Beg me for mercy
Admit you were toxic
You poisoned me just for
Another dollar in your pocket
Gena Cooper
District 9, Female, 12
(Training Day 3)
...
I wake up to Nettie's shouts. "Get ready! Today's an exciting day!" Immediately, I begin bawling my eyes out and screaming. Today is yet another day of this hellish nightmare that is The Hunger Games.
"Shut up Gena!" Tenzin shouts from outside and I scream even louder, bursting out of my room.
"Don't tell me what to do you no good fuck face!" Nettie gasps at my language and takes a hold of my shoulders, steering me back into my room to get changed.
"Now, now Gena. Just ignore him." She says, pulling out a new training outfit.
"I don't want to wear that thing, it's hideous!" I cry and throw it across the room, folding my arms. "Give me a dress!"
"Gena, it'll be very hard to do your private session in a dress. You want to get a high score don't you?"
"No, I want to look pretty you bat!" I scream at her in retaliation and her face goes pink with anger.
"You listen to me here. If you don't want to get blown up within the first five second of entering that arena then I suggest you put this on." She snaps and I whimper. I put the outfit on unhappily and give Nettie mean looks ad I do.
We go out to breakfast and I eat all desserts, pancakes and waffles.
"Gena, you'll do good with a bit of protein." Mikayla, my mentor, suggests and I scream back at her.
"I'll eat whatever I want cow! Nettie opens her mouth to speak but Mikayla holds her hand up to silence her.
"It's quite alright Nettie. Gena can eat what she wants." I smile smugly and stick my tongue out at Nettie. I see Tenzin roll his eyes but I choose to ignore him, I'm too good for a nobody like him. He can help me win and then I'll go back home and never mention his name again.
"Any ideas what we are doing for our private sessions?" Mikayla asks.
"I was thinking of possibly doing some agility. I got a decent time on it yesterday." Tenzin shrugs.
"And you, Gena?"
"I'll do what I feel like, when I feel like it." I snap back at her and give her a glare.
"Okay then, good luck to the both of you." She gets up and leaves, heading back to her room.
"You ought to take some of her advice, Gena." Tenzin says and I glare at him.
"Don't make me slit your throat in that arena because I so will if you don't shut your fat mouth." I whisper sharply to him and he just smirks back. I hate him and my whole alliance, they are a bunch of nobodies and I'm so embarrassed to have to go on live TV with them. I finish my pancakes and head into the elevator with Tenzin behind me.
We arrive back into the training centre and there are a line of chairs set up with numbers on them. I sit next to Tenzin and the boy from Ten, I don't talk to either of them and fold my arms while slumping on the chair. A trainer explains that we'll be taken into the room one by one and given 5 minutes to show whatever we want to the gamemakers and they'll decide on our score.
The boy from One is up first.
Xavier Ivuluh
District 3, Male, 14
(Training Day 3)
...
"Andromeda Knox." The loudspeaker calls and Andromeda stands up.
"Good luck, Xavier." She whispers to me and I nod in thanks. We had met yesterday when I taught her how to make a fire, she seems nice enough but it'd take a very gullible person to align with a Career and in no way am I gullible. I also know annoying a Career is never a good move because it could lead to you being stabbed in the back, literally, so I was friendly.
I don't feel like I need allies in general, it's just putting myself at more risk by surrounding myself with people who could potentially slit my throat in the middle of the night and that's not a risk I want to take. It's been keeping me up for days, thinking about what I'm going to do in that arena. I don't think I could ever plan to kill somebody, I know what it's like to lose someone and I don't know if I can bare putting their loved ones through that same grief that I felt. I do want to live as well, though, and everybody knows you can't win The Hunger Games without getting your hands dirty.
Kathryn sits in silence beside me, I think I hurt her feelings a little by asking to be trained separately but it is what it is. I also don't think she has the same sort of understanding of The Careers that I do, she seems to have taken a liking to Silver from District One and he is the complete opposite of what you want in an ally. Arrogant and ruthless. I've been analysing every tribute and he seems the most bloodthirsty and ready to kill.
