So far Peter has won all of his fights except for that one fight with Peeta. Peeta hasn't lost once and neither have I, yet.
I stand against the wall in the training room, arms crossed, staring down at my boots. I'll have to fight Peter today.
I wouldn't say I'm scared, even though I'm not that confident I'm going to win.
Looking over at Tris gives me bubbles in my stomach.
Come on Katniss, you're Dauntless now. No fear, no fear, no fear.
I look over at Peter. My stomach drops again.
"Katniss and Peter," Four says.
I take a deep breath and put my hands in my pockets so no one can see them shaking.
Peter and I stand face to face in the ring. His arms and knees are bent like he's ready to attack.
"Let's hurry up and get this over with, Everdeen," he says.
I stand there, unmoving, unblinking, waiting for him to make the first move.
His fist connects with my jaw and I stumble backwards.
What was that? How did I not see that coming? I see his next attack, though.
He charges toward me and swings his foot up near my face. I duck and upper cut him.
He falls on the ground but springs right back up. He tries to kick me again but this time when I duck his other foot comes up and hits me in the face.
My head hits the floor, hard. My vision goes dark for a second. I can tell the impact is going to throw me off.
I stand up and swing at what I think is his head but my fist doesn't connect with anything. Instead, Peter grabs my wrist and pulls me to the ground.
I put my hands out so I don't land on my face. Peter kicks me in my side.
I lay there, the wind knocked out of me, vision blurred, ready to give up.
I lay there, the wind knocked out of me, vision blurred, ready to give up.
"That's it Gale! I quit! I'm not doing this anymore!" I snap.
"Come on Catnip, when you fall down you just got to get right back up," Gale says, offering me his hand.
"This is stupid. I should be inside studying, not out here fighting with you," I say, wiping grass off of my jeans.
"Catnip," He takes my face in his hands," I know being knocked down isn't going to stop you. You're strong, act like it. When someone pushes you down don't let them keep you there. You're better than that." He kisses my forehead.
I'm better than this.
I stand up and face Peter. I have to try and beat him.
"Why don't you just stay down, Everdeen?" He says with a smug grin.
His foot is flying near my face. I take a step back. He swings his right fist towards my nose. Another step back. He swings his left fist towards my eye. Another step back.
My back is up against the ropes that surround the ring. Peter is right in front of me. I launch my leg into the air and it connects with his chin.
He falls on the floor and just when I'm about to kick him he grabs my foot and slings me to the ground with him.
He stands up and kicks me in the side. And then he kicks me in the head.
Everything blacks out.
I wake up in the infirmary. Christina is sitting on the edge of my bed.
"You're awake!" She hugs me. My head is throbbing and my throat is dry.
"How did I get here?" I croak.
"Will carried you. He and Tris were here earlier but they went to dinner." She says
"Why aren't you at dinner?" I ask
"I wasn't really hungry so I decided to stay here until you woke up. How do you feel? Peter kicked you pretty hard."
"I'm okay. My throat is a little dry." I reply
"Oh. I'll go get you a glass of water." She says.
Once she leaves the room I close my eyes. How did I lose that fight? It's like fear shut me down completely. It made me weak and as a result I got punished. I can't let this happen again.
"Katniss?" I hear someone whisper
I open my eyes to find Peeta standing by the door.
"Hey." I say.
He sits down on the edge of my bed. "How are you feeling?" He asks.
"I'm fine." I say.
"It was a real punk move for him to kick you in the head like that." He says
"I know. That's Peter for you: when you're at your weakest point, he takes advantage."
We sit there for a few moments. All I hear is our breathing.
"Visiting day is coming up. Do you think your family is going to come?" Peeta says
"I'm not sure. I know my sister would want to but I don't know if my mom would." I say
"What about your dad?" he asks
"He's dead."
"Oh… I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it's not your fault. Is your family going to come?"
"Doubt it. My mother's a witch. She was probably overjoyed when I transferred. My dad would probably want to come, and my brothers."
"Oh." I say
"Yeah," He stares right into my eyes for what seems like forever.
"It's amazing how beautiful you look, even when you're injured," he smiles and I see that familiar twinkle in his blue eyes.
I feel heat rushing into my cheeks. He laughs a little at my blush.
