Author Note: Sorry, I skipped arriving at the capital and the parade. Thank you for reading this far!


Training Day 1

Billi Link POV

We make our way to the training station, a rather short lady with short black hair explains to us how the training center is set up. Weapons training in the back, plant studies near the front, beside that places to work on camouflage, a work-out station, a fire-starting station, and a station on how to treat wounds.

We are released to do as we please for the first couple hours. The Careers are grouped together heading toward the weapons. I jog to catch up to them. The boy from District 1 is tall, he has to be over six foot, Jasper Wicka. The girl is also tall, probably around five foot eleven, not much taller than myself, Madeline Keepsay. Stiles Spiller leads the group, he obviously thinks he is in charge. I can tell the girl from 2, Penny Coleman, does not like him. She glares at him as he states we should work with swords.

I look at Seth, "I'm going to work with the spears." I tell him. Seth and I had both discussed spear throwing. We often fish with them back home. I walk past Stiles and pick up a spear. Stiles frowns at me and narrows his eyes.

"Don't you want to work with the rest of the group?" He asks me. I balance the spear on my palm to figure it's weight. Then I turn toward the targets and throw the spear. A perfect throw.

"No..." I say slowly "I think I want to show off for a little while." I pick up another spear and throw it, it lands right beside the first.

Lex Grovenstin POV

I watch as the Careers head straight for the weapons. Shay walks up beside me.

"Don't worry, we'll get to work with them soon." She says to me. I nod. "Let's go to the fire station, the two kids from 9 are the only ones over there." I follow her to the station. Both of the tributes from District 9 are twelve-years-old. They look so small, like Stephan. I watch as they try to strike a fire with flint. They fail several times.

"You're doing it wrong." I say to them. They look up at me. "You aren't letting the flint catch, you are going too quickly." I kneel down beside. "Hold that knife still." I tell the boy. I take the flint from the girl and strike it against the knife, it takes me three tries but the dead grass and twigs finally light. The girl beamed.

"How did you learn to do that!?" She ask me. I shrug. It's just something my friends and I messed around with back at home when we were younger, it's a skill you never forget. I notice the girl looking at my right hand. She blushes when she realizes I caught her looking.

"Electrical accent back at home." I tell her "Not a fire." I add. She nods then puts the fire out. "When you strike it, make sure you are letting the flint go all the way down the blade, you keep pulling it up quickly and they don't have time to make friction." I tell her. She nods and tries again. I turn to help Shay, who is also struggling.

"What if I don't have a knife or flint?" She asks me. I shrug. I've never tried making a fire with just sticks before. We toss the knife and flint aside and set to work trying to start a fire with nothing but sticks, leaves, pine needles, and dead grass.

Topanga Lynn POV

I head straight for the work out station. I've never actually worked out a day in my life, but I do some heavy lifting of mechanical parts back home, so my arms aren't completely useless. I jump up on the bars and lift myself up. I can only do ten pull-ups before my arms are shaking and throb softly.

"Might want to stretch out first." I turn to see who is talking to me. It's the boy from 10. I don't know his name.

"Huh?" I ask him. He sits on the floor and puts his legs out in front of him, then he leans forward and touches his toes with his finger tips.

"Stretching out," He says matter-of-factly "You could easily pull a muscle of you don't stretch before a workout." Now he's spread his legs apart and is alternating between the toes he touches. I frown at him.

"Won't that just make you tired faster?" I ask him.

"Not really. It's nothing too hard." He says. He stands up and crosses his right arm over his chest, pulling at his elbow with his left hand. I copy him. My shoulder pops. "See, your muscles need to stretch out. I bet all your joints will pop."

I roll my eyes at him, we finish the stretching soon after and start working out again. I was able to do forty-six pushups, thirty sit ups, fifty-two squats, and thirteen pull-ups. I lay out on the mat, feeling like I'm going to die.

"Is that all you can do?" A girl behind me say, she is speaking in a baby voice. I sit up to look at her. I see all of the Careers watching me. How long where they there?

"Poor thing could only do thirteen pull-ups." One of the guys says.

"Bite me!" I snap at him. The Careers laugh. I stand up and walk over to them. In the corner of my eye I see some of the instructors head our way. Fighting is not allowed. "I bet I can do more than you." I say to the boy. He smirks. He thinks he's so much better than everyone else. He steps forward, only inches from me.

