I am Katniss's Daughter.

The Collector Van

I sunk down into the caboose and nearly splashed the boiling soup onto my clothes. Most of the soup was gone from the bowls because it spilled from all the skipping to get here. The peeling wall matched how I felt.

Alone, and scared.

I had no idea where we were, I was alone, and a bit guilty. It was cold and there was nothing to shelter me. All I had was the soup, and even that couldn't fill the empty hole I had inside of me. That old woman and the old man were gone, and I had no one to guide me. I was lost in my own thoughts and it felt like I couldn't get out of it. It was a big maze.

I drank the soup from both bowls with 2 big gulps. It was steaming but it cured my hunger. My hunger was outstanding. One moment I could be perfectly fine and then in one instant I could become a beggar. I scratched my name into the wooden walls. As I did that, moldy, dewy, old wood came into my nails like a disgusting mud swamp. It was a way to pass the time. My signature flowed smoothly from the "D" to the "A." The "I" was one big swoop to the jumping "S". The "Y" however was harder for me to do. The wall paper was hard to cut through with just my nails. As I furiously tried to cut through the wallpaper until I struck something that was not wood. It was a newspaper from about 25 years ago.

"This Year's Hunger Games Strikes Hard: Quarter Quell". It is very bold and very long. I start to read it:

"The Capitol is very excited this year for the Hunger Games. This Quarter Quell is upcoming and this time we are bringing back some of your favorite tributes. From the past years, 2 victors from each district will go back in and defy the odds. Everyone is talking about how exciting it will be this year. We also have a very different map this year. You will find this new map interesting, dangerous, exotic, creative, and very bloody. As we look back on previous years we also must remember our annual "Better or Worse" inputs. This, incase you didn't know, is a poll from our lovely Capitol. This poll is made up of predictions for victors. So this year we may have some hard choices due to the previous, experienced, and dangerous victors. Also this year, we have a very famous couple from the last Games. Coming back is the 2 star-crossed lovers-"

I was interrupted by a large jolt forward that made my head bang into the wood. The throbbing pain made every sound of the screeching train muffled. The train had stopped and there was a pounding at the door. My hairs stood up on end. The knock continued harder and faster every second I didn't do anything. Finally, I decided to  open the door.

"You're coming with me." said a peacekeeper. Peacekeepers were banned a long time ago but we need some sort of organized government. So, my mom suggested the we have a couple law enforcers. We are supposed to call them Reffers, but I call them by what they really are. Peacekeepers.

"I'm not going anywhere. Im staying right here. I'm trying to head back to-" I started, but the peacekeeper butted back.

"Back to your home? As if! You're coming with us, and that's final." His voice was low and was as dark as night.

"But you don't underst-" as I said it, he took my wrist firmly and tugged it out of the cart. He practically dragged me behind him. His walk was rather berserk and his face was stern.  He took me to a truck and shoved me inside. The metal was jagged and stuck up everywhere. Part of a nail cut my forehead. I was weak and I couldn't move. The peacekeeper shook me up.

"Get up! Now!" As he said it his rolls of fat on his face jiggled.

"Please this is a mistake!" I said, but it was too late. He had gone and slammed the frozen cold door in my face. I was bewildered and I couldn't even absorb what had just happened.

"Hiya. Welcome to hell." said a accented boy behind me. His voice was rather low fro a small boy, and his voice was a jagged, foriegn knife. He had blonde hair that was swept to the side. He had on ragged, worn clothes that were endless with stains. There were 2 other people on both sides of him. One was a girl with flaming red hair and big freckles. The other was a boy with brown, red, messy hair.

"Me name's Percy. This here is Dilialah and over to me left is Jensen. What's your name, girly?" Percy said. I recogniczed his accent as Scottish, but his american accent was also peeking out of him. The three of them nodded their heads at me. I got up and walked over to a crate across them and held out my hand.

"Daisy. Nice to meet you." They all shook my hand with greeting smiles, but frightened eyes.

"It's not too nice to be here meetng you. I mean. What I meant was. Well...But it is nice to meet you as a person." Jensen said with a bit of a stutter. I didn't understand what he meant, but I think he was welcoming me.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are we?" I asked Percy, but Dilialah interrupted.

" You don't look like you're from aroud here." she questioned. Dilialah was giving me this death glare, and looking me up and down.

"Oh, shut up Dilialah. For your information,  Daisy, we are in Lumberidge." Percy scolded Dilialah, but at the same time, he was talking to me.

"Oh. Lumberidge as in, District 7. Right?" I said.

"Yes. Very good for an outsider." Dilialah shot at me. Right when she said it Percy hit her at the back of the head. It didn't look painful, more playful. But playful is painful in Dilialah's book. She let out a horrid squeal that sounded like an animal dying.

"What is this truck? Where are we going?" I asked all of them.

"You ask a lot of questions. Are you interrigating us? Is this a test? It's not bad to ask questions, but it seems like your up to something. I mean, its good to be curious. But there's something about you. I also dont know how to put this. I mean-" Jensen ranted, but Percy cut him off with a hit.

"This here is called a Collector's Van. The Reffer's van of torture." he sighed, "Apparently to torture to kids, like us. We go off to the keepy's palace for a while and then they see what to do with us."

"A keepy's palace?" I wonder.

"An orphanage." Dilialah murmered, trying to keep it on the down low. But, Percy heard her and gave her another hit to the back of the head.

"An orphanage!? I can't go there! I have a family and friends! They can't possibly do this." I replied to Percy with horror. The van stopped and I could feel all my fear drop to my stomache to make butterflies.

"Yes they can, and unfortunatly it's about to happen. We just arrived." Percy admitted. This day couldn't possibly get worse.