Davina Sterling, 18, District One Female
The goodbye rooms were surprisingly cold for the start of the summer when she went in to say goodbye.
She shivered in her blouse and jeans when her parents came to see her once more, their lips making silents Os of astonishment and surprise. Neither of them expected her to be reaped. Neither of them expected to have to come here today. But they'd be staying up throughout the night, watching the Games for her. She'd never be totally alone in the arena.
As they all hugged before the peacekeepers came in to escort the others out, she saw that Wonder and Lux were crying slightly. She watched small tears slide down their smooth, tanned faces in unison, dripping onto the red, woolen rug below them as they walked out of the doors. Wonder and Lux never cried. They had originally sworn against it when they were eight, deeming the action unworthy of themselves, and from then she had never seen them shed a tear. Until now.
Davina didn't expect the dozens of photographers at the trains when she and her district partner went out to say goodbye. It was good that she had cried the few tears that she could weep before they left. It wouldn't do for these… Capitolites to see her in her vulnerability. She had to be strong for her family.
She later discovered that this was the first year that photographers would document the tributes fully through the games, that the tributes of years past had been able to board their trains without having to hide anything from the press. The president had apparently allowed the press to do so after a fierce rise in documenting celebrities around the Capitol, and now she was stuck inside of their photos forever. At least she didn't cry like Benny had done so.
Benny was a young boy from the mines close to the heart of One, having grown up not taking any tesserae whatsoever. No one expected this one to be reaped, they all expected someone from the heart of the town who was nearly starving to death to be sent to their deaths. That was what the Games were for, to weed out the people who were unnecessary to the district. Well, no one told the reaping bowl such this year, and Davina and Benny were in the Games. At least Mom and Dad had the sense to train her in combat before sending her out to get tesserae. If anything, Davina was at least ready to fight.
And fight she would.
Alexis Telle, 17, District Two Female
She couldn't stop laughing when she had been reaped. The Capitol had finally managed to get rid of the family who couldn't stop disappearing. It was only a matter of time before she died herself, her name to fly away from Panem on the winds of change. No one would remember her in the years to come except as a number.
Unless she won. And she would try. There was nothing to stop her from trying to win. If she did, her family's name wouldn't be easily forgotten. Syrio Ricci, Valerie Telle, and Roman Telle wouldn't be forgotten if she managed to win.
Until then, she would enjoy all of the many, many luxuries that came with being reaped for the Hunger Games. She had listened to lectures from Clay on the radio in the mines, but she was usually too busy chipping away at the rocks in the mines to hear exactly what happened in the Hunger Games. But she remembered that the food on the trains was supposed to be divine. If it was anything but less than that, she'd be disappointed. If the Capitol wanted to kill off twenty-three children every year for rebelling against them, they had to at least feed them well!
She nibbled on a plump grape, rolling it around in her mouth to get used to the texture, then bit down on it slightly, and oh it was everything she had dreamed of. Roman had had fruit before the Games had started with her, their mother had taken them both to a merchant and let them choose an apple that they both liked, but she had never had this… explosion of flavour in her mouth like this! Oh, if only Roman could have been here to taste it, if only!
She paused, the juice of the grape dripping down the back of her throat. Roman was gone. He had been mercilessly killed by the peacekeeper, not before taking his innocence first, and he was never coming back. He was gone forever, forgotten to the world.
She spat the grape out, desperately trying not to taste the flavour, oh so delicious flavour it had. She didn't deserve to taste something that good when she had let Roman die. She hadn't taken care of him enough. And now he was gone.
She pushed the food from the counter away from herself, ignoring the curious looks from Clay. "Are you okay, Alexis?"
"I'm going to go sleep. I'm tired," she mumbled, and she trudged out of the room, ever so slowly, before racing to her bedroom and locking herself inside of it as quickly as she could manage to. No one would hear her cry here.
