Mason Grant, 18
District Two Male
Today is training. For the first time, I'll meet someone other than Omega. I wonder if the boy from One will try and tag along with us. As we walk into the training room, I see almost all of the other tributes are here already. Only District Eight hasn't arrived yet. I see the boy from Four looking in my direction, and I nod to him. He nods back.
Then Curtia starts talking and I see that the pair from Eight has arrived. I should have noticed. I need to be aware of everything happening around me.
"And remember, you will have to take risks if you want to win. So take some risks here." Says Curtia, before telling us to go and train.
I head straight to the pair from Four, closely followed by Omega. The kids from One appear a minute later; Storm in front with Ezio following slightly behind her.
"So. Who here is trained?" I ask.
"Me." Sophie says. The two from Four both nod as well. The boy from One does not.
I'm about to tell Ezio to get lost, but Arroyo does it for me. "If you can't fight, why are you hanging around with us?"
Ezio glares at him before limping off. So that leaves five of us.
"Was that really necessary?" Asks Storm.
"Yes." The boy from Four and I say together.
"We should replace him." Says the Four girl. "We're lucky that there are this many trained tributes this year. And that kid from Ten tried to volunteer, didn't he? So we could try and get him to join us."
"I think the kid from Seven." Says Omega. "Or one of the ones from Six."
And then we start debating exactly who we think could be useful to us. We eventually decide to approach the boy from Seven. At lunch. None of us want to waste any more training time. We ask Klymene to do the talking, seeing as she's the only one who appears to enjoy talking. Sop- Storm, I learn they're called, stays quiet for the first few minutes. Then they begin to join in as well. Apparently her father was a Victor - Julius Barat.
And then we decide to try out some of the weapons they have here. Omega, Klymene and I go to the archery station, while Storm and Arroyo leave to throw some spears. I don't think that there'll be that much conversation between the two.
I know exactly why I chose to specialise in archery. I've re-watched the Seventy Fourth Hunger Games only once, when I was a child, and I can still remember Katniss. She's the reason I never got to see my brother win the Games. I barely remember him now, I only know his face from the picture of him on interview night hung up on the living room wall. And it's all the fault of Katniss Everdeen, for helping Peeta and being at the Cornucopia that night. If she hadn't, Cato would still be alive.
For a sixteen-year-old, Omega is a rather good shot. I assume Klymene isn't as well trained as Omega and I, and eventually she just stops shooting and watches as Omega and I try to outdo each other. We're joined by Strom and Arroyo after a while, and I'm pretty sure we're being watched by the other tributes. Let them watch. If they see how strong we are, they're more likely to stay away.
We're interrupted by an arrow flying to the head of one of the targets. I turn to see Storm, fingers still positioned next to their face. Watch out for Storm, they're good at archery. I make a mental note. Sure, right now she's my ally, but they could turn on me at any time.
"What do you think he wants?" Says Arroyo. I turn to see the boy from Six approaching us. We all watch as he approaches, apparently not nervous in the slightest. Or maybe he's just a good actor.
"Do you think he wants to join us?" Asks Omega.
"If he does, what makes him think we'll say yes?" Storm replies.
Klymene, apparently, thinks it's a good idea to invite some stranger into our group without discussing it first. And of course, he agrees immediately. He introduces himself as Trevor, says he's got experience fighting and he'd be happy to show us, so we follow him to the section with spears. I don't know how he knows how to use them; they can't be particularly common in District Six.
But he seems decent at what he does, so the rest of us agree to let him join us. We can always kill him if we need to, five against one isn't exactly good odds. We agree to split up and do different things, and I end up at the station with many different kinds of knives and sickles. I end up using one that the trainer calls an arit, and the trainer is much better at using than I am. Annoying. She shows me how to hold it properly and then tells me to use the simulation to train with it.
As I train, I do get better, slicing at the neck of each silhouette. Some are harder to get at than others, but I'm fine.
I wonder how the others are getting on.
From where I am, I can clearly see Klymene fighting a trainer, easily blocking his sword with a pair of knives, although she doesn't seem to be trying to attack him. Instead, defence is her priority. I watch as she kicks his legs out from under him and he falls backwards onto the floor. It's clear she's won, and after returning the knives, she walks over to join me.
"Nice knife work." I say.
