Jayden Chadsey, D1
All things considered, Chrome took it really well. She saw me cringing when she came into the training room and hesitated.
"So. You beat me to death," she said.
"I thought you killed Eren!" I said.
"Did I kill Eren?" she asked.
"No..." I said. "So I suppose you hate my guts now?"
"Just tell me straight. You wouldn't have killed me if you hadn't thought I killed Eren?" she asked.
"No! Of course not," I said.
"Not ever?" she asked.
"Well, I would have at the end," I said. She nodded sagely.
"See, thing is I believe you. You didn't give me any bull about being loyal to the end, and I do see how you would think I killed Eren. We're Careers. We kill people," she said.
"Wait, so what, you still want to be allies?" I asked, totally confused.
"More of partners. Neither of us can trust the other to the end, but we know each other better than the others. There are five Careers this year. On our own, anything could happen. Paired up, we're still the elite," she said.
"I guess," I said. Chrome was a smart chick. Surely she had some thrice-thought out plan.
"You killed me, but I believe you did it by mistake. It also proved you're so loyal to your allies that you'll kill someone who attacks them. You're the only one I trust enough to ally. You in?" Chrome asked. It sounded crazy, but it would be better to have an ally. I didn't want to fight Ember or Floki on my own. And if worse came to worst, I knew I could kill Chrome.
"Sounds like a plan," I said.
"Just until the end. Them I'm gonna kill you," she said.
Vera Busattil, D4
Why did Lyte have to have such an innocent face? I'd done a lot of hard things in my life, but nothing was like this.
"Hey, Vera!" he said when he first saw me in the cafeteria. He set his tray down at my table and sat next to me. "What do you think the Arena will be like this time?"
"Hey, Lyte," I said. "Nice to see you again."
"I heard Frankie won last time. You must be super excited," he said.
"Yeah, sure," I said. He cocked his head in concern.
"Is something wrong? You seem sad," he said.
"I've decided to go it alone this time," I said. I wanted to rip the bandage off all at once, but it didn't help at all. It didn't help Lyte, and it certainly didn't help me.
"You don't want to be allies?" he asked. Those big eyes of his got even bigger, and it was all the worse that I knew it wasn't on purpose. I couldn't bear to look at them any longer, and I looked down at my food.
"I'm really aiming to win it this time. I can't have any distractions," I said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lyte smile sadly. "I am a distraction, aren't I? You don't want to see me die again. That's all right. I'll try to do it out of sight." He took his tray and left me crying into my food.
I really am turning into a Victor, I thought. Because they're heartless.
Alinta Fintan, D12
This time we only had one night before the Games. They would have dropped us right in, but they wanted to check and make sure nothing went wrong, like what happened with Arter. That meant no time to train, not that there was that much more I could learn at this point.
What I needed most of all was a good strategy. I was by far the smallest person in the Games. That made me an easy target, which was both good and bad. The Careers' first thought would be to come for me, but their second thought would be that I wasn't a threat anyway and they should go for someone else. So basically I should play that up for all I was worth. It would also work with the Capitolites, who would want to send things to the cute lil' girl. Especially whoever it was that chose me.
I can work with this.
We didn't have interviews or sessions this time, but I wasn't so innocent I didn't know there were always cameras on us. I spent the day hitting one cute spot in the Games Center after another- petting the goats in the petting zoo, eating giant spiral lollipops, ordering cookies to my room, the whole works. I pitched my voice up an octave and giggled adorably throughout the whole endeavor. By the end of the night, I almost made myself throw up with my own cuteness. I never wanted to eat anything sugary again. I felt like I needed to wallow in mud just to balance things out. But with any luck, I was someone's favorite. And we all knew the Capitol chose the Victor.
Lyte Anderson, D6
There wasn't even any reason for Rose to be here. More accurately, there wasn't any reason for Calvary to be here. Rose was just here because Calvary was here. But anyway, Calvary didn't have any Tributes in this Games. She was just... watching, I guess? And Rose was tagging along, commenting on the Tributes and saying who she wanted to win (me and Alinta were her picks, since we were her age). I was sitting across the room from Vera so it wouldn't be awkward, and that put me right next to Rose, who was slumming with us for lunch.
"I know exactly what the Arena is going to be," I overheard Rose telling Calvary. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone. It's super cool, though. Super-" she stopped sharply and started to cough.
"Rose?" Calvary asked. I looked over and saw Rose bent over the table, her hands at her throat and her chest heaving. Calvary gasped and jumped up.
"Medic!" she screamed. She started to pick Rose up under her arm like a football. I shot out of my chair toward them.
"I got it!" I yelled. I pulled Rose from Calvary's grip and flipped her so her back was to my stomach. I clasped my hands in front of her stomach and yanked them up. After two applications, a lump of something green shot from Rose's mouth and she sucked in air loudly. I let go of her and she grabbed on to Calvary as she burst into tears.
"It's okay, you're fine," Calvary said as she tried to soothe Rose. Rose wiped at her eyes and turned to me.
"Thanks for saving me," she said.
"It's nothing," I said. Anyone else would have done the same.
Just this chapter and then it's the night before the Games. I just wanted to get a few POVs in because some people are going to die in the Bloodbath (not necessarily these people, though) and I wanted to squeeze in more action to keep things suspenseful. Pretty soon we'll start right in on the Games.
