A Whole New Game- Chapter 2 -A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 2: Training


Athena


I wonder if Sammy's okay. They better be taking good care of her.

It has been almost a week since I have seen my beautiful baby sister.   The train ride to the Capitol, the opening ceremonies, the preparations, it all seems like a blur. She is the only thing to me, the only thing I think of as I enter the training facility for our first day of real preparation.

I have never been in a place with so many deadly objects. Any number of the things in here could draw blood with a single touch. I hate to imagine how fast they can sever entire limbs, or heads for that matter.

Not many of the other tributes have arrived yet, the kids from Districts 1, 2, 7, and 11. The rest must still be on their way.

I previously decided that my tactics for the Games would mainly involve hiding, avoiding the other tributes until absolutely necessary. In order to do this, I have to keep my distance from them and brace myself for any kind of condition or situation. So I make my way on over to the survival station, avoiding the Careers who are all training with various deadly looking weapons. I present all of my focus on my own station, working hard at identifying different types of edible plants, learning how to purify water and other various things.

We only get three days in the training center so I must make every minute of it count. For Samantha.



Eleanor


I walk into the training room with a grin on my face. This is my element. My eyes flicker between tributes, analyzing their every move. My mind sorts out the weaklings from those I might have to keep an eye on. So far, there aren't many. A towering dark haired boy, a girl with a braid, and a brutal looking, dark-skinned boy.

My competition, huh? This is going to be excruciatingly easy. Then I see him. The boy from District 2. Cato.

I stare in awe at his spiky, blonde hair, his grassy green eyes, and thick muscles bulging from his arms. He was the hottest guy I had ever seen, which meant a lot, considering Finnick Odair was my mentor.

Snap out of it Eleanor. You're going to have to kill him soon enough, now is not the time to have a crush. Trying to focus, I walk over to the weapons.

I pick up a spear, and proceed to throw it directly into the bullsye, which the trainers have conveniently placed over the heart of the dummies. I spy a few of the other tributes staring, horrified, in my direction. I simply turn and wink. That's what you get to look forward to, you filthy scum.

I pick up another spear, ready to throw it, when I notice his eyes on me. Distracted, the spear completely misses it's target, and instead almost hits another trainer. "Hey! Save it for the arena!" He shouts angrily to me.

"Nice shot, hope that you aren't that bad all the time. I do not want that in the Career pack."

I turn to find Cato standing next to me, grinning sarcastically.

"It would have been a perfect shot if you hadn't been distracting me," I grumble.

"Oh, so I was distracting you was I?" His says flirtatiously.

"No! Of course not… You just were staring at me," I say. Do not blush. Do not blush.

"Pretty girls do catch my eye," he says.

Okay now I'm seriously blushing. Come on Eleanor, show them how tough you are.

"So, what the hell do you want, pretty boy?"

"We want to form an alliance. All of the Careers. Which happens to include you. You up for it? We'd live longer with six of us."

At the moment, I am too distracted by his emerald eyes to think of any logical reason why not. "Fine. I could use some backup, anyway."

"Great. My name's Cato, by the way, Cato Rofter," he says.

"Eleanor Ruehler," I reply, more girlishly than I would like.

"Well then, I need to be off. Instilling fear into the hearts of the weak and stuff like that. Come and get me if you want to discuss anymore." He starts to turn before calling back to me. "I'm keeping my eye on you Eleanor Ruehler."

I will hate the day that I have to kill him.



Clove


The boy from District 1 and I make our way over to the spear throwing station. I stand by him as the instructor explains the station to us.  "You will all go in pairs, and remember, no aiming for other tributes. You will have plenty of time for that in the arena."


The boy grabs up a few spears, and goes straight to work. He is an incredible shot and not one of the manikins go unharmed, most of them being decapitated or getting pierced through the heart. I on the other hand, can just barely make the spear fly straight.

After a few minutes of utter humiliation, provided by my spear throwing skills, the trainer instructs us to a different station. Knives.

When I was in Career training, though I despised almost every minute of it, I cherished the days when we practiced knife throwing. It was one of the only things I was good at, and I was brilliant with them.

I pick up a knife about the size of a pencil with a wicked, curved blade. I turn towards the three dummies they have set up, turning sideways to face them. I turn the knife over in my hand, close my eyes and let it fly. I smile as  I hear the three heads hit the floor with a gut-wrenching Thunk!

The tall boy from District 1 looks at me, baffled. "Those are some pretty crazy knife throwing skills you've got there."

I look up at him. He must be even taller than Cato, with dark brown hair and eyes, his hands crossed defensively in front of his chest, but a welcoming smile spreading slighlty across his face, his teeth as white as clouds.
"Thanks. I guess your not completly incompetent with spears," I say grinning.

Don't go making friends, Clove. This is just another person that is going to die, no thanks to you. I wipe the smile off my face and begin to pick up the heads and set them back on the manikins.

He clears his throat, not taking his eyes off me. "You know, the other Careers were talking about making an alliance. All of us from 1, 2, and 4."

I raise my eyebrow . "And, what? You want me to join or something?" I ask.

"Um, well, yeah."

"Interesting. Join a group of bloodthirsty strangers who are supposed to be trying to eliminate me and could easily turn on me at any moment, or fend on my own against nature and the gammakers' vile and horrendous creations alone. Great options, don't you agree?"

His deep brown eyes flicker back and forth, trying to read mine. "I, uh, umm..."

An alliance. With this guy, his complete ignoramus of a district partner, Cato, and the vicious district 4 girl I saw earlier, details of her parter unknown.

I could at least go, for Cato. Protect him as long as I can, even if it's futile.

I let the boy ponder a moment longer, before finally giving in. "Fine. But if you or your little partner try to lay a finger on me, I will kill you."

"Sounds fair to me," he responds. "I'm Marvel by the way," his pearly teeth stretching into view as he smiles.

"Clove. Sorry we have to meet like this."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean preparing to kill each other."

"Oh. Yeah." He breaks eye contact, staring down at the floor.

I look at him again, his lanky stature casting a shadow on me. He seems nothing like his District partner, Glimmer, who at the moment is flirting it up with as many of the boys in the training room as she can. His deep brown eyes seem so gentle, his long fingers gently rubbing his arms. Nervous and shy. He's probably just as ruthless as any of the Careers, he's just better at hiding it.

My pondering is suddenly interrupted by shouts from the other side of the room. Marvel and I both turn our attention to the general direction of the sound, to find ourselves watching as Cato chews out the small, dark-haired boy from District 9.

Marvel raises his eyebrow as Cato throws a punch in 9's direction, the boy narrowly dodging it as the trainers pull Cato away. "Wow, he's intense."

I simply scoff, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."