"Well, I should probably be making it back to the dining hall." He says.
"Okay. Thanks for coming." I smile at him
He takes my hand and presses his lips to it. He smiles back at me, and then walks out. Just as he leaves, Christina walks in with a glass of water.
"What did he do to get that goofy smile on your face?" She asks, setting the water down next to my bed.
"Oh, Nothing." I say
"Mhm. You know, I was a little surprised when he transferred to Dauntless."
"Why is that?"
"Because, he always seemed a little sensitive to me. He's a baker. They have sensitive baker issues." She laughs.
He's a baker? That explains why Peter called him baker boy that day.
She continues, "And he's always so nice. He always has a smile on his face. I didn't see why he would want to transfer to Dauntless but now I know he's pretty strong."
I take a sip of my water. "I know. He hasn't lost a fight yet."
"He also seems to like you." Christina says, smiling from ear to ear.
"How do you suppose that?"
"I see the way he looks at you."
"He doesn't look at me."
"Of course you don't see it, but I see it."
"Interesting," I say
"Do you like him?" she asks
"I don't like anyone right now. I'm just trying to focus on passing initiation." I reply.
I'm lying in my bed in the dormitory. Today when I was in the ring, lying on the floor, a memory of Gale flashed into my mind. I never realized how much I missed him. He motivated me to do a lot of things, even before we chose to go to Dauntless.
Just as I close my eyes, the door to the dormitory opens and people with flashlights storm in.
"Everybody up!" Eric shouts
Surrounding him are other Dauntless. Four stands among them. His eyes shift to mine.
I slide from under my blankets and stand up in a crop top and underwear. I feel my cheeks getting warm. Four breaks eye contact.
"You have five minutes to get dressed and meet us by the tracks," says Eric. "We're going on another field trip."
I quickly get dressed and sprint to the train tracks. The exertion makes my side hurt a little.
We make it to the tracks just behind the Dauntless-born initiates. Next to the tracks is a pile of gun barrels.
"Are we going to shoot something?" Christina whispers in my ear
Next to the pile are boxes with "Paintballs" written on them
"Everyone grab a gun!" Eric shouts
Everyone rushes to the pile. I grab the first gun on the top of the stack and grab a box of paintballs.
"Time estimate?" Eric asks Four.
Four checks his watch. "Any minute now. How long is it going to take you to memorize the train schedule?"
"Why should I, when I have you to remind me of it?" Eric says, shoving Four's shoulder.
The train is approaching. Four is the first to get on the train.
Once we are all on, he speaks up. "We'll be dividing into two teams to play capture the flag. Each team will have an even mix of members, Dauntless-born and transfers. One team will get off first and find a place to hide their flag. Then the second team will get off and do the same. This is Dauntless tradition, so I suggest you take it seriously.
"Four and I will be your team captains," Eric says. "Let's divide up transfers first, shall we?"
I get a pit in my stomach. I really don't want to be on Eric's team. I can imagine what that would be like.
"You go first," Four says.
Eric shrugs. "Peter."
Four leans on the train wall and his eyes scan the car. They fall on me."Katniss."
"Molly"
"Will"
"Al"
"Christina"
"Drew"
"Peeta"
"Last one left is Tris. So she's with me," says Eric. "Dauntless born next."
Once they finish choosing teams, Eric smirks at Four. "Your team can get off second," says Eric.
"Don't do me any favors. You know I don't need them to win." Four says, smiling a little.
"No. I know that you'll lose no matter when you get off. Take your team and get off first."
When the train is about to dip into the ground, I jump off. I land on my feet for the first time.
One of the Dauntless- born taps Four's shoulder and asks, "When your team won, where did you put the flag?"
"Telling you wouldn't really be in the spirit of the exercise, Marlene," he says. "Come on Four," she says, giving him a flirtatious smile. He brushes her hand off his arm and I let out a small laugh.
Marlene glares at me.
"Navy pier," another Dauntless-born calls out. "My brother was on the winning team. They kept the flag at the carousel."
"Let's go there, then," suggest Will.
We walk toward the marsh that was once a lake, and cross the bridge. A Strip of land juts out from the marsh. Rising from it is a giant white Ferris wheel and a carousel.
