Cato

I don't know what is happening to me. One moment I'm fine and the next I'm hurling chairs across the room. They say the Games change you, and I'm afraid that's what's happened to me, and I'm not even in the arena yet. Then again... this isn't the first time I've lost my temper. It happens more frequently as a age, as I become stronger. I am no longer fought with; I am the fighter. I no longer am nervous In wrestling matches at the Academy or wrestling matches with my father; I always win.

I try to hold my head high as I walk beside Clove, trailing behind The Maggot, to the elevator. I glance down at Clove. I almost hurt her today. She was scared of me. I can't live with that. I need to talk to her, but I'm afraid she won't let me. Her face is contorted in an eternal scowl.

The actual training rooms are below ground level of the building, and it makes me feel trapped. I've calmed down since earlier, but I still find my breath quickening often. The pressure of our upcoming training isn't helping.

When we arrive, the tributes from 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 are there. Madeline decided we should get here early instead of actually at 10:00 AM, so we're probably forty-five minutes premature, allowing us more time to take in the room. With its industrial architecture and hearty display of weaponry, it reminds me of the physical education portion of the Academy back home. Glimmer waves us over to where she and Marvel are standing amongst the Tributes in the center of the menacing chamber.

"Hey!" She says when we're within earshot.

"Hello, Glimmer," I say. "Marvel." Marvel mutters a hello in return, but seems distracted by the training equipment around us. It's amazing. There's any weapon you could imagine, plus stations that'll train you for survival skills.

"Anyone seen Four?" Glimmer asks.

"How would we have seen them unless they were here?" Clove says dryly. She is not in a very good mood, and being around Glimmer doesn't exactly help.

"Whatever, Two." Glimmer says, visibly rolling her eyes. She twists her ring absentmindedly.

"Her name is Clove," I say defensively. Clove gives me a quizzical look. I see a question in her eyes, but I don't know which one she's asking.

"I'm aware."

"Uh, Glimmer, maybe this might not be the time..." Marvel says slowly. I don't know if they knew each other before the reaping, but he has obviously witnessed Glimmer's quick temper before.

"We don't have that much time left," Glimmer snaps. It's meant to be snarky, but it hits a little deeper in all of us. We stand there frowning at each other for a while.

"So... Do we have a strategy for the Games?" Clove asks.

"We kill Jonah," Glimmer says quickly. She's obviously thought about this before.

"What?" Clove says. She looks kind of shocked.

"He'll only drag us down, Two," Glimmer says, giving me a pointed look.

"Alright," I say. "I'll do it."

"Cato!"

"Later, Clove."

Glimmer looks a little odd. She's giving us both a weird look.

"So, Cato..." She starts. I glance at Clove. "Your costume last night was really great."

"Um, thanks," I say uncomfortably.

"Glimmer, why don't you and Marvel give us a moment?" Clove says, pulling me aside before anyone can protest. I notice Glimmer making a face at our now intertwined fingers.

"Cato, how could you say something like that?"

"Like what, Clove?"

"You're going to kill Jonah?!"

"No... I just said that to shut Glimmer up."

"You better have."

"What are you acting so weird?"

"Why am I acting weird? You're the one who totally spazzed this morning and almost trampled me! It was like that time at the damn Academy again. Do you remember that? Last year? When you were all worked up about-"

"I remember," I snap. Clove glares.

I swallow thickly and, by staring intently at her, focus my energy away from anger. "I'm so sorry, Clove. You know I didn't mean to."

"I know... That's what's so messed up about it. You would never do that. You would never kill a twelve-year-old, or anyone for that matter! The you- the you I used to know. You're already changing... maybe you are a killer."

Ouch. That stings. I can't bring myself to speak. Clove goes back and joins the others. I stand there for a while with my lip trembling.

"Hello, Cato," someone says beside me. I jump.

"Marina. Hi," I say, trying to regain my composure.

"Where's Clove?" Marina asks.

"With One. Where's Jonah?"

"With Eleven," she nods to the left, where Jonah is making small talk with the girl from 11. They look so normal, like they could be just two kids chatting on the playground at school. Almost.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Marina asks.

"Um... Clove and I had... A disagreement."

"What about?"

I purse my lips, not knowing if I should tell her Glimmer's plan for killing Jonah, and certainly not willing to mention my explosion. Marina gives me a look that means I can trust her. I take a deep breath.

"They want to kill Jonah," I say, then look down. Surprisingly, Marina doesn't look upset. Instead she looks like she's figuring out a puzzle.

"You should do it," she says after a while.

"What?"

"He won't last long anyway. And I think I can trust you to make it quick." Her sad brown eyes are pleading me to save her young district partner through death. I glance back over at Jonah and the girl from 11 and realize Marina's right. Jonah couldn't last a minute on his own, and if he comes with us, Glimmer and Marvel will kill him in an instant., and likely in an unforgiving way. I'm suddenly wishing someone could go ahead and kill me so I won't have to suffer the Games. But I know it's not that simple.

"Okay," I tell Marina.

"Thank you," she says. "Now you should probably go join the others before they get suspicious."

"Just me? Aren't you coming?" I ask her. She bites her lip and glances at Glimmer and Marvel.

"I don't trust them," she says.

"Me neither. But I figured Clove and I'd ditch 'em after the bloodbath. Wanna join us?" I ask. The bloodbath is what happens at the start of every Games. When you first get into the arena, you have to wait for 60 seconds on a metal plate before you can make a move. When the times up, it's an insane free-for-all as everyone races for the Cornucopia: the main source of food, weapons, and supplies. The bloodbath is usually when most of the tributes are killed. One year it wiped out more than two thirds of them.

"Yeah," is all she says. "Now go."

I nod and walk back over to the rest of the Career pack, standing between Clove and Glimmer. I glance to my right at Glimmer and Marvel. Really, Glimmer's the only one I think could attack me the moment my back is turned. Marvel is very quiet, and doesn't seem like the kind to do such a thing. Then again, Glimmer may be too stupid to be able to pull it off. The hopeful thought of her dying in the bloodbath makes it a little easier to keep the small smirk on my face. But I remember Clove's remark and find disgust at my malicious longing, my face going dark.

Clove

Cato rejoins District 1 and I after a few minutes, putting an unreadable plainness on his face. It could mean anything. Is he mad at me? Is he going to have another panic attack? I think he was talking with the girl from 4, Marina, and I wonder what they were talking about. I'm also curious as to why she and Jonah aren't with us. I look to my left and see Jonah standing in between the tributes from 12 and 11, chatting quietly with the twelve-year-old from 11. She's small- really small- with big brown eyes and her poof of dark brown hair tied up in pigtails that stick out from the sides of her head. She's cute. She and Jonah are talking like they've known each other forever. I remember when I was a kid and could do just that. I had a lot more friends back then, but now that I'm older it's not as simple. Everything seems so much easier when you're young.

I'm starting to move my eyes back to the front, where a tall, athletic woman has just come out to explain how training will work, when my eyes catch on the boy from 11. My defiant smirk falters slightly. He's huge. Taller and more muscular that Cato. Suddenly I am fearing for my life, and the realization that I am in the Hunger Games finally fully hits me, truly hits me, more than ever before.