The 200th Annual Hunger Games - The Ultimate Games

Training (Day 1)

"Don't talk to Tatiana like that!" Phillip defended her, his voice laced with menace. Jay laughed. "What's stopping me?" He grinned.

Phillip didn't reply for a moment. Jay smirked, obviously thinking he had won. Then all of a sudden, Phillip dropped his fighting staff. I frowned for a moment, confused, but then Phillip charged forward and tackled Jay to the ground.

Tatiana and I shouted in shock and stumbled back as the two boys threw punches and kicks at each other. Jay still had his fighting staff and was attempting to stab it at Phillip, although he was rather unsuccessful. Tatiana ran forward and towards the two, holding out her hands as a barrier.

"STOP!" She screamed, trying to pull them apart, "Stop fighting, leave him alone!"

Suddenly, a fist flew out from the scuffle. Before I could register what had happened, someone had clocked Tatiana right in the face. She shouted and fell back, clutching the right side of her face.

"You little shit!"
Phillip punched Jay - hard - in the face. My hands slapped to my open mouth as Phillip sent punch after punch into Jay's head, pummeling the boy into the ground. Finally, Jay fell to the ground on his back. Phillip leapt onto him and grabbed him by the collar, menace in his eyes.

"Stay away from them, or I swear to god I will shove my foot so far up your ass you'll be tasting shoe polish for months," he hissed. Then he shoved Jay into the ground and got to his feet, walking over to Tatiana and pulling her to her feet.

"You okay, Tat?" he asked carefully. Tatiana nodded slowly, taking her hand away from her face. No blood, but her cheek was swollen. Phillip sighed and held the side of her face, his green eyes focusing and looking intently at her cheek.

"It'll bruise, but I don't think anything's broken." He said. Tatiana nodded.

"Plant station?" she asked. Phillip nodded.

"Plant station." I agreed.

Beth Gibson POV

Of course no one asked you for an alliance.
They all hate you.
What, did you think anyone actually cared about you?

I shut my eyes as the voices in my head shrieked insults and smart remarks at me. My hands latched onto the hair atop my head and I began to pull at the roots.

"Shut up!" I shouted. I curled up into a ball on the floor as my heartbeat pounded in my ears, ignoring the stares from the other tribes, "Just leave me alone!"

You shut up, my own voice sneered back at me in my head. Stupid bitch.
Shrieks and screams reverberated in my head, shrieks and screams that were very, very familiar to me. I'd first heard them when I was 8 years old, erupting with volcanic force from my own mouth as I laid eyes upon the gutted and disemboweled corpse of my older sister, strung up like a pig and swinging gently on the washing line. Back and forth, back and forth, like a pendulum. Ever since the day I found Falice's body, the screams had never stopped in my mind. They'd only gotten stronger.

I wandered over to the throwing knives station, sucking my thumb in an attempt to calm myself down. My head began to throb and I tried to ignore it, but the more I tried to distract myself the more the pain grew. I raised my hand and knocked myself gently in the head over and over again.
"No."

I grunted and turned away from the throwing knives section, walking to the centre of the training room. My head hurt. Everything hurt. A vicious tremor rolled through my body and my back arched, and I groaned.
"No."

Tiny little pricks began to stab at my brain, and my vision became clouded as memories of my sister's corpse began to flash through my mind. Words flashed through my head. Disembowelled. Guts. Washing line. Dead.
Guilty.

"NO!" I roared. I jumped and curled my hand into a fist, beginning to smash my fist into my head. "NO NO NO NO NOOOOO!"
"Someone stop her!"
I felt something red and thick ooze down my forehead and drip onto my left cheek. Everything around me blurred and all sounds sounded distant and shaky. Then, I collapsed into a puddle on the floor.

Santana Higgins POV

I will kill them all.
I looked around at the tributes surrounding me, feebly fighting with swords and whacking mannequins pathetically with a fighting staff. I scoffed and walked over to the throwing knife section.

