Everything screamed in her dreams that night. She awoke, as usual, slicked with sweat and breathing hard. She sat up and looked at her clock. She was awake about an hour earlier then she normally woke up, and she normally woke up an hour earlier then everyone else. She doubted that she could get back to sleep after the nightmares, but she decided to try anyway. She lay there for half an hour, waiting for sleep to visit her again.

When it didn't she stood and stretched. Trudging over to her closet she pulled out the uniform that tributes were to wear to the Training Center. She pulled it on and went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. After that, she sat on her bed for a few minutes trying to decide what gruesome death lurked in the shadows of her future.

Feral finally tip-toed into the living room and flicked on the TV, turning the volume on as low as it would go but so she could still hear it so she wouldn't wake anyone else. An early morning Capitol news show was talking about the expected drop in the price of jewelry in the coming months. It bored her and she was about to change the channel when they changed the topic to the upcoming Hunger Games. "And in later news," A woman with blue hair and matching eyes said. "The upcoming Hunger Games are expected to be very interesting, with an oddball group of tributes. The male tribute from District Six, Tinn Grener, is completely blind. Most people say he doesn't have a chance, but some Hunger Games experts are saying that he may win more sponsors because he's blind."

"Speaking of odd tributes," Her male co-anchor said. "Everyone has heard about the tribute named Feral. She is the most popular of all the tributes this year, even though she is all the way from District Seven. This is due to several reasons. The first is that she had an older sister and a boyfriend who both died in previous Hunger Games. The second is that she is in a love triangle with the male tribute from District Four, Rowan Dennark, and the male tribute from District Eight, Zephyr Trill. When our reporters asked the Gamemakers who Feral was talking to in the Training Center, they said they had kept an eye on her and that she was talking to both Rowan and Zephyr equally and didn't seem to favor one over the other. Now, personally I think that it's all an act and she doesn't really like either of them. And if she does, she is sending mixed signals and doesn't realize it."

"What I don't get," the woman said. "Is why she would even bother get to know either of them in the first place? They are all going to be in the Hunger Games in a few days anyway, why they would even talk to each other, I don't understand, if only one of them is going to survive the Hunger Games, anyway?"

"That a good point, Hii," The man nodded. "Now onto Yon Ginn for weather." As Yon began to talk about what a sunny day they were going to have, Feral got bored and flipped the TV off. She headed into the dinning room, where a breakfast of scrambled eggs, buttered toast and orange juice awaited her. Ollo was already there, sipping his juice silently. Feral finished eating before anyone else showed up, and she waited in her room until it was time to leave to go to the Training Center.

When she got there she sighed. There were only a few stations left for her to go to. She headed over to Shelters where a female instructor with bright red hair and a lot of body piercings explained to her what kind of things to look for in a shelter, like a waterproof ceiling and a warm, dry inside. She gave Feral a few common objects and instructed her to make a miniature shelter. She did so successfully after several failed attempts.

Heading over to the hand-to-hand combat station, she listened as the instructor showed her what to do when she was in a tight situation, and some less-known ways to dodge and block punches and kicks. She only found it moderately interesting and left after half an hour in the station. Besides, she didn't plan on letting the other tributes close enough for her to need to use one of those moves, anyway.

She went to the tridents station and tried her hand at throwing them but was just as bad at throwing them as she was with spears, which was horrible. She stayed there for almost an hour, trying to get it right, but it seemed that the more she practiced the worse she got.

She bounced over to the Gauntlet, where she attempted again to beat Rivera's high score but only got a few seconds closer to it. She repeated it but got the same score that she had gotten the first run. On her third lap of the day she got her lowest time yet, missing her original by three seconds.

At that point the lunch bell rang out and Feral trotted over to sit in her usual seat in between Rowan and Zephyr. They ate in silence, everyone aware that it would be the last lunch they would eat together before they became enemies. No one said anything the entire time, even the Careers. The room was quiet. Feral didn't eat much, just a chunk of cheese and a few meatballs that she playfully snatched from Zephyr.

When lunch was over Feral knew what she wanted to do. She spent the last hours in the archery station, perfecting her skills. For the last hour she shot down the fake birds and the other tributes watched as she hit everything that went into the air. By the time the bell rang to signal that it was time to leave, she hit her mark every time and all twenty-three tributes had gathered to watch her. She didn't really even notice they were there until she had to stop so she could leave to meet up with Eve.

When they got to the District Seven floor and the elevator door closed behind them, Eve looked at her excitedly. Feral blinked in confusion, not sure why Eve looked so ecstatic.

"What?" Feral asked, confused.

"The poll results are in!" she said.

"Who won?" Feral asked.

"I don't know," Eve replied. "I promised myself I wouldn't check until you got back from the Training Center."

"Well, check!" Feral prompted. Eve darted into the living room where she had left her laptop and started typing furiously. Feral twirled her hair nervously in her fingers. She wanted desperately to know who had won. Eve finally looked up from the computer, a blank expression on her face. "Well, who won?"

"Rowan," She said finally. Feral felt relieved that she didn't have to wait anymore to find out the results, but she also felt something else… disappointment? She was actually sad that Rowan had won. She wasn't sure why, though, but it probably had something to do with the fact that they had to pretend to be in love with someone and then fight them to the death all so the Capitol citizens could entertain themselves.

It truly was a cruel fate.