Arrows in the Dark

Training

I'd been sitting on the sofa staring at the city for far to long. Peeta reemerged looking calmer. He also looked a bit anxious. "Catora." he called out softly. I glanced at him. He looked guilty too. "It's almost ten." he says. Glancing at the clock i nod. I unwrap my arms from around my legs and set them on the ground.

"I'll be right back." i say ducking into my room. I quickly brush my teeth and fix my hair. I look about as presentable as i'll ever be. Peeta and i walk silently to the elevator where we meet Effie. She presses a button and we whiz down to the ground floor at top speed. My anxiety levels are high now. I feel like throwing up. Maybe i shouldn't have eaten too much. The elevator doors slid open revealing a giant gymnasium. It's filled with a large assortment of weapons and obstacle courses. We arrive last so of course everyone turns to look at us like we've just murdered their families. Peeta is standing tall, a hard look on his face. I try to shrink behind him. Wishing i could just disappear.

They're all standing around looking at each other warily. Crossing their arms with a hard look in their eyes. In three days time half of these people will be dead. I might be one of them. They're all wearing pins with their District number on them Just as i'm wondering if we were suppose to get one a woman rushes up and pins one on my sleeve and then Peeta's. We join the tense circle. Atala, the head trainer rises from her seat and begins to explain the schedule. Their are experts waiting for us at each station. We can move freely from station to station and are under no circumstances allowed to engage in combat with another tribute. If we want a partner someone will be on hand to practice with. She reads us the list of stations but i'm only half listening. I'm looking at the other tributes.

Peeta has placed himself on my left side and since he's big and tall it's a little hard to see around him. Other tributes are glancing our way. They look at Peeta and then down at me. I'm about a foot shorter than Peeta. I look like a target. A lot of the other kids look like Katniss. Thin, scrawny kids who have never had enough food to eat. They look tired and sad. They know they aren't going to win. Then there are the Career Tributes. These are the one's who are well fed and train themselves for this moment. They are prepared to win. They're killing machines. Career's usually come from District 1, 2, and 4. Once the number of the other tributes starts to dwindle they turn on each other. That's when it get's really interesting. The winner will be one of them. It always is.

Atala has finished speaking and dismisses us. Peeta turns to me a strange look on his face. "Where do you want to start first?" he asks politely. I sneak glances at all the other tributes. They've all split off from the people in their District's. They've gone their separate ways. I try to scan for a station that doesn't look too crowded. I give a slight shrug.

"You wanna learn how to tie some knots?" i ask looking up at him.

"It's as good a thing as any." he replies. He puts one hand on my shoulder and steers us toward the station. Everyone's staring. We were unusual. This wasn't the norm. The trainer looks a bit too overjoyed to have us there. He immediately throws us into work. He asks us what knots we know. We show him a couple of basic ones and i show him some of the trap's Gale has made. He's so enthusiastic he begins to show us a simple snare that will capture a human competitor and leave them dangling from a tree. We practice this over and over before we both have it down. The trainer wishes us good luck as we move on.

We head toward the camouflage station next. The tranier gives us some basic things we might find to camouflage with ourselves in the arena. Mud, clay, berries, leaves, grass, vines. I'm not really into it. All i do is simply splash color onto my arms making it look like the ground. Then i start knotting and un-knotting vines til they break. Peeta on the other hand is having way to much fun. I had come back from washing my hands and glanced down at his arm. Except it wasn't an arm anymore. It looked like tree bark. I'm so surprised i'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. Peeta see's me standing over him and smiles slightly. "I uhh.. I ice cakes." i'm confused what does icing have to do with this.