Chapter 3:

The Tributes

Light was seeping through my closed eyelids, voices were murmuring excitedly around me and something smelled of medicine and dying flowers. Slowly, I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of four familiar faces in the infirmary. Head Trainer Ram was by the door, talking to two trainers, Calla and Blank - the latter was Cato's trainer. Cato looked uncomfortable on his seat by my bed, his eyes glued on the wall clock. I sat up, gathering all the attention. "Where the hell am I?"

"How are you feeling, Clove?" Ram asked me with a small smile on his face.

"Like shit. Where the hell am I?" I repeated my question but nobody answered. I saw Calla and Blank's faces wearing similar smug grins. I wondered why they looked so happy, so I asked, "Why are you two grinning like insane clowns? What's up?"

"I've been asking them the same question." Cato grumbled. He looked pissed, "They wouldn't tell me unless you're awake." He turned his attention to the two trainers, "Are you going to tell me what Spade told you guys?" Spade was the Head Trainer of the four Career Centers around District Two. He was famous for training three of the Victors: Lyme; Brutus; and Magdalena.

"Tournament is cancelled." Blank laughed, "Spade called it off."

Cato rose from his seat, in indignation. "Then what the hell are you two so happy about? Am I disqualified from the Tournament? Did Spade disqualify us for the Tournament?" The blond was clearly full of questions, I just waited for them to continue.

Calla answered, "No. Spade just thought it was irrelevant now. He decided to have you two as the tributes for District Two. He liked your little show well enough." Her eyes told me that it was Spade who stopped Cato from killing me. Was he also there to witness the whole thing? "He said he'd meet you two tomorrow to discuss the flaws in your fighting styles."

"Wait. What?" Maybe they gave me more morphling than I could handle, was I hallucinating? Did I hear them correctly? I'd be in this year's Games alongside Cato?

My surprise went along with me on my way back home and Magdalena watched me with sharp eyes when I entered our house. "You were supposed to be back an hour ago, Clover." She had a knife ready in her hand but when I told her the reason for my lateness, Magdalena actually smiled and returned the knife back to her belt and nodded as a response, "This is the only exception. Wonderful work, Clove." Her words made me smile as well and it didn't matter to me when she left me standing by the foyer, all that matters is that I'd be in the Capitol in few weeks time and away from the life I was leading.

A spot in the Games was so exclusive that not everyone can get in. In the other Districts, the Games were feared as though it was a death sentence but in One and Two, sometimes even Four, The Hunger Games was a chance for hope and eternal glory. A Victor is a hero, revered and respected. When you lose, your memory is shamed along with your family. When you lose, you are not good and strong enough. You are replaceable. I am good enough. I will be respected.

I intend to win.

Tomorrow morning, people suddenly knew my name. The cancellation of the Tournament caught attention and the two names, mine and Cato's, were suddenly overnight celebrities. People, young and old, called out my name as though I knew them. Those who didn't like me were the teenagers hoping to compete, I only smirked triumphantly at them. They don't matter to me, they never did.

When I reached the Center, Cato was waiting for me by the entrance. He looked up from his thoughts and I immediately went into defense mode. Cato's eyebrows met in confusion, "Jeez, Clove, I only wanted to talk." He shook his head, "I swear, you need a social life. You're so weird."

"What do you want?" I asked, already irritated.

"I want to talk to you, settle differences."

I sneered, "You? Cato Byrnes? Settle differences by talking? You're not fooling anyone, dumb ass. I can see through you."

"You think you're so smart, don't you?" Cato frowned, "You think you know everyone. You think you're too good for all of us. You're a bitch." He towered over me, his blue eyes burning. "You're not that good, Clove. You're not going to win that Games alone. One way or another, you'll need my help. You'll plead for my help. You'll call out my name and I won't help you if you continue being like this."

"And you think I'd make an alliance with you? You're also in the Games, stupid. In the end, it'll all come down to us." I stood my ground, my green eyes meeting his.

"Who said you'd make it through the bloodbath without me? There are tributes bigger than you, they'd overpower you like I did."

I grabbed him by the collar, "I will never ask for your help, Cato. I swear, I will never ask for anything from you."

"Fine." He pulled my hand away from his shirt and scowled, "Arrogance kills, Clove Holt, bear that in mind." With that, Cato went inside the Center. I was angry at him, for saying all those nasty things about me. Whatever prank he's trying to fool, I won't fall for it. For all I know, he's already plotting my death in his head. I don't trust him.

With a huff, I pushed the door open. My eyes found Spade already there, his arms over his chest and his eyebrows knitted closely together. He was this sixty something Trainer with grey eyes and strong build. He didn't look like any old people I know, Spade was still strong and I bet he can take Cato down with one hand.

