District 3: Joule Merchiers (13) Pov-

Pixel chews her toast thoughtfully. Even though she's sitting still, her eyes sparkle with a sort of playful light. From what I've seen of her on the train, she always looks like that when she's thinking about mischief.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Router asks.

I shake my head, pushing away from my empty plate. I'm too nervous to put anything in my stomach. What if the other tributes don't like me? What if the Capitol is upset because they hoped they'd have a super smart and tech-savvy District 3 boy this year? I stayed mostly to myself yesterday, but if I want to make a splash I can't keep doing that forever.

"Well, you should," Pixel says after swallowing her toast. "We don't eat anything until lunch. Are you nervous?"

I shrug.

We quickly get ready and hop into the elevator. The pair from 2 steps in one the way down. Pixel and I cram ourselves into the corner as far away from them as possible. The girl's black hair is tied back in a ponytail, while the boy has his arms folded and an expression that I can't quite interpret.

We arrive at the ground level just as tributes begin trickling into the gymnasium.

The head trainer gives us the rules, and then we're off. I was hoping to get a spot at the fire starting or shelter building stations, but they're already full by the looks of things. I guess I may as well take the opportunity to check off water purification.

The water purification station is very cozy. It might be relaxing if not for the fact that I'm surrounded by twenty-three other kids who could kill me in a week. The only light illuminating the place is fixed to the countertop upon which the station is set up. There are several glasses of water at varying degrees of stagnation. One cup is as clear as can be, while others are so yellow I can hardly see through. And everything in-between.

Life in District 3 hasn't taught me much about water purification. I know from the second the screen fires up that I'm about to learn a lot.

The holographic screen presents me with two different forms of iodine: tablets and drops. Using tablets is easy enough. Add one tablet per quart of water and stir vigorously. If the water is particularly dirty, add two tablets per quart. Then I have to use the droplets. They're much harder. If I hold the dropper at the wrong angle, the drops will be too big and extra iodine will be wasted.

Once the toil is over, the screen disappears. I was expecting to be taught something about boiling the water or filtering out the dirt. I guess I'll have to go to one of the other stations to learn those skills.

I get the attention of a nearby trainer and ask him what I'm supposed to do to get the station ready for the next person.

"Just leave it," he answers. "The avoxes come through and set everything back up."

His reply makes me so angry that I make a point to put everything back into place.

District 5: Adelaide Hampton (16) Pov-

Taking a deep breath, I quietly step into the simulation room. The door gently closes behind me, almost catching onto the blowgun strapped to my back. I figure that working with darts every opportunity I get is the best way to go. There's sure to be no shortage of poison in the arena, and if I can dip the tips of my darts in the poison it'll give them extra capacity to kill.

It's less than five seconds before the first holographic person shoots out of the projector. I reach for my shoulder, unclipping the blowgun and grabbing it with both hands just like the trainer showed me. A dart is already fitted inside. I put the pipe to my lips and blow hard.

The dart fires through the air, landing in what must be the holographic person's arm. With a dinging noise, it collapses, exploding into a shower of pixels that dissolve into the air around me. One down.

I can't help but let out a yelp of shock as a shuffling noise is heard behind me. One of the fake people is melting out of the wall I entered through, whereas two more are coming from the wall in front.

Spinning around on one foot, I load my next dart and fire it at the one behind me. He disappears. By the time I turn around, the other two are less than ten feet from me.

I shoot one dart into the neck of the larger of the two people, killing it. But I'm ultimately helpless as the third and final simulation closes its hand around my neck. I don't feel it, of course. It's made of air.

"Well I suppose I'm dead," I mutter, discouraged.

The loud buzzer from outside indicates that my time is up. The door creaks open, and I walk out, greeted by my trainer.

"You did great," she says. "Just remember not to let your guard down next time. You were so busy trying to kill the one behind you that you ignored the two on your other side."

I nod and step aside.

Two other tributes are at the station with me. The dark-haired girl from District 2 that makes all of the outliers, including myself, not going to lie, shrink back; and the boy from District 6—I think his name is Link?

