CHAPTER 2

CATO:

We board on the very luxurious train, and walk towards a sort of a living room.

I sit down in the sofa in the middle, and make some space for Clove. She doesn't sit though. She just stares at me. Not her famous eye piercing stare that everyone is terrified of. A different look, a look I've seen on her face only once before.

"Don't give me that look" I say motioning her to sit down. And she sits, but doesnt say a word.

"I don't want to fight you Cato" She says after a few minutes.

I want to say I know, and that she won't, but I know it's inevitable, at some point, it will happen. I decide to lighten up the mood of the room.

"Why, because you admit your not as strong as me" I grin, making her smile.

"No" She laughs, "I'm scared you'll die in the bloodbath, and I won't be able to stick my knife in that weak heart.

"Please, I bet you wont even make it to the last eight" I say back just as we see someone walk in the room.

CLOVE:

"Who are you" I says annoyed.

"Could say the same thing to you miss" She says coming in closer. And I can see that her teeth are filed or carved like a predators, all triangular.

I reach into my pocket for a knife, and aim it at her heart. She barely dodges.

"I see your good with knifes" She says. "How many you got"

Why don't you see for yourself" I say, as I widen my custom pocket. There is a leather Knife organizer that holds 6 good size knives. Then I untie my hair, revealing the two small knives strapped to the hair binder. I don't tell her about the two daggers hidden in my boots, just in case I have to surprise her with them.

"Impressive. And what about you blondie" She asks Cato. He doesn't carry weapons with him though.

He manages to come up with, "I dont need some weapons to take someone down"

"Likely" She says with sarcasm, "Anyway, Im Enobaria, your mentor"

"Mentor? I ask" I'm glad I made a good impression on her, she's the one who lets the sponsor gifts pass through.

"Yes, for you I'd say stick to the knives, they always have knives in the Cornucopia" She says to me.

"And you" She says to Cato, "What's your weapon"

"A sword or a spear, but more a sword"

"Practice both" She notes, "You never know which one you can get your hands on"

"Can we go through the other tributes now?"

"It'll be appearing on the big screen any moment now" She says, and as if on cue the TV shows the replays.

District one, a girl named Glimmer and boy named Marvel. The girl looks so pathetic, she standing there trying to look tough and winking at guys.

The boy Marvel doesn't seem as bad, but still he looks like meat.

"These will be your allies" Enobaria says, "be on good terms with them until the last 8. Then you two can either leave together or alone I don't care. As long as one of you win"

"The girl seems pathetic" I blurt, "She is such a girly girl, she'll die because of stopping to fix her hair probably."

"Don't underestimate anyone" Enobaria shuts me up.

"Yeah" Cato backs her up, "She could be playing pretty but kill viciously in the arena"

"We'll find out soon" I roll my eyes.

Then are district comes up. I get homesick a bit. But I was right, even Enobaria complimented Cato on his demand, saying it can get sponsors.

Then I see me, to anyone who can't read my mind would get the same uh oh feeling when I come up to the stage and stare and the cameras with my famous killer stare.

I dont bother to listen to the rest, they all look like chicken waiting to be cooked. But my eyes open wide when I see the massive figure, the boy tribute from District 11.

"We have to get him as an ally" I say, as Cato nods.

"Definitely" Enobaria confirms, "Use him up until the last 4-5, then kill him in his sleep"

"Sounds easy enough" Cato says.

As my mind is about to go blind again, after all District 12 is the lamest of them all, I notice the girl tribute is so young. The odds were not in her favor this year" But before I can dismiss the idea of taking her as an ally just to give her a chance, comotion starts. An older girl volunteers for her, most likely her sister. But district 12 never had a volunteer. That could get her a lot of sponsors. I changed my mind, this girl will be the first I'm killing.

"Did she just" Cato drifts off.

"The first volunteer for that district I presume"

She says as she turns back to us. "That act can benefit her, some sponsors look for that, keep an eye on her."

Then the boys tribute is picked, he doesn't look too pathetic. He seems to have some muscles which is not common in district 12. And the screen turns black.

"District 3 to 10 are goners" Cato says breaking silence.

"Pretty much, the ones we should watch out for are the boy from 11 and the ones from 12" I add.

"Why 12" Cato says confused.

"The girl wouldn't of volunteered unless she knew she stood some chance, maybe she hunts Cato, you told me not to underestimate, now you doing the same" I snap back.

"Then why the boy" I says angry now.

"Are you blind, didn't you see the boy had muscles. None of the other tributes had. Not the Glimmer girl not the Marvel boy."

"I have muscles too, I bet he works as a coal miners, most of those have muscles. Besides so what if he does."

"Coal miners, seriously Cato? He looks like he has been lifting weights his whole life, are there weights in that district? No, so he's probably the baker's son"

"Bakers son? Clove your kidding. You thinks putting icing gives you muscles?"

"Cato there is such a thing as flour, maybe he has been lifting those around, maybe he has been training on his own just in case, you never know"

"Any of them could have been training on their own Clove, now what, should we watch out for all of them"

"Just shut up Cato" I yell.

"Why don't you shut up" He yells back.

"ENOUGH!" Enobaria yells in a louder voice than all of us. "WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS GOING TO GET YOU BOTH. ARGUING OVER HOW THE DUMBAS* BOY GOT SOME MUSCLES OF WHY THE GIRL VOLUNTEERED. WHY DON'T YOU GO OVER YOUR STRATEGIES YOUR GOING TO USE. DO SOME SHI* THAT IS USEFUL OF I'LL KILL YOU BOTH RIGHT HERE AND NOW"

With that she leaves the living room and goes into a door in the hallway, shutting it with a big bang. Scaring the hell out of us too. Turns out all you needed was to get her angry, and that's how you would die. I bet Cato and I would be dead right now if it weren't for the fact that we're the tributes she is representing.

"She cusses like hell" Cato says.

"Please" I joke, "I can cuss better than that. But like she said let's get to the strategies"

"Divide and Conquer always works" Cato suggests.

"We can't do that in an arena, nobody is going to be allies except us probably." I say. "Why don't we hunt in the night and sleep in the morning" I offer.

"And if we can make our camp and gather the supplies right after the bloodbath, we can have the advantage."

"Because people are most likely to lower their guard in the night" I finish his sentence. And then we hear cheers outside, I look out the window and we made it. There are huge crowds cheering us as we pass.

"Lets wave, better we start with impressions now than later" Cato says as he and I get up and start waving to the people outside.

Inside my mind I think. Why are we waving to these people, they will be betting on how long we are going to live. They don't care about us, they only care about the money that they can get if they bet correctly. I shake the thought off, as the train slowly stops at the destination. The Capitol