Monsters Among Us.

The 45th Hunger Games.


Training Day Two

How many secrets can you keep?


Cora D'Alessio, 18 years old.

District Four Female

Training


It felt good to be in athletic wear again. Honestly, that was the worst part about training for the Hunger Games, in Cora's opinion. The Chariot Rides might be important to get sponsors, since it's the first impression, but Cora always hated that.

She wanted to feel free, just like she did yesterday in training. Cora was gladthat she didn't have to wear that stupid pirate costume again, even if she won. Even training was so much easier than that.

So why was she so nervous to go down and be with her fellow tributes for the second time? Cora had no idea.

"Bastian! Ready to go down?" Cora asked, as she finished the last bit of cereal. She had seen Bastian around many times before back home, but she had no idea he was unpleasant. At least, for her. Cora remembered seeing him following Scarlet around like a puppy, only for the girl to kick his ass seconds later.

"I don't know," Bastian said, with his usual arrogant smirk. He reminded Cora of her older brother, Terrance, even though Terrance wasn't as cocky as Bastian. She just wished there was a way to kick him out of their alliance. "I'm tired of this. I wanna go out to the Games."

"You shouldn't think like that, Bastian" Damien shrugged. "Usually, the cocky tributes don't last too long."

Bastian laughed at Damien's comment. "Well, most Careers make it to the finale." Cora didn't really understood why the hell Bastian was so sure that he would make it far. She always thought that they didn't made their own destiny, since it was already written in the starts.

Still, Bastian was annoying. "C'mon, Cora. We got a day of training ahead of us." With a nervous laugh, Cora jumped to her feet and followed her district partner to the elevator. After Bastian pressed the button, the elevator started to go down.

Thankfully, before the silence got too awkward, the elevator stopped at the District One floor. Florian and Scarlet walked in; the former with a bright smile and the other just following behind him.

"Good morning, 'lads," Florian kissed Cora's cheek and shook Bastian's hand. Scarlet only nodded at both of them, like usual.

Once the elevator stopped at the training center and they met Karter, the Careers split up and each one went for their own stations. Cora decided on the throwing knives station because why not? She could always use a bit more of training and pratice. That's why she started training, in the first place.

At first, it was nothing but an hobby. It was fun and if anything happened, she would know how to defend herself. But now, Cora was here and this would be nothing like training once they got to the arena. She didn't want to kill her "friends" but if she wanted to go home, Cora knew that she had to.

Now, step one was to train as hard as she could. Even if she didn't want to do it, she would have to kill her allies when the time came. She wanted to go home more than anything that even not them could stop her. That's why Cora prefered to train alone, even if she was sure that at least one of them was watching her, to see how her training was.

It was only after Cora threw the first knife that she noticed Scarlet standing there. She was the only fellow Career that Cora didn't talk to that much. She figured out that the girl was simply quiet, or that she wanted to keep to herself. Still, she could see how Scarlet got those dummies down with just a few throws of her tomahawk.

"You're good," Scarlet nodded, "You're quick and with those knives, no one will be able to stop you." She gave a small smile. "Wish all of us could be like that. To think before acting."

Cora nodded, a bit awkwardly, because she had no idea of what she should say. She liked her allies but Cora had to admit that Scarlet was right, they only thought with their muscles and not with their brains.

"What is your weapon?" Scarlet asked, moving foward to stand next to Cora, and she picked up a small knife.

"A katar," Cora picked one from the table and handed it to Scarlet. "They aren't heavy and are really nice to use." She announced proudly.

The blonde girl lifted an eyebrow. "You do know that heavy weapons can kill twice as faster than a knife, right?"

Cora gave a small nod. That's what she wanted, to make the deaths as quick as she could. Or, if she didn't have to, she didn't want to kill at all. Maybe the Capitol would like a Career without kills? They were always up for new topics, so maybe they would accept her as she was? That's all that Cora ever wanted.

To be accepted.

Before Scarlet and Cora could talk any longer, Florian appeared behind the younger girl, twirling a knife on his hands? "What are you girls talking about ?"

Scarlet just shrugged, but Cora giggled. "Girly stuff. You know, dresses and lipsticks and which one of you is cuter."

Florian cringed. "I think I'll pass. Train, because Karter says that he has a suprise for us tomorrow." With that, he walked away to join Karter and Bastian in the spear-throwing station. Cora wondered why Vesta didn't want to join them, but since Karter said that he talked to her and she refused, Cora decided to let it pass.

He was the leader, not her. She was a simple follower, and Cora was happy with that. Like Damien had said back in the train rides, the leaders were always the target once they started killing each other and besides that, the District Two Male always took the spot of leader.

It was tradition and Cora wouldn't break tradition. So, she just smiled to Scarlet and both girls went back to training.

