"Cornflower Fields," the loudspeaker blared. I stood up off the bench the tributes were sitting on and looked back at Leather.
"It's you," he confirmed. "Go on, you'll do fine."
I walked up to the door and stopped.
Is it really me? Am I supposed to go now? I won't go in and someone else will be in the middle of their session?
I closed my eyes and opened the door. The room was empty, and I sagged in relief. I looked up and saw an assortment of people watching me from behind a glass screen.
"You have five minutes," the loudspeaker said.
I looked around at the supplies. There was a table covered in bows of various sizes, and a barrel filled with arrows. There was a pile of wood for starting fires. A row of dummies with targets painted on them stood against the far wall. A rack of spears was next to the door, and the ceiling was covered in ropes and obstacle courses.
What can I do? I thought. I'm no good with weapons. I'm not especially strong or fast.
Then my eyes fell on a blinking screen on one wall. It was flashing plants at me.
At least it's something.
I walked to the screen and matched all the healthy and poisonous plants without hesitation. I looked up at the glass when I was done and saw some of the people were looking at me a little more closely. I shuddered.
I still have four minutes left, I thought. What can I do? Do they have to look at me? There's nowhere to hide in here. It's open and awful.
I stood behind the bow table to gain a little shelter. Then I had an idea. I swept the bows to the floor and flipped the table on its side. I grabbed a handful of spears and laid them across the table, forming a tent skeleton. I knocked over the arrow barrel and dropped handfuls of arrows across the spears. Soon I had a serviceable thatch roof. I crawled between the legs of the table and curled up in my little shelter. I stayed there until the timer sounded.
Later that night, I sat with Leather in a lounge in the middle of the tribute's room floor. After two garish commenters talked about uninteresting things for a while, the screen changed to reveal the tributes' scores. The tributes from Districts 1 and 2 scored from 8-11, and after that the numbers sort of blurred. I looked up again when it was District 11's turn.
Leather Sod- 7
Leather smiled hesitantly.
"That's great, Leather!" Fluvius cheered. "I knew you could do it, you old cowboy!"
I waited a few seconds for my name to come.
Cornflower Fields- 6
Six? I didn't even do anything. I looked at some plants and hid, I thought. I had thought for sure I had gotten closer to a 3.
Fluvius squealed and grabbed me in a bear hug. It was so solid and he was so nice that I didn't even mind. I just squished into him and smiled. I knew I still didn't have a chance, and I didn't know how I was going to get through the next day. But I'd made it through today, and that was all I could expect.
