Thank you to Dani H. Danvers, Very New To This, FrostyShadow, ladyqueerfoot, recklessinparadise, and Singular Scissor for your reviews!
This chapter grew and grew and grew. As always, your reviews help and also give me ideas for future chapters.
Also! I made a poll to see who everyone's favorite Tributes are! You're allowed to vote for five Tributes, so have fun with that. The poll is on my profile page. Also, this obviously will not effect who lives and dies, it's just for fun. When I was writing the 77th Hunger Games I did something similar and I had one of the submitters create a bunch of fake accounts to vote in the poll and bump up their Tribute to #1. Don't be like that!
Enjoy!
Chapter XIII Training Successes and Disasters
The Capitol
The Tribute Training Center – Day 2
With the Games barreling towards them, District 12's Tributes were feeling overwhelmed. Yesterday they had felt productive, scurrying between dozens of stations picking up skills. But, looking back, it felt more like they were dipping their toes in things, not actually absorbing the skills like they needed. The only thing they actually learned with Marianna was ok with a dagger and Plan was good with identifying plants.
Neither felt that rang of victory on the horizon.
Nor were either feeling particular strong about their alliance. Neither felt like leaving, after all where else were they going? But beyond them both being from District 12, nothing else really blinded them. Marianna came from the Seam like Pan, but she and her family had lived in the Merchant Class for years. Both were too guarded as well, and while Marianna was more open, Pan kept his walls high. They were allies, but there was no spark of friendship there. In truth, both of them were helpless in the area of making friends.
Just as helpless as Pan was with weapons. Haymitch had bemoaned Pan's inability to handle a weapon and ordered him back to them weapons station to find something, anything, he could show for scoring. So, Pan was trying out a bow and arrow, thinking it would be easy.
It wasn't.
Drawing the bow and handling it properly required a coordination and upper body strength Pan simply didn't have. He was missing all his shots or coming up too short, and with each failure he felt his annoyance grow. His Trainer, a rough man with a short fuse, wasn't helping either.
"Pull back harder." The Trainer demanded, "You wobble too much."
"I am." Pan muttered softly.
"No, you're not. You're saying you are, but you're not!" The Trainer barked. He grabbed hold of Pan's elbow and pulled back roughly, making Pan tense in shock. Marianna, who was watching, noticed the change in demeanor.
"Just relax, Pan." She tried.
"I am." Pan shot back, more aggressive than he intended. He loosed the arrow, praying it would hit the target. The arrow got a little air… and then hit the ground five feet short.
"Congrats, you hit air!" The Trainer mocked. "And now, you're dead. A Career just slit your throat!"
Pan said nothing, staring forward and trying not to look at the Trainer. His temper was flaring up. He felt pathetic, embarrassed about his lack of skill, fear about what was coming. The Trainer didn't like him not paying attention and got physical.
"Since you can't do this, let me show you, Tribute." The Trainer hissed. He grabbed Pan, roughly, and moved his body around easily, putting the boy into a position he wanted. Like he was a toy doll. Or, like how Pan's dad used to control him. At one point, the Trainer grabbed Pan's neck roughly, and a dark memory shot through Pan's mind as he remembered his dad grabbing him, yelling, and moving into position for a beating.
Pan, barely holding it together, took another shot. The arrow flailed uselessly in the string, then fell to the ground in front of Pan, clattering uselessly on the metal floor of the Training Center.
The Trainer snorted. "Horrible." He remarked.
Something snapped in Pan.
"Maybe it's because you're a horrible Trainer!" He screamed at the adult, who eyes reacted in shock at being challenged. Pan felt satisfaction at that, glad that he got a reaction from the man. An intoxicating feeling came over him, rage filling him, and he kept going. "Maybe you shouldn't be working here! Maybe you're the useless one! A moron! A waste of time!"
He threw the bow down, the sound it made echoing across the Training Center. Pan stormed away, roiling with rage and spinning out. His dad was in his head now, screaming at him, hitting him, telling him he was making him a man. How the abuse was all to prepare him for how tough life would be. But it didn't. Nothing his dad did meant anything. His dad was dead and buried underneath some mine in District 12 and Pan was about to be killed in the Games.
Marianna had drifted over to him, hovering about. She wasn't quite sure what to say. "We're going to die." Pan told her.
"I… I'm afraid of that too." Marianna replied.
