Regina Peil, 17

District 6 Female

Since arriving in the Capitol, time seemed to move quicker than I'd expected. After the parade yesterday, which left me exhausted, I fell asleep fast, thinking I would get some sleep. But that wasn't the case. I couldn't stop thinking about how I had gotten reaped, right before I was set to get my license! If I ever want to follow my dreams, I would have to somehow survive longer than twenty-three other people.

Me and my district partner Thomas walk inside the elevator, which is supposed to take us down to the training center. I stare down at my sneakers, avoiding eye-contact with Thomas, who I haven't bothered to talk to since the reaping. This morning, I decided I would stay alone in the arena, as I can't trust anyone else but myself.

Since District 6 has no living victors from after the second rebellion, our escort Shira Ribbon also works as our mentor, and it's been a pretty quiet group, the three of us. Shira tries to be nice, but clearly doesn't know of ways to help us survive, so I know i'll have to put on a lot of focus during training.

Once we depart the elevator, and into the training center, a crowd of tributes is already lined up on a red carpet. The massive room spans out almost as far as my eyes can see, and weapons of all sorts are arranged on the walls.

Standing on a podium, in front of all of the tributes, is a bulky young man, who has neatly trimmed black hair with green streaks, and a goatee. After a few seconds, once all of the tributes have arrived, he announces himself as Sirius Sword, and goes on to list the rules of the training center, and the different sections we can choose from to train. He also encourages us to ask questions if needed.

"Good." I think to myself, time to learn how to use a sword.

When I walk over to the sword-fighting station, all six of the careers are huddled nearby, discussing something. I try to walk by cautiously, but one of the girls catches my eye, and I freeze. She looks away, and I breathe a sigh of relief, worried I would get in trouble somehow by this group for what I'm about to do.

A trainer sits in the sword-fighting section, and smiles at me when I walk over.

"Good morning! Can I help you?" She says, her voice sounding like monotone.

"I would like to learn how to use a sword."

She laughs. "Not many kids from District 6 want to use a sword. But sure, i'll teach you."

Really, I only want to use a sword because from what I've seen of past games, the strongest tributes usually wield some sort of sword or other unfamiliar weapons.

The trainer lady teaches me my hand techniques first. I'm a bit rusty, but it's a good start. I'll see what it brings to me tomorrow.

Cain Masen, 18

District 2 Male

As Sirius continues discussing the training rules, I take a look around at the room, checking out my competitors. To my left stands the girl from District 8, and near her I catch sight of the blond boy from District 4, who stares back at me and gives a small wave. I nod my head silently, not wanting to interrupt our instructor's speech.

Once we are released, Selene, being the social butterfly she is, instantly rushes over to the tributes from District 1, shaking hands with both tributes.

"It's excellent to meet you Elizabeth! And you as well, Midas." She says with a wink.

I stand there, not saying anything, waiting for one of the District 1 tributes to acknowledge me. Both of them seem entranced by Selene already.

"Hello!" I hear a voice say from behind me, and I turn around to see the tributes from District 4. Like earlier, the boy is grinning, while the younger girl keeps her hands behind her back and stays quiet.

"Hey, welcome to the career pack." Midas says, walking over to shake both tributes' hands. I clear my throat, trying to make a subtle reminder to the guy from District 1 that I exist, and he goes over to shake my hand smoothly.

"I know all of your names already. Of course I know Elizabeth over here, and then Selene," he points at me. "You're Cain, and that's Anemone and Finbar."

"Good job!" Selene says, clapping her hands together as if Midas deserves an award for correctly remembering our names. Elizabeth rolls her eyes.

We begin to discuss what weapons we're familiar with. Midas seems to have sworn himself in as the leader of the group, though it won't be for long because I plan on taking over as I had initially intended.

"Do you think we should invite any other tributes into the alliance?" He suggests.

"Definitely not." I quickly say. "I wouldn't even dare to trust those scumbags from the outer districts."

"I agree." A soft, melodic voice chimes in. Anemone, the girl from District 4 repeats herself. "I totally agree. The tributes of the poorer districts don't have the same kind of allegiance as our three districts do. You've all seen how quickly they backstab their own kind."

Elizabeth purses her lips. "Nobody plans on leaving this alliance, right? I don't think we would need a replacement."

Selene and Finbar, however, seem open to the idea of inviting more tributes into the alliance, leaving our group split between the two decisions.

"Midas, it's too early to be making decisions like these. We haven't even begun training yet." Elizabeth pleads.

"She's right. I think that I'm better off leading the group than you are, so stay out of the decision making process." I say, leaning close to Midas.

Elizabeth, clearly tired of this whole ordeal, walks away from the group and towards the target practice. The others follow her soon after, leaving me and Midas alone.

"Just because you're from District 2 doesn't mean you're automatically our leader" He stares at me, his arms crossed.

I squeeze his left shoulder. "I didn't train this long to be put below someone from District 1. So back off Buddy, okay? If you know what's good for you."

Midas scoffs, and pulls his shoulder away from my hand, and then starts walking away to begin training.

All it took me was a few words, and now I already have my crown back.

Mazie Millar, 16

District 9 Female

It's been a couple of hours since our first day of training began. I've been slicing a dummy with a sickle for the past thirty minutes or so, keeping an eye out for other tributes.

Getting reaped did not surprise me, considering the Capitol probably found out about my smuggling ring. I planned to volunteer, so I knew that regardless, I would be going into the arena, and I need o be strategic about what I do during this training.

I notice that, besides the careers, not many of the other tributes are talking yet. I think that it's time to start building my alliance. I can't trust the others at all, however I need a strong and sturdy group who can help me take down the careers.

