The Huntress

I don’t know how long Gale and I sat on the floor of the middle of the training floor but I knew it was a while. I was watching the District 5 girl tribute, because for some reason my gut was telling me she was going to be a contender to deal with not right at the beginning of the games but towards the end of them. She was like the girl tribute for District 11, she was light on her feet. She was hopping around the rope course that was apparently new to the training floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gale watching all the career tributes. The tributes from District 1 were very skilled in fighting hand to hand and working with heavy weapons. District 2’s tributes were skilled in knives and swords. District 4 tributes were ones that were skilled in many things but like to use their muscles as an intimation method.

“You know we could take them,” I said quietly to Gale as we continued to watch.

“How so?” he asked looking at me.

“Watch the District 1 tribute,” I said.

“Which one?” he asked.

“The boy,” I said, “He’s quick to stab the dummy but his balance isn’t even. He favors his right side a little more than his left. He doesn’t know it but to a hunter like you and me we can see it.”

Gale then looked harder and that’s when I saw his face recognize the fact I just pointed out to him.

“You’re dead on,” he smiled, “They’re all like that.”

“Exactly,” I smirked as a bell rang to excuse us for lunch.

Gale stood and helped me up and we headed to a place where the food was being served. As usual the career tributes sat together being loud to intimate the rest us. Gale and I were sitting at our own table but we didn’t talk. We sat in a comfortable silence and I could feel his gaze on me.

“Be careful not to eat too much right now,” I said quietly, “Don’t want to get sick trying to impress the Gamemakers.”

“Yes mother,” Gale said smirking and I rolled my eyes.

“Shut up,” I replied smirking and I took a bite of my bread.

“You know you love me,” he said and I just rolled my eyes.

After everyone ate, is when they started the personal training sessions for our scores. District 1 started and it went boy and girl. This meant by the time Gale and I went the Gamemakers for our personal training sessions they would have seen twenty-two other tributes and wouldn’t even care to look at us. The longer it took to get through the tributes, the antsier I got and the more fidgety I got. It was just the two of us now and I was pacing back and forth thinking of the best way to get the highest score when Gale stopped me mid pace.

“You know you’re going to pace a hole into floor,” he said smiling lightly and added in a jokingly voice, “It might be punishable by death.”

“How can you joke at a time like this Gale?” I asked for the first time worry slipped into my voice, “We need all the sponsors we can get.”

“Don’t worry,” Gale said standing up and stepping in front of me so I couldn’t pace anymore.

He placed his hands on my shoulders and made me look at him.

“You are one of best hunters I know,” he whispered, “You will do fine. I bet you will get the highest score out of all of the tributes.”

“You have so much faith in me,” I said and he smiled at me.

“That’s because it’s not faith,” he said, “It’s a fact.”

They then called his name and I looked up at him worry written on my face.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, “Just have faith in yourself and you’ll do fine.”

“You’re going to do great,” I whispered and then quickly kissed his cheek, “Go before they get angry with you.”