"So why bother?" Pan asked.
Marianna shrugged. "What else can we do?"
"I know what my friend, Jack would do. Find some liquor and ride this out drunk?"
Marianna rolled her eyes. "Think Haymitch would give us some?"
"Why not? I've never tried it, but it looks fun. Better than this."
"I wish we could win." Marianna said quietly. "Maybe we can?"
"Maybe." Pan said, feeling a little calmer. "I just don't know how."
Across the Training Center, David was also feeling the stress but actually felt like he was making a little progress with survival skills. He was currently learning how to make a net for fishing, though thought it was tedious. He wanted to go to the poison station, but he had noticed the boy from District 6 eyeing it whenever the other people in his alliance weren't looking. It was a little odd.
After working on few other stations, David felt his stress levels rise again. He'd noticed that the Center had a small track next to the pool and decided to go for a run to shed some anxiety. As he did so, he tried to imagine he was back in District 7, running through the forests, listening to the birds and winds through leaves and the gasping breath of Ned behind him trying to keep up. The thought got a smile out of him.
Upon finishing his run, David was approached by a Trainer, who looked from her stopwatch to David with approval. It turned out David could run fast.
"Really?" David asked, amazed to hear he was excelling at something.
"Look at your times." The Trainer said, showing the stopwatch. "You're faster than anyone here, District 1 and 2 included."
David beamed with pride, though became crestfallen when he thought about it. His Escort was on him to find something he could talk about for sponsors. He wasn't sure telling the Capitol he was good at running would inspire sponsors and open wallets. "Do you have any recommendations?" He asked politely.
"Why don't you try the Gauntlet?" She recommended, pointing towards the large, multi-level obstacle course.
He did and learned something new. He was fast, but he sure as hell wasn't agile. He kept getting hit and stumbled through the maze until he got smacked in the leg, tripped on the upper level, and fell hard. He was high up, practically in the rafters, and would have fallen to the ground far below if someone hadn't caught him. David thought it was a Trainer, but was surprised to see the girl from 11 there, pulling him back.
"Thank you! That was terrifying!" David said, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
"No problem. Glad to help." The girl said, pulling him back.
"What are you doing up here?" He asked. She was pretty, David thought. She was tall and thin, with dark freckles on her face that complimented her light brown hair. He could imagine Ned making certain dirty comments, but David had never felt… those feelings before. Ever, for anyone.
"Hiding." She replied.
"From the Careers?" David questioned.
"No, Millie."
David hadn't really bothered to learn the names of the other Tributes names, but guessed it was the girl from 9. He had seen the two of them hanging out. "The one who can't stop talking about the Capitol?" He asked.
"That's her." She said.
"Huh… I have a friend back in 7 who can't either, but he's… uh… more critical of the Capitol."
The girl rolled her eyes at that. "I've got a twin just like that."
The both chuckled at that. "I'm David."
"Daisy."
"How'd you end up with your partner?"
"She…" Daisy began, trying to parse her words. "I was being nice."
"Ah…"
"Are you with anyone?"
David shook his head. "Nope."
"Your partner seems strong." Daisy commented. "I'm surprised you're not a pair."
"Yeah… but she's got a bit of a reputation back home."
Daisy perked up at that. Even here with all the horrible tension, Daisy was enticed by the prospect of gossip. "Really? Like what?"
"She…" David began, breaking easily. "She killed her boyfriend."
Daisy felt her eyes boggle, "What?" She screamed. "With an axe?"
"What? No! He hung himself!"
Now Daisy was confused. "She hung him?"
"No, he hung himself. She made him do it."
"Like… forced him to with an axe?"
"No! There was no axe. She just…" David gestured wildly, like the reasoning was obvious. "She just did it!"
Daisy had to raise an eyebrow at that, doubt plain on her face now. "Are you sure?"
"He left a note. Why would he lie?"
"Beats me, but if I'm left with Millie I might off myself."
"Why don't you break up with her?"
"Break up with her?" Daisy said, giving him a joking smile.
"You know what I mean."
Daisy did, and she knew her reasons. She didn't want to face the arena alone. She had always thrived in groups, especially as one of the most popular girls in school, and it was a bit baffling that she might be forced to be a lone wolf for the Games. So while it wasn't ideal, she felt better with someone with her.
She suddenly had an idea.
"You wanna be allies too?"
"What?" David asked, surprised. "Just like that?"
