Chapter Four:
Cato's POV
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"Cato!"
"Cato?"
I groaned and pulled the covers over my head, trying to block out the voice calling my name.
"CATO!! GET UP THIS SECOND!!" my annoying mentor, Alexis Letterman, screamed.
"What do you want?! It's five AM... and you want me to get up? No way," I snapped.
"Aw, well, as much as I hate to disappoint you, it's time to wake up. All tributes have to be downstairs in twenty minutes to practice training. The whole world doesn't revolve around you," she replied sarcastically.
"Seriously, or are you just doing this as some sick idea of a joke?"
"Well, as much as I would do that... nope, sorry, but rules are rules. You're a tribute, which means that you need to get up and go downstairs to train, no exceptions. Oh, and all the people of Panem are gonna be watching, so try to make yourself appealing to the audience," Alexis commanded.
"Since when is training televised?!"
"As of yesterday. Claudius Templesmith thought the audience should see a preview of what the tributes are like, skill wise," she said in a mocking tone, which irritated me deeply.
I shot her a glare and reluctantly got up. "Well, fine. They want a preview? I'll show Panem exactly what they'll see in the arena."
"That's the spirit! Now, your stylist has set your training outfit on that dresser. Sorry to say that you missed breakfast with the other tributes... so, you'll be training on nothing. Good luck with that!" Alexis cackled as she left my room.
'Good luck with that!' If only Alexis was a tribute and not my mentor... I'd give her a taste of the arena, all right...
--
--
I scowled when I saw Alexis in the main part of building.
"You're two minutes late, Cato," she snapped, pointing at her watch.
I smirked, tore the watch off her wrist and crushed it underneath my feet. "What're you gonna do? Shoot me 'cause I was two damn minutes late?" I spat.
"If I was head Gamemaker and this was the arena..." Alexis hissed, "I would do a lot more than shoot you."
I rolled my eyes and walked away from her.
Alia ran up to me, smiling. "You excited? It's our first day of official training!"
"'Course. You know they're filming us, right?"
Alia nodded. "Yep. Alexis told me to give Panem a good show."
I snorted. "She told me to 'be appealing to the audience,' whatever that's supposed to mean."
"Alexis really hates you, doesn't she?" Alia asked, her.
"Oh yeah, she hates my guts. But I honestly could care less. I'm not too fond of her, either."
"She's... bitter..." Alia trailed off.
"Bitter? That's a bit of an understatement."
She smirked. "I'm trying to 'make myself more appealing to the audience.' The last thing I need is to be the tribute that bashes her mentor."
"You're already appealing to the audience," I said.
"Enough with the mushy gushy nonsense, Cato. Take your precious little girlfriend into the training area and please, for the love of the Capitol, don't destroy the entire training room," Alexis demanded, and shoved us into another room.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a camera on the ceiling.
Give 'em a good show? No problem.
I picked up a machete from the floor and sliced one of dummies' heads clear off.
I turned to Alia who flipped forward and kicked her dummy over, then stabbing it through the neck with her sword.
I then picked up two spears in my left hand, the machete in my right. I threw the spears into the 'hearts' of two dummies and cut the head off of another.
Multi-tasking.
I glanced around the Training Center to observe the other tributes.
Most of them didn't know a sword from a spear and couldn't fight to save their lives.
The other girl from Two, never missed when it came to throwing knives, and that Marvel creep was decent with spear throwing.
Several tributes collapsed from the rope-climbing exercise, wincing and groaning when they fell to the ground, gasping for air.
I couldn't help but laugh at their lack of skills.
"Seems like we don't have much competition," Alia muttered under her breath.
The one male tribute from Twelve whom I'd met earlier on the train, with dark black hair glared over at us. He muttered something under his breath, too low for anyone to hear.
"Is there something you'd like to say?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.
"Nope," he said, "Just that... you're making it a little obvious, aren't you?"
"Making what obvious?" Alia asked.
"That you're this year's most lethal Careers," he replied matter-of-factly as he picked up a bow and set of arrows.
I snorted. "And your point is...?"
He chuckled under his breath, "Never mind. Apparently, you're too ignorant to understand..."
With that, I knocked the bow out of his hands and slashed him across the face with the blade of my sword.
"And apparently... you're too stupid to realize that you shouldn't mess with me..."
He wiped the blood off his face, causing a group of medics and trainers to rush over to his side.
"What happened here?" one of the medics demanded as the others tended to the cut on his face.
"Nothing... just teaching this kid a very valuable lesson," I replied, smirking with satisfaction.
"You know the rules, Cato. No fighting with the other tributes..."
"I know the rules. They just don't always apply to me."
One of the trainers rolled their eyes. "Get back to your training."
I snorted and looked straight into the camera lens, feeling Alexis's eyes of fire watching me.
"Is that a good enough show for you, Alexis?" I taunted, folding my arms.
