The 68th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 5-In the Capitol Train

When the door closes I felt so alone. Again. All I could do was think about Erela, and Felix, and even Gant.  A peacekeeper came In and collected me, and I was seated next to Brenna In a car to go to the Capitol train.  I knew that   there would be a large amount of cameras wanting to look at the victors.  I also knew that It meant that It was time to come up with a plan.  Gant had actually given me a good Idea of what to do In the games, but what about before It?  I started to wonder what my attitude would be.  I thought back to when they called my name, I was smiling.  Even when I came on stage I was still smiling.  It could give off the appearance of being happy about being picked.  That I was sure I was going to win, and that I was confident.  The only thing that I knew I could do was fake a smile and act okay.  I silently decided to myself, to always smile when I was on camera, at least before the games. 

The car stopped and I jerked my head up, looking outside the window.  We were at the train station, and I could see the cameras already.  Our windows were tinted so they could not see me yet, but I knew as soon as I stepped out of the car, then It would be time to start smiling.  I breathed In deeply and opened the door.  As soon as I stepped out, I was blinded with flashes of pictures.  I pretended to only just now register that the cameras were here, so I now start to smile.  I can tell that they love It. Brenna just stares at me strangely, almost a glare.  We are taken on to the train, and soon the cameras can't be seen, I sigh and relax my cheek muscles.  They hurt. I sit down and Methilda walks In.  She clears her throat and says

"Wow, what a nice pair she says this year!" 

In her eyes I can tell that she Is somewhat disappointed.  I stand up and shake her hands, and she acts as If this Is something new.  She shakes back awkwardly and shows us to our rooms.  As I walk into my room, I feel so lost because of how big It Is.  In the corner I see couch with a lamp on the side, and on another side of a wall I see a huge window.  I see a door leading to what must be a bathroom, a dresser, and lastly a bed.  A bed with satin sheets that are whiter than any cloud, and pillows that are plump and the same shade of white as the sheets.  I walk into the bathroom and see a shower with at least a dozen buttons.  There are only showers In the victors house, so I have never had one. 

I know MethIlda Is gone, but she will be back to collect me In a few hours for dinner.  I look at the lamp and couch again, and they are obviously products of district 1.  The lamp must be made of marble and I can tell it must be super heavy.  I walk to the bathroom and look at myself In the mirror, I don't look any different than I did just two days ago.  I look at my arms and frown.  I know that some tributes will be monster like and far stronger than me.  I should have lifted weights I thought to myself, and then an Idea popped in my head.  I walked back to the lamp and tried to lift It.  It was hard but I was able to do It.  I lifted It up and down with each arm, I felt my arms burn.  I put It down after a minute.  I sat down breathing heavily.  Looks like I found what I'm doing on this train to pass time.

After about an hour of lifted the lamp, I was exhausted, but I feel like It was working.  This was the only way to prepare myself for the games besides the training center.  I stepped into the bathroom and went In the shower, I pressed a button that was red and I was Immediately assaulted with jets of hot water, I jumped out of the shower and then examined the buttons more closely.  I pressed I blue one and the water turned Icy cold. I then pressed a green one and the water was just perfect, I stepped back Into the shower.  I clicked a lot of other buttons, a pink one would sprout bright pink bubbles and and a purple one would squirt some oil substance that smelled like roses.  After I stepped out of the shower, I landed on a mat that dried my whole body.  I could get used to this.

I dress In nice button shirt that was a nice shade of green.  I heard a tap on my door, and MethIlda walked In.

"Time for dinner!"

"Yes, I will be right there." I say.

She walks out and I walk out after her.  We walk Into a room with a large amount of food,  the smell makes my mouth water.  There are biscuits and several types of bread,  soups, and many types of meat.  I look at the table opposite of the food.  I see Brenna first, who Is just looking down at her hands.  Then I see MethIlda, and two victors, first Is a boy victor named Gutreen, and the other Is a girl victor named Johanna.  She had won not too long ago, her tactic was to appear fragile, but she was lethal and by her appearance now, lethal was defiantly what described her.  She looked at me and stood up, her body was muscular. 

"Hello Jax." She saId.

"Hello, Johanna." I say back and take a seat next to her. 

"Are you going to be my mentor, or Is Gutreen?"  I ask

"That depends on you" she says back, then looks at Brenna "and It also depends on Brenna."

Brenna looks up and says "Gutreen" quietly to herself.

Johanna looks at me and says

"Then Its settled, Jax I'll be your mentor."

Gutreen walks up to sit next to Brenna. They start to whisper among themselves.  And Johanna asks me to stand up, I do.  She scans my body. 

"Not bad, but, you have obviously never chopped trees have you?"

I roll my eyes.

"You sound like my father" I say. 

She smiles,

"I meant,  you have muscles but  not blisters on your hands." she says, I sit down. 

“So tell me." she says casually, "what can you do?"

That question Is somewhat tricky, what can I do? 

"Well." I say slowly “I've been told that I'm fast, and good with crafting things."

She considers this, then says

"What type of things?" 

"I can make a knife In under an hour with any piece of wood, and I have made something called tiny bombs."

"And you’re fast?" She says.

"Decent, yeah." I say

"Well, guess we won’t really see until we get to the training center, until then try and eat as much as you can. "

I nod and stand up to go and select what I want to eat.  A man hands me a plate, I look at him, and noticed his weird shape of his mouth and I know he is an avox.  I mutter a "thanks" and I continue to serve myself.  After that I sit down and I eat as slow as I can because I know this capitol fine food can upset my stomach.  I eat more than I usually do and after dinner we go to a room that has a nice couch and television. I know we are going to see the reaping.  District one Is up first, and a 12 year old girl Is picked, but of course because It Is district one someone volunteers. Her name Is Katrina and something Is different, usually a volunteer beats their chest or does a fist pump, but the girl who volunteers, just stands there, and looks scared, maybe she volunteered for a sister or a younger friend.  I squint my eyes and take a closer look,  she had shoulder-length blond hair and brown eyes.  Something told me she was not going to be like all the other District one tributes.

After we watched the reaping I only saw 5 distinct threats.  The boy from one, he looked muscular but short.  Both tributes from two, both are siblings are a muscular and tall.  A girl from four. She was not very muscular, but she was Incredibly skinny and looked even faster than me.  And lastly a boy from twelve.  He looked tall and muscular as If he was mining coal for at least a year.  

I went to my room and tried to go to sleep.  And all I could think about before I drifted off, was that I needed to from an alliance with Katrina.