*A/N: You all are, once again, so sweet thank you so much for all of the kind reviews Have you guys seen the movie yet? It was amazing! *SPOILER ALERT* I will be incorporating the speech Cato gave at the end of the movie in this fanfiction. It was so good and I loved that they gave him human qualities So thank you everyone again*
Training got boring very quickly. It was the same stations over and over and over again. I got into a routine. I would use the sword for a few minutes. Then I'd go to the survival stations. I just wanted training to be over. I wanted to get in the arena. I just wanted to go home.
The next day was scoring. Brutus made sure we knew what we were doing. "So you're sure you're good with knives?" Clove rolled her eyes and nodded, with an added "I think I know what I'm doing by now Brutus." The intense stare he gave her made her back down. He then turned to me. "An-"
"Swords. I got it Brutus. Don't worry." I replied with a smirk. Brutus stared into space. When he came back, he popped two more pills, and then led us out to the elevator. When we got up to the training center, the other tributes were already there. We sat down in the available seats at the front. Before we could get ourselves situated, Glimmer was called in to begin.
Nerves were clearly shot with all tributes. It was deathly silent, and everyone was staring at their feet. I started to zone out, thinking of what I was going to do once I get in there. However my name was called too quickly and I was rushed back into the familiar training center.
There on the stands was Seneca Crane, the head gamemaker, and his… friends? Peers? I don't know who any of these people are. Trying to look confident and threatening, I picked up a sword on the stand in the middle of the room. I grabbed a dummy from the side of the room and slid it to the center. Making sure they were all watching me, I began.
Imagining I was back at home in my backyard, I began to practice the maneuvers and strategies I knew so well. After what felt like three seconds, I was done. The dummy was completely mangled. As everyone stared at it, it's head slid off and landed by my feet. I picked it up and threw it at my audience. Some of them looked horrified. Others looked intimidated. Before they could say anything, I uttered a simple "Thank you" and left the room.
The next day the scoring was announced. Brutus, Kesla, Clove, Astin, Jolan, and I were all seated around the TV, anxious to see just how well we did.
Ceaser Flickerman came on the screen to announce the scores. Marvel came up first with a score of nine. Not bad at all. Glimmer came up with a score of eight. I honestly didn't care though, as my face came on the screen right after hers.
"We have Cato here, with a score of… ten!" Ceaser exclaimed, and I suddenly felt on top of the world. Everyone was cheering and slapping my back. Kesla pulled me in for a hug, which for once I didn't mind. As if knowing we were celebrating, Ceaser paused before continuing.
"District Two female Clove got a score of… ten!" The whole District Two team was ecstatic. Kesla pulled Clove into a hug as well. When they broke apart, she began to cry. "Oh… Come here sweeties!" She cried as she pulled us both in a crushing hug. "This calls for a celebration!" she continued. "Let's go and have some dessert!"
We were so excited that we didn't hear the rest of the scores being called. Brutus was the only one watching intently. You could tell he was nervous.
About ten minutes after we started eating dessert, Brutus came running back in. "Those District Twelve kids are good. An eight, and an eleven."
Kesla gasped. I felt my mouth gape open. Clove's eyes went wide. No one's scored an eleven in years. Let alone someone from Twelve. I felt my face get red. "So, why can't we be allies with them again? I mean if they're so good, they'd be usef-" At this, I was cut off by Brutus when he picked me up and shoved me into the wall. Before I had a chance to fight back, he pinned me by the neck. "You want to know why? Because they'll be useless. They wouldn't want to be allies with you anyway. They're scared of you. They don't trust you. District Twelve hasn't trained like you have. Even with those scores, I can promise you that they'll be the first ones gone." He let go of me, and I fell to the floor.
I stood up, rubbing my bruising neck. "I don't have to listen to you, you know." I shouted. "I can team up with them anyway. Fuck the careers." At this Kesla gasped, covered her ears, and ran out of the room.
"Oh yeah boy?" Brutus threatened. "Well then good luck winning without any sponsors. Because if you do that, I can assure that you won't get shit in the arena." With that, he walked back to his bedroom. I went to opposite way to mine, and slammed the door.
I picked up anything I could find and smashed it into the wall. I had two options. I could either defy Brutus and ally with District Twelve, in the meantime losing all sponsors. Or, I could go the route I wasn't entirely sure of.
And then I knew that was the only way to go.
If I'm going to win these games, I will have to kill Katniss Everdeen.