The 45th Hunger Games: The Tribute of District 4 (Watty Awards 2012 completed)

Chapter 6

It was difficult walking in the outfit, as all the tributes assembled for the opening ceremonies.

Xavier was already by our silver chariot, next to a squat man who I assumed would have been his stylist. Xavier and I weren’t in the same outfits, but the concept of what Alta had said was very clear to me. Xavier had his torso naked, but his bottom half had the same qualities of fabric and metals that my train had. He looked like the epitome of what a warrior should be. He even had a silver trident in his left hand.

At first, I had thought he was a scrawny kid, but it seems that training had done him well. Surely, our district would get sponsors just based from the opening.

I was nervous, and I told them that I needed a glass of water. I went for the station where some of the refreshments were and took a cool glass. I needed to feel something cool. The station was near where the District 2 chariots were. The male tribute was eyeing me, but I couldn’t tell what kind of expression was on his face. I didn’t know if he found me amusing because I was using beauty as opposed to strength, or if the outfit that Alta had managed impressed him.

His female counterpart was conversing with the District 1 tributes next to them, so he had the time before the ceremonies to preoccupy himself.

All I did was stare back. Really, what was the harm? He would probably be an ally soon anyway, so I might as well talk to one of them this early. I took a sip of water and smiled. His responding grin was wider than mine.

He started going over to me, and my mind went blank. It was odd. I would usually feel at ease with people, but I was probably looking at a future enemy. My brain probably protected me from making friends so that I wasn’t going to feel any attachment when they time came that I had to kill them.

“Serena, from District 4?” he said, in a deep, husky voice. I assessed him quickly. He was about a foot taller than me, with light brown eyes flecked with gold. His hair was brown a few shades lighter than mine, which was completely black, sans for the strings of gold and blue twined with my hair. “I would remember a girl’s name that had a face like yours.”

Was he flirting with me, really? He was aware that we would be trying to kill each other after a few weeks, right? Maybe this was a tactic. I could play that, if he wanted. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch yours.”

I pondered whether playing hard-to-get would work with this guy. Due to the restricting amount of time that we had, probably not, but I didn’t want him to think that he was so obviously attractive that I was ready to forget the pretense of everything. We wouldn’t even meet like this if it hadn’t been for the fact that we were tributes. But then again, he had volunteered to be here.

“Slate.” His smile was wide and sincere, reaching to his eyes. I noticed dimples on his cheeks that I hadn’t seen earlier. This made him seem less intimidating, what with his bulky, muscular body and impressive height. How he managed to grow this way, I couldn’t imagine, but then the Capitol had always favored District 2.

His district industry was masonry, so he was in a light metal armor that made him look like a warrior. Next to him, I probably looked like some damsel in distress.

From the corner of me eye, I saw Alta beckoning for me to head back to the chariot, which was just one chariot away from Slate’s.

I winked at him and said, “Catch me later?”

He seemed amused as he replied, “You can bet on it.”

The horses attached to our chariot had a beautiful white coat, and their mane glistened silver. Alta and Beagan positioned Xavier and me on the chariot, and had the nets wrapped around us in a way that must have looked attractive for television. I saw attached to the net was a gossamer fabric that was colored blue. That would probably ripple behind us as we paraded.