The creature zooms toward me again. I’m up on my feet quick as a flash, racing toward the spinning saws. It was too easy for the creature to duck out of the way of the last blade, so I get a different idea this time. Instead of trying to get one to crash down on it, I’m going to run straight through the middle.

It’s a risky maneuver and the crowd knows it. They start bouncing up and down in their seats as I make a beeline straight down the center of the groaning, rotating saws. As I go, they start crashing down, just inches from the place where I last stood. They’re so close, I can feel the rush of wind created by each slam.

The creature is right behind me, right on my tail. Just as its pincers reach out to snap me up, one of the blades crashes down. I’m thrown forward by the force and land chest down on the hard ground. The wind is knocked out of me and I wince. Then I look back and see that barely a foot behind me, the creature is twitching against the metal ground, a saw rammed right through its head and black, sticky, gooey blood oozing out of it.

Across the other side of the arena, a group of about five of the children are huddled together, staring at me wide-eyed as though in terror. I just have time to spin onto my back when a boy barrels into me.

“Don’t fight me, you idiot!” I scream as we roll across the ground.

He pins me down, grappling with me.

“I’m trying to keep you all alive!” I shout back.

As the boy wrestles with me, the ground begins to rumble and the saws start to disappear down into the slits in the grating, taking the disgusting earwig creature with them. The crowd chants my name but I know better than to fall for it. There will be another monster to fight. There always is. These games will only end when the humans die.

I managed to get my knee up and kick the boy in his stomach. He goes flying back and the ground starts to rumble and shake. I know something else is coming for us, that the arena is about to transform again, but I need a moment to catch my breath. As I take in a deep gasp, I’m suddenly aware of a pungent smell coming from behind me. Whatever is there, the crowd has already seen it, because they start to clap and squeal with excitement.