Chapter 7- Cass Oceansong
Tack. Tack.
My eyes, swollen from crying myself to sleep, open. What's that noise? For a moment I think I'm home, but the room is unfamiliar, and I'm alone. Everything from yesterday floods back and I barely stop myself from crying again.
I'm in the Justice Building, locked into a room on the second floor; it's a light shade of blue, with only an iron bed in it, which I'm currently sitting up on. The Peacekeepers who put me in here were nice enough to take off my cuffs before they locked the door; I think they knew I wasn't going to try to escape. I don't even see how I could; they'd catch me easily.
Tack. It's coming from the window, a single paned piece of glass that's grimy and hard to see through. Somebody's throwing something at it. Rolling off the bed, I go over and try to peer through and down.
Another rock hits the window, making me jump. I pull up hard on the sash, and the window goes up about a foot. Sticking my head out, I look down, and I almost hit my head on the window with surprise.
"Thought you'd never open up," Tempest says, her hands full of gravel and a nervous grin plastered on her face. "I've been throwing these for ages; I was just hoping I was getting the right room."
"What are you doing here?" I say, as loudly as I dare, leaning further out. Tempest, with her wild red hair, stands below, next to Wave and Sea. Sea keeps looking around, like she's expecting to get caught any second.
"We're- we're saying goodbye, of course," Wave says, in a voice that's higher than her usual. I could burst into tears, I'm that happy to see them.
"What time is it?"
"Half past seven," Sea says.
"They're coming to get me at eight," I say. "I overheard that I'm going to be put on a train."
"Did they feed you at all? Are you hurt?" Sea asks.
"They gave me some bread and sausages last night, and I'm not hurt at all." I take a deep breath. "I'm scared. I don't want to leave."
Wave starts crying. "I'm sorry! You shouldn't have volunteered for me; it's all my fault!"
"It's not your fault; I should have stepped up," Sea says bitterly. "I don't know why I didn't. I'm sorry, I'm sorry Cass." She swallows like she's about to start crying too; I hope she doesn't, that won't help anything.
"It's okay," I say, speaking through a lump in my throat that seems to be the size of an apple. "I'm okay. I'll come home, I promise." I don't know how I'll keep that promise, but I'll try. I don't even know who else got chosen from the other districts; for all I know they're a bunch of six foot eighteen year olds that I'll have no chance against.
"You have to," Wave says. "You have to come home."
"You'll be alright," Tempest says confidently. "I've known you my whole life; if anyone can win the Hunger Games, it's you."
I smile weakly. "Thanks."
"Oh, we brought food. We didn't know how you're getting to the Capitol, so we put together a package for you," Wave says, holding up a handkerchief that's full of something. "Stand back, I'm going to lob it at the window."
I pull my head back in; Wave's a good shot; the handkerchief flies through the opening and lands on the floor with a dull thump. "Thank you," I say, tearing up again once I put my head through the open window again.
"You'll be home soon, I know it," Tempest says again. "We're all counting on you, you know. Mags too."
"Tell Sissy and Mother and Father that I love them, okay?" I say. "Are they okay?" Father's last shout to me rings in my ears still; I have never heard my father sound so desperate.
Sea bites her lip. "Well, none of us are okay. Mother cried most of the day yesterday, and Father did too." A hollow feeling settles in my stomach; my father never cries. I feel so horrible for making them upset like this! Even so, better me than Wave. I have a slim chance at fourteen I'll bet, but my little sister wouldn't even have that.
From a ways down the corridor outside this room, I hear the thumping of boots. "They're coming, they're coming back!" I call down. Terror flits across their faces. What would happen to them if they were caught? If I'm caught at the window?
"Good luck, we'll be waiting for you when you get back!" Tempest says. "You can do this, Cass."
"I love you! I love you!" Sea and Wave both say, tears spilling over and pouring down their cheeks. That's the last I see of them, because I pull the window down, grab the handkerchief, shove it under my skirts, and lie down on the bed again just as the key rattles in the lock. I can barely breathe, I'm that scared. I don't know what's going to happen.
"'Morning sleeping beauty!" the Peacekeeper says; it's a different one than the men who took me in here yesterday. This Peacekeeper is younger, closer to Sea's age I'd say, with a spotty face. "Here's your breakfast."
He hands me a piece of cold toast; I hesitate for a second, then take it from him, eating it in large bites. I have the handkerchief of food still under me, but I don't know when or if they'll feed me again.
"What's going to happen?" I ask once I finish the toast, pressed up against the wall. He smirks, and my stomach drops again.
"You're going to take a nice train tour of the country," he says, picking at his teeth with his fingers. "I think it's just about time to head out, don't you?"
"I don't want to go," I say, my voice sounding braver than I feel. "I want to go home."
