I'm shocked that this is my second update for this month. I've basically used a number generator for the train rides so the tributes are basically random. I've figured out a system where I could keep updating my stories frequently and not get sick of it. It works so far.

Train Rides #1: Tears & Surprises

~But all my friends, they don't know what it's like, what it's like

They don't understand why I can't sleep through the night~

Mary Grace Su (12), District 9

Mary Grace found herself a small corner in the middle of the train car. Her small frame had easily fit through it, and she knew no one would probably be looking for her. She pressed her knees to her chest and tried to make herself as small as possible in the tight space. She didn't want anyone to know that she was here, or anyone to notice her until afterwards.

Tears started leaking from her small, brown eyes, and she started to cry silently. It still seemed so surreal that she was reaped. Normally, she would be one of the last ones to ever get the attention. She was the middle child. She wasn't smart, she wasn't pretty, she certainly didn't have anything that her parents were interested in. She was just the middle child who at times, got scared of her own shadow.

She was perfectly happy staying in the corner to be honest. At least, people wouldn't be able to find her. It wasn't one of the first places to actually look, if you were actively seeking them. It was probably one of the last places to find, and made a really good hiding spot.

"Uhh Consus, have you seen your partner, Mary Grace?" She heard the escort say. Mary Grace carefully positioned herself further back, allowing her black hair to act as camouflage in the shadows. Conusus replied back,

"No, I really don't care."

Artemisia's heels clicked on the floor; Mary Grace held her breath as she stopped in front of her. Her brown eyes followed the escort's feet before hearing them turn away and heading into another train cart, where her room was at. She probably went to check the bathroom, the dining car or her sleeping accommodations.

After a couple of minutes, the escort's footsteps returned and sat absolutely still. The thuds of the heels happened repeatedly on the hardware floor, before it was silenced by the white, fluffy rug. She heard the leather chair rub and formed around the escort's body.

Mary Grace gently moved her head, and saw the escort's orange colored eyes staring down at her, with her hand around something on the mahogany coffee table. She let out a small squeak before diving out of her hiding spot, in search for somewhere else. She turned her back and was about to open the door to the sleeping accommodation car.

"Mary Grace, wait," Artemisia called out.

Mary Grace's small steps halted and she looked up a little bit, her eyes gazing down at the floor.

"Were you hiding there the whole time?"

She didn't respond. Her feet were quick to change their direction so she was poised to flee at a moment's notice.

"You know, hiding can be a good thing in the Games. Hide well, and you'll survive," Artemisia continued on.

Mary Grace still didn't respond, verbally or nonverbally. She opened the train door and headed towards her 'room' to spend time in there for a while.

~This morning when I woke

Is I know something now

Know something now I didn't before~

Audrey Holloway (18), District 4

The white train sped through the tracks quickly causing a smooth ride. This was her first time on a train and honestly it felt really homey. It was kind of strange that the Capitol had taken so much mesures to make the tributes at home even if they weren't exactly going there for anything good.

She positioned herself on a red loveseat in front of the flatscreen TV, anxious to see who her opponents are. Shockingly there were a couple of opponents. Both the pairs from 1 and 2 looked menacing and probably wouldn't be that bad for allies. There were a couple of volunteers from a few districts, but from their appearance-they wouldn't last long, volunteer or not.

There were a few from the outer districts that looked troubling, but Audrey really liked her odds. It seemed like this probably might be one of the easiest games from the first glances of the tributes.

"Dinner!" The escort-Hades called out.

Audrey turned off the TV and joined the mentors, her district partner and the escort in the dining all. She noticed that Dock was pouring himself whiskey, by the shape of the bottle and from the label. She had spent enough time in bars to know which drink was which. Emma, meanwhile, was grabbing herself a chicken salad. Just the thought of that made her stomach do a roll.

She grabbed a glass plate and filled it up with strawberries, chicken that looked like it had white cream sauce on it, and some bread. She sat down at the table, across the escort and right next to Brine, her district partner. There was small chatter about some things which Audrey mainly ignored. She only joined the small conversation when it suited her.