"You shouldn't trust him." I whisper to Kathryn.
"Who?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Silver."
"Thanks for your concern but we aren't allies, right? So, I'll do things how I want to." I shrug, she doesn't really need to believe me, she's from my district and I feel like I'm morally obliged to help her a little bit. If I don't make it then I want to at least make sure my mother receives the care she deserves.
Andromeda walks out the room, looking fairly happy. It's only a matter of time until my name is called. My thought is interrupted by just that.
"Xavier Ivuluh." Sounds on the loudspeaker and I take a deep breath before entering the room. The room is extremely big, bigger than I expected, and is filled with various different pieces of equipment. I notice the climbing wall at the side of the room and also the fire-making nearby it.
"Your time starts...now." Red Beaumont, The Head Gamemaker, and also the President's husband announces and I begin. Firstly, I rush over to the climbing wall and skip the harness, I climb up swiftly and it only takes around a minute before I'm climbing back down and rushing over to the fire-making. I begin setting out my materials and start scratching the magnesium. Within only a couple of minutes, I have a flame going. I still have a minute left so I make my flame higher and higher until the timer finally runs out.
"Thank you, Xavier. You may leave."
Nestor Andreas
District 5, Male, 12
(Training Day 3)
...
I sit waiting on the comfortable sofa, I'm extremely nervous for the scores. I did some plant identifying with my private session but that's about the only thing I could do well that only required one arm. Vinicio and Carina sit on the sofa with Emerald and I, we invited them to watch the scores with us and they agreed. I really like the two of them, they are kind and Vinicio is almost like a fatherly figure, Carina is much quieter but she is nice too.
The TV flashes on and Vinicio gives a quick squeeze of my hand. Helena Cove, the Master of Ceremonies, shows up on the TV.
"Hello Panem! Welcome, welcome to the 23rd Annual Hunger Games Scores!" An audio of people cheering sounds and Helena acts flattered. Then, she gets to the results and I take a deep breath.
She announces District 1 first with both Lira and Silver getting 9s.
District 2 is next, Andromeda gets a 10 and Ryan receives an 8. My heart beats faster as District 5 approaches.
Xavier receives a 6 and Kathryn is given a 9 from District 3.
Only one more district until my turn.
Nick gets a 9 and Eric gets an 8. Now it's our turn.
"From District 5..." I hold my breath. "Emerald with a 4 and Nestor with a 5." A five? That's pretty decent for an outlying district, right?
"Well done Nestor! And you Emerald." Carina says and Vinicio gives me a hug.
"Good job both of you, those are some fair scores." Emerald looks a little unhappy with her score, however, I'm too caught up in my happiness to do anything about it.
Raven gets a 6 and Darius a 7 from District 6.
From District 7, Daniel receives and 8 and Ashanti gets a 2.
Cyra gets a 5 and Thauk receives a 0 from District 8. Everybody seems shocked by the 0.
Gena gets a 2 and Tenzin a 4 from District 9.
From District 10, Darla gets a score of 5 and Devon a score of 1.
Now it's time for District 11.
"You two will do great." Emerald squeaks. I really do hope the two fo them do well, I've grown to really like them and think we can work great together in the arena.
"From District 11...Carina with a 7 and Vinicio with a 6! Those are some high scores for District 11 folks." I start clapping and cheering immediately and everyone follows suit, Vinicio and Carina are smiling humbly. The whole atmosphere allows me to forget about the horrors of the arena and what's to come, for the first time since the reaping, I feel sort of at peace. "Finally from District 12, Charity with a 5 and Malcom with a 4."
A/N: One more chapter until the bloodbath! Interviews up next.
Alliances
Silver, Lira, Ryan, Andromeda, Eric, Nick and Daniel
Tenzin, Gena, Cyra and Darla
Vinicio, Carina, Emerald and Nestor
Raven and Darius
Silver and Kathryn
- Neb