"Better make the best of it, girlie, 'cause you're not going anywhere but the train tracks."
I slip my hand under my skirt and tuck the handkerchief into my drawers; it's uncomfortable, but how else am I going to take it with me without them knowing? "Can I put my shoes on, then?" I ask.
"I think it would be best if you did," the Peacekeeper says, backing out the door. "Get ready; we leave in five minutes."
Once the door slams shut, I jump up off the bed and pull my shoes on, ignoring the flapping of the one sole. My hair is still in the fishtail braid my mother put it in yesterday, and I have no intention of taking it out. I need to have her with me on this journey, wherever it's going to take me.
The door flies open again, sooner than the five minutes I swear. The boy Peacekeeper is gone, replaced by one of the blank faced men from yesterday. Dangling from his hand are the cuffs I wore after the reaping.
I back away, my legs bumping into the bed. "I'm not going to run, I promise," I say, eying the metal loops. "I promise, please don't make me wear those again."
He doesn't say anything, just lunges for me and grabs my wrists roughly, pulling them behind my back and locking the cuffs on them. I can't help it; I burst into tears. I'm not a criminal! I'm just a fourteen year old girl; why are they treating me like a thief or a murderer?
"You're not going to get any pity from me," he says in a low voice, then pulls me out of the room, down the corridor, and down the stairs, where Rigg, my district partner, is waiting. His hands are locked behind his back too. We meet each others' eyes, and I don't know what he's feeling. Probably just as scared as I am.
"Let's go!" my Peacekeeper says, shoving me forward and out a back door that I didn't know existed. My nose is running, and I have nothing to wipe it, or to wipe my face of the tears that don't stop pouring out of my eyes. Rigg doesn't cry; he just stares blank faced ahead of him as he walks.
The walk to the train tracks is a miserable one. I catch glimpses of the ocean occasionally, but I'm jerked left and right, and soon I don't even bother to look for it anymore. I'm leaving District 4, and that hurts terribly. My sole flaps and lets gravel into the shoe as we go; after only a few steps my foot is sore and painful to walk on. They wouldn't care if I told them, so I don't.
"8:30, innit?" the boy Peacekeeper says behind me once we reach the tracks. The metal train tracks go as far as I can see in either direction; I don't know where they go. I want to go home, that's where I want to go.
"Any minute now," another Peacekeeper says. For the next few minutes, we all just stand there in silence, except for my hiccups from my crying. Rigg swallows hard, but he says nothing. I don't think I've heard him speak at all since the reaping.
Something rumbles off in the distance, making me jerk my head up. "Here it comes," the boy Peacekeeper says. The rumbling grows louder, and the ground shakes under my feet, and then the train appears, a rusty cargo train that looks lucky to have survived the war. It slows down as soon as I see it, and it rolls to a stop shortly after.
All along the train are cargo compartments, locked from the outside with padlocks. "Who's got the keys?" the Peacekeeper holding onto me says. My eyes are blurry from crying; I wish they weren't, I want to see as much of District 4 as I can. I'm probably never coming back.
"I do," a Peacekeeper jumping down from the engine says, jingling a set of keys. "Two more for the cargo hold?"
"You've got it." Rigg and I are pushed forward until we're standing right outside one of the locked compartments. They aren't going to put us in there, are they?
Apparently they are; the engine Peacekeeper unlocks the padlock and slides the wooden door to the side. Two figures inside cringe at the light; who are they? The pit in my stomach grows deeper, and all I want to do is run, run to the Luna, and sail away from all of this.
"Is this the Capitol?" One's a girl, with a high, clear voice. I think the other is a boy; he has to be, doesn't he? This is obviously a pair from another district.
"You wish," the engineer says. "Got you some new friends, aren't you lucky?"
"I supported you! I supported the Capitol, and this is how you decide to treat me?" she says heatedly. I can see her a little clearer now; she's small, with light blonde hair and a pointed chin. For a girl who's handcuffed, she's remarkably dignified, sitting there with a furious look on her face.
"You look like a district girl to me, and you're all the same: a bunch of traitors," the Peacekeeper holding me says.
"I didn't do anything either!" I say, trying to stop crying. "None of my family did anything to the Capitol!"
"Nobody cares, sweetheart," the engineer says. "We're on a tight schedule, put 'em in and we'll be on with it."
"Get us some food and water at least," the boy who's sitting next to the girl inside the compartment says. "We've been here for ages."
"Get them water then; don't want them dead by the time we reach the Capitol," the engineer says to the boy Peacekeeper, who rolls his eyes and walks back to a rundown brick building maybe twenty feet away. The Peacekeeper holding me boosts me up into the compartment; I give up on trying to stop crying; everything is just too awful. Rigg climbs up after me, and we sit, shaking, looking at the last little bit of District 4 we'll ever see.
