Chapter 17
1669 Words
Hunter POV
Shogo had a piece of paper in his hands. Since it wasn't quite time to get into my chariot yet, I went over to take a peek.
"Dude, you're a really bad artist," I said. Shogo didn't reply. "Is it from a little brother?"
"It's from my son," he said. His grip tightened.
Good one, jackass, I thought. Now I just felt like a bully.
"Ohh... I'm not really sure what to say. I don't have a son. I guess sorry doesn't mean much," I said.
"I'm glad you're honest. That isn't something you see much in the Games," he said.
"Hunter!" Emma called from the chariot. I waved and turned back to Shogo.
"The others say you're not trained enough. They're also afraid you're too attached," I said reluctantly. Shogo didn't seem insulted, just a little nervous.
"I don't like them anyway," I said to make him feel better. Shogo laughed.
"Then why are you with them?" he said. I felt silly telling him, but I'd been honest so far.
"I don't think I could live on my own," I said. We were both quiet for a minute as I tried to get up the nerve to say what I wanted.
"You wanna be my ally instead?" I blurted before I could chicken out.
"Definitely," Shogo said. I shouldn't have been so nervous he'd say no. I was a capable Career. All the same, I was delighted.
"Don't tell the others," I said, even though it was obvious. I jumped up next to Emma and tried not to look suspicious.
Felix POV
Capitolites sure are friendly. I hardly got my sweaty old shirt off before they swarmed around me, flashing cameras and asking me to pose with them. It wasn't their fault I was here, and they seemed so nice that I couldn't deny them. A man with orange eyes and gems in his teeth tried to get me to interview with him. I would have, but I noticed that in all the fuss I'd completely lost track of Cornflower. She didn't seem to like the Capitol, and more for her protection than mine I'd tried to stick close to her. Through the glass doors of the Games building I saw her in a corner walking in circles and talking to herself.
As I ran ahead to join her, I noticed one of the other Tributes in a pickle. A middle-aged Capitol woman had him by the cheek and was telling him how cute he was. Poor Lyte was too little and too polite to leave, so he was stuck like a lassooed calf.
"Excuse me, we have to get ready for the parade. He'll be even cuter then," I said as I grabbed Lyte's hand. I whisked him away before she had time to protest. Once we were inside the building, I straightened his mussed suit.
"Thanks," he said.
"Don't worry. If you ever need anything, you can always find me."
Reiner POV
I didn't expect another boy to be sitting at my stylists' station when I walked in.
"Excuse me, but why am I dressed as a tree?" Lyte said.
"Because Seven is the lumber District," one of the stylists said.
"He's not from Seven. I am," I said. All three of the stylists looked up and saw me in the doorway. Their eyes widened like I was a half-price pair of shoes.
"Well, well! This is a present!" what I guessed was the head stylist, judging by her elaborate hairstyle, said. They left Lyte sitting half-dressed and descended upon me with measuring strings and fabric pieces.
"Can I go now?" Lyte piped up. The main stylist glared at him like he was intruder and made a shooing gesture.
"You get out of here, bug," she said. Lyte slid off the table and started to slink out.
"Hey, why you picking on him? He's just a kid," I said.
"We want to style a Victor, not Bloodbath material," one of the assistants said. I couldn't believe they'd say something like that right in front of Lyte. That wasn't ignorance. It was just meanness.
"Knock it off," I said, and I turned to Lyte. "Want to be my ally?" That'll show them.
Lyte stared at me like I'd asked him to marry me. When he found his voice, he blurted out "Yes!" and an assistant pointed him out the door. I may be about to die, but at least I'm not terrible.
Lyte POV
There were a lot of Tributes learning how to kill people in the training room.. The girl from Three was trying to hit targets with a bow, Skyler was using some sort of sword on a chain, Demi was trying to swing a sickle, the boy from Eight was swinging a sword around like a toy, and Tillo was looking through the daggers. There's no way I can kill anyone, even if I wasn't a healer. I'd just stick with the first aid station and get extra good at taking care of Reiner. Well, I would in a few minutes anyway. At the moment I was perched on Reiner's shoulders feeling like a giant. I hoped he meant it when he said he'd be my ally. It seemed to good to be true. Maybe he just wanted sponsors.
