rory-hawthorneâ:
âThanks, man.â He was grateful that he hadnât accidentally antagonised a career of all people. Both tributes from Two had the potential to be deadly enemies, and Rory didnât want to make himself- or Prim by extension- a target.
He took Maxâs hand, giving it a strong shake just like Gale had taught him to. âGo ahead. I have no idea how half the technology here works.â It had taken him half an hour that morning to get the shower on.
Heâd already made the conscious decision to absolutely fail at this stealth test. He knew that he could probably pass it easily, and filed that knowledge away as something that could potentially help him in his private session, but he didnât want the other tributes to know. They wouldnât expect a thin, lovesick boy from District Twelve to be a problem.
âLetâs go at the same time?â he suggested. âI have no idea what Iâm supposed to be doing in there.â
Max hadnât thought he would try to like any of the other tributes. Sure, he wanted to be nice and not the kind of assholes that the Careers could be sometimes. But, within those first couple of minutes he kind of liked Rory. Maybe it was the handshake or the fact that he didnât look at him quite like an enemy or something to observe. Maybe, Max was looking for something nicer than what the Hunger Games could offer.Â
âYouâd think since Iâm from Two, Iâd know more, but I can barely operate the things here. I liked the mountains more than the machines back home,â he said, as we walked over to the hologram area. It was pretty large and as he entered commands into the computer, a scene started to pop up in front of them. A large swath of forest encompassed the ground in front of them and three faceless humans began to walk around.Â
âOkay, you ready? You have to try to make it to the other side without getting caught by those creepy guys. Whenever you want we can go.â
















