Chapter 3

My grip on Peeta's hand has just got tighter and tighter since we got in the car. The train infront of us looks amazing. I've seen a lot of trains come into the train station but I have never had a chance to see the Tribute train. Hardly anyone gets to see it. Me and Peeta get to see it this year and no one else does.

My feet are planted into the ground, momentarily stunned. That is until Effie speaks, beckoning us forward to get on the train. Peeta pulls on my hand and I follow him, forgetting about all the cameras by my left. As soon as the doors on the train shut behind us, I let go of Peeta's hand. I might not want to do it but I'm still annoyed that he volunteered. I could have gone in with Eric and beat him and come home, he would be gone from our lives forever and me and Peeta would be free to live our lives but instead one of us or both of us is going to die. I volunteered because I had to, he volunteered so that I wouldnt go into the arena with a mad man even though I could have just stayed away from him.

"Katniss, you need to move." Peeta says, nudging me forward. I'm stood frozen in the doorway to a room that is packed full of elegant food. "Come on." Effie is already standing in the middle of the room waiting for us but I'm blocking Peeta's path so I move forward and drag my legs over to one of the comfy looking chairs to the side. Peeta sits beside me and Effie sits infront of him.

I find myself looking out the window as Effie begins talking about how 'brilliant' it is that we where picked and how we can be 'happy for eachother that we get to take part in something as great as The Hunger Games' which earns her a snide comment off Peeta on how 'this wasnt supposed to happen' or something like that. I tune out the last of the conversation until she mentions Haymitch. "He's probably in the bar car." She says, jumping up to go and find him.

I had completely forgot about Haymitch. The one chance at our survival is probably drinking himself ill right now after what happened today. I know he likes to hide it but he cares about us. "Katniss?" Peeta asks through the silence of the room. "Are you going to talk to me?" I turn away from him and stare out the window again. "Look, I understand if you dont feel like talking but could you atleast explain to me why you wont even look at me?"

Thats when I decide to say something. "I cant believe you did that." I say, still facing the window. "I would have been fine."

He's silent for a second or two before speaking. "I think we both know you wouldnt have been fine. Who knows what he could have done to you in that arena. Anyway, you volunteered aswell."

The anger explodes from me at his last comment and I can feel more tears fall from my face. "I did it to save Prim! Just like you would have done! You didnt have to volunteer. I could have got him out of our lives forever and me and you could have done whatever we wanted when I got back but no!... You had to ruin everything by sticking your hand in the air!" I shout, realising now that I'm stood on my feet.

"I know that you did it to save Prim and I didnt just do it because of Eric, I did it to save you!" He shouts back, standing up to face me.

"You Promised me that you wouldnt volunteer for me. You just went back on a promise!" I shout.

"Because I love You and I cant watch you in there knowing that I cant do anything to help you!" His voice is louder than I have ever heard it and it scares me a little so instead of saying anything else, I wrap my arms around his middle and cry. "I'm sorry." He chokes, pulling me close and burying his face in my hair.

I hear the door open behind us and a voice speaks up before I even have chance to pull away from Peeta. "Congratulations." Someone familiar says. I look towards the door to see Haymitch there. "Looks like we are going to the Capitol together this year." I can tell by the red face and the croakiness of his voice that he was crying, however much he tried to hide it.

"Good to see you too Haymitch." Peeta says without even turning around.

Haymitch staggers over to the seat that Effie was sitting in but me and Peeta stay stood up. "I'm sorry. I cant believe this happened...Its gonna be hard with what just happened at the reaping."

"What do you mean?" I ask him, sitting down back in my seat whilst Peeta takes his.

"You two are going to be big targets. You both have something to lose and with Peeta's wrist still broken, he isnt as strong. Though I might be able to get something for the wrist to help. I'm not saying it will fix it but it will give you about a weeks worth of healing all in one so if we get it done tomorrow then you should be alright by the games but you're gonna have to train it up to get the strength back in it." Up until now I just felt like this whole thing was just a terrible nightmare but then Haymitch mentions the games and the tears flow from my eyes. This isnt a nightmare, its real and its happening and one of us here wont be here next time we are on this train.

As I cry, I expect Peeta's arms but instead I get Haymitch's. "Its alright, I'll what I can. We can find a way." Thats when I pull away as I realise the truth. I definitely wont be able to live in this world without Peeta and somehow I know that its the same the other way around. I would rather him die with me than go home and kill himself alone and scared.

I look to him, he's looking right back at me. "I dont want to come out of that arena." I say loudly enough for them both to hear. Haymitch looks startled and Peeta looks as if he is about to reject to that idea so I put my hand up to stop him. "I dont want either of us too." Then they both look confused. "I know that I would be able to live without you Peeta and I know you wouldnt either. I want to die with you and I want you to die with me and if thats selfish, I dont care, I dont want you to be alone when you die." Tears appear in Peeta's eyes and he jumps up to hug me.

"So, you're talking about a suicide mission?" Haymitch asks from behind Peeta, who's now blocking my view of Haymitch.

I move away from Peeta and turn to Haymitch. "Come on, we're from 12, we wherent going to win anyway. Now I'm going to bed, where is it?" I ask him, wanting to finish this conversation.