Sidney Fawkes, 16, District Two Male
He shook Clay Wolfe's hand firmly, enjoying meeting the man himself after first watching him win the Second Hunger Games for Two by surviving the collapse of the stadium and killing off his own district partner. He still remembered how he had walked out of the dust, his sword wet with blood and his eyes apparently wet with tears. But he had stood so firm and looked so strong that all of Two thought it was just his eyes watering, and there were thousands of cheap pictures around Two with the iconic moment forever imprinted onto them. But they never managed to meet the glory of what it looked like on screen. Nothing could have matched watching it for the first time and hearing the loud rumble coming up from Two before realizing it was his district that was rejoicing a victor. "How are you, Mr. Wolfe?"
"Call me Clay." The victor seemed to have aged since the famous battle, his shoulders weary and a beard starting to grow in. He had grown up.
Sidney nodded, smiling firmly and pointing to the front of the train. "So we'll be at the Capitol in less than a day?"
Clay nodded, scratching the back of his neck as he did so. "We'll probably be there before the sun sets. That's what happens when you live in a district close to the Capitol, you have less time to prepare on the train. If Seven, Eleven or Twelve ever realized that they had that advantage, they would scramble to do, well, anything to get their tributes ready for the Games. The rest of us have to wait for the Capitol to do that."
Sidney nodded, looking past him towards the rooms lining the train. The hallway floor seemed to gleam with care and polish, inviting the walker to dance across the floors in the comfortable slippers that Clay had given them when they had first climbed aboard. At the end of the hallway, he saw a flash of red cross into an open door quickly, and then it was gone before he could even blink. Funny. "Well, is there anything that we can prepare for as we wait to get to the Capitol?"
Clay grinned, turning on the huge television on the side of the wall. "If we watch the reapings, you'll get your first look at your competition. It's probably the best thing to do in this situation; it's going to let you choose who the biggest threats are. You find the threats, you're set for the first five minutes."
Emmett Lightway, 16, District Three Male
"Umm… a threat, I guess?" Emmett said hesitantly, shrinking back into his chair as the mentor glared at him. "He's twelve years old, you idiot! And he's from District One! One has never won the Hunger Games! Are you dumb in the head?"
"But Three hasn't won either..." he mumbled, trying to avoid the fierce glare of the woman. She seemed tired or something. Emmett didn't understand Capitolites, they always seemed to be bipolar or something. Who else could go from bubbly for the cameras to this storm of a mood?
"I'm better off with the girl. At least she knows more about these Games than you." The mentor smiled kindly at Hallie, who grinned and displayed her notes on District One. They took up over a page. "I'm a fast writer. You see, here we have the boy's reactions, and then his muscle structure compared to most of his age. And then we've got the girl, who's actually one of the bigger ones from One thus far. We'll have to watch out for her. And here's where we put common allergies and diseases in One..."
Emmett rubbed his head in dismay, trying to get rid of the headache that had been plaguing away at him ever since he had stepped onto the train. It was like the train took away his ability to think, the headache just throbbed away in his head like a clock. It wasn't stopping.
The mentor stalked away from Emmett, taking a triumphant Hallie with her. "We'll watch the rest of the reapings together, not with that… boy. You're our only chance of getting me out of this job, you here?"
Hallie nodded, pointing at District Four as they walked onto the stage. "And those two are..."
Emmett watched the two from Four walk up onto the stage, noting the slight limp that the boy had as he tried to get up onto it. Was that…
He noted the pale skin on his arms and face, and the tense look of someone who was suffering through stomach cramps. Did he have the fever? He did. Either Emmett was crazy, or the boy from Four was suffering from salmonella.
Adira Hemlock, 17, District Seven Female
She refused to acknowledge the boy right next to her. His silent weeping was starting to get on her nerves a bit, especially the way his shoulders shook every time he let out an especially big one. And who named their kid Leif anyway?
Maddie was walking around the dining room, pointing at the screen as the pair from Five popped right up. "See them? The boy looks strong, you can tell by the way he's had enough to eat. If he doesn't lose his head in the Games when the hunger and the dehydration get to him, he might be a good ally for one of you two."