"And who might you be?" the instructor asked kindly. I put on a charming smile and grinned sweetly at her.
"Santana Higgins, 12, District 12," I said quickly.
"You any good with knives?" the instructor asked politely. I shrugged.
"I'm alright."
I'm better than you, bitch.
"Okay, well take these, and there's a little simulator just behind me. Step inside."
I nodded and gave a mock salute as I ventured over to the simulator. Once inside holograms would attack me, I'd have to destroy them with my throwing knives without them hitting me. Piece of cake. I tapped on the screens and clicked on Level 10. The hardest level.

"You sure?" I heard the instructor behind me ask, "That level is really tough, hun. Barely anyone beats it."
Well then, all those people sucked.
I turned around and smiled at the instructor, flashing an innocent grin.
"Aim high, right?"
Then I turned away from her and stepped into the simulator. Everything went dark for a few moments, and I waited, anticipation leaking through my veins. Then, all of a sudden, a figure appeared in front of me, charging towards me with a throwing axe in grip. I whipped out my knife and sent it hurtling towards the figure, and it exploded in a mess of orange blocks. Another figure appeared to my right, and I ducked down as a small dagger went flying through the air. I tumbled towards the figure and ripped my throwing knife out, sending it flying. It hit its target and I whipped around again, throwing another knife towards a different figure.
After many jumps, twists, throws, and mumbled curse words, the simulation was done. As the light returned I sighed and jogged out of the simulator with a grin on my face. The trainer's face was one of shock, and I grinned at her, showing off my teeth.

Doug Matthews POV

I held the bow in my hand and pulled back the arrow, feeling the feathers on the arrow tickle my cheek. I glanced over at Rudy, who was effortlessly shooting arrow after arrow into the targets, and immediately felt inferior. My eyes flitted back to the target and I straightened up my back, then aimed the arrow towards the target and shot. The arrow sailed towards the bullseye, and buried itself into the bottom of the target. I growled in frustration.

"You having trouble?" Rudy asked. I turned to him as he sent yet another arrow flying into the centre of the target.
"I'm not good at this, can we try something else?" I asked. Rudy nodded nonchalantly and put down the bow, and then the two of us began to walk towards the fighting staff station. Christopher and Camille were taking swings at each other with fighting staffs, although it was obvious Camille was winning. We sat and watched for a few minutes, not wanting to disturb the match.

"So, you any good with anything else?" I asked, turning towards Rudy. He didn't reply, his eyes transfixed on Camille in the little arena.
"Rudy," I said sharply, clicking my fingers in front of his face. Rudy returned to reality, his face flushing pink.
"Huh, wait, what?" He mumbled. I chuckled and looked up at Camille in the arena. She grinned as Christopher fell once more, and he laughed as she helped him back up. Rudy once again had his gaze on Camille, and then it clicked.
"You like her, don't you?" I asked softly, my tone more serious. Rudy glanced over at me, a weird emotion in his eyes, then looked down at his shoes.
"Rudy, it's not something to be embarrassed about. Having a crush isn't that big of a deal."
"It's not a crush." Rudy said sharply. Despite his words, his body language indicated that he was lying.
"Have you told her? I mean, you guys are best friends. To be honest I kinda thought you were dating when I saw the Reapi-"
"She doesn't know," Rudy said softly.

I bit my lip and turned to him. "Sorry man. That sucks."
"And I can't tell her now, either. Both of us know trying to keep up a romance in the games is utterly stupid, she'd reject me right away." Rudy ranted, sighing and burying his face in his hands. "I don't want to like her. I want all these stupid emotions to just fuck off and leave my brain alone."
"Well, um," I mumbled. "I think you need to tell her."
"What?" Rudy exclaimed, raising his head. "Are you kidding? No, I can't."
"You can't what?" Camille piped up, her and Christopher walking towards us.

"Nothing," I smiled slightly, "Nothing at all."