PREDATOR | THE HUNGER GAMES

EASY VICTORY

"You have one week until twenty three of you are dead."

Lara nudged Atlas to get him to stop shaking his leg nervously. The speech their head trainer was giving was not encouraging. The both of them, especially Atlas, had already been apprehensive about publicly training. But nevertheless, they hung on to her every word.

"From now until your time in the arena, you must learn the skills you deem necessary for survival," she informed, "Don't dismiss the survival skills, as many of you may die from exposure, hunger, dehydration, or poison."

Lara crossed her arms and glanced at the big screen on the far left wall. It seemed to hold a giant grid of miscellaneous plants, which she assumed was for identifying poisonous ones.

"The only rule is no fighting amongst the other tributes-there will be plenty of time for that later. You may begin."

The other tributes scattered. The careers immediately went for the weapons training area. The rest scurried to the survival section to learn how to make a fire, set traps, and identify berries.

She turned to her partner, "We need to scope out the others at the same time. I'll take the survival section first then we'll switch in a bit."

He nodded, timid to head towards the careers. But she was gone before he could protest.

Lara casually strolled past all the training exercises. There was a couple people learning to make fires, impatiently rubbing at a stick. A pair was at the screen grid of plants. She almost joined them, but then she saw the golden-haired girl she'd been intrigued by. She was alone in a fake forest setting, delicately wrapping wire around the tree.

Lara glanced around before making her way over. As she stepped next to her, the girl's eyes snapped up in defense.

"What are you making?" Lara asked, gesturing to the contraption.

The girl glanced around at her work and continued to do her own thing. She completely ignored Lara, even as she sat down next to her.

"Okay then...I'm Lara Foraye, District 9."

She didn't offer her hand to shake because she had a feeling the gesture would've been declined anyway.

The girl simply scoffed in annoyance, "Go away. I don't want an ally."

"Neither do I."

Her brows crinkled in confusion.

"I was just curious."

She stood up and prepared to leave but the girl quickly crawled up to her feet and stopped her, "Della!"

Lara turned back around.

"I'm Della Cale," she repeated, "District 11."

She gave the slightest of nods and then squatted back down to continue her work. Lara took that as an invitation and sat next to her once more. She noticed that the work was precise, yet disorganized.

"What's it supposed to be?" she questioned. Della briefly glanced up, but her cheeks blushed with embarrassment.

"A trap."

Lara looked at the shoddy craftsmanship. She'd made a few animal traps in her day; she wasn't an expert of anything, but even she knew that this wouldn't even catch a worm.

She began to laugh lightly, a mistake in her part. Della became indignant, preparing to yell at her to get out but Lara held her hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," she smiled, "It's just that this trap would be ineffective."

Della gestured for her to pick up the materials and do it herself, making Lara sigh as she prepared to teach her.