Chapter 8.
The elevator descended into the depths of the Tribute Center. Eamon put a hand on Madeline's shoulder once again and gave her a reassuring look. Nott, Vivian and Fingle weren't allowed into the Training Center with them so for the first time since the train, the two of them were on their own. The elevator opened with a ding and they marched past the peacekeepers lining the walls into the Training Center.
What lay before Eamon's eyes was unlike anything he'd ever seen during his training with Nott. A wide-open area the size of a football field was host to two dozen or so stations each specialising in something different. The bow, spear and throwing knife stations had ample weapons in supply, plenty of targets and even holographic projections to practice on. Others, like axe and sword stations had wide open spaces, with sparring partners and dummies in abundance. There were somewhat more subtle stations such as those teaching how to start a fire, identify edible and safe food sources, and basic traps to set including snares and pitfalls. There were large, intricate obstacle courses for testing agility and endurance. Shelves upon shelves of gleaming, finely-crafted, silver equipment and tools. A booth, not unlike the Presidential booth seen during the Tribute Parade was situated high above them, with roughly a dozen dignified officials looking on carefully; Eamon assumed these were Gamemakers.
What was more apparent however, was that all the other tributes were already there. They wore black and yellow training shirts with a number on the back to indicate which district they were from, much like Eamon and Madeline, and stood in a semi-circle around a man with flaming red hair dressed in a black pea coat.
"About time the so-called 'Grain Duke and Duchess' showed up. We've been here for some time, your exalted royalty."
To everyone's surprise but Eamon, the snide comment came from a clearly irritated Landon Starr. He raised an eyebrow at Landon but before he could say anything, someone else piped up.
"'Some time'? Oh, piss off Landon, it's been ten seconds." said a violet-haired girl on the other side of the circle. Eamon recognised her from Vivian's dossier as Vesper Rhodes, the female tribute from District 7. How she knew Landon's name, he didn't know; perhaps he hadn't been the only one doing his homework.
"Wow you kids don't even need me in order to be at each other's throats," chuckled the red-haired man drawing attention back to himself. "I approve of this development whole-heartedly indeed."
"Sorry for the delay Mr. LaFleur, traffic was a nightmare" said Eamon formally, with a slight smirk at Landon, causing a few tributes to snigger slightly. In truth their tardiness was actually by design; after all, they'd made an impression the previous night by arriving fashionably late and Nott felt it would make a similarly powerful statement to do so in front of the other tributes. He was quite pleased with how things had played out thus far, and was reminded of something Nott had told him years ago:
"So how do you beat a Career?" he had asked Eamon. "Careers are strong, fast, and have numbers, it's true, but they aren't particularly complicated for the most part. They're disciplined, yet arrogant. Focused, yet impatient. They have well-laid strategies, but no mind for imagination or improvisation. The answer? Chaos, discord, dissension amongst the ranks, whatever you want to call it. When their plans don't go as expected, that's when they're at their most vulnerable. When you see an opportunity for disruption, you take it, because no-one else will do it for you."
"By all means, we were just getting ready to start," said the red-haired man. "Good to see someone familiar with me. For those who aren't, my name is Ambrose LaFleur, and I am the Head Gamemaker for the Hunger Games. I'm just here to give you a quick crash course on what this facility is and how you'll be using it for the next three days before the start of the Games."
He went on to explain the rules of the Training Center, the various stations for use, survival skills that shouldn't be ignored, the sparring partners and station assistants, and the private scoring sessions that take place after three days. For the most part it was nothing that Eamon wasn't already acutely aware of, but beside him Madeline's attention was undivided and soaking up the information like a sponge. Her intensity reminded him to not be lax, just because he had been trained for years. After all, that was a known weakness of the Careers.
"Well now, I believe that's all there is to go over," said Ambrose rubbing his hands together. "Tributes, a pleasure to meet you all. You may now begin your training. May the odds be ever in your favour."
Pandemonium ensued as tributes rushed towards the stations and attempted to plan what they would do first. Unsurprisingly, all six of the Careers rushed to various weapon-oriented stations. Eamon turned to Madeline.
"Righto, you're the one who needs training here; what do you want to do first?"
