The head trainer takes us on a tour of the training center before we are released to learn. The place is cavernous and has so many stations. There are racks of weapons with mannequins and bullseyes, weight lifting stations, treadmills, rock climbing walls, simulated tree climbing areas, and even a pool for people to learn to swim on the off chance the arena we are placed in has a substantial amount of water. There are also a number of survival stations, knot tying, fire starting, one with dozens of natural dyes for camouflage, a place to learn about different shelters for different terrain, and on and on.

She gives us a brief lecture on the rules of the training center, essentially there is no fighting between tributes, and anyone who does will be sent back to their tower with no training and will receive an automatic 1 for the Training Score. She also points to the balcony overlooking the gymnasium where a group of men and women in purple robes sit watching. The gamemakers. Here to see what the tributes have to offer for their show. They give a wave and sit watching as we break up to go to our stations.

Bran and I go right to the fire starting as we decided at breakfast. The tributes from 8 apparently have the same idea and arrive. "Do you mind?" says Spoola, the girl.

"No," both Bran and I say.

The trainer there instructs us on two different fires, one is a small smoldering one that generates heat but no flames, which is good for concealing our location. The second is a large blazing fire that arcs a foot or two into the air, which can be used to ignite and trap tributes. Bran and I break off and partner with the District 8 tributes, the sooner I make a connection the better.

Unfortunately, that connection appears to have grown into me actually liking Spoola.

"District 9, eh?" she says.

"Yeah," I say.

"I saw your outfit at the parade, it looked nice." Honestly, her's looked way better.

"Thanks, yours was great," I say.

She laughs, "Embarrassing though! We were barely wearing anything!"

I laugh too, which alarms me. How could I laugh at a time like this? How can I laugh at all anymore?

"So," Spoola says, dropping her voice to a whisper, "What made you volunteer?"

I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes, I can't believe I have to explain this over and over. I give her a brief explanation so I don't spoil my skills and ask her the same.

She glances nervously at Ross, who is spinning a twig between his hands and generating a large amount of smoke. "Not long ago, there was an accident back home. It was pretty bad, and the districts still hurtin' a little."

"Oh?" I say, not wanting to push, but dying to know more.

"There was a factory, something went wrong and the whole place blew. Ross and I were supposed to work that day, but we were sick. Our families were there, so were a lot of others. Winning would help out home a lot," Spoola says, her eyes still fixed on Ross. Something deep in her eyes tells me there is something else to that story. Beyond losing family and friends, I don't ask more.

"I lost my family in an accident too," I whisper. "Tractor, there was a gas leak and it was a hot day. Next thing anyone knew the field was on fire and my parents were gone."

Spoola looks at me, "I'm sorry," she says genuinely.

We return to working on lighting the fires, and I am left to think. Spoola could be a good ally, but do I want to grow attached to her? Only one of us can live, of course, there are still 20 more tributes trying to kill us so the odds aren't exactly in our favor.

I listen to Ross and Bran, Ross is far quieter than Spoola, only talking when he has to or handing something to Bran. Losing my parents in that explosion was hard, but to lose everyone and knowing you should have been there is unthinkable. I know that both Ross and Spoola are here because of one thing. Guilt.

Spoola ends up sticking with Bran and me for most of the day, apparently, her mentor, a younger victor named Sasha Collar, had a similar strategy to Quin and Maizer. We practice tree and rock climbing for most of the morning when lunchtime is called. We head to a cafeteria underneath the gamemaker's balcony.

Small four seated tables are spread around the room. Bran, Spoola, and I fill our trays with food and are joined by Bran, who spend a lot of the morning in the pool and shelter stations.

While eating, I notice more awkward eye contact between Spoola and Ross. He also remains quiet as ever, slowly sipping his noodle soup. In the awkward silences between Spoola, Bran, and I, I take note of the other tributes around the room. The tributes from 1, 4, and 7 have predictably formed the career pack. I note that the girl from 5, Mola, is sitting alone and so is Lex from 6. Other than that, most people are eating in small groups with either their district partner or a possible ally.

When lunch is over, I watch the careers head back to the weapons area. The devious-looking Clementine follows them and picks up a knife off the rack. I can't believe my eyes as the girl slices several dummies in seconds, the careers apparently can't either since Adore just stands there with her mouth open. Clementine walks up to Adore, gently closes her mouth, and hands her the knife.

My stomach churns thinking about Clementine, from what I remember she's 14, the youngest person here. I am almost sickened just imagining those dummies as tributes in the arena.

When everyone seems to have recovered from the shock of Clementine's brutality, Bran and I make a plan while Spoola talks to Ross privately.

"I like her," I whisper.

"I do too, Ross is a little quiet though," Bran says.

"I agree, but I think we should request Spoola as an ally."

"You think?" Bran whispers, "Let's see how the rest of the day goes, and we can tell Quin and Maizer at dinner."

"Okay," I agree.

"I was thinking at lunch that we should split up and do more survival training so when we are in the arena we can work together," Bran says. I guess that solidified our alliance.

"Okay, I'm going to go to knot-making with Spoola," I say, "Do you want to go with Ross?"

"Yeah, I'll try. Keep an eye on that Clementine girl too," Bran says. "I don't like her."

We break apart, I watch Bran talk to Ross and see them head to the edible plants and insects station. Spoola joins me and we go learn some knot tying.

We don't spend long there and instead go to the first aid station. We learn quite a bit there on bandaging wounds, splinting a broken or sprained limb, and even making a tourniquet. The instructor prides himself on the fact that a tourniquet saved a tribute's life a ways back and actually got them to survive long enough to win.

When we finish at first aid, there is about an hour left of training. We pick the water collection station. This station is near the entrance to the gymnasium, and you can actually see the seam on the wall with two slightly different colored stones. It is here that the District 2 tower collapsed several years ago, the damage from the Cloud's attack was so powerful it destroyed a part of the training area several yards below ground.

After about an hour of learning different ways to collect water from tropical trees, ocean water, and several ways of purifying it, the whistle sounds and we gather in the center of the gymnasium for one more lecture from the head trainer.

She explains to us the procedure for forming alliances, and that tonight or tomorrow night we can request alliances from our mentors. She also explains that we don't need to do it formally, and that obviously these can change, but it may make training a little better and survival a little easier. With that she dismisses us.

We head back to the District 9 elevator where Clio stands waiting. "You two are sweaty! I can smell you from a mile away," she says with a gigantic smile.

I give her a small smile as we get into the elevator. We arrive back at our apartments and I immediately go to my room for a shower.

At dinner, we recount the day with Quin and Maizer. "Good to hear," Maizer says.

"Do you want to form any alliances?" Quin asks.

"Well, we definitely want to work together in the arena," Bran says, and I nod. I might as well have helped in the first days at least, besides I don't have a much better plan to solo this. He looks at me, "I think we also want Spoola and Ross from District 8."

"Ross? Did it get better with him?" I ask.

"He told me something, he said it's a secret though," Bran answers.

"Secret?" I say, secrets typically involve killing people when it comes to the Hunger Games, "What kind of secret?"

'Nothing about the games, about his home life," Bran says. "I think he's a good person, and I think Spoola and him get along well."

"Alright, then I agree," I say.

"Ok then, I'm going to send Sasha and Felix the requests," she says turning to Maizer, and she leaves the room.

A few minutes later she returns, "Good news, they also requested you as allies. So you are now a team."

With that, I am now tied to Bran, Spoola, and Ross in the arena. We are our own pack, and for better or for worse, I have friends here in the games.