The Games The Capital Forgot

The Last Night

Zeria Maim, District 8

There were many ways that I could have been spending, quite possibly, my last night alive. I had seen some tributes stumbling around on the roof intoxicated, still others getting in a few more hours of training, both served to no strategic advantage.

I wasn't that vain.

My room was dark save the dim light of the television as I poured over the interviews and the reapings, studying each expression, each hand movement, anything that will give me more information on my enemies. I looked down at my notes I had already made and shuffled through the rough profiles, pleased with my progress. They gave her a strategy to win, hidden deep within the scribbles of pencil were every tribute's weaknesses and their strengths. I would find every last chink in their armor and when the time came, I would shove a dagger straight into them.

The careers, my most prominent issue were fairly simple. Georgette was the mastermind who would do everything in her power not to look as if she were the mastermind. Theoretically she would attach herself to whoever she assumed would be leader and manipulate the situations through them. Paisley would probably die early in the games by Georgette's hand, I was fairly certain she manipulated him into volunteering. I had watched the frail boy who had no interest in the games for a long time the other day, he was no survivor.

Malcolm and Acadia were different levels of career entirely. The two were the closest thing to gods of war that I could force myself to believe in. Acadia would last a long time in the pack, she was useful, obedient and incredibly deadly. She wasn't going to be the one to strike first when the careers began to backstab each other. Malcolm would probably become leader, through I wasn't sure how long he could maintain that position. He was incredibly intense and overly emotional. He also seemed bitter over something, over what I couldn't be sure though. He was probably the loosest cannon in the career back save the insane girl from Four, Cheshire. I wasn't sure what to make of her, in fact I wasn't even sure if she was a career. She had been so isolated during the training period I had no clue as to whether or not it was even wise to allow her to live. Instead of a bloodbath perhaps the careers should simply gang up on her instead. I don't think her would be any objection from her brother, Jin, who seemed terrified of the girl.

And I was the weakest link, I was going to be the first they picked off. I was going to have to make sure that I backstabbed first, luckily I was very good at backstabbing first.

The outer districts were not so easily calculated. The only alliances I had been able to pick up on were the alliance between Braven, the victor's son from Five, who would undoubtedly be relentlessly hunted by the careers due to his ancestry, Celeste, his district partner and Runa. I disliked Runa, the melodramatic girl from District Three. I wanted to slap her, how could one human being be that emotional.

I shuddered as I stared at my paper that had all the scribbles of Runa all over them. Just gathering this information had made me want to shoot myself. Normally I would say a girl like Runa would not last a single day in the arena, however there was Braven. Braven clearly was romantically attracted to the whiny slug and would protect her with his life. Hopefully his life wouldn't last very long.

The other alliance was between the district partners from Nine, Emily and Dagan. Both were frighteningly weak and were hardly worth my time. They would perish quickly, especially since I noticed some tensions between the two.

Of course, just because they were the only alliances currently standing didn't mean that they were the only ones that would form. I was sure more would come as the games progressed.

Then there were the individuals that concerned me, on the top of that list was Holly. The girl was big, brutish and clearly determined. Despite her obvious rebellion Holly was actually doing quite well in the polls, I could only hope that the gamemakers would decide she was too dangerous to win and kill her with a freak accident. I could say the same thing about Kaiden, the boy from 11 who was somehow going unnoticed by the Capital. He too had displayed hints of rebellion but that was hardly what concerned me. What concerned me was his fighting skills, he was clearly a threat to us all. I was going to have to watch out for both him and Holly closely.