Wendy Roofer - District 5 Female - Age 18

The train ride to the Capitol was full of more of Solis' silly games and more of Wendy's silence. She was rightfully nervous, as there was such a high chance she was going to die, and she was almost unable to eat, emphasis on almost because the food on the train was to die for. Well, not actually die for, but Wendy was so used to eating scraps, she was excited to eat good for once before she joined her parents in heaven, or more realistically hell. Bariq was silent as ever, but at least he was consistent. Wendy knew he stood less of a chance then she did, so she attempted to speak to him on several occasions.

"Bariq," She patted his shoulder, "Do you like the food?"

Bariq had barely touched his food, but it was a good starting point for conversation, and at this point Wendy would take anything she could get.

"It's fine," Bariq nodded, "A bit salty."

That was more than she expected to get out of him, but at the same time she knew he didn't have the desire to further a conversation with her.

"I can arrange for the Capitol to salt your food more!" Iphigenia, the overly chipper Escort chimed in. Wendy could tell she was equally interested in trying to converse with Bariq.

"I don't care," Bariq stuck his fork back in the chicken and began to eat it.

At this point, Wendy was fairly certain she recognized Bariq from the orphanage, but she debated whether or not she should bring him up, as the boy clearly had experienced some sort of trauma, and it could have been tied to the orphanage. Luckily for Wendy, Bariq brought it up himself, as she read the newspaper on the sofa.

"You're from the orphanage aren't you?" Bariq closed the book he was reading, "Wendy, right?"

"He's speaking," Solis not so subtly whispered from across the room.

"Don't ruin it then." Iphigenia shushed him.

"Yeah!" Wendy's eyes perked up, "And you're Bariq?"

"Yes," He said.

"How are you doing today?" Wendy tried to continue the conversation, despite it being perfectly obvious that Bariq was not doing good.

"I'm miserable," Bariq grunted, "Give me one reason why I wouldn't be."

He did make a good point. As good as the food was, a train ride to death certainly wasn't the ideal situation.

"Well do you know why you were chosen?" Wendy asked, "Personally people voted for me because my parents were rebels, pretty stupid, huh?"

Wendy probably shouldn't have asked that question. She assumed he was voted in because he was honestly a bit of a weirdo, but being framed for harvesting his brother's organs was something she never had thought of. It made her situation seem tame. No wonder the kid looked so depressed all the time. She would be too.

"Well I'm so sorry," Wendy said at the conclusion of his gruesome story, "You didn't deserve for that to happen."

"No shit." Bariq went back to reading his book.

Winona Morgan - District 6 Female - Age 17

To say the train ride from District 6 to the Capitol was interesting, would be a wild understatement. Winona assumed her District partner would be out of the ordinary when somebody yelled "fuck yeah" upon his name being drawn at the Reaping, but "fuck yeah" didn't even come close to the excitement she would have felt upon knowing Xan would die, had she known him prior to the train ride.

The highlight, or perhaps the lowlight of the whole experience, was during desert when Winona dropped her spoon and reached under the table to pick it up and saw Xan touching himself under the table, and he was definitely very into it.

"Xan," Winona sighed after she came back up to the table, "Can you please not?"

"Fuck you, female," Xan scoffed and then returned back to his business.

"What was he doing?" Livia, the escort asked, "Do I want to know?"

"Leave me alone," Xan said.

For somebody who was clearly so invested in his masturbation, Xan was rather quick to react to what others said.

"He was um, pleasuring himself." Winona whispered into Livia's ear.

"That's not cool buddy," Festus, the clearly tired Mentor from the Capitol said, "Save it for before bed."

"Keep talking," Xan moaned, "It makes me hornier."

"That's it!" Livia got out of her seat, "Let's turn this thing around and take him home."

Winona thought she had seen it all, living with Quinn and Sawyer, she'd become accustomed to sounds of male pleasure, but at least they had the courtesy to usually do it when Winona was asleep or in the bathroom. Winona understood that a teenage boy did what a teenage boy had to do, but doing it publicly was just disgusting.

"We can't do that Liv," Festus said, "Xan! Go to the sleeping quarters if you want to do that."
"Fine!" Xan screamed, "But you're all fucking assholes."

Xan ran to the sleeping quarters and shut the door, thank the lord. His self-pleasure clearly escalated as Winona could still hear it, but at least it was slightly muffled thanks to the door. Xan's absence meant more desert for Winona, and who would she be to say no to an extra ice cream sundae. Surely this was a popular opinion, but the food on the train was amazing! It was unlike anything Winona had ever eaten before. Unlike the slop that Quinn and Sawyer had cooked up, this food actually had flavor, tons of it for that matter. Winona sure did deserve to eat as much of it as she could, after the whole Xan incident. What a fucking creep!

"Are we going to do anything about him?" Winona asked Festus and Livia once Xan was out of sight.

"What can we do?" Livia asked, "I mean sure, the kid is despicable, but at least he'll die soon."

"That's grim!" Festus said, "I mean it's true, but jeez."

"Do you think I'll die?" Winona asked, honestly just curious what they would say.

"Well if you do, I hope Xan goes down with you." Livia laughed.

