9. Warning Not Heeded

       I was wrong when I said Daniel and I would end up getting a good night’s sleep that night. I didn’t know about him, but I knew for a fact I didn’t get enough sleep. Or maybe I did, and it just didn’t feel like it. Either way, I felt grouchy as usual. I tried not to show it as I came out for breakfast. Since Johanna never got the chance to really talk to me about my progress in training last night, I knew she’d try to weed it out of me at breakfast.

            I was glad that nobody said a word during breakfast. Johanna was saving my interrogation for when I was finished eating. It was a smart thing to do.

            “So…from what Daniel told me, yesterday’s training went a little rough,” Johanna said calmly. I guess she was giving up on the angry mentor act because she knew she’d get nowhere if she acted all evil and whatnot. Already I liked this new method; I didn’t feel my rage rise. I was too tired to get mad at the moment anyway.

            Dan and I exchanged glances. I didn’t know he had told Johanna everything. He never really mentioned it last night. All I remembered him saying was that Johanna suggested that he and I talked things out.

            “It started out okay,” I lied. I tried to avoid Johanna’s piercing gaze.

            “Do you want me to tell her it instead?” Dan asked me.

            “It’s probably better you did.”

            “Yesterday wasn’t a good day for Bridget really. She was really on edge, like any little thing set her off. She almost attacked tributes while there. I tried to get her to calm down so I convinced her to do the Ropes Course.” I winced.

 Johanna noticed. “I’m guessing that didn’t go over well?” she probed.

            “Johanna,” Jade squeaked, “I think that’s enough.”

            “No, I need to know everything that’s going on with my tributes. I have every right to know,” Johanna retorted. She looked to Dan. “Go on.”

            “Bridget wanted me below her in case she fell,” he continued. “I thought she’d be fine up there so I went to the Knives station. That didn’t turn out well.” His eyes dropped to his hands. “She fell.”

            “Oh my God!” Jade gasped. She shot a look at me. “And you never told me you were hurt?”

            “I was fine by then,” I moaned, slumping against the chair. “My vision was fuzzy for a while and my back hurt, but it all went away.” Jade looked at me skeptically. “I’m not lying!”

            “Anyway,” Dan cut back in, “I was going to help her out, but one of the Career girls helped her out. So I figured she was—”

            “Wait, a Career helped her up?” Johanna asked. Dan and I both nodded. “Strange. Careers always stick together. She must be playing up the Miss Innocent act so she’ll have you right where she wants you when the time comes.”

Man, Johanna and I thought on the same brain wave.

            “That’s when our little fight happened, because I wasn’t there for her,” Dan rambled on. “For the rest of the day, we didn’t really stick together.”

            “And you guys made up last night, right?” Jade inquired.

            “You would never have thought we hadn’t talked for most of the day,” I piped.

            “So, the whole situation aside, any progress?” Johanna asked.

            “Not really,” I sighed. “I know I can’t climb anything for the life of me. I’m just going to stick to ax wielding and whatnot today. I’ll be lucky if I can perfect myself in any other skill.”

            “That’s the best thing to do at this point, because tomorrow you’re showing off for the Gamemakers.”

            Ugh, right, how could I forget about that? Having fellow tributes watch me in the Training Center was bad enough, but Gamemakers? Just knowing it would be them watching me added a lot more pressure on my shoulders, something that I really didn’t need or want.

            “We’ll manage our time wisely,” Dan assured Johanna.

            “And try not to get into anymore spats,” Jade warned us, “especially not amongst each other. The last thing you need to make is archenemies.”

            “I feel like we have them already, and the real action hasn’t even begun yet,” I mumbled.

            Before long, it was back to the Training Center. I wasn’t feeling good like always, but I knew I wasn’t going to explode. Today, I was going to attempt to keep cool and calm and hope that I didn’t get into a fight with anybody. I was peaceful by nature, but if someone pissed me off—like say, the District 1 girl—I wouldn’t hesitate to go after her. I rarely had enemies back in District 7, so not many people—not even Daniel—would expect me to lunge for somebody if they angered me. There was a force to be reckoned with inside my body, it was just rarely seen.

