Chapter Five:
The second and third training days went as well as the first. Me and the other Careers did a good job of intimidating the others, and we definitely gained the attention of the Gamemakers. Today we would go in for individual sessions. I know we’re supposed to show the Gamemakers one particular skill, but if I were them, I’d be looking for someone that was amazing at more than one thing. Thankfully, I did have more than one skill. After waking up, changing into my training clothes, and going down the elevator to the basement, I sit next to Hunter and Parker, waiting to go in.
I hear a voice on a loudspeaker saying, “Stingra Heart.”
Stingra goes in when she hears it, “Good luck,” I mouth to her. I wait in silence for her. The one weakness we Career Tributes have is that everyone knows what you’re doing in there. They see us in the training center showing off, and once they see our scores, they know exactly how good we are at what we do. And then we don’t know what they’re doing. Down at the end of the bench I see Prim, shivering in fear. I smile. Her pain gives me pleasure.
“Hunter Topaz.”
Hunter leaves my side and goes off into the secluded room. When I see his score, I’ll know how well he can throw a spear. And once I know that, I’ll know the chances of me killing him. But I don’t want to think about that now, thoughts of killing a friend are no way to get yourself pumped up for and individual session.
"Aqua Pyrette.”
My heart is beating faster than it ever was before. Parker claps my shoulder when I get up, and all eyes are on me. Everyone wants to know how I’ll end up killing them. So I strut down the hallway and wait for the doors to close behind me. Once I enter the seemingly empty room, I can see the Gamemakers watching my every move.
“Aqua Pyrette, District Two,” I announce.
I breathe in and out slowly as I walk over to the station with dummies and various weapons, and take a trident sitting in a stand with some other weapons. I step back about twenty feet from a dummy, aim, and throw. The trident hits the dummy right in the center of the stomach, where I was aiming. Now, I go for the head. The three points hit the face perfectly.
I glance over at the Gamemakers for a millisecond, and it looks like I’m impressing them. But I remember what Enobaria said about sponsors: You can always use more. It was the same here. I grab the trident out of the soft ‘flesh’ of the dummy, and stand back even farther. This time, I would aim for the neck. I close my eyes, breathe in, open my eyes, breathe out, and throw. The middle point lands in the exact middle of the neck.
Now that I’d really gotten their attention, I decide to do a little more. I go and get the double-sided axe. Using the same dummy, I slice off everything I can until it was completely demolished. Then I leave.
When I get back to District Two’s floor, Emberlynn and Enobaria are waiting for me.
"I think I did pretty well,” I announce to them.
“We’ll see,” Enobaria responds.
I go back to my quarters, sit on my bed, and reflect on my Hunger Games journey so far. To put it simply, I gained Panem’s attention. I pummeled Chelsea at the Reaping, scared young tributes at the Training Center, and showed the Gamemakers, and soon everybody else, that I can kill in a matter of seconds.
While I’m thinking about all of this, I hear Parker outside, talking to Enobaria and Emberlynn. He’s about to go into his room until I call him in.
“Parker, you wanna check out who people are betting on?”
He smiles at me and agrees, “I’m pretty sure that everyone’s betting on you winning, but why not.”
On the TVs in our rooms there’s a channel showcasing each tribute and their odds of winning. Since they don’t say anything we don’t already know about them, like their age, name, and District, the other tributes are allowed to watch. And the betting odds are based on the Reapings too. When I turn it on, Stingra’s on the screen. It has a picture of her, her District one’s symbol, and her age, 17. Also, at the bottom are her odds: 5:1. It’s pretty good for a Career Tribute. When I click the right arrow on the remote, I see Hunter, whose odds of winning were also 5:1. Then I scroll to me. My odds were higher than both Stingra and Hunter, 3:1, which were also my brother’s odds. I smile smugly to Parker.
“We still need to see mine, you know."
When I go to his page, his odds are 4:1.
“Ha,” I say to him.
We have fun looking through the other people’s odds, and laughing at some of them. The only other high ones were Rosie’s, Jack’s, Chuck’s, and Constance’s, but none were as high as mine or Parker’s. Before I know it, it’s time for dinner. I eat my food quickly to make sure we didn’t miss when they announced the scores. After I finished, I went to my room and got a pen and pad of paper that was supplied in one of my drawers to write down everyone’s scores. This was the first time I saw Caesar Flickerman’s new colors: Teal, the same color I was wearing during the Reaping. I start to wonder if it’s just a coincidence, or if everyone’s actually rooting for me.
Stingra is first, of course, as she is from District one. She got a nine, as did Hunter. Then I come on. I have an eleven, the highest known score other than a twelve, but nobody in Hunger Games history has ever gotten a twelve. Parker got a ten, not as good as me, but better than Hunter and Stingra. Tonya gets an eight, and Edison gets a nine. I guess they were a good pair to have in the Career alliance. Rosie gets a ten, and Jack a nine. The only others above seven were Maya with an eight, Chuck with a nine, and Constance with an eight. Prim had a seven, though I have no idea what she could’ve done to get that, so it was probably a pity score. I decide to go to bed early to have more time to prepare for my interview.
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The 80th Hunger Games: A Time for Revenge
FanfictionAqua Pyrette's life consisted on nothing more than training for the Hunger Games. As a citizen of District Two, her goal was to become a victor. But that all changed when the 74th Games took the life of her brother, Cato. Since then, she has been...
