A Dragon's Spirit's Chapter
Sorry for the wait. Hopefully this lives up to your expectations. Slightly longer than my last chapter.
Jason- Train Ride
The train moved away from the station at a steady speed, the buildings of District five already in the distance. But even after signs of home had long since disappeared, I still stood there, at the window, staring out at the long plains of empty grass.
I was aware of Amber standing at the window next to mine, but I wasn't really paying attention to anything at the moment. The train shuddered and clanked under my feet. I might never see home again.
Suddenly I was yanked back from the window, and I fell on the floor. I scrambled to my feet and turned around.
I recognized Erik, our coach to prepare for the games. I'd seen him around the district before. We had several victors, but they were all dead now. Except for Erik.
"What'd you do that for?" I asked, rubbing the arm I'd landed on.
He didn't even look at me. "You have to pay attention to survive in the games. And that includes you, Amber." He raised his voice.
Amber heard her name called and she began to turn around, but it was too late. She was pushed to the floor as well.
He then looked at me for the first time and pointed at each of us in turn with a finger. "Dead. And dead."
He chuckled as Amber got to her feet. "Daydreaming, getting lost in your thoughts, and not paying attention are three surefire ways to get killed in the Games. Why, neither of you would last a minute in there. We have a lot of work to do."
Amber glared at him. "Why'd you do that?"
He laughed even harder now. "I guess you were really out of it when I explained this to your friend moments ago. Ask him later if you really want to know."
He sat down on the couch. "Sit down, and we'll get started."
Both of us reluctantly sat down on the couch across from Erik.
Erik looked back and forth between the two of us. "First thing's first. Sponsors. In the arena, you don't have to be good with a sword, bow, hammer, or any of that shit. All you really need to know how to do is to run and survive. If you can run fast enough, other tributes will take care of all your opponents for you spare one. Then you can beat that last tribute with trickery."
"But there is something that helps the second thing you need to do. Like I said before, you need sponsors. You need to make people, more specifically, the citizens of the Capitol, like you. If they like you, they won't want to see you die so fast, won't they?"
"Make them like you, and they might just spend their money and send you a gift. Like if you are bleeding and stranded, they might just send you medicine. So that's your first task. Any questions?"
Amber and I both shook our heads no. I mean, I think I sort of got the idea about the sponsors. I just wondered if I could actually keep the information in my head.
"You also need to know who your biggest threats are. Forge alliances with them, or make alliances against them. Either way removes the threat. But whatever you do, get trustworthy, at least for the moment, members for your alliance. But whatever you do, don't go rogue. That's the worst thing you could do. You'll find yourselves surrounded one day, facing a alliance of six by yourself and you have no where to run. What do you think will happen then, huh?"
He silently drew his finger across his throat, his face devoid of any emotion.
"I've seen it happen before. I was in the Games. I survived 'cause I used my brains, not my brawn. Listen," he said, "You two look like good enough people. But a good person doesn't make it in the games. The smart ones do." He stood up. "Think about that."
As suddenly as he entered, he left the compartment. Amber and I glanced at each other.
"What do you think he meant by that last thing? Good people not making it?"
Amber asked.
"I don't know. Maybe he meant you can't show any mercy to your enemies."
I paused. "Well, he did say to make alliances." I smiled. "So let's start now. Alliance?" I asked, holding out my hand to Amber.
She smiled. "Alliance." And we shook on it.