ACT I, CHAPTER EIGHT ❛new friend named anger; wreathed in stars ❜ content: blood/injury, drug use (morphling), anxiety attack.
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Another night of restless sleep makes the next day of Training pass by in a blur of information gathering and hands-on practice. Madaket, Kaimana, and Wylan breeze through most of the survival stations they can, picking up little tricks from trainers to improve their understanding. Most of it is boring, uninteresting work that makes time tick by slower. Madaket grows increasingly aware of a burning disdain in her heart toward the Gamemakers on their balcony and the Capitol as a whole. It is their fault that she has to cram all of these otherwise useless things into her brain for a decent shot at survival. She doesn't remember her blood ever being this hot, usually she's just clammy with fear.
At the end of the second day, the alliance agreed to spend their final day of Training trying out weapons and combat techniques. Having completed all survival stations, they can now focus on the main purpose of the Hunger Games: killing fellow kids. This is something that Madaket is reluctant to accept, and so as she walks out of the elevator into the gymnasium, her body is cold with fear. So far, she's been able to deny the fact that she'll have to kill somebody in the arena. Now, though, it's impossible to ignore. At one point or another, she'll encounter one of these tributes, and in order to get out of an altercation alive, she needs to practice killing them.
Looking around at her counterparts, it's a hard vision to swallow. Killing isn't an instinct to her like it is to Career tributes. The thought of bringing a blade to someone's throat and slicing it open is enough to make her stomach turn. These tributes, even the most bloodthirsty of them, are people with families and friends. She can't imagine murdering one of these people.
The Head Trainer frees the tributes soon after all of them arrive, and Madaket regroups with her two allies shortly thereafter.
In the past couple of days, she has learned more about both Kaimana and Wylan as people. She knows that Kaimana, on top of working since the age of seven, has two younger siblings that are also working jobs after school. This revelation surprises Madaket, as most people in District 6 don't work until the age of sixteen when the General Motors company hires assembly-line workers. Kaimana also shares Madaket's rather negative disposition, which gives Wylan a lot more shadows to fill with sunshine. Kaimana constantly points out advantages that other tributes have over them, and usually only speaks when it's to criticize something Madaket or Wylan is doing. Madaket doesn't find this as annoying as she thought she would, because she finds herself agreeing with Kaimana more often than not. In some cases, their fight is futile, and there's no shame in pointing it out; it's very likely that none of them will come out of the arena alive.
Wylan tries his best to motivate the two girls, though. When Madaket or Kaimana mutter about the overbearing strength of the Careers, Wylan points out that while formidable opponents on the battlefield, the Careers aren't able to hunt or differentiate poisonous berries from edible ones. When the boy from District 10 skewers a dummy with a throwing knife from twenty yards away, Wylan optimistically observes that the knife didn't hit the center of the bullseye. His mindset is frustratingly sweet in such a way that Madaket can't be mad at him for it.
