Survivor

Chapter 3: Training with your enemies

Heather hated this. Waking up in a bed that wasn't hers. Having no way of communicating with her family. Being treated like a lifeless doll who people dressed up to their desires. But all this was soon forgotten when she came out of her room and sniffed the alluring smell of breakfast. Besides all that other stuff she was thinking about, the people of the Capitol really knew how to treat their guests.

Dinner last night was okay. Haymitch gave them thump-ups for not flunking things up. It looked like he also got in the claws of those monsters in the Remake Centre because he appeared much cleaner than he did on the train. Feeling sorry for him, Heather patted him on the shoulders and shared some of her pastries with him. Yeah, he didn't appreciate that.

Dressed in tight pants and a short-sleeved tunic, Heather skipped to the dining table and filled her plate with food. Haymitch was the only one up.

"Morning!" Heather said in a chirpy voice.

Haymitch grumbled at her then halfway through the breakfast he told her, "Blaze said that he would like to be trained separately."

She stopped chewing midway. "Oh. Well, I guess it was bound to happen."

"Before the others show up, I have a question for you. Do you have skills that you can use in the arena?"

"I can throw knives and wrestle. I know the basic skills of hunting and archery. I'm also an expert when it comes to plants and herbs," Heather listed.

"Wrestle?" Haymitch gave a disbelieving look.

"I can demonstrate if you want," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, thank you. But, here's what you're going to do, honeybee. When you're in the training centre, I want you to spend time learning about something you don't know. Save those skills of yours until your private session with the Gamemakers," He explained to her.

"You got it, boss," Heather grinned. She also had to admit that Haymitch's advice was good. She always suspected that he was smart but right now her suspicion had been proven right.

"And stop doing that," he complained.

"Doing what? Annoying you? But you're the only one that I can annoy without having any consequences for doing so," she whined then gave him a teasing smile. "But seriously, though, thank you. And I'm sorry for not feeling sorry when I dumped your drink. I still don't"

Haymitch rolled his eyes at her and turned back to his spirits. Heather swore she saw him slightly curled his lips up into a smile. Maybe the man wasn't that bad after all.

Moving forward when it's ten, Heather joined Blaze and Nola in the elevator. After a few silent seconds, the doors opened revealing a huge gymnasium that contained different kinds of weapons and several obstacle courses. Some of the other tributes are already there in a circle, surrounding a scary strong woman.

Trainers approached Blaze and Heather to put their district numbers on their backs. The pair then add themselves to the circle and discover that the woman is Atala, the head trainer. It's then that Heather realizes something. While she won't be showing any of her skills, the Careers will. This would be a great opportunity to find out about their weaknesses. Right now, they're all present. Babyface and Pretty boy from District 1, Uptight girl and Arrogant boy from District 2, along with Hudson and Blue from District 4. Their names suited them so it was easy to remember it.

Arrogant boy smirked at Heather when she sat next to him. He was clearly expecting her to squirm in fear and move away from him, but obviously, she couldn't give him that satisfaction. Instead, she smirked back at him and gave him a wink for good measurements. His eyes widened in shock and Heather was having a hard time trying not to laugh at him.