We crouched low behind a wall. Another bomb fell, and bits and pieces of things showered down on us. I didn't care what it was anymore. Bombs fell so often there was no point in wondering. You were just lucky if it wasn't a person.

"Captain, what are your orders?" asked Don.

"Wait for the enemy, and ambush on my signal," he said. I rolled my eyes. That's what we always do. We never take the offense. We wait for them to invade our districts, our homes, our lives before we do anything. And now my home- District 4- is in ruins. I blame the Capitol, of course, but the districts aren't much help. A few uprisings and communications and suddenly we are at war. No real plan except to overthrow the Capitol or die. Brilliant.

Another explosion shakes the ground. It seems farther away. I heard marching. I peeked over the wall. I ducked back down immediately. At least 75 Peacekeepers, heading towards us. The eight of us.

"Report?" asked the Captain.

"At least 75 armed hostiles inbound, sir. You can't seriously think we can take them." The other murmured in agreement. We wanted to fight, but we also wanted to go home and be able to live in the future we're fighting for.

"You will follow my orders. Now, we can get a few from here before they notice. They'll charge, we fight. Is that clear?" He dared someone to challenge him. No one did, not even me. "Alright then. Guns at the ready."

I got ready. I'm the youngest sharpshooter- 15- and said by some to be the best. It'd be great and all, but it just puts a bigger target on my head. Like I need that.

I lined up my sights. "Now." I pulled the trigger. I took down three before they began to notice. My comrades had each gotten two or three as well. That's why I- and to some extent the others- use poison darts. Silent and as deadly as a bullet. But, people mysteriously falling down dead arouse suspicions.

And then they saw us- or probably just me. I ducked and swore. Bullets flew over our heads. I heard someone barking orders. I peeked over. They had an officer. I took a breath, steeling my nerves, and popped up and shot him. No one panicked, and the now senior officer started giving orders. I shot her, too. Then there was chaos, but not from within the Peacekeepers. A bomb fell almost on top of us. I flew and slammed into a wall.

My ears rang and breathing hurt some. Dust clouded the air. The Peacekeepers were running all over. Did a Capitol hovercraft just drop a bomb on its own soldiers? I didn't have time to think on it. My gun was gone. I saw it a few feet away. I ran to it and snatched it up. Then I threw it away: the barrel had cracked. It was useless. I pulled out my knife. And just in time too. A Peacekeeper charged towards me. He had lost his gun as well.

He was bigger than me, easily, but what was he going to do? Choke me? I think not. I jumped over him, turned, and landed on my feet. Faster than he could turn, I slit his throat. Hm, the trainer was right; that is a handy trick. I turned to fight, but the other Peacekeepers were retreating. That's when I noticed I couldn't hear things very well. Just my luck.

I looked around for my team. They were still in our hiding spot. Or most of them were. Not a good sign. I ran over and checked their pulses. Dead, dead, dead-

"Captain!" He was barely alive.

"Solider?" I could barely hear him.

"Come on Captain, stay with me."

"Go back to base… replace me…"

"No, no. Come on, stay with me. Please. Uncle! Please!"

"It's… my time…"

"No it's not. Stay with me. I'll radio for help." And I did. Or rather, tried. Communications must have been knocked out in the blast. I was alone.

"Tell Marie… I love her…" His eyes glazed over. He was dead.

"No! Come back!" I sobbed. Then I snapped out of it. 4 dead, me- the others. I had to find them. They had been blown far away. Two were dead… and missing limbs.

"Don!" I cried. He turned around.

"Hey, Coral." He smiled. I did, too. We were alive. Coral was his nickname for me. (I've got red hair and my poison of choice comes from coral snake venom.) He think it fits me somehow, I'm just used to it.

"You'll never use my real name, will you?"

"No. Any survivors?"

"Just us. Captain was… but he-he didn't make it."

"I'm sorry."

"I've lost men before."

