THE 31st HUNGER GAMES

Chapter 4

Backerly gasps for breath desperately and tries to fend me off. I am too strong. He whispers into my ear, "I am helping you!"

I let him go warily, unsure of whether to believe him. I look around. Alice has left the room. What the hell is going on?

I turn to Backerly and snarl, "you owe me an explanation."

Backerly pulls out a knife and says, "Don't mess with me. I know what I'm doing, and I'm helping you. I'm the mentor, I do my best. Now get out."

I go to my room and slam the door. I can't deal with all this bullshit. I decide temporarily that I shall just switch to my career tribute mindset and start thinking about the other tributes.

The tributes from one look strong. The boy is massive. Bigger muscles than me. He'll be a hard kill. The girl is average but she looks extremely vicious. She'll put up a good fight but I think i can kill her. The boy from two is smaller than me but having watched the reapings, he's a volunteer and people are afraid of him. He might be a hard battle. The girl from two is tall and sturdy. She'll be a hard kill too. The ones from four are both thirteen. They seem harmless and will be easy kills. I bet they won't be part of the career pack.

I think about my training strategy. I don't trust Backerly anymore. I need to have my own plans. Do I want to show off? Because if I do, i think the careers will want me on their team. Part of me wants to join them, they'll offer good protection, until they turn on me. If I'm alone, I'm unprotected but I'm strong.

I decide not to show off and be alone in th arena. I don't want to be stabbed in the back by the careers in the end. I know can survive alone. I'm strong. I'm trained. I'm not going to ally with anyone.

Tomorrow is the next day of training and I want to be well rested. I want to learn many survival skills. I've hunted so my survival skills are good, but then again, there are many things I have yet to learn.

<<the next morning>>

I wake up, and get ready for training. I wear a black shirt and black pants. I go to the dining hall, ignore everyone, grab lots of food and go to my room to eat. When I'm done, i walk to the elevator. I decide I'm going down alone. I don't want to be with Backerly or Alice. Just as I'm entering the lift, Backerly and Alice enter together. They talk to each other like old friends. I give both of them a cold stare. The whole elevator ride, they tell jokes to each other and behave as if I'm not their. I feel like strangling Backerly.

We're at the training centre. We're given a short briefing then dismissed to go to any station we like.

I go to the Snares station. The boy from district 6 is there too. He's eighteen and looks pretty strong. He sets a perfect snare within 5 minutes and the trainer is highly impressed. I take thirty minutes to set a near-perfect snare. I hunt, but hardly use snares. The trainer helps me along again and my skills significantly improve. Suddenly, the boy from district 6 taps my shoulder and says, "I'm Patrick. Do you want to be allies? I'm eighteen and I'm quite strong. You remind me of my younger brother." A fond look appears on his face. That look makes me trust him. But I don't know if I really want an ally. So I shrug and say, "I'll think about it and let you know." I already know, in my heart, that I want him as an ally.

I go to the fire starting station. I learn to start a fire using no matches. It's easy and I learn quickly. The district eight girl, sixteen, quietly learns beside me. She seems weak. I'll leave this kill to the careers.

The whole time I ignore Alice. Until it's dinner time. That's when she says something to me, "I have a family I want to go home to. I don't expect you to understand, considering that your family is horrible."

Before I can control myself, I slap her across the face.

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