She looked at the weapon stations with a mix of disgust and trepidation. He knew that she'd handled herself well so far, but it was clear that asking her to train to kill was a step too much even then.
"Survival skills," she said. "I want to learn how to find water and food."
"That's as good a place as any to begin," he smiled. "Why don't you get started and I'll catch up to you?"
"You're not coming?"
"I want to have a look at the competition first. Figure out who we need to worry about. You can handle yourself, you've done really well so far."
She looked slightly downcast until he said that. She smiled and made her way to the survival skill station not far away, leaving Eamon to his own devices.
He went for a walk around the Training Center, acting as if he were indecisive about what station to train at. He walked past the projectile weapon ranges, where Jasmine Wilde, Hilda Blythe and Dennis Kessling were stationed at. Jasmine was practicing with a set of kunai; her accuracy was impeccable, but her speed slightly less so. Hilda was using a bow, which Eamon had shown decent enough skill with growing up, but it felt too clumsy for his liking. She seemed to have no issue with it however. Dennis was using a spear, not just for throwing, but also practicing close up melee combat. He frowned slightly and looked at Eamon; a look that suggested he knew exactly what Eamon was up to. Eamon moved on hurriedly.
The lanky, camel-faced figure of Axel Costa was sparring with a sword and not far from him was Vesper who was also sparring, but with a strange curved dagger of some sort. Her movements were lightning-quick as was her footwork, allowing her to disarm her partner with ease. She looked at Eamon and flashed a quick grin, and he nodded in return. He made a point to keep his options open; she had potential as a solid ally.
Continuing on his walk, he noticed that the younger tributes were mostly avoiding the weapon stations and focusing instead on survival skills and fitness training, much like Madeline. He saw the girl from 10 comforting her younger male counterpart who was quietly sobbing in front of the climbing station. The sight of it swamped Eamon's mind like a wave, and he realised how pointless his volunteering as tribute was. Who was he protecting? Madeline? Aiden Gibly? What made their lives more important than the two he saw now? Twenty-three innocent children, Career or not, were still doomed, regardless of his volunteering. He cast back to his one ironclad reason which cleared some of his doubt but didn't alleviate the hurt his heart felt.
Helping to clear his head was the strange sight of the boy from District 5 – Karmichael Damocles. He was big and rugged, with hints of stubble and acne covering the parts of his face that weren't obscured by his long, black hair, which hung down in front of his eyes like curtains. He looked like should be sparring with the Careers… so what was he doing sitting on a bench in a corner, keeping as far away from any of the stations as possible? Eamon wanted to ask him, but also wanted to avoid him as much as he could. Still, he made a mental note of such odd behaviour.
Upon completing a lap of the Training Center, Eamon took stock of all that he had seen. He was just about to re-join Madeline when he realised he hadn't seen either of the District 2 Careers. He looked over at the weapon station where he expected to see them, only he saw much more than he expected.
Jasmine, Landon and Blair were having a quiet but heated argument. Blair had seemingly been lining up to use some sort of crossbow when Landon pushed in and decided to show her how he could use it better, and for whatever reason, Jasmine had joined in and seemed to be siding with Landon.
Wow. I don't even need to cause disruption if you guys are going to do it all for me. Still, doesn't mean I can't take advantage of it, thought Eamon. He eyed Blair like a lion would eye a limping gazelle, thinking fast. Having had enough, she stormed off toward another station.
I'll have to play this carefully. She is still a Career, after all.
Blair had moved to the spear-throwing station and Eamon moved quickly as well, lining up behind her even though there was a spare range beside her. In her anger, her spear missed the bullseye by several inches, giving Eamon the perfect opening.
"Hey," he said politely, "couldn't help but notice your technique was a little off there, just wondering if I might give you a hand?" He took extra care to not come off like Landon must have.
"I don't need a 9 to tell me how to throw a spear, thanks," she said irritably.
"Fair enough," he replied overly cheerily.
Eamon took up the range next to her and loaded a spear in his right hand. He let it fly and it found its mark just an inch below the bullseye. Blair turned to him with her eyes wide before composing herself once more.
