Amber Scott- District 3 Tribute

Training

I wake up the next morning, and for a second I just lay here, wondering why I feel such a sense of dread. And then it hits me. I have to go to training today, with the interviews tonight and the individual sessions tomorrow. And then there's the Games themselves. Where I have to use my shock device to fake my own death and escape the Games. If I fail, it means death for anyone associated with me. I feel like there's a huge weight on my shoulders.
  I lay there for a couple minutes, but I know I have to get up sometime. I throw the covers off and swing my legs out of bed. I go into the bathroom, and try to tame my hair. It is sticking up in all directions. I look like a porcupine. I eventually throw it up into a bun. I brush my teeth and go and look in the closet. As I am searching through the clothes, my door opens and Shanna waltzes in. Oh no, darling. I'll have an Avox come in and set out your training outfit. So, just come out for breakfast. Then take a shower and I'll have an Avox do your hair."
  "I think I can put my own hair up," I say.
  "Oh, I am sure that you can, darling, but we need you to look very put together. Everybody will be watching! Gamemakers, other tributes, everyone! So, darling, come eat breakfast so that you have some energy!"
  I trudge out the door. I sit in a chair at the huge table and get myself a bowl of oatmeal and a huge, red apple. I eat in silence as Shanna prattles on about training, Capitol fashion, the latest gossip, anything and everything.
Kilee stalks out of her room and says, "Why are you awake and talking loudly at this time!"
  "Well, darling," Shanna says sternly. "It is 8:30, and it is Amber and Myron's first day of training! So, you really should try to get up earlier. You have responsibilities."
  "Humph," Kilee sniffs.
  She sits, sulking, in her chair, like a child that feels they have been wronged.
  Myron walks out of his room with a sour expression on his face. He is still wearing his nightclothes. He throws himself into a chair and stares sullenly at the opposite wall.
  "Darling, you need to eat something! You will not have any energy or strength!" Shanna says.
  "I'm fine," he replies shortly.
  "Alright, darling, if you say so," Shanna replies lightly.
  Kilee gives him a disapproving look. Her plate is piled high with bacon, eggs, oatmeal, fruit, ham, pancakes, waffles, and she has a huge crystal glass of orange juice. He ignores her, and pours himself a glass of water.
  He drains it, and barks at the nearest Avox, "Get me my clothes. Now."
  The Avox scurries off to his room obediently. I give him a disdainful look. I don't like how he treats them. They're people, just as much as he is. He glares back. Then he stalks after the Avox.
  I stand up, and ask the Avox that is closest to me, "Could you please get my clothes?"
  The Avox looks surprised, as if they are not being used to being treated with any respect. She walks quickly into my room, and from the back of the closet pulls out a short-sleeved shirt. It is mostly black, with red and gray sleeves.  It had a large 3 on the back. Then she pulls out some simple black pants. They are relatively tight, and made of a stretchy material. The last thing she brings out is a pair of black boots. They are just about ankle height, made of leather, and they have a number of buckles.
  I thank her, and she nods at me and leaves the room. I put on the shirt and pants. They fit perfectly. Just as I am pulling on the buckled boots, the Avox that brought out my clothes walks back in. She beckons for me to follow her, and we walk into the spacious bathroom. She has me stand in front of the mirror, and then she pulls a brush through my hair. She is surprisingly gentle. Then, she twists the front of my hair up, and pins it back. She pulls all of my hair into a very tight ponytail. She turns me around and looks at me. She opens a drawer and brings out some foundation and a makeup brush. She brushes it over my face and gives me a nod of approval. I smile at her, and go back out to the living room. Shanna is waiting by the door impatiently.
  "Hurry up! We will be late!" she exclaims agitatedly.
  "I'm here, Myron is not. Maybe he's the one you should be yelling at," I say. She really is annoying. I'm not the one still in my room.
  "Good point. I'll go do that," Shanna says as she walks briskly over to Myron's door. Her heels are clacking loudly. Today, she is wearing a sleek, cerulean dress. It is sleeveless and covered in glitter. She sparkles in the light.
  "Myron!!! Get out here, now!" Shanna barks as she raps on his door.
  No answer. Shanna tries again, louder this time.
  "MYRON GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW, OR WE WILL LEAVE YOU HERE!"
  Still no response.
  "Fine," says Shanna angrily. "We will leave you here. Good luck trying to find the training center on your own!"
  Just as she is turning away, his door opens. Myron comes storming out, hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled.
  "I'm here, okay?!" he says as he is pulling on his boots. His outfit is identical to mine.
  Shanna starts walking speedily to the door. I follow her, with Myron hopping around behind me, still trying to yank his boot on.