He hands sticks out towards the door that we came in when we first got here. "Out there, down the corridor, The first 2 doors are your room and Peeta's room. The recaps will be on again tomorrow morning, you can just watch them then." I nod and leave them both too it, going to my bedroom.

Its so elegant. Different than anything I have ever seen. Even Haymitch's house. His house is posh but this is amazing. Almost everything is silk. There is even a silk overlay on the walls. There is a small bathroom off to the left of the door I walked in and a huge window on one side, showing the trees as they fly back. My mouth hangs open at how amazing it is.

I dont have long to think about it as the door slides open behind me making me jump and Peeta walks in. I pull him into my arms and kiss him, just like I have been waiting to do since the reaping. When I pull away he smiles. "I figured you would want to watch the recaps so I thought that me and you could watch them in here, alone and I got Haymitch to order our dinner to your bedroom." I smile in thanks. There is no-one I want to be with right now other than Peeta.

And so that night, me and Peeta curl up under the covers of my bed and watch the recaps. I see lots of faces but hardly any of them make a lasting expression, except the boy and girl from 2. The girl, very small but still looks extremely lethal. She doesnt volunteer which is surprising for 2 and no-one tries to volunteer for her. The boy, Cato is a giant of a man, probably even taller than Gale. He does Volunteer. I can see that one being a very big threat, if not the person to kill me. Then District 11, A boy that is even bigger than Cato but looks like he keeps himself to himself. Then one tiny girl who brings a tear to my eye. Rue, she looks so terrified, as a 12 year old you would think that someone would have volunteered but no-one did and I find my heat aching for Prim.

Then District 12 appears and there is Effie being 'attacked' by Haymitch. They skip out the part with the video because they showed it before district 1. Then Prim's name is called and I volunteer. It shows Haymitc's face and he looks as if he's about to cry which I didnt know happened. After all the screaming from Prim, Eric is called and on screen my face drains of all colour. As he takes his place next to me with a smile on his face, Effie calls for Volunteers and the camera cuts to a hand sticking out of a crowd of boys and Peeta makes his way towards the stage. Then we hug and its over.

"Well it seems that we have a good selection of tributes this year." I hear claudius Templesmith say over the end of the video as it fades back into him and Caesar Flickerman.

"Indeed it does, and them tributes from 12. I think its going to be very interesting this year." Caesar says and then the screen goes black as Peete presses the button on the remote.

He laughs slightly and I can feel it rumble through his chest. "I dont know about you but I dont want to hear them talk about us. I just want to sleep." I nod in agreement and I fall further into the sheets, allowing the rumbling of the train floor to take me into sleep.

When I wake up in the morning, Peeta is still there, asleep next to me. It feels good to sleep next to him again. Especially given the circumstances. I move slowly as not to wake him. I dont know how long he was up last night but it was probably quite a while. I know that Peeta never sleeps when he is worried. I sleep if I need to and today I needed to because I havent slept in a while, not properly anyway.

Once I'm out the room and Peeta is still asleep, I make my way back towards the cart where I was yesterday, whatever it was called. I'm guessing someone will be in there, if not then I'm sure I'll find them eventually. I'm hoping that I'll find Haymitch as I really hate Effie. With my luck today though I'll find her and she will drill me about something that I couldnt care less about.

And I'm right, the first person I come across is Effie Trinket, sitting at the breakfast table, ignoring all the food and dabbing some kind of make-up on her nose. Until she notices me and then her hands fold neatly on the table and she smiles at me. "Come sit down dear. Have some breakfast." She says kindly. Regardless of how much I hate her, I am actually really hungry so my legs drag me forward and I fall into a chair across from Effie, picking up food from the different plates. "Before I go and find Haymitch, do you know where Mr Mellark is? I went to both of your bedrooms last night after the recaps and neither of you answered." She asks.

With a mouth full of food, I answer very calmly. "Yeh, we watched the re-caps in my room and then we fell asleep, he's currently still sleeping." Something in her face turns sour and somehow I know its not because I'm showing her all the food I'm eating which you can tell doesnt please her anyway.

"Thats really sweet Miss Everdeen but I dont think, at your age that you should be sleeping with-" I dont even have time to shout at her when a voice appears behind us.

I didnt even hear him come in but apparently he did. "I authorised it, I said it was fine." Haymitch says and Miss Effie Trinket loses her temper and walks out the room. "I love going against what she says." Haymitch howls, falling down into the chair, previously used by Effie.

"Do you think we should tell her?" I ask him. I'm not talking about telling her all of our secrets, just the fact that we all know eachother, if she hasnt figured it out already herself.

He shakes his head almost instantly, "She will figure it out eventually. She doesnt need to know just yet. You see Effie has always cared about the tributes however much she tries to deny it and if she found out that we all know eachother, I fear that some kind of 'team' speech would happen and then you would never get rid of her, trust me I never have and probably never will." He laughs slightly and I find myself smiling, still eating the food on my plate.

Sorry I know its a very short chapter but I needed a filler chapter. The next one will be the tribute parade.