"Thanks. I'm sure you were good as well. Sorry I couldn't watch."
"No, it's fine. It's training, not a spectator sport." To my surprise, she laughs at me. "I wasn't expecting to have an ally like you."
"So what were you expecting?" She asks. "Someone aggressive who spends all their time throwing tridents?"
"Someone who wasn't so...excitable."
"Why not? I'm allowed to be excited aren't I? It's the Hunger Games, who wouldn't be excited?"
"...Fair enough."
"Let me guess... you assumed that we would all be serious and just pretend for the interviews?"
"Maybe."
"Well I'd rather try some stuff other than tridents. Tridents are so boring, especially for District Four. Who cares if another District Four kid can throw a trident, I'd rather here about the one who can use fourteen different kinds of knife."
"Can you actually?"
"Technically only twelve: the baselard, the misericorde, the-"
"I don't really need to know the names of all those weapons, Klymene."
"Sorry."
I've seen these names before, in the specialised weapons section of the training centre. I've never bothered to learn how to use them, since they rarely show up in the Games. I'd rather choose something more common. But she will stand out from the rest of us, which could go one of two ways. She gets us help from sponsors in the arena, or her sponsors get the rest of us killed.
Or maybe both.
Rosa Quartz, 12
District Twelve Female
When we came in, Colby told me not to follow him. He said he doesn't want me to get in his way. I thought he might say that, but I was still upset. He's my District partner, he shouldn't just abandon me.
As he walked away, he was approached by the boy from Seven. Of course, Colby declined, but he pointed Cypress in my direction. I agreed, of course. I need allies.
Now, I'm at the edible insects station with another ally of mine: Cassie. She's from Eight, and she says there's more plants in the training centre than she's ever seen in her life. From what I've seen of District Eight on videos from the Reaping and Victory Tours, there's nothing there.
"So now I've shown you what they look like, you two try and sort them into edible and inedible." They deposit a pile of insects on the table.
I pick up the first one and place it in the box labelled 'inedible'.
"What do you think this one is?" Cassie asks. I point at the "edible" box. "Thanks." She drops the dead insect in the box and picks up another one. I do the same, examining it closely before deciding it's edible. "Are you sure that's edible?"
I nod, and she goes back to examining her own insect. She drops it in the wrong box. I take it and put it in the correct place. We continue on like this, me occasionally correcting her work, and then going back to my own insects. When we finish, the trainer tells us to wait for a few minutes while he checks what we've done.
As the trainer checks our work, Cassie and I watch the two of the careers throw spears. "It's like it's a game to them. Probably is."
She doesn't continue on, and we wait until the trainer appears. "Congratulations, you survived!"
Cassie thanks the trainer, and then we leave to find a different skill to learn. Cassie tells me she's going to work on something alone, and that leaves me by myself. I scan the training room, and take a minute to watch the different tributes. The girl from Five is taking a test on edible plants, the boy from Nine is using a scythe like he's done it for years, the pair from Ten are tying knots.
"Rosa! Come and join us." Yells Chip. He and Eryn are at the traps and snares area, and I make my way over to join them. The trainer welcomes me over, and begins showing us a snare that's meant to catch small animals. As we practice setting the trap, I copy what Chip is doing. He must have spent all morning picking up the skill, or maybe he's just naturally talented. Maybe both.
"Chip, you're doing really well. Are you sure you haven't done this before?"
"Ah well. It's probably my impending death that's teaching me." Eryn just gawps at him for a minute. "Sorry."
"No, it's fine. You're right." She replies.
"I was not expecting that response."
"No. I shouldn't think you were." She goes back to attempting to set up her snare. I try and do the same, but for some reason I just can't get it to work. It's disappointing. But if I'm allied with Chip, he can show me how to do it in the Games. And I did the edible insects station - I'm sure I'll remember some of those.
There trainer shows us three more snares, none of which I can manage to do. Chip and Eryn manage just fine, though. Maybe I'll come back tomorrow and try and learn some more. That would be a good idea. I don't really want to use any of the weapons. Maybe the obstacle course or hammock making or edible plants station would be useful.
As I'm planning how to spend the rest of my time, I notice the other twelve-year-old, the girl from Five, at the edible plants station. From what I've seen, she doesn't have any allies. And Cypress definitely asked her.
She must know she has no hope without help.
Right?
