Chapter 2

Cassidy and I were escorted out of the Justice Building and into a car.

I sat down in the old, worn out leather and shifted around. I was so scared; I looked at the floor of the car. It was perfect, clean, and great smelling, it was almost like it was out of one of those magazines that came straight from the capitol.

Cassidy sat down on the seat right by me. She scooted closer to me, I felt like she would be my last glimpse of my home, where I grew up, where my friends and family lived, and now it would ripped away from me. I sighed and looked into Cassidy's eyes; they were a nice light green color.

"Hey," I said, "Don't worry; I'll take care of you. I'll make sure you're safe, I'll make sure you don't get hurt."

We got to the train station. I got out of the car as fast as a snail. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave my home, my friends, my family, my life.

We then got onto the train; it was as sleek as a bullet, and as fast as a jack-rabbit. Cassidy and I were then left alone in a room where we waited for our mentor, Damon Rain.

He had won only two years ago. So, his mind was fresh, and he would probably remember more than the older mentors from the other Districts. He came in and sat down and gave us a big, long, hard stare down.

I sat there, trembling.

He then sighed. "You are both nervous, no?"

We both nodded.

He then looked at Cassidy "Here, take this." He handed her a knife. "Get good at using one, okay."

His voice was cold as stone.

I glanced at out the window. I saw trees, rocks, and birds. I saw how free they were. And then I looked at myself and how I was being sent to my death in some stupid arena with blood thirsty teenaged careers.

Night fell, I tried to get some sleep but the butterflies in my stomach kept me up

. "Maybe a drink will help." I thought.

I got up and walked out of my room on the train. I made my way down the dimly lit hallway. I had on some capitol slippers and found them to be quite comfortable.

I miraculously found my way into the bar car. I glanced at all the different colored liquids in their bottles. I saw one drink in particular. Its subtle amber color, and its slow moments in its bottle, which meant it was a thick drink. I took it off the shelf and smelt the rim. I then dropped the bottle, it fell to the floor and shattered, I then started crying.

"God, when will all this damn crying end?" I wondered.

I was kneeling in the sticky, amber, alcoholic drink, and glass on the floor.

Then Cassidy came in to the room and somehow picked me up and threw me over her shoulder. She then laid me down in the bathtub in her bathroom and began to take the glass out of my knees. My head was spinning over all of the hot tears that I had been crying.

That drink was the drink my mother and father used to drink on the holidays.

When all the glass was out of my leg, Cassidy began to clean the places where the glass had punctured my knees. It hardly hurt, at least not as much as my head. The headache was terrible. I just wanted to go home.

"Please, be careful, don't hurt yourself." Cassidy pleaded.

She wrapped my legs with some bandages that were in one of the cabinets.

"Thanks." I said awkwardly.

We sat there in silence while I was in my pajama shirt and my pants rolled up to my knees where the cuts where, soaked in water.

"Do you know and survival skills; any at all?" Cassidy asked.

"Well, my brother has shown me how to make a fire with a type of rock called flint; oh and I can also throw knives, somewhat."

She smiled, "Well, that's a start now isn't it?"

"You bet!" I replied. "Now time to get back to bed, we'll be there in about 8 hours." "There" I thought I never thought I'd have to visit "there" I went back into my compartment and climbed in to the bed. And I surprisingly slept really well.

I woke the next day with the image of an Avox in the corner of my room. She glanced toward the door to the bathroom. I took the hint and went and took a shower. The room steamed up as I made the sower hot; hot water, a rare thing to get your hands on in Nine.

I noticed allot of buttons on the wall to my right. I pressed a red one. Bam! A scrubber hit me on the back, nearly making me lose my balance, I looked at it and it began to scrub the impurities off my body. When the shower ended I was particularly clean.

I walked in my room to discover the Avox gone and a set of clothes on the bed. I put the clothes on and went out in to the dine car.