Eryn Winters (15)- D12F

Rooker is crunching on slices of caramel apple, licking the sticky substance from his lips. Back in Twelve, fresh apples aren't exactly easy to find unless you secretly find some small ones in the forest surrounding the district, and that's illegal. Most of the ones that are sent over to us from Eleven are mushy and mostly flavorless, but here they are ripe and juicy. Rooker seems to be enjoying them, but the caramel ruins them for me. It's not as good as the caramel that my parents make for the shop. I miss eating sweets with every meal, my parents scolding Merylla and I for stealing too many. I sigh heavily. I miss Merylla.

"What is it?" Rooker asks, his eyes wide. He's still afraid to talk to me very often, and I don't think he's spoken to anyone else in the Capitol. Even when his stylist comes around, he's completely silent. Even now he seems nervous.

"I just miss home," I say, messing with the caramel on my plate with my spoon.

He lowers his eyes. "I do too."
"Alright, everyone!" Effie clucks as she flutters into the room. Today she's dressed in a bright blue dress and makeup that makes her look like a giant blue fish. She swims over to us with a laugh when she sees what we're eating. "You are both so lucky you don't have to stay trim," she huffs. "You can eat as much as you want since the Games will slim you right up!"

The thought is depressing. I wonder if Effie even realizes that we might be dead in a couple of days. She never talks about it, but she's been doing this for years. She's seen plenty of poor Twelve kids disappear into arenas and not come back, but that doesn't curb her enthusiasm.

"It's your last day of training," Effie tells us, as if we don't already know. "So make sure you have all of your skills down-pat. Tomorrow you'll get to show them off to the Gamemakers!"

"We will, Effie," I say. My trapmaking skills are coming along nicely with Triple A's help. The nickname is strange, but he says that it helps him feel at home. His experience with nature and working at his grandmother's butcher shop is going to help us in the arena. He's been trying to teach me which plants and edible and which aren't, and how to disappear into the woods. It's going to help us outlast the other tributes long enough to conserve our energy and make traps. Maybe Effie will finally see a tribute return from the arena.

Rooker is completely silent, staring at his plate. I can't say that better chances of survival isn't the main reason I've allied with Triple A. He's nice and easy to talk to, even though he's quiet. It's different than Rooker, not as nervous.

"We need to go downstairs soon," I say, carefully placing my silverware down onto my plate. My parents always taught me how to be polite. An advantage that comes with being in a merchant family, I guess. "Can't waste any time."

"That's the spirit, Eryn!" Effie cries happily. "Have a great time down there!"

Tomas Fields (15)- D11M

The air around the Training Center is somewhat panicked. It seems everyone has realized this is the last chance they have to master their skills as people flit from station to station, their eyes wide. Of course, Drew is immune to this atmosphere, trapped in his own little bubble. We're at the fire-making station again, finally starting to make progress.

I hold my hands over his to help him feel what he should do, eventually making a fire with the sticks. It's a small victory, but now he's determined to make one by himself. I'm not willing to tell him it might not be possible, seeing as it's a goal of his now. I glance over at the weapons section. They don't have any sickles, really the only weapon that I'm experienced with, but I hope a curved sword will produce the same effect in the arena.

Drew curses as the sticks fall out of his hands again. He hits his fist against the ground in anger, his eyes glaring at nothing. "I need a break," he says abruptly.

"Alright," I say. "What are you thinking?"

"Do you hear that water?"

"Hmm? Water?"

"It sounds like the ocean," he says with longing. "Is there a pool here?"

"I don't think so," I say, looking around. "Maybe it's raining or something."

"It's not that kind of water," Drew says dismissively. "I swear I hear it." He stands shakily, surprising me. "Come on."

"Oh," I say, shocked. "Drew, maybe we should stay here."

"Don't be stupid, I can find it."

He stumbles in the direction of the weapons station, feeling ahead of himself with his hands. It's a whole spectacle for the other tributes, who stop to watch him, gaping. He makes it past the weapons and over to a door on the wall that I've never seen before.

"Drew, maybe we should slow down-"

"It's behind here," he insists, feeling for the handle. The door swings open to reveal a bright blue pool of water, sending shimmery shadows onto the ceiling. "Here it is," he says with a proud smile.

"Damn, you were right!" I exclaim, pushing past him. He struggles into the room and closes the door behind him, still grinning.

"Of course I was. I only lived in District Four my whole life." Suddenly he's taking off his shirt and reaching for my hand. "Let's get in."