Much to my luck, the boy from District 10 walks over to the nearby spear section, and I carefully watch his form and flexibility with the weapon, and after a moment of pondering, I walk over.

"Hey. You're really good at that." I say.

The boy turns around and looks at me, a wide smile on his face.

"Thanks. I'm more used to an estoc, though."

"Estoc? What is that?"

He laughs a bit. "It's a matador's sword. I held one during the parade."

I have no clue what a matador is either, but I don't ask, because I'm not here to talk nonsense.

"Okay. Well, I'm thinking of starting up an alliance, a large one hopefully. You interested?"

"You want me to join?" He asks, his eyebrow raised.

"Nope, I was asking your ghost. Of course I was asking you to join, who else would I be talking to?"

"How many people are you thinking?"

"Five or six." I respond.

He nods. "Okay. I'm open to joining this alliance, but only if you let my district partner in as well."

"That's fine. More, the better. I'm going to recruit some other people, I'll leave you to it. What's your name again, by the way?"

"Aaron." He places his hand out for me to shake.

"I'm Mazie." I say, walking off to find the boy from District 11. I knew he would be a good addition to the alliance, maybe even his district partner as well.

Namid Ortiz, 18

District 5 Male

Alberta and I have been learning how to throw knives for most of the day so far. My aim is getting a little better, but surprisingly Alberta is learning really quickly and getting closer to the bullseye each time.

I wipe a bead of sweat from my forehead. "Wanna do something else? We can't be training with weapons all day."

Alberta throws one last knife, hitting right into the red bullseye, and then responds.

"Sure, let's go check out the fire-building section."

"So we're just gonna ignore the fact that you just hit a bullseye? That's not bad at all."

Alberta giggles. "Oh, it's nothing. You haven't even seen what else I can do."

"Did you practice throwing knives in your backyard or something back home?"

Alberta begins laughing hysterically. "Of course not! My father would never allow me to even get close to any sort of sharp objects. He was a very cultured man."

I don't see any bits of sadness in her eyes as she talks about her dead father. I want to bring it up, but I don't want to rehash any sort of trauma for her, so I stay silent.

Once we walk toward the fire section, I begin having fond memories of my own father. I was really young, but I still remember when he would take me out to the desert at night, and it would be cold so he would teach me how to build a fire. Then we would lie down, and stare at all of the stars in the night sky. That is one of the few memories I still have of my dad, though to this day, I still sometimes go out into the desert at night for some alone time to look at the stars.

I teach Alberta how to start a fire, and watch as her black eyes glow with excitement by the flames. To me, building a fire is a pretty normal activity, but I guess it's a unique experience for the mayor's daughter.

After I finish instructing, Alberta rubs the sticks together and screams with delight upon seeing the blaze.

"Have you really never been camping before? Everyone else in District 5 has at some point!"

"I haven't, though my father owned a large cabin near the grand canyon that we would visit during the winter months. I've never slept outside before though."

"You have a lot to learn then. We're likely going to end up in an outdoor arena."

Alberta pouts. "That's the main thing I'm dreading about this experience."

So, she's not even worried about getting killed? That's what I'm most worried about, not the fact that we're going to have to sleep outside. I feel a bit bad for the girl, but I'm starting to believe she won't stand a chance in these games.

An announcement is made through the speakers, that lunch is being served in the cafeteria, so we get up and start heading over there. On the way, Alberta stops dead in her tracks.

Next to the plant identification section, a group of three tributes, the girl from 9 and both from 10 are talking to the large boy from 11.

"Okay, I'll join. But don't allow Asa in."

He shakes hands with Mazie, and Alberta looks furious, both of her hands clenched into fists.

"That bitch is starting an alliance, huh? And she didn't even think to invite me?"

I gasp in shock, I get why Alberta is mad at Mazie, but I don't know why she's so mad at her for forming an alliance.

"Why don't we just walk up to her and ask if we can join?" I suggest.

Alberta shakes her head, and keeps her eyes trained on the group as they walk into the cafeteria.

"At the parade she literally disrespected me. Why would I ally with her?"

"Well, what do you wanna do, then?"

Alberta takes my hand, and leads me into the line at the cafeteria, and then whispers into my ear.

"We'll just make a better alliance."

I just nod my head. I guess I am okay with having more allies, if they seem loyal. We grab our food, a delicious looking meat sandwich with a side of salad, and sit at a table.

After a minute or so, the pink-haired girl from District 7 hovers over our table.

"I'm sorry to be a bother, but can I join you two? I have nowhere else to sit, and my district partner is super quiet and I would just like someone to talk to."

"Go ahead." Alberta spits out.

She introduces herself as Lily Tang, and I ask her about her hair color.

"My mom works in the Capitol, she's a model. Every summer I get to go to this lovely city, and a couple of years ago they dyed my hair and ever since then, I've kept it pink!"

Alberta begins to smile. "That's impressive. I also have a few ties to the Capitol. Anyway, sorry if this is a bit too soon to ask, but would you want to ally with us? We're looking for a few more teammates."

"Oh, that would be splendid!" Lily says.

Right now, I feel like I can trust Lily. Part of me wants to trust Alberta too, but her lashing out earlier caused a bit of discomfort for me. I brush the thought out of my head, and continue getting to know our new ally.

This chapter took me a long time to make, but I'm glad to finally have it done! I'm really busy irl at the moment so updates might be a little slower, but I am fully invested in this story and can't wait to write more! I struggled a bit with this chapter, but I'm glad I managed to not rush it :)

Questions:

1) Whose POV was your favorite?

2) Do you think the careers will recruit an outlier into the alliance? If so, then who?

3) Who else do you think Alberta will recruit into her alliance?

4) What would be the first thing you do during training?

-xo, cassy