As friends.


Tracy Seam, 17 years old.

District Five Male

Training


"I don't like this."

Tracy looked up, startled, from where he and Amalie where working in the snare station. They had worked on the weapons yesterday so it was time for the survival stations. Frankly, Tracy was glad. He wasn't really good at any weapon, but Amalie had been helping him with a knife. It was the only weapon that Tracy could use but still, it was good. There were some tributes that couldn't even use a weapon, like that girl from Two. She was currently in the fire-making station, just like yesterday. "What is it?" Tracy asked, keeping a smile on his face.

Since training started, he and Amalie stayed together and worked together in everything. They agreed that they would stay together until one of them found an ally and if none of them did, they would stay together. Tracy liked her, though. Amalie wasn't like the girls on his district, that did all kind of pranks on him, she was quiet and reserved and nice. He would love to be her ally but Tracy knew that it wasn't going to happen. Whenever he looked around, he could see the girls from District Six and District Eight, that were currently at the sword station, looking at them and whispering to each other.

Of course they didn't want him. They wanted Amalie, that unlike him, had potential. "Those two, they've been staring at us for the past fifteen minutes. If they want something, they should just come over and talk." Amalie shrugged, and went back to her snare. which was turning out pretty good. The trainer had been teaching them how to do a proper snare for catching animals or tributes, just like she had said.

The aliances were already forming and Tracy couldn't help but wonder if he had the courage to ask some of them to take him in. Of course, the Careers were out of question. They would just laugh at this face, like in the Chariot Rides, when Amalie stood up to them. There was the alliance with the two from District Twelve, the girl from Nine and the boy from Six. It seemed like the older ones were taking care of the little kids and they were doing a pretty good job.

Suddenly, someone appeared behind him. Well, not someone, but the two girls that had been staring at them. One of them, the blonde, crooked an eyebrow. "Get out of the way, girl, we want to talk to her." She pointed to Amalie.

Tracy looked at her, his head held up high. "I'm not a girl. I'm Amalie's district partner and I will only leave if she wants me to." The blonde nodded and turned to the other girl besides her. "Very well, I think this doesn't need to be a secret. Right, Sita?"

The brunete hesitated for a while, but nodded. "Of course, Danica."

The other girl smiled, and turned to Amalie. "I'm Danica and this is Sita. We wanted to ask you to join our aliance. You know, we'll rock the arena. The three of us will get far. What do you say?" She extended a hand to Amalie.

Please say no. Please say no. Please no.

Amalie shook Danica's hand, both with a smile on their faces. "Welcome, Ammy. You won't regret this. What do you say about some spear throwing?"

Both girls walked away, but Amalie stayed behind. "Take care of yourself, Trace." With that, she walked away to join her new allies.

And Tracy was left alone, like always. Without Amalie, he was completly lost. There was no one that wouldn't look at him with a bad face and turn away, just because of his face.

Like always, Tracy put on a straight face and a smile, and walked out of the station with his head held up high. He couldn't stay there, with the looks that the trainer was giving him.

Tracy decided on the knife station, which was currently occupied by a small girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes and a small boy, with darkish hair and big hazel eyes. He didn't need to talk to them, did he? Tracy could just stay there and work on the knives like he was supposed to. But no, that didn't feel right. After all, he did have the courage to wake up every day and face the people that made his life a living hell.

This couldn't be harder.

As Tracy approachs them, the girl turns to face him. She's small, with curly hazel hair and glasses. She passes a knife to Tracy, with an expecting look. Almost...almost like she's asking him to teach her. But how, if he has only trained with knives two times in his life?

Tracy stepped towards the dummy, and with all of his strenght, stabbed it in the stomach. It wasn't a very deep stab, but it would be enough to kill someone or may even harm them enough. He repeated the process until he couldn't go on.

Both the boy and the girl clapped once he was done, and the girl walked foward with an extended hand. "Would you like to join an alliance with Everth and I? We could use someone like you. Someone that we can trust."

Yes? No?

Amalie's words came back to his head.

Take care of yourself.

If he was going to make sure he had a chance to come home, Tracy knew that he needed to say yes. They didn't look that bad, either. It was better to have allies then to be alone in the arena, where everyone else wanted to kill him.

Tracy took a deep breath. "Yes, I would like that. I'm Tracy, from Five."

The girl smiled widely. "I'm Nadene, from Three. This is Everth, as I already mentioned. It's really nice to meet you. We aren't the strongest but at least, we have each other, right?" This time, Nadene smiled sadly.

"We do." Tracy said.

He hoped he was right.


Scarlet Barathea, 17 years old.

District One Female.

Training.


"I don't understand."

