Soon we leave District 5 and start heading off down another straight track. I decide to turn on the television. They've got live coverage of District 8's reaping. From what I can tell they've just finished the covering of District 4's reaping, which happens to be half an hour ahead of District 8. It's an ugly, urban district and people look very tired.
They call out girls first. I don't hear the girl's name because my eyes are too fixed on her. She looks about fourteen years old. She's strong and lean and has got the thickest black hair I've ever seen. Her green eyes stare into the crowd, darting around, looking for family.
"Jessie!" A girl my age shouts out. She breaks into a run and lets out a loud, high pitched wail. She tries to escape past the peacekeepers, but they easily pick her up. She squirms in their arms. One peacekeeper nods to another and suddenly a bullet enters the girl's head. She goes bug eyed and flails her arms in one last try to get to her sister before she goes completely limp.
Jessie, the girl who was reaped, and a sixteen year old in the crowd start screaming. A woman in the crowd faints and a man who was standing next to her leans over and catches her. I shut off the TV immediately.
That is scary. Seriously scary. They shot a girl just for calling out to her sister. A girl my age. Suddenly I hear a conversation taking place outside of my door.
"She saw that. She shouldn't have seen that,"
"Should we give her the injection?"
"Yes. This could lead to very dangerous things if we refrain from doing so,"
"Alright," Kili opens the door and puts on a sickeningly sweet smile, "Excuse me, Finn, could you please follow me?"
"I just saw a girl my age shot on live TV," I say bluntly, "I don't really want to do anything right now,"
"It was a rhetorical question!" She snaps in her silly Capitol accent. I stand up and follow her into another room.
The white lights are almost blinding and there are two white recliners in the middle of the room. Mariea and I are both instructed to lay back in them, so we do.
"Alright," Kili claps her hands, "We are just going to give you a quick jab to make sure you're fine,"
"As in healthy?" Mariea asks. Kili ignores him.
"It won't hurt, so don't panic," She instructs us before moving out of the room. Two doctor looking people come in. Mariea and I are separated by a dark green curtain. One doctor leans over me with a needle in his hand.
"It won't hurt," he assures me, though I doubt he's right. The needle jabs into me and everything goes black.