Strong (Hunger Games)

Chapter 2

TRAINING- DAY 1

*Scarlett's POV*

Macallister and I are taken out of the waiting room by peacekeepers to the train station of District 13. I hear a high screeching noise coming from the tracks and cover my ears out of instinct. I see a silver train pull up, blazing in the sun. The door slides open and I see all the other tributes of this year. We are the last district to get on the train so we have the car closest to the door. A few years ago, the capitol was forced to only provide one train for transportation of the tributes due to the rebellion. I quietly sit down and ignore the other children's stares.

We find our mentors sitting in the compartment. I recognize Peeta Mellark. He won the 74th and survived the 75th Hunger Games for District 12. They moved him over to mentor for District 13 when there was no male mentor. He was also involved in the rebellion that failed. I thought he was a heartbroken drunk because he lost his love, Katniss Everdeen. but obviously that wasn't the case. We learned a lot about him in history class. I don't know the other person sitting next to him.

"Hi, I'm Peeta Mellark and this is Madime Klepper. We will be your mentors during the games." Peeta says as we enter. He stands up to shake our hands and motions for us to sit down across from them.

"What games did you win, Madime?" I blurt out without thinking. "Sorry" I mutter.

"I won the 80th games. It's no problem, really. Feel free to ask us any questions about how our games went." She said without worry.

I nod and look at them expectantly. I knew they were supposed to tell us tips about the games. Like ways to get specific things and ways to get sponsors.

"So we only have a week before you are actually put into the arena. There will be the opening ceremony tonight, 3 days of training after that, personal sessions with the game makers the next day, interviews next and finally the day you are sent in the arena. I you will be very busy but there will always be time for us to talk. So we will start with any questions you have." Peeta explained to us.

"Um.. Well. What kind of things will be in available for us during training?" Macallister asked.

"There are many combat areas. There are weapons such as axes, knives, swords, spears and bows & arrows. There will also be knot tying, trap building, camouflaging, and some that show you what to use and not use."

We went through a few more questions we had.

"Are all of those things gonna be in the arena for us?"

"How do we make the best use of our training time?"

"What strategy did you use to win?"

"Are we supposed to be in contact with the other tributes?"

"Should we show off our skills during the group training sessions or only our personal session?"

Madime seems to notice a change in my expression after a while.

"I know this is hard but I assure you it's not as bad as it seems. I remember doing this for my games. I was scared to death but I made it and so did Peeta. Just go along with everybody else. Do what they do and don't make yourselves stand out. Be one of the other tributes."

With that, our mentors leave the compartment to go to their bedrooms. Macallister and I move into my bedroom and face each other. We both know we can do this but it's so hard. We have never gotten any experience in anything Peeta told us would be there. We don't come from a career district so people don't normally train beforehand. We are one of the least prepared people on this train. I don't know if I can deal with this.