The Shepherd and The Seamstress

Chapter Five: Train Rides

Ginette Kennedy

Someone pushes open the door, in a sense, seeing as I am blocking the way. Whoever it is mumbles a little and I move out of the way. "Sorry." I sniffle. They don't say anything else and walk into the room, of course it's a peace keeper. He picks me up off the floor and drags me out of the room and onto the train.

I rush into the compartment that is marked with my name. I lay on the bed and under the covers, wrapped in a burrito of sadness.

After a few minutes I decide to open the wardrobe in my compartment. I pull out a long, loose white shirt and a hi-low, black skirt. I walk back into the main compartment and see Lycus, Marcus, and our districts only Victor of the games: Lynodia Chase, she won the games when she was 18, five years ago, by weaving herself blankets out of pine needles and hiding in a snow hut.

I sit down and grab a roll from a basket on the table, a plain wheat roll with a sweet glaze. I start ripping off bits and eating them slowly. Suddenly, Lynodia gets tired of the silence. "Look, I'm here to help you not get slaughtered and I really hope I can." I look up from my roll. "Alright, what's the best strategy for the blood bath?"

She stares at me. "I'd rather learn your strengths and weaknesses first Ginette." I nod. "I know medicine pretty well, and plants, I guess I'm strong, and-" Marcus interrupts. "I watch her in the fields, she can wrestle down a full grown bull, she nurses kids back to health, she can pick out an edible mushroom from a poisonous one, she can build a shelter in less than an hour, and she can survive on water for two days." I stare at him in shock. Wait a minute, I know him! He's my neighbor  and he works around the same fields I do. "You can wrestle a cow faster than I can, you can hunt the predators that get into the field, you can tell what snakes can kill you or not, and you can build a smokeless fire in ten minutes!"

"Ginette, I recommend you run from the cornucopia and grab a backpack or something useful from the ground and possibly a weapon. Marcus, I say you could probably make it to the cornucopia and grab a weapon and some rope, it would be useful." I nod and so does he. Lynodia looks at the booth of us. "Also, eat as much as you can while you can so you have extra fats in the arena for your body to live off while you're in there, in case you are unable to find food." I nod again and then the television turns on loudly.

We all walk to the sofa to watch the reruns of the reapings. The children of district one watch anxiously wait as the names are called. Not so much as a second after the names are finished from the mouth of their escort five eighteen year olds shout "I volunteer!" Two muscled teens are chosen for the games. In Two and Four the same thing happens. In district three a twelve year old girl and a seventeen year old boy are both chosen. In five a fifteen year old pair of twins are picked. In six a crippled girl who's thirteen is chosen and a seventeen year old boy volunteers. In seven a twelve and fourteen year old pair of children. In eight, my eye gets caught on their selection. I remember watching one boy, Aureus I think his name was, die brutally multiple times on replay over television. I look over the faces in the crowd as they play it. Their escort stands on stage and walks to the bowl of names and pulls a name. "Ina..." She starts. "Oh wait I was reading it upside down!" She laughs. She flips over the paper. "Delani Cordei." She reads and a girl screams in the crowd. They zoom in on her face and tears are streaming down it. A peacekeeper comes out and grabs her arm, dragging her on stage. I stare at her face for a minute and I realize why she seem so familiar: she reminds me of Veve. The blonde hair and terrified face looks like Veve's when she was dragged from the room by the peacekeeper. By the time I snap out of thought it comes to the district ten reaping. I see Lycus on stage he says "I think I'll start with gentlemen first." He grabs a name and Marcus walks on stage. I see my face in the crowd as he grabs my name from the girls' bowl and he reads my name. I listen to myself correcting him and then how my face turns from annoyance to fear and I heard Veve scream for me in the background. I cover my mouth quickly and I look over at Marcus and see his face is stone cold. My mind blanks, remembering earlier today. Suddenly the television ends and I snap from my memories.

I read until it gets late, then I try to sleep but I can't because of the constant nightmares of past games now haunting me. I watch as the sky starts to turn pink and I walk to the small balcony attached to my car. My hair whips into my face with the wind as I watch the sun rise until it's bright outside. I check the clock on my wall when I walk inside and it's only four. I walk into the main compartment, starving and see a feast of breakfast on the table. I eagerly grab some bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, lamb, rolls, and a large glass of coffee. I've only once had coffee, it was my parents' treat for me having to enter my name for tesserae. It was one of the best things I have ever experienced and I am eager to have more. I sip the bitter drink gladly and eat bits of bread with it. I shovel eggs and bacon into my mouth. I finish my rolls and toast and nibble on the lamb until I finish that. I continue to sip my coffee and I eat the fruit slowly. By the time I finish completely with my meal it's five.

Suddenly Marcus storms into the main compartment. I jump and fall backwards out of my chair with a loud bang. "Darn you Marcus!" I scream at him. He stops in his tracks and stares at me. "Sorry, Ginette." He says reaching out a hand for me to take. I ignore his hand and pick myself up and prop up the chair.

We hang around and talk for a while about what we think the arena might be like or how we could possibly beat the other tributes, or what our training techniques may be. He eats his breakfast as I pick at a few more rolls.

At about nine Lycus and Lynodia both walk into the room and they each grab a small plate of food. We all talk about strategies until eleven, which is when we start arriving in the Capitol.

At first I see a blur of a candy colored building. I look closer out the window and I see a large city, colored like the hard candies that I've often seen in the stores in our town square, the ones I've never been able to bye. I look on, my mouth open in awe. We turn slightly so we are heading towards the city and after a few minutes, we arrive at the station.

A crowd of candy colored people cheer as we approach. I walk onto the balcony and wave as we slowly pull into the station. I hold out my hand for people to grab. From the open door I hear Lynodia say something to Marcus who grumbles out a response. I don't really want to join these cheering people, but I need sponsors so I can win.
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Guys! Please vote for my story it would mean a lot if Ginette could win the games and check the introduction chapter for more information and for updated rules on voting.
Thanks!
-Jen