Chapter Eight
The second day of training was a lot like the first. Someone woke me up, I headed to breakfast, then Rilien and I set off for the training centre. Peeta and I met up and we toured around the stations, until five o'clock, when I went back to the apartment.
"Again tomorrow?" I ask.
Peeta nods, before the elevator doors close and bring him to the twelfth floor. I sit down for supper a minute before Rilien arrives and I scarf down the food.
"Tomorrow's the last day of training. You have a private training session with the game makers the day after. It's incredibly important, how well you do could be the difference between survival and death. You're District Seven, so expect the game makers to be slightly drunk. They will pay attention to you, but not for too long. Make yourself look better, use only your best skills," Blight instructs, before Johanna interrupts.
"Short story, get their attention and surprise them. You'll get a decent score if you do the basic axe skills, but you'll get an amazing one if you can get them shocked."
"Or," Blight says, shooting Johanna a small glare, "You'll ruin your chance of getting sponsors forever."
"Katniss, use the arrows, if you're as good as you claim to be and Rilien, use the fancy tricks. The game makers aren't trained to know the most efficient way to kill someone with an axe, so make a show out of it, alright?" Johanna instructs.
Rilien and I nod, before I head out to the roof and climb back into the plush bed.
The next day, I wake up earlier than normal, getting to breakfast before anyone else. I can hear screaming coming from Rilien's room and he comes in a few minutes later, shaking and red eyed. Aiola gets mad at me for ignoring her no eating until everyone's at the table rule, but she gets over it.
Rilien and I enter the elevator and make our way to the training 're the third pair there. The girl from Five is doing a sort of plant identifying activity and the people from One are having a competition on who could kill the most dummies. I settle next to the snare station. The instructor smiles at me, before explaining how to construct one large enough to catch someone's leg. Peeta joins me around halfway through. The instructor looks confused at our friendship, but she carries on.
"Katniss!" Rilien yells, from the other side of the room.
"I'll be back," I tell Peeta, walking over to Rilien. He looks short and scrawny, surrounded by the tall careers.
"What?" I ask.
"The careers, they're deciding their kill order," He tells me. I shudder at the thought. All the Careers are close to each other, murmuring harsh whispers. I can see them stare at someone once in a while, either baring their teeth or shaking their heads.
"So?" I ask, not bothering to hide my disgust, "You want my advice on who gets the knife in their heart first?"
Rilien shakes his head, looking a bit green at the thought. "Get your friend, the one from Twelve to do something. He's one of the first on their lists," He turns away form me, back to the careers, who are all laughing at something.
I stalk back to Peeta, "Throw that weight," I order.
"Katniss? What?" Peeta asks me, "Why?"
"I've seen your muscles, you can throw it, easily," I tell him.
Peeta stands up, he looks a bit mad, "Haymitch said not to show off my skills."
"The careers are making a kill list and apparently, you're one of the first on the lists," I inform him.
Peeta narrows his eyes at me, "And this isn't just a way to get me to show my strengths, is it?" He accuses.
I freeze, a sudden sense of anger washing over me, "If you don't want my help, go die then. See if I care!" I shout as I go to the axe station. I pull out an axe and begin swinging it around. He thinks our friendship is just a ploy for him to give up his strengths? A quick slash and a dummy head falls onto the floor.
Not that it matters, Peeta is going to die on the first day, in the bloodbath. Another head falls onto the floor with a crash. He better die bloody, preferably with one of District 2's knives in his chest. I smash the axe into where the heart would be. I try to pull it out, but it's stuck.
I turned around, to see the careers staring at me, with what? Respect? Admiration? Fear? A few of the other tributes are staring at me too. Guess they didn't expect the girl from Seven obsessed with the survival stations to go serial killer on a pack of dummies. A few seconds later, I hear a loud bang. A weight has knocked a stand of spears to the ground. Peeta, who was ten, twelve feet away, had thrown it. Most of the attention has shifted to him now and I stalk to the knife throwing station, which I quickly realized I wasn't very good at.
I ride the elevator back to the apartment with Rilien. We don't talk and as soon as we get in the room, I head off to the bedroom. Johanna and Blight must of gotten the hint that I wasn't interested in supper. I wonder if Rilien told them what happened in the training centre, how I killed three dummies and managed to get my axe stuck in one. Eventually, I get hungry and head to the dining room, where Aiola sits, her plate empty in front of her. For all her flaws and terrible hairdos, at least she sticks by her set of manners.
"Excellent, you made it. I'm afraid the others were very hungry and ate like starved monkeys as soon as the food was ready, but I waited," She tells me. Aiola was probably planning my murder, but she hid it behind her chirpy exterior and wide smile.
"Thank you," I tell her, grabbing a breadstick. Aiola and I make small talk as we eat. We can't talk about much, she knows nothing about the Districts and I knew nothing about the Capitol, so we talk about the Games, so far. Which dessert has been tastier, how one of her pillows hadn't been fluffed and instructing me on how to use the shower without smelling like daffodils afterwards. I even laughed at some of her jokes, as shallow and dumb as they are. It makes me wonder if the Capitol isn't just full of nasty people, until I remember that it's her job to be my friend until I die.
Yay, another chapter finished! I hope everyone liked!