The Incoming Storm: The Tale of the 325th Hunger Games

Chapter 7

 With how anxious I am, I am surprised at how quickly and deeply I sleep. I open my eyes to see the sky streaked with orange to the sound of chimes I set for the morning. I roll out of bed with a stomach ache, my brain rushes from what awaits today. Of course, no one will die until Monday, but this is my first time to meet the other tributes and possibly set up alliances, and also scope out my competition.

I shower and put on the blue training outfit delivered to my room in the night. From what I understand, long ago the outfits were made by the stylists, but after a particularly bad fight between tributes, the outfits were standardized and all tributes wear the same thing. Once I'm dressed I head down to the dining room.

Quin and Maizer are already there and greet me. A little while later, Bran joins us at the table. Before the food is served they split us up, and talk privately. Quin leads me to the living room, while the boys stay behind in the dining room.

"Alright, tell me what you got," Quin says.

"Well, I'm a thresher back home, so I'm good with a sickle and scythe. I also haul so I've gotten pretty strong," I say. It's not much, and plenty of threshers have gone into the games and lost, so I'm not sure what I was thinking.

"Any other skills?"

"I guess I can cook," I say, not sure how that fits in.

"Good, meals will be hard to come by, being able to make something you can choke down will help. Now, how do you feel about being an ally with Bran?"

I never considered it to be honest, most of the time district partners are friendly but once the games begin they rarely stay together. "I'm fine with it," I say.

"Okay, if you two agree we can coach you together, if not we'll keep it individual."

"That works," I respond.

"My last question is: why?"

"Why?"

"Why did you volunteer?"

I feel the constraints of the Capitol curling in around me. Is stupidity a valid answer? I take a deep breath, "I'm strong, I thresh and haul back home. I am also smart, I get all high grades in school. Plus I'm an orphan."

"I can work with that," Quin says, "We will work on that storyline to give you an angle during the gala and interviews."

After talking, we head back to the dining room where breakfast is set up. There are containers of cereal, pitchers of milk, orange juice, and water, and kettles with tea and coffee. There is a platter in the center of the table with a large ham, and side platters with eggs full of vegetables and potatoes. A basket sits at the very end of the table and is full of rolls with packets of butter and jelly. Quin and Maizer tell us to get started and eat as much as we can since we will have an exhausting day ahead. They leave for a moment to discuss strategy and return just after we have dug in.

"Alright, you agreed to at least train together, so we are going to mentor you together," Quin says.

"As you know, you have 3 days of training, the first two are full days and the third is a half-day of training and your private showing," Maizer explains, "Today, both of you must focus on survival; climbing, fire starting, edible plants, shelter, finding water, and even camouflage is you have time."

"Be aware too, many of these tributes are going to try to show off. Look for their weak points, a lot of times the careers will overlook simple survival techniques," Quin says. That's true, in Maizer's game he played as a career. At one point a career tried to start a fire, snapped the twig, and cut themself. It was only a minor cut, but four days later the other careers had to kill him because the wound was infected and rotting.

"Save what you are truly good at until your private show, neither of you needs to touch the weight lifting or scythes until it is your turn with the gamemakers. You are already good at them anyway, these days you need to get used to the wild," Maizer says.

"I know it's hard, but try to find at least two allies. They don't need to be full-on alliances, but people to know and be friendly with. In the arena, a chance encounter with one of these people could be the difference between life and death," Quin says.

"Most importantly, do not look weak. This year is full of tributes who elected to be here, they have reasons to be here and they will have skills they think they can use to win. If you do something reckless, you will instantly put a target on your head," Maizer finishes.

They take a seat and also begin eating.

"Well, what do you want to start with?" Bran asks, turning to me.

"I dunno, fire seems like it's important," I say, thinking about the games a little back when two tributes froze to death in the night.

"That sounds good," Bran agrees and we both continue eating our breakfast.

About half an hour before we are due at the training center, Clio arrives. She talks about our appearance in the parade last night and how excited everyone is. Apparently, people loved the "elegant simplicity" of our costumes. Pleasantly surprised, I finish off a cup of coffee. I added a lot of extra sugar to it, both sugar and coffee are rare in District 9, although I'm not sure how I actually like the stuff.

About ten minutes before it is time for training, we prepare. Clio helps me flatten out a wrinkle in my outfit and then we head to the elevator. We take the elevator all the way down and passed the lobby to the training center, a massive domed complex beneath the District Plaza. When we arrive, Clio gently pushes us into the lobby where the head trainer awaits.