"Do we have a problem over here?" One of the instructors asks.

"Nope." I say. I turn from him and head to the pull up bars. He follows. What have I gotten myself into? He probably worked out for three hours a day back home. He makes a point in taking his shirt off, showing his abs. I look around the training center and see most of the eyes are on us. I'm going to humiliate myself on day one.

Stiles Spiller POV

The girl is stupid. She thinks she can do more pull-ups than me. I can do hundreds if I want too. She can only do thirteen. I smirk as I take my shirt off. Why not show off what you have? Almost everyone is watching us now. I grin. Wait until they see how wonderful I am. They'll all envy me, soon they'll see why I'm going to win the game.

I look at her. She stands under the bar. I stand under one for my height. "On three." I tell her.

"Three." She agrees.

"One. Two. Three." We both jump to grab our bars and I start with the pull-ups. I'm do ten quickly, already up to her record. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. She drops. I grin and jump down onto the mat.

"How many did you do?" I ask her, grinning from ear to ear. What a wimp.

"Twenty." She says, glaring at me. The crowd moves back to what they were originally doing.

"That must have been embarrassing." I say to her. I can't keep the smirk from creeping up my face.

"Not as embarrassing as it'll be for you when I drive a knife into your face for everyone in Panem to see." She snaps back. I laugh. Does she really think she can beat me? She'd delusional. I push past her and head back toward the Careers. Madeline gleams at me.

"Why do you insist on making enemies?" Penny asks me.

"They are all my enemies," I reply "Might as well have a little fun while I can, right?" I slide my shirt back on. "Plus she's weak, she's no real threat."

"I guess." Penny says. "She has a pretty face though, she can easily get sponsors. Who knows what they'll send her."

"Nothing near as good as what they'll send me." I say, pocking my chest with my thumb. "Just wait until scoring day, I'll have the highest one here. Which is why I should be the leader of the Careers." I say, standing tall and grinning. Penny snorts. I turn to her. She is going to be a problem. "If you don't want to be a Career why don't you start figuring out how to patch up a cut throat. Because that's what you'll need on day one." Madeline is nodding her head quickly, she agrees with me. Soon Jasper nods too. "See, they agree. Either you work with the Careers or you are dead on day one." I turn to Seth and Billi. "That means you too, Billi. No more doing as you please."

Zila Monument POV

I'm not sure which station I should head to first. Not the weapons, the Careers went over there. Most tributes headed toward the plants, and a couple where in fire starting and wound healing. I decide to go to the camouflage station. Even though I do a pretty good job at blending in without any help. I open up some of the paints and test the colors against my skin. The blue is bright, and I don't understand why we would need it. The same with yellow and orange. I find some simple green and brown and start painting my arm to look like trees. It's a failed attempt, I'm not an artist. I walk over to the sink and start to scrub the paint off. Phillip joins me.

"Hey District partner!" He says cheerfully. "You paint?"

"No, not really." I say as I scrub my skin raw. "You?"

"Nah. Would be cool to learn though, wouldn't it." He's way to perky for me. I shrug and dry my arms. He's messing with the paints so I quickly move over to the wound healing station. There are quite a few tributes here now, but none of them notice me as I linger in the corner watching them practice wrapping up pretend cuts. Instructors start to move toward the work-out station of the training center. I watch to see what is happening. The Careers seem to be threatening one of the other girl tributes. I can't make out what they are saying but the boy from 2 gets in her face. She doesn't look scared at all. Instead she walks away with her head held high and goes to the pull-up bars. The boy follows. I break my eyes away and see everyone has left the medical supplies laying around to watch what happens. I slide behind them and grab some wraps and cream, then I head for a corner that no one will notice.

I read the directions on the back of the cream. You simply rub it on the wound then wrap it. I practice wrapping my arm. Doing it one handed will be hard. I grab the wrap with my teeth to tie it. How tight is it suppose to be? I continue messing around with the bandages until a bell sounds. Our mentors will be coming in to observe us soon. I don't want to be watched, someone judging my every move makes me cringe. Then I remember that's what this all is. I'll constantly be watched by someone. I may be able to hide from the other tributes, but I'll never be able to hide from viewers. Gamemakers will now where I am every second of every day. I shudder.