            We were in the middle of the pack of tributes that arrived at the Training Center. Some were already at work. To be safe, Daniel led me over to the Knives station first, where he had been when I had my fall from the Ropes Course. Just seeing the menace made my back throb, reminding me of the pain I had felt.

            The Knives station was anything but easy. I was better off throwing a hatchet, because I was used to holding one. Holding a knife was foreign to me, throwing it was even more so. I had such a bad throw that I always missed my target. I even almost hit one of the experts surveying the station. He watched me closely, as if he really thought I was trying to kill him. It wasn’t my fault I wasn’t a skilled knife thrower.

            It seemed like Dan made me stick around there forever because I wasn’t making progress. Even after the few times he helped me improve my stance, I still missed. Fortunately, I managed to get closer to my target but not quite hit the target itself. When Dan left me alone, I swear he was just showing off his skills, because he at least hit his dummies. The closest thing I got to any hit was almost hitting the expert on accident.

            “I can’t deal with this anymore,” I whined, putting the knife back in its spot. “I’m going over to the Axes station. Want to give it a go?”

            “Nah, I’ve got my own areas I want to improve,” Dan told me. I shrugged and scampered off to the Axes.

Hello, old friends, I thought as I searched for my favorite type of hatchet. I started on my usual routine. It was clear that my practice was paying off. Right now, showing my ability to nail a dummy with a hatchet seemed like the best way to go in showing off in front of the Gamemakers.

            I felt pretty wiped out when lunch was called. All the tributes herded into the cafeteria, sitting in their usual little groups. Everybody seemed to be on the quiet side today, even the Careers. Shockingly, they didn’t go boasting loudly trying to intimidate others. Maybe they weren’t getting enough sleep just like the rest of us.

            The food was good like always, but I was getting tired of it. I had no idea why. Maybe because it was so rich, and I still wasn’t used to it entirely. Daniel had adjusted better to the food than me. A few times I felt like I was going to throw it all back up, but I held back. I just let my mind wander off to different things, and eventually the feeling passed.

            “So…do you have your specialty picked out for tomorrow?” I whispered to Dan as I scratched my tray with my fork.

            “Oh, yeah, but I’m not telling you what it is,” Dan snickered.

            “Why not?” I whined. “I’ll tell you mine.”

            “Bridget, I already know yours. It’s kind of obvious, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who knows it. Mine is a surprise.”

            “When are you going to tell me?” I probed.

            “If you don’t pester me about it for the rest of the day, I’ll tell you.”

            “Promise?”

            “Promise.” Dan gave a small smile. “Did you try anything else besides the Axes station?”

            “No, and I am not trying the Ropes Course again.” I made a face. I didn’t want to go head-to-head with that tyrant ever again as long as I lived.

            “I would try the Boxing station again, maybe. You seem to be getting better at that,” he told me thoughtfully.

            “Maybe, or I might even try hand-to-hand combat. I haven’t touched that yet. Have you?” I looked at him.

            “Once or twice,” he admitted. “I’m not really fond of it considering I fight an adult. It’s difficult when you’re outmatched by someone both not your size and age.”

            “It shouldn’t matter what disadvantages you have as long as you win.” I shrugged. I looked around carefully and lowered my voice. “Did you see anybody else’s specialty?”

            “Well, we know the District Two girl—”

            “Sutton,” I corrected him. Ever since I learned her name and remembered it, I stopped calling her that. I could call everybody else that, because most of the tributes I didn’t really know. Besides, I bet the other tributes referred to Daniel and me as ‘District 7 male and female.’

            “Sutton?” Dan asked, puzzled.

            “Yeah, that’s her name,” I said smartly.

            “Oh, well, Sutton is obviously good at Archery, and maybe the District Eleven girl is as well. I saw another girl—I think she’s from District Three—looking very fishy. From what I can tell, it doesn’t look like any training stations that are here help her. She’s got something in mind, and I doubt it’s anything good for any of us.”

            “What about the Careers besides Sutton? What did you manage to gather from them?” I prodded him.

            “Well, the District One girl seems to be very stealthy and agile, dangerous for us all,” Dan mumbled. “Sutton’s counterpart looks to be very well in the strength department. He spends a lot of time everywhere, mainly the areas that require showing strength.”

            “He’s probably a bonehead,” I said. “Usually those who are that tough are cocky and stupid.”

