The Overlooked

Chapter 3: The Train

One foot after another, keep moving, you have to keep moving. That's what I tell myself as I walk to the train station. There are camera's flashing brightly around me. Everyone wants to take pictures of the District 11 tributes, because this is what they've been waiting for all year. Every day I learn how cruel and crazy these Capitol people are, it makes me sick.

When we reach the train, my first reaction is to stop dead in my tracks, I don't want to get onto that train. It is the train that will take me to my death. But I force myself to walk up the stairs to the door. I might not be very big, but I can at least try to have a good reputation.

The Peacekeepers make me and Thresh stand outside the train for a couple of minutes to let people take pictures. I have a headache from the flashes, and its all I can do not to let my face show how utterly terrified I am. Finally the Peacekeepers start to move me and Thresh into the train.

 My face turns from a look of terror to a look of shock.

Verta walks over to us "Not what you were expecting, eh?"

And she's right, everything is even nicer than the room I was just in, no more than ten minutes ago. Everything is a delicate brown. The tables seem to be made out of some sort of plastic, but Verta assures me its mahogany.

There are cookies and fruits and other foods I know no name for, and you can't have food without a drink so there is every type of liquid in every color imaginable.

There are at least thirty different cars on the train. Verta names some off for me living area; bedrooms, closets, salon, remake rooms, kitchen, and all these other rooms that would be of no use to me.

There is a plush couch, about ten or so different chairs scattered around the room, lots of tables, tons of food - enough to could feed my family for a year if not more, and a huge television screen in front of the couch.

Verta breaks the daze I'm in "Well. . . .how about I go get Seeder and Chaff. Be back in a jiffy!"

She leaves me and Thresh to wander the room. I look over at what Thresh is doing. He is staring at a plaque on the wall with names engraved into it.  I walk over to see. I instantly realize what it is, its the names of all the tributes of District 11. I look at the plaque that says "Female tributes" on it and read the name from the girl last year, I think her name was Leonia or something.

I read it and see that I was correct. I look down a little bit and see a name that brings me to tears, it reads "Emerald Pettisan". Thresh looks over to me he see's what I'm looking and his eyes find the name etched perfectly into the dark wood. He leans down to comfort me

Emerald was my cousin. She went into the games when I was nine, she would've been thirteen then. She didn't make it out, she died two days in by the District 2 boy, she was attacked and then had to choose the knife he killed her with.

"Its ok Rue, you'll make it out." Thresh says

I look up to see his face encased in a look of tenderness and I know he isn't just making it up to make me feel better. He means it. But why I'm here still burns in my mind.

"Thresh…I'm scared." I admit

He looks down at me and replies "You want to know a secret?"

I nod because I don't know what else to say.

"I'm scared too." He says

I always thought that Thresh was the strong guy that never got scared. But now I remember one time only one when he was scared out of his mind.

"Thresh!'

He looks up to see traker jackers are swarming around every inch of her uncovered flesh.