Scarlet just sighed in frustration, throwed another spear into the dummy and turned back to Florian once the spear had landed on the dummy's heart.

"Jesus, Florian, I'm trying to help you. I really am, but how many times do I have to tell you that all of us are a threat? You can't just count the boy from Six as a bloodbath because he is thirteen."

Florian lifted an eyebrow. "You know, sweetheart, tributes like him tend to die in the bloodb-"

"Bloodbath. I know. But we can't overlook anyone, sweetheart. You remember Cara from Five? She was fourteen when she won. Everyone was looking at us, the mighty Careers, but she lasted until the end and then stabbed him right in the back." Scarlet was tired, honestly. Florian was a nice guy, that would be a good ally once the time came, but he gave no use to his brain.

People like that didn't last long.

"Hey, you need to calm down," He placed a hand on her arm. "We're the strongest in here and even if they make it out, we'll hunt them down. I don't care if it's you or me, but we'll give another Victor to our District this year." He smiled, his thumb making circles on her arm.

"You know, Scar, you look away more beautiful when you are angry." Scarlet laughed bitterly, and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

Those boys back home, they were exactly like Florian. Always waiting for the right time to strike, and the girls would do anything they wanted.

But not her. Unlike those sluts, Scarlet had respect for herself. She wasn't going to throw herself at some boy that she had met a few hours, just for him to take her to bed and he wouldn't even remember her in the next day. If Scarlet had it her way, she would make the Capitol see that not all females from District One were blonde idiots.

Some of them were smart, and they knew exactly what they were doing. That's why Scarlet wouldn't think of any of them as bloodbaths right away. She spent years watching Hunger Games after Hunger Games and the same thing happened all over again. The Careers marked the outer-district tributes as if they weren't a threat, and in the end, it came back to them. If they weren't that stupid, Careers could win every single Game until breaking a nail.

Well, maybe not.

Scarlet knew that if she kept doing this, Florian and the rest wrapped up around her little finger. If they trusted her, Scarlet could make them do anything that she wanted. Not Florian, though. They had made a deal, and Scarlet never went back on her deals.

She would stand by him until the time came. He was the closest "friend" that she had in here, to be honest. What they didn't know was that she wasn't planning on following the plan. Soon, the private sessions would come. She would make sure to get a good score, to get on Karter's good side.

He was the one that she could relate to. Well, not the part of being gay, but Karter also played with his brain instead of his muscles. Scarlet appreciated people like that, they knew what to do when the time came.

Not Florian, not Cora, not Bastian. She and Karter were the only ones with a plan. Suddenly, Scarlet had an idea. She started to walk away, not even looking over her shoulder or tell Florian where she was going. He was free to follow her if she wanted.

"Hey," He called out, just like Scarlet was expecting. "Where are you going?"

"Why do you care?" She asked.

"Because we're friends, no? Friends are supposed to stick together." That was when Scarlet realized that because of Florian's twisted definition of loyalty, he would do anything for her. She just needed to keep him close to her.

Grinning, Scarlet nodded. "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry, I'm just too stressed. The Games can do that to us."

Suddenly, Florian became serious. "Was it all that you expected? Everything we've seen so far, I mean."

No. "We are not in the Games yet, Florian. We have no idea of what it will be like once we start to kill each other." She answered. Scarlet had no idea of what the Games would be like once they were set into the arena. Does it really hurt? Dying?

I'm not dying, Scarlet shook her head. At least not in that arena. I refuse to.

The boy gave a small nod. "So, what are we doing?"

It was confusing. Scarlet's head hurt from trying to figure out why he ewas so nice to her. Careers were never like that to each other. True, district loyalty was a respected thing back in District One but there was a time when that didn't matter anymore. If the tributes were both in the final two, for example.

Scarlet couldn't let anyone get in her way. She wasn't even supposed to be in here, anyway. Her sister was the chosen one, not her. Her parents didn't think that Scarlet was good enough in the first place, so why should they let her volunteer in the first place?

That's why she had to win. To prove them that she wasn't useless and that she didn't need their help for anything. She would return home a Victor, even if she didn't want to kill anyone in the first place. Scarlet would make the deaths as quick as she could.

Not Florian, though. For some reason, there was a part of her that knew that she would never be able to kill Florian. If she did, Scarlet knew that she wouldn't be able to live with herself for the rest of her life.

Not the others, though. They would die, one by one. Not by her hand butnstill, they would be out of her way home and to the freedom that she always wanted.

She turned to Florian. "I have a plan. Follow me."


Vesta Phonicks, 18 years old.

District Two

Training


"Are you looking for something, One?'

For the past few hours, the blonde from One and her district partner had been following Vesta to every station that she went to. Knives, swords, they were always there.

