Another (short) filler chapter. Hoping to get to the Games in the next two-three chapters.
Thanks to GertrudeTheAwesome for being the first reviewer and pointing out something very important that I'd managed to overlook!
Dahlia wakes me the next morning for breakfast before training. Sable and Matthias are giving us last-minute instructions, but I'm too nervous to really listen. Something about not drawing too much attention to ourselves, but continuing the 'inseparable twins' act. Kayden and I coordinate outfits, and we're whisked away for the first day of training.
We're some of the last Tributes to arrive. District Twelve comes just behind us, and the trainer begins to speak. He's talking about our training, but I'm looking around.
Twenty-four teenagers are gathered in this room. Some are even smaller than I am. Most of the boys are larger, some twice my size. The Career girls look dangerous. A twelve-year-old from a lower District is cowering, almost in tears. Twenty-three of us will not be coming out.
It hits me like a bullet. Twenty-three of us will not be coming out. Even if I survive, against all odds... my twin brother will not. Because only one person in this room will be anything more than a memory in a few weeks.
I'm going to lose my own life. I'm going to lose my brother. Most likely, I will be losing both. Because I couldn't live with myself knowing I'd left my twin dead in the arena.
The other Tributes are wandering off to stations when I realize I'm standing dead-still in the middle of the floor. Kayden tugs at my arm. "Kara? Are you alright?" I swallow hard, holding back tears. "Fine. Let's go to edible plants, that may give us a clue on what to expect."
Training is a blur. We hit the survival stations, learning as much as we can. At one point, I notice the Careers watching us, but I turn my back and pay attention to the knots in front of me. Right now, even they are nothing.
When we are released from training, I flee to my room. Locking the door, I throw myself on the bed and let the tears that had refused to come pour down my face. For the first time since I was Reaped, I let out my sorrow. Because I am going to lose my twin, no matter what happens in these Games.
Sorry for the short chapter. Next chapter should be some background on the other Tributes, then the interviews, which means the Games in the next three chapters.