"I mean, it's not like we have a lot of time to get to know one another. But ok, fine. Are you good at anything here?"
"I can run fast."
"Run fast?"
"Like, super fast." David assured her with a wonky smile and thumbs up.
Daisy laughed. "Well I tie super knots. Sound like you're more skilled than me so… let's partner up! 7 and 11 seem like good numbers together anyways."
"With Millie too?"
"She's not that bad." Daisy lied, "She's just eager."
David really thought he'd go it alone in the Games. He never would have sought out allies, too afraid of betrayal. But she wanted to be allies. And she didn't seem crazy. That was a plus.
"I'm in." David said.
While an alliance formed, the Careers were cleaning up their own. It was time for judgement on Cean and Chase along with other moves. Estelle had approached Valdez about it the previous night and, secure in his support, she broached the subject with the rest of the Careers.
"I want Ola in the Pack." Estelle said simply. She let that wash over the others, attempting to Judge their reactions. Reko seemed intrigued, Lana curious, Cean nervous, Chase neutral, and Mara was scowling as usual.
"She's from 7." Mara said.
"I'm aware." Estelle replied, annoyed. Mara's personality seemed geared towards bumping heads constantly. Estelle was excited to put the girl with clear daddy issues in her place when the time came.
"I'm intrigued." Lana said. "The Capitol does like it when he have non-Careers in the Pack for some variety."
"I thought that's what I was here for." Chase winked. Lana didn't return it. Over the past two days, she was getting the impression Chase wasn't as friendly as he appeared. In fact, he vaguely reminded Lana of some boys from District 1 who had a tendency to ogle her and Evelyn when they were on dates, thinking all sorts of dirty things. Having another girl in the Pack sounded good to Lana.
"You're here to look pretty for us." Reko replied with a wink of his own. Chase didn't seem to appreciate that, but Reko couldn't care less. "I'm on board. We could always use some guns for the Careers, and those girl's arms qualify."
Nobody asked Cean his opinion, though he silently fretted. If Ola joined he'd be booted for sure. But while he worried and the Careers debated, mainly with Mara, an outlier was sauntering towards them.
Poe had learned early that life was about bold choices. And the Games certainly required it, especially if she wanted to get back to Omar and make the others pay. And… get closer to the angel that was Chase.
She had spent the morning near the Careers, hoping that they'd come over, or her path with Chase would cross. No dice. At least she learned what weapons she liked. A mace or a morning star were absolutely delightful to swing and smash into training dummies. But she had found her calling with the spiked knuckles that slipped between her fingers like butter. Every time her fist connected with a dummy, an excited jolt passed through her.
It made her think how nice it would have been to have them in District 3, back in the school bathroom with Evangeline and Miriam. With these, she could have made sure neither of those girls talked again or told lies to the Peacekeepers. With these she would would have left them dead, not beaten bloodied, choked, and with cracked skulls.
'Hmm…' she thought, 'maybe when I win I could go visit them and free Omar.'
It was a fun thought, but until then, she was allowed to have some fun. Specifically, with Chase.
And so, she approached.
"Hello!" Poe announced, waving quickly to the Careers. "Any room for one more?"
They were all looking at her funny, Chase included. That was worrying. "Excuse me?" the girl from 4 demanded. She had a snippy tone. Poe hated that.
"I'd like to join your alliance." Poe said with a bright smile. The pair from 1 exchanged a look, both of them appearing… unsettled?
"Why?" The boy from 1 asked.
"Because you're the best!" Poe said as though it was obvious. It was like talking to her parents again. They always seemed so perplexed by her. "And because I can help you out."
"Um… I think we're good." The girl from 2 said.
"At least let me try out."
"No." The girl from 4 said bluntly, not even masking her contempt.
"Let's give her a shot at least." The boy from 2 spoke up. Poe looked him over, he was tall and dark, a beautiful combination. Not nearly as talk as Chase though, but tall enough for Poe.
"Valdez, are you serious?" The girl repeated.
"Mara, just give her a chance." Valdez said, speaking patiently. It reminded Poe, annoyingly, of how the doctors would sometimes speak to her in the detention facility. Suddenly Valdez seemed less attractive. Why hadn't Chase said anything yet?