Cedar Ranthine - District 7 Male - Age 15

"You're in movies, right?" Cedar asked Diana after dinner.

"Don't be dense," Sam said, "She won the Hunger Games."

"Yeah but she was in movies!" Cedar said.

"She's a porn star Cedar," Sam said, "You're allowed to admit that you jerk off to her in your free time."

Actually, Cedar didn't. His brother did, which is how he knew the name Diana Vera, as he never really cared for the Hunger Games. Cedar was by far the least interesting person in his family, and he had grown to accept it. The Hunger Games was just about the only interesting thing that ever happened to him. His father is an unremarkable load puller and his mother had an incredible talent for carpentry, but an accident in her twenties left her dominant hand incapable of the demands that her job required so now she works in the paper-making factory. She'd surely lost some of her joie-de-vive, until her first two children started to develop talent. Cedar has an older brother and an older sister, both of which were recognized early on as incredible athletes and are likely to have jobs as high-ranking lumberjacks someday, while Cedar could barely lift a log. His sister, the oldest, is past reaping age, but his brother and Diana Vera super fan is currently 17.

Cead had led a comfortable life up to now, living off a dual-income household and the remaining profits from his mother's former flourishing carpentry business. His mother pushed them hard, advocating for self-education and independence. His father followed along less enthusiastically. His siblings took to these teachings well, though he occasionally struggled with the lifestyle. His life had been relatively uneventful, his grades average, a small friend group, no girlfriend to speak of. He didn't stand out for any particular reason besides his sibling's accomplishments and his nondescript appearance supported this assessment as well. The only thing he is known for is something that happened when he was a child and now the Hunger Games.

Sam on the other hand had a life that was clearly more eventful than his would ever be. Married at 18 and possibly capable to win it all, while Cedar was doomed from the start. He was definitely eager to be her ally, but she didn't want anything to do with him.

"Do you think we could be allies?" Cedar finally asked her straight forward.

"Maybe," Sam smirked, "But probably not!"

"Why?" Cedar was upset, "You don't even know if you have somebody better to ally with. I think we could get along if we tried."

"I'm probably going to be with the careers!" She said, "They would be stupid to not take me under their wing."

"You really think you're on the same playing field as people who've been training their whole lives for this."

"I don't think I am," Sam scoffed, "I know it."

Logan Webster - District 8 Male - Age 16

Logan was right! Being a tribute was already the height of luxury! He had been on the train for only a few hours and he had already had three courses of the best food he'd ever eaten and he had been dressed in a silk robe, that was just hanging there in the bathroom, which by the way, was the nicest one he'd ever seen. Everything looked extremely expensive and even the soap appeared to be plated with gold. He was tempted to steal it all but he remembered he had nobody to pawn it off to, and it didn't matter since he was going to die at the conclusion of all his fancy treatment.

He walked out of the bathroom from his third lavenderbath of the evening to see Veronica, the escort with a slimy substance on her face, and cucumbers over her eyes. It was being applied by one of those fox people things without a tongue. What were they called again? Oh! That's right, they're called Avoxes! Logan sure was glad his punishment wasn't turning into one of those. He'd rather die than live without talking.

"What's on your face Veronica?" Logan quietly asked her, taking into consideration that she seemed to be relaxing and he didn't want to ruin the moment for her.

"It's a cucumber mask," She whispered, "Would you like one?"

"Oh I would love one," Logan grinned as he sat down.

Another Avox walked over to Logan and applied a thick paste to his face, which smelled absolutely delightful. It was a tad cooling, but Logan enjoyed it. The Avox then placed cucumbers over Logan's eyes and stood behind him, massaging his shoulders. The massage was amazing. It wasn't sensual, just very relaxing. So far Logan's plan to make the best out of the Capitol's offerings was going amazingly.

"So I see you're enjoying yourself," Velvette, Logan's District Partner said as he returned to the table where she and Woof, his mentor, were sitting.

"Can you blame me?" Logan laughed, "All of this stuff is amazing!"

Logan had barely spoken to Woof, or even Velvette for that matter as they were fairly reserved, and didn't care about the luxuries on the train, though Logan had no idea why. He had spent a lot of time with Veronica though, as they basked in the facilities. He envied her job of getting pampered year after year.

"I was impressed too," Woof said, "But wait until you get to the Capitol. That's even fancier!"

Logan could hardly wait. If this was tame in comparison, the Capitol must be absolutely insane.

"Oh I'm so excited!" Logan exclaimed.

"Sure seems it," Woof chuckled, "You've been enthusiastic this entire time. Why is that?"

Logan explained it all, the starving family and the robberies. The stupid ass bet he made that got him arrested and his genius decision to rebel by dying on his own terms, and doing so fabulously.

"That's awfully political for somebody your age," Woof said, "You're a smart one, Logan."

"I was forced in, for kicking the President's granddaughter," Velvette joined the discussion, "Maybe I should take advantage as well."

"You totally should!" Logan laughed, "Have you ever heard of a lavender bath?"

And that's that for part 2 of the train rides! This chapter was honestly a blast to write, and I can't wait for the next one.