  We walk for about five minutes, until we reach a large, rectangular building with a sign that says 'Training Center'.  We walk in, and it is one huge room. There is all kinds of training equipment, weapons, and huge screens with control pads. There is also a balcony. That's where the the Gamemakers will stand to evaluate our performances. The tributes are all clustered around a woman in the center of the room. Myron and I jog over, and stand towards the back of the cluster. We are behind the girl from 12 and the boy from 6. Everybody is dressed in clothes identical to ours.
  The woman begins to speak. "In two weeks, 23 of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days, particularly to what I'm about to say. First, no fighting with the other tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that in the Arena. There are four compulsory exercises, and then then rest will be individual training. My advice is don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes. 10% from infection, 20% from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife."
With that, she tells us that we can go. We have to do one survival course, two combat courses, and run through the obstacle course. I decide to do the survival training first. I go off to the section where you learn how to start a fire. Also going to the survival section are the girl from 5, both tributes from 9, the boy from 6 and the girl from 4. Me and the boy from 6 are the only ones going to the fire-starting section. The others go to poisonous plant identification, rope tying, and the section that focuses on how to heal injuries. All of the Careers go immediately over to the combat section and pick up their weapons of choice. The beautiful blonde girl picks up a bow and arrow. The vicious looking boy from 1 picks up a spear and examines the tip. The muscular blonde boy is holding a sword and the small, dark- haired girl from 2 is holding a dagger and looking at the target. They all seem very at home and comfortable with the lethal weapons.
The boy from 6 walks over, and stands next to me. The trainer is tapping at their screen, presumable pulling up some kind of presentation. The boy looks at me, silently sizing me up. He doesn't say anything, so I decide to continue ignoring him.
  The trainer turns around and faces us. He appears to be wearing the same thing as us, except his outfit is entirely black. He begins talking about how to start a fire quickly and correctly. He is showing us diagrams on his tablet as he speaks. I remain there for about half an hour. Now I can start a fire only using some sticks. Hopefully I won't need to, once I'm in the arena.
  From there, I go to the obstacle course. There are half a dozen people in line, and I get on the end of it, behind the girl from District 9. She has long, red hair hanging in a braid down her back.
The boy from 12 is currently going across the bars. He is a blonde, stocky boy of about 16. He has broad shoulders and muscular arms. His arms seem to be giving out, he chose the longest and most intensive course. He swings his arm, and tries to transfer his weight to the next bar, but as he attempts to grab it his fingers slip, and he falls with a loud thump on the mat. He is shaking his hand out, it looks like he landed on it wrong. I hear snickering, and I look over to the combat area. The Careers are laughing and pointing at him. He looks down, ashamed.
  As he is sitting there, the girl from District 12 comes over to him. She has long, dark hair in a braid down her shoulder. I think she might have volunteered for someone. I think that's crazy. She's not a Career, so she hasn't had the training. Who would submit themselves to this if they had another choice? The girl is muttering to him, looking at him with great intensity. He nods, and goes over to the weights section.
  The next tribute is going now. It's the girl from 10. She is moving very slowly. This is going to take a while. While she is making her way across the course, I watch the boy from 12. He has picked up a large weight, and is making his way over to a large cart of spears.  He swings the weight around, and with a tremendous grunt, throws it at the cart. The weight slams in to it, and knocks it over, sending spears clattering across the floor. The Careers look up from where they had been practicing knife-throwing. The beautiful blonde nods approvingly, and the malicious boy looks impressed. I guess he was going for a dramatic effect. He certainly got it, the noise from the spear cart caught the attention of almost all the tributes. He leaves the weight and the spear cart as they are and walks away.
  By this time, the girl from 10 has fallen, and it's the boy from 4 that's making his way across the course. He is still just as cocky is he appeared at the Tribute Parade. He has picked the most intensive course, like the boy from 12, except he is scrawny and has very little muscle. He trips, and goes sprawling on the ground. He picks himself up, and darts off to the survival skills section.
  Three more people attempt to go across the course. None of them make it. They all fall before the final obstacle, which requires you to jump from block to block, but the blocks get increasingly smaller and farther apart. Now it's the girl from District 7 making her way across the course. She makes it all the way across, and the boy from 7, who is practicing archery, starts to cheer for her. She smiles, and goes over to him. She embraces him, and picks another bow up, so she can practice with him.
  That makes me sad. Even if they both make it to the end, one of them will have to die. It's awful that they make people- children- go through this. Watching their friends die, or having to kill other children. It's horrible, and they make a game out of it. It's sick.
  The girl from District 9 makes her way across the course, and falls just before where the boy from 12 fell. It's my turn now. I step onto the platform, and grab onto the first bar. This obstacle requires you to swing between several bars before landing to another platform. I grab onto the first one, and start to swing. I let go, and barely grab onto the next one. I try to keep my momentum going, and I eventually make it to the platform. Now, I have to leap off a springboard onto the bars that the boy from 12 fell on. I get a running start, and jump off the springboard. I grab onto the first bar. I get about halfway across before my hands give out. I fall with a thud onto the mat.
