A True Tribute [Hunger Games Fanfic]

Chapter Three...

Chapter Three:

It was lavishly furnished, even more so than the Justice Building. It was obviously designed to impress by some poncy Capitol citizen to be assembled in a factory by some poor person in District Six.

Alex stepped in just after me and I heard his intake of breath, as he took in our luxurious surroundings. Annabella totters in her stupidly tall heels deep in conversation with Finnick and Maggs. Finnick will be ‘shadowing’ Seamus this year, a thing that all victors will do their first year after winning, to learn the ropes. They saunter over to some chairs which seem to have been placed with extreme care and precision. I make to follow them but catch sight of a corridor to my left that looks to be the way to our rooms. I find mine. With joy I find my window to be on the other side of the train, away from all the reporters and camera crews, as the train has yet to pull away from the station. I cross over to it. I open it and stick my head out; I can smell the salty smell of the sea and the fishy smell of the harbour even from here. This is what I will remember when I’m dying. I keep the memory of that smell in an easily accessible part of my mind, so it can easily be retrieved in a time of need. I will miss District Four, I know I will, it’s my home, there’s no trace of it here on this train, the interior has been well and truly Capitolised. I lurch sideways as the train starts, my head safely inside the train by then. I sigh and walk over to the bed; I sit on it, still sucking the mint my brother gave me. I detect a lock on the door when I glance at it; I use it before curling up in a foetal position in the centre of the bed. I could cry now I think. But the tears don’t come it’s as if I’ve buried the sadness so deep inside me that it can’t find it’s way back out, I don’t want it to. I just lie there thinking of home. The mint in my mouth, that my brother gave me, is growing smaller just like District Four is on the other side of the window. I dare not look out again for fear that the sight of my home fading into the distance might just tip the balance of my stable state and bring back my angry tears I left behind in the Justice Building.

The lock on the door clicks making me jump. I uncurl just as the door opens, revealing Leanne a past victor of the forty forth hunger games. I wasn’t born when she won but even I can see why. She’s tall, a lot taller than me, but most people are, with large arm muscles that ripple as she walks. Her dark brown hair tied into a tight pony tail. She looks at me with what I think is a permanent scowl.

“Up!” She barks.

“It was locked for a reason.” I retort back, she doesn’t even have a key I see, she must have picked the lock.

“And I opened it for a reason.” He snarl is obviously meant to intimidate, well I am not doing as she says. To prove my point I curl back up into a ball. Frustrated she stomps over to me and picks me up by the scruff of my collar. She swivels me around so I’m now facing her positively scarlet face.

“Listen here young lady, you may not have volunteered for any of this, but here you are. You may not be the elite killing machine I expected but here you are and now I have to deal with some body-coddled sixteen year old who doesn’t know the difference between a spear and an axe!” Every syllable is a spit in the face and my neck is begging to ache. “And while I’m your mentor,” she still hasn’t finished. “You’re going to have to buck your ideas up and do as I say. You have a lot to learn.”

She drops me back on the bed, and turns towards the door. With her back now turned I aim a kick at her at the back of her right knee. Pretty much the instant my legs makes contact Leanne spins her fist raised I leap off the bed narrowly missing it. She strikes another blow and this time I not being fast enough to dodge out the way raise my left arm to protect myself, which leaves a painful red mark on my forearm. This time it’s my turn I swing with my left fist towards her head then when she goes to block it I swing my other arm into her unguarded stomach. Not before she blocks it her hands appearing from nowhere. She catches my eye and stops suddenly drawing herself upright and walks out the door and simply nods at me as if to say “well done”. She pauses at the door with instructions to change and go to the main carriage for the recap of the Reapings and that I have to go because I was only politely excused from lunch.