Adira scoffed, looking at the small list that she had made so far for potential allies. The girl from One and the boy from Two had stood out so far, as well as the girl from Four. And there was still District Ten to come. District Ten had always managed to get one strong tribute to the Games, even if they hadn't won yet. They were easily one of the stronger districts. And that was why she'd have to ally with at least one of them. If she didn't factor the strongest players in the Games into her plots, then her chances at winning the Games would come crashing down into dust. Without District Ten, it may as well be close to impossible to win the Hunger Games. And she was going to win them.
District Six came rushing into view, the thousands upon thousands of children in the square all being shown in one magnificent shot. She had to hand it to them, the people in charge of filming the reapings knew what they were doing. They made it look enviable to live there, with the glamour shots of buildings and the healthy, happy people standing in the square. She almost wanted to visit, just to see what it was like. But then she would lose her trees, her beautiful trees, and everything that made Seven, well, District Seven. Seven had her heart, not a district filled with smog and glass covered buildings.
"You know, they rig the reapings sometimes." Maddie pointed at the thousands of children on the screen, eating a crisp, juicy apple. "There's much, much more than them. So, they preliminarily reap some kids from the district, about as many in that square, and then they do the official reapings. Much simpler than trying to fit close to a million people into the tiny square."
A million people! She gaped at the screen, trying to comprehend the fact that they lived with a million others. One million! She definitely didn't want to go Six now. It'd be so crowded, she wouldn't be able to breathe. No wonder they always lost the Games. They would have no idea what to do without any other people around them.
Ava Barkley, 15, District Ten Female
The train was dark in the night.
She had slipped out of her bed ages ago, there was nothing to do and she couldn't sleep, and now she was wandering the hallways, looking to see if there was something to occupy her mind. Oh, if only she could just jump out of the windows and run back to Ten! Fi would likely be slipping out of her window and rushing to the fields, trying to find Jax and Derrick. Would they be missing her? Or would they have forgotten Ava already?
She shook her head fiercely, pushing the unwanted thought away. Of course they missed her! They were her friends! And she was going to come back to them. It was the only way to stay sane on this train. It was so lonely…
She opened a door and gasped, seeing a few men and women dressed entirely in red and smiling with each other, moving their hands and making laughing motions. They looked at her and gasped as she watched them, one of them running towards her and shutting the door. The door slammed and she was out again in the hallway, the darkness the only one accompanying her. What were they doing here?
"Hello?" She pushed open the door again, ignoring the frantic hand motions of the men and women clad in red. Were they servants or something? Maybe they ran the train and were just taking a break during the night. "I only wanted to see what was inside. Could I come in?"
The group looked at one another nervously before one slowly opened the door, beckoning her in. Ava stepped in and looked at the snug quarters, with ready-made beds and a small counter and stove on the side of the room. "Do all of you live in here?"
One of them with a curious nose nodded, taking a pad of paper and writing something down onto it. Ava took a close look at it, reading the neat script quickly. "We all live in here. This is the avox quarters. Avox? What's that?"
The man with a curious nose pointed to himself, then to the rest of them, gesturing to his mouth. Ava frowned slightly, trying to comprehend him. "So… you're an avox?"
The man nodded, writing something down on the paper. Ava looked at it again, nodding her head slowly. "We can't talk. No tongues."
The group nodded and she gasped slightly, putting her hand to her mouth. Imagine not being able to talk! That would be horrible! Why, she wouldn't be able to do anything she liked to do without talking!
A sudden clang reverberated through the room and the group panicked, pushing me out of the door and gesturing for me to get out frantically. I walked out and they shut the door, only opening it for a few of them to run to the front of the train. I frowned, walking back to the dining car. The Capitol was a strange place. A strange place indeed...
Joel Fletcher, 14, District Ten Male
He woke up with the sun as he had always done back at home, rising and changing into a set of clothes provided for him on a chair at the side of his bed. It was strange to think that someone had gotten through his locked door and watched him while he slumbered, but Joel didn't care that much. At least he had his own room. No Fletcher got to sleep alone unless they decided to sleep under the stars.
He opened his door and walked outside, the smell of… chocolate… and something like pancakes wafting in the distance. Someone was hungry, that was for sure.
