The Second Annual Hunger Games (Book 2)

Twenty

I look at the tracks in front of us. To the left, they seem to expand out forever. To the right the train station lies a hundred yards away. Workers bustle about moving the day's produce onto the platform.

"It should be here within five minutes," I say to Talon. "But it will take some time for them to load everything."

He nods. We should wait in the trees so they don't see us.

I nod and find a spot to sit in the trees where I can still see the station. Talon sits across from me. "So, the night before my games... I was crying and then I fell asleep?"

He bites his lip. That's what I remember, but... there's something else. He looks at the ground, his eyes distant. A tissue box, but you didn't need a tissue box. He scratches his head. If you were crying you would need a tissue box. Why doesn't this make sense? He squeezes his eyes shut as if he's in pain.

"It's okay," I say quickly. "You don't have to think about it."

It doesn't make sense anymore. They dragged me away, but you weren't crying, but you were crying before, but I left when you fell asleep. He meets my eyes. What happened?

"I think the Capitol altered your memory after I went home." I don't know where to look, my eyes flicker between him and everywhere else. The train arrives and the workers begin to load it.

Aldera, what did they make me forget?

I shake my head. "I don't want to tell you. I want you to remember." I stand and move to the edge of the trees. "The train is almost loaded."

Talon comes to stand next to me but he doesn't say anything. He stares straight ahead for a moment and then focuses on the train. The workers put the last box on and wave to the conductor.

The train starts to move slowly and smoothly. Once the front passes us Talon and I dart out of the woods to run alongside it. Talon grabs ahold first hoisting himself up onto the steps. He gets a good hold of the handle then holds his other hand out to me. I take it and he pulls me up next to him. We face each other, only inches apart, breathing heavy.

We stay like that for a moment, looking into each other's eyes. For just a moment he seems to lean towards me, but then he backs away, going up the rest of the steps and into a train compartment.

I look out at the landscape that passes us by with increasing speed. I take a deep breath. Am I saying goodbye to my home forever? I push the thought away and glance in the direction Talon went. What just happened between us? Did he remember? If he did why didn't he say so? Maybe he's ashamed of it.

I sigh and follow him. Inside the compartment, Talon shuffles the boxes of produce around, making a hidden area in the corner for us to sit in. Once he finishes, he puts his bag down slides onto the floor and grabs an apple from a nearby box.

"Somebody worked hard to pick that, you know?" I sit too.

I know. That's why the Capitol doesn't deserve it.

I nod and grab an apple too. The crunch when I bite into it is music to my ears and the juice fills my mouth. "We can't eat too much from one crate. They take stock before it leaves 11 and I'm sure they count again when it reaches the Capitol."

He nods and shakes his head as he looks around. It's sick that all of this is going to the Capitol when there's starving people in the districts. You know they don't use a lot of this stuff? Either that or they just throw it up.

"Throw it up? Why would they do that?"

He looks at me with a cold look on his face. So they can eat more.