There's Nothing More Important than Family, chapter 6

I wake up from a nightmare, where the girl from District 4 was slowly slicing Nathan, Addalie and Mark into tiny pieces, and she was telling me I was next. Then I see my mother’s face saying, ‘One of you has to come home’ in a scary, echoing voice.

When I open my eyes, Nathan is looking at me with a concerned expression. “Are you alright?” he asks me. “You were crying and screaming and thrashing around. I didn’t know if you were asleep or awake.”

I wipe the tears from my eyes. “I’m fine. It was just a nightmare. Go back to sleep.”

“There’s no point in going back to sleep. It’s nearly morning.” He answers. I wear the same thing I did the day before. I know Kerany will probably have me change into something else for training.

I serve myself again, and eat while looking out the window. I’ve never been so high off of the ground. I can see over many of the buildings, and it looks so beautiful, but I can’t help but think that District 9 is so much prettier. The fields have a natural beauty that the Capitol could never achieve.

The sun slowly rises over the giant city as the District 9 support team slowly wakes up; first Sean, then Morjay. Olivia comes next and Palana last. Kerany is nowhere to be found.

Sean assembles us (Olivia, Nathan and I) in the sitting room. He tells us, “You’re going to training now. I want you to tell me now what you think your strengths are.”

“I’m pretty strong.” Admits Nathan. “I can work with a pitchfork, which isn’t much different from a trident, and I’m okay with a knife.”

“That’s a good place to start.” Says Olivia. “What about you, Zania?”

I have to think really hard before I answer her. “I’m observant. I notice details most people might overlook. I can light fires, and cook food.”

“Those are good skills to have.” Sean tells me. “Lots of tributes freeze to death, or die from eating something poisonous or raw.”

“Why don’t you two try to get to as many stations as you can today?” suggests Olivia. “When you know what you do good at, work on it.”

“Can you make fires quickly?” Sean asks me.

I nod. “When my mother can’t light the furnace fires, I do, and I can make a large fire in about twenty seconds.”

“Stay away from the fire-making station, then.” Sean instructs me. “Save that for your private session. Nathan, how much can you lift.”

“I do most of the heavy lifting in the fields, like carrying the hay bales and machinery.” Nathan explains. “The most I’ve ever lifted was about two hundred pounds, and I nearly crushed me.”

“Steer clear of medicine balls, but in your private session, be sure to show them how much you can lift, and how far you can throw the weights.” Sean considers something for a moment, then continues, “Try out the trident and if you think you’re pretty good with it, use that for your private session too.”

“I advise you to work with some swords, visit the edible plants station and throw a few knives.” Says Olivia. “Knot-tying and snares are always helpful, so visit that station. Zania, I want you to try the obstacle course.”

“Why?” I demand. I’ve heard about how hard the obstacle course is, and I was thinking about avoiding it.

“You’re small.” She replies simply. “You look fast and agile to me. Try it during the group training. You may learn you have a secret ability.”

Suddenly Kerany flaunts in, followed by my prep team. “Zania, come with me at once. We need to get you ready for training.”

“Do we really need that much time?” I ask her. “Why isn’t Moray taking Nathan to get ready?”

“Because Nathan isn’t getting ‘The works’! You are going to look fabulous, much better than the other tributes.”

“What’s the point? It’s not like any sponsors will be there watching me.”

“No, but the gamemakers will appreciate it, and it will intimidate the other tributes.” Says Kerany angrily. Ziza and Hallie each grab one of my arms and Mara pushes me from behind, into Kerany’s room. They pile my hair elaborately on my head, interwoven with my token. Make-up is applied to my face with a steady hand. Kerany has me dress in a skin-tight black body suit and combat boots. I look like a whole other person.

Moray has dressed Nathan up too, but I notice his hair is product-free and his face is washed clean, no makeup at all. He’s wearing black track pants and a matching sleeveless shirt.

“I can see what Kerany meant.” Nathan says n mock approval. “You look like you’re from District 1! Very scary!”