I can even hear her voice screaming from the control room, "CUT IT OUT, CATO! I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN ENTER THE ARENA!"
"Good luck with that," I quote and throw a spear into the lens of the camera, shattering the glass.
"Cato... Are you okay...?" Alia asked suddenly, raising her eyebrows at my actions.
"Perfect."
Before she could reply, Alexis burst into the room, her face bright red with anger.
"CATO!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! YOU CAN'T DO THINGS LIKE THAT!"
I chuckled darkly. "Glad to see you're in a good mood for once."
Her fists are clenched, like she was about to attack me, but I'm not scared at all. For one, I'm three times her size and her strength is no match for mine. Besides, there's probably some unwritten rule where mentors aren't allowed to kill their tributes.
"Got a problem, Alexis? I did exactly what you asked. Guess I'm done training for the day. See ya," I said and prepared to walk off.
Knowing Alexis, I knew she wouldn't let me walk off that easy.
Sure enough, she threw one of my spears at me. Little did she know that I also had fast reflexes...
I turned to her, the spear in my hand, smirking. "Nice try, Alexis," I say sarcastically.
Alexis's face was beet red at this point.
"I can't wait to see you get annihilated in the arena...." she trailed off.
"Well, isn't that nice of you. Too bad that'll never happen. I'll rid the arena of all the other worthless tributes," I snarl.
Alexis chuckled darkly under her breath. "You are the spitting image of a Career, Cato. Arrogant, bloodthirsty, stupidly brave, and completely insane. At least Alia has some sense of humanity."
"Thanks, Alexis. But ya can't win the Hunger Games with kindness. I'm in it to win it, not to befriend my enemies," I replied.
"What do you know about winning the Games, Cato? You haven't even entered the arena. I won it. So, therefore, I know exactly what I'm talking about... and you need to lose the temper. I can assure you that you won't get any sponsors if you keep this up," she retorted, putting her hands on her hips.
That sent me over the edge. Who the hell did she think was telling me how to act?! Last time I checked, she was my mentor– not my boss.
Before I had time to 'think before I act', I was tossing a sword in between my hands, smirking at Alexis as I said, "Would you like a real taste of the arena?"
The trainers never said anything about fighting with your mentor, now did they?
"CATO!" one of the trainers shouted, snatching the sword from my hand and throwing it to the ground. "CUT IT OUT!"
Alexis's face had flushed pale white. "Like I said," she began, "Completely insane."
I could feel my temper rising with every word that came out of her mouth.
"Cato?"
But Alia's blue-grey eyes calmed me down.
"I think you should take a break from training," she said as she led me out of the training area.
The other tributes stared at me in shock as we made our way out.
One tribute from District Four with violet eyes snickered under her breath. "I see why District Two's export is weapons. They're all completely irrational."
"Shut up, Fish Girl," I snapped.
She snorted and walked off with a small girl from District Eleven.
The woman named Effie Trinket came up to me with an appalled look stretched across her caked makeup face.
"Excuse me, but it is against the rules to attack your mentor," she stated in a snobby tone.
Ignoring Effie, I stormed up to my room, Alia following shortly behind.
"Look," she began, "I'm not saying this to sound like Alexis or Effie, because I don't like either of them, but Alexis had a point, Cato. You can't blow up like that. As stupid as it is, sponsors are important. They can send you things you might need in the arena. And I don't want you to end up sponsor-less."
"Why? Me being sponsor-less wouldn't affect you."
"Because I care about you, Cato. It's perfectly fine to want to win the Games, but it's not okay to want to kill your mentor because she irritated you... No matter how you look at it, Cato, that's not right."
I scowled. "Why do you have to be so... perfect?"
Alia laughed. "I'm not, trust me, but I'm a planner. I make up a scheme for everything, no matter what. Like attacking a tribute, for example. Everyone has a weakness, Cato. And I would use my opponent's weakness to my advantage. You can't go in for the kill each time. Sure, you may be the most powerful tribute, but there's always there's always someone smarter. And I don't want that to happen. So, please, just listen to me, Cato. Ignore Alexis all you want; she gets some sick pleasure out of irritating you. But after that little stunt you pulled today, I doubt she'll talk to you ever again," she said.
"And that would make me extremely happy," I mutter under my breath.
Alia gives me the most unamused face possible. "I'm serious, Cato," she says.
I sighed heavily. "Okay..." I trail off, "I'm sorry..."
"As much as I appreciate that, Cato, you don't need to apologize to me."
I burst out laughing. "You want me to apologize to Alexis?! That'll never happen."
Alia frowns slightly. "That's not what I meant. I could care less if you apologize to Alexis or not. What I mean is that... just listen to me Cato, okay?"
"Okay..."
Alia smiles at me and then says, "Now, we better get back to training before Alexis kills us."
"I'd like to see her try," I reply sarcastically.
Alia rolled her eyes as we made our way back to the gym.