Bailey is right. He could never hurt another person even if he tried. Sunny knows this for a fact. He’s far too gentle of a boy, and after losing his brothers, such a thing has been harder for him to stomach.
Nilla, though, is another matter. She, at the very least, seems prepared to tackle the situation at hand.
Sunny rubs the pad of his finger against his lower lip. “Neither,” he answers honestly. “Your best bet is to get what supplies you can and then run. Everyone will be trying to get the supplies, but The Career Tributes especially will be trying to get as many kills in as they can.”
His eyes find Bailey, and he’s transported back to his own Cornucopia. To the blade that swiped across the back of his calf, almost ending his life then and there. He still wonders, sometimes, how he’d managed to make it out of that moment with just that gash and a few bruises.
The thought of the same thing happening to Bailey makes him want to vomit up what little is in his stomach.
“I want you both to at least know how to defend yourselves,” Sunny continues. “You don’t necessarily need to attack first to survive, but if someone is going to attack you, and they will, then you absolutely need to know how to hold your own.”
The idea of having to fight makes Bailey feel weak, but he knows that’s the name of the game. You starve, and you fight, and whoever doesn’t get killed is declared the winner. He’s grateful that Nilla, at least, seems to know the right questions to ask.
All of this would be easier if it wasn’t his father teaching him how to evade death. If it wasn’t his brother whose place he took on the stage.
“ Are they gonna let us learn other skills ?? ” Bailey asks after a moment of contemplation. “ I know knowing how to defend ourselves is important but neither of us will make it very far if we can’t eat. It’s not like we’re from other districts where they teach us stuff like that . . . ”