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AS HOURS STRETCHED BY, THE TRIBUTES GREW WEAKER. For those from the numerically first districts, it had been a few days since they ate. Zea caught Facet eyeing the dead bat for a moment, only to shake his head and slump back against the wall. Velvereen had resorted to curling into a ball, an attempt to sleep off the tight pain in her stomach.
Most become irritable in their hunger. Brandy ended up shoving Tanner when he accidentally stepped on her foot, and the cart fell into a stark silence only broken by the rumble of their stomachs.
"It's like the war," Zea noted her legs tights to her chest to stifle the ache in her belly. "Only boring."
Panlo groaned, "Please tell me you aren't calling the war that killed thousands 'entertaining'?"
Zea ducked her head sheepishly, "No." A beat of silence. "But it would classify as more entertaining than this, I would think."
"I agree," Brandy grumbled. She still seemed on edge after Tanner stepped on her foot. "At least back then there was the fun of trying to find food. All we got is the bat."
"And each other."
Everyone stared in shock at Lucy Gray—even Velvereen lifted her head up at the statement.
"I hope you mean in solidarity of our hunger," Zea remarked, eyes narrowed, "Cus if you meant as food..."
"You resemble a rainbow trout," Coral sneered, eyes running all over the girl from Twelve's skirt. "So you'd be the first course."
Lucy Gray plastered a peaceful expression on her face, tilting her head slightly as she smiled brightly, "As comrades, of course."
"Right..." Zea made a show of scooting a bit away, despite several others separating her from Lucy Gray. She looked to her left, nudging Lamina gently, "How you doing, LumberJane?"
Lamina sat with her arms wrapped about her stomach. "I feel like I'm going to throw up."
"Well if you do, aim for Treech." That garnered a weak smile from Lamina. "Wanna braid my hair?" Lamina shook her head. "How about a game?" She clapped her hands, turning to the cart, "Who's in?"
"Zea, shut. up." Panlo hit his head against the wall behind him with each word. "Let me starve to death in silence."
"You are such a drama queen."
"What kinda game?" Lucy Gray interrupted their bickering.
"Hmm..." Zea racked her mind. There were a great number of games she knew from back home, not that she had played any in a long time. Betting took up most of her extracurricular time. "We can play 'Going to the Capitol'?"
