Oxygen // Pogue

[charade]

Thwack Thwack Thwack Thwack

The jump rope beat the ground in rapid succession, Katrina keeping the time in her head, moving in time, flowing with it. It was a rhythmic workout. Like the one the boy over by the strength training area was doing. He was a freckled redhead with angry eyes. But most careers had those. If you didn’t have the drive you had hate. If you didn’t have hate you had courage. There were other reasons, but Katrina didn’t care to list them. At the end of the day, you either had the mettle or you didn’t, and God help you if you didn’t figure that out until after you were reaped.

She had seen enough careers choke in the games that she knew she didn’t want to be like them. It was too easy to slip up and get killed. If nature itself could take a person off guard, so could people, except that they were a lot easier to handle than a wall of water. The only person she could rely on was herself. Not her family, not any potential allies, not her district partner, and certainly not the mentor. Leon Krigel was a joke. Hadn’t trained his brother properly and it was looking like he didn’t do jack for his cousin either. At least Teach looked like he had some fight in him.

Four would have been better off with Siren Baitwell.

Maybe then it wouldn’t have been six years since their last victor. Five years of watching stupid tributes with stupid names from stupid districts take home the crown, sending careers home in coffins. What the fuck kind of name is Persimmon anyway? Katrina slowed down and panted from her exertion, watching the boy a bit more closely. He knew what he was doing. He stood like a boxer, and every time his fists connected with the bag there was a resounding thump that made it swing and made the chain clink. Not many careers ever took the time to work on their hand to hand skills. So it was odd to see someone beating the unholy shit out of a punching bag. Though she never would have admitted it out loud, she was impressed. So she strode over to the redhead and decided to let him know the only way she knew how.

“Bet you five bucks you can’t land that many punches on a moving target.”She said challengingly. Katrina waited until he was looking at her to continue, beckoning him forward with one hand. She wondered if he found her height intimidating. Seemed like most people did.“Come on. You’re the most interesting person here.” She stepped into a fighting stance, daring him with her eyes and bouncing slightly on her heels as she raised her arms. Maybe she didn’t know how to box, but she knew how to brawl. Adrenaline was already shooting through her veins.

“Let’s dance. Or are you a chumbucket?”