Trust Me

Finnick came in a while later and woke me up before practically force-feeding me. He kept reminding me of how I wouldn’t have access to any food in just a few days, and how I should be stocking up on food for strength. He wasn’t satisfied until I’d devoured every last bit of food from the tray.

“Now, get dressed. The Game makers are just dying to see what you’ll show them.” Finnick said with a grin. He was still loving this new twist, I could see.

I nodded, and as soon as he had left the room I was leaping to get into my clothes. If Finnick was confident with this new situation, so was I.

When I went back down to the training arena, everyone was waiting in a small room just off the arena. It was completely silent as everyone sat in wait, not daring to make a single sound. The girl from 1 and the boy from 2 both looked up at me as I walked in, and I wondered if they wanted me to make some sort of confirmation about the alliance, but I was too afraid to break the silence. After a few moments they called in Adri, and he marched into the arena exuding confidence. Ingrid grimaced up at him, evidently still angry with him for rejecting her offer to form an alliance. She didn’t even glance my way once, which made me happy.

After a little while, they called in the girl from 1 – Terra was her name, I discovered. I’d noticed that she was particularly good with machetes, and I figured that was what she was going to show them. Then came the boy from 2 – Parq – and when they called Ingrid’s name, she practically ran into the room in her excitement. Then came the tributes from 3. By the time they called Kip’s name, I was a nervous wreck. Kip wasn’t in the arena very long – I guessed that all he’d done was throw his trident and nothing more – and soon enough I was taking the few nervous steps necessary to get me into the evaluation area. Their eyes followed me as I walked in, and I wondered if they expected something great of me after my outburst earlier.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Seneca Crane, the head Game maker, said, though I could hear from his tone he wanted me to get it over with.

I started at the archery station and shot off an arrow. Once again I was incredibly lucky – it hit right in the center of the bulls-eye. I knew it would do me no good in the arena; I already knew I wouldn’t be able to hit a moving target, but the Game makers didn’t need to know that. I quickly circulated to all the other stations, leaving the knife and spear station for my grand finale. By the time I was at the knife station, I’d been incredibly lucky. Even the weapons I wasn’t very good with had given me bulls-eyes and made me look more experienced than I was. But once again I knew that if any of the targets were moving, I would only be useful with a knife or spear.

I stepped up to the knife station and decided to go all out. I had a knife in each hand, and flung it at the dummy. One landed in the middle of the head bulls-eye, the other landed in the heart bulls-eye, right in the center. I snatched up two spears and did the same with the dummy next to it. I turned back to the Game makers and, without any other idea of what to do, took a small bow before walking out of the room. I heard them murmur to each other, and they sounded impressed. I thanked whatever force was looking out for me for allowing me to make such good shots as I walked out of the exit. The tributes who had already gone were sitting in a large room, some of them talking amongst themselves. I saw Kip looking up at me as if he wanted to talk to me, but I still hadn’t forgiven him for what he’d said to me on the day of the Reaping. Instead I marched over to Terra and Adri, trying to look confident as I blocked out Adri when in fact I was shaking.

“Do you really want to form an alliance?” I asked Terra.

She gave me a smile and nodded, but there was something off about her smile. She had been trained to be vicious all her life, and a smile on her face came across as more sinister than comforting. “Parq and I have already started one. If it’s either you or Ingrid, you’re definitely our first choice.”

I felt a little pride swell up in me. If only they knew that, attitude wise, Ingrid was by far a better choice than I, they would have known they were making the wrong choice. But of course, I wasn’t going to tell them that. I saw Parq watching us, and I gave him a nod. “Sounds like a plan.”

Terra turned to Adri and cocked her head. “What about you, Adri? Do you want in?”

Adri stood up suddenly and ran his eyes over me from head to toe, walking around me in a slow circles as he inspected me. I felt like an animal he was inspecting before he bought it. I clenched my jaw and balled my hands into such tight fists that my nails drew blood from my palms. “Funny how such a tiny girl can change the game so drastically,” He said finally, coming to a stop in front of me. He was deliberately too close to me, I could feel the heat rolling off his body as he crossed his arms. I’d never realized how large his muscles were until I was face-to-biceps with him. I wished I was taller; at least then I could actually stare him down without having to crane my neck up and stand on my toes.

“Just answer her question. Do you want in?” I asked tensely.

Adri sighed. “Nah. I don’t do alliances. I’m capable of killing by myself, and I don’t feel like tolerating the excess weight.” There was a grin on his face. He was toying with me, trying to get me worked up like Ingrid had this morning.

I was determined not to give him the satisfaction. “Suit yourself. By the way, you might want to practice with the knives a bit more. You’d be lucky to even hit a tree with that aim.” I mirrored his smile before whirling around. I’d been trying to make him angry, but as I walked away I could hear him laughing. The fact that he could laugh so easily at that made me both angry and scared. I couldn’t understand him at all. He acted like he didn’t even care about the Games, which was unusual for any of the Careers. He hadn’t volunteered, yet he was so confident he could win and had evidently trained hard for a large part of his life. He was also more laid-back than most Careers. If anyone had insulted Terra, Parq, Ingrid or even Kip the way I’d just insulted Adri, it would have resulted in a fight, but he just laughed about it. I wondered if he was just laughing it off because he was picturing how he’d kill me first. Of course. He was so relaxed because he knew he’d get even when he killed me. Ingrid’s words from earlier ran through my head: “I’ll kill you first. I’ll mutilate you. They won’t be able to recognize you when I’m done. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” Maybe those were the thoughts that were keeping Adri calm.

I went and sat next to Kip in the other chair marked ‘4’, and I could feel Adri’s eyes watching me. I’d almost gotten used to it at this point, but as I realized how he was probably picturing how he’d kill me, it made me uneasy.

“Are you…I mean, am I part of the alliance?” I heard Kip stammer quietly. I could see that he was regretting what he’d said on the train, and he was trying his best to backtrack.

I whirled around to stare at him for a few moments, blinking before his words registered. I’d been so absorbed in my thoughts that I’d forgotten he was there. “Huh? Oh. I’m not sure. I’ll talk about it with the others.” I felt like Terra and Parq would let Kip in if I asked, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted him in my group. I was still quite bitter towards him for what he’d said, and I knew that he was only being nice now because he thought I was some warrior supreme, but I still felt like the right thing to do was let Kip in. If I let him die, everyone from District 4 would call me a traitor, and I would feel guilty until the day I died (which, in the Games, might only just be a few days). But at the same time, if there was no trident in the Cornucopia and no sponsor sent him one, then he’d be useless, and it wouldn’t be long before Terra and Parq would want to pick him off. Either way, Kip was damned, and so was I. Things were not looking good for District 4’s tributes.