Chapter 18
1065 Words
Allecia Callison
I was a small girl. I needed a small weapon. I could hardly lift a broadsword or battleax. A rondel was more my size. It was light and portable, and I could use it for other things in the Arena, from starting fires to making shelters.
I was hoping to fight like a ninja. People thought they were so super sneaky and good at fighting, but I heard somewhere they were actually kind of chicken. They knew they were super out of their league with the people they were fighting, so they tried to hit fast and then run. I wasn't about to chase someone down and rondel murder them. It would be more like they surprised me and I stuck a rondel into their leg and bolted while they were pulling it out.
I'd fiddled around with knives before. We weren't allowed to have weapons in Twelve, but no one got mad if you waved a butter knife around behind your house. The elements of knife fighting were simple. Mostly I just learned how to not stab myself by accident. I never would have volunteered in a million years and I'd have gotten myself killed if I did, but some knowledge was better than no knowledge.
Other than the Careers, there didn't seem to be any alliances this year. That wasn't good for the rest of us. Even Tributes who were older than me needed to stick together if we were going t survive the Careers. I knew I wanted a ton of allies. I wasn't cocky enough to think I wasn't one of the Careers' first targets. Unless I had some people between me and them, I was going down. The most obvious choice was other Tributes my age, like Martha, but I was hoping for some stronger allies as well.
I was a long shot. I knew that. It was nerve-wracking to know I had a week to make and put into action a plan that would save or end my life. There wasn't enough time to think of everything. I had to move quick just to ensure I got some allies. I didn't even know how to make myself look appealing. Who would want to ally with a little girl?
Martha Lewis
That weird socks kid was next to me at the knot-tying station. I'd been working with the knives and I learned all I could, but I also knew it was important not to forget the more mundane skills. I might have to climb a tree and tie myselt into place, or suppose I made a bolo and the strings broke. Knots were important.
Knot tying was also important for one other reason: all the other Tributes thought it really was stupid. I had only one advantage. Everyone else thought I wasn't a threat, which was true. My only hope was that eternal long shot all Tributes like me hoped for: that everyone else would forget about us and we could sneak around until the finale. It had worked a few times in the past. It was the only way Six ever got Victors. Maybe if they weren't sampling so much of their own product (though why the transportation District handled so much morphling was beyond me. Maybe it was in the ambulances?) they'd have more winnners.
I kept an eye on the other Tributes while I practiced. It might be good for me to have an ally if I found someone I could trust. We could take turns keeping watch. I didn't want a lot of allies, since I was trying to be sneaky, but one could be good. It would have to be someone like me in ability, so they wouldn't think I was a burden or an easy target. Definitely not Socks, though, for obvious reasons.
Socks was creeping me out, so I moved to the survival station. I skipped the fire parts. Fires attracted attention, both in training and in the Arena. I was going to need a way to find food, so I tried making some fishhooks. It wasn't that complicated, and it was good to know I might be able to catch some dinners in the Arena. I studied a few of the more conspicuous edible plants from different environments to hedge my bets. In the end, I wasn't really looking to win. I was looking to survive.
Socks Kelarck
All the other Tributes in the room with me seemed to know what they were doing. I tried to do the same. I took a spot next to a girl at the knot-tying station and copied her moves. She was really good at tying knots. I had to move really quickly to keep up with her. But it paid off, because I learned to tie some knots. Then she suddenly got up and moved away, so I went to copy someone else.
The edible plants station was the best one for me. The lady there held up a plant and I had to find the same plant from a big bin. She didn't get creeped out that I was copying her, since that was what I was supposed to do. I wasn't sure any of the plants stuck with me, though, since I focused more on matching the plant in her hand than what the plant actually looked like.
Imitating the boy on the ropes course didn't work so well. I found out I wasn't good at climbing and I almost broke my neck. The agility course was obviously not for me, and I didn't even try it. There were a lot of things I wasn't good at, but at least I had ropes and plants.
Maybe I needed a weapon. The Careers would know about that. I followed one of them to the swords station and picked one up. The boy seemed really good at fighting. That must be why he was a Career. I tried to move around the same way, but the sword was heavy and it was hard to move it that fast. The boy noticed me and stopped.
"What's your deal?" he asked.
"I want to learn how to fight. You looked like you knew," I said.
"You're cramping my style, weirdo. Why don't you go shoot some arrows or something? Something somewhere else," he said. The other Careers had similar reactions. Some people weren't very friendly.
- Writer