They ended up giving her a chance and Poe thought she did splendidly. She bashed all the dummies with a morning star, tearing the limbs off of them with the spiked club. Once they were down, Mara returned with the spiked knuckles and went for their faces, tears through them until the stuffing inside of them was all torn free. She turned back to the Careers, proud of her ferocity.
Two of the Careers actually had their mouths open in… was that shock? The others around the training center were looking at her too in horror. What was going on?
"So am I in?" Poe demanded.
"Don't even, Valdez." Mara hissed at him, before staring down Poe directly. "Get lost you lunatic."
"W-what?!" Poe screamed, in shock. She noticed out of the corner of her eye some Trainers approaching her, cautiously. "Chase? I'm in right?"
Chase looked at her like she had lice or something nasty. Before he could answer, Mara opened her stupid mouth again and spoke. "No! Now go hop yourself back up on drugs and leave us alone!"
Poe stormed off, dejected. Clearly that bitch from 4 was getting into Chase's head, turning them against her like Miriam had. At least here the Peacekeepers couldn't lock her up like they did back in District 3. But Mara would remain, spreading lies about her. Probably because she was jealous of Poe. Like all the girls back home were. Even Mom!
Poe knew how to deal with that. But in time. And in the right way.
"So… Ola still on the table?" Reko asked with a chuckle to the freaked out Careers.
Across the Training Center, Ola was spending the second day less active than the last. Yesterday had been uncomfortable with everyone staring at her, and she realized she had made a mistake. She had been so caught up in realizing that nobody beside David knew all the horrible rumors about her, she became intoxicated by that freedom. She had let her guard down. Now, everyone saw how proficient she was with an axe. Today she was hoping that everyone would just ignore her.
It wasn't to be. While she was working at a foraging station, she was approached by the Careers. Estelle and Reko came up to her, smiling of all things. It was unsettling to see those killers acting friendly.
"Hello." Estelle began.
Ola said nothing in response. What was there to say to Careers?
Reko wasn't deterred. "You know who we are, and I bet you know why we're here." Ola remained quiet, like a deer waiting for the wolf to react first. Reko continued. "We want you in the alliance. Our Mentors are saying the Capitol is liking your attitude. And we saw what you do with an axe. So what do you say? You in?"
A silence between the three of them. Ola was aware that others in the Training Center, including the Trainers and a few Gamemakers, were watching to see what would happen. She felt like she was at the edge of a cliff, peering over into the abyss. The Careers were below, ready to devour her if she jumped.
It felt like dealing with Rua again.
She wouldn't be tied down again like that.
She jumped.
"No." Ola said.
Estelle looked stunned. Reko frowned. "No?" He asked.
"No." Ola repeated.
"No?" Estelle demanded.
Ola's eyes flicked up to the ceiling, mockingly looking for something. "Is there an echo in here?" She replied dryly.
Estelle was incensed. "You don't turn down the Careers, you lumberjack!" Ola said nothing further, turning and leaving the station, realizing she had made a massive mistake. Estelle, fuming, could hardly face the Careers when she returned to them.
"So how'd it go?" Mara mocked. Estelle would have bit her head off, but the other Careers were eyeing her up. Her plan had failed, her idea as a leader of the Pack had failed. She couldn't show weakness.
"She's mine." Estelle said, venom in her voice. "Mine to kill. Nobody is to touch her but me!"
"Got it." Reko said. "She doesn't know who she's messing with."
Cean had spent the day in fear of when the Judgement came down for him. This seemed like a good chance to bring it up. "So…. Can I stay?" Cean asked.
"Absolutely not." Estelle said, angrier than she anticipated. Showing weakness was the first scene of death in the Hunger Games and for the Careers. First that loon from 3 had approached them without fear, then the District 7 girl had just insulted her in front of the entire Career Pack and walked away. She wasn't going to let this idiot do the same by sticking around.
"But I'm from District 4!" Cean cried.
"Yeah, but you act like you're from 11. Maybe go cry with that boy from 11. He seems more your speed." Mara mocked.
Cean couldn't believe it. He looked between all the Careers and found no support. Even Valdez, seemingly kinder than the rest, didn't meet his eyes. "We gave you an honest shot, Cean." He said. "Sorry."
"But nobody is going to ally with me!" Cean begged.
Chase really wanted to say something mocking to this pathetic boy, but knew he was on thin ice. Even he had someself control. The girl from 3 was still watching him too. What a freak. Mara, however, had no problem kicking Cean while he was down. "You don't know that." She said, giving him a mocking look of encouragement, "Offer to be their meat shield. I already told you that's all you're good for anyways."