“Shut up!” I cry. “That’s the last thing I want! I just want to be myself!”

“You look fine.” He assures me. “A little fancy, maybe, but don’t worry about it.”

Sean and Olivia lead us to the elevator and press the ‘training’ button. Before it goes down to the training centre, it stops on the 8^th floor, and the tributes from District 8 get on the elevator with their mentors. Sean nudges me, and I remember he said about trying to get an alliance with them. I smile broadly, in a friendly way, and the girl smiles back. She’s pale and freckled, with tangled red hair. The boy, however, frowns suspiciously. We’re on the training level in an instant. Olivia and Sean send us through a large, metal door, and into the training centre. They leave us there.

The training centre is humungous. I can see targets for bows and knives, and dummies used for swords, tridents and other blunt weapons. There’s a pile of rope in one station, used for practicing knots and snares. I see a computer where you can try to choose the edible plant amidst the poisonous ones on a simulated game. A trainer is teaching hand-to-hand combat and another is teaching camouflage.

A burly trainer is standing in the middle of the room. He’s wearing sunglasses, even though we’re indoors. The other tributes are assembled around him, so Nathan and I join them. “Now that we’re all here, I can begin.” He growls. “My name is Hassan, and my job is to whip you twenty-four into shape. When I’m through with you, you will all be competitors in that arena. Some of you think you already know all of this, that you’re too good for the rest of us. I say you should probably check your survival skills, which may be lacking. Don’t underestimate he camouflage, knot-tying and edible plat stations. These skills may save you once in the arena. You are forbidden from fighting with each other; save that for the Games, when you can fight all you want. If you want someone to help you practice, we have trainers on hand, although today we are missing a couple. They will be back tomorrow, and I’m sure you can wait until then.” Hassan dismisses us. Addalie and Mark invite me and Nathan into a huddle.

“I’m supposed to skip weights and Zania isn’t allowed to go to fire-building.” Nathan whispers. “You two?”

“Our mentors told us to avoid spears.” Addalie responds. “They’re a little like cattle-prods, and we both are pretty good with those.”

“Why don’t we all go to different stations?” I suggest. “That way, if we can’t visit all of the stations, someone in the alliance will have been to that station.”

“That’s not actually a bad idea.” Says Mark approvingly. “Any stations you guys want to do first?”

“I want to try out a trident.” Nathan replies.

“I’d like to work on my hand-to-hand combat.” Smiles Addalie.

“I’ll try the obstacle course.” I say.

“And I’ll go to camouflage.” Mark finishes. We all break away from our huddle and head to our designated stations.

 There aren’t many other tributes in line for the obstacle course; the boy from 5, the girl from 7 and both from 12 are there. Directly in front of me is the girl I remember being from District 11. She has dark skin and her sleek, black hair had been chopped into a bob. District 11 was on the list of districts Sean told me to try to add to the alliance, so I watch her when it is her turn. The first obstacle is monkey bars, and she takes them three at a time. She jumps the gap that we are supposed to cross by using a tightrope. When she gets to the rope ladder, she scrambles up it like a spider. She is done the giant course in two minutes. I clumsily go through the obstacle course after her, but anyone would look bad at it if they went after the girl from District 11.

I look around, and find her at the knot-tying station. Without thinking, I go there too.

We go to two more stations (camouflage and hand-to-hand combat) before she notices me. I sit beside her at the edible plants station, and she stares at me curiously. “Why are you following me?” she asks quietly.

I stutter. “I-I, you were just so good on the obstacle course, I wanted see what else you could do.”

The girl cocks her head to the side. “You’re Zania. From District 9.” It is a statement, not a question.

“Yes.” I answer her. “How did you know?”

“I have an eidetic memory.” She says. “I remember everyone. I remember everything. I remember you from the Reaping reruns.”

I consider that for a minute, and I decide it sounds pretty cool. “What’s your name?” I ask her.

“Breah.”