Chapter 2: On the Way to the Capitol
A peacekeeper takes me and half-drags me into a room. He leaves, and the door slams behind him. I sit down on a chair. This is the most lavish room I have ever seen. The walls are covered in tapestries, and the carpet is softer than anything I know. There is a small table by one wall, situated underneath a huge mirror. Portraits of people I don't recognize hang over the tapestries, and the color scheme almost completely consists of orange and red. Red, the color of blood. My first visitors are my parents. My mother is crying, and my father seems to be on the verge of a breakdown. For a few minutes, my mother's arms are wrapped around me, and then my father's. I try to comfort them, but the words don't come. They know as well as I do that a boy with a crippled foot has virtually no chance in the arena. Then a peacekeeper comes and takes them out of the room. I don't want them to go, but they must. Besides, if they stayed just a little longer, I would be in tears, which would wash away the tiny chance I have of surviving by announcing "Weakling Here" to the rest of the world.
The next people to walk in are my brother and his wife. I've never been very close to him, but now I realize that I'll miss him very much. It reminds me of an old saying, "You never know how much you have until you lose it." I didn't know how much I loved him. I give each of them a hug, and they are gone.
My last visitor is Clay. We sit in silence for a while, then he speaks.
"I should have volunteered for you."
"No," I reply, "Your family needs you to survive; my family can make it without me."
"But still-," he starts to say.
"No," I say again, cutting him off, "You made the right choice. I don't want to talk about it. "
The sad, depressing silence returns. He tries to get the the ball rolling again, but he doesn't succeed. A peacekeeper lets us know that time is up, but before he leaves, Clay pushes an object into my hand and clutches my hands for a few seconds. Then he's gone too. I sit back down and look at the object in my hands. It's a small wooden disk, and I immediately know what it is. When Clay and I were younger, we used to make these disks out of scrap wood we found. Then we would see who could throw them the farthest. I usually won. Well, that's what the game was on some days. On other days, we shot each other with them. He won on those days, since my foot kept me from moving quickly. It might not seem like much, but most kids in ten have to make up their own games, since we're so poor. When Clay turned fifteen, his parents gave him a deck of cards, which must have been very expensive, and we stopped making these disks. I let the wave of memories wash over me. This is a perfect token; to remind me of the better days.
A peacekeeper tells me it's time to head to the station. "It's too early," I think. Oh, I had forgotten about my crippled foot. I follow him out and to the station. He seems very impatient, but then again, most people are, since my top speed is a normal person's walk. I reach the station just as Meadow does. They all slow down for me. Embarrassing. After what seems like hours of pushing through cameramen and reporters, I finally get inside the train.
The train is even fancier than the Justice Building. I first sit down, then I stand up again.
"You might want to sit for a while," Justus advises.
"Why?" I ask, but the train answers my question. It starts to accelerate at an alarming speed, and I fall over onto the floor. I look at Justus. He's obviously amused. I glare at him. After a while, the train seems to remain at the same speed, and I can walk again. Well, I can sort of walk; I keep losing my balance. I stare at Meadow. She looks away, being careful not to look into my eyes. She looks ashamed. Well, she should be. After all, she ruined many years of my life with her constant harassment.
"First things first," Justus says, "I'll show you your rooms, and then we'll eat lunch with your mentors in the dining car." I had forgotten about the mentors. Not like they'll be able to help much.
"Who's mentoring this year?" Meadow asks, and I don't recognize her voice. It's softer than I remember.
"You'll find out at lunch," Justus answers, "Buck, wait here while I take Meadow to her room." He probably thinks I'm too slow. He probably thinks I'm hopeless. He's probably right. I'll be lucky if I make it out of the bloodbath alive. That is, if I decide to go in. Wait, hold that thought. What if...
Justus quickly returns and brings me to my room. It takes a while, because I'm still not used to moving at high speeds, but I eventually make it.
"Take a shower, then meet the rest of us in the dining car," Justus commands, "If you turn right in the hall and keep in that direction, you can't miss it." He walks out. I open the closet. More clothes than I will ever need in a lifetime are in there. I pick out a green shirt and jeans and head into the bathroom. I realize that I've never taken a shower. Sure, I've had baths, but I've never had a shower. I try it out, and it turns out that it's very soothing. I let the water run over me, and I notice that the bottom of the tub prevents slipping. How nice. I turn off the water, put on my clothes, and head toward the dining car. I trip once, but I think I'm getting the hang of moving on a high-speed train.
I work my way down to the dining car. Unsurprisingly, I'm the last one to get there. I reluctantly sit down beside Meadow, as there aren't any other empty chairs. I look at the people sitting at the table. Seated across from us are Austin and Cheyenne (I guess they're mentoring this year), and Justus sits at one end of the table.
"Now that you're here, we can begin lunch," Justus says. Servants bring plate after plate of food. Some are common in District 10, such as beef and pork, since we take care of the livestock, while others are delicacies I've never heard of, such as shark fin soup. Justus gives us our schedule while we eat.
"Since District 10's reaping happens earlier than most district's, you have the rest of the day to yourself," he says. I couldn't care less, but since he's our escort, I guess making sure we're on time is his job. "Dinner will be at 5:30, and we'll watch the recaps of other reapings afterwards," he continues, "We'll be arriving in the Capitol early tomorrow morning." Great, the Capitol, where the people are anxious to see us die.
"Who's mentoring who?" I ask. I'm hoping for Austin, since he's friendly and seems like he would understand me more. Besides, I'm not bad with a whip.
"Why don't you ask them," Justus replies. I look at the previous victors expectantly.
"Well," Austin starts, "I'm currently in charge of you, Buck, so Cheyenne will mentor Meadow. You two fine with that?" Meadow and I both nod. "Good. Let's start now."
"As your mentors, it's our job to try to keep you alive," Cheyenne says, "However, we can only help you if we know what you are good at. Are you fine with letting your partner know your strengths?" Partner. We'll be trying to kill each other soon, so "partners" doesn't describe our relationship very well. But I nod anyway. Apparently, Meadow doesn't see a problem either, because she starts talking.
"I'm okay with a knife," Meadow says, "and I know quite a bit about human anatomy, such as the weak spots and the pressure points." I grimace. Now I know why she was able to get to me so well before.
"Anything else?" Cheyenne questions.
"I'm stealthy enough to avoid scaring the animals," Meadow replies. I mentally make a note to listen carefully one I'm in the arena.
"How 'bout you?" Austin asks me.
"Umm, I've been using a whip for a while, and I'm not bad at it," I cautiously say.
"We'll see about that," he says. I get the impression that he doesn't believe me. "Anything else?"
"My accuracy in general is pretty good, " I say, thinking about how I always beat Clay, "and just because I have a crippled foot doesn't mean I'm weak. I'm not exceptionally strong, but I have some muscle."
"Accuracy doesn't help if you don't know how to properly use a weapon. Try the knife, archery, and spear throwing stations in training," he comments.
Everyone's about done eating at this point, so one by one, everyone starts to leave. First Justus, then Austin and Cheyenne. But before Meadow disappears down the hall, we lock eyes for a second. She quickly looks away and rushes back to her room, but I saw it in her eyes. Pain.