The Hunger Games

ꜰᴏᴜʀ

Aspen sat in a small booth in the train, looking out the window at all of the people. The train hadn't started moving yet, so she figured they were still loading on the tributes. Michael was sitting in a booth on the other side of the compartment.

They made them both ride in a car to get to the train. The station was big, and Aspen tried to look at everything to distract her. It didn't work.

She looked up when she heard the door open.

"It's just me. You're so jumpy." Charles said, walking into the compartment of the train and sitting next to the girl.

"Yeah. You would be too if you just found out you had to fight for your life in a giant arena with a bunch of people watching." Aspen said, picking up the cup set in front of her and sipping on some tea.

The train was very fancy. They supplied Aspen and Michael with various teas and pastries, along with two separate compartments, each with a bedroom, dressing area and a bathroom. The interior designing was plush. Aspen figured it was expensive, too.

Charles took out a piece of paper from his suit and slid it on the table in front of Aspen.

"What is this?" She asked, looking at the paper. All it had was a number 12.

Charles looked over at Michael, who was daydreaming out the window like Aspen was before Charles walked in. He knew Michael wasn't listening. Then, Charles looked over at Nelly Plum, who had just walked into the compartment. Plum carried in bags of his stuff, starting to put his things in his room. Plum wasn't listening, either.

"Katniss Everdeen is in this compartment. You better make your way over there before the train starts moving. If someone sees you, act like you belong." Charles told her. She nodded her head, taking the piece of paper on the table and putting it into her pocket.

Aspen glanced out the window and noticed the train had started moving.

"How fast are we going in this thing?" She asked.

"About two hundred miles per hour. You better get to compartment twelve." He said. Aspen nodded and got up, walking to the door. She glanced over at Michael, who was still looking out the window.

When she got to the other compartment, she saw a number four labeled on the wall. She saw two of the tributes from District 4 sitting there, talking to each other. Quickly, Aspen grabbed a hat she saw and put it on, covering her face the best she could.

Aspen noticed that after every numbered compartment, there was one or two compartments in between with people's rooms. She realized the compartments weren't numbered in order, but numbered for the 12 Districts.

Once Aspen got to the last compartment before the twelfth, she peered in and saw Katniss standing there with the bread boy she recognized as Peeta Mellark. She also saw a women dressed in strange clothing.

Aspen leaned down and pressed her ear up against the door.

"I'm going to find Haymitch. He's probably in the bar car." The lady said. At first, Aspen thought she was coming to her compartment. She ducked out of the way, but the lady walked to the other direction. Aspen took this as her chance.

"Well she's a weirdo." Aspen said, walking into the same compartment as Peeta and Katniss and taking the hat off.

"Aspen!" Katniss gasped out. She ran over to her friend and hugged her tightly. Aspen hugged back, glancing over at Peeta. Peeta simply stood there and stared.

"I figured I wouldn't see you until we got to the arena. What are you doing here?" Katniss asked, pulling away.

Peeta, watching, immediately noticed how Katniss's attitude changed with the presence of Aspen.