When we reach the carousel, Four takes the flag out of his pocket. "In ten minutes, the other team will pick their location. I suggest you take this time to formulate a strategy. We may not be Erudite but mental preparedness is one aspect of your Dauntless training."
Will takes the flag from Four. "Some people should stay here and guard, and some people should go out and scout the other team's location."
"Yeah, you think?" Marlene takes the flag from Will's fingers. "Who put you in charge, transfer?"
"No one, but someone's got to do it." Will says
"Maybe we should develop a more defensive strategy. Wait for them to come to us, then take them out," suggests Christina
"That's the sissy way out. I vote we go all out. Hide the flag well enough that they can't find it." Uriah, a Dauntless-born says.
Everyone burst into conversation at once; everyone trying to be louder than the person next to them. Everyone argues about who should make the decision.
I walk over to the carousel and take a seat on one of the plastic horses, trying to formulate a plan.
We need to know where the other team is hiding, but how do we do that with buildings in front of us? I turn around and look at the Ferris Wheel. If I could get high enough maybe I can look over them.
Climbing it isn't a logical option in my condition. I'm not one hundred percent healed and the risk of falling is too great. Maybe if I turned it on, I could sit in one of the cars and it would take me to the top so I could look. But that would give away our location.
Would it matter, though, once I know the other team's hideout?
"Looks like you're deep in thought."
I look to my side to find Peeta sitting next to me.
"Yeah. Just wondering how we could find out where Eric's team is hiding their flag." I say
"Any ideas?"
"Well, yeah. I was thinking someone could ride to the top of the Ferris wheel and peer over the buildings and see if they see anything."
"Turning it on could give us away," he says
"I know."
He stares at the ground for a few seconds, thinking.
"Well, it's worth a shot. Let's go tell the others," he says. We both get up and walk over to the group of initiates arguing.
"Hey," Peeta says. They're still arguing. "Hey," he says again. Still arguing.
"HEY!" He shouts. They stop arguing and face us. "Thank you."
"While you all were arguing, Katniss," he gestures at me when he says Katniss, "has come up with a plan to locate the other team's flag."
"Well what is it?" Uriah asks, focusing his attention on me. They all focus their attention on me.
Uh oh. I'm not good at speaking in front of people. I feel beads of sweat on my forehead.
"Well," I start. Once I start, the words begin pouring out of my mouth. " I was thinking that someone could ride to the top of the Ferris wheel and look over the buildings and see if they see where the other team is."
"Turning on the Ferris wheel will give away our location." Marlene scowls at me. "Did you think of that smartness?"
"Actually I did," I retort. "I don't think it will matter once we know where they are. It will take them a second to find out that since the Ferris wheel's moving that's where we are. By then we could already be on our way to take their flag."
"I don't like it. It's too risky. And how do you even know the Ferris wheel works?" Marlene asks, scowl still on her face.
"I don't. It's just an idea, but if you have a better one," I step back, opening my arms; gesturing to the open space. "Then the floor is all yours," I say.
"I think it's a great plan," Uriah says to Marlene. "Who is going to ride to the top?"
"Katniss and I will," Peeta says.
Peeta and I sit in a seat on the Ferris wheel together. Four is in the control booth, ready to turn it on.
"You know, this is like one of those dates where a couple is on the Ferris wheel and they get stuck at the top," Peeta says.
The Ferris wheel starts.
"Yeah, except, we're not getting stuck, and this isn't a date," I reply.
He laughs. In no time, we're at the top and the Ferris wheel stops.
"What do you see?" Christina yells from the bottom.
We're high enough to see the skyline. Beneath the buildings, the streets look like tunnels. For a few seconds, I see a dark blanket over the land, and then the scene comes into focus. I see a tiny pulsing light on the ground.
"It's at the park at the end of the pier," Peeta calls down.
All the initiates on the ground disperse and Four starts the wheel again. Once Peeta and I are on the ground, Four walks over to us.
"Great job guys." He's talking to both of us but he's only looking at me. "The only Erudite smart enough to come up with a plan."
"Thanks," I say
We hear whoops and shouts coming from the other end of the park. They're not regular shouts; they're shouts of victory.