"You can get in," I say, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the pool. His foot touches the edge of the pool, making him jump. He leans down to slip off his shoes.

"You don't want to swim? Do people not do that in Eleven?"

"Where would we do it? We're miles from shore."

Drew leaps into the water, drenching me and my clothes. "Holy shit, Drew! You can't see!"

"Doesn't matter if you can see to swim," he laughs, spitting out water. "You just need to feel."

His body cuts through the water like a dolphin, ducking down and back up, grinning from ear to ear. He's clearly been swimming his entire life. I catch myself watching his Four-green eyes, the same as mine. I wonder if he remembers how my eyes look. He probably only say me once, at my Reaping. Would he even notice that I look straight off the streets of Four?

"Get in here!" Drew yells in no particular direction. I sigh as I shed my shirt and shoes.

"Fine, but I can't promise I'll stay."

I move back a little to get a running start, then jump into the pool with a giant splash. The water is deeper than I expected, making me flounder around for a little while before getting a rhythm going with my arms and legs.

"I can swim!" I say with delight. "Did you hear that, Drew?"

"I hear you," Drew says. "I know where we're going to head during the Games."

Grizelda "Zel" Weaver (18)- D9F

I smile to myself as I choose the correct plants yet again in the plants identification test, holding my hand under Reina proudly. I'm going to get her back to her father, no matter what it takes.

The dull thud of a throwing knife finding its home in a target reaches my ears. At the weapons station, the girl from Four is hitting each target with a deadly accuracy. Her gorgeous sea-green eyes stare into her own reflection in one of the knives, her brows drawn together, before it's quickly buried in a dummy's stomach. My hand tightens against my own stomach. I doubt anyone would any kindness would aim for my baby, but I'm sure some of the Careers wouldn't mind putting on a show for the Capitol.

Yesterday I asked our escort about pregnant girls in previous Games. He told me, somberly for once, that there have been only five pregnant girls in the Games before me, and only one has made it past the second day. She lived until the fourth day, when dehydration, hunger, and stress caused her to miscarry. She wasn't able to move for a long time, and eventually a wild bear was attracted to the smell of blood and she was mauled to death. It's a gruesome story, and one that the escort seemed uncomfortable to tell, despite his apparent enthusiasm for everything Hunger Games.

The odds aren't in my favor, and I know that. My heart feels heavy when I press both hands to my stomach. But even if I don't survive, Reina can't die. She needs to get back to our family in Nine. The escort said that none of the girl's babies have ever survived the Games, but I'm determined that mine will.

I move to the trap-making station. If I'm going to feed both of us, I'll need to catch my own food, even if I do manage to snag some from the cornucopia. I manage to make some simple stick traps that can capture a rabbit or maybe something bigger. It will all depend on the arena, but very rarely do the Gamemakers not provide us with prey.

There are more sounds from the weapons section. I glance over and see the boy from Four and his unlikely ally are stumbling around together. Even though no one has officially said it, it's clear something is wrong with his vision. They disappear into the pool room, which is slightly hidden in the back of the Center. No one has gone there this whole time, and the projections that the water sends on the ceiling look awfully refreshing and inviting, but I don't have time to waste on recreational activities. My eyes lineup the tributes who are messing with the weapons. Among them is the Ten pair, the girl waving around a machete at the sword station. She's actually quite proficient with it, and I'm reminded of a plan I've had since the first day of training.

Allying with Triple A would be suicide, but the Ten girl is a worthy ally. Outer district, also eighteen, a good fighter, and clever. She's been practicing all the skills she can, and while her partner is a liability, I can look past it. I find myself standing up.

The pair looks up at me as I approach. The girl's blue eyes narrow, the boy's brown ones widening. He's cute under his mop of ginger curls.

"Hello," I say. "My name's Zel."

"Filly," the girl says. I smile at her, despite her distrustful expression.

"I've been watching you for these last couple of days, and I hope you've been watching me. I'm determined and smart and capable."

"I'm sure you are," Filly says. "But I'm sorry. We can't have a pregnant woman on our team."

"Don't look at me as a pregnant woman," I say indignantly. "See me as someone who will do anything to get home."

"So a threat."

I balk. "That's not what I meant."

"I'm sorry," Filly says, turning away to hack at the dummy again with her machete. The boy watches me with sad eyes as I realize I've been rejected. Humiliated and angry, I head back to the survival stations.

Nicolette "Nikki" Anderson (18)- D4F

"This kid is annoying me again!" Rufina hisses as she approaches me. "He thinks he's a big man, I guess. Thinks he has a chance against us."

