CHAPTER IV

Hey guys!

Told you I couldn't stay away to update for a week...

Oh and thank you Hanna Kallin for your review! Hope you enjoy this one as well :)

Anyways, here's the chapter!

"So," Finnick said during breakfast, "what's your plan for today?"

Hadrian opened his mouth to say something, but Finnick cut him off as he looked at the ceiling in thought. "Some kids stick with the survival skills, the Careers usually only pay attention to the weapons…" he murmured, then looked back at us. "I'd say: do both. But, make sure you don't draw too much attention to yourself; that makes you a threat. And threats need to be eliminated."

I frowned, but nodded.

"Don't go to the spears- it's probably your best skill. We don't want you to show off," he continued. "Make sure you learn new stuff." He looked at me. "You're good with knives, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "I can throw, but I don't think that would… uh, kill someone instantly." I shifted uncomfortably after saying these words.

Finnick nodded understandingly, then leaned forward. "How about twin blades?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Twin blades?"

"Yes, that isn't seen a lot in the Games, you know, but they have them in the Cornucopia every time. You said you were flexible and fast, so why don't you try that? As soon as you feel like you got it under control, leave it and learn something else."

I shrugged. "Okay."

He looked at Hadrian. "Have you talked with Mags already?"

Hadrian nodded. "She also told me survival and fighting would be best."

"Good," Finnick replied and took a last sip of tea. "Now, hurry up. Calla will yell at you if you're late."

We were actually one of the first to arrive. Only we, 1, 7 and 11 were already there and we had assigned spots. I stood in the circle with a 4 in it, feeling already trapped and like a prisoner. I looked around, seeing beside me weren't the spots of 3 and 5, but 9 and 2. Great. I would be standing right next to the Careers.

Wait. I shouldn't even care.

I mentally shook my head and waited for the other tributes to arrive. To be honest, I already felt nervous. 1 kept looking at everyone with nasty and smirking faces, but when the girl's gaze fell on me, she gave me a glare. I frowned and looked away, not sure why she would be mad at me when we hadn't even met properly.

District 5 came in, with the redhead looking around her cautiously- observing. District 8 and 9 came in, then 3. I shifted my weight. Only 2 and 12 were missing.

Hadrian nudged me in the side.

"They're still looking at us", he whispered in my ear, and I knew he was talking about the tributes from 1.

My eyes flickered back to Glimmer and Marvel, but I averted my gaze as another pair of tributes walked in.

The pair of District 2 barged in as if they already owned the place. The girl really was something; short, but imaginably very aggressive. The boy on the other hand was a giant compared to her, and I almost took a step aside as he came to stand next to me, not sparing me a glance. Which was for the better of course- I didn't want to end up on his kill list. Though I couldn't help but wonder if I already was, thinking about our little staring competition yesterday.

A few seconds later, District 12 walked in and the head trainer named Atala started her speech about the rules and the sections. She also advised us not to forget about survival skills, then let us go freely.

Without saying anything, Hadrian and I walked away from the spears with reluctance. The Careers immediately went to claim their spots at the stations with the deadliest weapons.

"We can do the survival skills after lunch. It's true what Atala said; a lot of tributes die from dehydration or hypothermia," I said and turned as I spotted the bow and arrow station. Nobody was there. "We could try the bow and arrows?"

He nodded and we walked over to the station. "Have you ever tried it before?" I asked Hadrian as I took the bow from the trainer and grabbed an arrow from the rack.

He shook his head. "No, never. You?"

"Once, actually," I replied. "My best friend's brother had taught me one day. But I was only 11 years old or something, so I don't think I'll be any good."

Eventually, I had been right. Most of the times I had hit the target, but not the human-shaped area. Once I had hit the arm, another time the leg and the stomach.

I looked at Hadrian. He aimed and shot, and I gasped as he hit the target close to the heart. "Damn, Hadrian!" I laughed. "How did you do that?"

He laughed as well and shrugged. "I don't know," he said as he grabbed two arrows and handed one to me. "I think it was just a lucky shot."

