The Faction Games

Chapter 14

I clutch Peeta by one arm and Caleb takes the other. Tobias holds Gale and we walk up to the train door. A peacekeeper stops us.

“Prisoners?” asks the Peacekeeper and I nod.

“Are you avoxes?” He asks, indicating Tobias, Caleb and I. I nod again and he moves out of the way. “Take them to compartment 3, cell 4. There’s some girl in there already.”

Peeta makes a choked noise. Gale pretends to struggle in Tobias’s grasp

“Hey…” The peacekeeper calls and I freeze. We’ve been discovered already? “You three. Uniforms. They’re in your room. Compartment 4, cell 6.”

I heave a sigh of relief and we enter the train. Caleb and I let go of Peeta and Tobias does the same with Gale. We sprint down the train through Compartments 1 and 2, cells 1, 2, 3 and…

“Cell 4!” Peeta says and struggles to open the door.

A tiny metal window in the cell door and Katniss appears, pale but defiant. Peeta gasps and leans his head against the window. Katniss does the same and I remember when I was in Erudite. I was being taken away to be killed but my guard let me see Tobias through the window. I put my hand to the glass and Tobias did too, his tearstained face looking at me through the window as he thought he saw me for the last time. It felt like I could feel his hand on mine. That’s how it must be for Katniss and Peeta right now. I hear footsteps and grab Peeta, Tobias clutches Gale’s arms and the peacekeeper we saw earlier approaches.

“You need a key.” He says and hands Caleb a thin card to unlock the door. The peacekeeper wanders off, whistling. Caleb places the card in an electronic slot in the door. It clicks open.