Frankly, that was getting annoying. And Vesta always hate blondes.

It was the boy's turn to answer. "I'm Florian and this is Scarlet, as you probably know. It's nice to meet you."

Vesta just smirked, and continued to play with the wires on her hands. "What an interesting suprise, One. For once, your names aren't ridiculous."

The boy opened his mouth to talk, but Vesta didn't let him start. "Before you ask me if I want to join, my answer is still the same. A big fat no."

Well, Vesta didn't gave a damn about any of them. There was only one person that cared about in this place, and that was herself. People in the Academy were wrong. Why ally with the idiots from One and Four? Two was always the best Career District, with the best Academy and the best tributes.

She would be just fine on her own. If they came to hunt her down, she would turn them to ashes. She would make the Capitol watch as she killed their precious Careers, one by one. Vesta would start with the blonde and make her district partner torture her and when he was begging for mercy, she would kill him.

Deep down, Vesta just wanted a friend. That's why she would never ally with them. She knew that a Career wasn't a friend, only a backstabber.

"Look girl, you either want to join or not. We'll find someone else to join us and take your place if you don't want to." The blonde said.

"Go ahead," Vesta laughed. "Good luck finding someone that will join your shitty excuse for an alliance." She began to turn around to leave, but the boy's iron grip on her arm stopped Vesta from moving any further.

"You talk to her like that again, and you're dead once the gong sounds. Are we clear?" He let go of her arm, and both of them walked away. Stupid Careers.

Vesta turned around to find the pair from Ten and the boy from Eleven looking at her. "Yes? Anything you need?"

"Are you okay?" The girl from Ten asked. She was small, about fifteen years old, but she needed to be strong enough for those boys to ally with her.

"I am Dargo," The dark skinned boy said. "This is Lya, my district partner, and Alabaster from Eleven."

"You guys are allies?" Vesta asked.

He nodded. "And lucky for you, we were wondering if you wanted to join us."

Did she?

Vesta had no idea. She had just rejected the Careers, the strongest alliance, and this boy was asking her to join them. To be a part of something, to actually be able to help.

She liked them. They seemed good enough and if came down to it, Vesta could make a friend. That's all she ever wanted. To be loved, to have someone by her side that would do anything for her. Just like the pair from One.

Vesta was always good at reading people's emotions. She could how the boy looked at the girl and when the time came, she wouldn't be suprised if he sacrificed himself for her.

Love was hard and sometimes, you had to give up everything for the person you love. Not that Vesta knew anything about love, though. Her parents left her or died or whatever and she was alone in the world since she was born.

Her allies were the best chance at getting to know someone. And to let someone get to know her, as well.

"Yes." Vesta said "I'll join."

"Great," said the boy from Eleven. "We should split. Dargo and I will go to the mace station and you girls can go to the survival stations. We'll meet at the end." The boys walked away, almost running to the mace station.

Vesta walked to the fire station, with an happy grin on her face. She always loved fire since she was a little girl. It was a beautiful thing, how fire could destroy everything in its way in only a few minutes.

Fire was her only friend when she had no one. However, when she turned 18, it became more serious. She started to burn down the houses of people that she didn't like and if they survived, she would burn them again until they were dead. Fire was also her greatest weapon. It would kill her enemies for her when she couldn't, just like it would in the Games.

When she was fifteen, the director of the community home tried to get her to his bed. She fought and fought and fought but in the end, he still won. When he finished, Vesta would never be able to forget the smirk on his face. She was only a scared little girl and that man had just destroyed her forever. She tried to tell everyone but of course, no one believed.

Why would they, anyway? She was only fifteen and an orphan and he was a married man and a father of two children. A respected man in Two and what was she to the population of District Two? Nothing. She was even in the Academy, she was only a rat trying to find food in the trash.

What people didn't want was what she got for a living. That's why volunteering was probably the best thing that she ever did in her life. She felt so good up there in that stage, when finally District Two learned who she was. She would show them once they entered the Games.

She wasn't just a typical volunteer from Two. She would kill all of them if she had to, but in the end, it would be her that would return to the Capitol. As her true self, with the fire as her weapon.

Vesta Phonicks.

Vesta, the Victor.


A/N: Yep, this is super late. I apologize about that, but school took all of my time. But finally, I managed to get this out! This won't happen again, I promise. About five more chapters for the Capitol and we'll be in the Games. Tell me what you though of this chapter in a review, if you can, and maybe a little chart? :3

Here are the alliances:

See you guys soon!

Alliances so far:

The Careers

Sita + Amalie + Danica

Tracy + Nadene + Everth

Ricardo + Lucan + Ewyllan

Dargo + Alabaster + Vesta + Lya

Sylvan + Mavi + Cason + Albany