It was 9:55 when Jieun finally made it to the training centre. The large room was found right at the bottom of the building, which meant that she had to ride down twelve floors from the district twelve “penthouse” to reach it. Stepping out of the elevator she could already see that all of the tributes had arrived. Even Hyungsik, who she hadn’t seen for the whole morning was present, talking to the male tribute from district six.

 Skulking in quietly, she took a place behind the mass of tributes by herself. She didn’t plan on creating any new alliances or forging new friendships. She just cared about remaining invisible despite the colour of her electric blue hair.

She glanced around warily, taking in her fellow competitors. They were all either in groups acting friendly, with their partner from their district or just by themselves. However, the ratio of tributes that were by themselves to in groups was very small. For some reason, all of the tributes this year had found solace in another person rather than by themselves.

This fact made her feel nervous. Standing by herself without an ally was a difficult task if everyone around her seemed to be creating support groups with one another. Or, to put things more realistically, they were creating hunting parties together. She looked around and made eye contact with the girl from ten. The girl only tipped her head slightly at Jieun’s stare and then looked away. Jieun was used to the neglectful treatment. It wasn’t too different from her district.

After deciding to simply look down at the ground until training started, the head trainer entered. He had an austere aura and a stern expression carved into the crevices of his face which had been worn out over time. He wasted no time with the introductions as he began a rallying monologue.

“Today, you will train in here for three days. Stations include your typical weaponry; sword-fighting, axe throwing, archery, the lot. And there will be the essential survival methods where you will learn how to identify edible plants and create snares. I know that most of you will go running to the weapon stations,” he said giving a pointed look at the group of Careers, “But avoiding the survival stations could cost you your life if you’re in undesirable environments. Don’t forget that there is no fighting amongst tributes and if you require a sparring partner we have our trainers present.” He coughed into the back of his hand and eyed each of them inconspicuously. “Any questions?”

Only one boy raised his hand. Jieun recognised him; it was Kevin, the boy from eleven. He had golden hair and a sneaky smile. The trainer gave him a look before gesturing for him to ask his question.

“What time’s lunch sir?” He grinned mischievously.

The head trainer intensified his gaze as his eyes locked in on Kevin. “Noon. You’ll all be called for lunch.” And with a final glare in Kevin’s direction he strode off after yelling a single word.

Begin.

-/-/-/-

Choosing his first station very carefully, Seunghyun decided to begin at archery. Picking up a silver bow and a set of arrows he strapped them onto his back and took one out. He was alone at the archery station. For some reason, after the incident in the grains with Fei, they had both felt an invisible magnetic repulsion that kept them away from each other. He wasn’t complaining, but he had never realised how alone he was until they had reached the Capitol the other day.

Following the trainer’s instructions he lifted the bow and carefully inserted the arrow. He knew that his body was large, but while he held the arrow it seemed as if it were a weapon for those who were smaller bodied and more graceful than he was. Drawing the arrow back he took his aim at the practice dummy in front of him. Oddly enough, they did practice with targets shaped like people. They probably used the dummies so everyone would at least become somewhat acquainted with aiming at actual people.

With one of his eyes shut and the other squinted, he aimed and then released. The arrow missed the body almost completely as it hit the wall behind it. Seunghyun let out a sigh.

“Try again. This time raise your arm higher and aim straight,” the trainer directed.

Pulling out another arrow from behind his back he aimed again. This time his arm was raised a fraction higher and he tried to keep his body as rigid as possible to maintain a straight view of the target. He released. And the arrow missed, finding its place next to his other failure.

A tribute from district eight sidled up next to him and began to grab his own equipment. He gave Seunghyun an acknowledging nod before grabbing his bow and arrows and standing in front of his own human target.

“Just keep practicing. I’ll be back,” the trainer stated, obviously bored with Seunghyun’s attempts to readjust his skills. She moved towards the boy from eight who had already grasped how to properly hold a bow. Seunghyun looked away and focused on the task at hand with a severe intensity.

And then it continued in a redundant fashion. Seunghyun would aim, fire and miss. It was so repetitive that he couldn’t tell how long he had been practicing. Meanwhile, the boy beside him from district eight who he vaguely remembered as Kibum seemed to be progressing much better after five failed tries. He was soon hitting the dummy’s heart in a matter of ten attempts while on Seunghyun’s fifteenth all he could muster was an arrow to the foot.

Giving up, he dumped the equipment back where it belonged and surveyed the area to see where he would go next. With his eyes scanning the room they locked on a girl who stared back at him. It was the Career from one. Smiling she made her way over to him; each step deliberate and challenging.

“I see you must have a knack for archery nine,” she laughed. Seunghyun didn’t know why, but he felt so uncomfortable with everyone calling him the name of his district rather than his actual name. At the moment, he wanted nothing to do with the place that had nominated him to enter the Hunger Games. They were too cruel for him to even think about.

