(Disclaimer: I have no business connection with HUNGER GAMES. My only purpose in writing this story is to have fun and maybe share it)

Chapter 1 In the Midst of Things

Andie looked over the cliff, at the rocks nearly 50 meters below. She was from the flat plains of District 10, and the sight was both alien and frightening. The only experience that gave her comparable vertigo was when she was first learning to ride a horse and was afraid of falling off, and that was on a far smaller scale. But she preferred this tableau to the one behind her.

A few meters away was the boy tribute whom she had killed in self-defense, bashing his head in with a rock. She couldn't remember his name, or even his district. During Training she had been too frazzled to keep track of all the competitors, and she could scarcely have asked his identity when he was trying to kill her. She would probably learn the district when they showed the "Fallen" tonight. She wished the hovercraft would come and take the body away. But maybe he was too close to the rising bulk of the upper mountain for them to risk it.

She had resolved, a few days ago, not to kill in the arena. She would simply hide and avoid battle as long as she could. Unfortunately, the form of this year's arena left few opportunities for concealment. The arena was one huge mountain, with the Cornucopia and pedestals at the summit. She had found a cave to hide in, but she had to leave it to get some water. Travelling down a mountain on a path, with the cliff on one side and the mountain rocks on the other, she had been horribly visible, and he had spotted her. And when he gave her a sharp jab in her left breast during his attack, the pain and sense of violation overrode her resolution. She had rough-housed with other cowboys and –girls in District 10, but there had been unwritten rules in fights there – you avoided hurting the eyes, or genitals, or girls' breasts. Here the Gamesmasters didn't care how much you hurt your opponent. There had been plenty of loose rocks lying around, and she had –

The Games would continue, and for her there were only a few ways it could end. She could win, and have other people's blood on her hands for the rest of her life. She could die, slowly and agonizingly, by starvation or thirst. Or she could get a quicker death by letting another tribute kill her.

There was another alternative, that her escort Cressida had not spelled out. She could end it now. The mountain-style arena would make it easy to die.

Andie got slowly to her feet. Any last thoughts? She meditated on the consolation that she would not have to kill anyone else again, just herself. Then she stepped to the very edge of the cliff and jumped.

A hundred kilometers away, watching the Games, Cressida screamed in shock and grief.