"Yea, but they weren't family." He had a point. "He was my uncle too." There he goes again; reminding me we're cousins, that we're family. I have the irritating habit of protecting my family at all costs. My mom says I get it from my dad.

"I know he was. He-he said to go back to base. He told me to replace him. Do you think he meant…" I trailed off.

"I don't know, but… let's go." His voice suddenly seemed urgent. I instinctively looked around. Then I saw it: a Jabberjay perched above us. We had no way to kill it, so we left. It followed. I hate Jabberjays. They are spies. If you say anything around them, they'll take it back to the Capitol. We nearly failed because of them.

When we got back to base, I whispered to one of the guards to kill it. He did, and Don and I went inside. We were debriefed and once that was done, taken to a meeting.

I've been to strategic meetings before, but this was different. It seemed darker somehow. There were at least a dozen officers around my dad- he heads the rebels in 4- and they all seemed very worried. When they noticed us, they stopped talking and sat around the table. Don and I sat as well. My dad remained standing.

"I have some disastrous news: District 13 has been completely destroyed. Intel says there is nothing left but some rubble. They used nukes." He paused. "That was a week ago and within that time the districts have lost hope. 5, 9, and 12 want to surrender. 1, 3, and what little of 2 we had already have. 6, 10 and 11 are voting as we speak. Now it's our turn." Surrender? After three years of fighting for our freedom? After losing what little we had? We couldn't- we can't- all those lives, for nothing. We have to win, so our sacrifices mean something. So that everyone in 13 didn't die in vain. "So, we'll vote. All for surrender, say aye. All for the fight?"

"Aye," I said under my breath. The majority was already to surrender; it no longer mattered what I said.

"Then we surrender. Dismissed." He showed no emotion. That's why he's a good leader. He doesn't let his emotions affect his decisions or the decisions of others.

The officers left, but Don and I stayed. We had to tell him about our uncle, his brother. He noticed that we hadn't moved.

"Go on now, you're dismissed."

"We know Dad, but we need to tell you something."

"We thought it'd be easier coming from us." My dad froze. I could tell he knew we had bad news.

"Dad, we- we're the , um, only survivors of our team. Uncle Ronald, he-he didn't make it."

"You're sure?"

"He died in my arms, Dad." I felt hot tears land on my hands. Dad gripped the back of a chair so hard his knuckles turned white.

"He's dead… no, heavens no. Why today?" I got up to comfort him. Don did too. We both knew what he meant. A year ago, to the day, his sister- Don's mom- had been killed; so had Don's little sisters and brother. His dad is in 6 as a liaison, and now he might be stuck there. It was a bad day for our family.

A few hours later, word came that all 12 remaining districts had officially surrendered. The rebel leaders were to go to the Capitol to discuss a treaty. My dad left two days after. When he came back, he hardly spoke. I soon found out why.

A few days later, everyone was told to gather in the square and a large projected screen bore the Capitol seal. Someone called the crowd to silence. They said that the president would no read the treaty live to all of Panem. I had a feeling the treaty wasn't fair. Sadly, I was right.

They called it the Treaty of Treason. And if that wasn't insulting enough, each district had to give one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 as tribute to compete in an arena in a battle to the death. That's me now, Don now, and my sister in 4 years. And we'd have to kill other kids, for sport. I was furious. How could my dad sign that? How could he give us up like this? And every generation after us?

The first "Hunger Games" will be next summer.

After we went home, I blew up at my dad. "How could you? You sold us out! You are sending us to die, Dad! Don't you care about us anymore?" Then I broke down sobbing. I've been so angry, and now I felt like all my fight had left me. I am as broken as anyone else.

"I had no choice. Inviting the rebel leaders was just a formality. They had already drafted the treaty. I'm sorry," he said.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"You had every right to. You've been through so much. I understand your anger. I share it." He wrapped his arms around me. "I didn't want it to end this way. I wanted the districts to be free but everyone got tired of fighting. This isn't a happy ending, but… I still have you, your sister, and your mother. That's all I need."

"Now family is all we have."