Strong (Hunger Games)

Chapter 3

TRAINING- DAY 2

*Scarlett's POV*

I wake up the next morning to light knocking on my bedroom door. When I climb out of bed, I put some slippers I found on and shuffle over to the door. I open it to see a strange girl standing there. She doesn't say anything but motions for me to pass her and go into the dining room.

"Hi, what's your name? Do you work here?" I asked her. She merely nodded. Why wouldn't she talk to me? Was I really that bad?

She motioned again for me to pass her and go to the dining room. I obeyed her instructions this time and saw my brother siting there. On the other side of the table was our mentors, Peeta Mellark and Madime Klepper, eating peacefully.

"Oh darling!" Madime said the second she saw me. "Good morning! Breakfast has already been served. Feel free to grab whatever you want. There are no limits here in the Capitol."

I nodded slightly and put some bacon and a piece of toast on my plate. As I sat down, Peeta noticed I had only grabbed a little tiny bit of food. 

"Scarlett, you might want to get a little more food. You have a long day ahead of you. There is much to be done to be prepared for the games. The training wont be easy for you to complete." He said implying that I eat more.

I got up out of my chair once again and put a little more food on my plate. When I sat back down I saw Peeta frown a little but he decided not to say anything this time. And I was glad that he didn't because I didn't think I really could eat anything more. My appetite wasn't that big when I knew I was heading into my certain death arena in just a few days.

We ate in silence for another 30 minutes before I excused myself to go get dressed. My brother followed me as he was still wearing pajamas as well. We walked down the same hallway and parted when out doors came into view. I was surprised I hadn't gotten lost in here. There were so many hallways and doors that you could go through. 

I rummaged through the drawers full of clothing for something of my taste. Most of the stuff here was bright and colorful and that was not something I would ever wear. I found a pair of simple, light wash jeans and a loose red long sleeved shirt. After changing quickly I went back out of my room to the living room were I found the mentors. My brother was also there along with both of our stylists.

"Linus!" I say as I walk out. He was one of the only people in the Capitol that I could deal with, so I was really excited to see him. I give him a quick hug along with Hilovia, my brothers stylist, and our mentors. We all say and talked a little about what we were going to experience today. It was the first day of training. We would get to properly meet the rest of the tributes for the first time.

I was quite nervous as we got into the elevator and descended underground. The training center was on the basement floor of the building. When we walked in, the rest of the tributes were already arranged in a large circle. There were large spaces between people of different districts other than the careers. They had already planned out their team and who would do what in the arena. They didn't know I had overheard them assigning roles when we arrived on the tribute train.

There was 5 or 6 hours of training total with an hour lunch and dinner break. Macallister and I mainly focused on building traps and remembering what we should and shouldn't eat. Finding food would be one of the biggest problems in the arena other then finding fresh water. There was no way either of us would be able to get into the cornucopia to get food or any weapons without dying on the way. 

Later that night we met with the tributes once again. We had finished training and went our separate ways. This time it was not in the training center but in a big conference room. The game makers had set aside some time for people to create alliances. There would also be enough time to start planning their approach and plan if they wanted to. 

Macallister and I seated ourselves across from each other on the ground on the corner of the room. We figured nobody here would want to be our ally so we started planning by ourselves.

"I think we should stick together the entire time. Don't split up. We can help each other." Macallister said straight away. We were taking in a whisper in case any other tributes were trying to listening to us.

"Yeah. So you think we should go into the cornucopia?" I asked.

"Definitely not. There is too big of a chance for one of us to get hurt or killed." He said while shaking his head.

"Hey, you two!" We heard someone yell across the room. We looked around and saw the group of careers staring at us. They seemed to have been the ones that called out. We both got up and made out way over to them.

"You wanna be allies? We could use some brains on our team. The things you both did today in training was amazing." Said one of the girls. She seemed to be the most outgoing. I noticed the others were merely staring at her and not speaking. It looked like she was basically the leader of their group.

Macallister and I shared a look before we nodded at them. What could we loose? The careers definitely had a good plan and would make it quite far into the games. The girl smiled and started to explain their plan to us.

After discussing everything, we were sent back to our floors. Macallister and I walked back in silence, still thinking about why just happened back in that room. We started discussing the other people in our alliance, trying to remember their names. 

"Okay so there is Camille and Bunker from District 1, Katelin and Homer from District 2, and Rayli and Korey from District 4. Oh, and that strange kid from District 7. His name was Hilter. I think they chose him because he looked big and strong." 

Macallister nodded along as I said all of the right names. 

I still couldn't believe we were a part of the career alliance. I never thought this would happen. People would most likely be scared of us now. I know the girl was saying they only needed us for our brains. What she doesn't know is I'm pretty handy with a knife. And Macallister is great at hand to hand combat.

We would definitely need a secret weapon in case we were the last alliance. Our special talents could help us out there. We just needed to be sure they didn't see us showing them off in training. The only time we could practice was when we had our time with the Game Makers. But the other tributes would most likely kill us first then fight with each other so we needed a thing only we knew. 

Our chances still didn't look too bright but there was still a little. What I was hoping for could happen. Macallister and I could still live through this. I could ensure his survival. He could still go back to mom and dad in District 13. 

He still could be crowned victor of the 84th Hunger Games. And I would make sure he did.