The Game Plan (a Hunger Games Fanfic)

Chapter 5.

Blue flames spread all up my body and up Aylor's. I looked at him and smiled. He grabbed my hand and held it up along with his. The crowd went even more ballistic. I looked up and saw the tributes from 12 in the banner. They were covered in red flames. And from what I had heard, red and blue flames were more dangerous than orange flames.

When we pulled into the circle square, our chariot stopped. I looked up at the balcony and saw the President standing there. President Bellarose Snow, granddaughter of President Coriolanus Snow. She became president after President Paylor's untimely death 24 years ago. Snow started the Hunger Games again. She's the reason I'm here.

"Welcome. Tributes. We welcome you! To the 99th Hunger Games! And, may the odds be ever in your favor." Our chariot pulled away. I glared at the President and she looked at me and only smiled.

When I got back to my room, I took off my outfit, rubbed my makeup off best I could, put on a nightgown, and got in bed. I didn't hesitate to fall asleep.

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door. I walked over to the door, opened it, and saw Ginnie standing there, holding a notepad and a pen. I let her come in and we both sat on my bed.

How old are you? I wrote.

I'm 19. You are 12, right? She wrote. I grabbed the pen and wrote 'yes' on the paper. She nodded. We kept this up for about an hour, asking each other questions about each other. By the time the hour was over, Ginnie and I basically knew everything about each other.

What is your favorite color?

Green. What about you?

Mine is blue.

Then, Ginnie took one look at the clock and darted out. I knew that she couldn't be talking (or writing) to or with me, so I didn't follow her. I walked over to my closet and picked out a black shirt with blue stripes on the side. It had a '7' on the shoulder and across the back, it said 'WILLOWS'. So I slid it on along with a pair of black leggings and put on my leather boots. Then, I brushed through my hair and re-pulled it up into a French braid. I ran down to the kitchen.

When I got down to the kitchen, Aylor was talking to Sunny. I walked over to them and sat down beside Sunny.

"Guys. Today is the day you show off your skills to the other tributes." Sunny said, looking right at me. "Try everything and if you're good at something, that's what you'll need to work on."

I nodded. "What if we don't find something we're good at?" I asked, getting worried. Sunny smiled and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. You just have to figure out which is which."

When we got to the Training Center, all the tributes were surrounded around a woman. She started talking when Aylor and I joined the bunch.

"In two weeks, 25 of you will be dead. One of you will be alive, who that is will depend on how well you pay attention these next four days. Particularly to what I'm about to say. First of all, no fighting with the other tributes; you'll have plenty of time for that in the arena. You'll have four compulsory exercises, the rest will be individual training. My advice is, don't ignore the survival skills. Everyone of you will probably want to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes. 10 percent die from infection, 20 percent from dehydration, and exposure kills like a knife."

When the woman was done talking, I went to the knife throwing station. I grabbed a few knifes, looked at my target, and threw one. It hit just barely from the center and I smiled. I threw another one and it hit in the center. I grabbed a few more knives and threw them, each one hitting the target dead center.