Chapter Ten
The recent discovery of Finn's becoming an Avox left us beaten for days. We took our anger out in training, slashing dummies into pieces faster than the Gamemakers could blink. I didn't let the district four boy bother me anymore. He was just another contender in the games. Another person to kill. Another obstacle.
For five days, we trained like mindless soldiers programmed to do only one thing. Programmed to think only one thing. Revenge. Even if they killed us all, I vowed bitterly that I would have vengeance. I would scream all their wrongdoings to the Capitol, because Finn couldn't. If I was going to die, I might as well go down fighting for the good.
Five days after training, I decided to stay at the Centre a little late. The others went before me. With no one watching except for a couple of Peacekeepers, I had a go with the bows and arrows. Shooting bulls-eye after bulls-eye. Thud. Thud. Thud. I let out my anger with every arrow, imagining every force under the Capitol falling at the sight of it. I began to shoot everywhere, finding a target within less than a second of shooting one.
I shot one of the dummies with five consecutive arrows so fast that the thuds of them hitting it was like a thrum. I found myself lost within the sport, pretending each dummy was some other stupid Gamemaker. Sweat beaded on my forehead. Fury brought back memories. An eruption of remembrance filled my head and voices from other times echoed within the space filled with outrage.
"It was Teah," Gill said once again, repeating who had betrayed them.
"Allie died. The treatment didn't work." Teah crying, mourning for her lost daughter.
"Sever all ties and bonds, I'm afraid."
Zelix was in front of me again. Telling me that he couldn't let my friends go. "They are forbidden children…"
Forbidden children… the echoes almost pushed me into insanity.
Forbidden children…
Forbidden… children…
The tip of my arrow was suddenly directed at Tobias' throat. Recognising Panem's president, I lowered the bow. The Peacekeepers that had just sprung into action relaxed.
"Sorry," I said.
"You are an excellent shooter."
"Thank you, sir."
"Tobias," he corrected.
"Thank you, Tobias."
"You must have a lot of practice in district twelve." He paused. "I won't tell anyone your secrets."
"Yeah, well, I hunt a lot." Another arrow landed with a dull thud into the dummy's heart. "Did you like my costume?"
Tobias grinned. It took years off his young face. "You blew me away. Rica's little trick with the pickaxe gave the Gamemakers a shock."
I smiled quite grimly. "How's your father?"
Tobias sighed and sat down onto the mat used to cushion hand-to-hand combat players. "I'm afraid that he doesn't have much long to live."
"With all of Capitol's riches and smarts, you'd think they'd have medicine to cure him," I said bitterly.
"Yes, that's what I thought too. You know, he disagrees about the Hunger Games. He thinks the one-child policy is getting out of hand."
"Why don't you tell the council?" I asked, a bit surprised. His father? A used-to-be-ruthless-dictator suddenly sympathetic after being struck down by an illness? Suddenly begging for forgiveness on his deathbed?
"They simply won't listen." With shocking speed, his whirled around and kicked the shelf holding weapons to the floor. Swords, daggers and bows clattered to the ground. "They are drunk. Mad with power." He looked me in the eye, tears starting to well up in his. "I don't want to be like them."
"Then don't," I said. "Don't be like them. Do something about the Hunger Games. Like it or not, the council can't just simply ignore you."
"But that's the problem," Tobias said, his words almost a groan. "They are so drunk with their power that if they don't like anything, they get rid of it. Just like the Hunger Games and forbidden children."
"Panem doesn't know that you pity the forbidden children. I don't even think they know how young you are. If they could just see you, know how you feel, tables would turn. You could do what you want about the Hunger Games. You could change the rules. The people would want that to. The council can't ignore one entire nation and its leader, right?"
"They already ignore those who starve," Tobias said resentfully. "Those who beg for safety of their families. They laugh on and go to sleep with bellies full, not listening to those who go to bed with heads full of worries. Tell me, why should they listen this time if they haven't all those years?"
"Tell them that a rebellion is stirring. People won't stop until the Hunger Games are gone. An uprising is about to start. Tell them that."
"Whispers of a fight against the Capitol?" Tobias asked, his voice now a whisper itself.
"Whispers of a big fight. One they can't simply avoid by sending down showers of bombs. A big rebellion that will keep burning their throats until they finally open their ears and listen to the screams of the people." I dropped my bow and arrow onto the pile of weapons and walked towards the door.
"A big rebellion that will bring them down," I said unpleasantly.