I glance over at the kid in question, the little one from Three. "Everyone has a chance," I remind her benignly.

"Sure, but messing with me isn't going to increase his chance of survival," she says darkly.

"What did he do?"

"Just won't give up his spear. That little…"

I look closer at Rufina. Her jaw clenches in anger, but underneath I see something in her eyes that tells me she's not just angry with that boy. I know Rufina's sarcasm is a facade, designed to hide her own moral misgivings. I've done it for too long myself not to recognize it.

"He's probably not trying to annoy you," I say, throwing my trident into a dummy's stomach. I imagine someone's guts spilling out of their body.

Rufina looks up at me sharply. "I don't care what he's trying to do," she says through clenched teeth. "He's a nuisance. And you are starting to be one, too. She glares at me. "Lately you've been acting like you don't even want to be here. Maybe you should go team up with Drew and his little buddy." She stomps over to the spears and grabs the boy's spear right out of his hand, throwing it past him into a bull's eye. "Just wait until I do that to you!" she says dangerously.

The boy trembles with fear, his eyes widening behind his glasses. "I-I'm sorry," he says.

"Yeah, you're gonna be," Rufina sneers.

"Why don't you just leave him alone?" It's the boy from Six, Jason. I would recognize him anywhere with his jet black hair, sharp jawline, and handsome blue eyes.

"I'm sorry?" Rufina laughs, clearly not expecting any opposition. I grab onto Marcus' gold chain around my neck as Jason's eyes darken.

"You heard me. Just go back to your own weapons and let the young ones be."

"Are you seriously trying to talk to me right now?" Rufina says incredulously. "Get back to repairing trains, Six."

"You wouldn't be talking to me like that if I graduated from the Peacekeeper Academy," Jason says firmly. "I would be transferred to Two for a while to train and you would have to call me 'sir'."

Rufina strides over to him, looking him in the eyes despite their obvious height difference. Pixel scurries away behind her. "It's a good thing you were Reaped then. Now you won't have to serve me in Victor's Village for the rest of your life." She traipses back to me, glancing back at him to say, "Stop putting a target on your back, Six."

I glare at her as she returns. "You know what, Rufina? You're right. I don't want to be here. Tell the others to count me out of the alliance."

"What?"

I walk over to Jason, who is looking at me with one eyebrow raised. "Let me show you how to use a sword."

"I already know," he says after a moment. "Do you know how to catch your own food?"

"Not as well as I'd like. Let's go."

Amelia Waltraud (16)- D5F

I glance up at Caleb, chewing on my sandwich quietly. Luckily they don't serve us rich foods during training, otherwise I think I would throw up from nerves. Having to keep my secret from Caleb is killing me, but I don't know what else to do. Our father made me promise to never tell anyone, no matter what. I don't know what he would do to my mother if I did.

I miss Elanor. The thought permeates every minute of every day here. I'm not used to talking very much, but Elanor's chatter and the sound of my mother cooking as we read old books in my bedroom have become comforting over the years. I can only hope I'll hear them again.

The ham sandwich I'm eating is good, made with quality bread and smoked ham, as well as some kinds of luxury cheeses I've never heard of before, with fresh vegetables on the side. This meal is probably more expensive than what I eat at Five in a week, but I still miss my mother's cooking. I would trade this sandwich for one of my mother's, made with rough bread and this pieces of ham and nothing else, in a heartbeat.

I glance around the room as I take another bite. Everyone seems surprised to see that now the girl from Four is no longer eating with the other Careers, instead sitting with the guy from Six. The remaining Careers are huddled together over their meal, discussing something in hushed tones.

"It's good that they are splitting up fast," Caleb says. I turn to look at him for a moment before lowering my gaze. I can only hope he doesn't ask one day why I can never look him in the eye. "They're weaker. Easier to take on."

I nod gently, placing a carrot into my mouth and biting down with a too-loud crunch. Everything here is so loud; there's no privacy. I'm not used to living like this. I've been hiding my whole life. Elanor is the only person I didn't have to hide from. I reach up to hold the necklace that she gave me before I left for the Capitol. Somehow I know in District Six, she is wearing the other half of the heart.

"I think after lunch we need to work on our bow and arrow skills a little more, and then the plant identification. How does that sound?"

I nod without looking up. Caleb has taken to asking questions a lot, perhaps hoping I will speak up, but I simply can't go against him.

"Alright." I notice him fiddling with a friendship bracelet on his wrist, his token. I immediately let go of my necklace and focus on my food.