He the smiled at me and kissed my forehead and went over to where one of the Capitol guards were waiting for Gale. Once they were out of sight, I started pacing again and this time it was quicker than before. Before I knew it, it was my turn to show the Gamemakers my talent in shooting a bow and arrow and throwing knives like no one’s business. I took a deep breath and walked over to where the Capitol guards were waiting for me and we walked back into the training room I was in earlier in the day. When I walked in, I went straight to something that brought me comfort. I grabbed a bow and a pack of twelve arrows. I then walked over to the knives station and grabbed about three of the throwing knives they had out. Before I took a shot at all the targets they had out, I walked over to the range and shot a few arrows to make sure I could use the bow. I then threw all of my knives and every single knife and arrow I shot or threw went into the bull’s-eye. Once I made sure I was on my game, I turned to the targets. I shot the first person target straight into the throat. The next thing I shot was a punching back and all the sand in the bag fell to the ground. Soon I had destroyed a few of the dummies and I looked up to see the Gamemakers looking at the pig they were about to be served instead of me. Some of them where even walking over to it. That made me angry. Those Gamemakers were supposed to sit there and watch me shoot my arrows and throw my knives, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I aimed my arrow at the apple in the pig’s mouth and it shot onto the wall. All of the Gamemakers then turned around to see me throw a knife at the pig and they landed in the middle of the pig. Before I walked out, I noticed that there were another two arrows in the pig. Both of them were straight in the eyes so they wouldn’t touch the food. I had to keep my cool as I walked out of there because I was going to smile because I knew that was Gale’s doing. I then turned around threw the bow and arrows aside and marched out of the training place and straight to the elevator. I was so livid as I pressed the twelve button that by the time I got up to the twelfth floor, my mind had registered that the stunt I just pulled might ruin the lives of Katniss, Prim, and my mom. As the elevator doors opened, I saw Gale, Cinna, Portia, Haymitch, and Effie all eagerly waiting for me.

“So how did it go?” Haymitch asked and I looked up at him.

“I shot an arrow and threw three knives at them,” I said still in shock and walked into the dining room.

“As in you did it on purpose?” Haymitch asked quickly following me into the dining room with Gale, Effie, Cinna, and Portia.

“No,” I said as I sat down mechanically, “they weren’t paying attention so I shot at their food. I wasn’t even near them.”

“I did the same thing,” Gale said and I snapped up and looked at him confused, “They were all looking at the pig and I got angry and shot at it. They all snapped their heads to look at me.”

“Same here,” I said and I saw Haymitch, Effie, and Cinna all smirk a tiny bit.

“Well then,” he said, “You two made an impression I’m sure.”

“Hopefully,” I said and we started eating, “Do you think they’ll punish our families back home?”

Haymitch then stopped eating and looked at me.

“They won’t do anything,” he said, “It’s against the rules to let the personal training sessions be known to the public so if they did anything to your families they would have to make that known.”

“Good,” I breathed out and I could tell Gale was feeling the same way.

Once we were finished eating, all of us went straight to the sitting room to see what the training scores were going to be given to us. I was sitting on the couch with chin on my knees and Gale was sitting next to me with his arm around my shoulder. Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, and Portia were looking at us weirdly and we looked at them with confused looks. Cinna was smiling lightly and I could see a plan forming in his head by the looks in his eyes. Before Gale or I could say anything, the Anthem started and we all waited in anticipation for the scores to be flashed across the screen. I wasn’t shocked to see Cato, the tribute from District 2, and Thresh, the tribute from District 11 got very high scores. They each got a 10. I was shocked that Rue, the little girl from District 11, got a 7. She must have done something pretty amazing to impress the Gamemakers to get a score like that. Then Gale’s name flashed across the screen and an 11 popped up on the screen and we all screaming and jumping up and down in excitement. Haymitch pulled both of us up and I gave Gale and huge hug.

“Congratulations Gale!” I said smiling widely, “I knew you were going to do amazing.”

“Wait your name is coming up,” Gale said and we all turned to look that the number under my picture and name was an 11 as well.

My mouth dropped and I turned to look at Gale who was grinning widely at me. He then picked me up and I squealed and held onto him tightly as we twirled around.

“I told you, you were going to do great,” he laughed smiling widely at me.

“Put me down Gale,” I squealed and he laughed as he put me down.

“This is going to be great,” Effie exclaimed clapping her hands, “We’re going to get you so many great sponsors based on these scores aren’t we Haymitch?”

“Good job,” he said smiling, “I did get a set of fighters this year.”

“Duh,” I said, “We came from the Seam. You have to fight to survive.”

Haymitch then smiled and shook his head. Everyone said good night to each other have we celebrated our training scores with some ice cream and the adults had spirits. Once we were done celebrating, we all went to our rooms to get some sleep.