If It Means A Lot To You (A Hunger Games Au)

Chapter 6

Zayn leaned against the tree, completely out of breath, while Niall threw the backpack off his shoulder.

"God dammit!"

"Did they see us?"

"I don't know!"

"I don't think they did."

"We're dead!"

"Niall! You've got to stop screaming, and you have to come down."

Niall nodded, but was still in an alarming state. "We have to get out of here." He grabbed what he could carry from the bag, handing some of it to Zayn, and threw the bag under a pile of dead leaves. "Come one, we gotta ditch the bag, if we stay here we're as good as dead. The bag will stall them for a while, but it won't be long until they start following again."

They ran out of sight, just enough to miss the group finding the backpack.

*

Zayn wakes up with a headache, and tied to a tree.

He squints, and the sun's still up, but he can't make out his other surroundings. He feels like there's no one else with him at the moment, so he begins to think.

"What the hell?" He tries to remember what happpened before he was out cold. He thinks, and thinks, and thinks, and then remembers.

He remembers running with Niall. Remembers getting surrounded. Remembers knocking out the girl from nine. And that's it.

As he looks up, he see the little blonde tied up to the tree across from him. He sighs, and takes in a deep breath. He notices the boy's eyes are closed.

"Niall?"

The unconscious boy stirs, but doesn't wake up.

"Niall?"

He kept hissing at the other boy to wake up, but he just wouldn't budge. Just as he stopped trying, he heard leaves rustling from his left side. He watched as the remaining tributes all walked into his view.

"Hey! He's awake," The boy from 2 walks over to him with a smirk. "Hey, wake his little boyfriend up, will you Lil'?"

The girl from 9 nods (Zayn must've hit her pretty hard, considering the busted lip and the bruise forming on her right cheek) and smiles crookedly, walking over to Niall, who was still unconscious. She pulls her hand back, and a loud slap is echoed through the trees.

"Hey! Watch it, bitch," Zayn yells at the girl, and the boy from 2 yanks his head back by the hair, earning a groan of pain from Zayn. "You watch it, bitch," He whispers through gritted teeth.

Zayn glares at him until his hair is let go of. He watches Niall stir once more, this time looking up while squinting his eyes.

"Niall," Zayn said hurriedly.

"Shut up," 1 threw at him.

The blonde looked around the group of teens, before growling and squirming against his restraints.

"I'll kill you, you son of a-"

"Hey, watch it," The boy from 2 said as he walked back to Zayn, holding a blade against his neck, "don't want him getting hurt, now, do you?"

"Let him go."

"How 'bout no?"

"You wanted me, and now you've got me. Let him go."

"No."

9 walks up to Niall, crouching so she's at eye-level with him.

"Sweetheart, we wanted you and him."

Niall kept glaring daggers at her, watching as the three walked off to the side, talking in hushed and whispered voices.

"Niall,"

He turned to look at the boy across from him, who motioning with his head. Niall followed where he was pointing at, noticing Zayn had snatched the knife from 2, and had cut through half the rope.

1 looked over at the two, saying loud so that both of them could here, "Which one first?"

The girl turned, and walked over to the blonde boy, looking smug. Once again, she crouched, their faces inches apart. "I say we get twelve out of the way. After all, he is the 'most dangerous'."

"I call bullshit," 2 starts. "He hasn't done anything since the games started. All he did was get the girl killed." He walked over to the two, "You couldn't even save her. And everyone wondered how the hell you managed to strike up a perfect score in your session. How'd you do it, Horan?"

"Like I'd tell you. It won't serve you much anyway." 9 pulls his head back, "Then I guess you're of no use to us."

She takes out a fresh blade that had been hidden in her jacket, and just as she lifts her arm up for a swings, it gets caught and twisted, and Niall can't help himself as he flinches when he hears that satisfying snap.

She screams in pain, falling, and the boy from 2 has a moment to collect himself over the horror he just witnessed, but he's not quick enough, and Zayn already has his arm around the boy's neck. However, the boy is about two times bigger than Zayn, and , thus, stronger, being able to get out of his grip and push Zayn off himself.

Meanwhile, Niall had been making his way out his restraints, using the knife 9 had thrown to the ground when she fell. He stood up, looking up to make eye-contact with 1, who growls and charges at him.

Niall's back hits a tree, and he slides down, groaning in pain.

"Get up 12! Come on!"

He puts his hands up in front of him, but he can't make out what's there in front, so they're just hanging there uselessly. 1 walks up to him, fisting the front of his jacket, and clocking him right in the jaw.

"What's wrong 12? Don't have a lot of fight in you now, do we?"

Niall head lolled back before 1 shook him so his head went back up before punching him once more.

"You can't protect yourself."

Another punch.

"You couldn't protect your girl."

Another punch.

"You couldn't protect your brother."

One more punch.

"You can't protect 11."

That's when something in Niall snaps and he doesn't think about what he's doing, but he catches 1's fist when he ready to throw it at him. He throws 1 off of himself, standing straight. He swings at the boy, getting him right in the gut, and from there he just keeps on going.

The two throw punches at each other, until 1 staggers back, wiping the blood off his chin. He stares at Niall, "I can't believe you actually hid all that anger in. So much power, in such our little Nialler."

"Don't you fucking call me that."

1 smirked at him, spitting blood out of his mouth.

"Come on Niall," he opens his arms wide, "I want your best shot."

...

Everything slows down, Niall and 1 are at each others throats, Zayn getting pinned to a tree. The last thing 1 sees is a fist right in his face, falling limp on the ground. Niall just stands there, and a second too late, Zayn screams in pain. Niall turns to see 2 hovering over him, the knife in his hand bloodied.

"Zayn!"

*

A/N: this is getting so complicated for me uggghhh! But anyway, this took forever and im getting a headache, but knowing me I'll probably start writing the next chapter as soon as I finish with this note. Anywho i hope you people who are reading this like it, it's hurting my brain soo yeah :)

xxx

-B3