Caitlin Wagner, 17, District 7
I walked into the elevator, dragging a whimpering Percy behind me. He still hasn't recovered from the reapings, so an exasperated Joe finally just told me to get him to the training centre, and drop him on the floor. He probably wouldn't get up.
Some tributes have been like that over the years. Two years ago, I remember a girl who refused to get off of her pedestal. Instead, she sat sobbing as a career speared her in the stomach.
I bet Percy would eclipse all records of idiocy, though. He had only spoken a few sentences since he was reaped, and three of thems were requests to go to his bedroom.
He had kept me up half of the night with his sobbing, until I had snapped and screamed into his room that he would be crying for a different reason if he didn't shut up in the next minute. I slept like a child after that.
As the elevator approached the bottom floor, it stopped, and the District Two tributes entered it and waited for the elevator to get to the below ground level. We all waited awkwardly- well, the girl didn't. She heard Percy whimpering, and whispered something into his ear that made him stand up straight and turn pale.
Then, when we reached the training floor, the girl elbowed her way past us and off of the elevator into the training centre, her district partner looking behind at us apologetically.
I didn't have to grab Percy this time. He scurried off of the elevator, apparently still in shock from the District Two Girl's whisper. I followed after him, entering the training centre. We were the last tributes to enter, as the others stood around, waiting for the instructor to round us up and let us free to train.
The careers were standing around a corner, talking with each other, and occasionally pointing at one of the other tributes and laughing. There was five this year, as the Four Girl had evidently been shunned because of their age, but that didn't make me feel any more relaxed. In the last Victory from Two, there were only three careers, but they still managed fifteen kills over the course of the games, before facing each other in the finale. The arena that year was a burning desert, so the careers were able to find dehydrated tributes and finish them off quickly.
I wondered what the arena would be these Games. I hoped for a forest setting, as my work in lumber had let me experience it, and gave me skills with an axe.
I was contemplating what would happen in an ocean arena when the instructor walked over to us and called everyone for attention.
"Listen up! You'll all be here for the next two days... " As she talked on about the training schedule and the compulsory exercises, I took a glance at the weapons stations. There were axes, and swords, and knives, and maces, and everything the Capitol could think of to help kids kill others.
At least I had some axe skills. Without them, I'd be going into the arena like a lamb to slaughter. Just then, I saw the girl who had whispered into Percy's ear and scared him half to death point me out to the rest of the careers, and laugh.
As soon as the instructor dismissed us, I walked over to the axe Station, making sure I was in full view of the careers. Then, I grabbed one, and let it fly into the target. Bullseye. I threw a couple more, before unleashing one at a dummy and nearly slicing it in half.
The careers weren't laughing now…
Olive Blake, 14, District 12
Konnor was standing over with a squadron of peacekeepers, none of them trusting enough for him to use the stations properly. He had actually tried to climb off of the roof last night, but had been stopped by a squadron of peacekeepers and a hysterical Arbor. I had personally seen him dragged inside our floor, and guarded by peacekeepers the whole night. I had tried to ignore them, and had in the end, gotten an OK sleep, considering that I was going into a Death Arena for entertainment.
I decided to try the survival stations, considering that most of the District Twelve tributes who somehow managed to survive the bloodbath ended up dying of starvation or dehydration. I remembered last years Games.
Our girl had been killed off in the bloodbath, but contrary to the five years prior, our boy, Ajax, had somehow stumbled out of the cornucopia alive and with a sword. What he wasn't prepared for, however, were the dozens of poisonous berries in the arena.
Ajax was in the top eight, but he was starving. In desperation, he grabbed a handful of strange berries and swallowed them whole. He was dead within the minute.
I tried the test for identifying poisonous plants, and surprised myself with an 87% average. Not bad for a girl who's never seen those berries before. As I walked over to the fire station, I heard yelling, and spun around to see Konnor and the District Two girl arguing with each other. Somehow, the peacekeepers had let him go, and he was trying out the knife throwing station - which the girl had taken for her own. She had glared at any other tribute who so much as walked towards it, and they took the hint, running off to another part of the centre.
But Konnor was stubborn. He yelled at her some more, before walking to the other side of the station, and throwing the few knives he had managed to take. As he walked to the target and yanked one out, I watched in horror as a knife came straight towards his shoulder.
It slashed into his shoulder, and Konnor let out a scream of pain, running at the smirking Two girl . No doubt that that little "slip up" was her revenge, and Konnor realized it as well, lunging at her and punching her in the face before he was grabbed by the peacekeepers and dragged off, the girl giving him a scathing look that could have melted ice.
Then, she walked off to the infirmary, trying to contain the nasty bruise on her left eye. The careers applauded her, and yelled out encouraging phrases in which I caught her name: Carolyn. So, Carolyn wasn't the type of person to be messed with, and no doubt Konnor would be on her hit list. This was a piece of knowledge that could be more helpful than what type of berries can cause hallucinations.
Konnor's messing around in the centre, and this time he caught the unwelcome attention of Carolyn. What do you think of her interactions with District Seven and Twelve? Let me know in the reviews, and until next time, TheAmazingJAJ