"You've been trained." It wasn't a question. "How? Most tributes from outlier Districts aren't prepared at all."
"Most tributes aren't raised by a previous Victor."
The shock reappeared fleetingly before she nodded in comprehension.
"It's Eamon, right?"
"Mhm. I take it you're Blair?"
"Sorry for being so rude earlier, I was just pissed."
"Hey, I feel you; sometimes I do my best work when I'm pissed."
"No, it's not that, it's just…" she trailed off, looking at the other Careers.
"Ah, say no more. None of my business."
They talked a little while longer, and Eamon continued to play her like a fiddle. He was kind, understanding, funny, reluctant to pry, and proving a much better alternative to those she was allied with by default of being a Career.
"I take it you're a spear-thrower then?" he asked.
"Not really, but I'm decent enough with them, I guess. You?"
"Same more or less. Not quite my ideal weapon."
"What is your ideal weapon then?" She was clearly curious now.
"Good question." He'd been eyeing one particular weapon ever since he arrived – the question was whether to show his skills so early. He settled on trying to gain Blair's trust and gestured to a station tucked away in the corner of the room.
"How about those?" he asked, pointing to a stand of weapons taller than him.
"The glaive?" she laughed. "Do you even know why that station is hidden away in the corner?"
He shrugged.
"Because no tributes know how to use the damn things. The balance is really... weird."
"Sucks to be them then. Come on, it'll be fun; mostly for you though, because I'll probably look like an idiot."
They headed to the elevated dais in the corner and Eamon looked at the polished, steel glaive before taking it in his hands. The handle was as tall as him and on one end jutted a sharp, curved blade the size of his forearm. Blair was right; the balance would have been odd for most tributes. But as he had suspected, Eamon found it remarkably similar to the hoe he had been practicing with for years, only with not quite so much weight at the end.
He pressed a few buttons on an interface in front of the station, so that practice dummies would emerge from the ceiling and floor around him. He stepped inside the arena and twirled and rolled the glaive through his arms and behind him, getting the feel for it. A shameful part of him revelled in that moment; he'd been training every three to four days for the past eight years and it felt good to be back at his rituals once again.
A crack sounded behind him as the first dummy emerged. His hands worked up and down the handle as the reach of the glaive allowed him to slice through its head from afar. Another two appeared from the floor on both his flanks, and Eamon used both the blade and the butt of the rod to maim them almost simultaneously. The pace picked up, and Eamon's feet began shifting so fast they spent more time off the ground than on it. His movements became increasingly convoluted, with each slash and spin flowing into the next almost seamlessly. When the final four dummies converged on him from different angles, a flourishing spin attack swept through all of them, ending his crazed dance.
He breathed deeply at the end of the simulation, before stepping down to re-join Blair, who was unable to compose herself this time.
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with this one," he grinned at her look of utter bemusement.
Blair however, hadn't been the only one watching. Out of the corner of his eye, Eamon noticed Dennis looking on with great interest and a furrowed expression. A sinking feeling formed in his stomach. If the other Careers noticed him trying too hard to get Blair on his side they may try to interfere. On the other hand, Landon and Jasmine didn't seem to care overly much for her.
"Alright, I have to admit that was good," she said slowly, "but don't think I still can't kick your ass."
"Oh, well then by all means go for it. I take it you have a favourite weapon as well?"
"Of course. And in time I might just show you."
Eamon chuckled, knowing better than to press his luck any further.
"I might just take you up on that. Speaking of time, it's about time I got back to helping my District partner with her survival skills."
"Oh, okay then." She looked somewhat crestfallen.
"Feel free to say hi. I don't bite. Much," he added with a wink.
He turned on his heel and headed back towards Madeline's station. The hand of friendship had been extended and the seeds of doubt planted.
This was a particularly fun chapter to write. I enjoyed showing off the fruits of Eamon's physical and mental training, particularly his more manipulative side, and how he plans to take apart the Careers. It's still good for him to be reminded of his moral dilemmas, however. But many questions arose from this chapter. Can Eamon get Blair to defect from the Careers fully? What was Dennis so interested in? Will Madeline overcome her fear of weapons and killing? And what of the secretive Karmichael from District 5?
