Chapter II: Best Laid Plans
A/N: Okay, the first chapter went over better than I thought it would. This is turning into definitely one of my more... interesting stories to me. This is one of the fastest turnarounds I've ever done. You'll be seeing two familiar faces in this chapter, hope you like them! Thanks go to TheReaper94(meaperson1) and Poolbreeze. SSD
Isabel and Damon walked down the train. Isabel was having a devil of a time walking down the passageway, which was obviously not made with someone in her advanced condition in mind.
They had been told to head to the middle of the train, where their mentor and escort would be waiting for them.
"I hope there's food. I'm hungry," Isabel muttered.
Damon looked at her with a small smile on his face and said, "I am sure they have food for a mother with a growing baby.
They walked for a while longer before they got to the train car that looked the most like a living room. Sure enough there was a buffet table lined up.
Jade was already there with their mentor Tylara. She had won the 46th Hunger Games at the age of 16. Their mentor had dark hair and grey eyes.
Isabel could tell that there were questions in the eyes of the adults. She had an idea as to what at least two of those questions were.
"To get started I have two questions for you," Tylara began. To Isabel she asked, "How far along are you," and to Damon, "Are you the father?"
Damon answered before Isabel could even open her mouth with, "No I am not the father. But I was one of his best friends before his untimely demise."
"I am at 37 weeks. My pregnancy has been almost textbook according to Doctor Martell," Isabel replied while looking at the reclining couches, longing clear in her eyes.
"Go on, sit down. You need your rest in more ways than one." Tylara motioned to the couches.
Isabel smiled her thanks, letting out an "Ahhh" of pleasure at her feet finally getting to rest.
Damon, who was still standing, went to the food table, and got both Isabel and himself each a bowl of green grapes. Isabel was balancing her bowl on her belly.
Tylara was even more disgusted upon learning how far along the eighteen year old was. She was unsure of how to ask the girl why the mayor hated her so much that he would likely rig the reaping.
"Well, let's watch and see who you fellow competitors are. Avoiding the Careers is a key objective," Tylara instructed.
Her two tributes nodded. They settled in and got ready to see their competitors for the first time.
District 1 came up first.
"You still have to look our for what you are going to avoid," Tylara said again.
Isabel and Damon nodded. They had no intention of ignoring their mentor. The boy from 1 came up first: Auric Jerome. The commentators seemed to be pleased with him.
"He's built like an ox," Damon muttered, not overly fond of his odds against this boy.
"Let's hope he's nearly as intelligent," Isabel snickered.
Even Tylara had to grin at that remark.
Then the girl from 1 came up: Serena Emerald. Before Damon could even say a word, Isabel snarled, "Put your eyes back in your head, and your tongue back in your mouth!"
This time Jade looked up. The girl from 1 was stunning as usual.
Isabel did not look amused by her friend's behavior.
Tylara paused the video, then asked, "What can you tell me about them?"
After both thought for a moment, Isabel answered, "They're tall, they're strong, and they're well fed."
"Very good, but remember, the fact that they have been well fed up to this point is not entirely a good thing."
"How is that not a good thing," Damon asked.
"The Careers rely heavily on the supplies on the Cornucopia, take that away from them, then they're in trouble," Tylara explained.
During the recap of the reaping from District 2, neither Damon nor Isabel said anything as the names of Achilles Corvin and Freya Stone were given. Tylara saw in their eyes that they were scared of these two.
"District 2 tributes are generally ferocious almost on principle. But like the other Careers, they need the Cornucopia more than those from the outer districts."
The tributes from 3 had no comment from Tylara's newest set of tributes.
Then they got to the recap from District 4. The third and last of the Career Districts. Unlike their counterparts in 1 and 2, they were tan skinned from working in the sun.
"Of the Career districts, tributes from 4 are the most able to operate without the Cornucopia. They still need it though," Tylara mentioned.
Isabel took a closer look at Trident Hook, the 16 year old male tribute. Even in the picture, his sea-green eyes seemed cold.
"I don't like the look in his eyes," Isabel murmured as she got up from the couch. "I see nothing in them."
After stretching her back (the baby was pressing against her spine again) Isabel asked, "Where's the bathroom?"
Jade got up, "I'll show you. It's a ways down."
Despite herself, Isabel smiled in gratitude to the escort.
When Isabel left for the bathroom, Tylara paused the video.