It was around the tenth bite of her chicken, where it made her stomach do flips. She sat there stiffly, hoping that it just wasn't the chicken being expired. She felt something come up her esophagus, and that was cue to rush to the bathroom.

"Excuse me."

She barely made it to the toilet where biles, pieces of chewed chicken, stomach acid among other things were seen in the toilet. She stayed there for a few moments until the nausea vanished. Who knew that looking at the toilet had that effect?

"Audrey, are you okay?" Emma inquired, knocking on the door.

"I'm fine," She replied back, wiping her arm across her chin and mouth and flushing the toilet. She unlocked the door and opened the door. Emma was standing there with her black leggings and a green shirt on.

"Do you always get this sick?" She asked.

Audrey froze. She certainly wasn't expecting a question like that. She thought back from the last few weeks, always after she ate anything that had to do with meat. She'd always ended up in the toilet to empty her stomach contents. It never happened to anything that was considered vegetables or fruits.

"Just anything I eat meat," She replied.

"Okay...Do you have any digestive issues before that?"

"What do you mean?"

Audrey was getting very confused by how this conversation was going. None of it was making sense. She had always been fine while training.

"Where you're throwing up constantly," Emma said in a rather bored manner.

"Well not until recently. The last two-three weeks, it's been like that. I just assume that the meat is old or something," Audrey explained.

"Have you taken a pregnancy test?"

"I-what?"

"I'll be right back."

Emma left. She could hear the soft footsteps that belonged to Emma going somewhere, before there was silence. Only a couple of minutes had passed before two pairs of footsteps were heard. The door opened with Emma and Hades holding a pregnancy test box, in his hand.

"Look, we just have to be safe and sorry," Hades tried to say, a small blush forming on his light tan skin. It was as if he never said anything like this before, or je just didn't like talking about pregnancy or whatnot.

She grabbed the test and to the stall where she was at, and took it .

It was only after a few minutes after she came out of the stall while she waited for the text to show its contents. She looked at it around the third or fourth minute, and she noticed two striped lines on the thing.

"How can this be?"

"Congrats, Audrey," Hades said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She was still gazing at the pregnancy test. It made complete sense. Why she suddenly got sick after eating certain food or strange smells. It also probably explained why she hadn't had her period in a few months. She always had never consistent periods, but still.

"What am I going to do?"

~The meaning of what happiness is

Then a new life will begin

Memory~

Veronica Alder (17), District 3

Veronica stared at the table. There were all kinds of foods on there. Wonderful smells that smelled so heavenly. Smells arranged from something sweet, to chocolatey, chicken, et cetera. Her mouth watered as she continued to stare at it in awe. While, she never grew up without having to rationalize meals. There was always something on the table, and something to eat. It was hard during the Dark Days, but they held their ground.

She grabbed a plate and selected some food from the large variety that was offered. She wanted to eat everything because of its contents. She grabbed a little bit of everything from pasta that had creamy, white sauce that had look bits of meat in it, a salad and just a little bit of strawberries that had a slight drizzle of chocolate on them.

"Hey Breccaan, do you need help?" Veronica asked, setting her plate down on the table that had a white tablecloth over it. She went back to the table and this time grabbed herself a glass cup and filled it with what it looked like to be lemonade, with a lemon on the side.

"Uhh sure," he said. Veronica headed over there to help him, while he clutched his white cane in one hand. He looked unfazed as she added the descriptions of the food and he chose out, while she dished him the foods. Eventually, she put his plate on the table and she sat down right next to him, eating her food.

"Are you two going to be allies or what?" The mentor, Celaena demanded, as she sat down on the chair. She had a full bottle of what looked like to be whiskey from the label on the bottle. She had a lit cigar in her other hand, and was puffing out smoke. It looked like she got a smoker and a drinker. Just wonderful.

