Chapter 4: On Target
The following morning came much faster than expected. An outfit consisting of a red jumper and black trousers were laid out, with my pin attached on the front, telling me I should be wearing them.
Before I knew it we were all gathered round the dining table finishing off breakfast. Antonio was wearing a matching outfit but without the pin, I guess we were going for the identical look.
"As you know today is training." Abel said, "Let's talk strategy."
Ah, training had come around incredibly fast. We had only been here a day and we were already getting ready for the arena. I guess they needed the time, today would be training, would be more training, then third day would be the personal sessions. In the evening scores would be announced in preparation for the interviews which would take place the following day.
"Now does either of you have a talent worth showing off?" Abel asked, pointing his pipe at the two of us. I said nothing, my archery isn't something that I'm really good at, a career could easily snap my bow in two and I'd be dead.
"He's great with a bow and arrow." Abel's eyes widened in interest. Antonio's words surprised me; I certainly wasn't expecting a compliment how did he know? "My father would buy the meat she shot down for dinner," Of course, I never imagined that he would eat what I caught. But he must have, his father was the baker who I more than often dealt with.
"I'm not brilliant though." I retorted.
"Well, having a skill like that under your belt will aid greatly." Abel said then turned towards Antonio, "anything on your side kid?"
I watched as he thought about it then replied, "I'm not particularly good at anything,"
I let out a small choke," Oh really, because in sport during school you always seem to do the best on the run, or with carrying those large bags of wheat."
He stares at me in disbelief at my comment, then I realise how weird it must be considering I took note of such information, but I couldn't deny it was true.
"Whatever you got is an advantage on your hand" Abel pointed out, "Now I want you to listen carefully. In the time you've got go around the stations and pick up a few skills you don't have. Tie some knots, set a few snares, whatever you want. Just stay away from where you can impress. Save it for the gamekeepers in the personal time. This is where you will get your score."
I nodded, his advice was sensible. The score you got didn't really account for anything; you could get a two yet still win easily. However a score could earn you a few sponsors to help you along the way, maybe scare the competition a little.
After finishing off breakfast we were escorted by Abel down to the main training area. It was many floors under the ground and took longer to reach since we were at the very top of the building, apart from the roof top. However the fast speed elevators were no match for the journey downwards.
The doors of the elevator slid open, revealing the training room and a group of tributes waiting around in a circle. At this moment I imagined them all circling in on their pray, ready to kill at any moment but I cleared this image from my head.
Abel patted us on our backs before we stepped out and took our place. All the other tributes were dressed differently to one another; it was only I and Antonio who were keeping up the identical look.
I had a quick chance to scan the competition up close for the first time, which only made my heart sink. Most were all ten times larger than myself, they all looked stronger and if it came down to who could kill in a heartbeat I'm sure I would be dead soon enough.
"Okay let's get this going." A woman stepped up into the middle of the circle on a small platform; she was tall, athletic and well built. "My name is Atala, and I will be the head trainer for your sessions this year."
Atala explained the stations that were situated around the hall, there was stations from edible plants, to hand-to-hand combat and of course archery. From where I was stood I could see the targets easily, but I remembered what Abel had said this morning 'pick up a few skills'. So that's what I decided to do.
After listening to Atala we were free to do as we wished for the day. I first decided to go the knots station which was fairly enjoyable. The leader of the station and I got along well, I was shown a knot which was incredibly complicated and it took a few dozen attempts until I finally was able to complete the knot perfectly and in a short amount of time.
I honestly could have spent the whole morning there, but decided it was time to move on. The career tributes had all approached the fighting stations first, already brandishing their skills which they 'supposedly' only picked up recently.
The boy who was holding out a large pipe in his hand caught my eyes and smiled at me, he gave the pipe a nice swing, and I grimaced.
"Are you okay?" I tilted my head to find Antonio approaching me, and he sat beside me on the ground.
"Yeah" I replied, turning my head back to the boy to have another quick glance, he was still staring at me, I returned my attention quickly back to Antonio.
"Don't let them scare you, they just want to play with you." He advised. I knew not to let them get to me, but the way that the careers stood in such a large group, with mocking smiles sent shivers down my spine.
Just before lunch I spent time with the fire station lady, mainly because there was no-one else there. I was pretty good at starting up a fire if I had some matches but I had no idea what to do with the basic materials.
Starting a fire with two twigs was harder than I had first thought. It must have taken at least fifteen minutes before even a spark was made. In between the time trying to get the fire going I spoke to the trainer. She had red hair scraped back into a bun, her skin was creased and the skin stretched around her face. She would have seemed normal if she didn't have half of her face covered by red flesh, from a burn incident she told me, which meant she definitely knew what she was doing when it came to starting a fire.
