(this isn't edited or anything yet, this is just the first draft. feel free to point out any errors or anything, but just know I didn't skip over it, I'm going to come back to this and fix it all later.)

As the bullet flies towards us, I'm hit with a flashback. 

I'm back in the desert, with Aegis and Victor. We just emerged from the cave, and found the careers. 

Cassia snarls at us, and Oceania is smiling in her insane way of smiling. Then Cassia throws her knife, and Victor- Victor dies. 

It's hard for me to believe that every single person in that nightmare is dead now. They're all dead. Never to return. And two of them were by my hand. 

I blink, and I'm back in the present. The real present. I'm not in the Hunger Games. 

I'm shivering, and I realize I'm leaning on Myles. I want to push away from him, but I'm frozen. I'm about to be shot.

I've always been meant to be by myself. That's my fate. I don't deserve to have friends. 

No matter how much I want them. 

Everything seems like its moving in slo-mo. The bullet is aimed for me. I can tell that it'll be a direct hit to my skull. It'll puncture my brain and then I'll be dead. 

I close my eyes, accepting my fate. I hope it's for the best. The world will be better with one less murderer walking it. 

But another second passes, and I'm not dead. Nothing is black. I don't feel any pain. All I feel is something heavy in my arms... like a person. 

I open my eyes to find Myles in front of me, a small puncture wound bleeding from his shoulder. He looks like he's passed out, which is probably good for him. He'll feel less pain that way. 

Wait- he got hit. He got hit. He took the bullet for me. 

I stare at him incredulously. He took a bullet for me. I didn't think anyone would do that for me. Not in the past, not in the future, certainly not now.

"Myles?" My voice sounds weak, like a sapling that could be toppled by the smallest of breezes. He doesn't answer, though I can tell he's still breathing. 

I look up at the guards, hoping they can see the fury I feel burning in my eyes. They shot my friend. They shouldn't be smiling. They shouldn't be laughing as if I just embarrassed myself. 

I rip off part of the fabric that's still left on my sleeve, wrapping it around Myles's wound. 

The main guard stops laughing, gesturing to one of the ones behind him instead. "Alright, alright. You, tranquilizer. We'll heal them up and put them in solitary. Don't want prisoners getting ideas." He smiles evilly, sending a shiver down my spine. 

One of the guards pulls out a different type of gun, one with a neon-green handle. He pulls the trigger, and a beam of light hits me in the chest. 

I fall backwards, dropping Myles, and suddenly I can't move. I'm panicking that he's paralyzed me permanently, but the guard in front walks towards me, leaning over my frozen body. 

"Not so confident anymore, huh, little girl? Well, don't worry, this is only temporary paralyzation. You'll lose consciousness soon, and when you wake up you'll be able to move again... well, hopefully. You never know." He sneers, laughing. I glare at him, but I can already feel the edges of my vision fogging, and I know he's right.

Darkness is creeping from the corners of my vision like a spotlight focusing in on an actor. And this spotlight is focused on the guard in front, his cruel laugh filling my brain as everything turns black and I lose consciousness. 

And I'm pulled into a dream. 

I'm sitting in a blindingly white room that shines like the sun, but somehow I can still keep my eyes open. I know that if I was here in real life, when I had a real body, the light would instantly blind me. But it doesn't. I'm fine. 

"Gemstone." The voice sounds firm and angry, but I can still recognize it as my sister's. 

She steps out of the whiteness, appearing like she's walked through a veil. 

She looks... different now. Her hair, which is as dark as the midnight sky, is slicked into a braid so tight it must hurt her head. Her green eyes are covered by metal goggles with tinted lenses. She taps them with one hand, her other holding a shiny silver gun that reminds me of the one the guard shot Myles with. 

"Asha?" I ask, taking a step towards her. She points her gun at my head, but I can see her hand shaking slightly. 

"Stay back." Her finger floats over the trigger, and I wonder if she's actually willing to shoot me. I hope not- but I still take a step back, raising my arms. 

"Asha, this isn't you," I whisper, and for a moment I see her expression falter, a hint of the real Asha showing through, but then she shakes her head and her expression is steely again, her hand still. I have no doubt she will shoot me. 

"Asha. I'm coming. I got free. I'll be there soon." I hold my breath, but she doesn't change.  

"Don't come. It is not safe here. However, it is not safe there either. It is safest... below." She hesitates, takes a deep breath, and pulls the trigger. My scream is caught in my throat, but before I know it the darkness takes over and my eyes open. 

I'm in a hospital room, with bandages covering my whole body so I look like a mummy. The real me, underneath the bandages, feels like a zombie too, so that metaphor seems accurate.

I'm laying in an uncomfortable hospital bed. A slab of concrete would probably be more comfortable, but at least I get to rest.

I can hear someone having a heated conversation outside, and with a final shout the door to my room slams open and a woman storms in, shutting it behind her. 

I watch her curiously as she stalks around the room, grabbing bandages and a few bottles I assume are medicine before walking straight up to me. 

She's starting to lift the bandage on my arm before her head snaps up, realizing I'm awake. She takes a step back. 

"Oh- good morning, Miss Greenwood. So nice to see you've awakened." She sets down the bandages and bottles on a small table next to me and picks up a clipboard with a piece of paper on it and a pen, positioning the pen above the paper and looking up at me expectantly. 

"Ah, yes. I am Doctor Barlowe, and I'll be attending you for today. Possibly not tomorrow. And you're probably wondering why you're here, yes? Well, the capitol has noticed that you were hurt by one of our prisoners, and even though we are not losing sight of the fact that you are also our prisoner, you are a capitol citizen and we care about you." She glances towards the wall, as if using X-ray vision to glare at whoever she was arguing with. 

"Well. Some of us care about you, anyways. And now we'll be getting to the quizzing part of your stay here. I will ask you some questions, nothing too invasive, and you will answer honestly or too the best of your knowledge. Do you agree?" I nod again, and Doctor Barlowe diverts her gaze back to the clipboard. 

"Wonderful. Now, too start off: are you currently in any pain?" She glances up at me again. 

"No. Not right now," I say, and she writes something down on the clipboard, scratching furiously. I hear a longer noise as if she's crossing something off. 

"Were you in any pain, when you were first hurt?" she asks, and I nod. 

"Yes- of course I was." I try to keep the bite out of my voice, but Doctor Barlowe ignores it anyways. She writes something else down, squinting at the handwritten letters. 

"What compelled you to do this?"

"I- you locked me away and killed my family! Were you expecting me to stay still and be good? Because I will never stay still!" I try to push up and out of the bed, but Doctor Barlowe gives me a calm but aggravated look and pushes a button, making restraints pop out of the sides of my bed and wrap around me. I growl at her, but she ignores me. 

"Alright, Miss Greenwood. I can see you have a bit of a... temper. A stronger sedative should do the trick. It's too bad we can't fix mental issues." She sets down her clipboard on the small table, picking up a needle. 

I scowl. I don't have 'mental issues'. Right?

She walks over to me, her heels clicking on the floor, and positions the needle above my upper arm. 

A second passes, with me closing my eyes, and then I feel the slight pain as the needle pierces my skin, and then everything goes black and I'm asleep again.