The 41st Annual Hunger Games

Chapter One

        When Lana Newson awoke that cool May morning, it was to the sound of her younger brother panting in his sleep. She sleepily sat up and tossed a pillow into the general direction of Mathew's bed. 
        "Shut up!" she called. Mathew simply groaned in responce.
        "It was the Hunger Games again," he said from under the pillow. 
        "I don't care what it was. Just let me sleep."
        Lana laid back down, suddenly unable to sleep. "I'll be back later," she said as she slipped out of her bed and threw a hoodie on over her pajamas. She walked down the cobblestone street, enjoying the silence of her usually crowded city.
        It wasn't a long walk to the training center, and it was one Lana had taken many times. Being from District 2, Lana and her peers were expected to spend much of their childhood training for the Games. For most, the training is just a form of fun, it is never worth anything. But for two excelling graduates each year, the training can be the difference between life and death. 
        Lana was one of those excelling individuals. She had flown through her training classes, at times practicing with the kids a couple of years older than her. It was clear by the time that she was sixteen, that she would be the face of District 2 when the 41st Annual Hunger Games rolled around.
        The Hunger Games were a way of life around District Two. Though in the beginning, the annual battle to the death was just a horrible punishment, like it was in the other districts, in Two, it evolved to be quite a sport. As the citizens of District Two were far richer than those from, say, Twelve, they began to spend their extra money on training for the Games, which brought in more money for the schools. 
        Lana was lucky. Just two years before she began training, when she was six, the training school upgraded to Capitol grade equiptment. Now, the weapons that the new students grow up with could be the same exact weapons that save their life. 
        Lana looked up and realized that she had already reached the center. She jogged to the equiptment room, excited for the rush that came when her weapon was gripped in her hand. She typed in the passcode, a secret only given to the elite trainees, and headed directly to the back of the room, where the axes lay. Lana picked up the axe in the center of the botom shelf, her axe. Of course, she had practiced with most other options available on the stand in front of her, but this one was by far her favorite. Heavier than most, it would cause deeper wounds. Faster than most, it would kill on impact nine times out of ten. She also grabbed several others, just to make sure she had enough to throw at the targets. 
        She carried her four axes into the training room, eager to start. She wouldn't get as much time to train today, but she was out here early to make up for it.
        When she entered the room, she was surprised to find the other eighteen year old prodigy, Chase Young, already launching spears at a target. Chase was extremally skilled. He could throw spears farther than his tutor by age eleven. He could defeat anyone else in the district, no competition. Except Lana.
        "Hey," Chase said, not faltering in his practice.
        "Hi," Lana replied, walking over to a target of her own.
        "So, it's the big day!" Chase said, obviously trying to hold in his excitement.
        "Yeah. The Reaping," Lana replied, much calmer. Lana begins, launching her first axe at the target.
        Today would be the drawing for the Hunger Games, the day that one male and female tribute for each district would be chosen randomly to participate. At least, that's the way it's supposed to go. In the richer districts with training schools, like Districts 1, 2, 4, and sometimes 3, two talented eighteen year olds (the oldest age you are allowed to compete in the Games) are chosen by the training instructors and tutors to represent their district in the Games. This year, Chase and Lana would be going.
        "Nervous?" Chase asked while retriving his spears from the target.
      "Excited!" Lana corrected him. She propelled her third axe at the target; it hit the bullseye, like the other two. She jogged up to the target to retrieve the weapons; she wanted to save her favorite for later training.
        Lana set her axes down on the floor by the target and walked over to the other side of the room, where the giant obstacle course sat. The training for the Games didn't focus on weapons entirely; that would be stupid. All key elements of the Hunger Games were featured in the training school, including agility, hunting, and survival. Lana climbed onto the obstacle course, one of her favorite activities. It tested her speed and agility, and based on the number of times Lana had done it, she was pretty quick. 
        She counted from three in her head, then sped off of the starting point, causing the timer to start automatically. Lana expertly weaved past the first obstacle, moving plastic trees. It sounds easy, but they were packed tightly together, moreso than trees a live forest would feature. And, it hurt to run into them.