Antonio and I met up for lunch. A few tables had been set up with matching chair and dinner sets. Most of the tributes sat with their respective partner or alone, or a few of the districts had sat together and were talking to each other. We decided to sit at the far end of one and happily ate what was offered before us.
"How is training going?" I asked as I reached for one of the bread roles and started tearing at it contently.
"Alright I guess, I like the camouflage station, but I don't think that disguising myself as a rock will particularly help me."
"You never know." I pointed out,"there are many times when the winner outlasts the other just by not interfering." He dismissed this and return to what he was chewing on.
In the afternoon I spent time with the climbing section, followed by edible insects and plants. The climbing course which had been set out consisted of a tricky knot of ropes to stimulate the hardest of surfaces. It took me about a minute to reach the top with ease; Gilbert had always complemented me on how I could climb to the very top of almost any tree.
Gilbert. I wondered what he would be doing right now. Would he have finished a day of a school? Would he be sat round the large screen in the centre of the screen watching the opening ceremony highlights? I shook my head to clear him from my thoughts, yet his red eyes still followed me for the rest of the day.
During the edible insects and plants stations it was more a revision session. There were a few others that I hadn't see but most of them I knew from recognition, and my mother's old book which had been filled to the brim of survival strategies and plants of all sorts.
It was rather relaxing which surprised me. Looking at all the patterns that appeared on the back of tropical bugs was interesting; I learnt that black beetles which had white patterns on their backs were poisons; any contact with them would cause immense burning. I hoped they wouldn't show up to save the trouble
The days passed quickly and soon the last afternoon approached before the private sessions. The other days had followed a similar pattern, the careers would try to kill every piece of apparatus in the hall and the other tributes had kept their distance and done the same as myself.
I was about to head for the final station other than archery, the spears when Antonio tapped my shoulder. "I think you have a follower." I tilted my head around, not too obviously, but enough to see the small blond haired girl from district eleven looking my way, when our eyes met she turned away briskly.
"Poor thing." I muttered. "How old do you think she is?"
Antonio considered this before answering, "Thirteen, around that age."
When I looked back to her I realised the back of her shirt was sticking out at an odd angle, making her look like a duck... Gosh, she reminded him of Feli so much, but then again anyone young reminded me of Feli. I felt the urge to go over and tuck the back in, but then it would seem so strange.
Looking at her made my heart ache, I desperately wanted to make her go back, all the way to eleven and have someone else replace her. Why had no-one volunteered? That was the thought that swamped my mind.
Aiming spears correctly was much more difficult than aiming an arrow. It took a few shots before I even got close to the target, but once I had gotten the feel for it I started to hit on target. If worst came to worst I would grab a spear, but they were too large for easy carrying, similar to the tridents.
I noticed that the girl who had been shadowing me for a while had disappeared. She usually followed a pattern of doing the activity I had done last and then moving on to mine, always within viewing distance.
"Who took my knife?" A voice yelled throughout the centre. Heads spun in the direction, the career district from one was complaining about something, shaking another tribute roughly. One of the leaders had to come over to separate the two, leaving the career extremely agitated.
Someone was laughing, and they caught my attention. He was tall with tanned skin and black hair, he also looked like a career, but he certainly wasn't. He was turning his head upwards towards the roof, and I look up also.
There hanging onto one of the beams was the girl, holding a knife in her hand. A smile broke out in my face but I took time to hide it immediately, but the idea of a little girl out smarting one of the best was hilarious. I decided that if I wanted an ally it would be her.
Just before we were going to be called to the private sessions I went to find Antonio. He was contently at the camouflage station painting onto his hands with what look like dirt and mud but I couldn't be sure.
"Hey." I said, catching his attention.
"Hi." He responded," what do you think?" he brought his hand up and laid it again a patch of grass which had been brought in, and I could tell no difference between flesh and plant.
"That is amazing." I said, awestruck by the work. My mind couldn't even work out how he had done the work. I went to go and touch his arm to make sure he had not stuck on a patch of grass, which seemed rather foolish now thinking about it.
I watched as he washed it off and I stared in disappointment as it all disappeared down the drain.
"I used to paint onto the cakes in the bakery when my father let me." He said, and I soon realised that the work he had done of his arm was so similar to the patterns that appeared on the buns which I would desire so badly but never could afford.
I wished that I could one day have enough money to purchase one of them, stare at it, and maybe even frame it. But soon realised this could never be, even if one of us did win the other couldn't survive.
I'm sorry for such a long break and short chapter (;_ ;)
But thank you for all your lovely reviews and alerts!
I hope this next chapter will come quicker!