The 65th Hunger Games - EDITING

Chapter thirteen

"Everyone is talking about you in the Capitol! Everyone!" says Ionel in an excited voice.

"Why is there so much attention on me?"

"You're the handsome boy from district four! Sponsors are already lining up, it's so, so fun! Imagine after the interview, you're going to receive so many gifts in the arena!"

Ionel seems to be discouraged by my lack of enthusiasm, but I don't really care. I push away my plate still full of eggs, bacon and fruits under Mags' concerned look.

"You're not hungry Finnick?" she asks politely.

"Not really, not today."

She nods and goes back to her own plate without asking further questions. I know it's a good thing that I have many potential sponsors, but I can't bring myself to be happy about it. What if my allies got none because of that? If I'm going to die, I want one of them to win and they can't do that without sponsors.

"Good morning." says Viviana with a sad voice when she enters the room.

"Good morning! Did I tell you about Finnick's sponsors? He has so many it's hard to count them! He's popular with the ladies and the gentlemen!"

"Good for him." she replies, her eyes looking at the floor.

"Okay, that's enough. We're going to be late, let's go."

We walk to the elevator together and as soon as the doors close on Ionel's agape and offended facial expression, I turn around to face Viviana.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to share the gifts with you so you can enjoy them too. We're a team."

She nods and smiles politely, but I know she's not convinced. I expressed many times my will to live and to win these games which only means that she'll die. She knows I'll do anything to win and go back home and see my parents again. When the doors open again, we hurry out of the elevator to meet with our three allies that are already waiting for us. We listen to the head instructor's words for the last time. Once the speech is over, they follow me to the knot station. It was a last minute decision that I took on my way here, but I think it's the best thing I can offer them.

"I know it looks like a useless skill, but trust me, it can save your life. You can build nets to catch some fish, make a snare to catch small animals and a bigger version of what I'm going to show you could certainly help you catch a human."

They make a circle around me as I show them some basic knots to tie a few pieces of vines together to make a rope. I make sure to fasten them loosely so it's not too strong and I keep telling them to do the opposite and use more vines in the arena.

"Once you have a rope, you can basically do anything."

I then proceed to show them how to make a Poacher's Knot to make snare, knowing too well that it won't hold because of the fragile rope I use. Once they're all able to reproduce it, I show them how to make a Noose, a Butterfly Loop, the Sheet Bend knot, a Harness Bend and finally, a Netting knot. It took them a little over two hours to master them, which is a lot of time, but I don't think it's wasted time. We still have four hours in front of us to learn Viviana's skill. To my surprise, she leads us to the medical station. I should've thought about it, she's the one that used to take care of her mother with the help of the doctors while her father was working. We spend almost the rest of the time learning how to treat different kinds of injuries from an open wound, to a bad burn to a fracture. Thirty minutes before the end of the time allowed for training, we decide to stop and go over our strategy once more.

"So, Cedar and I are going to run to the Cornucopia and grab as much things as possible before running away. Meanwhile, you three are going to grab backpacks while running in the direction where the tail of the cornucopia points. If we don't come back or one of us is injured, we can't wait."

I look into their eyes, only to find the emptiness that the fear brought.

"Does someone have anything against that plan?" asks Cedar.

No one moves or say anything.

"Well I guess that settles it. Now, what about the personal evaluations? It's clear we can't show off our skills or they could be taken away from us, but we can't allow ourselves to get a bad score otherwise we're not going to have any sponsors." says Anthos after a few minutes.

"Well Finnick could throw some tridents at the mannequins as we already know there won't be any spears or similar weapons because of the careers and they can't take away something that is already not there. Plus, according to our escort, he has way more than enough sponsors ready to give him a lot of money."

All eyes are on me as I feel the pressure growing on me. The only person who can show a skill good enough to please the high society members and the game makers without risking anything is me. If I fail this task, we may lose a lot of sponsors. I'm their only shot at this.

***

We're all sitting on benches,divided by districts. Since I'm from district four and I'm a boy, I'll goseventh, just before Viviana. A quick look on the clock over my head informs methat it's now three in the afternoon, which means that we've been here foralmost an hour and only three people went inside. My eyes follow the secondhand as it runs around the clock a few times, completely loosing track of time.Before I know it, my name is called. I slowly get up and walk towards the door.