Hunger Games 1

Chapter 13
When I slept, I had nightmares, the face of the red-haired girl intertwined with bloody images from the old Hunger Games; my mother was weak and withdrawn, and I could never reach her; Prim looked so weak and scared; Dad ran, and the mine exploded, scattering thousands of points of death.

The morning light shone through the windows into the house, and the Capitol sky was shrouded in mist and gloomy.My head hurts, and I must have bitten my cheek at night. I licked the bitten place with my tongue, and it smelled like blood.

Slowly, I got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.I hit a button on the control panel at random and alternate streams of cold and scalding water erupted from under my feet, followed by a lemon-scented foam bath that overwhelmed me and had to be scrubbed off with a stiff bristle brush .Oh well, at least my blood flow has sped up.

I dried myself off, put on body lotion, and when I came out of the bathroom, I found that a set of clothes had been prepared on the outermost side of the closet.Tight black trousers, a long-sleeved burgundy tunic and leather shoes.I wear a long braid.For the first time since the morning of the Harvest ceremony, I have dressed more like my normal self.No outlandish hairstyles and costumes, no flaming capes.It was me, looking like I was going to the woods, which made me feel very secure.

Haymitch didn't give us a specific time for our breakfast meeting, and no one contacted me this morning.I was hungry, so I came to the restaurant on my own, hoping to have something to eat.I was not disappointed, there was no food on the middle table, but there were at least twenty dishes on the long side table.A young male Avax stood respectfully by the table.He nodded when I asked him if he could help himself.So I put eggs, sausage, cake with a thick layer of candied orange, sliced ​​lavender melon on the dinner plate.I munch my food and watch the sun rise over the Capitol.I served another plate of hot rice with beef stew.Finally, fill up a plate of egg rolls, sit at the table, tear open the egg rolls bit by bit, and eat them with hot chocolate, the same way Peeta eats them on the train.

My thoughts flew back to Mom and Prim.They must have been up.Mom was preparing polenta for breakfast and Prim was milking the sheep before school.Two days ago, I was still at home.is this real?Yes, just two days.But now the house looks empty, even if it is far away, it can be felt.What did they say about my opening in the firelight yesterday?When they saw 24 contestants in a circle, only one survived, did all this add hope or fear to them?

Haymitch and Peeta arrive, say hello, and fill their plates with food.It annoys me that Peeta's costume looks exactly like mine.I need to talk to Cena about this.When the Hunger Games started, our twin outfits were sure to embarrass us.Pretty sure they must know this.Then I remembered that Haymitch told us to do everything the designer wanted us to do.I really wanted to ignore his words, but after last night's success, my choice of him seemed understandable.

The training that is about to start makes me nervous.Over the course of three days, all "tributes" will train together.By the afternoon of the last day, we were able to practice privately in front of the race organizers.The thought of training face-to-face with other players makes me uneasy.I've lost my appetite as I turn the egg roll I just picked up from the basket back and forth between my fingers.

Haymitch finished several plates of stew, pushed the plates away from him with a sigh, took a long-necked flask from his pocket, took a long sip, and leaned his elbows on the table. "Well, let's get down to business. Training. If you want, you can quit and I'll train you individually. Decide now."

"Why are we being trained individually?" I asked.

"Let's put it this way, if you have a secret, you can keep it from others," Haymitch said.

Peeta and I exchange glances. "I don't have any secrets," Peeta said, "but I already know yours, right? I mean, I've eaten a lot of squirrels you shot."

It never occurred to me that Peeta ate the squirrels I shot.I always thought it was the baker who quietly took the squirrel away and fried it himself.Not because of greed, but usually city people eat expensive pork, beef, chicken and horsemeat.

"You can have us both train together," I say to Haymitch, and Peeta nods.

"Okay, let's see what you two can do," Haymitch said.

"I don't know anything, unless counting toast counts," Peeta said.

"Sorry, that doesn't count. I know you know knives, Katniss," Haymitch said.

"Not really, but I can hunt," I said, "with a bow and arrow."

"Are you good at archery?" Haymitch asked.

I have to think about this.It has been four years since I have been feeding my family. This is not an easy task. I am not as good at archery as my father, but he also practiced a lot.I aim better than Gale, but I also practice more than him.But he's a genius at trapping prey.

"I'm fine." I said.

"She's great," Peeta said. "My dad buys her squirrels a lot. He always says the arrows don't go through the squirrels, they're in the eyes. The same goes for the rabbits she sells to the butchers, and she even shoots them. to the deer."

What Peeta said about my prey really took my breath away.First, he can observe these details; second, he is praising me vigorously.

"What are you doing?" I said doubtfully.

"Why? If he's going to help you, he needs to know what you can do, don't underestimate yourself," Peeta said.

For some reason, what he said made me uncomfortable.

"What about you? I saw you at the market, and you could carry a hundred-pound bag of flour. Tell him, it's not easy," I said to him.

"Yeah, I'm sure the arena is full of dough bags so I can hit people with them. It's not the same as being able to use a weapon. You know, it's not the same," he retorted, relentlessly.

