Heart of Ice

Chapter 3

"Get up!" I snap to consciousness as Mora shoves my shoulder. "Get out of bed already. You've got training."

I climb out of bed and catch the clothes that she's throwing as me, undressing as she digs in the closet for a pair of boots. I duck as she tosses those too. I don't need a bruise already.

She leaves the room, barking orders for me to meet her in the dining room in five minutes. Fine. It's one of those odd mornings when I wake up with energy.

I shower and dress in the drab clothes, a big change from last night. Not that I care, but I expected that Capitol to be a little classier. I mean, they make our money off of our backs.

I don't have a hat for my hair, so I pull on a stretchy head band to keep my hair out of my face. I've seen that the stylists do the hair before the arena, and the tributes can bring the minor hair accessories with them, like hair bands. At least I'll have this.

If I haven't pissed off Argentia too much, that is.

I scarf down a meal, and hurry back to my room. How can I prove myself weak today? Look cowed in front of the other tributes, and mess up anything I can in front of the others. Low score on the third day.

It's nearly ten, so I wait by the elevator and make myself look anxious. The other tributes will be watching, looking for targets and allies. As long as I keep myself forgettable, I'll be fine.

At home, Willow must be confused. Why would I be acting like this? I can only hope that she doesn't alert the district back home about me. Maybe she'll think that I'm a coward in the face of death.

Henry comes up and presses the button. I wait next to him as the elevator takes its time getting to us. The doors finally slide open, and there's another pair of tributes inside. I don't know their names or districts, and no one speaks as we're taken to the Training Center.

The doors slide open, and I step out. Other tributes are here already, but we're not last.

It's not hard to look nervous in the face of my competition. Half of them are bigger than me. Despite physical ability, I'll have the advantage with an axe and with trees and plants. Long workdays forced me to learn which plants were edible, and I often climbed the trees by our house. I'm fast. Dodging falling branches was a habit.

Sizing up my other tributes means that I have to weigh myself against them. I'll get a clearer view of everyone's strengths and weaknesses by the end of the third day.

The head trainer goes in for a quick explanation of the stations. Survival skills and weapons training. Right. We need to keep ourselves alive before we can kill each other, and he reminds us to be well-rounded.

I'd love to take a look at some of the weapons, but that'd go against my persona. I'll have to stick with my axe, and I see a rack of them in my peripheral vision. Maybe some of them will make it into the arena.

I try for the climbing wall first, giving myself something to climb besides trees. It's difficult, climbing against a flat surface instead of tree limbs. I give up after a few tries, and move over to the first-aid station. It really is just first-aid. If you get an injury that you can't treat yourself, you better hope that you outlast the others and then the Capitol will save you. If not, you're screwed. The first-aid kits that will be placed in the arena contain bandages, antibiotic ointment, fever pills, and medicine to calm stomachs. Definitely not much.

I leave the station once the demonstrations are over. I need to make my way around. I find out that I'm terrible with a bow, and I'm decent with a throwing spear. I aim at places besides the target, to make myself look terrible, but I mostly hit around where I'm aiming.

I can start a fire with matches, and I can tie basic knots. I can recognize edible bugs and insects, but I can't stand the thought of eating bugs. I keep watch on Henry, wondering if he'll be any good. He tends to stick closer to the physical aspects of training, ropes courses and stuff. He's good. Does he have a strategy or something?

I end up next to him, racing through an obstacle course. He beats me by an inch. "Good job," I say.

"Thanks," he replies. A smile crosses his face. "Want to build a shelter?" He gestures to the station, which has piles of sticks and stones nearby. It's for forest shelters, but there are signs advising us on how to build ones for other environments.

"Sure," I say, before I can stop myself. Well, I have to be at least friendly. I don't want enemies. I may end up killing him, but it can't hurt to get on his good side.

We walk over, and the trainer mostly watches us, telling us to make sure we have an entrance we can fit through. She tells us to cover it in debris, so we can remain hidden. Once we have decent forest shelters, she offers us a chance to build a snow shelter.

There's a snowbox, which is just like a sandbox but with fake snow. I build a shelter according to the diagram on the sign, and Henry copies me. There isn't anything for desert shelters, which seems off. The snowbox looks hastily cobbled together, and the forest stuff has been there for awhile. Why the hell would they bother giving us a chance to build snow shelters? The arena must have something to do with snow.

We spend the next few days occasionally doing things together, others going our own ways. For the last afternoon, I try the rock climbing again. I fail epically, and move onto archery. Failing agin, I manage to tie a few knots before I'm dismissed.

Good. I managed to screw things up enough that the Gamemakers will give me a low score, and I'll be ignored.

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