Disclaimer: The Hunger Games belong to Suzanne Collins.
Chapter 3
I ate breakfast slowly, Tric milling behind me and telling me every four seconds that I would be late if I didn't hurry up. After the fourth time, I abandoned breakfast and headed to the elevator. Walton was already waiting by the elevator when I arrived, then we went down together.
Neither of us spoke as we stepped out into the training area, and I walked away from him so there were several tributes between us. Suffra, the girl from 8 Walton had been talking about yesterday, was already there talking to Krystal from 1.
"…sister not happy that you are here?" Suffra asked in a sickly sweet fake way. Krystal looked almost murderous, and I realized that she at least had not figured out the difference between training and actually going into the arena. "Mine isn't either. I'm Suffra by the way."
"Suffra," Krystal mocked, testing the word. "You know that sounds a little like suffer. I will make you suffer."
"Would you want somebody to make your sister suffer?" Suffra said. If the girl from 1 looked murderous before, she looked like she would explode now.
"My sister is not here," she argued tersely.
"Whether you come back or not, she might be next year."
"You forget that I am from District 1," Krystal growled. "District 1 has volunteers."
"Have you not noticed; District 8 also does," Suffra said, gesturing at herself. I smiled and nodded at Walton who was also looking at Suffra, but stopped when the Careers from District 2 started sniggering.
"What are you doing talking to the lesser districts?" the girl, Ray, giggled.
"Were you born a girl or did you have a sex change?" Krystal asked, which resulted in a shocked look from Ray. After this the Careers started bragging about which weapons they were good at, which did not get very specific. I vaguely wondered where the boy from 1 was, as the pairs usually came down together.
Careers later, I decided, turning towards the pair from District 9 instead. Both of them looked weak, malnourished. They were some of the poorer people there, but being from the grain district they might be able to find food in certain arenas. The last time there had been grain in one of the arenas was in the 63rd Hunger Games, which meant that it was relatively likely to come up again soon.
The boy from 9 was actually smaller than the girl, both of which were taller than me. The boy looked about fourteen and I remembered that the girl was sixteen from her Reaping. I pictured their reactions from what I had seen. The girl had been crying and the boy had taken so long to get onto the stage with a shocked expression on his face even though there were tell-tale signs that the recording had been cut so it took less time when I re-watched it.
When I looked away from District 9 again, Atala announced that it was time for the training to begin. I glared at her for a moment because her sole job seemed to be getting children to train to kill other children, and focused again on the direction everybody ran to.
Walton went straight for the axes. There was no point for him to hide his skills. Katran, the boy from 2, headed to the wrestling station with a cocky expression. Ray went to the knives and District 4 focused on the spears. Garnet joined Ray at the knives after looking around for a second, but Krystal did not appear to know exactly where to go and just watched the others before drifting towards the sword station.
At this point I realized that I had not moved from my space and went over to the netting, climbing up it until I was nestled above the main training area and looking down. I had skills. While I couldn't use an axe like many of the people in my district could, I was able to use a knife. Not for throwing at people and killing them, but if necessary the skills were transferrable.
Suffra was again looking at Krystal, who was clearly showing off. She stabbed the dummy with unnecessary force with her machete, twirling it around in a showy way. With her next swipe, it fell to the ground and she placed the blade to its neck. Krystal looked annoyed when Suffra made a sarcastic comment.
"Don't insult me; I've got a weapon," Krystal said. With Suffra's next comment Krystal looked even more annoyed, so she stabbed her weapon in the space next to Suffra but incredibly close to her. Suffra was shockingly fast for someone who presumably had not been training and had a knife to Krystal's neck almost before I knew it. Krystal pushed her backwards into a pile of weapons and was then held back by some of the guards. At that point the Careers were laughing because in their training regime, Krystal would have been declared dead, killed by the girl from 8.
They were mocking Krystal rather than seeing what I saw. Suffra was a contender, and although she would probably do alright on her own she was targeting the girl from 1. With the way she did her hair, she even appeared to look like the girl Krystal paused for. The conversation they'd had about their sisters began to make more sense, and I smiled from my position above them.
Suffra was trying to manipulate Krystal, and it was definitely intentional. Perhaps she even wanted her in an alliance. The Careers would not let Suffra join, but this year I did not think the pack would last long either. They already seemed to hate each other and it was only the first day of training.
In my position I waited, focusing on each of the tributes. I took in everything that they did, the stations they visited. Some of them I watched out for more than the others, some of them I guessed would survive for longer. Strangely, from my position in the air, they seemed far less human than they had in the tribute parade even though now they actually looked more human.