But it wasn't. Hadrian had found his new talent already in bow and arrows. He even managed to shoot bulls-eye – several times!

"You done?" I asked mock-bored and he chuckled. He looked around and I did too. Almost every station was preoccupied: both tributes from 2 were at the knives- Clove was really good at throwing knives by the way, Marvel was at the spears. I wrinkled my nose as I saw him throwing a spear straight into the dummy's eye. I could do that too.

But my eyebrow shot up as I saw a blonde girl, the girl from 1, walking confidently towards us with a smirk. Hadrian and I shared a glance and I folded my arms, already feeling guarded.

She said nothing as she moved past us with a hair flip and I stepped aside to watch her aim and shoot the arrow. She was good, I had to give her that, but not as good as Hadrian.

I turned to Hadrian. "I'm going to practice knives a bit, 'kay?"

"Sure," Hadrian said, "I'm just gonna practice some more."

I frowned. Why would he practice some more? He just said he was done? I nodded anyways and walked away. I turned my head back a little as I walked away, seeing him talk a little with her and groaned inwardly. What was he doing? Finnick had advised us to stay away from the Careers! Surely Mags had told him too! Why would he want to talk with that girl anyways?

I already knew why. She was exactly the opposite of ugly. Her blonde wavy hair, her pretty face…

…but she was probably just a bitch.

I looked back in front of me again, only to find myself collide with a big solid thing. I mean, human. A big, broad, blond human. I shrieked a bit and steadied myself before looking up at the boy from 2.

"Watch where you're going, little girl," he snarled nastily. "Wouldn't want to run into a knife, would you?"

I felt my heart beat quicken with fear. The boy was towering over me, his icy blue eyes piercing right through me. This dude was fucking scary. I was lucky I hadn't really seen him during training; no doubt he would've looked terrifying.

He wanted me to be afraid of him- scratch that, he wanted everyone to be afraid of him. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. As my heart beat slowed down again I lifted my chin, only slightly, but still enough to see a tiny bit of confusion in eyes.

I pushed past him, or at least tried to push past him since he was so big I didn't have any strength comparing to him. He was too grounded, his weight equally divided over his body. Still I managed to do so, hissing a 'shove it, you ass' as I walked further.

That probably wasn't so smart, but I decided to do nothing about it. I still felt his eyes watching me as I walked away, and it gave me a weird shiver. I arrived at the station, asking the trainer about the twin blades.

"Have you got any experience with them?" he asked me. I shook my head. "I can throw spears and knives, but I've never tried this before."

He nodded a little reluctantly, grabbed two identical looking blades and then began explaining the basics of how to hold them properly, use them to block and to attack. Eventually, he started with offense and I had to block the blows.

I liked these weapons. With these, I would be able to move swiftly and controlled – though it took me a while to get the hang of it. The trainer started without a weapon, but managed to hit me a few times in the stomach and chest nonetheless. When he saw I could hold him off he grabbed a sword. I had to swallow at the sight of the long blade, wondering if it really was that blunt as he assured, but I didn't think I wanted to find out.

Eventually, the trainer stopped. "Sorry, girl," he said with an apologetic smile, "but there are other tributes waiting."

I let go of my fighting stance and nodded. "Is okay," I said, "thanks."

I walked back to the middle of the gymnasium, trying to decide which station I should go to next until suddenly, something made me turn to see who was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up by watching me.

I stiffened as I saw the Careers a few meters away- looking at me. I narrowed my eyes. They were looking at me with smirks, as if I was their meal. Sure, I wasn't perfect with the blades yet, but it was okay for the first time right? Before I could send them a glare, someone grabbed my arm.

I yanked it away before I realized it was Hadrian, and I let out a sigh. "There you are," I said and turned my back to the Careers. "I already wondered where you were. What have you been doing?"

"Tree climbing", he answered.

"Climbing trees?" I laughed confused. "Why would you climb trees?"

He chuckled at my response. "You never know in what kind of arena we might land," he reasoned. "What if the arena is all forest? Sleeping on the ground would leave you dead when they find you." He nodded over my shoulder to the Careers. I nodded. "True," I said and looked at the fake trees. "I think I'll do that tomorrow then."