“My name is Seunghyun,” he stated.

“Like I care,” she said while flicking her pony tail back. “Just watch and learn.”

She moved to pick up Seunghyun’s discarded bow and a single arrow. Preparing the arrow into its slot she pulled back the string and let it touch . She released the arrow and in a matter of seconds it hit the target right in the centre of the forehead.

She giggled with delight before throwing the bow at him. His hand quickly stretched to catch it and he reluctantly gripped onto it as she shimmied past him with glee.

“And this is only child’s play nine. If I were you I would go learn how to build a fire. Maybe when the Games start we’ll be able to smoke you out and put you out of your misery.” Her saccharine smile sickened him. She returned to the pack of Careers from one and two and whipped her hair in his direction.

Taking a breath, Seunghyun made his way to the snare station with a grimace. He was right after all. Archery was only for the petite and graceful. He was only a towering giant with a large body. It seemed as if he would have to find other stations to develop his talents.

-/-/-/-

He sat opposite Hyeri and began to paw through the lunch with his fork numbly. The first few hours of training hadn’t been too bad. He had spent it by himself rather than with Hyeri. Having to always have her shadow around him all the time wasn’t a terrible thing, but he felt like he needed some time to himself. So, he had stuck to identifying edible plants and insects until lunch and had found that he at least retained some knowledge on how certain types of leaves could leave you with a poisonous rash. He took a bite of the meat on his fork and chewed.

“How was training?” She asked him shyly.

To say that the two of them spoke often to one another was an exaggeration. After the fiasco at the Justice Building they had only shared a few idle talks in the train and before the tribute parade. And all of their previous conversations had the emotional depth of the shallow end of a beach. Their interactions were short-lived, receding and insipid.

“Fine. And you?” He responded in his monotonous tone.

“Good actually. They had tridents there so I practiced. The trainer said I did well,” she mumbled, unsure whether she should be sharing so much detail on her experience.

“That’s good then.” He scooped a spoonful of rice into his mouth while she sipped her sparkling beverage.

Thinking that he was being too harsh on her he became determined to change the uncomfortable atmosphere. Opening his mouth, he was ready to start when they approached. Walking with confidence emanating from every step they all sat down next to the two of them. The girls sat on either side of Hyeri while the boys sat beside him. It was the Careers, and they seemed friendlier than he had remembered.

“Hi,” the girl from one beamed. “I’m Qri. District one. And you two must be the tributes from four.” She stuck out her hand evidently for Hyeri to shake. Hyeri took her welcoming gesture reluctantly while Qri smiled even wider, prompting her to introduce herself.

“I’m Lee Hyeri,” she stuttered. Releasing her iron grip on the other girl, Qri then turned to focus her attention on Minhyuk who stared at her oddly. She reached out her hand and let it levitate in the air waiting for him to accept it. But, he didn’t.

“It’s just a hand, it’s not going to bite,” the boy from one laughed next to him. Minhyuk still didn’t shake her hand. Sighing with defeat she let it drop into her lap.

“And your name is?” She curiously inquired, with a raised eyebrow. The familiar expression on her face made him cringe. She had almost perfected his mother’s favourite expression. It was one that she used when she meant business. And just for this particular reason, he decided against answering and remained silent.

“Minhyuk,” Hyeri interjected. “His name is Minhyuk.”

Qri's grin widened at Hyeri. “Well that’s great then. I’m sure you’d like to know who all of us are.” And following her starting sentence, she began to name everyone at the table, adding details such as their favourite colour and weapon of choice. It was like a broadcast of a reality show that would probably receive popular airplay in the Capitol. At the end of her speech, Qri still retained her sweet smile while Hyeri only nodded in response.

“Now that all the formalities are out of the way, let’s talk seriously for a second,” Qri continued. The boy on Minhyuk’s right, Siwon, gave her a look that said let me do the talking. She closed and shrugged.

“We’d like you to join our alliance,” Siwon advocated. “You are from district four, one of the more superior districts no doubt and if you joined our Career alliance it would help you last longer in the Games. We all think you two would be great additions.” He finished strongly by attaching a confident gaze at the end of his words. Minhyuk knew the type of person that Siwon was; he was someone who was as strong as they appeared with the right amount of persuasion to seduce anyone into believing his lies.

“So what do you think?” Krystal finally spoke. Even though the question was directed at the both of them she stared directly at Minhyuk with her eyes examining past his self-created barrier of apathy.

Minhyuk directed his eyes towards Hyeri who was staring back. It seemed that they were all waiting for his response; as if he were the decision maker between the two of them when they barely even discussed the weather together period. But if she wasn’t going to answer, then he decided he would make a choice first.

