Today is the first day for training. You could say I am beyond nervous. I don't know what to expect because in past years when they show the games, they only show actual games, not the training. I wake up to find a training outfit on my dresser. The pants are black with a red and silver strip going down the leg. The shirt has the same red and sliver stripe but it is short sleeved. My shirt has a 6 on the back because I am from district 6. Then, I french braid my hair into a single side braid and pin back my bangs. I walk out of my room and find Freddie and Haymitch sitting at the table eating some kind of breakfast feast. I guess the Capitol wants us to be well fed for training.
"Why wouldn't you just light a fire?" Freddie asks taking a bite of what looks like sausage.
"Well that's a good way to get killed." Haymitch replies taking a sip of his tea.
"What's a good way to get killed?" I ask walking over and taking a seat next to Freddie and across from Haymitch. I can tell he is somewhat hung over from the day before and I wonder if he has had anything to drink already.
"Oh joy, why you join us Samantha? I was just giving Freddie here some life saving advice." I glare at his remark of calling me Samantha but I ignore it take a cinnamon roll from a center plate.
"Like what?" I ask taking a bite of food.
"I was just asking about finding shelter." Freddie comments while taking a swig of his milk.
"You shelter would help if you were still alive." He says directly to me because I didn't think it was good advice. I roll my eyes before Haymitch starts again. "Sweetheart, pass the butter."
"How do you find shelter?" I respond by not touching the butter.
"I asked for the butter." He says at me.
"I asked how you find shelter." I reply with an angry tone. He groans and goes to reach for the butter. I take the knife closest to my hand and stab down next to his arm. It goes through his shirt and pins him to the mahogany table.
"You know what I said about sponsors last night? How you need them to survive? Well sweetheart, newsflash, to get sponsors they have to like you." I know he sees my face drop instantly because it's not a secret that most people don't like me. "Hmm, not what you wanted to hear? But you need people to like you, looks like you should keep this knife," he says handing me the butter knife. "That's all you're gonna get in the arena with your attitude." He stands grabbing a muffin and walking down an unknown hallway and out of view. I look down at my food knowing he is right and I hate when other people are right, but especially when I'm wrong.
"Sam you know people like you."
"Really? It took you a few years to like me and you're my best friend. Face it, I'm going to lose."
"Don't say that." He says gazing his chocolate eyes into mine. Before either of us has anytime to respond Mr. Nestor comes up with 2 guards ready to walk us down to the training center. We are silent on the way down but I glance up at Mr. Nestor to see him smiling, excited for this day. I cannot stand that man. As we depart from the elevator the two guards escort us into the training room where we stand in a large circle and get to see our opponents, the people who will be trying to kill me in 3 days, for the first time.
I see the boy and girl from the district one reaping. I figure out the boy's name is Macon, about 18 years old, and he is looking around at everyone smirking. I can tell in his head he is picturing killing all of us now, how sick. I glance at the girl with curly brown, around 17 years old; whose hair is in a low pony tail with small ringlets hanging around her face, her name is Madeesa. I continue to look around the circle and see a young boy, looking no older than 13 with striking red hair and bright green eyes with fear in them. To my left is Freddie but to my right is a girl who looks about 14 or 15 and I recognize right away, the girl from district 2. I have kept track of the district 1 and 2 tributes because, besides Haymitch, they have won every year; they are gruesome, horrid fighters, killers. We call them Careers. Bree is the girl's name from 2, along with Koby the African American boy from her district as well. Bree has light, straight blonde hair in a high pony tail, and deep green eyes. So this year the Careers names are Macon, Koby, Madeesa, and Bree. As we are all taking in our surroundings a woman walks into the middle of the circle and starts a speech.
"Hello tributes. Today you will start training. Remember how much you focus in here will determine how well you do in the games and how you will be rated. The Gamemakers will be observing you so do not slack off. My advice, don't ignore the survival skills; I know you all want to pick up a sword but 20% of you will die from natural causes, starvation, dehydration, infestation. Choose wisely. Also no fighting with other tributes, you will have plenty of time for that in the arena." The woman smirks as if it's better if we fight hard in the arena. "Good luck." She says and walks back up to the observation deck.
Once she is at the top of the deck I look around at the training center. There are stations set up all round the room. There are survival stations, fighting station with people ready to fight us, running/climbing stations, everything is here. I see a bow and arrow sitting across the room with a target quite a distance away, I smile to myself. As I am taking everything in I see people have already dispersed to stations. I glance and see Freddie at a fire making station; I wander over and stand next to him.
"Hey." I say as he glances up.
"Oh hey." He smiles and looks back down at the fire maker. I crouch down and focus on the fire. Within a few tries I am able to start the fire by myself with flint and after a few more tries with just wood. Freddie is able to do it before me though.
"How did you do that so fast?" I ask him as he starts a fire with only two sticks within seconds.
"My mom took me to many survivals classes." I chuckle knowing how protective his mother is. Freddie nudges me to look up at something. I my eyes follow his to Madeesa standing in front of about 15 mannequins shaped like humans, each one with a target on the chest. Madeesa grabs the knife and without effort and with style throws each one and hits the bullseye each time. I take a step back even though I am nowhere near Madeesa, just knowing she could kill me in an instant if she wanted to.
"Sam, she won't hurt you." I glance at Freddie before looking at Madeesa sneering at the "dead" humans.
"Yet." The rest of the day consist of Freddie and I going to each survival station learning how to make snares, knots, fires, and plants that we can eat. Neither Freddie nor I picked up a weapon today because we focused more on survival. The only physical thing I did was practice climbing trees and different ways to grip the trees, tying myself to it so I won't fall out, and how to get down quickly. I saw Macon during the training with a sword that looked so heavy I could barely hold it, slicing every tribute model within reach. I thought I was strong, but compared to these monsters I am nothing. I can do one thing exceptionally well but no one knows it. No one but my mother.
As the training raps up I climb down from the tree I'm in and stumble into Madeesa.
"Watch where you're going blondie." She says while Macon is glaring at me the whole way. I bite my tongue and continue walking not glancing at either of the District 1 tributes. As Freddie and I board the elevator he looks at me and won't look away.
"What are you looking at nub?" I finally say and stare into his eyes.
"Why didn't you use it today? You so much better than any person in that room was with it."
"Use what?
"The bow." My eyes pierce his face in shock, my breathing increases in speed. How does he know about that? No one knows, especially not the nub.
Hey Guys!
I know parts of this are similar to the Hunger Games but I tried to make it different. Tell if it is too close to the book/movie and ill change it. What do you guys this of the Careers? Bree, Madeesa, Macon, and Koby? By the way you pronounce it Ma (as in the Ma in Map) Dee (DEE as in DEEP) and a short A. So MaDEEsa. Sorry if that is confusing. Tell me what you guys think! Thanks! The more reviews the faster update
~Jill~