Oh well. She could play the polite card for right now. Besides, listening to the mentor was the best thing in trying to survive. She didn't exactly have to like them or anything, but she wanted the mentor to focus on her. Besides, Breccaan was a lost cause with his blindness.

"I don't know," Breccaan murmured, taking a bite of his chicken that was covered in red, tomato sauce and cheese on it.

Veronica shrugged. She wasn't really planning on it, and besides, if she did, she wasn't going to ally with a weak cause. She guessed it was just finding the right person, or she could be a learner. The way she was it, if she was alone-she'd have a better chance at surviving. She wasn't going to risk her ally to betray her and possibly kill her. She was better off alone.

"Alright then…Look Breccaan, I'm not really going to waste my time on you. I mean Reyna could probably help you with her moodiness. I don't think you'll have the best chance of surviving. Veronica, here does," Celaena said truthfully.

~Taking my sulking to the masses

Writing my poems for the few

That look at me, took to me, shook to me, feeling me

Singing from heartache from the pain~

Finley Ryland (12), District 7

Finley tucked her dark red hair behind her ear as she worked on the paper that was laid out in front of her. It was one of her current blueprints on how to make a better living space for those in the poorer districts. She sighed as she pressed her pencil a little bit too hard and her led broke. She rolled up the blueprint back up and slid her now broken pencil into the pocket of her dress.

She looked for someone she could talk to. She wasn't going to talk to Amara, mainly because she doubted that she had nothing nice to say at all. She located the dark haired in his lumberjack outfit who was busy sitting at the table in another car. She exited out of the current car and went to the dining car where she grabbed herself a snack in the meantime.

"You're Grover right?" She asked, before she took a large bite out of the red, juicy apple. Juice dribbled down her skin and she wiped it away with her hand.

"Um yeah," He said. He didn't look up as he dug his knife, probably from here into his wood. It looked like some type of plant, probably a tree currently. It was probably not even finished, and he probably just started. Finley was always so fascinated by woodwittling and she always thought they always looked cool.

"What is it supposed to be?"

"It's supposed to be a tree."

She looked at it more closely, and she could see a little bit of his branches sticking out. It wasn't completely done, from the way the trunk looked on the rough side. She also couldn't exactly tell where the leaves were. She said nothing as she analyzed it more closely.

"It looks nice," She said. She took another bite of her forgotten apple in her hand.

"Thanks," He murmured.

Finely stood there awkwardly . She heard soft footsteps echo on the hard floor. She looked behind her and there was the escort, Amara who was smiling at them. Her hair still up makeup still somehow looked flawless.

"It's so nice having our two tributes making friends with each other!" Amara exclaimed.

Finley rolled her eyes. Amara's enthusiasticness was probably false, and she had no reason to be happy. She was out here parading them for the Capitol to see so they can take pity on them, because they'd be thrown into an arena and kill each other. She didn't know how people could stand that kind of stuff. She hated the day that the Hunger Games, a yearly event, was announced.

What kind of sick bastards celebrated the fact that children died? Murdered by their own peers? What kind of sicko would like that?

~We've got young blood

Can't destroy us

We make our own luck in this world~

Consus Cormone (15), District 9

Consus looked around the train like a lost animal. It was so big on the inside, and he just didn't know what to do. There was probably something to do on this moving death trap in a way. Was this karma for terrorizing the district with his harmless antics in a way? What did he do to deserve this kind of punishment?

Consus settled down on the black sofa, putting his feet up. He wasn't really going to do much and he better enjoy his relaxing and try to gain his usual self back. He knew once he got into the Capitol, there'd be no time for rest and maybe he could end up blackmailing someone and trick them into becoming his allies for the games.

That would certainly work. The only way that could work is if he knew who the tributes were and find out their background. It shouldn't be that hard. He could always pretend that he was someone who they could trust and tell them their secrets.

He smirked. He turned on the TV with the remote that was on the coffee table. He skipped through Districts 1 and 2. He knew that they normally allied with each other in most of the games and besides, he doubted they'd want an outlier like him in their alliance. District 3 was interesting. He wasn't really interested in the blind person-Breccaan. The girl, Veronica, would possibly do. She looked a little bit on the confident side, but still had the scared look to her.

