Battle Scars

Chapter 11: Blood from a Stone

Chapter eleven: blood from a stone
"Well since your display in the battles yesterday, we're clearly going to have to change our tactics," said Em. I smiled a little. We were in my room, discussing the coming events. Em stood at the window, looking out onto the bustling street of The Soviet city.
"Sorry, I didn't even think about it," I sighed. I flopped down on my bed, and stared at the ceiling.
"It doesn't matter," she replied, waving the matter off. "Although I'm a little concerned that you don't know your own strength. But anyway, I'm thinking perhaps we should aim for the opposite results now that you've blown your cover."
"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up and looking at her.
"Blow them away," she stated, turning away from the window to look at me. "Get the highest score you can possibly achieve. The only real competition for you here is Mitchell. Find something to make yourself better than him."
"Em he's definitely not the only competition, the others are nothing to sneeze at."
"What I'm trying to say is we now know you can defeat all of the others. Vikk was the strongest in that team, next to Mitchell himself. So if you can better Mitchell in the individual assessments, you've done it."
"He's hiding something," I frowned. "I mean... He's obviously strong, but there's something else." At this point, I wasn't referring to whatever plan he was inventing in his head, but the fact that I still hadn't seen him using his preferred weapon.
Em was snapping her fingers in front of my face. I blinked, and looked at her.
"Come on Abby, focus. I know you fancy Mitch, but you can dream about that later." I stared at her.
"What did you just say?" I asked, in amazement.
"You heard me," she said simply, turning back to the window. "Anyway, your private assessment is..."
"Hold the phone, we are talking about this," I interrupted. "Where on earth did you get that idea? I doubt you've even seen him, let alone seen me with him."
"I know he's definitely worth looking at," she chuckled, turning to wink at me.
"Oh stop it. I don't like him."
"Don't give me that, I've seen you. The last occasion you spent this much time thinking about a guy was when..."
"Ok, ok! We don't want to go there again!" I stopped her, getting up from the bed. "It's true that I've been thinking about him a lot. But let me point out a subtle difference. Mitch is out to kill me. On all previous occasions you might like to refer to, I sincerely hope that none of the offenders wanted to kill me."
"His wanting to kill you doesn't stop you from liking him," she smiled. I sighed.
"Whatever. Even if I did, it's not like it could go anywhere anyways. Only one of us at the most is going to leave that arena."
"Not if you pull a Katniss," she chuckled. I glared at her.
"You've got it all planned out in your head, haven't you," I accused. "Well unfortunately for you, nightlock is a fictional berry. We're in the real world here." I indicated to the world outside my window.
"Whatever you say," she smiled. "Anyway, you need to plan out your private assessment. It's tomorrow morning."
"Don't remind me," I sighed. "The closer the final assessment, the closer the interviews come, and interviews are the night before the arena."
"Well don't think about that now, just concentrate on the assessment. What can you do? List it for me."
"Gymnastics and knife throwing," I stated shortly. "And dancing on a beam will get me nowhere." I was in no mood for this, but unfortunately it had to be done.
"Think practically. The beam gives you balance. Uneven bars will help you with upper arm strength, which can be applied in lots of ways."
"Such as?" I interrupted.
"... I don't know? Swinging vines?"
"A jungle arena is looking fantastic right now. Pity if it's a desert or tundra."
"Well you're in top form tonight, aren't you," she said sarcastically. "Don't be an idiot, I'm helping you out here. Gym and knives aren't the only things you can do. What did you learn in training?"
"Well, I pretty much went around all of the stations," I stated, falling back onto my bed. I was tired.
"And what did you do at them?" She prompted. "You must have learnt something of some use."
"I threw some spears, and did camouflage and stuff, I don't know," I sighed, burying my face into the soft blankets.
"Camouflage and stuff," Em repeated sarcastically. She groaned. "This is like drawing blood out of a stone."
"Well you know what I mean," I said, my voice muffled by the blankets.
"Well I don't actually, I haven't been down to the training centre myself." I sat up, and rubbed my eyes tiredly.
"Sorry Em, I'm just really tired right now."
"I know, and I don't blame you. Let's just get this over with, and you can sleep." I nodded.
"The other night I went down to practice my knives when no one else was around," I said. "I ended up setting up a course, and using moving targets. I jumped around the crates and combined my gym skills and stuff, and threw at the targets. I ended up getting pretty accurate. It was really only the crates that were a challenge. I've done moving targets before - it's the same as hunting rabbits and birds."
"This is great!" Exclaimed Em. "And if no one else knows about this skill, that's going to be great. The assessors and game makers will be surprised, and really impressed. Plus none of the other tributes will know the secret until the arena."
"So what do we do?" I asked.
"Well you're going to sleep right now," she said. "Tomorrow morning go for a run. Work up a bit of stamina, and loosen your muscles. Then head down to where you have to wait to be assessed." I nodded.
"Sleep is sounding great right now," I smiled. I reached over and pulled my sister into a hug. "Thanks Em. For... For putting up with me, for just being there and helping me through everything. I wouldn't be without it, I hope you know that." She returned my hug. To my surprise, I felt a soft tear drop into my hair. I withdrew, and held her at arms length.
"Aw, it's ok, don't cry," I whispered, hugging her tight again.
"Do your best to come back again," she whispered.
"I will."

A/N: same goes for you, real life Em xx