Training Day 2:

Walker Jeong, 13
District 6 Male

I hate the axes trainer.

The stupid weapon itself is hard enough to use and I don't need some random guy staring down at me like I'm weak and pathetic just because I'm thirteen. I feel like telling him that I'm a chess whizz and the greatest member of the Igor Morchas-Rangster Public Secondary School Debate Club. Who cares if I can't throw a single axe?

I throw the axe at the target, pretending it's the trainer's head. He actually has the audacity to scoff when I miss. You know what, forget him. He can stay here. I'm gonna find something better to do.

Edible plants actually feels pretty easy. I tell myself it's like chess: mint is my king, hemlock is the enemy queen, and so on. It's obviously not like chess at all. But it is a bit of a game. A game where I win and the poisonous plants lose.

Afterwards, I decide to join Vick and try the knives. If it's anything like throwing spears, then maybe it's not so hard. I wouldn't say I'm a spear god though, but it was fun in a way. It feels like an important weapon that you might expect the leader of the pack to carry everywhere to prove he's got his head up higher than anyone else.

And it's a distraction.

Vick gets a turn before me and lodges a knife in the upper half of the dummy. When it's my throw, I manage to get it in the midsection. The trainer doesn't look that impressed, but still calls it a lethal blow. Oh yeah. Watch out tributes, Walker Jeong is coming for you.

"Wanna hear what I'm thinking?" Vick asks me.
"Okay. Shoot."

"You said you wanted to do a big group, yeah? So we're harder to pick off as cannon fodder? I've been talking to Linh and Tati, and I think they're both on board. Well, Linh said it's cool. Tati…nodded, I guess. She's been attached to Linh's hip all morning."

"Sounds good to me." I pick up another knife and try to imagine slashing someone with it. The only person coming to mind is Cruz Wells. I put the knife back down. "That makes four."
"Four is a very good number," Vick confirms. "Four is good. I like that."
"What about Cameron? Then we can have five. It's even better than four."

"I can't find Cameron." Vick shrugs. "He's almost hiding. If you see him, you can tell him he's in."
"Well, don't worry about him. I'll talk to him and I'll get him to go with us in no time. I'm a master debater."

Vick just snickers. I don't get what's so funny…until it dawns on me. "Hey! Stop it. It's not that funny!"
"Yeah it is!"

He's still giggling when lunchtime hits and we team up with Linh and Tati. I think I saw them at the edible plants station earlier, and it looked like they were having an easier time than me. Maybe plants aren't like chess, which is disheartening. If everything was as easy as chess, would I even be here?

Tati's eyes dart around the room as her body stiffens. She looks like what my dad would call a "deer in headlights" with how still she constantly is. Well, when she's not scarfing down her food. I feel kinda bad when I see it. I remember overhearing some of my classmates mentioning that their brothers and sisters had to pick up jobs in the factories in order to put barely enough food on the table. I thought they were complainers back then. It never occurred to me that I might be the fortunate one.

And I accidentally took too much food. I let Tati have the roll I don't want.

Cameron sits by himself in the corner. He's not small for a 12 year-old, but compared to everyone else with us, he's basically tiny. He's easy to look over at a first glance. The moment he's finished eating, he takes off and I lose sight of him. Geez, no wonder Vick has no idea where he is half the time. Is he doing this on purpose?

I finally corner him at the fire making station. "Hey there, Cameron. I'm Walker!"
"I know who you are."
"Yeah, but do you know why I'm here? I want to invite you to my alliance!"

Cameron perks up a little. "I was afraid nobody wanted me. Who's in your alliance?"
"Me, Vick, Linh, Tati."
"Oh. That makes five. That's a lot."

"Please." I roll my eyes. "It ain't the end of the world. There's like…seven Careers and nobody else cares." I look over at the archery station, where Cy and Avonlea are talking to Ganbataar. At least I think he's a Career. "Trust me, it'll be fun. This isn't an alliance built off intimidation and fear either. We all really wanna look out for each other."

Cameron sighs, staring down at his pile of kindling and wood. "I don't know…"
"Come on. What's there to be nervous about?"
"We won't be targeted or anything? If we stand out too much…"

"Dude. Most of these guys have their heads too far up their asses to notice us." Sounds crass, but it's true. Dolly told me that the older tributes only ever care about themselves. And I trust Dolly. So maybe repeating it out loud will make me trust my own words.

"Seriously. It's fine."