I've been thinking a lot about Caleb's family (your family) ever since he told me about his sister's death. She would be the same age as me if she had lived. I remember her being Reaped, though the memory is somewhat faded now. I was twelve as well, standing in the same section as her. I didn't know who she was at the time; I had never met my half-siblings. But my father had acted so strangely afterward, always angry and late on his payments, to the point that my mother threatened to tell his wife who I was. Once it had all blown over, the girl long dead, I asked my mother what had happened. She told me everything, and I had felt sick to my stomach for a few days, but then got over it. She might have been my half-sister, but I'd never met her, and she hadn't known I existed. She was hardly family.

I glance up at Caleb. Things might be different with him.

Denver O'Casey (14)- D10M

Filly has been quiet ever since she rejected the pregnant girl from our alliance. She didn't talk to me at all during lunch, and afterward she heads to the weapons area without a word. Her silence is unusual for her, and is reminding me of when Daelyn is in one of her moods, so I decide to go off on my own to the survival stations. I'm not going to be able to use a weapon in the arena anyway, so why bother? I should use my time wisely.

As I make a couple fires at the other end of the room, I watch Filly wielding her machete. She's taken a liking to it in the past couple of days. The sickening sight of the blade's sharp edge makes my skin crawl. I know Filly wouldn't choose to have me in her alliance if I wasn't her district partner, so I guess the ends are somewhat in my favor. But the affair with Zel has left me wondering if she's going to make a reliable ally. Doesn't it make sense to ally with as many people as possible? Sure, she's pregnant, but our forces would be much stronger with her, even if she was a complete weakling like me.

After mastering the fires, I turn to the plant identification. I do my best to choose the correct plant for each name that I'm given, but I swear all of them look the same. Frustrated, I look over at the weapons and realize Filly isn't there. A once-over of the room reveals that she's sitting on a bench to the side of the blades. I decide to go over and talk to her, even though her troubled look is reminding me more and more of Daelyn. Maybe I can try to bring out the better side of her like I can sometimes do with my sister.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, sitting down on the bench. She looks up at me with surprise, like she didn't see me coming over.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry I've been acting so weird. It's the Nine girl."

"Did you change your mind?" I ask hopefully.

"No, no. We're doing the right thing," she says. "I know it's hard to understand, but more allies would just hold us back, especially a pregnant one." She takes a deep breath. "The Games are full of difficult decisions. This is just the first. We can't get hung up on it. Denver."

"I understand," I say gloomily. Maybe Filly is right. We can't afford to make friends or start to care about that girl's baby.

"Hey, do you want to try the maces?" she asks with the characteristic glint in her eye. I've succeeded in bringing her back!

"Well, we can try…" I trail off uncomfortably.

"It's easy. You just swing it around and hit everything you can."

Filly's idea of 'easy' is much different than mine. The maces are heavy and unwieldy, especially the swinging ones. Filly's strong arms swing around the spiky ball with ease, knocking into dummies left and right. The force is enough to tear through some of the hard rubber casing, permanently damaging them.

I've always known that Filly was going to be a great ally, but it's only now occurring to me that she's also a great threat.

Rufina Fastolf (18)- D2F

We've been left with no choice. The Four couple has been incredibly disappointing; their tributes are usually strong, even though their training Academy isn't as prestigious as the One and Two Academies. And Nikki especially seemed promising, given her status as the daughter of two victors. Very rarely does someone like that exist, let alone enter the arena.

But they've both turned out to be pieces of shit the rest of us have to scrape off our shoes.

The Career alliance can't be only four people. Five maybe, six preferably, but not four. I glance at Hadrian and Tiger, who are currently steadfastly ignoring each other. It might become three, or even just me and Tiffany if Tiger can't let go of his stupid grudge.

We have no choice but to ask some of the other tributes to be in our alliance. The debate was long and heated, but we've finally made our decision. The boy from Six would have been our first choice naturally; his Peacekeeper training would come in handy no matter how annoying he is. But that's off the table now. The girl from Ten is strong as well, but she's attached to her little playmate. As such, our best bet is the pair from Seven. They're both strong, capable, and pretty good with their weapons. And fortunately, there isn't a reason they would say no.

Unfortunately, Tiffany and I were the ones chosen to ask them. "Everyone likes girls," Tiger had said suggestively, causing both of us to roll our eyes in annoyance. But he's right in a way. Tiffany and I are very beautiful of course, and the boy will react better to us than another male. And we're not going to say anything stupid to the girl like the guys might. We don't want to scare them off… although, they don't seem like a couple that scares easily.

