THE 150th HUNGER GAMES

The Train

Vapor Waters's (District 2) P.O.V:

I sit with my District partner Randall at a mahogany table, the delicious food pushed to the side except for the roll he is currently tearing a piece out of to make room for all the papers we are looking at. We're going over possible plans for the arena by looking at the other Games this Quell and seeing which strategies worked best. My job is to find a plan, while Randall points out flaws or weak points in it.

"Okay, so in the eighteen Games, there was that group of three that basically hid the whole time until the end, and two of them survived. We've got proof that having about that number of people in an alliance is the best strategy-in the seventeen games, there was a group of four, and two of them suvived, and the exact same thing happened in the fifteen games. According to the data, though, the alliance can't be too big, because only one member of the alliance of seven in the sixteen Games made it. It's the same case with the group of six in the fourteen Games- only one winner," I say, reviewing the information we have in front of us.

"But, in the thirteen games, three people who were solo made it to the end," Randall points out.

"Yeah, but there were almost no alliances that game, only four sets of partners. I think our best bet is to go with a group of three or four," I announce, leaning back in my chair away from all the documents in front of me.

"In the twelve games, none of the people in the group of three survived. The three twelve year old winners were all solo, too," My district partner says. I know he's not purposely trying to argue with me- I don't think- he's just stating the evidence, but it's getting on my nerves a little bit. We can't afford to argue, though, we have to be allies, we have to agree on something so we can have a plan. Otherwise we're not going to make it to the finals at all.

"Okay, I get your point, but we're not going solo, right?" I ask, sighing. "So this is the next-best thing as far as alliances go."

"Alright, alright, I'm fine with that," Randall answers, holding his hands up in surrender. "Just trying to do what we planned I would do and see if there's anything that could go wrong."

"Yeah, okay. This alliance strategy sounds like it'll work, though," I answer, smiling. Finally, we're getting somewhere. We've got our number of people in the group. "So who's going to be in this alliance of ours? Who are the strongest? Who do we not want as an enemy?"

Randall thinks for a moment. "Well, it's kind of hard to tell this early on, we should probably see all the tributes in the training center first to see who's good with weapons, who's better with survival, and all that, but maybe we could have Carlie-"

"Dude," I interrupt. "I know she's really pretty, but she's like, super weak. Not the kind of person we want for our team. Next."

"How do you know she's weak? Maybe she's a Career and can fight just as well as us," Randall protests.

"Ahem, she's from District eight, no Careers there. Look, Randall, drop it. It's not happening. Now I suggest that we go through the tributes by their district to narrow down our options. We'll start with twelve," I take a deep breath and continue. "Okay, there was that girl..." I brush some papers to the side and pick one up that has all the information I could find about her on it. Scanning the typed print, I say, "Etney, her name was, Etney Haimon. We don't know why she volunteered, but she seemed pretty fiesty, even if she doesn't look very strong. This document says her parents died when she was nine...so she's had to fend for herself on the streets this whole time. Well, you certainly learn how to survive there. Etney could be a good asset to our team- I certainly don't think she'll slow us down." I glance up at my district partner. "What do you think?"

Randall frowns, running a hand through his hair. "How old is she? Closer to Carlie's age, or closer to twelve?"

"Oh my god," I slam the paper back down on the table, rolling my eyes. "Look, dude, the Games aren't the best place to flirt. We're here to survive, not find a girlfriend for you. Now either shut the hell up or start thinking straight."

"Yeesh, Vapor. You don't have to get all worked up. I am thinking straight, and I'm thinking that I wan't to take advantage of this opportunity," Randall grins. What a jerk.

"Okay, you know what? Let's just wait until training to figure out who we want in the alliance. We won't rule out anyone or choose anyone until we see exactly what they can do. Okay? Okay!" I get up from the table and violently push the chair into it, causing it to shake. I storm off. I can't stand that jerk. What a dumbass.

I'm starting to regret teaming up with him.