HungerGames72

It is indeed chapter thirteen

"Good morning Clementine! Tis a new day! " trumpets Archimedes, yanking open the curtains and letting light spill into the compartment.
I groan and pull the covers over my head. It was so cosy and warm here.
"D'you sleep well?"
"A bit. Stupid dreams."
Archimedes pulls my covers away. "C'mon sunshine. Cinnamon'll have a fit if you take any longer. She's already gone off at Sir Drayton."
Sitting up, I grab the cup of water on my desk, take a sip, then swing out of bed.
"Feeling better?"
I grin. "Ready to put on a show."
He smiles. "Excellent. Daya told me about your tactics last night. Sounds like a plan. I've got some friends in the capitol that'd be handy." 'Funeral' he mouths.
I nod. "Thank you."
Archie pats my shoulder. "The least I could do. Lets give 'em a show."
We make our way to the table, where everyone is already sitting.
Drayton is there too, and this time he's eating. Daya smiles at me as I sit down.
"Sleep well?"
I shrug. "Dumb dreams."
Drayton looks up from his buttered toast. "Me too. You were in it. So was that girl from District one." He continues eating.
Cinnamon clears her throat. "We'll probably arrive in the capitol in a few hours, around ten o'cloc-"
"What time is it now then?" I squawk.
"Seven." She gives me a patronising glare then continues; "Then, you'll meet with your prep team and stylists, who will make you look good." She sniffs. "Heaven knows you need it. Anyway, then, by around five o'clock, you shall be in your costumes ready for the chariot rides. Next, you'll get shown around the training centre, the cafeteria, your rooms etc etc. Any questions?"
The room is still and silent apart from the ' ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk' of the train, hurtling past the gigantic mountains of District 2.
"Good. Clementine, can I get you any breakfast?"
"Yes please."
"Daya!" She barks. "Get Clementine some breakfast!"
Daya scurries to the nearest door, and reappears holding a plate of toast. "Jam?"
"That'd be lovely."
She hands me my plate, the toast warm and buttery.
"Thank you."
Daya just smiles.
"We're not going to have to wear stupid cow outfits, are we?" Groans Drayton.
"Hopefully not, if your stylists do their job correctly. Not like last year, huh?" Archie says, grinning ruefully.
Everyone sits in a stunned silence for a moment as the memory of those giant cow-suits from last year run around our minds.
It was no surprise to anyone when those cow-suit tributes got the least sponsors in the entire history of the games. The stylists were fired shortly after.
Cinnamon clears her throat. "I'd thought they would add a bit of novelty."
I roll my eyes. "They did that indeed."
The table erupts into laughter, perhaps a little hysterical, but laughter nonetheless.
Cinnamon sits with a face like stone.
"Oh, lighten up Cinnamon. Just jokes, just jokes."
"Hmph. Well, some of us have tributes to sort out, so I'll be making phone calls in my compartment if you need me. Good day." She stands up and saunters off to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Archie wheezes. "She's a good bundle of laughs. Don't mind her, she's always had a bit of a vendetta against us."
Daya sighs. "Good old Cinnamon."
"Only don't let her hear you say that. 'I'm not old, I'm radiant with youth!'"
"Oh for gods sake, I remember that. And that time with Aidan and River too, remember?"
Archie slaps the table. "Yes! Oh lord I hope she retires next year."
Drayton stands up. "Well it's all very good having a tee-hee about old times but for us two there probably won't be a next year, so would you mind perhaps helping us? Perhaps with some of that knowledge that let you fools win? I don't know about her," he points at me, "but I have no desire to die in that arena. I also have no chance of winning! So maybe, I don't know, help?"
Archimedes stands up to face him. "Where was all this spirit when you were in your little sulk last night huh? All this fighting spirit? Do you really want us to help, Drayton? Because yesterday it didn't seem like it!"
"Oh, it wouldn't be because I'd just been dragged away from the only person I've ever loved, would it? Oh no, because god forbid I have any reaction to getting dragged away from my home!" He yells, his eyes watering.
"I'm sorry lover boy, but last time I checked you go into the arena in five days! Every hour spent moping could have been a potential life saving skill!"
"How about you idiots SIT DOWN and maybe have a discussion like civilised men? Nobody wins a war when their own side can't get along!" Daya whispers, her eyes ablaze. "Now hush, and lets go out to the balcony and get some air."
Everyone stands up, the air buzzing with tension,and follows Daya down the corridor to the end of the train. She opens the large metal door with a rather bashed looking key.
The warm wind whips about, eyes stinging. She locks the door behind us as we stand, slightly squashed, in the warm summer air.
"Now, Clementine, can I have your belt please?"
"Why?"
Archimedes rolls his eyes. "To throw it onto the train tracks. She has alliances, dummy."
"I can handle this you ass." Daya snaps. "I do have alliances. Many of the other mentors are in on our little.....hibernation scheme. More than I thought, actually. Three, five, six, seven, all the rest apart from one ,two and four. Also one girl from five. Andromeda. Don't trust her. She wants to win, no negotiation. So it's a little harder for the other tribute, Mars, to get in on the secret. That's your task."
"Me?" I squeak.
"Yes. Since this one seem incapable of being agreeable." Butts in Archimedes.
Drayton rolls his eyes.
"So, I will give a pill to each of the mentors for their tributes, and then the stylists will work them into the outfits, in a hidden pocket. It's pretty much undetectable, and only the person's fingerprint can open the pocket. If you put the purple berries in there, it disguises it perfectly. Eat the pill with the berries in a fatal situation, like a fight, and you will 'die' ten minutes later, due to your heart almost completely stopping. The hovercraft will pick you up, transport your body to the autopsy area. But, we have an ally there, who will brush over anything suspicious. Then, your body will get taken to the place where they prep your body for the funeral. Archie has a friend who will take you in your 'coffin' to our bunker just outside the capitol, where we will wait for all the other tributes to arrive and wake up from their hibernation. Then, you'll recover and whatnot, then we escape."
There is a few moments of silence as Drayton and I process the information.
"What about our families?" He says.
"My dad." I croak. "He'll find your family, and anyone else that wants to leave. I told him that as soon as he gets news of me, he has to leave. He'll find them, don't worry."
He shakes his head. "How? How can we pull this off? Look at us. Look at me, at her. We've never held a spear in our lives, how do we get out alive? What if someone shoots us unexpectedly? How?"
Daya thinks for a second. "Stick together. If one gets fatally injured, give them the 'berries'."
Now it's my turn to doubt. "What if they shoot both of us?"
Archie freezes. "Make sure that doesn't happen."
Silence again. So much could go wrong, but so much could go right, too.
"You have to decide, amongst the tributes, who will 'die' in the bloodbath. If no one goes into it, the gamemakers will suspect something. At least six of you have to. Take your pills just before you go up the tube thingy, and make sure you get hit." Daya grabs the door handle. "Now, this never happened."
"To the dining room!" Cries Archimedes.