That's not something to worry about, Rosa.
"Rosa, are you alright?" Eryn asks, noticing that I've tuned out their conversation. I nod. "If you say so."
"Cypress is over there. I think he wants to talk to us." Says Chip, tilting his head to where Cypress is approaching us.
When he arrives, he tells us that they called for everyone to go to lunch. I need to focus more.
We make our way into the dining room, where Cassie is waiting for us. The other tributes are seated in various groups, many on their own but some are together. Obviously the careers have joined together, but the boy from Six is with them too. And the pairs from Nine and Ten are together as well. The boy from Five and the boy from Eleven are together as well.
Apparently we can serve ourselves, and together we make our way over to where the food is, loading our plates with food and then heading back to our table. We eat in silence for a few minutes, and I take a moment to watch the other tributes. Most of them are sitting quietly by themselves, trying to avoid looking at everyone else. The boy from One just glares at anyone who looks at him. The careers, on the other hand, are loud. Too loud.
Everyone talks too much.
I wish they would just be quiet.
Ezio Palmer, 17
District One Male
Of course they didn't want me. I'm not surprised, but it still hurt. I guess I was just hoping that maybe they'd let me hang around with them. Obviously not. Ah well. If they'd let me join them they just would have killed me anyway.
I take another bite of my bread. It's still warm, and covered in one of the numerous jams available on the table. And it's absolutely delicious. Sure, the food in one wasn't terrible, but this is so much better. And I'll get to enjoy it for another five whole days. And after that I get to starve to death in the arena, because the normal alliance between One, Two and Four has replaced me with the boy from Six. Six. Honestly.
The boy from Seven was asking everyone to join him earlier. I'm the only one he didn't ask. Apart from Storm and the kids from Two and Four. He's obviously got something against us, probably a dead sibling or two, but I can't really remember what. I'm too busy wondering why it was me that was reaped instead of Dax. It's not as if he wasn't related to Opal. He had a higher chance of being reaped than I did!
He's eighteen, I'm seventeen. His name was in the bowl more than mine was.
At least Storm might win. They can tell Dax I wasn't a complete disappointment. Hopefully he'll believe her. If I survive twenty-four hours I'll have done better than my family expected.
Apart from Winston. He told me he thinks I'll do better than everyone thinks. I think he may have forgotten who he was talking to. At least I'm not up against Ruby. She'd probably have killed me herself to stop me getting in the way. At least Storm will probably stop them from torturing me to death. I wouldn't put it past the boy from Two. He just seems like the type to do that.
And I'm going to be in the Games with him.
Brilliant.
I finish my lunch, and we're let back into the training areas. I decided this morning that I would leave the weapons alone for today and secure some survival skills. Especially as they all threw me out. I spent all morning learning to start a fire, so I guess I'll learn about edible plants now. There's no one there at the moment, so I'm on my own. That's fine by me.
The trainer begins to tell me which plants are safe to eat, and which will kill me.
The majority will kill me. And most of them look the same.
Wonderful.
I think I could probably choose at least one plant that won't kill me if I was given a list now. I think. Maybe.
This is useless, really. But I'm required to do it. Maybe if I had allies it would be better. But I don't. And that Seven kid who probably would have been my best bet appears to hate me. So that's a dead end. And I doubt anyone wants me as an ally anyway. The outer Districts don't like me because I'm from One. Anyone who wouldn't care about that probably won't want me because of my bloody leg.
I could have lived my whole life decently enough despite it, but I just had to get Reaped the year volunteering isn't allowed.
I am so lucky.
I decide to go back to focusing on the plants. There are so many of them and they all look the same when I'm shown pictures of them. Honestly. This one you can eat the roots and leaves, and then you can eat the leaves, flowers and pods of that one. The only edible thing from that one is the fruit. It's so boring. And I'm going to die anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.
What's the point of all of this? I don't get it. Is it just some cruel joke to watch all of us try and train? They know most of us won't win. Hell, I bet I can guess who'll die in the first day.
But not right now.
I need to at least pretend to do something so the Gamemakers don't give me a terrible score. If there's anything that can help me now it's a good training score. Maybe someone will sponsor me.
Yeah, right.
