Chapter 24
1400 Words
Volvo Courvaile
Most people, if they were allying with Hemi, would think it was a waste of time to learn first aid. The thing was, what if it was Hemi who needed it? Six could be a rough place, especially around the people I used to hang out with. I'd seen a medical assistant get hit with a stray bullet. He bled out just as fast as anyone else. So Hemi taught me a few simple things, like how to stop bleeding. That was the most important thing for me to learn. Once I stopped her bleeding, she could take care of herself better than I could.
For a weapon, I chose the machete. Defense was important, but offense was entirely up to me. Hemi was a nurse. She took an oath and all that. Her business was saving lives. Nurses had a certain nature. They did mostly the same job as doctors, but they didn't get as much money or respect. In my experience, that meant they were usually more compassionate and attentive, because they were doing it because they cared. Not that doctors didn't care- it just took a certain, special sort of heart to be a nurse. I didn't want her to have to lose that, so I would take care of the killing.
It was weird, but the Capitol was sort of a save haven for me. I'd been afraid to ever leave the hospital, because pushers knew to target newly sober patients and they waited outside the door with everything a lonely, hurting soul could want. Here, I couldn't leave the building, and I was watched by my mentor or my escort almost every moment... not that Toby would have done any good. I still had a piece of the rehab center with me around my neck. All I had when I got Reaped was my identification tag. The center ended up using them far too many times. It had always grounded me in the past. I liked the reminder that I was Volvo Courvaile, in recovery, and not just some dying junkie.
Hemi moved to the spears station while I practiced the machete. I knew she was only doing it because she wanted to protect me. I would always be her patient, even when I was recovered. She didn't deserve to be here. I wasn't mad that I got Reaped. Six was better off without me. I never really did anyone any good. I hurt or inconvenienced everyone in my life with my bad decisions. How good a person could I be if my own mother didn't want me? People like me deserved this. I just wished people like Hemi didn't get caught in the same net.
Hemi Courvaile
Volvo probably thought I was learning the spear so I could defend us. It wasn't entirely wrong, since I did plan to defend us if anyone attacked. I just didn't think all my attacks would be defensive.
Volvo didn't know how many types of nurses there were. He thought we were all just general nurses, skilled in every area. Humans were far too complex for that. There were specialties within specialties, and one of them was mine. I was a pyschiatric nurse. I helped heal minds. I didn't know much about bodies. I didn't know how to tell him, but my skills wouldn't go far in the Arena.
All nursing students took a basic emergency first aid course. Laypeople thought that meant we knew medicine, but it really meant we knew the bare bones about how to maybe keep someone alive until someone more educated came. I could stop bleeding and clear an obstructed breathing path. That was really about it. I was only allowed to administer medications because Six had such dire need of medical staff. I would be more successful talking to a Career and suggesting alternative paths for aggression that I would be setting a bone.
I wanted to protect Volvo and myself, so I did what I had to and picked up a spear. The oath we took used to be sacred, but it was just ceremonial now. It only meant as much as you wanted it to. I used to believe in it, though, and it was like breaking a trust when I picked up a weapon. It was like a giant needle waiting to tear into someone, and I'd seen too many needles in Six.
The spear didn't seem sharp enough or heavy enough to punch through skin and penetrate flesh, but when I threw it, it stuck into the ballistics gel dummy and the flesh rippled around it as it sagged down, pulling the gel with it. That's a big wound. I wouldn't be able to heal that, I thought. I could imagine the blood pooling from the abdominal cavity and the guts peeking out around the spearhead.
I couldn't heal that, I thought again. I'd just started, and already I could hurt something so bad I couldn't fix it. I was better at killing than healing.
Tullia Havana
People didn't expect the Tributes from Five to know anything about survival skills. They were right that I didn't know much about plants, though there were the occasional clumps and dandelion and clover between sidewalk chunks or on abandoned lots. That didn't mean I didn't know how to survive, though. I knew how to catch a rat barehanded without getting bit, how to smack it face-first into the ground to kill it, and how long to cook it so it wouldn't make me sick. I also knew how to make a shelter out of things most people threw away. The winters were cold in Five. People like me froze to death sometimes.
I didn't trust myself to memorize all the strange new plants. Some of them looked almost identical. I was better off sticking with the handful I knew and focusing on hunting. I wouldn't be strong enough to fight almost any of the others, but I could catch some food with it. I made my way to the weapons side of the training room.
I never knew how many weapons needed two arms. Bows, spears, most swords, crossbows... I did have two arms, but it would be better for me to rely on my unburned one. I moved on to the lighter weapons and one of them caught my eye. It was a hollow, flat disc with blades all around the outside. I threw it at the target and barely hit it, but it stuck anyway. I realized that because it had blades all around the outside, it did damage no matter how it hit the target, which made it much easier than throwing knives. The simple tossing motion was easy and didn't strain my arm. I kept practicing so I could throw it farther and faster without cutting my fingers.
Having a weapon still wasn't enough. I'd never be able to get past the Bloodbath alone. Maybe after that I would have had a chance, but alone at the Bloodbath I was nothing but a target. My District partner already had an alliance. If I was welcome, he would have asked me. The next closest Tributes were the pair from Six. We were both inner-city Districts, and the boy was beat up, just like me. I snuck closer to them and watched as they trained. The boy was using a machete, and the girl was throwing a spear. The boy scared me, but not the girl. I remembered from the parade that she was a nurse. Everyone knew you could trust nurses. They helped people. I crept closer until she saw me.
"Do you need someone who can hunt? I know how to catch food," I said. I held up my weapon to show her I could be helpful. She looked at my arm and I got ready for her to send me away, but she didn't.
"It would be good to have food, wouldn't it? I should ask Volvo, though," she said. She found her partner and they exchanged a few words. Volvo didn't seem as enthusiastic as the girl, but she must have won out, because she was smiling when she got back.
"What kind of food are we going to be eating?" she asked, and I flinched. I didn't think she was going to be very happy when I told her it was rats.
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