Eventually, instead of looking at the strongest tributes I looked at the weakest ones. The girl from 3, Dina, was at the knife throwing station, but dropped the knife when the pair from 4 were also there and called her out as a bloodbath victim. She scampered, going to the centre of the room shaking like a leaf.
Garnet growling at Walton distracted me from her. He stabbed a dummy repeatedly, making intricate movements with his own sword trying to intimidate Walton. Walton caught my eye and smirked, then picked up three smaller axes and started juggling them. I gaped at him, and when he set them down again he smirked at me. I started laughing before I could stop myself. I leaned backwards, a large smile still on my face, when I spotted Dina staring at me. It took her over a second to figure out that she wanted to ignore me, then went to the camouflage station.
The boy from 3 was already there. I was shocked, because I only saw him when he revealed himself. Despite being twelve he had more skills than the girl seemed to. A strange feeling passed through me as I decided that I wanted to help that boy. It was not fair to send somebody like that to the Hunger Games. At this point he miraculously looked excited, but that would not last long. The Games were approaching, and the clock on the wall told me that more than I needed to know.
During lunch, Walton was approached for the Career alliance. He told them basically what he'd told me, which resulted in a firm 'no'. Suffra was also approached, but that seemed like a less serious query, more something which the Careers were doing to mock Krystal even further because she was almost beaten by a 'lesser' district.
An alliance formed between Celia from 10 and Hawk from 11, but it was still in its early stages. Instead of paying attention to the Careers I spent the afternoon watching them as they learned various survival skills. In several stations they were joined by Suffra who was doing the same. Celia was talking quietly about her life in 10, but I was only able to hear every second word. For the first time which wasn't a meal, I crept down from the netting and approached them, keeping only a station away.
"I grew up on a ranch," Celia was saying. There was no reason for her to be quiet as everything she said would be picked up by the cameras, and it was not like she was telling major secrets. However, the Capitol would not want us to know about the lives of the different districts so her relative silence was probably a good thing. "When I was eleven the ranch shut down. Leather was suddenly not 'in' in the Capitol anymore, so they upped the taxes. Only the richest ranch owners could survive and we were nowhere near the richest. They said we had to leave or else we would be executed."
"How many times was your name in?" Hawk asked. I blinked, then remembered that Celia was only thirteen. She looked slightly older, but not by much. She was the second-youngest tribute.
"Fourteen," Celia said. That was a lot for somebody who had only been eligible for Reaping for two years. "It's an extended family, and I was the only one who could get us food that way. Even working at the richer ranches we were unable to get enough money together for both a roof and food."
"I took the tesserae too," Hawk said. "Just because we are the plantation district does not mean we get enough to eat. The only time they feed us better is during the harvest."
"You know edible plants?" Celia asked, and Hawk nodded. I sensed that their conversation about their different districts was over and I stored away what I had heard for thinking about later. I took a step back and the whole world felt strange. I ran up to my position above everybody else before the strange feeling overtook me.
Poor Celia. Poor Hawk. Even though I had not heard everything they had to say I had heard enough. I'd always assumed that District 7 was bad, but I could tell now that it was probably not one of the worst. The looks in the eyes of those from District 12 was so much worse.
As soon as we were allowed out of training, I ran again. I stopped at the doors of the Training Centre, almost teetering, knowing that I was not allowed to leave but wanting desperately to. I missed the forests from District 7, and even if I got out there would be nothing like that in the Capitol.
Slowly I went back to the seventh floor, and I sat in my own room. Time passed and the clock on the wall told me exactly how much of it did. It was nearing the end of Training Day 1. In around 120 hours I would be in the arena. Put that way it seemed longer, but as soon as I thought about the days again, it seemed undeniably short.
My mind flicked between the alliances. Celia and Hawk. The Careers. Dina and Gregor from 5, an alliance which would probably also include Bert. For a typical Games that was quite a few alliances, as usually it was only the Careers and maybe one other.
If I thought about becoming a Victor, the latter alliance was not particularly strong even though I wanted to keep Bert alive. Celia and Hawk mainly focused on survival skills and by the looks of things they wanted to keep hidden rather than fighting. The Careers would not last long but would probably take out some of the former alliances.
When the Careers broke up, Krystal would ally with Suffra. Krystal would probably be the killer whilst Suffra was the survivor. Suffra would do anything, so if it came down to returning to her sister she would kill Krystal after she had taken out most of the other tributes.