"Screw you, bitch." Cean hurled at her.
The punch was so fast, Cean didn't even see it until Mara's fist was connecting with his nose, smashing it and the cartilage. The taste of iron filled his mouth as blood dripped down from his nose, dripping into his mouth as he screamed in pain. He was kneeling on the ground, blood and tearing dripping down while Mara stood over him, fist and jaw clenched like iron.
"Hey!" A trainer screamed, blowing her whistle. Five trainers descended on them, dragging Mara away and kneeling over to check on the bloodied Cean. The Head Trainer marched over, furious to have to deal with this.
"One rule, one rule you children need to follow: don't hurt the other Tributes until the Games!" He screamed, barely giving Cean a look over before turning to Mara. "If this was twenty years ago I'd just have you whipped and be done with it. But these Gamemakers have gone soft, so instead, you're done with Training."
"What does that mean?" Mara demanded.
"It means that except for the scoring and the interviews your locked in your room." The Head Trainer taunted. "Enjoy it, your freaking brat.
"You can't do that!" Mara screamed, though was powerless as three men dragged her towards the exit. The others watched her go in silence, while Cean was led away to the infirmary to have his nose looked at. Mara was absolutely enraged, all this over freaking Cean? But then she saw something promising. On the second floor, the Gamemakers were watching her leave, muttering to each other, looking with approval at her.
At least some people knew and appreciated her skill.
"Does this mean I'm in?" Chase asked the remains Careers.
Things were quiet after that, all the Tributes focused on learning before their scoring sessions the next day. The number of lone Tributes had shrunk, leaving only Poe, Ola, Cara, Alice, and Ruddy without a partner or alliance. Poe skulled about, licking her wounds and plotting. Ola remained with the survival stations, now learning how to identify plants she was unfamiliar with outside of District 7. Cara steered clear of Chase, working the survival stations and perfecting the skills she learned yesterday. Alice kept to himself, occasionally taunting a Tribute who got too close, though few did. Ruddy bumbled about, trying to pick up some sort of presentable skill.
The District partners groups were few that year, just District 10 and 12. Hayley had coaxed Buck into practicing some more with the hammer and they had discovered that with some coaching from the Trainers, Buck was pretty good with it. Hayley herself excelled with the sickle, enjoying the way the curved blade struck its target.
Meanwhile, the new alliances of David, Millie, and Daisy was getting along well. Millie continued to spout her love of the Capitol, practically hyperventilating whenever she saw Gamemakers observing them from the upper level. Quickly, David and Daisy had fallen into a Game of giving each other looks whenever Millie said something particularly obnoxious, making the other giggle. The Careers remained with the weapons, Chase now firmly with them, though few were happy with him as their only outside Career pick.
Meanwhile, Sarah was working at the first aid station alone. Olivia had decided that with a five person alliance, they should all have a survival skill down that they could bring to the table. Sarah personally thought that limiting themselves to just one skill wasn't the best course, especially if one of them died, but remained silent instead.
Besides, she was enjoying the first aid station. Having spent the last few years working at a pharmacy, Sarah had become familiar with the basics of first aid. Now, a Trainer was helping her perfect her disinfecting skills and a rather grisly new way to treat cuts and wounds: cauterization.
"A mere flesh wound, no matter how small, is enough to bring down any Tribute." The Trainer warned her. "Infection kills just as easily as a sword or arrow in the arena, and far slower at that. Sometimes a burning knife on flesh is the only way to stop things, or at least slow things down until a sponsor can send you proper medicine."
Sarah wasn't quite sure if she'd be winning any sponsors. Just looking around, she felt pretty outmatched. The Careers always got money, and, based on the television coverage she watched last night, the only non-Careers that the Capitol liked so far were Poe, Ola, Chase, and Hayley. For Poe, she was apparently a horrific, bloody criminal and the Capitol was thrilled to see what havoc she'd unleash in the arena. For Ola, they assumed she was aggressive due to her reserved demeanor and muscular arms. For Chase, they couldn't stop calling him the "Giant from 8." And for Hayley, even though her dad had died a "poor death" in his Games, the fact that she was the daughter of a former Tribute, like Mara, caught sponsors' attention.