"Okay." A small grin plays onto Cameron's face. "I believe you, Walker."

And this is why you never doubt Walker Jeong's debating abilities.

Hunter Appalachie, 17
District 10 Male

Somehow, Messier and I end up at the same table during lunch. Not like it matters in the grand scheme of things. I feel absolutely nothing towards them. Maybe neither of us just wanted to look like a loser sitting by themselves. When Messier stands up to leave, they glance over at me, open their mouth, then close it. Finally they walk off. Maybe I look totally unapproachable right now, but if that's what it takes to get the hint across, so be it.

There's something about the trapping station that gravitates me to it. Traps are my forte after all. But I feel like I don't want people to know that. Definitely not the Gamemakers. If they notice, then I have no doubt they'll catch on. 10's not home to small enough animals. The only ones lie past the fences. Already, I have enough working against me from a situation long past my ability to control it. I don't need to give my odds more reasons to deteriorate.

My skills wouldn't have fatally deteriorated in a day or two of not checking traps. Besides, there's more important stuff to focus on. But I'm not getting anywhere with the weapons and it's starting to piss me off. How can it be so hard to just straight up kill someone by stabbing them to death? I can slaughter a deer a dozen ways, so why should this be any different?

So maybe I'll go check out the traps and catch a stuffed rabbit. I can pretend I'm back home again, bringing in the wares for my aunt's stew. That'll boost my confidence a little.

The supplies at the station are a little rudimentary, but I recognize it. Or I can recognize their purpose. It doesn't take long for me to construct a simple snare, pretending to get stuck and confused along the way. But once I'm done, I toss the stuffed rabbit inside. The thing gets torn to stuffing and shreds. It works.

"Cool! How'd you do that?"

The tribute from 8 is standing over me. I just shrug, a bit too wide, and my arm knocks into the trap. It crumples on the ground. Oh well. My fleeting moment of victory is over now that I know for sure someone was watching. Don't ey have anything better to do?

"I dunno. I just did. It just works."

Ascella leans in closer. "It looks really nice. Are you good at traps?"
"No," I lie. "First time luck."
"Wow. Would you be interested in an-"

"No." I don't care ey weren't finished. Best to nip this in the bud before ey starts getting any more ideas. I've made it perfectly clear to Chater I don't want an ally and Ascella isn't going to be an exception. What good would it do me to have a literal child to drag around and keep alive?

Ascella sits down next to me. "You didn't even hear what I have to say."
"I don't care."
"But-"
"Nope. Not interested."

Ascella gives me a shove in the shoulder. "Oh, hear me out, would you? I'm really good at edible plants. I've memorized all of it. I haven't seen you go to that station at all."
Right. Like not eating poisonous berries is high on my list of priorities right now. "Fine. Go talk to my district partner or something. You two have that in common."

"I'm sure Linh is a very lovely person, but that's not what I'm looking for in an ally. I want someone who is strong where I am weak. Someone who has skills that can contrast mine and skills I can make up for."
"You calling me shit, kid?"

"Quite the opposite." Ascella leans in and lowers eir voice. "You're pretty good at the traps. I tried it earlier and I just made a total mess of things. I don't think it was beginner's luck. You know something and you're trying to hide it because you're worried it makes you seem like a target."

Huh. So ey're much more observant than ey seem, managing to hit most of the nail on the head. I might find it interesting if I didn't feel so annoyed. Or a little worried. Ascella will keep eir mouth shut, right?

"So…what do you say, friend? Wanna go as an alliance?"

It's like the flip of a light switch and suddenly Ascella is all bubbly and pathetically optimistic again. How? How can ey smile so damn much? What's so great about being here in a fucking death game?

"You're just gonna keep on badgering me until I say yes, aren't you?"
"Yup!" Ascella's eyes sparkle. "Come onnnnnn, grouchypants. What are you waiting for?"
"Well, you're a persistent one; I'll have to give you that. Okay, you know what. Fine, I'm in. This better be as good a partnership as you keep saying it is."

"It'll be nice," Ascella insists. I consider telling em that nice doesn't win you the Hunger Games, but I figure I might be better off just keeping my mouth shut. All I can think about is the routine of trapping at home, even if we don't do it crazy often, but enough that I've memorized the steps by heart.

Here, everything's been thrown completely out of whack. I even went back on my own word and nabbed an ally. I hope this doesn't come back round to bite me in the ass.