"As I was in the trees, I have been… observing people", he said with a grin.

I laughed. "Creepy stalker alert. Have you been observing them as well?" I said, meaning the Careers. "I didn't really have the time to do so."

"Yes, I did," he said quietly and suddenly gave me a look that worried me. "Try to keep your distance from the Careers, Marina. They're constantly giving you looks that unsettle me, but I don't know what they mean. You draw attention- not just from them, but also the other tributes."

I raised my eyebrows. "I do?" I asked surprised.

He nodded. "You're quite good with those blades," he said, but not as if it was a good thing. "I'm not the only one to notice. They'll see you as a threat." He paused, then cracked a smile. "But, if you keep on going like that, you might earn a 7 or so by just doing that during the individual training session."

I couldn't help but grin. "Really?" I said surprised. "I'm that good?"

"Don't get too cocky there, Marina," he said with a pointed finger and a grin. "Arrogance is the main reason for death. You could practice more, but as soon as you feel you're getting the hang of it, leave them."

He looked around him and I followed his gaze to the hand-to-hand. I clapped him on his arm. "Go," I said, gesturing with my head to the station. "We don't have much time until lunch anyways. Only forty minutes or so." He smiled and nodded before walking off.

I looked around until a running course caught my eyes. It ran all around the gymnasium, along the wall. I decided having a run could do good, and walked to the trainer over there. Seeing by the way he was standing there, no one had used the running course yet, and his eyes practically lit up as he saw me.

"I'd like to do the whole lapse three times", I said and he nodded, getting his stopwatch ready.

"Whenever you're ready", he said with a smile.

I got ready and sped off. This was a perfect way to clear my mind a bit, I thought with a smile. Everything around me went in slow motion; the spears being thrown, the knives being used, the arrows being shot, while I was as fast as light. Well, okay, that was slightly exaggerated, but still.

Four times a week I would do a morning run back home. I would run along the ocean, the brisk and fresh wind through my hair and the scent of salt water filling my nose. I'd do anything to just have a moment back home again. With my parents and Byron, swimming with Eleanor and joking around with some girls and boys of my school. And now that I knew Eridan wanted us three to reunite again…

I frowned and pushed further, not wanting to think about that and forcing myself to focus on the running.

After the running course, I did some cooling-downs, filling the rest of the time until lunch. I watched Hadrian do hand-to-hand combat and I had to say, I was again impressed. Hadrian wasn't broad like the Cato and the boy from 11 at all; he was more like the boy from 12, I realized. However, he was strong and was currently fighting two of the trainers at the same time. I looked at the other tributes; some of them were watching my district partner, some of them weren't.

But I didn't miss the impressed looks of the Careers, mostly the guys of course. What exactly was their plan?

The bell for lunch rang and I walked over to Hadrian, who was wiping his neck with a small towel.

"Had some work out, Hadrian?" I asked with grin. "You were pretty good, I must say. And I'm not the only one to notice."

He laughed a bit as I used what he said to me against him and we walked to the lunch area. The air was tense, and most people sat alone- except for the Careers of course. Unfortunately, we were the last to arrive in the canteen and the only empty table was the one right next to them.

Hadrian and I sat down and took some bread out of the basket that stood on our table. There were all sorts of bread, not just the familiar of our district, but also half-moon shaped bread with seeds. I took one of those, knowing it was the typical bread of District 11.

It was quiet and tense in the canteen, only the Careers talked loudly. I heard Hadrian clear his throat and I turned to him.

"So survival skills after lunch?" he asked softly. "I want to learn to set some traps or something."

I nodded. "Yeah, me too," I replied. "And I think it's best if we stay together this afternoon."

He raised an eyebrow and followed my gaze to the table next to us. "Oh", he said and nodded, understanding what I meant. Occasionally, they would glance at us and it was unnerving. What did they want?

"I don't know about you," I whispered while leaning forward, "but I'd say they're up to something. And I don't know what, but I think it's bad. We have to keep it low from now on. Focus on the things we need to learn. The things that we're good at… leave them for the individual training session."