“I’ll have to think about,” he said slowly, enunciating each word. “Hyeri?” He prompted. It was her turn to answer. It was a tiny, idle hunch, but inside he knew that she would join them. She craved the glory of winning and declining the invitation to join the Careers would be too suicidal. He ascertained that she would join them wholeheartedly rather than do what he planned. But her perplexed face seemed to disagree with his thoughts.

“I’ll have to think about it too,” she trailed off. Her sight connected back towards Minhyuk and with words unspoken he had a new understanding of their relationship. It seemed as if they were a team.

-/-/-/-

It was at the knives station that she finally felt confident in herself. Gayoon’s self-belief in her survival grew with every throw as the knives hit the practice dummy with lethal precision. The knives she had used to practice with were double serrated; they were apparently good for throwing and practical matters, according to the trainer at the station.

She grabbed another handful of knives and began throwing at all of the other targets. Ever since the morning she had been glued to all of the weapon stations; practicing her throwing arm and practicing actually throwing people to the ground thanks to the wrestling station. However, as she kept her eyes peeled on the tall boy from her district, it appeared that he had taken a much more passive route and had stuck to finger-painting himself the colour of tree bark.

His naivety made her laugh. They were in the Hunger Games, not the Camping Games. The stations that advertised “survival skills” wouldn’t do him any good in the arena if he couldn’t even wield a weapon to protect himself. It seemed completely pointless to her.

Gripping her knife tighter she imagined his face on one of the dummies. With his expression that he wore to appear more superior and his cruel mouth that spouted everything that had enraged her, she threw the knife with as much force as she could.

The sound of the impact was unbelievable. All of the tributes turned to face her, eyeing her with looks of confusion, shock and disbelief. How could a girl from district six, a place known for transportation, throw a knife hard enough so that it was hilt deep in the skull or the target? Even that question evaded her. The only thing she knew for sure was that when the Games began she would not be merciful on anyone. Especially the tall boy who gaped at her with his mouth wide open and paint staining his fingertips.

-/-/-/-

“How was training dear?” The district three asked her as she carefully chewed on a piece of cake. It was so odd how someone so abstract and different to Nicole could act like such a motherly figure for even a second. The dear was just the cherry on top of the concerned paternal act.

“It was fine,” Nicole responded absentmindedly as picked at the vegetables on her plate.

“I heard the two of you didn’t exactly make any acquaintances,” she said while sipping on her cider. “With tributes like you two, having friends is a must.”

Nicole’s lips pursed into a thin line. “I believe the correct term is allies. Not friends.”

“Same difference,” their shrugged off as her lips pursed in a corresponding line. “Do you two plan on making any allies then?”

Nicole directed her gaze over to Minhyuk who was too preoccupied with stuffing his face with food before the end of the world. Or at least the end of his world. “What?” He asked, with a mouth full of mashed potato.

Their sighed. “What’re we going to do with you? Such a bright mind, just far too … gawky.”

Straightening his posture, Minhyuk shovelled another spoonful of mash into his mouth and pretended as if her comment didn’t make him feel as self-conscious as his actions displayed.

“Are we done here?” Nicole asked, saving Minhyuk from having to steady himself through another tyrannical rant from their about his poor table manners. With her plate clear save for a single tree of broccoli her eyes pleaded to be dismissed from the table.

“Not yet sweetie. Eat your vegetables,” their smiled. Nicole swore that she had heard the woman whisper under her breath, I’ve always wanted to say that.

Scoffing, Nicole plucked the last piece of vegetable from her plate and forked it into in a bored fashion. Making a show of dropping her fork with a loud clatter she left the table and was only halfway to her room when she was interrupted once again.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth sweetie.”

It was the first time Nicole had ever felt extreme rage since arriving in the Capitol. To hear those words echoing in the overly expensive room; to see her wearing her bizarre golden wig. It all just infuriated her. It was not home, and she would never belong to it.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” she muttered with her back still turned to them at the table.

“Well I am in charge of taking care of you so you’ll do as I say.”

“Yes, of course, take care of me by preparing me for my execution. How riveting,” Nicole replied snarkily. She had never been an incredibly sassy child but all of her built up anger and frustration had somehow metastasised into this fire-breathing beast within her who just wouldn’t relent. Not yet.

“No, I’m taking care of you by making sure you make the right decisions. Don’t talk back to me young lady.”

With a final glance behind her Nicole did her best to appear as glacially cold as she felt on the inside. She was subzero. “Then don’t try and be my mother. I’ve already had enough of all you Capitol people trying to be something you’re obviously not. Do us all a favour and stop pretending like you care about us.” She stormed away – every slow, deliberate step was enough to further her argument.

She knew that Minhyuk would chastise her for her puerile actions the next morning, but for the moment she just wanted to feel as if she had won their battle. To feel that she had won something, even though it was insignificant, was enough to lighten her dampened spirits. She needed to at least know the feeling of victory before she would lose the most important war of her life.