I woke up four hours later and jumped out of bed. I dressed, braided my hair, and walked into the dining room. There was a whole buffet filled with all sorts of food; bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, and several different varieties of pancakes. I loaded my plate with food and started shoveling it into my mouth; I was starving.
Peeta walked in a few minutes later, looking well-refreshed. "Morning," I mumbled through a mouthful of egg. He grinned. "Morning, Katniss. Ready to train again?"
I swallowed and nodded. "Lord knows I can use all the training I can get. I have virtually no experience with any weapon besides a bow and knife."
He frowned. "I don't recall you telling Haymitch that you were especially good with knives."
I inwardly kicked myself. "Um, well, I've been practicing, and I've gotten much better." He nodded and started filling his own plate.
Haymitch walked in, carrying a bottle of who-knows-what. He nodded briefly to me; I tipped my head curtly in response. Just because he had decided to help didn't make us the best of friends. He got a bowl of cereal and carried it to the table; sloshing a good portion of its contents onto the table and floor in the process.
Peeta and I exchanged looks. What happened to "sober enough?"
Haymitch interrupted our silent conversation by belching loudly, then saying, "So today's the second day of training. I want you two to start looking for possible alliances. They're going to be important if you want to stay alive."
Cato. That was my first thought. I saw how he handled his spear yesterday; it was like an extension of his arm. And the boy could throw a knife. Yep. I wanted Cato as my ally. I looked at Peeta; he was already looking at me questioningly. "Got any ideas, Katniss?"
I shook my head. "Nope, not really. Though I wasn't really focused on any of the other tributes yesterday; I didn't get a good chance to scope them out." Biggest lie of my life. "But we can look today and see if we like anyone."
He nodded in agreement. "Sounds good." I smiled at him and finished my breakfast.
Back in my room, I looked at the outfit that had been set out for me. A black jumpsuit with the number 12 printed on the back in bright yellow. I sighed and put it on. The material was comfortable; it probably would evaporate liquids pretty quickly.
I walked to the elevator where Peeta was waiting for me. He was dressed in the same garment. We looked at each other and started laughing. "We look ridiculous!" I said after we had calmed down a bit. He grinned. Haymitch came to escort us to the training facility; he completely ignored our garb. As usual, there were others before us. I looked around for Cato, but neither he nor his fellow tribute was in sight.
I looked longingly towards the archery station, but Peeta nudged me past it gently. I sighed and walked on to the edible foods section. I looked among the various plants and roots, trying to discern what type of environment we would encounter in the Games. I saw mint, parsley, pine nuts, and various other foods.
I sensed a presence behind me; I thought it was Peeta.
"Looks like it's probably going to be a temperate forest, like back home. That's good for us; I know almost every root and leaf here. If we can't get any supplies I'll be able to take care of us."
"Was that an offer?"
Not Peeta.
I turned around and found myself two inches from Cato's chest.
I backed up a little and looked up at him; it didn't help that he was at least a foot taller than me. His arms were crossed and he was looking down at me cockily. I regarded him warily.
"Not quite. Do you need something?" I asked .
His smile disappeared and he walked closer to me, closing the distance I had just obtained. He stared at me, his eyes grave and serious. "To survive."
I stared right back at him. "What's it to me?"
His eyes regained some of their condescending mirth. "You tell me, Firegirl."
We remained three inches apart, staring into each other's faces, until a blur ran between us, almost causing us both to fall on the ground. "What the - ?" Cato snarled.
"Where did that little freak go?" A female voice shrieked. It was Cato's fellow tribute; she was stark raving mad about something. Cato sighed and walked away to calm her, winking at me as he left. I heard him call her Clove as he tried to reason with her.
I looked around for the small form that had saved me from an awkward moment with Cato. It was nowhere to be found; someone was very good at hiding. I wondered what had made Clove so angry.
I walked around until I found Peeta at the knife-throwing station. He was missing the target by inches; I winced when one clattered against the wall a few yards behind the target. A lot of the tributes who were practicing there snickered.
"Don't mind them, Peeta. Here, let me show you."
I picked up a beautiful stainless steel number, doubled-edged and serrated near the handle. I looked at the target, mentally aimed, and threw the knife. It hit neatly in the center of the bulls eye. I grinned and looked around for Cato before I knew what I was doing. I quickly turned my head, but not before I saw him grinning proudly.
I became aware of Peeta staring at me, his mouth dangerously close to gaping. I rolled my eyes.
"I told you I've been practicing, Peeta."
"Katniss, you have GOT to teach me how you do that. That was amazing." I smiled and started teaching him the technique Cato showed me.
After ten minutes Peeta's aim had improved drastically; he was able to hit fairly close to the center of the target, and even got a bulls eye once. After a few more minutes we decided to go to the camouflage station. As we walked, Peeta said, "So, have you met anyone yet?"
It took me a while to grasp his actual meaning. "Um, I'm not sure yet. What about you?"
He shrugged. "No one really jumps out at me. Thresh though, from District 11, seems okay. He's really quiet though; I don't know if he'd be interested in making an alliance." I nodded and took a mental note.
I fingered a knife as I attempted to say casually, "Actually, I was looking around, and Cato seems like a pretty good option. He can throw a spear, and he's pretty intimidating. If we could hook up with him and the other Careers, we'd have a good chance of surviving for a while."
Peeta snorted. "Yeah, until they start turning on each other, and you know full well we'll be the first ones they turn on."
"That's why we'd hightail it out of there before that happens. It could just be until they take almost everyone else out. Then we could go off on our own and wait." Wait until one of us dies, or until we have to kill each other, I thought bitterly.
He shrugged. "We'll talk it over with Haymitch. The real problem, though, would be getting the Careers to agree to it. We'd have to show some viable skill in order for them to consider letting us in. Maybe you could talk to Cato about it, since he's apparently the leader."
I saw my opportunity and jumped for it like a suicidal. "True. I could show him my knife-throwing skills, and your camouflage skills. But first I think I'd probably have to get on his good side; he seems to have a dislike for people like us. I'll hang around him for a few days, and then pop the question." I mentally slapped myself for saying it like that.
Thankfully, Peeta didn't notice. "Sounds good. How about you go talk to him, while I check out the camouflage station? I've been itching to try out those paints."
"Meet you there later." I said over my shoulder as I went off in search of Cato. Although there were only twenty four of us, it was hard to find people. There were trainers everywhere, and although the training room was one room, there were partitions that made it hard to see the entirety of it.
Cato was with the other Career tributes – no surprise there. They were at the weight lifting station. Apparently they were actually training today, instead of just showing off their prerequisite skills.
Cato was busy benching 200 pounds, while Marvel was doing reps and the girls were doing some sort of yoga-weight combination training.
I walked over to Cato, ignoring the girls' glares. "Hey, Cato." I said tentatively as he lifted the bar. There was a pause as he made another rep. "Hey Katniss." I then realized that I really had nothing to say to Cato. Damn.
So I just stood back and watched him. He took steady breaths as he lifted the weight and brought it back down to his chest. I had to admit that it was an impressive sight; strength such as his was a rare thing in the Districts, and it was hard not to appreciate it.
I mentally shook myself. What was I thinking? Cato was competition; he had to be eliminated.
Right after I said that, though, I knew it wasn't true. Cato was different. I didn't know why, though. On the outside he seemed like just another powerful, blood-thirsty killer. But I knew there was something he was hiding. I just had to find out what.
