I am Katniss's Daughter.

The Caboose of the Train

It began to get cold in the caboose. By now we would be entering District 5, but I guess its train rush hour every other 2 hours. I pulled a blanket out of my suitcase. It was more of a small, thick dishrag. But it would do with some of my coats I packed. I leaned my head against the peeling wall. The old man and woman were on the other side of the caboose. If we scrunched our knees to our chests, our feet would still be touching. I felt hunger start to take me, even though I was only 8 hours into the trip. 

"Did you bring food?" I asked her.

"No. I thought there would be food here or you brang some." she replied. And then she smirked. I didn't find that too funny.

"I will see if there is another cart with food at the next stop. Then I will spend that while on the cart and at the next stop I will come back." I said. But she looked kind of worried. The older man offered to go with me, but to be honest, I was scared of him. I don't really like old men that are muddy. Also he looks as if he would take me hostage.

"That is perfectly alright. But I guess she can go by herself." replied the old woman and then she went on to whispering to the old man. I fell asleep for the time until we stopped. But that wasn't too long. I got up and got off the caboose and left my suit case.  I hopped off the train with the help of a District 5 conductor. I was reminded that we didn't call anything Districts anymore. But what else was I supposed to call anything. It was like a desert, but I couldn't blame the weather. Thank god I was allowed to look for food though.

The conductor called, " 10 MINUTES UNTIL WE CALL 'ALL ABOARD'." he sounded very old fashioned. I wondered what  every District was special. I know 12 is for mining, 4 is for fishing, and everything else escaped my mind. I ran to the first couple of carts on the train. The first from the second to last to the 6th to last cart were: A large family cart, farmer's carts (which had a couple of farm animals like pigs and goats, but also some farming supplies), a cart with hay stacked 6 feet high, a cart full of wood, and another cart full of people. Then the next 15 carts had families and people in general. Then the next one had a table with a young woman giving soup out to people.  I  jumped on and got in a line of so many people. Just as I climbed aboard the conductor started to call the "All aboard, you have 2 minutes.", kind of call. I sat down in a bunch of hay and waited in the line while she  started to make more of the soup.