As I found my way down to the basement level, where all the fighters gathered and saw who they were slotted against that night, a deep nervous feeling settled in my heart. Suddenly, this didn't seem like such a good idea. Anna had already put my name in the fights tonight, so I couldn't back down now.

"You Joel?" the girl at the door said, looking me over with distaste.

"Yeah," I said, my voice cracking pathetically. I cleared my throat and tried again, my face turning red in embarrassment. "Yeah, that's me."

She smirked and held the curtain open for me. "Well then, Joel, good luck."

"Thanks," I said, entering inside. I heard her add something under her breath as I passed her, but it only echoed my own thoughts.

You're gonna need it.

The room was brightly lit, with benches on either side and a large table in the middle. There were two doors facing each other, and one said "WOMEN" in big bolded letters. I assumed it was some sort of dressing room or medical room, and that the other must have been the men's room.

The room was filled with maybe a dozen people, mingling, chatting, or resting against the walls. A few of them were around my age, around twenty one, and most were between their late teens to early thirties, although I did catch a glimpse of a tiny girl who couldn't have been more than twelve. To my surprise, Varien was there, too.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed, standing next to him.

He shrugged. "You're not going to win. The more of us we have fight, the better chance we have of getting the money we need."

I started to respond, but I heard the little girl yell to Eoin, who was sitting on a bench next to Gus, and turned to watch her run up to him and flop down on his other side. "Hey, Eoin, guess who I'm fighting tonight!"

Eoin corrected her pronunciation of his name, and she just giggled. He smiled back and then said, "Who are you fighting?"

She started to tell him, but then paused and thought for a moment. "Well, I wanted to fight that wimpy guy over there, but Anna wouldn't let me." She jerked her thumb towards me and all three of them looked. Gus started to laugh and I felt my face get hot in anger and embarrassment. "I'd knock him out in a heartbeat, wouldn't I, Eoin?"

He smirked at me and said, "I dunno, he looks pretty nervous to me. He might knock himself out before you can." They both laughed, and this time, Varien chuckled, too.

"This isn't funny," I grumbled.

"It kind of is," Gus said, smothering his laughing with his hand.

"I'm trying to help my friends, and you're sitting here laughing at me. It's not funny." I crossed my arms and glared at the floor, trying to control my anger.

"First round tonight," the girl from the door called. "Joel versus Leo. You're up in five."

It took me a moment to realize what she'd just said, making my reaction horribly delayed. "What?!" I shrieked. I spun a circle looking for him, and found him leaning against the wall next to the slot board. I hadn't even realized he'd followed me down. I marched over to him, both angry and afraid. "I know you hate me, Leo, but did you really have to do that?"

"You're not going to win, Joel, no matter who you go against," he said coldly. "You might as well lose to me. Then we'll get the money either way."

"But ... that's not -"

"Fair? Life isn't fair. You're lucky you're losing to me instead of that kid over there." He sighed and ran his hand through his now-blond hair and itched his nose, where the slashes were scarring. "Look, I know you think you're doing us some great service, but we're not helpless. I appreciate the help, I really do, but now I think it's time we pulled our own weight."

"You'll never make it out here alone," I said. "You don't know how things work. You've been away from civilization for seven years. Things have changed, and if you have any hope of staying away from Howell, then you're going to have to work with me, okay?"

Before he could answer, the girl grabbed both of our arms and dragged us to the door. "You guys are up. Good luck. Don't kill each other."

I took a deep breath and stuck my hand out. "May we enter as enemies and leave as friends?"

He just glanced at me and snorted through his nose.

Great.

We got out into the miniature stadium, with a dirt ring in the middle sounded by poles with ropes to form a wall. It wasn't very big, so I had nowhere to run, but Leo was smart. He wouldn't use his fire on me, or they'd catch us. The lights weren't quite as blinding in here as they'd been in the real games, but they still flooded down on us and made me squint up at them. The smaller crowd cheered, not for our deaths, but for our victory. It was a nice change.

"You know the rules," the announcer said. "No killing each other. If a fighter is unable to get up after ten seconds, the round is over. Fighters ready!"

Leo immediately shifted to a fighting stance, spreading his feet and keeping his weight on his toes. His fists were ready, though kept close by his body to block my attacks. He knew exactly what he was doing.

What was I thinking?

"Go!"

Leo lunged toward me lightning fast, and I just barely managed to duck under his punch. I could tell by the wind that followed the blow that he could have easily ended our fight if I hadn't gotten out of the way. He quickly spun back around and I scrambled back, copying his stance and lowering myself down, hands out.

"You have no idea what you're doing," he muttered, stepping forward and feigning a throw to the left. I fell for it, dodging to the right, and ducked just in time. His knuckles clipped the side of my head rather than hitting me square in the face.

I needed to do something other than run away - I needed to shift to the offensive if I had any hope of winning. I did the first thing that came to mind and tackled him, grabbing him around his waist to bring him down, but unfortunately, his attack hadn't unbalanced him, and when he fell over, it took an easy kick in the stomach to get me off. I tumbled over backwards with a gasp for breath, and then stumbled to my feet to keep up with him, a burst of pain stabbing through my gut.

He crashed into me before I could react and we went down again, wrestling in the dirt for a good three minutes - or maybe it was three seconds. Time was blurred together. I got a face full of dust and spit it out, managing to get it into his face. He yelled and rubbed his eyes to get the dust out, and I threw him off and scrambled up again, lowering myself down again like I'd seen him do.

He darted forward, never missing a beat, and I twisted around him, throwing a wild punch, but he ducked and my fist clipped his shoulder rather than his head. He swung again, hitting me right in the eye, and I yelped, staggering back and blinking spots out of my vision, but then I kicked him hard in the back of the knee, and he fell over, hitting hard on his hands and knees. I jumped on him, but he jerked his elbow back and hammered me in the face again, flipping us over and digging his knee into my gut, just under my ribs. I let out an embarrassing squeal and tried to push him over, but he threw blow after blow to my face and head until all I could do was cover my head with my arms and pray it'd be over soon. The ringing and the blood roaring in my ears almost drowned out the sound of the crowd cheering. I could feel the bruises swelling up already, and out of the corner of my eye, I could just barely see a small, boyish figure up on one of the balconies, his blue bangs matching his frightened eyes.

No. I didn't want Braken to see this. I didn't want him to see his friends beating each other up for money - money for him. My mind was growing foggy, and the phrase "punch drunk" suddenly had a new meaning.

I couldn't lose yet. Not like this. I gritted my teeth and pulled my legs up as if to curl up, but then threw them out, aiming for his stomach. I missed.

Leo let out a high pitched squeal and staggered back, bending over and holding himself for protection. The crowd started laughing, and Leo's face grew tomato red. He took a step and hissed a curse in pain, squeezing his eyes shut. "That -" he gasped out, cringing. "That was dirty."

"Sorry," I yelped. "I didn't mean to -"

Before I could finish my sentence, he staggered forward and threw a punch that cracked across my nose and knocked me over. I hit my head hard on the ground and blacked out before I could even feel the pain.