She hadn't even caught the attention of others in her alliance. How was Sarah supposed to win over the Capitol? Those absolute snobs. They were like the worst customers she had ever dealt with times a thousand! All of them preening and baying for their blood, desperate to be entertained and not caring for anything else. It was a true horror show, and the thought that she had to go out there in two days and smile and wave and pretend everything was fine? It made her stomach turn.
She thought of Tony and Ben. She missed both of them and wondered what they were up to. Probably working. That was a safe bet for people in District 6. She was still irked with Ben dumping his confession of love onto her at the Goodbyes, but found she still missed him, even if she wasn't sure if she returned his feelings or not. Her parents were probably huddled next to a TV, watching everything play out, desperate for their daughter to succeed. And her brother Chuck was probably running his mouth, pacing and talking frantically like he always did when he was nervous about her.
If she just closed her eyes, she could see them all. Waiting inside their too cramped apartment, the smell of smoke in the air from the factories, the singing static of the old lightbulbs, which threatened to give out at any moment. In this context, it was almost ideal.
And then she opened her eyes and she was forced back into reality. Forced back into the Games.
Her lesson was done soon enough and she went to find her other allies. Eddie, unsurprisingly, was next to Olivia, watching her learn how to purify water. Aleko was learning how to make a fire and what temperature to cook food at and what angle. And Amadeus… well he was at the edible plants station, but his attention seemed more focused on the poison's station next door.
It wasn't the first time Sarah and seen him looking at the station. Right now he was keeping his eyes down, appearing to focus on learning the difference between a sulphuric shelf and false morels mushroom. Sarah, after years in retail, knew when someone was faking attention. She could see him listening in to the Trainer teaching that creepy boy from 9 about toxins.
Sarah tapped Amadeus on the shoulder, who spun around, looking at her angrily. "What is it?" He asked.
'Why are you being creepy?' Sarah thought.
"We should meet up with the others before they send us upstairs." She said instead. "We only have twenty minutes left."
"I'll catch up in a minute." Amadeus said. Sarah left, overhearing the Trainer telling the boy from 9, and Amadeus in earshot, how to properly disperse poison through a water source.
Again… creepy.
Olivia saw her approaching and waved her over. "Hey, girl!" Olivia said. "Guess who can boil water?"
"We can!" Eddie said, all excited about the joke.
"That's excellent." Sarah commented.
"I thought this station would be a little more interesting." Olivia admitted frankly, not even bothering to lower her voice with the Trainer still there. "But this 'skill' just seems to, ahem, boil down to 'get water hot or have sponsors send you clean water.' Not super helpful."
The Trainer eyed her critically, rather annoyed to be insulted so casually. Sarah felt uncomfortable by that. How could Olivia be so open about her emotions and thoughts all the time? It was baffling. "Did you already forget about distillation?" The Trainer asked, annoyance in her voice.
"No. But frankly it seems like that only works if we're in a tropical arena with, you know, limestone and sand." Olivia replied with a shrug. She had been paying attention and actually learning but was definitely less than satisfied with the return on her time investment. "And we'd still need the equipment to properly distill it! Right now I'm hoping the Gamemakers give us tablets or distillation drops like they did for the Tributes in the 51st Games."
With that, Olivia rose and led Sarah and Eddie towards Aleko, leaving behind a peeved Trainer. "Do you think you should have been… rude to the Trainer?" Sarah questioned.
"I wasn't rude." Olivia said, then thought about it. "Just honest. It was a dumb lesson. Who doesn't know you need to boil water to make sure it's clean? Feels like a lesson they'd teach these out of touch Capitolites. I still can't believe you can just drink water from the faucet here and you won't get sick. It's crazy!"
Sarah had to agree with that. It was a rare day in District 6 when the faucet water in Sarah's apartment building looked clean and not like an off shade of yellow. "But what if they tell the Gamemakers you were rude?"
"Sarah, have you seen the way the Trainers and Gamemakers look at each other?" Olivia asked. "They clearly hate each other. I doubt they'd listen if a Trainer complained. Case in point, did you see how happy the Gamemakers looked when Mara punched her partner and how not amused the Trainers were?"
It was an astute observation. Sarah was constantly being impressed with how perceptive Olivia was. She was kind of a badass, Sarah was coming to realize. She had a been a rich girl in District 5 but rose to the occasion when her family fortunes faltered. Now she was the leader of their alliance, commanded the boys like it was nothing, and seemed to know what she wanted and when she wanted it. It reminded Sarah of Jorina a bit, but unlike her bully who reveled in making herself superior to the girls who groveled after her, Olivia was nice and seemed to genuinely care for all her allies, even Sarah.
