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Training Day Two – Evening
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Skyton Tate, 16
District Ten

Maybe he had been lying to himself all along.

Skyton drummed his fingers on the table as he continued eating. It had been impossible to miss Arabel's disappointed look when he'd voiced his reluctance to try any of the weapons stations. She was more focused on being able to defend herself against the other tributes. But if they could build a good enough shelter, they would be able to hide from the others for a while, at least. Until they got more comfortable, more used to the idea of being in the Games.

But Connor and Arabel already seemed to be perfectly comfortable with the idea. Or, at least, more comfortable than he was. Maybe that wasn't much of a feat, but it was something. And Klaudia … He wasn't really sure what she was thinking, how comfortable she was. She seemed a bit jittery, but whether she was nervous about the Games or whether she simply wasn't comfortable around other people, he wasn't entirely sure. She'd seemed to accept it when he'd told her he was working with Connor, but he hadn't expected Connor to bring back another ally, as well.

Maybe he should have seen it coming the moment they'd decided to split up. He hadn't wanted anything to do with weapons; Connor hadn't even wanted to check out the survival stations. Maybe it made sense that each of them would want to find someone else to work with. Maybe it would be better if they just split up.

But if they split up now…

Skyton glanced around at the other tributes. Some of them were watching. If their group split up now, would it mean the other tributes would mark each of their smaller groups as an easy target? If they split up, would Connor be sore about it? Would Connor come after Klaudia and him if they decided to break away?

No. No, it was better not to take the risk. Besides, having more allies certainly wouldn't hurt. If two of them were more familiar with weapons and two of them had learned about survival, maybe that was a good thing. Maybe Connor and Arabel could protect them while he and Klaudia focused on finding food and building shelter. That certainly seemed more his area.

But it couldn't stay his area forever if he wanted to survive. Eventually, he would have to fight. He would have to be able to defend himself. How would he be able to do that if he hadn't even held a weapon during training? How would he be able to kill?

But he didn't want to kill.

"Skyton?" Klaudia's timid voice shook him from his thoughts.

Skyton nearly jumped. "What?" Had she been asking him something?

Klaudia shrank away a little, and Skyton could feel his face growing red. He'd been a little louder than he'd intended. She had just startled him; that was all. But if he was this jumpy now…

They were both this jumpy now. If she had pulled back when he'd raised his voice a little, what was she going to do when someone raised a weapon? "Sorry," Skyton apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to startle you. I guess I'm just a little … on edge."

A little. Right. Maybe that was only to be expected. They were a few days away from having to fight for their lives. A few days before every other tribute in the room would be trying to kill them. Maybe it was understandable to be a little bit jumpy.

So why did everyone else seem perfectly calm?

Klaudia Almasy, 18
District Eight

Maybe Skyton had been lying to her all along.

Klaudia looked away as Skyton continued to apologize. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he was just jumpy. Or maybe he had been fooling her all along, and had finally let himself slip – if only for a moment. Why, exactly, he would want to trick her, of all people, she wasn't sure. But people didn't always need a reason. Klaudia repeated her question quietly. "I was just wondering if you could pass the salt."

Skyton nodded, passing her the saltshaker. "I really am sorry I scared you."

You didn't scare me. That was what she wanted to say. But, for a moment, he had. And maybe she was just getting jumpy. Maybe she was being too cautious. But if he was this snappy now, before the Games had even started, things would only get worse once they were actually in the arena.

Connor and Arabel quickly finished the rest of their meal, then got up from the table. "See you later, I guess," Connor offered, clapping Skyton on the back. Skyton flinched away. Maybe he really was just as uneasy as she was. But what if he wasn't? Could she afford to take that risk?

Klaudia ate the rest of her meal in silence. If it turned out this alliance had been a mistake, she could always change her mind later. In the chaos during the bloodbath, surely no one would notice if she slipped away from the group. No one would miss her. Arabel and Connor had barely acknowledged her, and Skyton … Had she done something wrong? Had she embarrassed him, maybe?

She couldn't think of anything she might have done wrong. Maybe this simply wasn't how he'd expected to introduce her to the others. Maybe Connor had caught him off-guard by bringing his own ally. Maybe. It could be a lot of things.