"You're late." Spade's eyes narrowed, "I don't have all day, Clove." I jogged and stand beside Cato but still kept a distance between us. "The fight yesterday was spectacular. Brute force against long-range attacks. I can only imagine what it would be like in the Arena." His anger melted and we, Cato and I, smiled widely. "However Cato, you can't ever let your guard down. You assumed that your enemy surrendered and the battle is over," That wiped off the smile on Cato's face.

Spade did the same to me, "You were beaten by strength. Powerless against bigger tributes. Work on your strength, Clove. you cannot depend on your throwing knives all the time." I've heard that from both Magdalena and Calla, they have been trying to tell me about my weakness and I don't need another person telling this to me again.

"We will be training on these points along with improving your set of skills. I will be inviting your mentors, Brutus and Enobaria," Both of whom were in the Capitol at the moment, "You will be discussing with them about strategies earlier. We will not wait until you get to the Capitol. We have less than four weeks." Career Districts will make sure that the odds were in our favor.

In those four weeks, the one of the Centers and in this case, this one, will be closed off to the other trainees and only open for us. We will have exclusive access to all stations and all weapons, and will be guided by the watchful eyes of the District Head Trainer, the Center's Head Trainer and our own trainers. Our training will be intense, there will be no room for failure.

I was looking forward those sessions but training with Cato seems like a drag. I don't even want to be in the same room as him.

"I want a separate session." Cato voiced out my thoughts. He still looked a bit pissed off, "I don't trust Clove."

"And you think I trust you?" I spat back.

Spade stared at us. "No. You two will train together." His words were law. I just don't get it. "You are a pair of winners. One will need the other to get through the final two. You two will have each other's backs while all the other tributes are still there. Work together to wipe out the field. Make sure that District Two will have a winner." That was Spade's plan. Cato and I will have to form an alliance, no matter if we don't want it, and stay together until the very end. By the final battle, District Two will have a winner either way. It was against me and Cato in the end.

We fired Spade with words of disagreement. We don't even trust each other now, what more when we're in the situation where we'd have to really kill each other off? Spade was deaf to our pleas, "It seems like we have to work on trust as well." He spoke, when we finally silenced down. We didn't say anything else so he finally left us.

"He's nuts."

"Incredibly insane."

Cato and I muttered almost consecutively when we were alone. I was uncomfortable by the sudden silence and it seemed he was too. Instead of filling the air with words, we move away to our separate stations and began training. "I don't like Spade's idea." Cato said loudly after an hour.

"He thinks he can boss us around." I grumbled, making a knife hit target.

"He actually can, you know." I heard Cato again, "He is the Head of all the Head Trainers." There was a sudden whoosh behind me, Cato has probably cut off all the dummies with his sword now. "That didn't make sense." He added softly.

I nearly smiled if not for the sudden alarm which rang in my head. I will never show any more weaknesses to Cato. "Alliances are stupid."

"Alliances with you are definitely stupid." He corrected.

"I'll cut you if it was still allowed." I hissed, remembering the rule about not harming your own district partner before the Reapings. I came to know this rule when one guy got his own partner fatally injured right before the Games, he was then punished and was not allowed to volunteer. That year, another Tournament was held. Now, all the trainees know that partners are forbidden to cause any physical harm to the other - it will decrease the chance of winning.

His chuckle rang in the empty room, "You have such an attitude."

"And what do you mean by that?" I demanded, finally turning my eyes on him. When I did, Cato was looking right at me.

"You're so confident about yourself. You think you can beat everyone with that throwing skill of yours. You think you're so good because you have a Victor parent." He repeated the words he said to me earlier, "You know for yourself that you're perfect. I just had to take that idea away from you. It was so much fun wounding your ego and seeing you doubt yourself."

"You think you know everything." I hissed angrily at him.

Cato shrugged, "I know enough to predict you." He laid his big burly form on the wall and lazily traced the deadly blade of his sword with a finger, "I know for a fact that in that Games, you will be the first one to kill off an ally, if you get one. I know that you won't get much sponsors because you're so sour and so unlikable. You're an alien to physical contact and if I touch you right now, you'd break my arm."

I couldn't take it, I marched towards him and tried to hit him with my fists as much as possible, "Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything about me, Cato! So stop trying to judge me!"

He stopped me and held my wrists, "Then form an alliance with me and stop being so stubborn."

"Why the hell should I do that? I'm not stupid!"

Cato looked at me, his gaze unwavering. "Because you know that even though we won't admit it, we need each other to win that crown." When I showed no sign of threat to him, he let my hands go, "So, what do you say, Clover?"