Aleko and Amadeus joined them, and they all began discussing what they had learned. When it was Amadeus' turn he muttered about a couple of plants and roots, but didn't provide much help. "Hopefully we get an arena with easy stuff to identify, like apples and oranges." He said.
"Unless they're all poisoned like they were in the Second Quell." Olivia commented.
"Well… that would just be a bummer, wouldn't it?" Amadeus joked.
'I bet you'd know what kind of poison it'd be too, wouldn't you, Amadeus?' Sarah thought darkly.
The intercom in the training center came on, telling them they had five minutes left before training ended. With time pressing, Olivia addressed the last topic of the day. "I think the last thing we need to talk about is out little spy." Olivia said, turning to Eddie. "Were you able to get anything else from your, Escort?
The younger boy looked uncomfortable, clearly not wanting to let down Olivia. "I'm sorry. She didn't tell me anything else. She just went on and on about her Gamemaker sister. She's like, really jealous of her."
"But nothing about the arena?"
"No. I tried to ask her but she kept deflecting. I'm really sorry."
"Well… it was worth a shot anyways." Olivia said. "And nothing to be sorry about. I guess we can't expect Capitolites to be stupid all the time."
"I think we'll be ok." Sarah chimed in. "We worked hard these past two days. And… I think we have a good alliance. I'm glad I'm with you all."
"Aww, Sarah! That's so sweet of you!" Olivia said with a smile. "I think we got a good group too. If this wasn't the Hunger Games, I could totally see all of us hanging out."
Sarah believed her. It was odd to think Sarah had to come to the Hunger Games to find a girl who was nice to her. A girl she could call a friend. "I could too." She said, and meant it.
"Even you two boys." Olivia said, wrapping her arms around Aleko and Amadeus' shoulders and pulling them into a hug. "Look at you both, friends again!"
Neither would say 'friends' but they could at least work together. Amadeus was still eyeing him suspiciously, but Aleko felt he could take him if it came down to it. As they cleared out of the Training Center, Aleko pulled Olivia aside for a partner conversation. "So you're sure about this alliance?" He asked.
Olivia gave him a look. "A bit late for regret. You and Amadeus are ok, right? You never told me what that conversation was about, and we don't need you two sniping at each other while the Careers hunt us."
"We'll behave." Aleko promised. Or at least he would, for Olivia. "But I did want to talk about Eddie. I think we need to dump him."
"No." Olivia said simply.
"Why not?"
"Because he's part of the team. Because he's fourteen. Because he doesn't deserve to go into the Games alone."
"None of us deserve the Games." Aleko commented. "But life puts you in bad spots and you need to make tough choices. He might be a drag on us."
"All I've seen from Eddie is someone who is dedicated to the alliance and wants to succeed in the Games." Olivia countered, an edge to her voice. Aleko would have been offended, but he knew Olivia was just passionate and not to read anything into it. She and their Escort had developed a love hate relationship, where at varying points the Escort vacillated between being ready to do anything to help Olivia and the next swearing her off to an early grave. It was bizarre.
"I'm just saying… we want to be careful. And you want to be careful. What if we're in there and four Careers descend on him? You going to rush in an save him?"
"What if it was you instead of him?" Olivia countered, deflecting that she didn't have an answer to that.
"Well, I would hope you wouldn't do that for me." Aleko said. "I volunteered for this. I'm ready to die."
To Aleko's shock, she pushed him. A light shove, not enough to push him off balance, but enough to startle him. "Don't say that." Olivia said, upset. "You matter, Aleko. It's going to be you and me until the end, ok? Nothing has changed for me since the train. I'm still scared shitless, and you don't get to leave me when I'm like that, ok?"
Aleko shook his head in bemusement. Olivia was wild. "Alright. I won't. Until the end, Olivia. Whatever that might be." He said, finding some comfort in that thought. For the first time in a while, there was a spark of joy in him. And what an odd thing to find in the Capitol?
Next up: Tribute Scoring! I am… not looking forward to it. This chapter can be a bit tedious, and I'm much more excited for the Tribute Interviews that follow! But the good thing is that next chapter is easy to write and it's already half done.
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