Promises of a Sacrificial Lamb |Destiel x The Hunger Games|

-10-

"Remember, Cas, we're just gonna focus on the basic stuff today.  We don't have to worry about the scarier stations until tomorrow.  Bobby said most of the tributes go for those right away, anyway, so we should have some space to breathe and figure out what we're doing."

The elevator ride from our ninth floor apartment to the underground gymnasium that harbors all of the training equipment is relatively short, but it feels like it takes ages.  Tension hangs in the heavy air, so thick you could cut it with a knife.  The second those doors open, we'll be on level ground and at close quarters with the twenty-two other tributes set to compete in the Hunger Games with us.  The twenty-two people who want nothing more than to see us dead.

Cas looks like he's having a difficult time keeping his breakfast in his stomach.  Rowena woke us up early to make sure we ate enough and got dressed in our training clothes in time to make it to the gymnasium before ten.  It was an arduous task to eat with such a little appetite and queasy belly, but we forced just enough down to give us energy to last through to lunch.  We're definitely going to need it.

A faint chime rings through the elevator.  A small screen above the floor buttons displays the number two.  We're getting closer and closer to the underground gymnasium, and with every level we descend, my senses only heighten tenfold.  This is the moment.  This is where we train for the televised fight to the death.  We've reached the absolute point of no return, and I'm terrified to my very core to see what awaits us down here.

The color is still draining from Cas' face.  He's managed to keep a stoic expression for most of the morning, but I see it in his eyes, his tightened jaw, his twitching fingers.  He's just as afraid as I am, as anyone in their right mind would be.

As the elevator passes the first level, I reach over and gently grab his arm, just above his elbow.  His muscles are taut under my grip.  "Just stick with me, okay?"  I tell him.  He flashes me a nervous glance, but only for a fleeting moment.  He nods his head and fixes his apprehensive stare back on the closed doors.  "Don't be scared.  I'll be with you the whole time."

I'm not sure if my words are supposed to comfort him or me.

The underground gymnasium is a massive area filled with various weapons and survival skills stations, not to mention a few obstacle courses here and there.  The air is cool and ever so slightly damp, and it clings to my already clammy skin as Cas and I hesitantly step out of the elevator and join the group gathered in the middle of the gymnasium.

Everyone else is here, all twenty-two other tributes congregated together in one tight circle, and the simple act of joining them is enough to chill my blood to ice.  Some of them cast us expressionless looks as we approach, while others merely smirk or narrow their eyes.  Most of those come from the Careers, the wealthy, strong, extremely deadly tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4.  One of them, a sturdy boy much taller than me, is already sizing us up with his condescending stare.  I try my best to ignore him, but I can't ignore the awful feeling of his piercing eyes on the side of my face.

I saw it yesterday before the parade, how much taller and stronger and bulkier they all were, but now that we're all in the same training clothes with no makeup and no chariots to separate us, the nausea is starting to take over again.  Sure, a decent handful of the tributes are just like us in terms of size and strength—they're probably from the poorer districts like us, too—but my mind isn't focused on them.  We're on even playing fields, and I feel okay about that.  What I'm worried about are the six Career tributes who will certainly not hesitate to strike us down in a heartbeat.  They have the ability to do so, and I know they're not going to let anything stand in their way.