Ava was standing by the stove, one of the servants clad in red watching her protectively. She glanced behind her when she saw him and grinned, rushing over towards him. "Joel! Great to see you, buddy!"
He smiled and waved to the servant, who nodded tersely and turned back towards the stove. Joel flushed and turned back to Ava. "Umm, who's the guy in red?"
Ava laughed, waving at the guy. "He says his name is Basil. Well, he wrote it, at least."
Her tone dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, and Joel leaned in to listen as she whispered it to him. "He's an avox. Apparently, that means you wronged the Capitol and are punished by becoming a tongueless servant."
Ava shivered at the last bit, and Joel felt a cold sensation go up to his spine. Not having a tongue would be horrible! And what did he do to deserve such a fate? He didn't look like a criminal, did he? Maybe he was a rebel. Would they put rebels on the trains with them? Or was there an order to what crimes went to what jobs? Ugh, the Capitol was so confusing!
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Joel's head whipped around to see Basil wrench Ava's pancakes off of the stove, the batter blackened to a crisp. Ava's face dropped and she rushed to her work, the batter caked to the bottom of the pan. "Oh no!"
Joel struggled not to laugh at her comical disappointment. Ava tried to scrape the batter off of the pan, but it stubbornly stuck on. "Ava, I could make breakfast if you want a cooked meal. I mean, I did do it a lot back at home..."
Ava turned to him, the tragedy of the pancakes already forgotten. "Do you know how to make croissants?"
Ashira Marlstone, 16, District Twelve Female
She watched the mountains swallow the train up whole, letting the sky disappear from view. Ashira was out of sight from the world. She wasn't sure if she liked it that way or not.
Her district partner was humming quietly to himself, drawing a picture of something with a pencil that he had managed to dig up from somewhere inside of the train. Ashira leaned over and looked at it, seeing the leering, smirking face of their mentor. "That looks exactly like Pollux!"
"Shh-shh!" Corey whispered between bursts of laughter, stuffing it into his pocket as Pollux came into view, holding a glass of wine and staring angrily into the distance. "We can't let him know yet, can we?"
She agreed and stood up, nodding politely as she walked past a muttering Pollux to her room. From what she could see, they were nearing the Capitol soon. She couldn't forget the golden chain in her room when they left the train, that would wreck her mother completely.
She'll be wrecked if I die…
She grabbed the golden chain and ran out of the room, colliding with someone and crashing onto the floor. "Oops! Are you okay?"
The person who Pollux had called an avox - well, combined with a few curses, but she had gotten the message - nodded painfully, opening her eyes to see a scatter of utensils all over the floor. She put her hands to her mouth and breathed heavily, trying to pick them all up. Ashira bent down and helped her, grabbing a few that had skidded to the side of the hallway. "I'm so sorry for doing this! Is there anything I can do to help?"
The avox shook her head, pushing me away kindly as she stood up with the handful of utensils. She gestured towards the dining room, then pointed at me before pointing at the front of the train. Ashira nodded and bowed a little, smiling gratefully towards her. "Well, I'm glad that I didn't hurt you. You want me to go to the front of the train?"
The avox nodded, waving goodbye wistfully as Ashira walked towards to the front of the train. The avox seemed lonely, for some reason. It would be, not being able to talk like Pollux had said and doomed to being a servant. She would never be able to fit in with anyone else other than her own kind.
Ashira shivered and quickened her pace, holding the golden chain tightly. She had thankfully managed to keep a hold of it through the collision.
The golden chain suddenly gleamed in a light, and Ashira squinted to see the clearest water that she had ever seen. Oh, oh, oh, the Capitol… it was beautiful! It was! How could a person remember they were going into the Games when that lake was as calm as a mirror and the buildings looked like dreams?
And… done! What did you think of this chapter? We're now into the capitol (woohoo!) so we'll be able to go faster now ;) Also, I'm sure I used first person somewhere where I shouldn't have XD oops! Hope you liked this chapter, and leave a review on what you thought of the tributes!
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