Into the Flames [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter 13

Everything was silver, black, or white. Everything amazed me. Half the room was full of perfectly made weapons, the other half, survival equipment. I wasn’t the only one staring in awe as we all waited for the last couple tributes to file in. The head station leader waited in front of us. As the last pair of tributes meandered in, she started to talk about safety and where everything was. As soon as she released us, I ran to the spear area and examined the spears. I picked one up and lazily threw it at the target, hitting the outermost ring. “Need help Waterlily?” I turned to see a young woman, the station leader.

“No, I know how.” She gave me an odd look, and turned away to help another trainer at the bow and arrow station. I watch the arrows wiz by. I thought about joining up with the archers, but I turned away and went over to survival where Willow was. She was pointing in a book of plants, identifying poisonous ones. She stood staring at one of the pictures, clearly unsure of the right answer. “That isn’t poisonous. We have those in my district. They are good to eat.”

“Whoa! You scared me! I guess I need to work on that.” Her cheeks turned pink. “Okay, that’s all of them.”

“Could you teach them to me Willow?”

Willow nodded. “Of course, they aren’t too hard to learn.” She pointed to a plant. “This is poison ivy. It can be deadly and very itchy. It’s not normally in the arena, but sometimes it is.” She kept on pointing to different plants. After we had been through about twenty, she would quiz me. Once I got a majority right, she moved onto the next twenty and quizzed me over everything she had taught me. We sat at the station for a couple hours until a big bell like sound sounded. “Dinner bell. Let’s go eat! You can sit with us again today!”

“I’m sorry Willow, I need to sit with one and two today. I promised River I would sit with them. Maybe at supper I can sit with you guys again.”

Her head drooped, “Okay”. She left the room, leaving me alone in the quiet stillness. After a couple minutes of soaking in the calmness, I quickly walked out of the room. The cafeteria was already full with eating tributes. I got my plate and sat beside River.

“Ah, district four, you decided to join us! I guess I need to introduce myself. I am Ethelreda Rosamundi, former capitol citizen, winner to be. Best of all, if you continue hanging out with non-careers, you will be my first kill.”