            “But he’s a Career, so odds are he’ll last a while. The brains of the operation might be the District One male’s specialty. He may be blond, but he could have smarts.”

            “Remember that boy who hangs around the Boxing station a lot? He’s obviously a good fighter.”

            “I’ve seen him picking around other stations,” Dan informed me.

            “So he may have more than one talent.”

            “Being multitalented here is an advantage to the person but a threat to the rest.”

            “Everybody is a threat to each other.”

            Once everyone was given clearance to go back to the Training Center, that’s when everybody seemed to be scrambling. Some stations were packed more than others. Since everybody was scrambling, I tried to look like I wasn’t and headed over to the Hand-to-Hand Combat station. An assistant was there, looking like he had nothing better to do. He seemed to perk up a bit when I arrived.

            Honestly, I was better off fighting with an ax in my hand. I sucked at facing people without a weapon on me. Of course, I was fighting an assistant, so it was to be expected that I wouldn’t own him on my first try. There were so many ways he beat me: he pinned me down to the ground, he had me in a headlock—one that with a simple quick twist, he could break my neck. He once had me in a position that he could break my back. There were so many ways to kill somebody or injure them severely without using any weapons like a spear or a knife. Strength alone could deal damage.

            After a while, I began to get the hang of it. I was still going despite how my limbs cried for me to stop. There’d be no stopping if my life was on the line. I’d use up every bit of energy in me if it meant I got to live another minute more than my opponent. My assistant opponent eventually lost to me, but I got the feeling he let me win only because I looked so hopeless with my techniques. Whatever the case, I felt satisfied and fatigued.

            As the expert walked away from me, I put my hands on my hips, catching my breath, surveying everybody else. The District 11 girl was up on the Ropes Course, going through it smoothly. She didn’t look tired at all or troubled. If anything, she looked very comfortable up there, like a monkey up in a tree.

            “Alright!” roared a voice that made me snap out of my daze. My eyes set on the source of the voice: it was the District 1 male. His malicious blue eyes scanned each tribute’s face, including mine. “Who stole my knife, huh? Which one of you did it?”

            Everybody started looking around, stopping whatever they were doing. Even the District 11 girl looked confused. Was he trying to attract attention to himself?

His eyes set on me. Oh dear.

 “It was you, wasn’t it?”

            “Me?” I stammered. District 1 stomped over to me. “I don’t think so.” My voice got stronger.

            “It had to be you, or was it your little boyfriend over there?” He flicked a thumb in Daniel’s direction.

 My eyes narrowed. “Look, buddy,” I hissed, “I didn’t steal your knife, nor did my district partner. So back off.”

            “You’re lying.”

            “You heard her,” Dan piped, coming into the fray. Dan, you’re going to make things worse. I tried to gesture to him to move away, but he either ignored my gesture or didn’t see it at all. “She didn’t do it.”

            “So it was you, then?” The boy wheeled around to face Dan.

            “It wasn’t either of us.” Daniel folded him arms.

            “Give me my knife back.”

            “Are you deaf? I don’t have it.”

            The District 1 boy grabbed Dan’s arm in what looked to be a tight grip. I tensed, ready to take action.

            “Let go of him,” I snarled.

            “Are you going to let your girlfriend talk for you?” the boy sniggered. “Are you not man enough to admit you—?”

            I let out a scream as Daniel punched the District 1 male. He released Dan’s arm and staggered back. I jumped out of his way. There was a huge red mark on one of his cheeks. He shook his head and his eyes settled on Dan.

            “That’s enough, you two,” some expert called. None of them came over…yet. They were just waiting to see if the tension would die off; I had a feeling it wouldn’t. I wondered how long it’d take before the experts realized that.

            “You really shouldn’t have done that,” the boy snarled.

            He lunged for Daniel, and something in me snapped. It was my paternal instinct, the need to protect family. I leapt in front of Dan, hoping to take the hit. The boy got a straight hit, right across my face. The blow made my head snap sharply to my right, and I fell hard to the floor. Despite the pounding headache and blurred vision, I jumped right back up and launched myself on the District 1 kid.

            “That’s enough!” roared an expert.

The boy had me down on the ground, pummeling me. He clearly had no respect for the boys-can’t-hurt-girls rule. As the boy continued to hit me, I got a few of mine in before a few experts—and tributes—intervened.