Messier Chitra, 15
District 7 Male

Well fuck me. I should've known Hunter wouldn't want anything to do with me. Dude's been giving everyone around him the stink eye for all of training, a clear indication of his thoughts.

I don't know why I figured he of all people would be a good ally anyways. Just because Baron made it sound like he and I are in the same boat doesn't mean anything. Not like I should be eavesdropping on whatever gossip Baron and Chater do or why they're gossiping about their tributes in the first place when they should be scrounging for sponsors. Seriously. Get a hobby, you two.

I've done my best to try out as many stations as possible in order to figure out where my strengths lie. It's kinda like scoping out a place, something Dad would always make us do to ensure that a meeting location wasn't bugged or in the wrong territory too close to Peacekeepers or whatever. I like to think he'd be proud seeing me now.

After all, I'm the only person who wants to see me win.

There's one station that looks abandoned to the point where the trainer doesn't even seem interested in it. It contains these long tubes and rows and rows of tiny little darts. Huh. Never seen a weapon like that before. Wonder how it works.

I point to the tubes. "Hey. Can you give me a demo?"

"Sure thing. Watch this." The trainer slips a dart inside a tube, then points it at the target. She lifts the other end up to her lips, then blows hard. The dart comes flying out and embeds itself right into the target's centre with a satisfying thwack.

Cool.

The trainer shows me how to load the tube. The dart rattles around inside. I hold it up to my lips and blow. Nothing happens. I try again, this time pushing as much air as I can from my lungs into the tube. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the dart shoot out, but miss the target. Oops.

"Try again," The trainer says from behind me. "Nobody ever does things perfectly on the first try. This is not an easy skill and you will need practice."
"Wouldn't it be nice if everything could just be perfect," I mutter to myself.

The second dart isn't anymore fruitful. Neither is the third. Nor the fourth. I guess I didn't count on the tube ("blow gun", as the trainer tells me) being so heavy and long, hard to lift all the way up to my lips using my sweaty and slippery hands. Only on the seventh dart does something actually happen. I hit the target.

The dart just barely embeds itself into the target, before it slips out and lands on the floor. I fire again and this time, the dart actually stays in place. The bright pink end of it sticks out of the target like a decoration. One on hand, it's a little underwhelming. That won't kill anybody unless it punctures an organ or something and even then, good luck getting past skin and clothes and whatnot.

That gives me an idea.

I pick up a dart with a yellow backing, considering poking myself on the sharp end before realizing that's probably stupid. "Could you coat this in something?"
The trainer gives me a strange look. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno. Dip this in poison before you hit someone with it. I'm just worried this won't puncture anything."
"It is possible. I've seen tributes do it before. And it's the poison you'd have to worry about getting; the Gamemakers often don't just provide vials of stuff like that."

I think about last year's Games, how there were vials of poison at the Cornucopia, and how fast they worked. Get my hands on that, dip some darts inside, and just wait. If all else fails, I could just crush up some flowers or berries or something.

It can't be that hard, right?

I don't know how to make drugs or anything. We don't have a lab. We just sell the stuff. But it's still got to get made somehow and I guess in the back of my head I figured if we wanted to expand our business, we'd have to produce a product of our own. I like to believe Dad would be proud of me for such forward thinking, but does it matter? Dad's not here. Dad hasn't been here for months. He doesn't know where I am or what might happen to me.

But I know where I am. And I don't want to let him down.

I stay at this station until it's time to get kicked out of the Training Centre, telling myself that I don't care what other stuff there is to do, I'm not done until I can make this work. Maybe tomorrow I'll steal some plants and crush them into a poisonous paste to see if my idea will work. Should I be putting my eggs all in one basket? Probably not. But I'm willing to take a big risk like this because what do I have to lose? If the Gamemakers decide to spite me by ridding the arena of blow darts, I'll just use knives or something. They seem easy enough.

I'm not going to be easy to just kill off. If they want me dead, then they're actually going to have to try.

Current Alliances:

Careers: Prism, Vivian, Arietis, Olympia, Cy, Avonlea, Ganbataar

M is for Manly: Garnet, Kerkylas, Reggie

Hunter and Gatherer: Ascella, Hunter

Dreamers: Mila, Loire

Five is the Magic Number: Vick, Walker, Cameron, Linh, Tati

Loners: Naomi, Messier, Aisling, Grail, Cora

More alliances come together. What do you think of the ones we've seen so far?

Not much else to add, but see you all in the next chapter,

-Vr