Turning towards the boy she asked, "How far are you willing to go for her?"
"I gave my best friend my word to protect her. I will do whatever it takes, even death," Damon replied. And he meant every word of it.
Tylara was not surprised. Before she turned the video back on, she said, "Then you need to start thinking about potential allies. Because you will need them to get Isabel out of the bloodbath alive."
Damon nodded. He was now going to be watching the reapings with a more critical eye.
By the time the reaping recap for 6 rolled around Isabel had just gotten back. Jade was not with her.
"Where's Jade?" Tylara asked.
"She said she had to make a phone call, and told me to go on ahead," Isabel replied whilst she was at the buffet table.
Tylara watched the girl pile her plate with grapes, oranges, along with some meat, which the eighteen year old checked to make sure it was properly cooked.
Isabel did not talk much when she got back to the leather recliner couch. She kicked off her sandals before activating the recliner device. Jade returned shortly after Isabel sat down.
Tylara's two tribute's eyes were riveted to the screen, taking in every tribute.
As time wore on, Isabel seemed to be getting drowsy. She was nodding off by the time District 11 was rolling around, her head on Damon's shoulder.
By the time the recap was finished, Isabel was out like a light, snoring softly. Even Damon was rubbing his eyes.
"Perhaps you should head to your rooms. I'll wake you up an hour before you arrive at the Capitol. Get some sleep. You're going to need it," Tylara instructed.
Damon prodded Isabel awake, "Time to go to bed."
"Ooof, I wouldn't have wanted to miss that," Isabel muttered darkly.
"I'll show you where your rooms are. There are also showers if you want to take one, and closets from which you can get new clothes," Jade said.
One of the first things Isabel did when she got to her room was kick off her sandals, and took a look around. This room on the train was bigger than her own.
She looked through the closets. Jade had show her what buttons to push to program the clothes she wanted.
Right at that moment, Isabel started stripping her clothes off. They felt gritty and confining.
She went into the bathroom and took a look at the shower, with all its confusing buttons.
"All I want is a simple hot shower. Nothing fancy," Isabel thought.
After examining the buttons quickly, she did just that.
The hot water felt so good against her skin. Ever since her family had found out she was pregnant, she'd had to take her shower last, which meant no hot water. It had been something she missed.
Even though the baby couldn't move as much now (he or she had loved moving around even to the point of keeping Isabel up at night) the little one moved towards where the hot water was hitting her belly.
"You like hot water too, don't you?" Isabel asked with a smile as she washed her hair with orange scented shampoo.
After drying herself off, Isabel programmed the closet to give her an oversize t-shirt to sleep in.
She took a look at the bed (which was huge) and at the pillows which she saw that they were the kind that always stayed cool. Isabel was glad to see that.
"This will likely be the first comfortable night's sleep I have had in months," Isabel thought as she slid into bed, lying on her side, and fell into an exhausted sleep almost immediately, with her hand on her belly.
Meanwhile, on the train from District 12...
"At least one of this year's tributes isn't completely hopeless," Peeta Mellark thought after they went to bed. There was some hope for the boy, but next to none for the girl, who would likely be bloodbath fodder, and wouldn't last long after it if by some fluke she made it out.
Haymitch had threatened them that if they didn't get up when Peeta went to get them, that he would come in, and dump buckets of ice cold water on them. They had more planning to do. Haymitch had not watched the reaping recap.
Haymitch still drank heavily, but drank less the Games, after threats from both himself and Katniss (hers were more effective than his). They had all been quite pleased when Gloria won, even though she was originally from 13.
The main reason Haymitch had been allowed to live was that he was the only other person left available that could control Katniss (besides Peeta himself). Haymitch was not as polite with her as Peeta was.
"So are there any twelve year olds this year," Haymitch asked as he sprawled onto a couch.
"No, but there is something worse." Peeta's face was even paler than usual.
"What could possibly be worse than a twelve year old," Haymitch snarked.
"Showing is better than telling," Peeta thought as he clicked to the recap of the District 10 reaping.
Peeta watched as Haymitch's eyes turned to the size of dinner plates, before he blurted,
"What are they thinking, she's ready to pop!"
A/N 2: Actually, it was that last line that kept Haymitch alive. In my mind he was the only one who could say it. So.. what do you think? I hope I got Haymitch right. I picture Tylara as Karen Allan. SSD