Hadrian nodded slowly and looked at the Careers once more. They were looking at us again, grinning and smirking. My eyes found Cato's icy blue ones, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of looking away. I narrowed my eyes, determined to win the glaring competition, but the bell rang again, meaning lunch time was over. I stood up and grabbed my plate, putting it down on the counter of the cooks and was determined to ignore him for the rest of that day.

Hadrian and I spent learning to set traps, making fires, identifying edible and non-edible plants and keeping low-profile.

We were busy with setting a trap to catch other tributes when I suddenly caught sight of the camouflaging table.

The boy from 12, Peeta, was at that station working on camouflaging his arm. Usually, my attention would be caught by the tributes wielding a broad knife our sword without an effort, but this was something I'd never seen before. I nudged Hadrian in the side.

"Look at that", I told him and pointed to Peeta.

He followed my gaze and cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing and went back to tying a knot. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I think I'm going to take a look", I said and walked away.

"Wait, Marina", I heard him say, but I ignored him.

"That's really good", I said as I stood in front of the table where he was doing his job. His head shot up and his eyes found mine. His mouth hung a little open and I think he just didn't really expect anyone to see him do this.

I guess he wanted to keep it low-profile as well.

I ignored his confused look and pointed at his arm. "Is it a tree?"

He looked at his arm, then back to me. "Oh, uh," he said, "yeah. It's a tree. Not really good, I know, but-"

"Nonsense," I interrupted. "It's really good."

He nodded in thanks and I shifted my weight. Well, this was awkward…

"Uh, my name is-"

"Marina, I know," he interrupted. "I saw your Reaping."

I nodded and swallowed. Duh. "Oh, of course. Then it won't be weird to say I already know your name too." I let out an awkward chuckle after that and quickly cleared my throat.

Peeta laughed a bit. "No, that's not weird at all."

I smiled and pointed to his arm. "So, where did you learn-"

"Peeta?"

I turned around to see Peeta's district partner a little behind me. Her eyes were flickering back and forth between me and him with a hard look on her face.

"Katniss," Peeta greeted with a genuine smile and straightened up, then gestured to me. "This is Marina, from District 4."

She looked at me, giving me a look once over, wary as her grey eyes set on mine.

"I know", she said, a little cold towards me. I frowned and now I was looking back and forth between the two tributes. Was there… something going on between these two or so?

"Uh, hi," I said and forced myself to smile, "I was, uh, just watching your partner's camouflaging. He's really good at it."

As I studied her face, I saw the tiniest hint of a smile. "I know," she said again, but a little nicer this time and looked at Peeta's arm. "A tree?"

He nodded again with a smile. "Yeah. Look", he said and walked to the tree trunk sample behind him, then put his arm against it. It just… disappeared almost entirely, perfectly camouflaged.

"Wow," I said with a parted mouth in surprise. "That's awesome."

I felt Katniss' gaze at me and glanced at her briefly. She didn't trust me. Katniss didn't trust me at all.

She turned back to Peeta. "Where did you learn that?" she asked him.

"I decorated the cakes in the bakery", he replied.

She nodded with an 'oh'. I cocked my head. "You work in a bakery?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, I did. I mean, I do," he replied and shook his head, then turned to Katniss. "I'm going to wash this stuff off. I'll see you later." He then turned to me. "Bye, Marina."

"Bye," I replied kindly, then looked at Katniss again. "I'm just, uh… yeah, I'm gonna go."

She just nodded. Damn, that girl freaked me out. Not like those big guys, but still… she had this cold look on her face, as if she didn't have any empathy. Well, of course she had empathy, but it was hard to see what she felt and thought. She wore a constant mask.

She didn't like me and I decided that I didn't like her. Peeta was nice though.

I walked back to Hadrian, continuing with what I had been doing without saying a word.

The rest of the day, we stayed at the survival skills. I would watch the other tributes at the stations, especially the Careers. How they demolded the dummies, how Peeta could camouflage himself and how Katniss was perfectly able to set traps.

And as I failed to tie the knots or identify a plant, I kept wondering: how the hell was I going to survive this?

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