But there were also going to be 'a lot of things' in the Games. There were going to be surprises – surprises she wasn't certain he would be able to handle. If this was how he reacted to gaining an extra ally, how might he react to losing one?

She had a feeling she didn't want to find out.

"Are you all right?" Skyton asked quietly.

Klaudia hesitated. What was the right answer? She wasn't all right, but she certainly didn't want to admit it. Were any of them all right? "I was just thinking," she answered, deflecting. "I think we've got a pretty good handle on the shelter-building. Maybe we should try a different station for a while."

Skyton nodded. "Good idea. Did you have anything in mind?"

"I was thinking of taking a look at the edible plants," Klaudia suggested. "You probably have some idea of what's good to eat, but … well, there aren't a whole lot of plants in District Eight. If you don't want to join me, that's okay, but—"

"Of course I want to join you. Besides, you'd be surprised how little you actually learn about plants when your job is taking care of cows. I mean, I guess I could tell you what plants are good for cows to eat, but it's not like I go around grazing with them, right?"

Klaudia giggled a little. "Good point."

"And there are plenty of plants that don't grow in District Ten," Skyton added. "We have no way of knowing what the arena's going to be, or what sort of plants there are. So you're right about not wanting to spend our whole time building shelters. No telling what sort of materials there will even be in the arena to build a shelter with." He smiled a little and clapped her on the back.

"Let's go try something else."

Mariska Vasile, 16
District Eight

"They're just lying to themselves."

Mariska glanced over at Vashti, who had taken a seat beside her. The pair of them had spent the first day at most of the same stations. They'd built traps, learned how to weave nets, constructed a few simpler weapons out of the rudimentary materials they might be able to find in the arena. They hadn't exactly been working together, but they'd been working side-by-side pretty well for a day and a half now.

Mariska nodded. "About the alliance working out? I'm sure they are. But that's not your problem – or mine."

"Your district partner," Vashti pointed out. "If her alliance falls apart, all the better for you. It means your mentors will have to focus their efforts on you instead of her."

Mariska shrugged. "Pretty sure they're planning to anyway." Klaudia's father or grandfather or whoever he was had caused all that fuss at the reaping, after all – and gotten Lander hurt in the process. He certainly wasn't going to be trying to help her. And Carolina … well, it was her job to help Klaudia as long as she could. But once she was dead…

"I guess you've probably got a bit more trouble in that department," Mariska deflected with a smirk. "Not exactly much of a Career, are you?"

"Maybe not," Vashti admitted. "But at least I know it. Macauley and Elliot are going to run themselves ragged trying to convince themselves they belong in the pack. Retro, at least, has the sense to know that he'll never cut it, but the other two will probably end up doing something stupid and getting themselves killed. If I get lucky, I'll be District Five's only chance – for whatever that's worth."

Mariska nodded. She was probably District Eight's best chance, as well, considering that their other choice was Klaudia. But that still didn't mean she had much of a chance. She wasn't kidding herself; there were thirty-four other tributes who would be trying to kill her in a few days. Tributes with homes, with families, with friends. Tributes who had something to go back to.

Mariska got up from the lunch table and headed back to the snare station. The only reason she would have had to look forward to going back to District Eight had died in the Games last year. The Games had taken Willa. They would probably take her, as well. Maybe there was no reason to fight it.

But she was fighting it. Every day that she still woke up, every moment she resisted the urge to simply plop down near one of the food carts and spend the rest of her training time there, every breath she took once she was in the Games – it was all a struggle. It would always be a struggle. It would be easier to stop. Easier to let go and accept that the Capitol was going to win. That they always won.

And they would. They always did. But there was a difference between rolling over and letting them win and going down swinging. If she was going to die – and she probably was – then she was going to make damn sure she didn't go down without a fight. Maybe it wasn't much, but it was all she had left.

Mariska turned to Vashti, who was still following her. "You seem pretty convinced their alliance won't work out. What do you think it takes to make one work?"

Vashti thought for a moment. "Honesty."

Vashti Rii, 16
District Five

"Honesty?"