I left him to ponder that as I went to my room to wash away the sweat and anger from my being.
The days passed. It became routine. Wake up. Dress. Eat. Train. Eat. Train again. Eat. Shower. Sleep. Wake up. Dress…
I found myself getting stronger with every training session. Nyal had given me a few pointers on hand-to-hand combat on the second day. After the week, I was sufficient enough to confidently defeat the weakest and take on others. The strongest, though, would fall to my weapons. I would never be as good at Nyal, but I was okay. At least I could survive a bit without a weapon.
Brutality also grew with every strike. With the fight-simulator, I applied every slash and stab with increased savagery. No mercy for enemies. I found myself slowly changing. Slowly becoming for fierce as more enemies toppled. The only thing that didn't change was my thirst for the Capitol's fall.
My bond with my fellow tributes strengthened. As did with several of my other allies. Ni and Noah, especially. We were all enemies with the same enemy. That drew us closer. But only one could win, and anguish threatened to tear my heart in two every time I looked into the eyes of my friends.
The day that I had been dreading finally came. The private training session.
No one knew what was going to happen. One by one, tributes were chosen and led into the training centre. Because of the number of tributes, the sessions were spread over three days. We weren't allowed to train while the others had their training sessions, so we had two days of freedom. If that was what you could call it.
Racked with nerves, I grasped my father's key. The key to success. Peyton and Nyal stayed beside me until they were called away. I was the last tribute. None of them came back to give me some tips. I was alone.
At the last second, Teah told me to keep my head and not lose it, but if I had to, to lose it completely and eradicate the training room. I nodded and was called.
I tried to prolong my footsteps, but the Peacekeeper beside me took away the chance. I arrived in the training room.
I stifled a gasp. It had completely changed. It was like a jungle had grown overnight. A big, leafy, obscuring jungle that took over the complete floor. Even the temperature was humid and stifling.
A door slid shut behind me, rendering all escape gone. A table of weapons was on front of me. A bow. Arrows. Swords. Daggers. And other gruesome looking instruments of inflicting death. I took the obvious ones, of course, strapping the weapons to my body.
A voice sounded in the room. I flinched as it reminded me of previous Hunger Games.
"This will be a replica of an arena. You must ruin each heart of an obstacle. If not, then a red light will start to blink. After two minutes, the dummy will detonate and explode. You must reach the right door. Then you will be safe. As of now, you are now in danger."
All was quiet. I drew the sword, gripping it tightly. My heart thrummed with adrenaline. I took a hesitant step forward.
As if on cue, a dummy dropped out of the ceiling. My sword sliced it in half before it had even stopped its descent.
I fought my way through the fake jungle. Every now and then, more dummies dropped out of nowhere. My sword cleaved them all in half. When this happened, a small voice in the back of my head warned me that this was too easy.
Sweat began to bead on my forehead. It wasn't because it was hard. The climate was harder.
When I had halved the thirty-eighth dummy, I came across a vine-covered wall. A door knob glistened. My sweaty hand grasped the warm knob. I turned it. Nothing opened.
Confusion swirled within me. I pulled. I pushed. I even swung my sword at it. The supposed door didn't budge. Unless it was the wrong door.
Giving up, I took my hand off the knob. A growl sounded behind me. Just above my ear.
Turning around, I only had time to listen to a smug voice that said, Didn't I tell you that it was too easy?
Then the muttation attacked.
I rolled out of the way, just narrowly avoiding its razor sharp teeth. It had been so close that I felt the breeze of his jaws snapping shut on my neck. I managed to get a good look at it. My heart failed as I realised that my weapons wouldn't do the job. The pure metal skin told me that immediately.
It lunged again, I hit the deck and I felt the mutt's breath on my face. The inside of its mouth was pink. But what drew my attention away was the glinting silver teeth, sharper than dagger points. I slammed the blade of my sword against the muttation as a vain attempt to slow it down. A clang sounded. Other than that, the muttation wasn't hurt. Wriggling out from under it, I sheathed my sword and drew my bow. Maybe I could get it through the eyes.
I was still in danger, though. The monster was constantly at my heels. Running in the other direction, for I knew that the door wouldn't open, I found a high tree with a thick trunk. Shoving my bow into the quiver, I seized the lowest branch and swung myself onto it.
