Hey guys, this chapter took a little longer to write up, my apologies, but a guy has to work.
Hope you enjoy this update. Not going to lie, this one was a bit of a 'chapter filler', but I hope that it will come in use more so in the later chapters and make more sense on why it was important.
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU REVEIW!
Chapter seven: Berries, Fruits, Vegetables and Plants.
I made my way down with Marble to the training centre. Apposed to the being first ones there yesterday, we were last today. Everyone had started training already when we walked in.
"Are we late?", asked Marble raising his eyebrow.
"Must be", I responded bored.
Lumos had made it quite clear to me we were to practice essential training techniques by going to the sections that aren't weaponed based. Marbles seemed to have ignored his advice, if Granite had given the same, and headed over to the spears for the second day running.
I walked over to the knot-tying section and made myself known to the trainer. He started to explain to me the best way to tie a knot. When he told me to try myself I tumbled and couldn't really work it out, he then took my hands and showed me by doing it himself, but making it so I was still in control with the rope. I finally got it done by myself and I seemed quite pleased with myself.
I looked over to the right of myself and noticed the girl from district 3, she was talking to herself in whispers, and had many different notes surrounding her.
"She was here yesterday", the training laughed to me. "she is a natural, I give her that".
I frown at him. "I don't think you should be giving me information about my competition, surly that is against the rules".
The trainer initially looked shocked and then his face filled with guilt. "Please, forgive me".
I looked back to the district three girl. She looked up and saw I was watching her. Her eyes were filled with coldness, like anything happy had been sucked out of her the moment her name was called.
She then got up, leaving her perfectly crafted knots behind and went over to the knifes, where Delia was, who gave her a very unfashionable look, when she started throwing knifes badly at the targets.
After I perfected a knot to the best of my capability, I ejected myself from the area and made my way over to the poisonous foods and plants.
I was met there by the District four boy, which was lucky because I was told that this exercise is done in pairs, which I thought was strange, because there is only one winner right?
Marty sat down with me. "Are you a career", he demanded, which caught me completely off guard.
"I... excuse me? What kind of question is that? Of course I am", I snapped at him.
His eyes squinted at me. "I don't know, you just so...".
My body tense and my mouth tightened, "I am so what exactly", I demanded forcefully.
Marty looked annoyed, at himself I think, and waved his hands at me. "I'm sorry, forget I said anything".
I looked him up and down. What does he think of me exactly? what gives him the right to question my capability of being a career?
The trainer gave us a station which had an assortment of berries, fruits, vegetable, and plants, some of which are edible and some of which are not.
On another station sat the tributes from 12, and the girls from 5 and 6.
"Welcome to the station. This could easily be one of the most important stations you visit. While knowing how to fight certainly comes in handy while your in the arena, knowing what you can and can't eat comes in equal advantage. There have been games in the past that have been 3-4 weeks long, and if you can't rely on sponsorship food, you can easily die from starvation or eating the wrong available thing".
I gulped as I looked down at the available food. I wouldn't have a clue. I think back home, and wonder if Gloss knew he would have had to do all this? Or whether he thought it would have been a waste of his time like Marble did and just concentrated on the weapons.
"First there will be a short test, more of a guess task. I want you to divide up the foods, by what you think could be poisonous and when your finished I will discuss with you why you thought so".
"That is definitely not poisonous", said Marty moving the first long yellow food.
"How do you know?", I asked quickly knowing I was going to put it in the poisonous pile.
Marty laughed "Have you seriously never seen or eaten a banana?".
I glared at him. "Obviously not", I hissed, but accepted his answer for he knew what the fruit was afterall.
When we finally finished dividing them up, the trainer came over and seemed quite pleased with our result.
"Well done tributes, but there are some mistakes. "Can I ask why you chose this one?" she asked pointing to the large one that looks like a water melon with long large Sharpe spikes coming out of it.
"I just thought it looked quite deadly", I shrugged.
The trainer smiled. "Yes, a lot of tributes decide the same. It can be poisonous, if you eat the actual fruit itself in a large quantity, however, if you squeeze the juices out and drink it, it actually is healthy, and provides an anti-vemon to most stings and bites that cause harm. The only thing it can't cure is tracker-jackers".
I'm surprised by the news but make a note in my head of it, as I know it will be really useful when I'm in there.
"Are they common in arenas?, I ask the trainer.
"Yes, there is about 5 in every single arena made. The game-makers love too add them, because they are harmful at the same time useful. Sometimes they are never found, but mostly the ones that do find it, just disregard them as dangerous by sight, when they could have actually saved their life's".
"Now these berries, you think they are edible", she said turning to the dark blue berries that Marty said looked yummy. "These are actually the most dangerous berries. These berries are the reason for the deaths of many many lives back way before the dark days, when they randomly started growing from no-where. To this day the capitol still have no idea where they came from, but they have cropped up all over Panem, in the out-of-bounds areas of most districts thank fully. I think they are most prominent in the districts of 10, 11 and 12".
"Do they guarantee death then?", I ask curiously. "You would be dead before the one berry even reached your stomach. They are called Nightlock".
I looked down at the berry. I can understand why they caused so much grief, they do look particularly appetizing. I would never have suspected that little beast.
I really wish I had known about these before I signed up for the Hunger Games, how easy it could have been to have just slipped one into my father meal. Dead in seconds, sounds perfect to me.
The end of the day came quickly enough and we were rounded up by Atlas our head trainer.
"You all have worked incredibly hard. But the time has come to impress. Tomorrow you will be called to perform your abilities to the game makers. As you know, you will be judged by your abilities and given a training score. The lowest, being a 1, don't worry, it has never been used before, and the highest being a 12, again probably unreachable. But I wish you all good luck and goodnight".
Marbles and myself made our way over to the lifts.
"You didn't do any survival tasks today", I glanced at him. He shot me a dirty look and told me to mind my own business because he apparently knew what he was doing.
I shrug my shoulders. Maybe I can feed him some nightlock in the arena. Would he trust me enough to take it? Would district one citizens hate me for killing my own district partner? Would they know I did it purposely. I could probably act out the accident scenario?
I snapped out of it and was suddenly angry at myself. What is these games doing to me. It's like ive already become a murderer, plotting deaths in my head.
When I get back to the floor, I don't even say hello to Lumo's, Granite or Lace. I walk straight across the room and go to my own quarters and shut the door behind me. They don't come and find me which I am really grateful. I cry until I fall asleep that night. I dreamt about Gloss that night. I drempt about home. It was perfect. Maybe because my father wasn't in it.