The 2 girl steps in for her turn. Meanwhile, our trainer sits down at the control panel and I'm left alone with the 6 boy.

Awkward silence hangs in the air.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Lincoln Blitz," he answers.

"Pleasure. Adelaide Hampton."

But we don't say anything else. I'm usually good at starting conversations, but it's a very unique experience when the person you're trying to converse with could kill you at any time in the weeks to come. I suppose I don't have to talk to any of the others if I don't want to. There's nothing wrong with going solo.

District 4: Dory Krillgood (13) Pov-

I head over to the fire starting station once we're free to go; I want to be able to start a fire without matches. I kind of wasted yesterday trying to ally with my district partner. I can't imagine why. He's kind of an over thinker and he's not even that cute anymore.

The station for fire starting is one of the most popular stations from what I've seen on television, and it's no surprise that it's rather battered. It must have once been something like a sandbox filled with dirt, but several panels of wood have fallen down and dirt spills onto the tile in some places. There are a few other girls there, but I ignore them and follow the instructions on the screen.

I bunch a group of dry needles and leaves into a small space and place several sticks in a cone-shape on top. I decide to start with matches because I don't even know how to get a fire started with them. A jump shakes my body as the match catches fire, and I drop it in the pile of tinder, nervously awaiting the outcome.

According to the screen, the fire can't burn if the sticks are too tightly-packed together. Oxygen can't get in fast enough to keep the fire going. But by the looks of things, I've succeeded. Before I know it, the little pile of dry plant matter is throwing off curls of smoke.

Not wanting the fire to burn out, I pile more sticks on top. I seem to be doing well until the artificial wind machine kicks in. The cold air currents put out the fire in seconds.

"Can you show me how to get the big logs on fire like that?"

I look up and see a boy standing awkwardly in front of me. My first impression is that he's super cute. He has great dark-brown curls and piercing dark eyes.

A laugh tumbles to my lips, and I scooch aside. The boy sits down beside me.

"What's your name?" I ask, a flirty smile on my breath.

He leans back a bit as if discomforted. "Joule Merchiers. District 3."

"Lovely. I'm Dory. First thing you need to do is get your tinder going."

I bunch up a few pine needles into a small pile. Finally, I surround them with a cone made of three sticks. Joule does the same, his eyes following my hands and then jumping to his to repeat.

"See how the sticks make a triangle?"

"Um… yes?"

"If you were a triangle, you'd be acute one."

Joule lapses into uncomfortable silence, and understanding dawns on me that this boy clearly isn't my Mr. Right. I can't help feeling a little disappointed, because he really is super cute. But I suppose there are lots of other boys here I haven't talked to yet. Hope isn't completely gone.

District 11: Jaro Veldt (15) Pov-

I lift the axe up by the tip of the handle, so the blade is suspended in the air.

"Woah! That's way too heavy to throw!" Lexie shouts.

"Yeah. We wouldn't want you taking off anyone's head," Cyan adds. "Not yet, at least."

"Nothing's too heavy to throw," I groan. "You just lift it up and throw it."

Swinging on one foot to gather momentum, the axe is thrown out from my center. Before I accidentally let go and dismember some poor tribute, I let go of the weapon. It flies through the air, and Cyan has to duck to keep the blade from singing off his stray curls. The blade buries itself into the foam target board, and I step back, satisfied.

"That was awesome, Jaro," Cyan calls. "Really awesome."

"Thanks."

"That was not awesome," Lexie says snarkily. "He could have killed you."

Cyan offers a rebuttal right away. "He could not have killed me. And there are peacekeepers all around with supplies and stuff."

Cyan and Lexie fade into argument, and I'm left alone. In the few days since I volunteered, I've developed a very valuable tactic for whenever my fear starts to crawl back up. I just think of nothing. Not even a blank screen. Literally nothing. Without fail, the exercise calms me back down in a minute or two.

Someone shakes my shoulder.

I groggily open my eyes and see Lexie standing above me. "Get up, sleepyhead. You want to keep training or you want to sleep the day away?"