Then there was Walton. Even though we talked I knew we would end up going separate ways as soon as we were in the arena. I doubted he would try and kill me or anybody else in the bloodbath but he would get himself weapons. He wouldn't ally with anybody else or he would have no chance of becoming Victor.
Could I become Victor? The thought pulled me up short because I was not sure I wanted to. If I played it right, tactically, I probably could do it. I imagined myself grasping a weapon, a knife in particular, and sending it at one of the opponents. The image that came to mind was little Bert bleeding on the floor and I let out a small scream. No! I would not be doing that.
Pulling on a hood so I would not get recognized straight away, I walked back to the elevator. I looked at all the different levels and finally clicked on the number 1, deciding I might as well start at the bottom and work my way up.
"This is stupid," I muttered to myself, but I wanted to see what the other district Victors were like. The Career districts were likely different to the others because most of their Victors were volunteers. The elevator binged to a stop almost before I was ready.
The hall of the District 1 floor was absolutely no different to the one I was in six floors up. I stepped cautiously forwards, knowing that it was my choice I was there and cursing the decision. It took me several attempts to manage to get myself to knock on one of the doors I knew did not belong to the tributes.
"Are you lost?" the woman who answered asked in a strange tone. I prepared myself to run although it was a stupid reaction. Not even the Career Mentors would be stupid enough to kill one of the tributes. That was the job of their tributes.
I took a calming breath, knowing that speaking to Aimery Harrt was far more dangerous than this. After all, eventually it had got me sent here. "No."
She stared at me strangely. I stared at her with the same intensity, finally recognizing her. She was not one of the most public Victors and she was slightly older and had cut her hair a lot shorter than the last time I had seen her on camera. Delilah Albur was almost as bad as the Capitolians, and I found myself glaring at her again.
"Well, I don't know whether or not your district has learned to read numbers but this is Floor 1," Delilah said. I was still glaring at her but I made myself smile. It was a bad fake smile.
"Well, I don't know whether or not it is frowned upon in your district to kill your allies but it certainly is in mine," I said, and the door slammed shut in my face. I knocked again, annoyed at myself for retorting but Delilah's expression told me enough. District 1 wasn't that particularly happy with her either.
"I have information about your tribute!" I tried. The door opened up again and she stood there, angry lines etched on her face.
"Come in," she said coldly. I slowly stepped into the room as she moved to the side, and motioned for me to sit down on one of the sofas. The room was large much like the tribute room, but unlike my room it seemed to be a separate communal area. "What. Do. You. Know?"
"What's it like mentoring someone who clearly knows it all?" I asked, and Delilah's expression was just like Krystal's when she got outdone by Suffra. "Do you think you are Capitolian? If you want something from you, you ought to give me something in return."
"Tell me first," Delilah said, sitting down opposite me. I looked into her eyes then took in the whole room. I wondered why there was a pile of shattered glass in the corner but I could guess. There was no alcohol in it so I reckoned that it had been thrown there out of anger.
"You're mentoring Krystal Alrich?" I guessed. It did not always work that way, but usually the female mentor mentored the female tribute, and the male mentor mentored the male tribute. My district, where there were no living female Victors was a good example.
"Look, get to the point. Doesn't someone from District 5 or wherever need to cry herself to sleep instead of asking questions?" she growled.
"It's District 7," I said. I decided to tell first as this was taking too long. "As you are wondering, I'm assuming your tribute still thinks she knows everything and is not talking to you." Delilah nodded slightly and I grinned. "She's sort of allied with the girl from 8. Suffra Hadley. Be careful about her; I'd say that she'd do anything to get back to her sister." … and maybe even stoop as low as you did.
But no, the girl for District 8 probably would still keep some honour, and even if she didn't there she would have trained a lot less in three days with weapons than Delilah would have done in years.
"What do you want?" Delilah asked. "You just said how you weren't going to give me any information without asking for something in return."
"How many times have you mentored?" I asked. Delilah had won ten years ago, but District 1 had quite a few mentors to choose from. As she was one of the most recent ones, she would be mentoring more often.
"This is my fourth time," Delilah said.
"You didn't mentor 64 did you?"
"No," she said quietly.
"You might as well tell me stuff. If you have any faith in having a Victor this year then by process of elimination I will not be coming out of the arena," I argued, looking right at her. She refused to meet my gaze but I could already tell that she was going to give in. Years of mentoring people to die, even in a Career district, must have taken its toll.
