The Tribute and the Victor

Chapter 5

I walked into the lift to take me down to the training centre alone, I wasn't expecting Axe to even turn up to training but to my surprise, just as the door was closing I saw his big hands prise it open and walk in casually as if it was nothing. He looked down at me and smirked a little "what?" I said confused at the fact that he was actually interacting with me. "Nothing" he said sarcastically as he looked up at the lift doors slowly closing. When we got down to the training centre I was shocked to see how big some of the other tributes were, some were nearly as big as Axe! Having Axe with me made me feel a little less threatened but I knew that it wouldn't help in the arena when everyone was out to kill me. Maybe even Axe himself, I still didn't trust him. We were all called over to the middle of the training centre by a woman named Atala who explained our training schedule and told us that we were free to travel from area to area as we pleased. I went straight over to the spear station, at first I was a little rusty and couldn't quite throw the spear hard enough to hit the target but after a couple of minutes i eventually got the hang of it. I learned how to throw spears at a young age because back in district 7, when everyone went into the forests to cut down the trees, many bears would venture through, getting closer and closer to us. This meant that we would have to throw spears at them to scare them off. After the spears, I traveled down to the knife station. As I went to pick up a small throwing knife, a hand quickly snatched it away from my grasp. When I looked up I saw a tall muscular boy with dark wavy hair and pale skin, he was about the same size as Axe and looked extremely powerful, his training suit had the number one on it, he was a career from district 1. "Chalice!" He called the girl from district one over to us. She came over immediately and stood by his side with her arms folded. She looked pretty similar to him, tall and muscular. They both looked around 18 but her hair was slightly lighter and straighter than his. "It's the tree girl from district 7" he sneered. "Leave her alone Hemlock, we'll get her in the arena" she laughed. He glared at me as he threw the knife and hit the target without looking. "Yeah she'll get it soon enough" he smiled and with that, they were gone. Axe came up to me and gave me a look as if to ask if they had said anything to me but I just rolled my eyes and brushed it off as if it was nothing. That evening I sat in my room and skipped my meal. I was too busy planning my strategy in the arena. I now knew exactly what I was up against and just how hard it would be to even make it to the cornucopia without getting slaughtered by the careers. Just then I heard a knock at my door. "Go away I'm getting changed" I lied. I didn't feel like visitors at that moment. But to my surprise the door still opened and Caleb walked through. "Your a bad liar you know Darcy" he grinned. I scowled at him as he sat down beside me. "Axe told me you looked like you were having some trouble with the tributes from district one. "I can't believe he actually spoke to you" I said, trying not to talk about my encounter with the careers. "Yeah well it took a lot of pushing but I got it out of him eventually" he smiled. I said nothing and just looked over at the enormous window that looked out into the capitol. "So what happened?" He questioned. "Nothing, just careers being careers" I sighed. "Don't let them get to you, just remember your a lot smarter than them" he half joked. Just then I felt a pang in my chest. I really liked Caleb. I know it was foolish to think, but it was true. Just then I felt his arms wrap around me again. "I'm going to make sure you get out of that arena" he whispered. "I know you will" I whispered back as he kissed me lightly on my head.

***Authors Note***

You can't have Cinder without Ash!;) Chace Crawford will be playing Ash! Although i did picture him with blond hair i still think that Chace looks a lot like Ash sooo yeah! I've left a photo of him at the side!:)