"Did you think I'd lay down and Die? Oh no, no I I will survive."
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I woke up. I couldn't tell what time it was, I loved to sleep in, but had trained myself against it when I had to hunt. I laid in bed for a few more minutes to bring myself full awake. I looked around, confused, then I remembered. The reaping. Claudia's name being called. Volunteering. Fuck.
I groaned and rolled out of bed and onto the floor. The carpet was so soft I nearly fell asleep again but remembered that Razo had agreed to train us. I had pulled on pajamas before I had gone to sleep that night, and I got up and went across the room to find something to change in, then decided against it.
I walked out of my room and down the hall that led to the dining car. I was still hungry, which was astonishing, seeing as I had eaten plates of food then gone back to my room and messed with some sort of food dispenser and ate from that. I opened the door to the dining car and saw Caspian and Razo talking strategy. "So," Razo was saying, "what should you do if you have a career pack on your tail?"
"Run?" Caspian asked.
"You think you can out-run kids who have been training for this their whole lives."
Caspian pointed at me. "She could. She's the fastest one in our school."
"Only because of bomb time." I said, smirking.
Caspian laughed.
Razo looked questioningly between us. "What happened during bomb time?" he asked.
Bomb time was when, for 30 minutes we had to sit under our desk and wait there, knees tucked under our chins, and hands over our heads.
"Well," said Caspian, "When we were little, bomb time was introduced to us. I was 8 and had already had to go through it before, but at 6 Isi hadn't. Well, when the teacher explained why we had to do this, all of the sudden we hear a 'that's stupid' from the back of the class. The teacher was shocked. 'Pardon me?' she had asked. "I said." Isi repeated, "Thats stupid." The look on the teacher's face was priceless. "It is not, it's an issue from the capitol-" "Yes, it is stupid," Isi had interrupted her." Caspian put his hands on his hips mimicking my 6-year-old self. "She went: "If the bomb can get through the roof, then it can get through the desk, duh." Isi had said. The room went silent." Caspian laughed. "Dead silent. Long story short, instead of hiding under her desk, Isi was now supposed to run out of the school as fast as she could and to the air raid shelter."
Razo laughed. "That's awesome. Please tell me your teachers name was Penelope Brucks."
"Bingo." I laughed.
"I wish I could have been there." Razo sighed. "I also wish I didn't have to bring it to this but, we need to get started on tactics. Do either of you have special skills?"
"I'm fairly strong." Caspian said.
I spoke up. "I can use knives. Like, in a fight."
The room went silent.
"That's funny, real funny." Razo said and was about to turn away.
"Seriously. My dad taught me." I insisted. "He liked us to be prepared."
"Well, that changes things up." Razo muttered. "Got any other secret talents you'd like to tell us about?"
"I can use a sling, but that's not nearly as exciting." I replied.
"It's actually better than you think, better to have weapons that can cover long and short-range distances. Does the sling kill?"
"Depends." I told him. "If you use marble shot in a short sling and hit on the target's head, yes, but you can't kill with stone shot in a short sling, if I have a long sling, I can kill with either marble or stone."
"Can you make them yourself?" was Razo's next question.
"Yeah. It'll take me about a day or two though, the leather has to dry naturally after being wet and that takes a while."
Razo turned to Caspian. "So, you need to learn how to use a staff or spear."
"I can spear okay, some of the boys and I went behind the shed after school and threw old bamboo shafts, I always won, so maybe I can learn." Caspian said skeptically.
"Okay. Now that we've assessed your skills, it's time for Q&A." Razo said, leaning back in his chair with a grin on his face. "This is going to be fun."
4 hours later, Caspian and I have answered every impossible predicament that we could get ourselves into with flying colors. I had a lot more questions than Caspian because Razo said I was impulsive. I'm not impulsive, I just take actions when others don't. According to Razo, that's what gets you killed.
"Okay, well, you better get dressed." Razo says pointing at me. "And be your more charming self when we arrive."
As the door swings shut behind him, the car goes dark. There are still a few lights inside, but outside it's as if night has fallen again. I realize we must be in the tunnel that runs up through the mountains into the Capitol. The mountains form a natural barrier between the Capitol and the eastern districts. It is almost impossible to enter from the east except through the tunnels. This geographical advantage was a major factor in the districts losing the war that led to my being a tribute today. Since the rebels had to scale the mountains, they were easy targets for the Capitol's air forces.
Suddenly, light fills the train again, and we see the Capitol in all of its sickening glory. The colors are too bright, they look artificial and so do the people. They begin to point at us eagerly, looking at the window and waving. I wave back, smirking, Caspian snorts and I turn to him. "What?"
"Nothing," he says "It's just that if they knew you in real life and what you're really thinking-" He bursts into laughter again. I roll my eyes at him and then chuck a pillow in his direction too.
