As the minutes of training ticked by, Lily knew that she was going to die. Everyone knew they were going to die, someday, but in her district, reaching old age was almost a given if you belonged to the elite. Some of the harvesters managed, too, especially the strong men and the women who managed to birth more than five kids. (As an incentive to have children, all expectant mothers were given the grain and oil equivalent of one year's worth of tesserae, and then again for a year if the baby lived. Lily didn't know if this existed in other districts, but she thought it helped to account for some of the larger families.) Much like the free food provided to the district when Eleven managed a winner, the expectant mothers from the elite gave their grain and oil away to those who needed it more.
Official reports stated that the average male in Eleven lived to 70, and the average female to 75. This wasn't divided into class, though, and only accounted for the people who survived to adulthood. Some said the numbers were higher, others far lower. For a teenager like Lily, 75 might as well be 1000.
But those 61 years were about to be stolen from her. Because there was simply no way she would survive the Hunger Games. Forget surviving the entire Games, she'd need some kind of act designed by the Gamemakers that would wipe out all but the weakest simply to make it through the first day.
It was lunch on the second day of training. Another day and a half of that, followed by their evaluations. Then, a day to prep with Seeder for her interview, and finally, the Games themselves. Or, rather, Games for the Capitol, a week or two of surviving the mandatory viewing for the districts, and outright torture for the tributes. That was if they were lucky and didn't die during the first hour.
Lily used to think that if she knew exactly what day she would die, she'd do all of her favorite things the day or so beforehand. Eat her favorite foods, walk down her favorite paths. Rise early and wear her favorite dresses. But all this would be denied her, even something as basic as dying surrounded by her family and close friends, because of the Capitol's sick belief that children should suffer for the crimes of their grandparents. Maybe even great grandparents. Those who were long dead, at any rate.
She pushed her spoon around her soup, feeling too angry and sad to have much of an appetite.
"Not hungry?" Ash asked, glancing at her bowl with interest.
Lily shook her head, then pushed it towards him. "Take it."
He had a chance of winning. Not as good as any of the Career tributes, but a chance, all the same.
She glanced at their table, admiration mixing with anger. One of them would win. Probably, one of the boys, but girls had won from those districts as often as not. They trained for the Games, never mind that it was against the rules. They ate better, too, being friendly with the Capitol. Then, the already well-fed kids (and adults) would get even more to eat after one of them won. Not the same district won every year, of course, but Lily guessed that the number of winning tributes from any of those districts was higher than the remaining ones combined. At least, those that were still living.
"Hey. What did that roll ever do to you?" Ash quipped, grabbing the remainder of the seaweed tinted roll from Lily's hand.
She hadn't even realized she'd taken it from the basket.
"Sorry," she muttered.
"Apologize to the roll, not to me." He grinned, holding out the mangled bread.
Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mr. Roll."
"That's all right, Miss Lily. I forgive y-" But whatever the roll was about to "say" was cut short, as well as its "life," as it disappeared into Ash's mouth.
Lily couldn't help it-she giggled. "Why'd you make me apologize if you were going to eat it anyway?"
Ash shrugged. "Figured it would give you a laugh. And it didn't it?"
Lily nodded, feeling the smile on her face.
The rest of the afternoon went a little bit better, and the dinner was excellent. Best of all was ice cream for dessert, something she'd only had once in her life. But this ice cream wasn't just one flavor, but several. And there was a delicious hardened chocolate poured all over it, as pretty as it was tasty. Pieces of fruit decorated the bowls. As they discussed what had gone on in training that day-minus the incident with Mr. Roll's untimely demise-they devoured the dessert. Even Chaff and Seeder, who must eat food like this on a daily basis. Everyone got seconds of ice cream.
As Lily tried to fall asleep that night, she consoled herself by thinking that the food was far better than at home. Although she'd trade it all for one last day with her family.
That night, she had a nightmare of dying after the Gamemakers sent the pods exploding the second the sixty second clock ran out. Lily screamed herself awake, clutching at the ball around her neck.
Her only reminder of home.
A/N: Shortest chapter yet, I know. Please leave feedback, and I'll try to work on the next one, and get it out soon.
Next up: An idea forms.