Vashti smiled wryly as Mariska raised an eyebrow. Clearly, that wasn't the answer she'd been expecting. "Not that sort of honesty," Vashti clarified. "Not the let me tell you my life story and spill all my secrets even though I've only known you for a day or two sort of honesty. Just enough honesty to say that you're not looking for an alliance because you actually like the other person or because you want a friend. That's not what alliances are for. Alliances are for staying alive as long as possible – period."

As he'd expected, Mariska nodded. "Agreed. But not everyone can handle saying that upfront."

"Can you?"

"Can I what?"

"Handle the idea of making an alliance to stay alive rather than out of friendship."

"Are you suggesting something?"

Vashti shrugged. "That depends on your answer."

Mariska nodded. "Of course I can handle the idea. I'm not looking for a friend."

"Neither am I."

"Perfect." She held out her hand. "Allies?"

Vashti shook it. "Allies."

Allies. But not friends. He didn't need friends – especially not now. What he needed was someone who could keep him alive long enough for … What? Long enough to prove everybody wrong? Long enough to prove himself wrong. He had no delusions that he would actually be able to win – not with his condition. Not when the smallest injury could take him out of the game for good.

A dead man walking. That was what he had called himself at the reaping. And he had believed it. Still believed it. He didn't want to die, but he wasn't going to lie to himself. Wasn't going to give himself false hope. There was no way he was coming out of that arena alive. Maybe it would be better to simply give up now, to take one of those blades and pretend to have a little accident. Just a little one. That was all it would take.

It would certainly be easier.

But he didn't. Instead, he sat down by Mariska at the snare station. Because as hopeless as things seemed – as hopeless as things were – he didn't want to die. He wanted to live. There was so much he still hadn't done. So much he still wanted to do. He would fight for that. And he would probably die fighting for it.

Probably. Almost certainly. But there was a tiny sliver of hope, however slim. A sliver that he had to hold onto.

Vashti held back a sigh as he settled down by Mariska, who was already sprawled out on the floor, trying to get a good angle for the next trap she was trying to construct. "Too obvious," he volunteered before she'd laid more than a few pieces. "Anyone with half a brain would see it."

Mariska shrugged. "Well, good thing not every tribute has half a brain."

"Touche. But the ones who are going to walk right into a trap like that probably aren't the ones we have to worry about."

"We have to worry about everyone," Mariska reminded him. "Even the thickest tributes can get lucky. Not everyone who's won the Games has been a genius."

That was certainly true. District Five had a tendency to take its Victors' intelligence for granted, but it was true that some Victors had simply gotten lucky. All it took was a split second, a quick decision, a bit of luck one way or the other.

He would have to keep that in mind.

Dinah Peralta, 18
District Three

"Honest? You want me as an ally?"

Dinah couldn't quite believe her ears. She'd been hoping that someone would ask, of course, but it still came as a surprise. It was almost the end of the second day of training, after all, and no one had approached her yet. She'd thought about asking several of the other tributes, but someone always seemed to get there first. And she didn't want to jump into an alliance that had already formed. Latecomers were usually more likely to break off from the alliance early on because even the audience didn't consider them the core members.

Not that the audience got to see how the tributes behaved during training. They didn't witness the alliances forming firsthand. But the subject tended to come up during the interviews, or during discussions in the Games themselves. And the first couple members of the alliance were usually the closest, the most trusting of each other.

So when the girl from Twelve smiled back at her and nodded matter-of-factly, Dinah couldn't help smiling in return. "Of course," Orphelia answered. "Is that really so surprising?"

There didn't seem to be a good answer to that. If she admitted that it was a surprise, Orphelia would undoubtedly wonder why. She was one of the older tributes, after all. One of the stronger tributes, maybe, aside from the Careers. Why wouldn't someone want her as an ally?

But if she said that – that she wasn't surprised – then would she come across as overly cocky? Maybe. But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Orphelia had already proposed the alliance, after all. Obviously, she saw something in Dinah. Dinah shrugged off the question with a smile. "I guess not. Just a surprise that you would be so up-front about it. I expected a little more … well, subtlety."