I get to my feet. A look at the clock tells me I was asleep for about four minutes. Lexie and Cyan are already back to throwing axes. I've never actually considered suggesting an alliance between us three. I just figure it can't hurt to make a few friends in training.

I walk to the cooler in the corner for a swig of water before grabbing an axe of my own to practice with.

I wish I could just sleep the day away, but sadly I can't. Shame really, seeing as that would be a rather nice way to slog through this hell.

District 10: Mavvi Levist (17) Pov-

This is just like high school all over again.

I walk into the training center and everybody nearby does that look-away thing. It's not like it bothers me much. Being the deaf girl with the weird voice isn't how I chose to live.

The shelter building station grows nearer and nearer. One look at some of the larger tributes tells me there's no way I'll be able to overpower them physically. Outsmarting them mentally is more of my style.

I reach the station and the pile of fallen logs within. A glance at the holographic screen tells me that the first thing to do is find a good tree—one with a sturdy trunk that's not too tall. There's only one artificial tree at the station, so I don't have much choice.

I slip on the red rubber gloves the station provides and begin stacking branches around the artificial tree. I can't tell if it's real wood that I'm using. It's either really well-made fake or really worn-down real. I stand the first long branch straight up before letting it fall onto the vertical trunk. So far, so good.

As the minutes blend together, I continue lining branches in a cone-shape around the trunk. Once, I accidentally fall forward, snapping a few in half. It takes several minutes to pull everything out and replace it, but the finished product is well-worth it. The structure of branches reminds me a lot of when the butcher tears away the skin of the game back in District 10 and only the skeleton is left.

The thought simmers in my mind for a few seconds before I cast one more hateful look at the gamemakers. One takes notice of me, but she quickly looks back toward two career boys dueling with swords. They must be far more interesting to watch than us, I suppose.

Next, the screen instructs me to line plant matter around the skeleton. My eyes land on a bucket filled to the brim with leaves and smaller sticks. The earthy aroma is pleasant.

I glance at the clock once I finally finish, expecting to see that hours have passed. I've taken thirty minutes! They say time flies when you're having fun. I suppose that would mean time slows down when your likely imminent death is mere days away.

District 7: Erik Nordskov (18) Pov-

I hold the dagger close to my face, allowing my reflection to be seen in the metal. The lights overhead hit the blade and bounce off, throwing bright beams against the walls and floor. If I said I've never seen anything this beautiful, I'd be lying. Rhiannon's eyes put the glistening dagger to shame.

"Are you coming?" Cerise stands in the doorway, holding a spear and a knife.

"Yep," I say, fitting my two daggers into my belt. Cerise walks into the simulation room. I follow, lightly shutting the door behind me.

"What difficulty should we set it to?" Cerise asks, starting toward the control panel.

I furrow my brow, thinking hard. "Why don't we start out on six? We can go higher later."

Everything in position, we wait in silence for a few moments. She yelps as the first orange pixelated hologram fires out of the projector, bounding toward us. I run right in with my first dagger, thrusting it into what would be the hologram's abdomen. It collapses in a shower of orange, gone forever.

It's only after the pixels dissipate completely that I realize Cerise is in trouble. Three different holograms are cornering her against the wall. She seems to have abandoned all forms of coherent strategy, twirling around her knife and spear and trying to knock them away.

I bound toward the scene and swipe out the largest threat. While the other two are distracted with me, Cerise finishes them off, her spear skewering through them like a toothpick through meat.

"Wow. That was really good, Erik," she remarks.

"Thanks."

"I think we both kind of messed up in the middle. We pretty much stuck to ourselves and ignored each other," Cerise critiques.

I just nod. I don't mind her poking holes in my plans as long as she doesn't poke holes in me.

"Allies, then?" Cerise blurts out so quickly it's almost comedic.

I'm sure my brothers Jakob and Jonas are watching from back home in District 7. And Rhiannon. What would they want me to do? I figure if I want to get home to them I might as well take a moment to think from their perspective.

My head shakes in a nod as I finally make my decision.

