𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱

── the tributes

          𝕬t quarter-to-ten, Thresh and I found ourselves in an elevator with Aurelia. The training rooms were below ground level of the building, though the ride was less than a minute. When we arrived, the doors opened into a large gymnasium, filled with an obstacle course and more weapons than you could get your hands on.

Luckily, Thresh and I were not the last people to arrive, and we took that time to join the others around the head trainer. Someone pinned 11 onto the back of my gold tunic, doing the same to Thresh's black shirt, before we joined them. 

The Careers were already here, chatting quietly to their partners, and I shot a quick glance at Cato, my eyes narrowed as I thought about our encounter the night before. But when I looked up at him, I found his eyes already on me, his lips twisting into a smirk, before I turned back to Thresh.

A few more people arrived, before the final tributes from District 12 made their appearance. They were dressed the exact same as one another and I scrunched my nose before looking forward once more. I couldn't dwell on it now.

The head trainer stepped forward, a cold look on her face.

"In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead." She looked out across all of us. "One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next three days. Particularly over the next three days."

I looked up, catching eyes with District 12's tribute, Katniss Everdeen. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she watched me, but I turned back to the trainer before I could decipher the look.

"First, no fighting with the other Tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that in the Arena," She laughed like it was a funny joke that most of us were going to be killed. "There are four compulsory exercises, the rest will be individual training. My advice is don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword but most of you will die from natural causes. 10 percent from infection. 20 percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife."

She dismissed us and I turned to Thresh.

"Where to first?"

"The survival skills look quite empty." He muttered as I hummed, both of us heading over to the empty skill stations. We spend about an hour at the snares, making them in relative silence with the instructor telling us what to do, though Thresh and I were already pretty good at it. Then we moved onto knots, how to start a fire and making shelter.

A life of growing up in District Eleven had left the both of us with fairly decent survival skills and most of the things they were teaching us was stuff we already knew from time spent in the fields, or on the farm.

Thresh and I were not the only ones on the survival skills, but most drifted naturally towards the weapons. The Career Tributes were hacking away at dummies and trying to show off to the other competitors, which made me roll my eyes.

They were starting to get on my nerves.

"Mitzi, remember, don't start a fight." Thresh had caught on, shooting me a worried look.

"I'm not going to." I waved Thresh off, before catching sight of a knife that had been left unattended. The very same one that I had seen Cato Hadley wielding moments earlier. "Can you give me a boost up and into the netting?"

"Yeah." Thresh, despite his hesitance, grinned and nodded.

I smiled, before calmly walking up to the knife and picking it up as inconspicuously as possible. Thresh and I shared a troublemaking glance, before he held the rope still and allowed me to climb up into the netting. He grinned as I settled in place, before both of us settled down to watch. I could see Cato looking around in confusion, before his eyes settled on someone from district five, I think.

"You touched my knife." He pointed at him, stepping forward with what seemed to be all intent of fighting him and I chuckled gently. "You touched my knife. I left it right there, I saw you touch it!"

Thresh and I caught eyes again, before I turned, seeing Katniss watching me cautiously. I cocked an eyebrow as peacekeepers rushed onto the scene to break it up, before climbing back down and placing the knife back into it's original spot.

"What say we move onto something else?"

"I like that idea." Thresh nodded as we walked away together. I turned one last time, watching Katniss over my shoulder as she shot me a somewhat calculating look. I'd have to keep an eye on her.

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

Once again, the night air was the only thing keeping me company late into the evening. I had struggled to fall asleep again, so was back on the rooftop, gazing at the cloudy sky above me and wondering what the skies looked like back home.

It was peaceful.

"Why did you steal the knife?" My peace was shattered at the lilting sound of a Capitol accent behind me. I froze, tensing up before turning to find Cato Hadley behind me once more. His head was titled to the side, dressed in a pair of comfortable looking trousers and a loose shirt.

"What?" I'm not sure how I managed to form words, but my brain was left struggling to catch up with my mouth as I watched him.

"The knife." Cato reaffirmed himself, not stepping any closer as he watched me curiously. "You stole it."

"I don't know what you're talking about." His eyebrows furrowed, a small frown appearing on his face but I could see none of the anger that I had seen earlier today, confusing me. His anger had seemed to take control of him, appearing like a switch had been flicked, but now, he was just watching. 

This was worse.

It meant that Cato Hadley was intelligent enough to be able to control his explosive anger and make decisions without being rash.

"You took my knife and then hid in the netting." He was also observant it seemed. "Why?"

My brain finally caught up to me, and I straightened my spine. 

"I wanted to see."

"See what?"

"What your reaction was." I watched him, trying to see how his face changed. His eyes flickered with confusion, before his face returned to a neutral one. "Now I know the reaction."

Cato Hadley was like me in a sense. He was putting on a front, a persona of being incredibly angry and violent but beneath that, he was hiding something. He was hiding the fact that he was watching us, all of us, working out our weaknesses and most likely, our strengths. But unlike me, Cato was much better at hiding it.

This little show of brute force and anger against District Five was not just for the other tributes, it was for the game makers as well. He was making them think that he was just another mindless Career when in reality, he was much more dangerous.

"You don't really know anything about me, Eleven." Cato muttered, shrugging his shoulders. "Just like I know nothing about you."

"No, you don't." I pointed out, before turning away and facing the elevator once more. Again, my nightly peace had been shattered by the Career from District Two. As the door closed, I caught one final glimpse of him watching me, his head tilted once more as if he was trying to decipher a code.

I don't think he would be able to crack who I was though. I was an outer lying District, something of an abnormality to the closer lying ones. They didn't understand our struggle, or what we went through. 

So, try as Cato Hadley might, to decipher me, he wouldn't stand a chance.

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

Hiya,

I just really love Cato and Mitzi. I just really love how she's all down to cause trouble just so she can see what Cato's reaction would be and he just played along with it, letting everyone think that he's an incredibly angry tribute and not the cleverness beneath that.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx