Jasper Altone

"For now, my advice is to enjoy the luxury of being in the Capitol. Don't worry about the games tonight," said Blye, the district mentor. "Just relax for a night and enjoy the food and comfort of the train. We'll get to work once we reach the Capitol." Jasper liked Blye. She was really kind and caring. She had won her games seven years ago, at the age of thirteen. No one had thought she could win, having come from the upper class. She was the child of former Head Peacekeeper Nielson, who retired when she won. She looked like she belonged in Two, not Eleven, with her light eyes, hair and skin. Nevertheless, no one could deny she was one of the best things to happen to Eleven.

She told the people of the district to save the food brought in from the Capitol. Many at first were hesitant, not wanting to be taunted by the canned delicacies, but she convinced them to wait and save them. She used her Capitol winnings to buy food for so may people that eventually, the President stepped in and told her, personally, that she had been cut off. She kept her home in the Victor's village, but she had been forced to go back to working in the fields. Still, a year later, when a major shipment of crops was destroyed, many people went without the little pay they relied on. Blye's advice to save the food ended up saving the district. Jasper, whose family had been affected by the crop accident, owed his life to her.

And now it was up to her to save his life a second time.

He went to his room, which he was sharing with Anton, and changed into warmer clothes. Eleven was always very warm, so the cold air blasting on the train was an anomaly to him. He saw Anton wrap up in a blanket, and he thought of something. What if the arena is a frozen wasteland? How would anyone from Eleven survive? They were all so used to the heat, to the point where this conditioned air felt like ice on Jasper's skin.

He wished desperately for a humid death cage.

Tawny Hestion

Tawny could not stand being in the same room as her roommate, Aprila. Despite Blye's advice to enjoy the evening, the little girl had been pacing around their room and having short panic attacks for the past few hours. She looked over at the clock on the wall. It was one in the morning. They'd be arriving at the Capitol in ten hours, and Tawny was exhausted. She was bored, too. Everyone else besides Aprila were smart enough to be asleep already, and the Recaps were no longer being shown on television. The people in the Capitol must all be asleep, too.

Tawny let herself into the dining car, and started slicing some fruit. She had worked the orchards all her life, and she knew which fruits and vegetables tasted the best together. She dumped her fruit salad into the blender, which had been amazed by. They didn't have stuff like this in Eleven, so when she saw Ogden make instant fruit juice earlier today, she knew she'd have to try some. The machine was nearly silent, and she was glad. Tawny would hate to be that person that woke everybody up at this hour. She brought the drink back to her room with her, hoping Aprila had tired herself out and was asleep in bed.

She wasn't. The girl was lying in the middle of the room, face down in the floor, shaking. Tawny knelt down beside her and put the glass next to her, letting the fruity smell hit her. Aprila looked up, surprised by the gesture.

"You should really get to bed," she told the girl. She handed her the glass, and Aprila took it slowly. She nodded her thank you as she drank, and it seemed to calm her down a bit. Tawny got up to go make another glass, but Aprila clung to her legs before she could make it to the doorway. She gave in, sat back down on the floor, and allowed herself to finally drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Niko Whiatt

Niko didn't feel like making a lot of noise while everyone else was asleep. He'd woken up about an hour ago, and had seen that it was only three in the morning. He went out to the main car to try to find something to do, but ended up stumbling over a pile of books that had been left in the middle of the rooms. Who would put books there? He picked one of them up and brought it over to a light so he could read the title of it. Niko discovered that it wasn't a book, but rather a tribute journal.

Journals had become a tradition with the Games ever since the rebellion. Tributes were able to write down strategies, ideas, maps, anything they wanted, and it was kept for later on so future tributes could read through them. Niko, realizing what invaluable information he had just come across, brought as many of the books back as he could carry, and then made a second trip for the remaining ones. He set up base in his bathroom, pulling his blankets and pillows along and throwing them into the bathtub in case he fell asleep. He started going through each book, making sure to copy into his own journal the best notes he read from each one. It was disturbing how many of them had blood stains on the pages. One tribute, and younger girl name Elisa, had been killed while she was writing an entry. He didn't want his journal to end up in the growing pile, which was empty of Blye's. A winner's journal is kept in the Capitol, not on the trains.

As he finished off the last journal – they were usually pretty short – he poked his head outside the bathroom door. The sky had become a slightly less ominous shade of grey, and Niko could make out a small patch of bright lights on the horizon. It had to be the Capitol. How long did they have before the train was pulling into the station?

Tessa Braze

Tessa woke up earlier than she usually did. But when she thought about it, it was probably due to the good night's sleep she had gotten. Back home, on her straw mattress, she would toss and turn for hours in her sleep. She felt as if she hadn't moved a muscle in this huge bed. She looked out the windows on the side of the train. The sky was starting to take on a pinkish hue. Dawn was almost here.

Suddenly, Tessa saw a streak of light appear out of nowhere. Another tribute train had just emerged from an underground tunnel. Tessa looked back and saw a huge lake. Had they simply gone under it? Or through it? The other train was pulling closer and closer to her own, and eventually they were side by side. Tessa could see inside the other train, as whichever tributes occupied that room had forgotten to turn off the lights. It was two boys, asleep on either side of the room. Both of them had deep olive skin and black hair, from what Tessa could see. She knew the look of them indicated that the other train had come from Twelve. Suddenly, the door on the far side of the room opened and a tiny little girl came into the room. She woke both of the boys, and pointed straight at Tessa. One of them looked shocked, the other seemed irritated, he quickly ran to the window and pulled the shades. Before they were all the way closed, Tessa thought she saw the little girl wave to her. Odd.