Four was interesting. Brine and Audrey looked like they'd be out of the question. Probably had been training their whole lives, with their muscular, fit bodies. They'd probably ally with District one and two, knowing them. Five with Kalia looking easily to manipulate and probably Killian too. He'd made a mental note to go ask them during the training days, to see if they'd be willing to become allies.

Six with Joette who looked like to be the youngest tribute minus his district partner who had vanished. He ignored her including the district partner. Seven looked boring, so was Eight, minus the volunteer. He skipped over Nine obviously, but it wasn't until District 12 recap came on. He was curious about the girl. She seemed like she would become a good ally with her manic expression, but she'd probably be a wildcard in the making.

He sighed. It looked like there really weren't many options to actually choose from. There was Veronica, Kalia, possibly Killian and Alda but that was it. Maybe, he'd find more during the training days.

~When the going gets tough

The tough get going

One love, one life, one world~

Brine Clemont (16), District 4

Brine looked at the food table. There were tons of food, some that looked similar to what he used to eat back home. There certainly were a few dishes he had never seen, but he saw a couple of Four's speciality when it came to seafood. He picked out his favorites-crab legs, some mashed potatoes and shrimp that included cocktail sauce. He put his plate down on the table and went to grab what they called sweet tea.

He sat down in front of the two mentors who were busy chatting with one another. The Escort who was currently tapping his fingers on the table to a beat, that Brine couldn't recognize. He took a bite of what it looked like to be lamb or whatever.

It was a couple of minutes when the mentors halted their conversation and gave the two tributes their attention.

"So what are your two plans for the games?" The female mentor-Emma asked as sipped on her what it looked like to be red wine in her glass cup.

"I don't know-probably go alliance with some other people like the careers," Brine told them truthfully, dunking his shrimp into the red cocktail sauce and taking a bite of it.

"What are you going to do after that?" Dock this time said. "Assuming there will be an alliance. Some games, there are, some games they aren't. Assuming that the alliance will break up as soon as it's the final eight or something. What then?"

Brine thought over that. He really hadn't thought about something like that at all. He knew there was a high probability with him making it to the top 12 if not the final 8 with his skills. It was one man for himself as soon as the gong rang, and the alliance broke off with the careers. He could probably wait it out and kill any tribute to try and win?

Brine explained his thoughts to the two mentors. There were a few moments of silence before Audrey politely excused herself looking a little paler than usual, before rushing off to the bedroom. Emma followed her, leaving him with Hades and Dock sitting at the table.

"I can't deny that it does seem to be somewhat of a solid plan-but it needs a lot more work," Dock told him. "Do you want to become a victor or not?"

"Well I do," Brine murmured. He took a bite of his mashed potatoes, and took a drink of his sweet tea after he swallowed the mashed potatoes. His throat felt moist, so he continued on, "How did you win your games?"

Dock brushed off his question with another question of his own. It was kind of a little frustrating, but he knew-if he ever had a chance to win these games, then he'd have to listen to his mentor. Even if they liked dodging his questions.

"Okay, what are your weaknesses?"

"I dunno… My friends always told me I'm too trusting…." Dock held up his hand that seemed a little red, with fingernail imprints on his palms.

"That can easily be fixed. Your district partner, Audrey, can she be trusted?"

"I dunno yeah. She seems like someone I could trust," He said quietly.

"Look kid. I have seen her type before. Confident, won't hesitate to betray their district partner just to win," Dock replied in a bored manner as if it was an everyday recurrence. "What else?"

"I'm not a strong climber and I easily get overpowered during sparring matches with multiple opponents."

"Good… I want you to focus on working on your climbing skills and you sparring skills with multiple opponents."

I feel like this got a little repetitive, but I tried to vary it, between what I gathered through the forms, and just what it seemed interesting. Tell me what you think of this chapter and I'll see you with another update soon!