I began to climb. Grabbing branch after branch. Climbing higher and higher. The branches thinned and I knew that if I climbed all the way up, they wouldn't take my weight. A roar from below told me that the mutt had arrived. My hand reached out and gripped a branch in front of me. As the wood bent, I realised that I was too heavy. A cry escaped my lips as the limb snapped.
I fell down but my flailing arms managed to snatch at a branch. The mutt roared and shoved the tree. It shuddered. Gripping the bough for dear life, I watched the mutt retreat a few steps and turn toward the tree again. It's front metal leg clawed the ground, leaving deep furrows. My thoughts froze as I realised what it was going to do. Dive at the tree. Make it fall. Leaving me for mutt chow.
Knowing that this would be my last chance, I drew my bow and took aim. Right in the eye. I took a deep breath and released the arrow. The arrow sank an inch deep into the eye before being stopped by a quiet thud. The mutt reared and scratched at the projectile, snapping off half of it with its claws. An inch deep, and that was about it.
This thing was not going to die.
But I would if I didn't move. The monster was only enraged by the pain. As I watched, he bounded towards the tree. I only had one escape. Jump out of the tree before it fell. Maybe break my legs landing. But I'd practiced this. Back in district twelve.
The mutt neared the target and I chose my only option. I leapt out of the tree. I was flying through air for two seconds. My feet hit the ground. My knees would have jarred from the sudden impact, but I let momentum carry me forward. I rolled, twisted around and came up on one knee, my arrow pointed in the mutt's other eye.
With a earth-shaking impact, the tree I had just jumped out of gave a great shake and landed on the ground. Without missing a breath from the tree's fall, my arrow shot forward and impaled the mutt's other eye. It screamed.
The ear-shattering, metallic sound had my hands clamped over my ears. My groan of pain was soundless. The bow clattered to the dirt. A dummy dropped out of a tree in front of me, showing its creepy grin.
The monster still wasn't dead. I fumbled with the bow. Just as I gave up and chose to draw my sword, the red light in the centre of the dummy started to flash. I remembered the note about dummies becoming bombs after two minutes. Maybe I could throw it at the monster and hope it detonates. But the metal skin looked more than capable of protecting it from damage.
Then I remembered the warm breath and the pink insides of its mouth. The mouth! It's weak spot. Right now, the monster was rummaging through the leaves of the falling tree, trying to find my supposed dead body. The red light on the dummy blinked again and again.
This was risky. But what choice did I have? If I ran, I probably wouldn't even find the right door in time.
Stepping in front of the dummy and gripping my sword tightly, I beckoned to the mutt. I waved my sword, yelling, "Hey!" I prayed that the dummy wouldn't explode just right now.
The monster turned around, attracted. It couldn't see me, but it let out a shriek of fury as it realised that someone was still alive. I hadn't taken out its ears. I gnashed my teeth together, trying ignore its mind-jumbling scream.
The mutt lunged and closed the distance between us in two bounds. Fear petrified me in place, and somewhere in my immobilised mind, a voice said, Crap.
Then my feet unfroze and I dived out of the way in the nick of time. I watched the mutt gobble up the dummy, letting out grunts of satisfaction.
Great. Time to run.
My legs started moving. On the way, other dummies showed up. I had left my bow, so I sliced them all to ribbons with my sword. My heart was beating frantically, trying to supply all working parts of my body with oxygen. My breath came in giant puffs. Every step, I hoped that I was far enough to live through the coming explosion.
I had no idea where I was running, striking down every dummy without thinking.
The scenery changed. I recognised the lavish decorations of the outside of the training centre. My stupid mind began to comprehend. The door I came in through was the safe way out. Geez, I was dim.
"Open!" I screamed at the glass door, and the Peacekeepers behind it pulled the handle.
Just as the door slid open fully, an ear-cracking noise sounded, followed by a blast of steaming hot air that pushed me off my feet. I felt the sword leave my hand as I was shoved outside the Training Centre.
Gravity took over and I landed roughly, rolling on the marble floor. It took the combined strength of two Peacekeepers to force the door shut. The warm air stopped blowing and I landed on my side. An uncomfortable thing under my thigh told me that the dagger was still there. I unsheathed the dagger to take away the discomfort and lay on the cool marble, breathing hard.
A shadow clouded my vision and I recognised Tobias and Zelix. One looking on in worry, one grinning.
Weary, I asked numbly, "Did I pass?"
So... what did you think? What score would you give Lanie for bombing the training room? Let me know if you review. Check for an update to find out their scores. Thanks!