The Death Games

A/N: Yes, yes, another update to feed your hungry souls. 

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-Chapter 12-
Training Day One, Part Two

Daniel's POV

What should I do? My mind is a whirl, knowing that as soon as my back is turned in the arena, I will end up bloodied and dead. Merely another dead tribute.

No, I must fight back. Or should I join another alliance? I don't think they'll let me join now, though. I'm known as a Career already. I know I must go with my last option.

Kill as many Careers as possible, then sacrifice myself for Tiffany.

I go and join Tiffany for the next four hours of training. We're planning to spend an hour on the treadmill, an hour on the agility station, and the remaining two hours on tridents, swords and bows if all the tributes have gone to bed. If not, we'll spend the time solely on swords and bows.

We run on the treadmill, keeping an eye out for the tributes. Saori and Midnight are here, trying out the weapons. So are the Careers, running on the treadmills beside me, with only one empty treadmill separating us. Savannah Jones is slicing off a dummy's head with her throwing knives.

The mundane routine of running bores us quickly, and since we have pretty good stamina from swimming daily back in Four, we quit the treadmills and move on to the agility station, where Tiffany excels but I don't. I'm not swift enough to dodge the clubs, and am knocked down to the floor multiple times. Great, I think. I'm revealing a weakness to those Careers.

I dust myself off and start again, driven by hate and anger. This time, I make it through, but with an average time. We practise for a while more, before moving on to the weapons.

Finally. I groan inwardly as I pass a stack of tridents. They've been forbidden until the last day, but maybe I can use them later. If those tributes leave early...

I pick up a stack of five throwing knives and hurl them at a target. Most hit the second and third ring. Good enough. It's not going to be my main weapon, but the chances of knives in the arena are pretty high.

We move on to other weapons. Soon, it's the third hour, and Careers being Careers, they've left the Training Centre early. Apparently, they know almost every weapon.

Savannah has returned to bed too, having finished chopping up dummies. We're all that's left, along with Saori and Midnight. I figure I can let them see our trident skills, so I beckon Tiffany over and bound over to the trident stack, picking a bronze one up almost immediately. It resembles the one we have at home. I throw it, and it pierces a dummy's neck right in the center, the side prongs embedded into the wall behind.

I can see the stares from Tiffany and Midnight, using my peripheral vision. Saori's ignoring me and simply shooting more arrows. Tiffany and I continue using the tridents, but stop after a short while. The tridents here are too similar to the ones back home. There's nothing to practise; we're skilled in this weapon.

We move on to swords, which Tiffany is about average in. I, however, enjoy the sword. It's a good tool, and since I'm not agile, which rules out long-distance weapons, I should be able to take out quite a few tributes with this.

Tiffany ditches the sword and moves on to the bow and arrow, which she finds as good as the trident. I see her helping Saori out, standing behind him and adjusting his grip. I growl inwardly and cut up the dummy, showing no mercy.

The four hours are over all too soon, and we return to our beds for the night. Before we enter our rooms, which are next to each other, Tiffany says quietly, "Don't trust the Careers, or the other alliances, whatever they may say. Only trust yourself. Stop for no one." She enters the room without a second glance at me, and closes the door quietly behind her.

Everything spills blood in my dreams tonight.