Chapter 4

"So, you'll be seeing all the tributes in person soon enough, but I'm going to tell you that you shouldn't make friends with anyone else but each other. I've seen too many alliances end with a knife in a back. District Eleven shouldn't be too much, but don't hurt the twelve year old. Don't give the male one a reason to kill you," Blight instructs us.

Johanna joins us and Blight clears a spot on the plush sofa for her. I touch my aching neck as she sits down next to me.

"Arrival in five minutes," A voice sounds over an intercom.

"Joy," Johanna mutters, bitterly. Johanna was surprising me. She was nothing like the Capitol's image of victors that was broadcasted everywhere. The cool, calm and collected version being bathed in riches and praises. Johanna looked miserable, even worse than some people I'd passed earlier on in Seven.

"So whose most likely this year?" She asks Blight.

"Careers look good, so does the male from 11," he tells her.

I shift in discomfort as they talk about whose most likely going to kill us. It was nice to see how much faith they had.

Johanna nods, before turning to us, "So, any special talents that probably won't save your life?" her voice was full of dismissal.

"I'm good with an axe," Rilien tells her, looking prideful.

Johanna mocks surprise, "And your from District Seven? The lumber district? No way! I meant any special talents that the other tributes don't know."

"Chess?" Rilien says, though it sounded like a question.

"Your plan is to survive the Hunger Games with your chess skills," Johanna deadpans, before saying to me, "So can Ms volunteer do anything useful?"

I narrow my eyes at her. Johanna was pissing me off and suddenly, I don't care that a lot of my activities were illegal, "I jump the fence, kill animals with a bow and sell them to black market shopkeepers."

Blight stares worriedly at the camera in the corner of the room, while Johanna cocks an eyebrow, "Hunter then, huh. How good?" She asks.

"I've been doing it for since I was eleven," I tell her. Rilien sits on the corner of the couch staring at me.

"You're a criminal! And I was going to ally myself with you!" He sounds shocked.

"You're going into an arena with twenty three other teenagers and you are going to kill some of them if you plan on staying alive. You're already a fucking criminal!" Johanna yells at him. Rilien storms out and I could hear Aiola reprimand him for yelling.

"Now, back to you," Johanna says, "I didn't ask how long you've been doing it, I asked if you were good."

I ponder for a minute. I'm good at hitting animals, the last time I missed a squirrel I was thirteen, "I'm good."

Johanna shoots Blight a smile, a vicious scary looking one "Then we may have a chance this year."

"Arriving now," The intercom reports. I gaze out the huge window and look at the Capitol. The buildings block out the sun. I remember being a kid and thinking trees were the tallest thing in the world. Whenever I climbed one, I'd just sit on the highest branch and stare down at everyone. I could see anything the branches, my house, the forest, even the other side of the fence, but here, the buildings touched the sky. I had to strain my neck to look all the way up to the top. The trees I climbed up when I was little, they were nothing compared to this.

The streets are spotless and the houses are all huge and colourful. I can spot multiple cars in huge driveways. Cars are a rarity in Seven. Only the merchants and the mayor have one, but here, they line the streets. There's a fountain every two blocks, sending water up four, five meters high. I see a few little kids, laughing and playing in them, while their parents watch out of the corner of their eye. We only had one fountain in Seven, right in front of the mayor's office. I remember when I threw Prim into it as a joke. She smelled like sewer for a week.

Even stranger, each person is wearing a bizarre ensemble of clothing. One man has a bright blue moustache that was sticking straight up, rising a foot above his head. Another girl wears a skirt that flares out so much a man walking two meters away trips over it. Even the children ware dressed in fancy clothing. As soon as they see the train, they all began to cheer and wave. Blight waves at them, but Johanna doesn't move a muscle, just steps away from the view line. I look through the glass.

"Wave," Blight orders, a scarily bright smile on his lips. I look at the crowd, they seem overjoyed that Blight even looks them, but most of the attention is on me. They stare, completely transfixed, as if seeing me is like winning the lottery.

"No, why would I?" I ask. These people had brought me here to die and they expect me to treat them nicely.

"Sponsors," Blight replies.

"If I'm going to die in less than a week, I don't want to pretend I'm grateful," I tell him.

"Get over your ego and do it," Johanna tells me, "My games would of been a hell of a lot easier if I had some sponsors."

I remain on my seat, but I force my face in to a smile. A lot of the crowd smile back. It's creepy the effect a small body movement had on this many people.

Finally, the train ride ends and we end up in a room without the Capitol citizens.

I leave the carriage and Blight follows.
"Now you're going to the stylists. It's a free spa and the Capitol only uses the best equipment for their tributes," Aiola says.

I'm brought to an empty room where I'm told to wait and get I've stripped and put on the robe, I notice a weird shape in my dress' pocket. I pull it out and let our a breath of relief. It was the mocking jay pin.

"Hello Katniss," A lady says to me. I hide the pin behind my back. Two more people follow her inside. The first lady has half her hair dyed a strange purple colour and the a lime green. She wears a lot of makeup, making her face look like a rainbow.

The second one has tattoos covering every bit of skin. A bunch of colourful swirls that ran across her entire body and bald head, even her eyelids had little swirls on them.

Lastly is a guy, with piercings everywhere. They range in colour and shape, but they're all huge and ornate. He has a tattoo across his forehead that reads : Sheep, in fancy script. I don't know what it means, but if he's happy with it, it doesn't really matter.

They rinse me over what seems like a billion times, making me smell like a bunch of weird flowers. They waxe every inch of hair except for my head and paint my nails. Finally, they leave me alone and I'm back in the empty room, with nothing but a robe and a mockingly pin.

Soon enough, the stylist comes in. She's wearing what has to be a wig, with braids of different colours and styles overlapping each other to form an elaborate hairdo. Her skin is tinged pink and her eyes are an unnatural yellow.

"Hello Katniss!" She exclaims, in the same chipper and irritating Capitolian accent as Aiola, "Welcome to the Hunger Games!"

I'm sick of everyone acting so happy about the murder of twenty three people, no one but Johanna, Blight and Rilien has anything negative to say about them.

"I'm Aery and today I'll be dressing you up for the chariots!" She announces, like I'm a kindergartener.

I try to listen as she describes the outfit I'll be wearing, but I already know that I'm going to be a tree or a woodcutter. Hopefully I won't be as unlucky as the the ones who got dressed up as axes. I almost laugh out loud as I remember the female's long hair dyed silver and put up in a two foot long mohawk for the blade.

Chapter 4 is finished! Thanks for reading, feel free to comment or criticize, everything helps.