  My ankle hurts, I think I twisted it. A medic comes over and helps me off the course. He examines my ankle, and prods it a bit with his cold fingers.
  "You will be fine. It might swell a bit, so you should put some ice on it when you get back to your suite. I'm going to wrap it in a brace, just in case."
  He pulls off my boot, and puts a brace that he pulls from his bag onto my ankle. It feels stiff, and it restricts my movement a bit. But, when I stand up, it doesn't hurt to put pressure on it. The medic walks away, and I go over to the poisonous plant identification sector. I don't want to go to the combat section until the Careers are gone.
  I study the huge screen that I initially believed was a control pad. It has tips on how to identify poisonous plants. Avoid ones with pointy leaves. Avoid the brightly colored ones. Do not eat if it tastes bitter. That tip is pointless. If you've found out that it's bitter, it's too late for you. Then, it gives some examples of poisonous plants and pictures.
I already know all of this. My dad used to bring books home about plants, and me and Reyna had it memorized. We knew all about all the plants throughout Panem. I tap 'next page' repeatedly without really looking at the words. I get to the end of the information, and there are two options. I can either test or review the material again. I choose to test.
The screen shows about 100 different plants, and I have to tap on the poisonous ones. I do it with ease, and the screen tells me that I have 100% accuracy and I completed that section of the test in 23.7 seconds. I move on the the next section, where you have to type in the name of the plant. I do that without a problem. Then there is a multiple choice section. I fly through it, and when I'm finished, the screen says 'Exam Complete. 100% accuracy. Time taken: 3 minutes 46.5 seconds'
I turn around to leave, and almost run into a trainer. She looks impressed. I hadn't noticed her before. She has short blonde hair and light blue eyes.
"I'm impressed. I've never seen anyone complete the exam with such speed and accuracy," she says.
"Thank you," I say.
"If I were you, I would show the Gamemakers how fast you can do that. That should get you at least a 6."
"Okay, thanks," I reply. I hadn't thought of that. I didn't know what I was going to show the Gamemakers, but this is something easy for me, and I can do it well. Well, that's one less thing to worry about.
I go over to the archery area. The Careers have finally left. They are all in line for the obstacle course. There's a few other people here, but only one other in the archery section. It's the girl from District 9. She is shooting the arrows into the target nearest her. They are all hitting fairly close to the center. I pick up a bow at random. I go over to the basket containing silver arrows and pick one out.
After a couple of tries, I manage to get the arrow properly positioned on the bow string. I pull it back, and aim at the center of the target. I let go of the string, and the arrow goes flying through the air... directly into the wall. Well, that was my first try. I'm sure I can do better the next time. I try again, and once more the arrow goes flying into the wall. I try again. The arrow hits the wall. Again. And. Again. And. Again. After a dozen tries I throw the bow down in frustration. The girl from 9 walks over to me.
  "I'm Lilla," she says in a kind voice. "I can help you, if you want."
  "I'm Amber," I say. "And I would love some help."
  "Okay, the first thing is that you're using the wrong kind of arrow." she says with a laugh. I feel foolish, and I give her a small smile.
  She goes over to the bucket and pulls out a smaller arrow. She discards the ones I had been using. She fits the arrow properly into the bow.
  "The next thing is that you closed one eye. You need to keep both open- just tilt your head. Having both eyes open means that you will have better aim." She pauses and adjusts her stance. She is standing with her legs slightly bent, right leg in front of left. "You need to stand like this, instead of having your feet side by side. Here," she hands me the bow and arrow. "Try again."
  I put my right foot in front and bend my knees slightly. It's difficult to position my foot correctly with my brace, but I manage. I pull the arrow back, and aim at the center of the target again, this time with both of my eyes open. I let go, and the arrow hits the edge of the target.
  "Much better!" says Lilla supportively.
"Thank you," I say. "And also, thank you so much for helping me. I really appreciate it." And I do. I have never heard of tributes that are not in the same district helping each other, aside from the Careers.
Speaking of the Careers, I look over at them, and see Myron standing behind them in line, talking to them.
"And then, I created what they said was the best bomb technology in all of District 3," he is saying.
He must be talking about when we had to program a computer to do something that could help Panem. Our school is always doing things like that, trying to promote Panem and having us do projects to help improve it. Myron came up with some kind of bomb technology that all the teachers loved. Still, nobody likes a show off. However, the Careers are looking at him and nodding, as if his talent could be of use to them.
"How about this," the malicious boy from 1 says. "We won't kill you on sight, and if you can make it through the bloodbath, you can stay with us."
