Game of the Dead Chapter 3
Ian’s arm fell to his side once his knife hit the bull’s-eye of the target in the portion of the training room used for knife throwing. He looked around, noticing some of the tributes staring, impressed at the seven knives Ian had thrown, all of them buried in the small red circle in the middle of the target. Ian panted and rolled his shoulders backwards and forwards to relax them. He cracked his neck and retrieved the knives, stepping back to let Melanie practice.
Ian went to the weapon holder by the knife throwing station to put up his knives. When he reached up to place the last one in its spot, his hand brushed against another tribute’s. He yanked his hand away, turning his head to the side to see who the hand belonged to. A light pink tinged his cheeks as his eyes fell upon the district twelve boy. “O-Oh, um, sorry.” Ian mumbled.
The boy smiled “Oh no, you’re fine.”
Ian returned the smile weakly, ignoring the fact that the boy’s smile was too perfect to be humanly possible and would put the sun to shame with it’s brightness, and reached up once again and slipped the knife into its spot. He turned to the boy, sticking out his hand. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Ian.”
The boy grabbed Ian’s hand and shook it “I’m Anthony.”
Ian reluctantly released Anthony’s hand “Nice to meet you, Anthony.”
“Nice to meet you too, Ian. You’re really good at throwing knives. Have you had any practice?”
Ian thought for a moment, planning out his next words carefully. Did he want to reveal his secret hunting life to this boy? He could easily be overheard by one of the adults in the training center, and then he’d end up either without a head or without a tongue. He shrugged “Guess I’m just a natural”
Anthony raised an eyebrow “Wow. So you’ve never used a throwing knife before?” His tone suggested he didn’t quite believe Ian.
Ian shook his head, trying to ignore how the disbelieving the boy sounded. “Don’t really have much use for them in the District eleven.”
“I don’t think there’s much use for them in any district besides the Career Districts.”
“Yeah, that’s true”
“Are you good at anything besides throwing knives?”
“I’m pretty good with a bow and arrow” Ian immediately regretted the words, expecting Anthony to ask how he knew he was good.
However, the boy didn’t seem to find the words suspicious in the least, or if he did, he chose not to point it out. “Really?” Anthony turned to look at the training station used for shooting arrows, finding it empty. “Wanna show me?”
Ian raised an eyebrow “You want to see me practice?”
Anthony nodded “I want to see if you’d be a worthy ally”
Ian fought the grin that tried to creep up on his face. The boy was considering him as an ally. He fought against the giddy feeling that spread through him. “Prepare to be impressed” He sauntered over to the station in a somewhat cocky manner and retrieved a bow from the weapon holder as well as a quiver. “Wow, these things are fucking nice” He muttered as he admired the silver weapon, his eyes wide in awe.
“Are you gonna show me something or are you gonna flirt with inanimate objects?”
Ian’s face flushed and he cleared his throat. “Sorry, these things are just really nice.” Without another word he slung the quiver across his back and held the bow in his hands. He stepped to the shooting range and loaded the bow, pulling the string back and aiming for the head of the first target. He let go and watched the arrow fly, the tip burying itself into the middle of the painted target. He continued to shoot multiple targets until the quiver was empty.
“Wow” He heard Anthony’s voice behind him. He turned around, grinning when he saw the boy staring behind him at the targets, a look of pure awe painting his perfect features. Every arrow that had been shot had either buried itself in the middle of the target or really damn close to it. “How are you such an amazing shot?”
Ian shrugged “Like I said, I guess I’m just a natural” He saw disbelieve flash in the boy’s eyes, but it soon disappeared and he turned to Ian with a smile.
“You’re so lucky. I wish I was as good as that.” Ian searched the boy’s face for any sign of envy, but all he found was utter awe. He felt a million tiny little butterflies flap their wings in his stomach because this utterly perfect boy was impressed with him when he was far from perfect.
“I could teach you.” Ian smiled at the thought of teaching this perfect boy how to shoot. He fought off the thoughts of exactly how he could teach him, a light blush creeping up his cheeks.
Anthony seemed to ponder the idea for a moment before nodding “You could. Wanna be allies?” This time Ian allowed the grin to invade his face and he shook Anthony’s now outstretched hand as he nodded. The boy grinned as well “Great”
Ian suddenly remembered something and frowned “Could the girl from my district be included in this?”
Anthony flashed Ian an incredulous look. “Well, of course! Did you really expect me to leave her out?” Ian sighed with relief because yeah, he kind of did. Most people who requested to be allies with kids from other districts decide to leave their partners out. But this guy was different, apparently. Just another reason to add to the list that this boy was perfect.
Ian smiled at him gratefully “Thanks. You should meet her, so she’s not a stranger when the games roll around”
“Call her over, then” Ian quickly scanned the training room for his friend, spotting her putting away her throwing knives. He went over to her, explaining their new ally arrangements with Anthony, then motioned for her to follow him so she could meet the boy. She followed him and smiled at Anthony when they reached the boy.
Anthony smiled back and the two shook hands. As they started talking, Ian let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding. He didn’t think Anthony would really like Melanie, but the two seemed to get along pretty well. As the two were talking, Ian’s eyes aimlessly scanned the room. His eyes made contact with a group of career tributes who were staring at him. From his position, he couldn’t tell if they were glaring at him or not. What he could tell, though, was that they definitely didn’t like him. The thought left a bitter, almost poisonous taste in his mouth. It was not a good idea to be on the bad side of the career tributes.
