The train chugged along slowly, passing the citizens of District 3, who waved and sobbed and saluted. Birdie had just said goodbye to her brothers, sisters, mother and father, but Sal didn't have any family to say goodbye to, not anymore. And this was just another reason why Birdie was the one who had to come back. Birdie was needed here, a cog in the machine, but Sal, Sal was a loose screw, an extra gear.
"Sal," Birdie said, curling up next to him on the leather seat. Her eye makeup streaked across her entire face, but she looked completely calm. "What are you thinking?"
"We need a strategy," he said, his voice low and scratchy.
"Yes, I've been thinking that too. Here's the thing is, depending on the arena, we're not a lost cause. We know how to engineer, we know how machinery works… we could set a trap, potentially, if we have the equipment-"
"We can't bank on that, though. Here's the thing. It's not fair for me to not tell you this, but, I fully do not intend to survive," Sal said, looking Birdie straight in the eyes.
Birdie scoffed. "Yeah, I kinda got that from the whole 'I promise to do my best to bring one of us back' thing. But you know what else isn't fair to me?" she said with thinly disguised annoyance. "You are my whole life, okay? My whole life. I won't let you die."
"Well, that's unfortunate, because I won't let you die," Sal said.
"Mm, well, I've always been the more stubborn one," Birdie said, smiling sadly. "This is my promise, Sal. You're going to win."
"I made my promise first," Sal said. "This isn't fair. I called dibs." He was laughing, but all of it was hollow.
Birdie sat up straight and cleared her throat. "Okay, well, first thing, we need to take out the Careers," she said. "That's the real threat. Day one, no one else is gonna want to kill, except them."
"You're saying we have to kill people?" Sal said. His stomach turned.
"Stop thinking of them as people right now. Think of them as machines, robots. We will not spend time with any of them. We will not grow to care for any of them. We already have a disadvantage, because you care about me and I care about you," Birdie said, biting her lip nervously.
"You're right," Sal said, and hated it. "Our advantage is that we're fast. We've been going for those runs every morning-"
Birdie laughed bitterly. "I'm sure everyone else has been running more-"
"Not everyone. Only the careers. Everyone else is in the same boat, they never wanted this, they never expected it, never prepared," Sal said firmly. "We have to believe that we're competent. It barely matters if we actually are."
"You're right," Birdie said. "And we have an alliance, already, and we know that we can fully trust each other."
No we can't. You want to kill the person I want to keep alive, Sal thought, and he could tell by Birdie's expression that she had just realized the same thing.
"Well, to protect each other, anyway," she added hastily.
"I'm scared, Birdie," Sal said, leaning into her.
"Me too," she said softly. "God, me too."