Chapter 15

Isabelle Lightwood (District 6)

Alec shoots a warning look at me as we line up to the start of the course and I smirk. Of course I can do this. We can do this. Clarisse from seven is also smiling, although it's not a nice smile. I think she's planning something in her head, and that smile makes me glad I don't know what it is.

Focusing my attention back on the course, I scan the obstacles, finding my way over and through each one in my mind. Should be fairly simple.

"On your marks… Get set," Donna calls and I take a deep breath. "GO!" She shouts and we start running forwards. Alec and I are among the ones at the front, mixing it up with the revered careers.

The first obstacle is a wide climbing frame, which I scale with no problem. Leaping down on the other side, I land in a crouch and sprint forwards. Next up is a net we have to crawl under, and I can feel the pressure of the other tributes round me. I cannot get caught up in this. It'll be so much worse for me if I do. So I collapse down onto my front and crawl forwards, using my forearms to pull me forwards. It's harder than I expected, but I can battle through this. I'm a Lightwood. Agility is where we excel.

I make it out of the net and look up, noticing Clarisse and the Doctor already ahead of me. I grit my teeth and run forwards, battling through the next sections, which are hurdles. It's hard, and I know my technique is probably wrong, but I manage to leap over them all so I don't think it matters. And I'm not too far behind Clarisse, ether, so that's a God send. There's a multitude of footsteps behind me, and I cast my mind back, as I run, to seeing them all for the first time. I feel bad for John Watson, the district 9 boy. He can't be getting very far with that limp.

Alec is not running side by side with me, and I'm glad. It's bad enough we're in the games together, but we agreed that seeing as we were going in, we'd spend our last couple of days together. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't want to be killed by anyone else.

We make our way past the hurdles and up another climbing wall. This one is harder, although by now we've separated out a bit and there's more space. This time I haven't got District 3 lapping at my heels.

The final course is raised stepping stones. We cannot do this as a pair, and Alec charitably lets me go first. We both leap from stepping stone to stepping stone, placing our feet carefully and with difficulty. At our current pace it's difficult, but I am determined not to fall off. The Gamemakers are watching.

I leap down from the final one and sprint to the finish, where Clarisse and the Doctor are already waiting. Alec lands a second after me and we turn to watch as the other tributes arrive. John Watson is last, and limping along towards the second climbing frame. Even if he, by some miracle, manages to get past that he won't be able to do the stepping stones. Not with a limp.

Looking up at the Gamemakers I can see varying degrees of interest. Some are watching intently (one even has a notepad) and others are sat around drinking and laughing with each other. It's hard to watch, knowing that they're going to end up killing at least half of the tributes here, one way or another.

Deciding to ignore their presence, I shake my hair out and watch as the last few tributes make their way over the line. I'm surprised to see that Sherlock from 3 and Dekka from 11 are already stood about with us. Maybe I shouldn't write their districts off so easily. You never know.

Alec follows my gaze to the course.

"District 12 is remarkably relaxed about all this." He murmurs to me, and at first I glance to Teresa, who I noticed first of all because she looks like me. Then I realise who he's talking about. I turn my gaze back to the course only to see Jim Moriarty casually walking forwards on the course. He's chewing something, and it's infuriating how calm he looks. Despite his nonchalance, he's still not last, poor John Watson struggling with that position. He steps onto the first 'stone,' and lightly makes his way through them, barely making any effort.

I decide to ignore this. He scares me, and I'll admit that, but you simply cannot be casual about the Hunger Games. That's how you get killed. Although I get the feeling sponsors will be high for District 12 this year. Teresa's quite easily the prettiest tribute, even if it's painful for me to admit that, and Jim is terrifying without even having to do anything. The Capitol appreciates terror and they covet beauty.

Donna ends the course when we see John fall from the climbing wall. She exchanges a few quiet words with him before they both re-join our group.

"Right tributes. Your first day of training is over, and you have all completed the mandatory training." She announces, smiling slightly. Clarisse snickers.

"Almost all of us." She retorts, and we all turn to look at John. He reddens, but stares us down until we look away, which is a good thing. Resilience is another useful trait for the games.

"You are all free to do as you please for this evening, on several conditions. You will not leave the building. I should also point out that you will not be able to, but any attempt may be taken out on your training score." She warns us and we nod. I wasn't planning on it anyway. "Secondly," She continues. "No fighting with the other tributes. That's precisely what next week is for." She tells us and there are a couple of laughs. I don't know if I'm quite up to laughing yet. District 6 isn't renowned for its victors after all, and I need to focus on winning. And of course my brother, but at least one of us has to die. So I can't design any sort of strategy around him.

There's only one victor, right?

I'M BACK AND WRITING AGAIN! WOOOO!

Looks like the competition is heating up though, and it's only training, so who is everyone rooting for? Does anyone have a particular POV they want me to do? And, what do you think of the characters themselves? I'm going to be updating more regularly from now on, because I just had a massive break and I do really want to finish this. Let me know what you think and PLEASE REVIEW. IT MEANS THE WORLD.

Thanks for reading,

Lucy XXXX