Winterfrost (A Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter Two

Effie escorted us to the train that we'll take to the Capitol. The interior looked like a style that nobody in my district could afford. Maybe District One or Two are able to afford this but not Twelve.

"Make yourselves comfortable. I'll go get Haymitch," Effie said before she left to go into another train car.

There was an awkward silence between Elias and I. Honestly, we never spoke to one another in our lives, but we see each other sometimes, usually when I walk by his family's bakery. We also had seen each other while we were still at school. It's a miracle that we never communicated with one another but here we are now.

"Er, do you want to talk about anything?" he asked.

I looked at him, confused if I'm hearing his question right. "What is it?"

"Do you want to talk about anything?"

I'm not much of a talker. My words usually come from my actions and probably only a few people understand me in general. If Elias is a chatterbox, too bad.

I shrugged in response. "Sure, but I don't know what to talk about."

"An easy topic would be about the fact that we were both reaped for this year," he remarked.

"I guess so."

Then we were silent again. A few minutes later, I heard the door open. We both looked to see who entered and judging from the unfamiliar face, it was Haymitch. Yeah, I know of him, since he was the winner of a past Hunger Games that I can't quite recall, but I usually never see him out and about, but the glass in his hand may be the answer.

"Hello there," he greeted us as he poured a drink into his glass. I honestly don't want to know what he drinks on a daily basis.

"Hi," I returned his greeting.

Elias waved.

Haymitch sighed. "Why do I always get a pair of quiet children every year."

Was he referring to how scared the previous tributes were? Like it has been about a decade since a tribute from this District was able to survive for more than a day in that arena. What made the arena so dangerous besides the other tributes? None of us actually knew, but Haymitch might since he's technically our 'mentor'.

We shrugged in response, not knowing what else there is to say.

"And it seems like you both think alike; have you met each other before?" Haymitch questioned.

"No sir, we haven't," Elias politely declined. A man of class I see.

"That's okay, you both will have all the time before the Games to get along," Haymitch commented. "Now, do any of you have questions for me? No, okay–"

"Is there a way to find allies?" I blurted out, interrupting his statement.

The mentor gave me an incredulous look. "Allies? Well, just from looking at you, I'm not sure you have the drive to socialize with anyone you don't know very well, but I will give you some advice anyway. First, you obviously don't want to be friends with the Careers because they'll just kill you later. As for the others, you can't really tell what their strategies are like. Either they will try to kill as many tribute as possible or just survive for as long as they can without running into danger. If you want to pick a strategy you want to go with, I suggest the second one, but it's up to your own judgement to pick the one that fits yours."

My own judgement. But then I'm very bad at making friends. The only friend I have and I can trust is Perry Crestwood. Every other friendship I had, we either weren't interested or we simply lost contact with one another.

"Ryalle, what are you thinking about?"

I was startled by those words. I don't know if it's just me thinking Haymitch is crazy or I was deep in thought like I usually am.

"Um, nothing." I hesitantly replied.

Then he looked closely at my face, and I raised an eyebrow in response. "What are you doing? There's nothing to read here."

Instead of answering my question, he remarked, "I heard you're good at throwing knives. Is that true?"

How did he find out? Literally, ever since my father passed away, I tried my best to be very sneaky when it came to practicing in the forest. I even tried to be creative when training myself since he wasn't there to tell me what to improve on, or what to aim for. I don't remember what creative things I did though.

Before I had the chance to reply, or even say that I was just mediocre and tried to teach myself, Elias interjected.

"More than good, she is amazing," he stated. "It's basically in her blood."

To hide my surprise, I gave him a convincingly confused look, and also made sure that my tone sounded uncertain. "Have you seen me throw one before?"

He nodded.

"When?"

"Let's see," Elias seemed to have a similar phase that I have when it comes to thinking about something. I assumed nobody ever observed the times I would escape to the forest either to practice my skills or just to get away. Even someone as privileged as Elias wouldn't really care. "I secretly followed you to the nearby forest four years ago. You were very determined, determined enough to bring home a lot of food to your family."

I was proven wrong, but how did he know what my life was like? We never talked to each other properly. I at least was discreet enough to stay hidden from the Peacekeepers but I guess I wasn't discreet enough for someone like him to follow me. But the thing is, I was twelve and that happened a week after my father died so I have an excuse.

"That is an asset," Haymitch pointed out. "But if you're thinking about killing tributes, don't. Just focus on surviving the Games, because if you kill someone, that makes you a target. This also applies to you, Jones."

"Right," I commented.

After that incident, I finally got used to the atmosphere of subtle sarcasm and, at the same time, learned more things about the games. To add on to that, Elias and I learned a little bit about each other. Elias would write short stories and novels during his free time when he isn't helping his parents while I am that person who adores the outdoors.

It was also ironic that we both share the same favorite color, violet. To say the truth, I was going to say blue but after one look at his eyes, I changed my mind.

"And what would you do as soon as the countdown ends?" I asked.

"If I'm lucky enough, I'd get a backpack first, otherwise, I'll just run. Weapons aren't such a big deal for me yet there is a chance that I'll be able to get it later on. If I'm in danger, again, I'll run," he replied.

"Same here."