Ian felt his heart start to pound as the fear spread through his body like deadly venom, images of different ways the career tributes could murder him. In his mind’s eye he saw himself lying in a pool of his own blood; with his head cut off; with multiple arrows lodged in his body, with his head smashed; with his body blown to pieces; with-
“Ian?” he was yanked sharply from his thoughts and his eyes darted to look at his two friends, one new and one old, next to him. “You okay? You look paler than usual.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine” A look of concern flashed on both of the teens faces, but Ian just waved them off. “Really, I’m fine. Just got lost in my own thoughts for a few minutes”
“What were you thinking about? You look like you just saw the devil’s dick or something”
Ian couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the statement. He clutched his stomach as he laughed “Th-The devil’s dick?” He continued to laugh for a couple minutes before wiping away tears. He looked up to see a very annoyed Melanie and amused Anthony.
“You never answered my question”
“I don’t even remember now” Ian lied. “So, the devil’s dick is apparently terrifying?”
“Shut up!” Melanie muttered, glaring at Ian. Ian heard Anthony chuckled beside him and he couldn’t stop the small smile that stretched his lips. Even his tiny chuckle was fucking adorable.
Melanie seemed to notice the smile and she raised an eyebrow at Ian, smirking. Her eyes darted between the two boys, making kissy faces. Ian glared at her and slapped her on the shoulder, earning a scoff and feigned look of offence from Melanie. He looked up to see if Anthony had noticed the exchange, but he seemed to be staring at something somewhere in the training room. Ian and Melanie followed his gaze to the same group of career tributes Ian had caught staring at him.
“I think they’re glaring at us” Anthony said, his tone full of worry.
“Shit” Melanie muttered under her breath “That’s not a good sign”
“They’re probably just mad because we have more skills than they do.” Ian knew he shouldn’t be joking, but come on, an attempt to lighten the mood wouldn’t hurt anyone. Anthony chuckled at Ian’s words, but Melanie flashed him a serious glare.
“Ian, this isn’t something we should joke about. This is serious shit. They could murder us easily”
“So could we” Anthony butted in. “Well, at least Ian can. I’m not a very good shot with anything, and I haven’t seen you practice.”
“She’s really good” Ian said. “At least at throwing knives.”
Melanie nodded “Yeah, you’re right Anthony. But, we still should at least be wary of them.” Both boys made a sound of agreement and nodded their heads. “For now, let’s just observe them so we know exactly what we’re up against.”
Ian entered the dining car after his shower, seeing everyone else was waiting for him. He smiled sheepishly and mouthed a ‘Sorry’ before taking his seat between Melanie and Emily, right across from Ras, who greeted him with a warm smile. “How did training go today?”
“Pretty good.” Ian piled his plate with food, shoving a large bite in his mouth. “Made a new ally” He said once he’d swallowed.
Ras raised an eyebrow, an impressed look crossing his face. “Really? With who?”
“The district eleven boy”
Ras smirked “Oh, you mean the one you seem to fancy?”
Ian choked on his mouthful of food, his eyes wide. Melanie slapped him hard on the back, glaring at Ras. When Ian finally composed himself he took a sip of water and tried to glare at Ras, but he only looked stupid with his flushed face. “I-I do not fancy him!”
“Mhm, that’s why his outfit gave you a boner” Ian’s eyes widened even more and he spluttered, the color of his face cutting tomatoes from their jobs. Ras only laughed at the look on his face, and Melanie soon joined in. Emily just stared at them, trying not to laugh, her amusement clear on her face.
“I hate all of you” Ian muttered, shoving another forkful of food in his mouth. He fisted his jeans with his other hand to keep from flipping everyone around him off. The group only chuckled and went back to eating, Melanie and Ras smirking at him while Ian just glared back.
Ian cursed under his breath when Melanie said “And the career tributes didn’t seem to be too happy with us.” He glared at her, earning a confused look from Melanie. He looked up to see Ras was frozen with his fork between his lips, his eyes wide. He quickly swallowed his food before talking.
“The career tributes what?!”
Both teens flinched at Ras’ tone which clearly conveyed he wasn’t too happy with them either. “They don’t like us” Ian squeaked quietly. “They were glaring at us.”
Ras shook his head, a look of worry tainting his features. “Look, just be careful, alright? Being on their bad side is not good at all.” The two just nodded and went back to their food, their minds filled with worrisome images of the career tributes.
When Ian lay in bed later that night, he hated to admit that Ras and Melanie were right. He couldn’t get Anthony out of his mind. He should be worried about what would happen with him and the career tributes, but all he could think about was that damn boy. All he could think about was his damn perfect everything. His mind continued to drift off to dirtier thoughts of the boy and he sighed frustratedly, trying to push them out of his head. He was trying to go to sleep for fuck’s sake, not daydream about dirty sex with a boy he barely knew. He rolled over on his side, cursing under his breath and trying to clear his thoughts of the frustratingly perfect boy from district eleven. When his thoughts finally cleared he sighed with relief and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.