This Isn't Me ↠ Sequel to INWYTIA ↠ Team Crafted and Hunger Games Fanfiction

Chapter 2: Training

Jason

To put it simply.

Life sucked.

Snow was dead. The war wasn't looking good. And a good percentage of District 13 wanted nothing more than to kill me.

Typical week right?

"Hurry up and eat." Vena said breaking me out of my own thoughts. "If we're late to training again, General Pristeen will kill us."

"Which one?" I muttered.

Vena rolled her eyes but smiled. Everyone else saw her as some evil person but she was actually really sweet. I think it was just Snow that made her turn into someone she wasn't.

You would think that after getting out of a brutal bloody beat down (a.k.a. The Hunger Games) the leaders of District 13 would let all of us tributes rest.

You'd be thinking wrong.

The day after we were rescued, we were awoken early in the morning for training. They put all of us tributes in our own group. And our trainers?

None other than Snow's supposedly dead parents themselves.

Luckily, they were only temporary. We were supposed to get a new leader soon which was good considering Snow's parents hated the majority of us.

"I'm still sore." I complained.

Vena laughed. "All of you non-Career tributes are."

Jerome, Thalia, Vena, and Mitch obviously did much better than the rest of us in training. They were Career tributes. It's what they were born to do.

Kill.

"You okay?" Vena stared at me worriedly.

"I miss her." I admitted. "She dead because of us."

Vena sighed. "You still love her." Her voice was accusing.

"Am I not supposed to?"

"She's dead."

"So I can't love her?" I was angry now. "This is all your fault you know!"

"I know."

She looked sad.

"Let's just go." I muttered. "We're going to be late."

Vena didn't respond but stood with me.

"Twenty more seconds and you two would be late." Snow's mom yelled at us as we entered the training grounds.

We both ignored her and took our positions. We were organized by District. Boy first then girl.

That basically meant Vena and I stood next to each other with a gap in between us.

Kern and Snow.

The fallen tributes of District 2.

Only District 2, 7, 11, and 12 had lost all of their tributes. Every other District had at least one survivor.

"Laps all of you, ten of them. After that we move on to gun work." General Pristeen yelled. "Go! Now!"

I groaned silently but started running. Mitch, Thalia, and Jerome easily surpassed everyone else. Vena chose to stay behind with me.

"I hate that girl." Vena muttered.

"Which one?"

"All of them." Vena said looking around. "Her mom, Thalia, Ashley."

"What did Ashley do to you?"

"She outdid me in bow work yesterday. I always finish second behind Thalia."

"Really? That doesn't seem like that big of a deal."

"She's a poor district!" Vena complained. "She can't possibly be better than me!"

"I'm from a poor district."

Vena didn't respond.

I could read her eyes.

Well your not better than me are you?

I sighed. Most likely, I was over thinking it. Just like I did with everything else these days. Ever since the Games, I decided not to trust anyone and I thought everything through even when it wasn't necessary. Better to stress about it constantly then to make the same stupid mistakes I had the first time. No one could end up dead again. It may have sounded stupid, but considering the situation I was in, dead was highly likely for some poor unsuspecting soldier or citizen of District 13.

By the time I finished my ten laps, Mitch, Thalia, and Jerome were already pulling out their guns and drinking water from their bottles. They laughed with ease but the tension was clear. They were content but not happy so to say.

"Hurry up soldiers! You don't have this much time on the battlefield!" General Pristeen screamed at the other tributes who were lagging behind horribly.

Vena grinned and rolled her eyes at me playfully.

I smiled back.

Unfortunately for us, Snow's mom caught the whole exchange. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at the two of us.

"Three more laps both of you. Keep the romance and weird PDA away from me you disgusting hormonal teenagers." She spat. "It's what killed my daughter."

I winced. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jerome flinch too. Thalia went pale and Mitch shifted his position awkwardly.

Vena's face hardened. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Snow's mom stared straight into Vena's eyes. Her eyes were sharp and ice cold. Black like midnight. Snow had her mother's eyes though the calculating stare belonged to her father. Still, her mother had a look of her own. One that was almost as intimidating.

"You're not sorry." The General murmured finally.

That was the end of the conversation. She simply stared us both down until we started running.

We caught up to the last few tributes who still hadn't finished their ten laps. General Pristeen was talking to Thalia and the tributes that had already finished the laps were talking next to the targets.

General Pristeen turned her head just as we finished. "Alright then soldiers, get yourselves to the gun station. Grab a gun and line yourself up with a target. And please, don't shoot yourself. I know some of you are stupid enough too."

She stared right at me and Jerome.

"Hmm, wonder who she's talking about?" I muttered as I picked up a gun. "Like anyone would be stupid enough to-"

"Jason!"

The gun went off.

Curse words flew around.

"Are you hurt?" Vena screamed.

I was laying in the dirt. "No, I just...the bullet didn't hit me...I mean...I-"

"You're stupider than I thought!" General Pristeen yelled. "God, no one's actually shot themselves before." She shook her head slowly. "My daughter had to have been real delirious to-"

"To what?" I spat standing up. "To fall in love with me? Well you know what? It doesn't matter anymore. She's dead! She's gone and she's dead! And no mater how much you torture me, it won't change anything! She's dead!"

The silence was scary.

Her eyes were ablaze. She took a step toward me. "Inside. Now. Boggs will pick you up. You'll be escorted to a cell. I deal with you later."

I opened my mouth to speak but her cold, hard stare stopped me.

Slowly, I turned and walked back toward the main building,completely and utterly afraid of what was to come.

And I wasn't even talking about the wrath of Snow's mom.

No, I was thinking about Snow herself.

Snow.

Beautiful,

Fighting,

Dead,

Snow.