"I'm not going to have a Victor this year. I've seen girls like her. They think they can make it. Her family's even already planned a victory party for her and invited all of their friends and rivals. They really don't know what it's going to be like and eventually they are going to either go crazy or get killed off relatively early," Delilah said. "The boy is even worse. I see what they see in him, and he's got the weapons skills, but…"
"He's not smart, I know," I said. "You've got to be careful with him or he'll do something so stupid and lose all public support."
"No, right now I've thought to myself that he is Gloss's problem. There is only one Victor and it's not going to be him," she said, and I flinched at the cold tone in her voice. "You can't get too attached to the tributes. Twenty-three of them never make it back."
"How often did you mentor when you started? I would have heard if anybody other than Cashmere did it recently," I wondered. The Capitolians always seemed to want the brother and sister from District 1 mentoring, as that had been the case for the last two years at least. They were the most recent Victors from 1.
"The Victor always mentors the following year, then I had to go every two years until Gloss won," she answered. The look she had was different, like she had decided that I too would die and that was the sole reason she was even talking to me.
"What's mentoring like?" I asked, and Delilah shook her head.
"Your go," she said. "Tell me something else I don't know."
"The major of District 7 is from the Capitol," I said, leaning in and lowering my voice to a whisper. "He was thrown out of the Capitol because of a public scandal but he was close enough to Snow to flaunt his connections."
"Okay, I definitely did not know that," Delilah acknowledged. "But that isn't relevant."
"You are looking for an advantage for your tribute so that you will not have another year with no Victor," I said. "Do you really think I will give anything you will not find out sooner or later by yourself without any proper information I cannot find out by myself?"
"No, this is how it is going to go. You tell me about yourself and I tell you about mentoring," Delilah said, and I rolled my eyes.
"I gave you information, so you tell me one more thing now," I said.
"What is your district partner good at?"
"Axes," I said simply. That much she probably would have found out already, or would do by the time of the interviews. "He's not joining the Careers." That too, the mentors should know, as I heard mentors of tributes in alliances worked together.
The door opened again and I turned around, seeing Gloss standing at the door and looking at me. I gave him a small smile as well, but he completely ignored me and addressed Delilah instead.
"What's District 5 doing here?" he asked.
"District 7," I muttered, correcting him to no avail.
"Fishing for information," Delilah said. "But not about our tributes. She seems to know more about them than we do."
"I doubt that," Gloss said coldly. "Only because you managed to get your tribute to hate you doesn't mean I did. What exactly did you tell that stupid girl from 5?"
"Nothing," Delilah said defensively. She looked at me then he did as well, his expression sending me half way to the door with my hands raised and preparing to run. Again it was stupid, but being in the same room as Hunger Games Victors almost seemed to me as being in the same room as a dangerous bear. But unlike a bear, they definitely had killed somebody before.
"I'm sorry for the inevitable death of your tribute," I said to Gloss, watching his cold expression for any changes before running off to the elevator and closing the door without looking for pursuit.
As soon as the door closed, I glanced at the numbers. If that was District 1, I had absolutely no intention of finding out what District 2 was like. The mentors were the two most recent ones, Viktor and Enobaria, and both of them were terrifying.
Without hesitating, I pressed the number three and the elevator whizzed up two floors. I stepped out into the hall, which again seemed like a clone of the seventh floor corridor. I assumed they were all identical.
Beetee found me in the hall. Somehow I was not shocked.
"You seem like a smart girl, Mimi. Shouldn't you know that there are cameras?" Beetee said in a way which made me guess some of the cameras were his. Most likely that was how he had spotted me.
"I know," I said. "But I was not aware that there were rules. As long as I stay in the Training Centre, I can have a look around."
Unlike Delilah, he walked me slowly back to the elevator.
"Should I predict that this year I will be conversing a lot with the mentors of District 7?" he asked me. I found myself nodding without thinking it through, my mind whirling again at that. I did not feel the need to remind him of the tributes' imminent doom like I had told Gloss. Beetee already knew it all too well.
He had a better poker face than Delilah had, certainly. He still cared, but he was cold and calculating instead. There was also resignation. Nobody from District 3 was going to win this year, and he knew it.
District 7's most recent Victor was the 56th Hunger Games, and we'd had only three Victors before then. All the other years, nobody came back no matter how hard the mentors tried. They had probably learned not to care as much, which in itself was scary.
As I lay in my room again I found my entire game-plan changing. I was not going to win; not in the way they talked about winning which was becoming a Victor. Tomorrow I would do exactly the same. I would observe. That was all.
A/N: The characters Krystal, Dina and Suffra are the narrators of my other story Three Girls and the stories correspond with each other. Also, Finnick will probably be in the next chapter. Please review to tell me what you think.
