Peacekeepers: The 49th Annual Hunger Games

Trains

Evangeline's POV:

"Evangeline Greenly!"

It took me far too long to comprehend that my name was just picked for The Hunger Games. I was already on the stage when I realized what just happened. Mason was still screaming my name, and the other Peacekeepers had to pull him away. I just stood there, my shoulders slumped. I looked at Marigold and then back at the crowd.

President Snow did this to me.
He did this on purpose.
And I was going to survive.

"Well, everyone," Marigold said, trying to draw attention from Mason's reaction. "Back up here, back up here. This sure is turning into a dramatic Games, isn't it?" She laughed a shrill laugh. "It's time for the boys!"

She walked over to the boys bowl and eyeballed it before sticking her hand in and tugging out a paper.

"Tate Barkley!" She said into the microphone. The boys collectively sighed and parted so the boy, Tate, can get through. He might've been my age, maybe a few months older, but I'd never seen him before in my life. Maybe it was for the better it was nobody that I knew. I didn't wanna deal with the guilt afterwards.

The boy was tall, much taller than me, but about the same height as Mason. His arms and legs were scrawny at first glance but looked like they could have been hiding some muscle under his white button up shirt. His face, while focused and clearly holding up a brave front, was concentrated on one girl in the back row. The girl appeared to be sobbing. Tate never once took his eyes off her. He gave her a small nod, and I instantly knew what was going on in his head.

He wanted to get home to the girl he loved, just like I wanted to get home to the boy I loved.

I had to hope that he died of natural causes, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if it came down to the two of us and I had to kill him. I took a deep breath as Marigold lead us into the Justice Building.

I glanced at Tate silently, just long enough to see a single tear slip down his cheek before we were being escorted into separate rooms. The door slammed shut behind me, leaving me alone, to pace and think about what just happened, and the coming weeks. Hunger Games. Me. Tate. Murder. Arena. None of the words formed into a complete sentence as I ran my hands through my hair, trying to breathe normally. The door opened, and my family stepped in. "Dad..." I whispered and hugged him tightly, wincing because of my whip-marks. I was shaking as I hugged him tighter. "Dad..." I couldn't make out any words as my older brothers hugged me tightly.

"Hush..." Dad whispered. "Shhhh..."

"Dad, this isn't just a bad dream that you can sing a lullaby to fix." I said. Parker and Root pulled back, looking at me, and then at Dad.

"I know, but Evie, you're still so, so brave. I have faith in you. You can win this." He said.

"I don't wanna kill anyone..." I whispered.

"So don't. Evangeline- Hide. Gather supplies and run and hide. Make allies. You know how to survive."

"This isn't that simple..."

"It's just a TV show, Eves," Dad whispered. "You'll be okay... I promise." He hugged me again, and I ended up crying in his shirt. Parker and Root sobbed into my shoulders. Their sobs felt like a death sentence.

A Peacekeeper stepped in. "It's time." I hugged Dad tighter as the Peacekeepers dragged him away, and shut the door. I watched in silence, more thoughts coming to my mind as another Peacekeeper came in. At first, I thought it was time, until the Peacekeeper's lips planted on mine deeply.

I panicked and almost screamed, as he held me tightly against him. I jerked my knee upwards, and the Peacekeeper bent forward in pain, letting out a groan I knew to be Mason's.

"Mason! Why would you scare me like that?!"

"Why would you kick me like that?!" He catches his breath and stands. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why are you asking me? I just kicked you in the-"

"Eva, you need to make me a promise." He said cutting me off. "You need to try your hardest to win. You need to remember not to give up. You need to think about me whenever you're thinking of letting someone else wins. You're the strongest girl I know."

"Not when it comes to fighting!" I countered.

"No, you don't need to know how to fight. You can do this, Evangeline. I believe in you." He held my cheek in his hands. "Avenge Blossom. Make them pay for what they did to her."

I blinked back tears but nodded. "I'll try."

"I love you, Evangeline."

"I love you too, Mason." We hugged one more time before he escorted me out to Marigold. Marigold was far too perky for the fact she was escorting me to my death. Her shoes had eleven inch heels, and her waist was corseted so tight she looked in danger of suffocating.

Tate was standing there with his arms tight around himself but he'd seemed to come to the conclusion that he'd be winning the games. I hoped he knew that I'd come to the same conclusion. I also hoped that I didn't have to be the one to kill him.

Marigold turned to me and let out a shriek I'd never heard from anything before. She galloped in her shoes over to me and put her hands on my shoulders, kissing both my cheeks. Her hair looks natural, a deep brown, but her eyelashes stuck out so far, I was afraid if she turned her head, they'd stab me. Her eye makeup was silver and pink and lots and lots of glitter, and she looked as though she had lots of plastic surgery making her face look stiff and pulled back. It scared me, honestly.

It took everything in me not to push her away and shout at her, but somehow, I didn't.

She looked me up and down and her wide smile turned into a look of distaste. "Well, we can work on all... this later. Right now, I want you two to get to know each other! You'll be spending a lot of time together!" Tate didn't find that amusing, and neither did I.

We boarded the train. I looked out the window the entire time, my eyes on Mason. He was sobbing. I struggled not to start crying.

That was the last time I would ever see Mason. It was the last time he would ever see me.

The train pulled out of the station, and within a couple of second, Mason was constructed from my view, but I still looked out the window at the fields, my house, the tree Mason and I would sneak off to at night. I swore to myself that I wouldn't cry until I was in my bed and safe from prying eyes.

Marigold giggled and sat in front of Tate and the empty chair I was supposed to be in. She poured us a drink and set it in front of us. I drank it eagerly, needing some kind of alcohol to ease my worries.

Tate looked at me in confusion, and maybe a bit of disgust. I could read his mind all too easily. How could I accept anything from the Capitol?
"If we're going to die," I said the first thing to him since we've met, "I'd rather die on a full stomach." I sat down and took a blueberry muffin from the basket. Tate didn't respond.

"Well, since the previous Victor has died, you two don't have a mentor," Marigold said. "So-"

"What?" Tate asked angrily.

"Excuse me?"

"We don't get to have a mentor? How is that fair? Just because the last idiot was a coward and killed himself!"

"Young man," Marigold sighed. Tate grumbled and pushed himself to his feet, walking out and to a different area of the train. I looked back out the window and almost, almost cried, but lucky for me, I was stronger than that. Tate was intimidating, but he didn't scare me.

I was determined to win.