CHAPTER 4: TRAIN RIDE

Haymitch, Faye, Floyd, and I were escorted to a car to a train by Effie, with about a million cameras aimed directly at us. Haymitch had either dozed off or been knocked out with all that alcohol, so he had to be dragged to both transportations. Our new tributes kept their eyes at the ground, only looking up occasionally when there's a sudden noise or a microphone is being shoved in their face for the cameras. I tried to stay in the background, but of course that's impossible. I'm the only current living mentor, considering that Haymitch is almost always half-dead.

I was the first to get on the train to escape the cameras. They just brought back memories of when I was a tribute myself, which never did any good. I glanced at Faye and Floyd and tried not to imagine how they must be feeling.

The doors behind us closed, and my tributes turned to face me. Floyd wasn't shy to show his awe of all the designs and architecture of the train, but Faye kept her face blank. By the way she was tapping her feet, she seemed to be a little scared or homesick.

Effie headed directly to a room and closed the door, and Haymitch was carried to a fancy bathroom. I sighed. I had to do the job of touring the tributes to their rooms this year. "All right, guys," I said nonchalantly, leading them down a familiar hallway, "you each get a room of your own. Any room in this hallway." I reminded myself strictly that I should not bond with any of them, or I'd be brokenhearted if they died. I had learned that the hard way. "Do whatever you want. Just show up at dinnertime, or Effie will kill you." I stopped. What a terrible thing to say at this time. "But more likely, she'll chew me out," I said, forcing a laugh. I ducked into the room I used every year and locked the door.

Instead of changing into more comfortable clothes, I just plopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering if this year will be just as painful as last year, and the year before the last, and the year before that, and the year before that. Sometime in the midst of thinking, I fell into a dreamless sleep and woke up just in time to wash my face and change into a pair of gray sweats and a loose black tank top.

I was the third to sit down at the dinner table, after Effie and Faye. "Haymitch around?" I asked, helping myself to an appetizer, crackers topped with tuna and cheese and fancy stuff even the richer people in District 12 almost never gets. None of them answered.

As I finished half of my appetizer plate, Floyd joined us. His eyes brightened at the sight of all the bowls of appetizers served around the table, and he got a little of each. Shrimp, celery sticks stuffed with cheese and peanut butter, deviled eggs with fancy toppings, the crackers I was nibbling, little weiners, a handful of raw vegetables with dip, and more all went to his plate.

He was obviously from the Seam.

Faye was looking at Floyd curiously as he began stuffing all the food in with is hands. Faye was obviously a town girl, so she wasn't as excited as Floyd about the food, but she still dug in, with a fork and knife however. Gale (or maybe Bree, or both) must have taught her proper manners, but also thriftiness and when to keep quiet. I was grateful to see that.

When everyone was finished with their appetizers, Floyd was only one-thirds through. We all politely waited a couple of minutes before I said as kindly as possible, "There's more food to come, Floyd. Why don't you save some space?"

He put a dipped carrot in his mouth and nodded hesitantly. Almost instantly, three Avoxes took all the plates and utensils away, one changed the vase of flowers sitting at the middle of the table to a fresher bouquet, and five more brought the entrees. Even Effie glowed as the whole cooked pig, stuffed chicken breast, stews, steak, stacks of fancy hamburgers and hot dogs, stuff for vegetarians, spaghettis, and countless others settled down at our table.

Floyd declared, "I want to try everything." I nodded approvingly and Faye said that she might try that as well, but Effie just rolled her eyes and scoffed. Right when Floyd glanced up at her. His face fell.

"Go on," I prodded. "Why don't we play a sort of game? We'll all try a bite from a certain food one at a time and give our ratings?" Faye nodded and Floyd looked relieved. Effie rolled her eyes again but we ignored her.

The three of us each stabbed a pork chop with our forks and put it in our mouths. Mm. Saliva poured all over it inside my mouth. "Really good," I commented. Floyd said it was delicious but Faye grimaced.

"Too sour for me," she said.

"That's okay," I said, smiling, as she blushed. "That's what this game is all about." So much for not bonding with any of them.

We tried all sorts of meat, left bite marks on hamburgers, decided all three spaghettis weren't so good, took sips from all the drinks the Avoxes brought, and sampled the mouth-watering turkey intestines. "My favorite!" Faye cried as we got to the grilled salmon. She reached for another bite. I let her.