District 6: Lexus Beltran (16) Pov-

I was expecting the bow station to be crowded with tributes. But it's only me and one other kid, a boy with light hair that shows he's from District 9. I remember from the recap that his name is Luc.

The trainer steps out of the way, and I walk forward. I fit an arrow onto the bowstring, very conscious of the way two gamemakers are peering down at me from above. I let the arrow fly. It whizzes through the air and buries itself into the wooden target board, three rings away from the bulls-eye.

I turn around. Luc has a pitying look on his face. Nothing a quick lie can't fix.

I lower my voice as if telling a secret. "Don't worry. My mom's a professional archer back in District 6. I'm just pretending to be weak so the others don't target me."

Luc doesn't look convinced. "Whatever. It's my turn."

Disheartening me still more is the fact that Luc's arrow lands in the target with astounding accuracy. Only a few inches to the left and he'd've gotten a perfect strike.

"You know I'm missing these shots on purpose," I say, my brain rushing to think of another lie. Luckily, I'm a quick thinker. "And my mom is friends with some of the top trainers at the academy in District 2."

I've always seen lying as my best weapon. Everyone says it's not healthy, but hey. Nobody ever got through life by being a goody two-shoes and being honest. I acted all innocent at the reaping, but the time for innocence is over. This isn't a game. I can't go home until all of the others are inside of coffins.

"That's… whatever. It's your turn. We only have ten more minutes and then we have to switch stations," Luke urges impatiently.

I grab an arrow from my quiver and close one eye, the better for steady aim.

I can imagine a new target board is order. Especially because—well, you know, an arrow is lodged into the bull's eye.

I step back, beaming in admiration at my handiwork.

Luc takes one more turn ("gosh, if only I'd shot a few more inches to the right") and then our time is up.

On my journey to the knife station, a gamemaker follows me with his gaze. Probably shocked how much I've changed.

I just offer him a nod. That little crying girl from District 6 is gone.

District 10: Orford Shaw (18) Pov-

I hope the gauntlet is as easy as the careers make it seem.

I've barely made one step onto the first platform when one of the trainers sends a weapon flying my way, a spiked club. My feet spring up from the platform, and I cartwheel up to the next level just as two more trainers rush toward me.

A long baton swings toward me. I quickly dance out the way and find myself trapped between two weapons, a sword and another mace. I leap upward, and the weapons clang together beneath my feet.

Groaning, I climb to the next platform. My muscles burn with exhaustion. The end is in sight… well, it was always in sight, but at least it's getting closer. My legs have a close scrape with injury as a trainer swings a club toward me, but I slide to the left just in time to escape.

By the looks of things, the course is about halfway completed. I notice two careers watching me from below, eyeing me as if they're sizing me up.

The sight motivates me so much that the trainers can't catch up with me. I spring upward and upward, cartwheeling up steps and around obstacles. Less than ten seconds of dodging weapons later, my feet crash down onto the top of the gauntlet.

One of the career boys sets his mouth into a firm line, nodding as if mildly impressed.

Emotions clash inside of me. For one, I've just shown them that I'm not a weakling. They can't challenge me without expecting a, well, challenge. On the other hand, there's a very real chance I just skyrocketed upward on their kill list. If I had to pick one, I'd choose the former any day. But the Hunger games isn't really a game of choice, now, is it?

Alliances:

Careers: Sangria, Declan, Nero, Jaehaera

Pranksters 'R' Us: Pixel, Hopper

11 and 12: Adelia, Remi

Jack and Jill: Cerise, Erik

Loners (For Now): Joule, Dory, Cyan, Adelaide, Arthur, Lexus, Lincoln, Twilla, Caden, Harper, Luc, Mavvi, Orford, Jaro

Here are the next eight tributes! I didn't intend for there to be a severe lack of dialogue in this chapter, it just kind if played out like that. Expect the third and final day of training sooner than later. Whether they deal with thoughts, speculations, or anything else, I love your reviews! Please consider dropping one if you have the time :D

Question 1: What color are the rubber gloves in the training center? (Hint: Check Mavvi's Pov)

Question 2: Which of the following weapons is not used on the gauntlet: baton, spiked club, axe?