A/N: Here's chapter eight of Life on the Line! The next chapter will be from Eddie's perspective, then the next chapter will be Nina's perspective, but for this chapter we will be taking a sneak peek into the mind of Alfie! It's been fun writing for Life On the Line and hope to keep updating it as fast as I can. I happen to not own House of Anubis or the Hunger Games, unfortunately, just the OCs for this story as well as the plot! Reviews are greatly appreciated for when you're done reading. Thank you!

Chapter Eight – Alfie

I'm certainly not planning to win the Hunger Games, that's for sure. But then again, who really planned to win the Hunger Games? Nobody, when it came down to it, not even the Careers, ever planned to win the Hunger Games. Your main goal was to survive, your main mission was to survive, and by surviving you won the Hunger Games. I know I can't survive my Hunger Games, though. I'm that thin, weak little black boy from Three who had no skill in killing or fighting or surviving whatsoever. On the outside, I seem to treat life like a joy ride, cracking jokes and giving goofy smiles. But deep down, I'm absolutely terrified. Half of the time I want to cry, the other half I want to pee in my pants. My mentor, Steve Jacobs, is too drunk to give a rat's ass about whether I survive the Hunger Games or not.

Yet whether I have a sober mentor or not, I still have to go to the third Training Day. Training Days aren't fun, in my personal opinion. Everybody eyes me like I'm fresh meat, one of the first who will die in the Bloodbath. I guess I can't blame them. I don't have the accuracy needed to shoot an arrow or a bullet; I can't lift a sword without sweating, and I can't tie one of those fancy-pansy knots to save my life. My eyes look over at the knives station and I think of my fast, skinny legs. At least I'm OK with technology. But it's not like I'll find a computer at the Cornucopia or something. As I paint a smiley face on the dummy at the camouflage station, I sigh in defeat. Maybe I won't make it past the Bloodbath. It's a scary thought, actually. But everything here is scary.

The twins from District Four, Piper and Patricia, sit down across from me and take some buckets of dyes. Patricia instantly finds a dummy and begins to transform it into a patch of moss beside the river. She's failing miserably, but her twin Piper starts laughing and gives her a helping hand. Soon the dummy is passable. Meanwhile, I've made a brand new friend out of my dummy. As I finish finger-painting the face, two dots for eyes and a single curved line for a smile, I promptly decide to name him Jeremy. At least Jeremy looks happy in this place. Taking a bucket of purple dye, I give Jeremy absolutely gorgeous curly purple locks of hair. This is actually the most fun I've had in days. Once I'm done with Jeremy's hair, I decide that it would be better for everybody if Jeremy had some clothes. Taking the dark blue dye, I'm painting a nice blue tie on Jeremy when one of the twins, Patricia, looks over at me in disgust and asks, "What the heck is that?"

"First of all, that has a name. His name is Jeremy," I say with the most serious voice and facial expression I can muster. Piper starts giggling, surprisingly, but Patricia gives me the meanest sneer she can muster.

"Jeremy?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Yes! Don't look at him that way; you'll hurt the poor guy's feelings. But for the record, I think Jeremy likes both of you. Isn't that right, Jeremy?" It's my first attempt as a ventriloquist, but there's always a time and a place for everything. My voice is now all high-pitched and squeaky as I say, "the pretty girl named Piper is totally cool! I'm afraid Patty over here is going to rip my head off, though!" Piper starts laughing again, really hard this time, but Patricia is glaring at me with a look that would make Rufus Zeno pee in his pants. She marches off fiercely, then begins throwing knives over at nearby station. Each knife manages to dig deep into the chest area, right where the heart is. Shit. I'm reminded that in a couple of days, this girl could kill me in a second, and it would be acceptable to the people of Panem.

Piper looks over nervously at her sister. "Ugh, I'm sorry about Patricia. If it helps, I thought you were funny," she says, giving me a smile. There are little whirlpools in my stomach now, but I don't mind. Piper and her sister are almost identical to the last freckle in terms of looks, but even so, I can tell a difference between the two of them. Patricia's face was more angular and sharp than Piper's face was. Piper's features were less harsh and sharp in comparison to Patricia's. Otherwise, though, they looked exactly the same. I smiled back at her, then looked down shyly and did a second coat on Jeremy's tie. Suddenly, Piper has the bucket of yellow dye in her hand and begins painting a shirt for Jeremy. I was a little startled, but didn't say anything. We stayed there, painting Jeremy until there was nothing left of Jeremy to paint. As I looked over at her, about to say something, Victor dismisses us and Piper zooms back over to her twin as fast as the speed of light.

Disappointed, I head on over to an elevator to take me to District Three's floor. Just as the elevator is about to close, Nadia slips in and stands beside me. We don't say much. We never have. Plus, allying with Nadia is a bad move. She's not good at anything besides singing and being a love guru, and that won't do much for you in the Arena. She's worse than me. From what I've heard, everybody is predicting Nadia to be the first to die. As I expect this ride to be mostly silent, Nadia speaks to me for the first time ever in my life. "I saw you with one of the District Four girls."

Her tone is dark and it catches me by surprise. Defensively, I ask, "yeah? So what?"

Nadia looks down at her feet. Her long dark hair covers her face, so I can't tell what she's thinking. "Don't bother trying to get too close, Alfie. She's probably going to be the one who slits your throat in the Arena."

Some unseen force seems to be strangling me, and I manage to say, "There are twenty-two other people who could be the ones to take my life."

"How can you be so sure that she wouldn't? Alfie, you barely know the girl! Why are you even trying to be friendly with other people even though you have only a few days to live?"

"If I just had a few days to live, I'd want to make them memorable and worthwhile. And I certainly consider making Jeremy with Piper something worthwhile!" I don't know why I'm so angry. To the logical mind, Nadia is right. But for some reason, I am.

Nadia opens her mouth, probably to give me an entire monologue about her opinion of me and how I'm handling the Hunger Games, but says instead, "whatever." The door then opens to District Three's floor and Nadia exits the elevator as silently as she entered. I still stand in the elevator, silent, because despite everything, Nadia has given me some food for thought.

We might all be friendly now, making alliances. But what happens when you throw twenty-four teenagers desperate for survival in the Arena?

A/N: And that's a wrap for Chapter Eight! What do you think? Tell me in your much appreciated review!