"Hey, Katniss," said Floyd as we reached the tortilla soup. "I remember watching a recap of your Games on TV once. You said at your interview with Caesar Flickerman that you loved that lamb stew..." He trailed off.

"Lamb stew with dried plums!" I exclaimed. "I can't believe I forgot. Yea. Let's try it." I peered around the table and saw that it was not there, so I ordered a small bowl of it from an available Avox.

It arrived after we tried two other foods. "Here it is!" I said excitedly, but my brain was saying, forget the bad memories. "Take a spoonful," I said to my tributes. They made sounds from their tongues as they tried it. "Do you like it?"

"Umm..." Floyd murmured, still trying to make up his mind. "It's all right, but I like the other foods better."

I shrugged. "Faye?" She just shook her head no. "Okay. I get the rest of it, then," I said, placing the small bowl next to my plate. "Let's try some other stuff."

Effie made faces at us as I finished my stew and we tried every little thing, including different dips, different colored turnips, and mixed foods.

After a while, I let out a breath. "Wow. I'm stuffed."

My tributes stared at me. "But we haven't had dessert," Floyd protested.

"Oh. Right," I said and glanced at the Avoxes. They nodded and wiped the table clear of plates and utensils again, and replaced them with cakes, fruits, an actual portable chocolate fountain, and pies. They also set up an ice cream stand near our table and an Avox stood behind it. Another Avox placed a bag of cotton candy next to every person. All I managed to eat was two bites of coconut cake, a strawberry, a tiny slice of pumpkin pie, and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. Faye and Floyd continued the taste test, though.

Throughout the meal, Haymitch did not show up. He didn't even show a sign that he was alive.

"All righty, guys," I said, exhaling loudly. "You're free for the night. Early tomorrow morning we'll arrive at the Capitol -" I broke off. Effie had just rolled her eyes again, smacked her fork down on her plate, and gotten up from the table. "Is there a problem, Trinket?" I demanded, giving her a glare. She'd been rude all evening and that was the end of my rope.

"Yes," she snapped. "You've been treating these pigs like they're normal, which they're not. Especially him," she said, pointing at Floyd, who gripped his glass tightly. Faye looked shocked. "They shouldn't deserve all this food. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go to my room before I puke in front of any you guys. I'm so disgusted." She flounced off with her nose in the air.

Whoa. Effie's never been this conceited before, in all these years I've known her. Just a little standoffish when she was miffed. "At least they're not idiots like you are!" I shouted at her back. "They don't stuff themselves 24/7 until they can't hold one more ounce of food and then throw it up with some formula! They don't have plastic surgery if they get fat and old!"

Effie let out a high-pitched, forced "HA!" and "Good for them!"

My voice got louder and higher. "They don't have three tons of paint all over their face or curtains wrapped on their body! And best of all, THEY HAVE SOME DECENCY TO KNOW WHEN TO BE RESPECTFUL!"

Effie didn't respond to that.

Faye screamed, "I wish you weren't our escort!" She was 100% over her shock. "As soon as District 12 wins the Games this year, Katniss will make sure you're fired... OR EXECUTED!"

Damn. This night wasn't getting any better. Before Floyd could spout some insult too, I took a deep breath and said quietly, "Floyd, go to your room. Faye, let's talk."

Floyd took off with his cotton candy. Faye just shook her head and followed Floyd, her eyes shining with tears. Luckily, my speed hasn't gone away yet, so I managed to slide into Faye's room before she could slam it shut.

"What is it?" she asked lowly and threateningly. "If you're here to talk about my behavior, forget it. I'm not gonna keep my thoughts from that stuck-up snob from the Capitol." She paused for a moment, then barged on angrily. "I hate her and the Capitol for what they've done to the districts. I especially hate what they've done to Dad's family when he was a kid, and what they made him go through. These Games are what I need to get revenge. And I swear, I won't -"

"Faye," I said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know -"

"You too," she accused, looking into my eyes. "You broke my dad's heart."

I froze. Then I inhaled again deeply and walked out of the room, telling myself to not show any sadness. As I headed out the door, I said, "Remember, we're arriving at the Capitol tomorrow. Be ready to leave the train."

As far as I knew, no one left their rooms for the rest of the night.