"He can wrestle," I said to Haymitch. "He was No. 2 in our school wrestling competition last year, just a bit behind his brother."

"What's the use of that? How many times have you seen someone fall and die?" Peeta said wearily.

"There will always be unarmed combat in the game. As long as you have a knife, you have a great chance of winning. If I am thrown, then I will die!" My voice has risen because of anger.

"You wouldn't, in the jungle you could live eating squirrels raw, killing them one by one with a bow and arrow. You know, when my mother came to say goodbye, she said maybe In the end, District [-] won. Then I realized that she wasn't talking about me at all, she was talking about you," Peeta said loudly and quickly.

"Oh, she was talking about you," I said without thinking.

"She said, 'she' is the survivor, that's her, her," Peeta said.

I was at a loss for words.His mother really said that about me?She thinks I'm better than her son?I saw the pain in Peeta's eyes and knew he wasn't lying.

Suddenly, the bakery scene came back to my mind.The rain wets my back, and my stomach is unbearably hungry. "I'm alive because someone saved me." I said, the tone of my voice seemed to return to the time when I was 11 years old.

Peeta's eyes rest on my egg roll, and I know he's thinking about that day, too.He just shrugged.

"There will be someone to help you in the arena. People will compete to sponsor you."

"They don't give me as much sponsorship as you do," I said.

Peeta turns to look at Haymitch. "She doesn't know how powerful she is." He scratched the wood grain on the table with his hand, unwilling to look up at me.

What on earth does he mean?someone help me?When we were dying of starvation, no one helped me!Nobody but Peeta.That didn't change until I had an exchangeable item in my hand.I'm an old hand at trading.is that so?What will happen to me?Because I'm weak and always need help?Does he mean that everyone has pity on me, and that's why they helped me generously when exchanging goods?I wondered if that was the case.Maybe some businessmen are more generous in their deals, and I attribute it all to their long-term friendship with Dad.Besides, my prey is pretty good too.No one has pity on me!

I stared furiously at the egg roll in front of me, sure he was insulting me.

After about a minute, Haymitch said, "Well, well, well, well, Katniss, the arena isn't guaranteed to have bows either, and you can show off your skills while the tournament organizers are doing private training, Until then, stop talking about your archery, and how are you at trapping your game?"

"I can only play a few simple tricks." I muttered.

"It helps you find food," Haymitch said. "Peeta, she's right, never underestimate your competitive ability. In many cases, strength is good for a player. In the training center , have weight training, don't show how strong you are in front of other 'tributes'. In this regard, you two are the same. When training in groups, it takes time to learn things that you don't know, like throwing spears, throwing nail heads. Learn to tie a knot. Show your true skills at personal training. Got it?" Haymitch said, and Peeta and I nodded.

"And one last thing. In public, the two of you are to be around at all times," Haymitch said.We both objected at once, but Haymitch slapped his hands on the table and said, "All the time! There's no need to discuss this! You do what I say! Stay together and be nice to each other. Now, go. Meet Effie at the elevator at ten o'clock for training."

Biting my lower lip, I strode back to the room and sat on the bed.I hate Haymitch, I hate Peeta, I hate myself for bringing up that day in the rain again.

It's so ridiculous!Peeta pretending to be my friend!Talk about what I am capable of, and insist that I believe in my ability.In fact, at some point, we'll all have to throw it all away and admit that we're each other's formidable rivals.If it wasn't for Haymitch's suggestion that the two of us be stupid enough to train together, I'd accept that right now.Maybe, my own fault, I shouldn't have said we don't need to train separately or something, but that doesn't mean I have to do everything with Peeta.After all, no one has publicly said that they don't want to be in a group with me.

Peeta's words still linger in my ears: "She doesn't know how good she is." That's clearly a sarcasm, isn't it?But I vaguely felt that he was complimenting me.He's saying I'm attractive in some ways.It was strange that he knew me so well.As if he was familiar with my hunting.Obviously, I am not as forgetful as I imagined about him, flour, wrestling, and I have been paying attention to the boy who gave me bread.

It was almost ten o'clock.I brush my teeth and comb my hair.Just now, because of my anger, I temporarily forgot the tension of meeting other "tributes", but now my anxiety creeps back into my heart.When I meet Peeta and Effie at the elevator, I inadvertently find myself biting my nails again, but I stop immediately.

The so-called training ground is a gymnasium under the building, and the elevator took less than a minute to get there.The gate opens onto a huge gymnasium with a variety of weapons and an obstacle course.Although it was not yet ten o'clock, we were already the last ones to arrive.The other "tributes" form a tight circle.Pinned to their shirts is a square number cloth bearing the district's serial number.While someone was pinning my number 1, I quickly scanned around and only Peeta and I were dressed similarly.

We also formed a circle with everyone, and the lead trainer, a tall and strong woman named Atala, came forward and explained the training schedule to us.Individual skill coaches are waiting at their respective training stations.We can choose the training site by ourselves according to the instruction of the instructor in our area.Some sites teach survival skills, others teach fighting skills.We strictly forbid fighting practice with other players.Practice with live assistants at any time if needed.

(End of this chapter)