Chapter 12

It was the morning of our first day of training, and I was awoken by a very unpleasant knocking at the door.

"Cato Hadley! What are you doing in Clove's room?! Were you in there all night!? You know, you have your own quarters for a reason!" Spart pounded her fist against the door. "Now get out here right now! We have training this morning and you will be late!"

I sighed and rolled over to face Cato. "How much longer do you think we have until she kicks down the door?" I asked.

He glanced over at the door where Spart was still pounding. "I'd say about thirty seconds."

"Do you hear me!? I said get up, and get out here right now! And Clove, you should also be getting ready!" Spart continued.

"It's not even locked." Cato laughed. "She can stop all the pounding."

I rolled my eyes and sat up. I was surprised by how well I slept. With all the chaos going on inside my head, I didn't think I'd have time for sleep. I glanced at the clock, and realized Spart was right. Training started in less than thirty minutes.

Once Cato finally hauled himself out of bed, I slipped out of my wrinkled clothes and into the training uniforms, black stretchy pants and top, with a number two printed on the back. I pulled my hair back, and ran out of the room with fifteen minutes remaining.I grabbed a bowl of something that looked like oatmeal and swallowed it all in record time. Cato came down the hall wearing an identical outfit, and popped a roll into his mouth.

"When we leaving?" he asked, mouth full.

I shrugged. "Any minute now."

"We can leave right now." Enobaria called as she entered the room, followed by Julius. "Do you remember what we discussed last night?"

Cato and I both nodded.

"Show them that you are good at a variety of things. Don't just stick to one station," she reminded us anyways.

Cato and I headed to the elevator that would take us to the bottom floor, where the training facility was. The doors opened to a enormous gymnasium filled with obstacle courses and a variety of different weapons. We were one of the first districts to arrive but, Districts 4, 7, and 1 were already huddled in a tense circle around the head trainer, Atala. We joined the group, and all waited for the remaining districts to arrive. Now that we were all so close together I could finally get a good look at our opponents. To be honest, they weren't much. Most of the tributes standing around us just looked like average kids, nothing exceptional. A few of the tributes were muscular and well fed but, they just looked like kids. I could definitely tell who had been training back home, like us. There was only a handful.

District 12 was the last to arrive but, once they joined our circle, Atala began to explain the stations and training schedule. Experts in each skill would remain at their stations, and we were free to roam from area to area. The stations included survival skills, fighting techniques, endurance and balance exercises. We were forbidden to engage in any combat with the other tributes, which was a little disappointing.

Finally, after reading through the list of training stations, Atala let us begin. As much as I wanted to grab a knife, I decided to head over to one of the obstacle courses. I noticed Cato headed over to grab a sword, and immediately began to slice the dummies in half. I walked over to a tall course with rings dropping down from the top. I got in line behind the girl with the red hair, and watched as a boy attempted to make it across. Apparently there was a ring for each hand and you had to move it through some up and downs. The boy on the course couldn't handle this simple exercise, and ended up tumbling toward the ground. Once it was my turn, I found it was harder than I thought. I got about three fourths through before slipping. At least I landed on my feet.

I tried a few other courses before finally settling on the knives. I headed over to the station where several other tributes were already throwing. I smiled to myself. They were about to see what real throwing looked like. I picked up a nice knife. No, a really nice knife. It had a sharp polished blade, and a long steel handle. Just as I was about to throw I heard someone calling me.

"Clove, can you come here for a second." Cato asked from the sword station next door. I sighed and set down my knife.

"What?"

"Have you been watching 12?" he asked in a whisper. I shook my head. "Well they aren't anything to be watching. They are no threat at all. The boy can barely tie a knot." We both smiled.

"Great, I knew it was all an act," I said.

"Hey, mind if I throw with you?" he set the sword back down with the rest.

"Not at all." We headed back over to the knives but, something was wrong. Someone stole my knife.

"What's wrong?" Cato asked as he reached for a blade.

"Someone took my knife," I hissed. "I set it right there and now it's gone."

Cato scowled. "I think it was him." He pointed to the boy from 6, who was sitting down on one of the benches. "I'm pretty sure I saw him take it," Cato put his knife down, and pointed to one of the the combat stations where the girl from 7, and girl on fire stood. "Go stand over there, I'll take care of this."

"I can take care of this myself." I protested. "It doesn't matter anyways, there's more knives."

"That's sweet but, I've got this," he smiled coldly, as he made his way to the boy.

I trudged over to where he told me to stand, and watched the drama unfold. I had to keep reminding myself that we were in the Hunger Games. We were supposed to be feared. If someone took my knife, I should get it back.

"Hey, where's my knife?" Cato asked the boy. District 6 cautiously stood up from the bench with a puzzled look on his face. Cato repeated himself, louder this time. I smirked as our fellow tributes turned to his rising voice. "I set it right there and now it's gone!"

"I didn't touch your knife!" the boy yelled back.

"You took my knife!"

"I didn't touch your knife! I was just sitting here!"

"Give it back!" Cato was shouting now, anger flooding through his voice. The entire gym was frozen, eyes fixed on the fight.

"I didn't take it!"

"You liar! You took my knife!" Cato launched toward the boy grabbing at his neck. District 6 thrashed out his arms, desperate to get away. I remembered Atala and her speech about no physical fighting. Maybe this had gone a little too far. Just then, peacekeepers began to flood the gymnasium, pulling the boys apart.

"He took my knife! Get off me!" Cato shouted louder but, he loosened his grip on the boy. "Oh okay, You know what, I'll wait until the arena. I'll kill you then. Better watch your back." he hissed as the peacekeepers dragged him off. Well, if he was trying to convince everyone else he was insane, it certainly worked.

The next time I talked to Cato was at lunch. Lunch was served in a room off of the gymnasium. The food was served on carts, and the twenty four us were free to grab as much as we liked. Cato, Glimmer, Marvel and I all sat at a table together. It really wasn't tough coming up with topics to discuss, Glimmer had that all covered. She talked through the entire lunch. As she went over another story about how an arrow got stuck in her hair, I glanced around at the other tributes. Besides us, the only tributes talking were 12. Everyone else sat as far apart as possible, nibbling quietly on their food. I looked across the table at Glimmer and Marvel. It was funny how we were pretending to be such good friends but, once the time came, our hands would be covered in each other's blood.

The next couple of days, Glimmer, Marvel, Cato and I, stayed together most of the time. I guess we were trying to prove how intimidating we were. It was a lot like the first except, less picking fights with other tributes and more knife throwing. We also spent a great deal of time observing the other tributes. We found strengths among some of them but, most of that was blocked by all the weakness. The other tributes were picking up on some skills which was good because I wanted at least a little competition. The girl from 12 hadn't shown anything significant yet. The boy however did show us something. After we laughed at his failed attempt at one of the obstacles, he managed to throw a hundred pound weight. It was a little impressive but strength couldn't outdo my throwing. Everyone knew it.

I had been doing a lot of throwing. The feeling was addictive. I loved the way the other tributes stopped what they were doing when I stepped up. The eerie silence that hung in the room after every one of my knives landed dead in the center of the target, filled me with joy. When Glimmer stood up to shoot, everyone of her arrows missed, and with every arrow I felt my smile growing bigger. No one could top me. I was the girl who never missed, and it felt good.