Battle Scars

Chapter 12: Focus

Chapter twelve: Focus
My hands did their best to shake as I stiffly saluted the assessors, game makers, and the head game maker himself, Quebec Vancouver.
"Abby Hernandez, Australia." They smiled, and nodded, exchanging a few whispered remarks. Quebec smiled at me.
"Please begin," he stated.
I refused to be nervous in front of these people who were planning my death trap. They cared nothing for me, so why should I care about them? In a few weeks I wouldn't be any more than a memory to them. Probably even less than that.
I had to act quickly. I had fifteen minutes to do everything I possibly could to impress them, and that meant not only showing what I could do, but surprising them somehow. The surprising element was something I was yet to figure out. It was one of Em's ideas. Personally, I thought they'd be surprised enough with the fact that I could actually use weapons, but since Em had suggested it, I planned to at least attempt a follow through.
I went straight over to the stacks of crates in the corner, and quickly set up a complicated course. I switched on the moving targets, and grabbing a bag of knives, I ran through the course quickly.
I had possibly bored my audience somewhat by taking so long with the crates. However, by the time I had finished there, I had their full attention. Now was a perfect time to do something fantastic, but what?
To buy myself some time, I picked up a few spears. The spears were heavier than the knives, but luckily I had picked up how to handle them pretty quickly. I wasn't as accurate with them as with the knives, but I still hit practically on the bullseye of the moving targets every time.
The next thing I seized was a bow and arrows. I shot busily at the targets for a few minutes, until the bulls-eyes were full. At the end I still had five minutes left, and was yet to seriously impress them. I looked up at the glass dome where the judges sat. Practically the entire thing was glass, but supporting the sides were sturdy metal poles that extended across the ceiling of the whole room. It was then I had my idea.
I returned to the crates, and set up a wall about the size of a gymnastics balance beam. I focused, mentally removing all distractions. When I opened my eyes, I saw, not the crates, but the balance beam itself. I climbed up, and performed, showing off my sense of balance. I didn't fall once. With not much time to go, I ran to the end of the wall of crates, and jumping up, I grabbed one of the poles on the roof. As I did so, the wall of crates tumbled to the ground behind me. There was no safety mat on the floor, as there was under the uneven bars in the gym back home. I had to land this perfectly. Gripping the pole tightly, swung up, back, and then released, tumbling through the air, and thankfully, presenting a perfect landing.

There was silence across the room. I knew I had succeeded in impressing them. I could tell from their faces - judges don't clap when they enjoy something, they nod, and look at each other. Not a sound was heard, until the buzzer indicating my time was up went off. I pushed the crates back to their corners, and after bowing, I exited the room quietly. It wasn't until I got out of there that the smile came, and after that, it didn't leave for quite some time. I didn't care if I wasn't good enough. I had done everything I could in there. I didn't have to do anything more.

All the tributes sat impatiently in the training centre assembly hall, awaiting the results. The big screen in front of us was showing the talk show host, rattling on about something or other. Finally, he announced the training scores of the tributes. Everyone waited with bated breath, as one by one, our photos were projected onto the screen, along with our country, and our training score, displaying the lowest score first, and ending at the highest.
Ashley Marie Surcombe, England - 7
Ellie Gore, Canada - 7
Matthew Nucciarone, Columbia - 9
Aidan Brooks, Australia - 9
Preston Arsement, Arabia - 9
Ryan McNulty, Europe - 10
Jason Probst, America - 10
Vikk Barn, India - 11
Mitchell Hughes, Canada - 12
Abby Hernandez, Australia - 12

I didn't look at any of the other tributes. I knew if I did, I would be sure to meet the eyes of either Vikk or Mitch. With Vikk, I knew what to expect. I'd beaten him again, and he definitely wouldn't take that lightly. However, I had no idea what to expect from Mitch. So I looked at the floor, and paid no attention to anybody.
There were, of course, the scores of all the other tributes, but I really paid no attention to them, since they weren't high enough to be of any consequence to me, and I didn't know the people. I did notice, however, that the youngest tribute at age thirteen, Ebony from Africa, managed to gain higher than the lowest score. She scored a five, whilst the lowest score was three. I wondered how she had achieved it, since she couldn't fight at all. Perhaps they based it off her survival skills.

A/N: I've just realised... I don't know what the hell Ashley Marie is even doing in this story... She doesn't do anything important, I could have just invented a different person instead of using a real person... But anyway haha :P