There's no way I'm getting anything more than a mediocre training score. If that. From what I've done today, I'll probably poison myself and set the evidence on fire before they can find out if I actually got anything right. That would be impressive. I'd be on record as the worst tribute ever. At least I could say I'd done something interesting before I die.
I try and identify which leaves are edible, and which leaves aren't, but apparently I've not taken in the information, because the trainer politely informs me that if I was in the Games, I would just have eaten at least three poisonous plants.
This is going so well. It's almost like I'm doomed to fail.
Oh wait. I am doomed to fail.
December "August" Attonal, 18
District Three
Finally, after a full day I'm able to disarm the trainer. But I think he might be going easy on me. If August was here she would tell me I'm doing great. But she's not here. Because I took her place.
She would hate this so much. But I hate this too.
Tomorrow I'll do something else. Something useful. Something other than weapons, because there's no guarantee I'll even get a weapon. And if I do it might not be an axe. So I'll learn some survival skills. Start a fire, tie a knot, do the ropes course, eat some insects. Or maybe some plants. Learn about what I can eat if I can't get any food from the Cornucopia. And I'll need water as well.
If I have the choice, I think I'll go for water.
Actually it depends on the arena.
But almost certainly I'll go for water.
There's another kid using the axes. The boy from Seven. Cypress. He asked me to ally with him earlier, and I probably would have agreed if he wasn't asking everyone. I understand that he hates the careers, but I'm not allying with someone prone to making stupid decisions. Especially as those stupid decisions are allying with twelve year olds. And yes, Rosa seems nice from what I've seen, but she's twelve, and unlikely to be very helpful.
As it is, I think I'll just go by myself. There's pretty much no one I want to ally with, apart from a few who haven't even tried to talk to me. And there's no way I'm going to go and ask them. And I'd have to kill them anyway. I'd rather not kill an ally. I'd rather not kill someone I trust. But would I trust someone if I allied with them for the purpose of winning the Games?
I don't know.
"Hey. August. Are you sure you don't want to ally?" Cypress asks.
"Yes. I'm sure." I go back to attempting to massacre the training dummy. I didn't realise I'd stopped.
"So you're going to be alone?"
"Why does it matter to you?" I reply.
"Because you're going to die if you don't ally." He meets my eyes. "Look August, I'm sure you're sister would want you to try."
"You've never met my sister. How would you know what she'd want?"
"Because I remember all of my siblings. And that's what they'd want from me. So if your sister loves you, I'm sure that's what she wants from you." He replies.
Why did he tell me that? What was the point? Wouldn't he be worried I'd use it against him?
Maybe it's to do with who he lost. I try and think back. He's Cypress... Cypress... Cypress Rasmussen. Who else was a Rasmussen? There was Autumn. And Winter... there were others as well. Blossom and Woody! Of course. Wow, that's a lot.
He must really hate the Games after that. And I think I remember him glaring at the cameras during the Reaping. I'm not surprised.
But that doesn't tell me why he'd say that. Ah well, I'll have to think about it. But he's said it, and that's the important thing.
"I'm not allying with you, if that's what you're asking." I tell him.
"No. I didn't think you would." He says. For some reason, I want to keep talking to Cypress. He'll have to die so I can see August again, but right now I want to keep talking. I want to tell him I'm sorry about his siblings, and that I didn't really I care about my uncle so it was never a problem.
Actually, maybe I shouldn't say that.
We barely know each other. And we're in the Hunger Games. And we aren't allied. So that would be very weird.
"So you're with the Chip?" Is what I choose to ask instead.
"Yeah. You're his District partner?"
"Yes. He seems like a good kid." I say.
"He does." Says Cypress. And it's true. Chip's a good kid. He seems alright, if a little awkward, and he says the wrong things sometimes. Well, actually quite a lot of the time. But still. I'm glad he's got a good ally, even if he probably won't survive. And he's smart as well, so that could help them. I've seen him doing traps and snares this morning. He's really good. "You know, if you're looking for someone, try her." He points to another girl who's throwing knives. "She told me there were to many of us for her."
I can tell she's good. Not as good as the careers, but better than most of us. Maybe I will try and talk to her. I'll think about it.
"Sure." I say. He smiles at me before throwing the axe into the dummy.
I really need to improve.
So, training. Honestly I loved writing this chapter, and I think every thee weeks is a good schedule for me. Hope you enjoyed reading and I'll be back on the 4th of March.