The two of them are practicing at the throwing knives station, the guy leaning lazily on the wall to the side with his arms crossed. The girl throws a knife into a moving target, seeming pleased with it sticks.

"Hello!" Tiffany chirrups. The two look over with clear surprise, but they're gazes turn dark when they see who we are. "My name's Tiffany and this is Rufina," Tiffany continues. "And I know yours! Sebastian and Willow."

"That's right," Willow says slowly.

"Listen, our alliance has been going through a rough patch. We lost both tributes from Four, and we know how strong you two are. You have the best chances of survival than any of the other outside of our alliance, and within it you'd have even greater chances."

"Are you seriously asking us if we want to join the Careers?" the girl asks incredulously. The boy just stares at us with an indecipherable expression.

"We are," I say, maybe too loudly. Some of the other tributes start to look at us.

The girl stares at us for a little while longer, then shrugs. "Sure."

"Yay!" Tiffany claps her hands together, a blinding smile on her face. "What about you, Sebastian?"

"No offense," he sneers, "but I would rather chisel out my own eyeballs with a fucking spoon, deep-fry them and eat them like meatballs."

Tiffany recoils immediately as I laugh. "You're funny," I say. "Are you sure about this? You know we are the strongest alliance in the Games, right?"

"I know as much as I need to," he growls, sending Willow a dirty look before stalking away.

"Well, that didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked out nicely," Tiffany says, her smile back. She pats Willow on the back. "Welcome to the Careers."

"Well, I'm just glad to be invited," Willow says with a smirk, mimicking Tiffany by putting her hand on her back as well. "There aren't a lot of pretty girls here."

It looks like our plan worked, though not exactly in the way we thought it would.

Spool Nylon (12)- D8M

The two of us are sparring with trainers at the swords section when the Seven guy from yesterday walks up to us. He's fuming about something or other, his eyebrows drawn together and face beet-red with anger.

"What is it?" Sock asks before I can stop her. We shouldn't be associating with older tributes, which is what I told her last night after him and his ally approached us. It's probably just a ploy to get close to us and then eliminate us, and even if it isn't, he could easily take us out if it came down to that. He's much bigger than we are.

"It looks like I'll be the only one joining you," he says, seething. "Willow is with the Careers now."

"Who said anything about you joining us?" I ask pointedly, glossing over his other point.

"Don't be ridiculous," he says, taking a seat near the swords. "You need me. You think the two twelve-year olds are going to face the older tributes all on your own?"

"We're not scared to kill," Sock says fiercely.

"I didn't say you were." Seb's sky-blue eyes look deeply into mine. "Just think about it. The training scores will come out soon and then you'll see why I'm valuable."

Atala calls to everyone as she does at the end of every day, and the trainers start putting back their swords. "You'll see," Seb says before turning away and leaving.

I take a deep breath and turn to Sock. "Well, we have to get a good night's sleep for tomorrow."

…

Later than night, Sock and I are sitting in the living room watching the Captiol Square. The people are horrid, but their city is beautiful and the lights mesmerizing. Our escort is off preparing something with our stylists, and our mentors rarely leave their rooms. We're alone together for what feels like the first time in ages.

"Do you think we should let him join us, Tag?" Sock asks, breaking the silence. "He's strong and he was probably a lumberjack. He would know how to use an axe."

"Did you see him using any axes during training?" I ask sharply. "Or doing anything at all? He's nothing but a lazy jerk-off."

"Maybe we should wait for the training scores like he said," she answers quietly.

"Doesn't matter what his training score is. He's a threat. We can only trust each other."

"Who says we trust each other?"

I turn to look at her, one eyebrow raised. She's putting on her warrior face, green eyes expressionless.

"I do trust you," I say. I start to wonder if now would be a good time. Maybe….

"You know how much I trust you? I'm going to tell you a secret. One that you have to keep. You can't tell anyone, not even our mentors."

Sock sighs, clearly not interested. "Okay, whatever. We all have secrets, Tag-"

"I'm not Tag," I say.

She looks up at me sharply. "What?"

"My name is Spool Nylon," I clarify. "Tag Nylon's twin brother. And I'm here to prove the Capitol isn't so foolproof after all."

Hello, all! I hope you like this final chapter of training. The next chapter will be the private sessions and the one after that will reveal the training scores, as well as preparations for the interviews.

In the meantime, what did you think of the alliances? Who are your favorite tributes so far? And thank you so much for reading!