen when you leave the step," she said, hooking her arm through Meredith's. "Question is, now how do we find Terro?"

Meredith pulled her back as she moved to step down into the short white corridor ahead of them. "What if it's trapped?"

"Good point."

Iris pulled a loaf of bread from her jacket, tore it in half and tossed it into the corridor. For a second nothing harpenden, and then there was a hum and a wall slid into place to their right, closing off part of the corridor. The room spun, repositioned itself, and then was still.

Iris grinned. "So that's how that's done." She tore the bread in half and tossed another chunk ahead. Once more a wall slid into place, this one directly in front of them.

"What are you doing?" asked Meredith.

Iris shrugged. "Logic dictates that this thing can't be infinite." She tossed her third chunk of bread. "We just have to trigger it enough times, and it'll eventually open the way Terro went down." She leant forward. "Terro! You there?"

No reply came, and so Iris dug a blanket from her bag, balled it up, and tossed that forward, waiting for the change to happen before again shouting for her brother. This time they got a reply, and Iris grabbed her hand, leading her down into the corridor.

"Terro? Where are you?"

"Here!" he shouted, followed by a bang on the other side of the wall.

Iris frowned, knocking her hand against the wall. "Here? I don't see a door."

"No, me neither."

"There's one on the other side," Meredith said, indicating the doorway to their right.

"But we need to get through there!"

"I don't think we can! Look, let's just go this way, we'll meet Terro on the other side. I don't think we have a choice."

She wouldn't have liked it either, if this was herself and Reece. But there wasn't anything else they could do.

"It's never a good idea to split in the arena…"

"Do you have a better idea?" Meredith asked, indicating the wall that now blocked them from returning to the entrance.

Iris sighed. "No. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Come on." Meredith took her arm, and with one last glance at the wall Terro was stuck behind, led her through the new doorway on the right.

District One Male, Marcellus Pontmercy, 17

"I'll be just on the other side waiting for you," he told Daisy as he stepped through the door. It closed behind him, and he moved down the step in the middle of the room. Something whirred, and a wall slid into place behind him, blocking him from the door. There was a strange humming sound around him, and it felt like the floor was moving beneath his feet. A moment later, everything was still again.

"Hey, wait!" Marcellus spun round, slamming his hands on the wall. "I need to be on the other side of this! I need to be with Daisy!"

The corridor before him was silent.

Maybe he was meant to do this part alone? Or wait here until Daisy came through? Or maybe he had to complete a task for them to be reunited.

Marcellus ventured forward, and a door swooshed open on his left, disappearing into a section of the wall. "Hello?" He poked his head through the doorway and peered inside. The room looked small and cosy, with a single bed, toilet, sink, and even a low table with a small meal. Marcellus frowned. "Am I meant to go in here?"

Silence. But there was nowhere else to go, and so he ventured inside. The door slammed closed behind him, sealing with a beep. Marcellus banged a hand against him, but there was no exit here and now.

"I guess this is where I'm meant to be waiting for now, huh?" He took a bread roll from the tray and bit into it, filling his mouth with the foul taste of decay. Marcellus gagged as his stomach clenched. He doubled over to spit out the bun, bringing up bile and water after it. "Very funny." He tossed the roll back onto the tray and took a moment to trace the outline of the door. It was there, but faint. Nothing he'd get out through without someone elsewhere opening it.

"Fuck," Marcellus muttered, collapsing onto the bed. No doubt he'd be put back together with the other tributes on the next level, so far they always had been, but it would mean a long, lonely wait until then.

Marcellus sighed and dug through his bag for his water bottle. He needed to wash his mouth out.

District Nine Male, Wolf Willows, 18

"Wren!" he roared, hammering his fists on the wall. "Wren! Where is she? Bring her back! Wren!"

He could hear her voice, faint as it was, but there was no way of getting to her.

This had been done deliberately.

They were here as a punishment, they were doing too well, and so now they were being punished further.

"You won't win!" Wolf roared as a door slid open to his left. He kicked the doorframe so hard the wall trembled. "You can't separate us! You can't break us!"

"Wolf!" Wren's voice was muffled, coming from somewhere behind a wall. "What's going on? Wolf?"

He slammed his hands against the wall. "I can't reach you! They're splitting us up!"

"But they can't!"

Wolf rested his head against the wall. They hadn't been parted in years, not for long periods of time. He closed his eyes. "We don't have a choice. But I'll find you. I promise. I'll find you."