Deceived: The 500th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 65 - Training: Day 3

KERN BALTHAR'S P.O.V

I strapped the rope to my harness, as the instructor ordered me to do. I picked up a pair of gloves and pulled them onto my hands, thinking of home. Thinking of the gloves I would wear when lifting heavy crates.

Being smacked by the gloves Struve wore.

Struve was distancing himself from the other tributes, not really wanting to do anything but kill. The look in his eyes terrified me; twinkling and sparkling with pure hatred for everyone.

"I'm going to start the timer," the instructor said. Her fingers clicked the button on the side of her watch. I sprung up onto the tree, gripping a small but sturdy stump.

This is the climbing area. An artificial tree was set up in the training centre. The instructor has placed ten throwing knives - my preferred weapon - on the end of branches. Some were hanging, some were wedged in the branch, some were just resting on a thick branch, but my goal is to get all of them.

I hauled myself up onto a big branch, the bark digging into my hands. Thank god for the gloves.

The first knife, labelled with a number one, was hanged on a string on the tip if the branch. The branch became thinner as I quickly progressed towards the knife.

I swung under the branch, hanging by one arm. I used my free hand to yank the knife off of the branch, causing the entire tree to shake. Maybe I should be more careful.

I made quick progress to the middle of the tree again, using the stumps and thick branches to pull myself up. Arm strength is a huge advantage in the games.

I noticed the second one at the end of the branch. No, wait, two branches. It balanced on the two sticks, the blade barely resting on the wood.

I pulled myself up and balanced along the two branches. Once I could bend over and almost reach the knife, I stopped. I put all of my weight on one branch, grabbed the knife, and jumped back, breaking the first branch. I ran back along the remaining branch; it was ready to snap under my weight.

The third knife was stuck in a thick branch. The branch could've been walked along, but I had a feeling that swinging was safer. I swung on the branch, building up a steady rhythm. Once I reached the throwing knife, I tugged it out of the branch, leaving a huge cut in the tree.

I made it back to the middle in no time. I trekked onwards, or upwards, until I was level with the branch containing knife number four.

The knife swung gently as I balanced myself. The branches were becoming thinner as I progressed upwards. I dread number nine - the branch is more like a twig.

I managed to pull the knife from the end of the branch. I put it in my belt, along with the first three knives, and carried on climbing up the never ending tree.

Knife five was lodged in between two branches, the blade deep inside the thinning stick. I crawled along the two branches, not really sure on the proper technique for 'how to make sure I don't break the branch and fall to my death.'

Once I got knife five, knife six seemed like it was the easiest one. Once I reached knife seven though, things became slightly different.

The branch went upwards. I used my upper arm strength to slowly make my way up the to the top of the diagonal branch. The knife was hard to retrieve, seeing as I couldn't haul myself up in the position I was in.

For knife eight and nine, I scurried along thin branches, collecting the hanging knives. The sticks snapped under my weight, forcing me to move faster than I wanted to.