            “She’s not worth it, Eric. She’s not worth it,” said the District 1 female as she rushed to help pull him away from me. Her cold blue eyes set on me. “You’re dead meat, District Seven.”

I got the impression that I just made an archenemy with Eric’s little sister, whatever her name was.

            Somewhere else, I could hear Atala muttering something about keeping Dan and me away from District 1’s tributes. I was fine by that; I’d rather not encounter them anymore for a while.

            “Bri, are you okay?” Daniel replaced Eric’s sister in my face.

            “Uh-huh,” I mumbled, slowly sitting up. Somebody was supporting my back, and it wasn’t Dan. I panicked, but he settled me down.

            “You took quite a beating.” He gingerly put a hand on my face. My jaw felt tender, as did my nose. I spat on the floor and gave it a few blood drops. I hoped Eric didn’t punch out any of my teeth, because I wasn’t going to get any of them back.

            “I feel fine. Ouch.” I winced.

I looked over my shoulder to see Sutton was once again at my aid. She had to be taking a liking to me, because why else would she be here? To butter you and Daniel up so she and the Careers can butcher you in the Games. Then again…she’s the only Career who doesn’t want to be here, so this might not be an act. It could be real.

            “You just keep finding trouble,” Sutton sighed.

            “Did his knife actually get stolen?” I growled. If anybody would know, it’d be her.

            “I doubt it. I don’t think he even had a knife with him. If anything, Eric wanted to stir up trouble. That’s how he and Kaya are.”

            “Kaya? I’m assuming you mean his sister who just told me she’s out to get me?” I asked her. She bobbed her head.

            “Such immaturity,” Sutton growled.

            “I think it’s time we headed back to our floor. We need to get you cleaned up,” Dan butted in.

            “Can we just clean me up here?” I whimpered. “Someone’s going to freak when we go inside. We’ll get yelled at for sure.”

            “Not if we use the fact that Eric and Kaya are just brats who want attention,” Dan pointed out.

            “Can you stand?” Sutton asked me.

            “Yeah,” I confirmed.

            Even though I could stand on two feet, Sutton hovered at my side until I was upright.

            “You better get going,” Dan told her. “You don’t want to get into trouble with your pack.”

            “I’ve been in trouble with them. It’s not the first time,” Sutton snorted. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t a part of that Career pack. I know if I am, I’ll live longer. If I knew I would make it out alive if I escaped, I’d join you guys.”

            That shouldn’t have surprised me, what she said. But nevertheless, it did. She realized that she couldn’t escape her ties to the pack, not unless she had a death wish.

            “Why us?” I whispered.

            “You both seem like the type of people I can actually trust. I don’t trust the pack.” Her eyes met mine. “Do well out there tomorrow for the Gamemakers, okay?”

            “I’ll try if I’m not in pain,” I joked. Daniel and Sutton didn’t like my joke.

            Sutton sauntered off to catch up to the Career pack. Experts shooed us out of the Training Center. I knew for a fact there’d be whispers to mentors from other districts about what just went down. Ah well, what’s a Hunger Games without a little drama before the actual Games start? All we needed now was a love story to add to the drama. That would be a nice thing to bring up during interviews. I bet everybody was just longing to have another doomed romance in the Games anyway.

            “I feel bad for her,” Dan said as he stood close by me. We were walking back to the elevator. “But she’s smart in not trusting her own pack.”

            “But she’s naïve in thinking she can trust us,” I whined.

            “So are we naïve for thinking we can trust each other?”

            “No, because we know for a fact we won’t turn on each other. We’ve got a goal and that’s what’s going to keep us together.” I tried to grin, but my jaw was still sore.

            “You trust her,” Dan said uneasily.

            “Somehow I feel like I do, but I’m not sure. I know I can really trust you,” I admitted. “I’m trying to view her being friendly and helpful to me a sign that she can trust me at least.”

            “Or like Johanna said, it could all be an act.”

            “If it was, she wouldn’t be going after just us, would she?” I retorted. “I would think she’d try to make friends with everybody.”

            “Hmm…”

            As soon as we stepped in the elevator, we both had a feeling as to what Johanna and Jade had in store for us when they’d see me.