Myron nods enthusiastically. The Careers turn around and continue talking amongst themselves. I don't understand why Myron wants to be part of the Careers. It's common knowledge that the second they feels that somebody is not pulling their weight, they kill them. I guess he just wants to be with the powerful people, instead of against them.
  "Amber?"
  I turn back around to see Lilla looking at me.
  "Sorry," I say. "I was looking at the boy from my district, Myron. He is trying to win the Careers approval. They just promised not to kill him on sight if he can make it through the bloodbath."
  "Oh," she says. "The boy from my district, Greyson, is a complete recluse. I haven't heard him say a word the entire time we have been here. He is three years older than me, I'm 13, but he seems so much younger. He's short, and very shy."
  She points over to a short boy with a mop of dark hair and olive skin. He is sitting in the corner, tying a knot with a length of rope.
  "Anyways," Lilla says with a shake of her red braid, "Try to shoot again, I'll see what you're doing wrong."
  I try again, and I hit the same spot. Lilla gives me some corrections. We work on my archery skills for half an hour, and by then I'm hitting the target every time. I'm not hitting the center, but I am not hitting the edge of the target anymore.
"I think you're really starting the get the hang of it!" Lilla says. "But, I have to go and do my survival skills course, I'll see you later!"
I nod and smile at her. It's so terrible that sweet people like Lilla get reaped to go into the Hunger Games. She won't have the nerve to kill anyone. Maybe she'll make it, though. Stranger things have happened.
I go over to the dagger-throwing section to get my other required combat training. I pick up a long, wicked looking one. It's heavier that I had thought it would be. I try to position myself in the same way that Lilla taught me to stand for the archery. I pull my arm back, aim, and throw. The dagger embeds itself in the ring just outside the center. That's lucky. I wasn't expecting it to land so close to the center.
The tiny girl from District 11 is next to me. Most of her throws don't even make it to the target. She is standing with both of her feet next to each other, and she is throwing it with sideways jerks of her arm.
"If you'd like," I say tentatively to her. "I can show you how to throw a bit more accurately."
"No, thank you," she says firmly. "I don't really want to learn how to effectively kill somebody. I don't want to become vicious."
Wow. I have never heard a tribute say that or show that attitude. The Capitol would have loved to get that on camera, it would create for a great, tragic story. The sweet, little girl from a simple home, sent into the harsh Hunger Games. However, they don't film us in here.
"Okay," I say. "If you change your mind, I can still help you."
"Thank you," she says with a small smile.
  She leaves after a few more minutes. I continue my knife throwing for half an hour, but my aim hasn't improved. I'm consistently hitting the second ring from the outside, but that's as close as I'm getting to the center. I give up, and walk back over to the survival skills, ankle throbbing. It is starting to hurt again. After a quick glance at the clock, I see that there is about an hour left of training before we have to go and get ready for the interviews.
  I walk up to the nearest screen, and tap on the rope icon. While it is loading, I pick up a length of rope from the basket. As I'm bending over, I see the boy from 9 is still in his corner, fiddling with his rope. The screen has a tutorial on how to tie a complicated knot called a double sheet bend. I follow the step by step instructions, but somehow I end up with a tangle of rope that looks nothing like it is supposed to. I try again, and once again I fail. I switch to a more simple one called the reef knot. This time, it works. I finish, and it looks the way it is supposed to. I give the edges a little tug, to tighten it, and the entire thing falls apart.
  With a sigh, I try again. I figure I can keep at the rope tying until it's time to go. I would do the poisonous plant identification, but the tiny girl from 11 is doing it.
  My knot falls apart again. And again. And again. This is something I always figured would be fairly easy, I mean it doesn't seem to require a lot of skill. I was wrong. I don't know how anyone ever uses these, they seem like they take more effort than they're worth. The boy from District 9 must have a lot of practice  I glance over at him, and next to him is a pile of rope. I squint at the pile, and it is actually a pile of the double sheet bend knots and a number of other knots that look complex. He must practice all the time.
  I turn back to my own pitiful attempts at rope tying. As I am trying the reef knot again, I hear a blaring voice come from speakers in the ceiling.
"TRIBUTES. TIME IS UP. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SUITES TO PREPARE FOR THE INTERVIEWS. THANK YOU."
  I walk back to the exit with all the other tributes. I see Myron sucking up to the Careers, and the tiny girl talking to the huge boy from District 11.
  I feel a tap on my shoulder, and turn around to see Lilla. She grins and says, "Good luck at the interviews! I'll see you later!"
  "You too," I reply.
  Lilla walks lightly ahead of me and starts to make her way to her suite. I walk the other way to mine, and I arrive before Myron.
When I walk into the kitchen, Shanna greets me in her typical fashion.
  "Hello, darling! I hope you had a nice time. I need you to take a shower and then we will head off. We have to get you ready for your interview with Caesar!"