100th Hunger Games

Chapter 7

Hunter Tresses: (7)

"So, you'll all need to be thinking about what you're going to do in your private training sessions, as they'll take place tomorrow afternoon. It'll be your chance to show the gamemakers what you can do, your training score is a main factor in who sponsors choose to support." Max, the mentor for the district seven males says. The male tributes gathered in the common living quarters, including myself, nod in understanding. "Now, today I'll speak with all of you individually before you go to training, until I call you out, though, you can return to your rooms."

Again, we nod silently. The tension in the air is thick until the moment Max releases us. He chooses to speak to Trevor Minx first, so I return to my room and get dressed in the clothes that have been laid out on my bed for training today. Then, having nothing else to do, I lay on my bed and stare out the large window in my room, watching the Capitol city come to life in the late morning air. Its foggy out today, so I can only see a few of the brightly colored buildings, but what little i can see is breathtaking.

Soon, there's a knock on my door, and I pull myself away from the window to answer the door. Trevor is there telling me its my turn. I nod, not knowing what else to do, and return to the living quarters I left not ten minutes ago. I sit down on a furry pink couch across from Max, who is staring at a clip board. I clear my throat.

"Alright, Hunter, here's the plan: continue with the strategy I suggested yesterday, learning new things, for the first part of the day, then do something you're already good at. Polish up your act. Do you have any idea what you want to present to the gamemakers tomorrow?" Max says after looking up from his clipboard, not wasting any time.

"Yeah actually. I thought I would throw knives." I reply quickly.

"And you can throw knives?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"Yes. I used to throw knives at a dart board I had as a child. I'm good." I say, thinking back to when my dad bought me the dart board for my birthday. Being the mayor, he could afford it.

"Alright, throw knives then. You may want to throw something else in too. Throwing knives is impressive but if you show you can use more than one weapon, you'll get a higher score." Max says after a moment of contemplation. "Can you use an ax?"

"Yeah but I'm pretty sure the rest of district seven can too." I shrug.

"Doesn't matter. Anything works, if thats okay with you."

"Yeah, sounds good." I say.

"Alright, now that you have a plan, I think we're done here. Could you go tell Peck Mathews that its his turn?" Max asks whilst writing on his clipboard.

"Yeah, sure." I shrug, getting up. I go to Peck's room on the door. He opens it and jumps at the sight of me.

"Hi." He says shakily.

"Hi... It's your turn to talk to Max, he asked me to tell you." I say. Why did he jump?

"Right, thanks." He says, hurrying past me. What's up with him?

I shrug it off and go back to my room.

Ten rolls around and I leave my room to meet up with the other eleven District Seven tributes and Genevieve. It takes a few minutes for everyone to arrive, then we all climb into the elevators and head down to the training floor. Genevieve drops us off and heads back to the elevators. Here we go again, another day of training.

The overseer of training gives us another brief lecture, then releases us to do whatever we can to save our lives. I decide to practice knife throwing so I'll be ready for my private session tomorrow. Some might say its not wise to let anyone see what I'm going to do in the private training sessions, but if we're all going to be killing each other in the end, what does it matter?

I grab a few knives, choose one, and get a good grip on it. I move around a bit, positioning myself to throw. I raise my arm, adjust a bit, and try to convince myself that I'm just home playing darts. I swing my arm forward and let go. The knife lodges in the dummies head, and I smile. I continue throwing knives, working on my speed, trying to be able to throw a knife and hit the target without spending several minutes adjusting my aim every time. I can feel eyes on me from all around the room.

Soon, though, its like it was when I was a kid, and I don't miss a single time. I decide I've practiced enough, and head over to the spear throwing station. I might as well learn new things, and if I've got good enough aim with knives, maybe spear throwing won't be too hard for me either, though knives are smaller and lighter.

Within a few minutes, it's clear I'm no good with a spear. Sure, if my life depended on it, which it very well could in the near future I could throw it a few feet and maybe be successful, but its definitely not my weapon of choice.

"Hey, Hunter right?" I turn to find a district seven boy following me to the ax station. I vaguely recognize him from the district, I may have seen him a few times in school.

"Yeah, that's my name." I say, not stopping until I reach the station.

"Right, well I was wondering if you wanted to be in an alliance with me..." The boy says. I stop and turn to face him fully for the first time.

"Why me?" I ask, suddenly interested.

"I saw you throwing knives earier, it was quite impressive." The boy replies coolly.

"What can you offer as an ally?" I waste no time in asking my questions. A good ally or two could be the difference between living or dying in the games.

The boy just raises an eyebrow and picks up an ax. He walks over to a group of dummies and swings once, chopping off one dummy's head, and another's arm in a single swipe. He then straightens out, and backs up a bit. The boy turns around, then all of a sudden throws the ax. It lodges in a dummy's gut. I nod approvingly.

"Anything else I should know?" I ask, seriously considering the offer now.

"I already have two other allies. Copper from three, who can build anything out of the materials around, and Rebecca from seven, who is good with a bow and knows a lot about survival techniques." The boy shrugs. "I'm Will, by the way."

"Alright, I'm in. Can I meet our other allies?"