Chapter Four:
This chapter has been revised!
Close it on my black eye
Feel safe at times
Certain emblems
Tell me it's time
Parker and I arrive to the Training Center early. We're the first people there, aside from assistants and the head trainer herself. Stingra, Hunter, Rosie, and Jack come shortly after us, followed by the rest of the tributes trickling in. We all gather around Atala, the head trainer, as she talks about training and the different stations. When she lets us go, the Careers and I find Edison and Tonya, who look apprehensive and start to walk away from us.
"Hey! You two! Get over here!" I call to them. Some other tributes look over and they muster enough courage to face us. "C'mon guys. We don't bite."
Rosie smiles. "Yet."
I roll my eyes, even if what she said is true. "Anyway, how would you like to be part of the Career alliance?"
They both are taken aback by the offer. "Um… I guess so," Tonya chews her lip. "But why us?"
Hunter answers, "Because we need you to do all of the survival stuff while we do the killing. You can still participate in the Bloodbath though." I shoot him a look that says, 'Wow, way to be convincing'.
"And because we need you." I hate acting desperate, but the Careers should have more support. "You both were so fierce during the Reapings; I couldn't dent the fire in your eyes. Please, please help us. It would be an honor." I beam at them.
"Okay then," Edison says. He looks pleased about himself. The pair continues to the next station.
"Nice acting, Aqua," Stingra remarks with a smirk. I slug her in the arm.
"It was necessary, okay?" I try to sound mad, but I'm still laughing.
Next up is Chuck. "Hey," I walk over to him. "Wanna join the Career alliance? We would love to have you. You're so-"
"Sorry, I'm on my own," he shrugs.
I'm fine with his decision. That just means I won't have to worry about killing him.
"Let's go to the stations now," suggests Rosie. I comply and we separate.
I go to a section where there is a vast array of weapons and dummies to attack. I immediately grab a double-sided axe, something I've been training with for a while.
I rush up to a burlap dummy and decapitate it, slice off each and every one of its limbs, and finally strike the firm 'stomach'. The axe feels more different than what I usually train with, but I get used to it the more dummies I maul.
I look around to what my allies are doing. Hunter is spearing some sand-filled fake people a few feet away from me. Stingra is doing the same thing I am, except with a double-sided sword. Jack coats the floor with heaps of sand by smashing dummies with a hammer, and Rosie's at a knife throwing station.
Then I see Prim. She's with Samantha from Eight, and around Tonya and Edison, who are at the survival stations. She looks around and sees me giving her the death glare. She places her palm on her neck, a submissive pose. Prim's eyes widen, and she goes back to what she was doing.
Good. That's what I thought.
Next I see Bob from Nine with the most beautiful weapon of all, the trident. When he releases it, it doesn't even go scrape by the dummy, stopping short in front of it. I am horrified. A weapon like that shouldn't be abused so harshly! I'm about to walk over to stop the nonsense, then I remember that we're not supposed to fight here. Being the clever, resourceful person I am, I quickly find a way to take it without a fight.
"That's a nice weapon you've got there." I smile, but my eyes are cold and hardened. "Mind if I try it out?" Like a coward, he hands the trident over right away and I don't even have to say anything more. I turn it around in my hands to get a feel for how heavy it is, and then step back a few feet. I lock eyes with the pathetic, small Bob and signal him to stand still and watch closely. Pitching the three-pronged beauty with ease, it lands exactly in the middle of the dummy's chest. He is too shocked to move. After plucking the trident out of the dummy, I step back even further. I imagine that the sagging figure is Prim, defenseless and cowering against a tree.
The trident lands in the same spot. I grin and make sure he saw that.
Bob knows to walk away.
When I keep replacing the dummy for Prim, it's like I can't miss.
After a few more shots, I move on to the ropes course. When the tributes in line see me coming, they step away to let me go ahead of them. What nice people! I'll have fun killing them. The person on at this time, Karlie, falls off near the top, causing her mouth to start bleeding. I laugh.
When I get on, it twists, but I stay on and climb on upside down until I am at least ten feet higher, then I get up on the very top. Instead of climbing back down, I jump down and hit the floor with my feet. The tributes stare in awe.
"Aqua! Over here!" Rosie calls from the Gauntlets.
I'd forgotten about the Gauntlets. Rosie, Hunter, Jack, Parker, and Stingra are already over there. I run over and get in line behind Stingra. Rosie leaps on, and manages to jump around the platforms with the trainers hitting her once. Hunter's next, and he isn't as nimble, but he somehow scrapes by. Jack is a little too big to jump high enough while also being swung at by the trainers, so they hit him off with ease. Stingra goes, and almost gets hit a few times but dodges the blows. When I get on, I notice most of the tributes watching, so I have to make a good impression. Which means I can't screw up. No pressure.
I easily jump from platform to platform, though barely dodging every hit, and get to the end bruise-free. I knew I could do that, but never had the chance to. It was actually pretty fun. I hang around with Parker after he goes successfully to watch Rayvenn get hit off right away. I sigh, the quality of these tributes has dwindled through the ages.
I hear a loud sound that interrupts my pondering and see Chuck demolishing a dummy with an axe. He's my only competitor, other than my allies.
I decide to try the knife throwing station next. It isn't one of my strong points, but it's worth a shot. Again, everyone moves out of my way so I could go first, so I grab the knives and get ready. When the first body-shaped board is lit up, I throw it right in the heart. I continue with this for a few minutes, sometimes hitting the head or neck, and I barely miss. I don't even break a sweat, and there's no hesitation to be seen. Every time I throw a knife I hit the place I was aiming for, just an inch or so off at times.
When I finish, I look over to the archery station to see Prim trying to shoot. Sure, she could hit the target, but she isn't very accurate, and sometimes the arrow flies behind the board. I'm glad Katniss and Prim aren't alike. This is fun to watch.
I can see that Samantha is with Prim again, and she is trying to teach her how to shoot more accurately. Samantha is a good archer, but it doesn't bother me. I am better at knife throwing than she is at archery. I almost consider going over there, but I know that I'll either start a fight or try to shoot. Starting a fight isn't a good idea, and I don't want to ruin my reputation by showing everyone how awful of an archer I am, so I let it go.
` I see Edison at the slingshot station instead of survival, but I figure he should be helpful with killing as well as other things. Tonya also sees this and leaves the knot making station and moves on to knives. I return to the battle axe until it's time to leave.
Serpents in my mind
Looking for your crimes
Everything changes in time
I don't want mine to this time
'Serpents' by Sharon Van Etten