The big guy from Ten ran up to us with a smile. There weren't many smiles in the room, and there weren't many shirtless boys either. I liked the boy already.
"Hey? Need an ally?" he asked. "I'm Felix."
"I saw you asking everyone. Is that all you've been doing?" Reiner said.
"Yeah," Felix said.
"How many have you asked?" Reiner asked.
"Twenty-one, even the Careers," Felix said.
"What'd they say?" Reiner asked. Felix laughed.
"They threw a spear at me and laughed as I ran," he said.
"You can be our ally," I said suddenly. I didn't know where I found the courage. Reiner stepped aside with me and started to whisper.
"He's a freak. He'll slow us down," he said.
"I won't be your ally unless he can too," I insisted. What are you thinking? I guess I just didn't want Felix to die. He seemed so nice. Reiner sighed and returned to Felix.
"All right, you're in. Who haven't you asked, anyway?" he said.
"Tillo Peters, Shogo Hara, and Hunter Duchen," Felix said.
"Might as well make it an even twenty-four."
Shogo POV
I knew the shirtless boy would be coming. He'd already visited everyone else. I had the training I needed, so I'd been scoping out the others.
"We got an alliance going," Felix said after he introduced himself. "There's a trained Tribute and a boy who's reeling in the sponsors." I wanted safety in numbers and Hunter must have been open, and we found ourselves following him to see this dream team.
I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it. The little boy from Six was sitting on the tall guy's shoulders and squishing his cheeks together. Hunter was less amused.
"You said a trained Tribute and a sponsor magnet. This is a teddy bear and the three-year-old girl who owns him."
"I think it's kind of cute," I mumbled.
"Come on, we need a leader and one of you could be that person. Just think, you can order me about and I can constantly disappoint you," Felix said.
"That's really going to make me want to join," Hunter said.
"There's safety in numbers," I whispered to him. "Besides, they're definitely not the type to backstab."
"All right, fine," Hunter said with a glare. "But I need to be the leader and we need to be like a Career pack." Felix was about to say something when we were interrupted by the loudest slurp I'd even heard.
Tillo POV
They have a milkshake machine in the training room! I was taking a little break and snooping on the alliances when I got a little carried away. As soon as Felix saw me he blushed and hid behind Shogo. I'd never turned heads back home. I liked it.
"I understand now why he never asked her for an alliance yet," Reiner said to Shogo.
"When did you get there?" Lyte asked.
"I've been here since the start," I said.
"Wow, you're really quiet," he said. I laughed.
"I was raised to be quiet," I said.
Hunter sidled up to me and seductively kissed my arm. My father was right. Boys from the other districts are horndogs. Felix grabbed onto Shogo, who squawked.
"Hey, you're gonna draw blood!" he protested.
"Care to be part of our alliance?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah, we could use a woman," Felix said, then blushed harder.
"Excuse me? I'll join, but not because I'm a girl," I said. I knew they didn't really mean it that way, and it was flattering that they'd asked.
"I'll show you where I'm staying," Hunter said. Felix started to turn red, so Shogo broke in and said they should see my skills first.
"What'd you do that for?" I heard Felix ask as we went to the dagger station.
"You got a sweeeet-heaaaaaart," Shogo said. "Hunter's only after one thing. It's weird- I've never seen him look at girls before." I peeked back. Felix looked nauseated, but then glanced at Shogo's pocket and smiled a rather sad smile. I guess we all just wanted to keep things normal and keep our hopes up.
Not much usually gets done in the training chapter, since the Careers already have their training and the others can only learn so much. I had a bunch of material sent in by this alliance's submitters, so I focused on that for this chapter. Felix's POV should probably be in italics since it's in the past like Hunter's, but he's narrating it like a story so I left it. Normally I wouldn't give Lyte much time since he's mine, but everyone else in the alliance had a POV already and I had more information to give.
- Writer