"Here's your water," the boy Peacekeeper says, shoving a bucket of water into the compartment after us.
"We're not animals," the boy inside says, looking at the bucket. I don't know where these two are from, or who they are, but they look very similar. Same blonde hair, blue eyes. Haughty expressions.
"We'll see how you look at the end of the trip," the engineer says, then he slams the door shut, leaving us in darkness. The only light comes from the cracks in between the boards that make up the walls. I hear the padlock being relocked, then nothing. The longer I stare into the darkness, the more my eyes adjust, until I can make out Rigg and the other two, lit by the thin slivers of light from the cracks.
Nobody talks until the train starts up, carrying us away from District 4, when Rigg finally speaks. "Where are you from?"
"District 1," the boy says. "Where were we just there?"
"We're from District 4," Rigg says. "How long have you been in here?"
"Just after the reaping we got dragged over here," the girl says. "What day is it?"
"July 5th. Just after 8:30, if you're wondering."
"That's almost a full day!" the girl exclaims. "I didn't know it would be like this." Her voice drops lower at her last words.
Slowly, I start to stop crying; there's only so much one can do before the tears run out. "I want to go home," I whisper.
"Don't we all," Rigg says brusquely to me, then turns his attention to the duo from 1. "Who are you two, anyway?"
"I'm Glow, she's Silver," the boy from District 1 says. "You?"
"I'm Rigg, she's Cass."
"Good to meet you, then," Glow says. "I'd shake your hand, but it's a little tricky if you know what I mean."
"Are we going to the Capitol?" I ask. Silver shrugs.
"I thought we were, but I don't know. I didn't expect anything like this."
"You signed up for it; you didn't have to be here," Glow says.
"I thought we would be treated better than this!" Silver says.
"Did you volunteer too?" I ask. Silver nods, the yellow light making lines across her face. She's pretty, maybe fifteen or sixteen at the most, but small.
"I volunteered because I wanted to represent my district, because I had a good reason to," Silver says, her voice rising. "I supported the Capitol, always have, and I thought that I would be put on a proper train to get to the Capitol properly."
"Like the Capitol ever did anything good for us," Rigg says.
"It's done plenty good," Silver argues back.
"Shut up both of you; I am not going to listen to the arguing all the way to the Capitol," Glow says.
Silence falls over the cargo compartment. After a few minutes, I manage to slip my arms underneath my legs, so that my hands get bound in front of me instead of behind me. Carefully, I creep over to a wall and peer out through the cracks there, holding onto the wood awkwardly with my hands.
"See anything?" Glow asks. I shake my head.
"Trees, lots of trees. Where do you think they're taking us?" I ask.
"Who knows; I don't know the geography," Rigg says. "How long do you think they'll keep us in here?"
"No clue for that either," Glow says. I look through the cracks for a long time, watching what little scenery I can see go by. When I can't bear to look out any longer, I turn around and really size up this boxcar. It's long, probably by fifty feet, and I'd say nearly ten feet wide. If my theory is correct, they'll be putting all twenty-four of us in here together. How cozy.
The floor and walls are all wood, with some random bits of straw scattered over the floor. In one corner there're sacks of some sort; over by Silver and Glow there is the bucket of water, and on the far end away from me there's a covered bucket. My stomach turns at the thought of what it probably is. I'm not a criminal, so why am I being treated like one?
"Do either of you have food? I'm starving," Silver says, breaking the silence.
"I think so, actually," I say; Rigg swivels his head towards me so fast it looks like it might pop off.
"You do?"
"My sisters and my best friend came to say goodbye this morning, and they gave me a package. I don't know what's in it," I say, fighting back more tears at the thought of never seeing them again. I reach under my dress and pull out the handkerchief, placing it on the wood floor.
Quickly untying it, I find two rolls of seaweed bread, a hunk of cheese, and an orange. Where did they get the orange? What did they trade for it? Thank you, I think. I hope I get to go back and thank them in person someday.
Silver makes a funny noise, like a small cry. "I'm so hungry," she whispers, reaching out her hand.
"We should ration it; don't know if we'll get more," Glow says, and Rigg nods in agreement.
"We'll split the rolls now; half of one each," I say. "We'll eat the orange and cheese later."
Rigg takes the rolls from me, breaks them in half, then hands a half each to Glow and Silver. Silver practically inhales the bread, but Glow makes a face while he eats it. "Salty," he says.
"It's the seaweed," I say, tucking my half of the roll back into the handkerchief. I'll save it for later, when I'm really hungry. Rolling the handkerchief back up, I sit back against the wall and stare at the walls around me. Glow, Rigg, and Silver start talking quietly; I don't want to join them. I want to be alone, or as alone as I can be in here.
