Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
They slept in the same bed that night, and she dreamt of running free through the woods, rough earth, sticks and stones under her bare feet. The sky stretches out above her, grey and featureless, and the land stretches further than her eyes can see. Thin trees cover it, their spindly branches lashing her bare arms and face. She glances back for her packmates, finds them there. 'Come on! Keep moving!'
They can't stop.
She knows they mustn't stop.
There's blood in the air, sharp and coppery. She breathes it in, tips her head. Injured, but alive. Food, they need food. She raises an arm, indicates, and they follow.
She woke with thin beams of sunlight splashing across the bed and his arm laid across her chest. Stretching out, she rolled from the bed and stretched out.
"Morning," he murmured.
"Morning. How you feeling?"
"Hungry."
She grinned. "They've probably got breakfast around here somewhere."
He pushed himself to his feet and rolled his shoulders. She was stood gazing out the window at the now unfamiliar landscape.
"Where are we?"
"Passing through District Two."
He joined her. The land outside was an expanse of rocky mountains and stony land.
Nothing like the place she dreamed of.
She turned away and padded through to the bathroom while he watched the scenery pass.
The two of them showered and redressed in clean clothing, shirts and trousers before going in search of food.
They didn't have to go far. Plates and platters had been laid out in the second carriage, various breads and meats and fruits. She took helpings of the fruit and bread, while he took smoked beef and bacon on bread. They were both pretty sure this was more food in one place than either of them had seen in their whole entire lives.
As they ate a screen at the front of the compartment was playing some Capitol talk show that kept showing images of the tributes. Another fuzzy clip from the end of their reaping, zoomed in from afar to show their faces, caught his attention as the woman commentating squealed 'oh, look, she's just so cute!'
He rolled his eyes.
On the list of ways not to describe his sister, that one had to be top.
They had almost finished by the time Meadow and Holden arrived.
"Early risers. How are you feeling this morning?" asked Meadow.
Hyperion shrugged.
"Well, we'll be arriving at the Capitol in a few hours, and then you'll have the parade this evening. I recommend you get some more rest in."
The two Victors helped themselves to plates of food and retreated to the next carriage. Luciente smiled grimly. "They think we're going to die."
"One of us is."
She tipped her head. "Are they?"
He frowned. "I don't see how we can't."
"You have so little faith these days."
He sighed and gazed out at the mountains. "Sometimes I wish we'd just ran."
They could have made it, if they hadn't stayed in the cage so long.
"If we'd gone before..."
They spoke a little more to the two mentors before retreating to the glass room at the back of the train. It felt like sitting in the air as the world whooshed by around them. She closed her eyes, remembering the confused expression of the girl from Six, along with the pale face of the little boy from Five with Ariel's big pale eyes.
He leant back against the glass, watching the sky above them and the land closing in on the train.
The train plunged through a long, stone tunnel and out into land that was a mass of greenery and trees.
Land outside the Districts.
Fertile land, land where he could see birds.
They could jump off here, flee the train-
But of course, they'd probably break their legs at the very least, which wouldn't be… conductive to an escape. And this was between the Districts: they'd hunt them down pretty quickly.
They'd have to play this game, come what may.