"I guess that makes sense," Orphelia agreed. "I just figured … well, two days of training are almost over. We'll be in the Games soon, and I don't…"

"You didn't want to end up alone in the arena," Dinah finished.

"Exactly."

"Makes sense," Dinah agreed. "And it sounds pretty good to me, too."

"Really? You mean it?"

Dinah smirked. "Is that so surprising?"

"A little," Orphelia admitted. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're from District Twelve, and that the girl from your district won last year," Dinah pointed out. "That might be enough to attract some attention from the sponsors. I know that you're willing to go out on a limb to try to get things done. You approached me to ask for an alliance even though you weren't certain I'd want one. That takes some guts. I like guts."

Orphelia blushed a little. "Thanks."

Dinah nodded. "So maybe now you can answer my question. Why me?"

"Pardon?"

"Maybe it's not so surprising that someone would want me as an ally, but why did you pick me to ask? There are plenty of other options – good ones, even," she added with a chuckle. "So why me?"

Orphelia hesitated. "It'll sound selfish."

"Selfish can keep you alive," Dinah pointed out.

"Maybe," Orphelia agreed. "I just didn't want to end up … tagging along with an alliance that was already there. You know what I mean?"

Dinah nodded. "I know exactly what you mean."

Orphelia Mykonos, 17
District Twelve

Part of her wanted to tell Dinah the truth.

Orphelia watched quietly as Dinah turned her attention back to the fishing net she was trying to make. While it was true that she hadn't wanted to join a large group, that wasn't the biggest reason she had picked Dinah. The truth was more selfish than that. She wanted someone who could keep her alive, and Dinah … well, she seemed to fit the bill. She was bigger and stronger than Orphelia. She seemed to know what she was doing with that net. In fact, she had seemed confident at most of the stations she had tried.

And confidence was one thing that could serve her well, especially after the fuss she'd caused at the reaping. The audience would be quick to forgive that if she made an impression once they were actually in the Games. And few things made a bigger impression than an alliance that actually worked well together. An alliance that could function as a group and survive together.

And Dinah would be a welcome addition to that group – but two tributes didn't make a group. "Do you think…" Orphelia started, adding just enough hesitation in her voice to practically guarantee that Dinah would ask the question she wanted.

"Do I think what?"

Orphelia shook her head. "Never mind. Bad idea." It wasn't, of course. But if she downplayed it, Dinah was more likely to go along with it, to take it and run with it to make her feel better.

"What is it?" Dinah prodded.

"Forget it. What I said about not wanting to join an alliance that was already there – I'm sure everyone else feels the same way."

"You think we should try to find someone to join us?"

Orphelia shook her head. "It's the second day of training, and almost the end of the day, at that. Do you really think anyone is going to want to join us?" Of course, she had already looked around and spotted several possibilities. Several tributes who didn't seem to be in an alliance yet. But if she let Dinah present the options, she would get a better feel for who Dinah might work well with.

"It doesn't look like the boy from Four is working with anyone yet." She nodded towards an older boy at one of the fire-starting stations. "But it didn't really seem like he wanted to work with anyone. There's a girl over there by herself, too." Dinah nodded towards the obstacle course, where a girl from Six with fading Henna tattoos was scrambling over the obstacles. "Or we could try to ask one of the other groups of two, see if they want to join up and make a group of four."

"We could," Orphelia agreed. "But four seems a bit … big." There were a few groups of three so far. Two of the tributes from Eleven seemed to be working with one of the boys from Four. The other boy from Eleven had teamed up with a girl from Four and a boy from One. The girl from Nine seemed to be working with the pair from Seven, and three of the younger boys seemed to have formed a group.

But four … the only group that large seemed to be the boys from Ten, along with a girl from Four and a girl from Eight. They had been eating lunch together, but had split up shortly after. Were they still a group? If not, forming a group of four would make them a tempting target for the Careers, the only group larger than that. That wasn't something she wanted.

Clearly, it wasn't something that Dinah wanted, either. "Well, if we want three, that doesn't leave us many options." She looked around again, double-checking to see if anyone else was available.

"Actually, I think it only leaves us one."

"Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great; art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win."