The Odds | NCT DREAM

Chapter 6

It was another long day of training and as much as Jade hated to admit it, the other tributes were improving at a rapid rate. She watched as Jaemin effortlessly threw the spear, a whisker away from hitting dead centre.

"He'll be a tough one." Jade heard Renjun mumble to himself. She turned to Donghyuck who was biting his lower lip. They weren't wrong about Kun. He truly could shape any tribute into a warrior.

Even though many tributes were becoming well-skilled, a good portion of them were still nowhere near the level of the Careers. Jade watched as Hyewon and Bora stifled a laugh as the District 8 girl got her foot stuck on the ropes course on the ceiling, hanging on one foot.

"Survival skills today?" Renjun asked her. Jade nodded as the two went to the snare section which was empty. They arrived at the same time as Chenle, who immediately turned away. Renjun eyed her and Jade noticed that he wanted to say something but didn't exactly have the guts to, knowing it would break his character.

"Stay." Jade said, sounding a bit harsher than intended. She noticed Chenle bit his lip before freezing in his position. He slowly turned around to stare at her.

"There's a lot of room here." Jade pointed out. Chenle slowly nodded his head before joining the two at the station.

The awkwardness was almost unbearable as the three of them learned how to build the snares from the trainer. Once they had learned the procedure, the trainer told them to try it on their own.

Jade and Renjun had quickly learned, and were setting their snares up when Renjun slightly nudged her.

"Sorry." Renjun said but Jade saw his eyes glance at Chenle. Jade turned and saw that Chenle was struggling to recall the next step. Jade looked around, seeing that the gamemakers were too busy socializing and that the other tributes were hard at work.

"You tie a knot around this stick." Jade said, just loud enough for Chenle to hear. She watched Chenle glance at her from the corner of his eye, mouthing the words thanks before doing just as she had instructed. Once they were done, the three of them stepped back, testing their snares. They all worked perfectly, trapping the fake prey before bringing it up to the trees.

"Ey, damn Chenle." Jade turned to see Jisung giving Chenle a pat on the back before the two did a small handshake. She forgot that aside from the Careers, the other tributes probably had their own alliances. As she eyed Renjun, the male still wore his expressionless face but had obviously seen the encounter between the two younger males.

Jade and Renjun returned to where the other Careers stood, waiting in line for the swinging monkey bars when a commotion started from the side of the room.

"Where's my knife?" Jeno was yelling at the District 6 boy. The tributes stared at the two boys.

"I don't have it, I swear!" The boy exclaimed back, holding his hands up.

"I put it right here! You took it!" Jeno was furious as he began cracking his knuckles, making his way towards the boy.

"I didn't, I don't know where it went!" The boy cried. Lucky for him the trainers were holding Jeno back, preventing him from laying a finger on the boy.

"You better watch your back, I'll get you!" Jeno screamed as he was taken away. Jade felt Renjun lightly tap her arm.

"What?" Jade asked as she turned to face him. Renjun eyed the two boys lined up in front of them. Jade followed his eyes and saw Mark and Jaemin looking up. As Jade looked up as well, she saw the small District 11 girl, hidden in the rope course, Jeno's knife in her hands.

"Sneaky." Renjun whispered the comment, just loud enough for her to hear. The thud of the District 5 girl falling off the monkey bars snapped Jade back into reality.