Despite everything that's happening, I have to admit that I'm a little curious about what I'm going to see. I've never left District 4 before; maybe I'll see other districts while I'm on this train. How long will they keep us on here, anyway? The Games start on July 10th; five days away. I don't even want to consider the idea that we could be in here for five more days.
And the Capitol! What's that going to look like? If I manage to survive this, I can tell Wave and Sea and Sissy and Tempest and Mags all about what I've seen. I promised that I'd come home, and I pride myself on keeping my promises. I can't let them down. Fourteen is old enough to win, isn't it?
To tell the truth, I don't even know how you win the Hunger Games. It's a fight to the death, but what does that really mean? I can't kill anyone. I won't!
I must doze off after a while, because the next thing I know someone's shaking my shoulder. It's Silver.
"We're slowing down I think," she says. Now that she's close to me, I can see the dark shadows under her eyes, and that her hands shake a little while she sits.
"Where do you think we are?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. She shakes her head.
"No idea. I wish I knew," she says.
"Why did you volunteer?" I ask, just to say something, to keep the tension from growing.
Silver looks down at her bound hands; her wrists are being rubbed raw by the cuffs digging into her skin. "I wanted to be first," she says simply, looking up at me with a surprising amount of fire in her eyes. "I wanted to save my friend, and I wanted to be the first tribute from District 1, and I am! I am, and nobody can take that away from me."
The train slows down even further, almost stopping. We're here, wherever here is. "I volunteered too," I say. "For my sister."
"How sweet of you," Silver says, but she doesn't sound like she means it. The train stops and she stands up. "We're here."
I move out from the wall, following Silver to go sit with the boys. I'm getting more scared again; I don't know what to expect. Is this the Capitol?
The padlock gets removed from the outside of the door, and the panel slides back to reveal the engineer, several Peacekeepers, and a boy and a girl. I gasp when I see the girl.
The first thing I notice about her is her face; it's scratched and bruised and looks like she's been in an awful accident. What happened to her? The second thing I notice is the Peacekeeper that has her dark brown hair in his gloved fist, pulling her head back so that she can't move it. Her hands are bound behind her back like the rest of us, but another Peacekeeper is holding them, effectively immobilizing her.
"I'm happy to see the last of you," the Peacekeeper holding her hair says, pushing her towards us.
"I feel the same way," she says. "Let go of my hair you bastard."
The engineer steps in and hits her hard in the face; her knees dip but she stays standing. "Screw you too," she says, spitting at him.
"Get her in the car," the engineer says, wiping his face. The two Peacekeepers holding her pick the girl up and literally throw her into the boxcar; she hits the ground hard, slamming her head and swearing.
I only notice her partner when he climbs into the compartment, looking very passive compared to the girl. They look similar, but I can tell that he doesn't have the fight in him that she does.
"Good riddance to rebel scum," the Peacekeeper that held the girl's hair says before turning away.
"Bastard!" the girl screams, scrambling to her knees and ignoring the trickle of blood that's coming out of her mouth. Truth be told, I'm more scared of her than of the Peacekeepers that put her in here. It took two of them to get her here?
Who is she?
The door slams shut, leaving us in relative darkness; the padlock goes on, and clicks shut. The boy sits by the door, looking with a very odd expression at the girl, who is currently getting to her feet and rushing the door, hands still manacled behind her back. When the train starts up, she almost loses her balance, but manages to stay upright.
"You're a rebel?" Silver says in an accusatory tone.
"What if I am?"
"Are you?"
The girl looks over her shoulder at Silver. "Yes."
"Then it's your fault that we're here!" Silver says. "It's all your fault; if you had just behaved and not gone against the Capitol, we wouldn't be sitting in a train!"
"My fault?" the girl laughs, sounding out of control. "My fault? I didn't make the Hunger Games, and I certainly don't want to be here with you. Blame the Capitol; that's who's doing this."
"The Capitol was right to punish you rebels!" Silver says. "I supported the Capitol in the war, and I still do!"
The girl looks at Silver incredulously. "You support the Capitol while they're sending you to your death? You're an idiot."
"Shut up, both of you!" Rigg says suddenly. "I am not listening to this the whole way to the Capitol.
Both Silver and the girl open their mouths but shut them again. The new girl storms over to a far corner, slips her hands under her like I did so that her hands are bound in front of her, and unties a ragged quilt from her back.
"I'm Aldar," her district partner says, sitting near the door. "That's Oak."
"Welcome aboard," Glow says. "I have a feeling that we're going to know each other quite well by the time we get to wherever we're going."
Aldar looks over to Oak, who's curled up in the corner under her quilt. "I think so too."