        After the first obstacle, the trees, Lana jumped onto the balance beam. This, as well, seemed a simple task, but the beam was slim, significantly smaller than Lana's shoes. Sometimes, the beams moved back and forth. Luckily, today, no one had set them on. 
        After the beams, the course got trickier. You had to climb up a wall assisted by a rope -- this was the easy part. After the wall, however, were tiny circular wooden platforms dangling from the cealing. If you fell, there was a net to catch you, but most of the time, you still hit the floor. Lana took it slow; this portion of the course was too often her downfall, but she successfully manuvered across the platforms. After the platforms, Lana sped down a metal slide to get herself back to ground level and sprinted past the finish line. She looked at the timer, which read 2:26. Not too shabby, but far from her best work.
        "How'd ya do?" Chase called from the other side of the room, still throwing spears. He rarely focused on survival skills. Lana figured that would be his downfall. 
        "Okay. Two Twenty-Six," Lana replied.
        "God, Lana. You're damn good at that. I can never get under three minutes!" Chase said.
        "Well, maybe, if you practiced more..." Lana began. She was always bothering him about never leaving weapons training. 
        "Aw, come on," he said, but knew that she was joking.
        Lana walked over to the targets and picked up her axes. Now that she had warmed up, she could begin the real training. She took her axes to the corner of the room, where the moving targets and robots were controlled. The robots were invented a few years back. They were used in the training schools primarily, but sometimes in the Capitol training before the Games. They simulated the fighting of a rival tribute. You can set the difficulty level, and choose its weapon. This was the most efficient way of training, and Lana loved it. She loved the rush she got when her axes impaled themselves in the bodies of the robots, or when she hacked off their limbs. She did not particularly enjoy fighting humans, but there was an undeniable surge of power when the robots, or her sparring partners, fell to the ground.
        She turned on three robots. One was equipped with throwing knives, one with a bow, and one with a spear. Like Chase.
        The robots whirred to life, and began fighting instantly. The robot armed with a bow grabbed an arrow and let it fly at her, but she ducked just in time. Arrows are the hardest to defend yourself against; they're so fast and deadly. 
        She turned around just in time to see the robot with the spear swinging it like a club. She ducked and swung one of her axes at his feet, causing it to fall. She swung around again and threw an axe at the robot just as it cocked an arrow. The axe impaled itself in the robot's head, and the arrow flew towards the celing, as the robot didn't properly aim it. Out of the corner of her eye, Lana saw knives littering the floor around and behind her. She realized that the third robot has been launching knives at her the whole time. She swung her axe in the general direction of its head, but she was too late. She felt immediate pain in her stomach and looked down to see a knife had grazed past her. These robot weapons caused no real danger, but they simulated pain equal to a real weapon when you get hit. 
        Instead of backing down because of her small injury, Lana directed the rage inside of her into the axe, unstrapping her favorite axe from her back. In one fluid motion, she launched it at the robot, knocking its plastic head to the ground.
        "Nice work, Lana," she heard from the other wall.
        "Thanks," she says. "Let's see how you do!"
        Chase laughed. "Lana, we all know that I prefer practicing on targets."
       "Oh, if only that would help you in the long run," Lana began in a fake, prestigious voice mocking Chase's trainer, who had spoken these words many times to Chase. "You see, in the Arena-"
        Lana was interrupted by the sound of the traning center doors banging open. Lana's tutor, Theta Orela walked into the room. "Lana!" Theta called, her booming voice echoing throughout the large room. "I'm pleased to see that you have already begun training!"
        "Yes," Lana replied. Lana tried to surpress her lighthearted attitude; Theta thought that a Victor should be strong and straight to the point with her words. "I awoke early. I assumed that this would be my last opportunity to visit the District 2 Training Center as a trainee."
        "Good, good. Let's get to our warm-up, shall we?" Theta said. "Oh, and by the way, good morning, Chase!"
        "Hello, Theta." Lana surpressed laughter at the concice words Chase managed in Theta's precence. He was intimidated by her, and she was always getting onto people over "precision of language."
        Lana began her warmup, which had been drilled into her head with years under Theta's watchful eyes. The warmup involved two laps around the Training Room, thirty pushups, twenty five situps, and five axes thrown at the target. Theta may have seemed like a little much, but she was part of the reason Lana was so skilled.