Hunger Games (DNF)

Part 1, Chapter 2: the train

George POV.

If I wasn’t scared enough when my name was called out it was even worse when me and my fellow tribute were paraded down to the district's train station to get shipped off to The Capitol. Peacekeepers surrounded us so that we couldn’t get the chance to run off and I felt like they took a detour down all the main streets of town on the way there.

Both Darryl and Philza walked in front of me and Beetee rolled along in his wheelchair behind me, and I watched as my fellow tribute shook violently out of fear. I took several large steps forward and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder to comfort him but was only met with the boy flinching and numerous angry glares from the peacekeepers which I recognised even though they were wearing helmets.

So I took another step back to put distance between me and Darryl and instead looked further forward to District 3’s escort and advisor, who honestly looked as much like a prisoner as we did, seemingly getting no respect from the peacekeepers.
As much as I wanted to talk I decided to keep quiet, it can wait until we’re on the train, I kept reminding myself.

Soon we reached a platform where a flash Capitol train was already waiting, along with another dozen peacekeepers and a leaving party of 3 people. Darryl and I walked over to the trio, ignoring the warnings we got from the peacekeepers to stay where we were.

2 stepped forward, one being my brother and the other being Niki. Immediately I wrapped my arms around my brother in a hug and buried my head into his chest, crying softly. Wilbur just rubbed my back and I could tell he was crying too while the blond just stood off to the side watching silently as tears stained her face.

“It’s going to be fine George,” Wilbur reassured me, “you’re smart, and resourceful, you could survive this.”
I just nodded against him, not wanting to let go because I knew if I did then we would probably never be able to hold eachother again. We stayed in the other's arms for as long as we could before the peacekeepers got impatient, grabbing my arm and jerking it backwards so I was ripped from Wilbur’s arms.
“Hurry up.” The peacekeeper who grabbed me growled, gripping his weapon and preparing to hit me with it.

To my left, Darryl was getting a similar treatment. He’d been hugging a ravenette who was slightly taller than him and was pulled backwards and was being dragged onto the train harshly. The boy called out to his friend being dragged away, he reached forward to try and grab Darryl’s hand again only to be hit in the leg with the end of a peacekeeper's rifle, causing him to buckle over in pain.
I turned to walk onto the train, trying to block out the sounds of pain coming from the ravenette. I'll hear plenty of that when I reach the arena, I thought to myself.

The peacekeeper who had pulled me away from my brother led me down the thin corridors of the train into a large living room. In front of us was a bar, couches, large screens to watch whatever we wanted on and a table lined with more food than district 3 has seen in months. Opposite me and the peacekeeper was another corridor leading to bedrooms for our overnight train ride.

I sighed uncomfortably, trying to ignore the awkward atmosphere in this room radiating off the other 3 people in here, then turned slightly and saw the peacekeeper was gone.
Darryl was crying on the couch, worrying about a lot of things, including the boy who the peacekeeper hit, a dog which he owned and about how he was going to die in the arena almost instantly.
Philza was sitting beside him and trying to calm the tribute down. If I was in Darryl’s position then I would have pushed the District Advisor away but the boy seemed to be relaxing slightly from Philza’s words.

Beetee was sitting at the large table, completely ignoring the food and instead scribbling something down. I figured that I’d rather hang out with him instead of the other 2 and walked over before pulling up a chair. There was an awkward silence between us. I knew from him mentoring me that he didn’t like to be disturbed unless I had a problem. However, as I rested my hands on the table and fidgeted with them like a little kid, Beetee looked over and placed his left hand reassuringly over mine.
“I’m sorry this had to happen to you,” he spoke quietly to me as I felt tears prick in the corner of my eyes. He looked over to where Darryl was crying and repeated his sentence to both of us, “I’m sorry that both of you have to do this.”

Darryl looked over to our mentor who beckoned him over to the table. With slow unstable steps he moved over to the table and sat down opposite Beetee, watching him quietly.
The mentor scribbled one more thing down before pushing his notepad away.
“You two should be eating,” he said, looking from me to my fellow tribute, “it’ll help build up your strength.”
Neither of us moved so Beetee continued. “Something you’ll be told is that in the Hunger Games most people end up dying from starvation, dehydration or untreated illnesses. It’ll be better if you two eat as much as you can now to avoid starving straight away it might make it a little easier.”

Philza stood silently behind us, watching the interaction but nodded in agreement with Beetee. When both Darryl and I still didn’t move Philza grabbed a plate full of bread rolls from our district. He placed a couple on each of our plates before sitting down between us, Darryl and I glanced over at our advisor awkwardly but began eating.

Hours passed as the sky darkened outside the train, Beetee spent the evening making sure we were eating as he gave us some tips on how to survive without having to fight. Philza had disappeared to his room and at around 9pm Beetee sent us to ours, saying we needed to sleep so we had a lot of energy for training.

I gave him and Darryl a small goodnight before leaving for my room. After walking along the long narrow hallway I opened a door and walked into a large bedroom. It had a double bed which was honestly bigger than my bedroom back in District 3. Oh well, no point complaining about it now, at least it is something comfortable to sleep in before I die.
With a loud sigh I collapsed onto the bed and curled up, thinking of my brother and my friends back in 3 who I would never see again.
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1159 words.