Chapter 3:

Beetee's point of view:

From District 3 to the Capitol, would be approximately 7 hours at the train's speed.

According to the rules, besides the fact that we are prisoners, the Hunger Games Tributes get to live the high life up to the start of the Games, and the rule did not disappoint. Inside the train it was shiny, flashy, and luxurious. We each got our own compartment. In my compartment was a king sized bed, a shower with hot water, a jetted bath tub, and a closet full of fancy clothes. I changed into something cleaner, as my current clothes were not in the best of shape.

Nelly Electra came into the room and said it was time to watch the replays of the Reapings in the other Districts. I agreed. I needed to see what my competition is.

We went to the dinning room, where they had a feast for us with just about anything you'd ever want to eat. I took what I believed to be a cinnamon bun covered in sugary frosting and bit into it. It was by far the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. I filled my plate with choice items from the buffet. I needed to gain a little weight before I get into the arena.

Neil Osmo, Sora Petford, Barbie Nettel, and Nelly Electra sat at the table with me. Neil Osmo seemed to keep downing a large amount of wine but seemed to not be drunk, he obviously has a strong constitution and very high tolerance level for alcohol before becoming intoxicated. He had no reputation as a drunkard.

We watched the television as the other Reapings were being replayed.

From District 1, the boy and girl two 16 year-olds who were both reaped. Their names were Rubius Morson and Aurora Indi. There were no volunteers. But they both still looked strong, physically fit, and confident.

From District 2, a young girl was reaped, but was then quickly replaced by a hard-faced mean looking girl from the 17 year-olds who volunteered, who went by the name of Xena Forman. Then from the boys, a 12 year boy was reaped, then when the escort asked for volunteers there were 9 tall and heavily muscled boys from the 18 year-olds to the 15 year-olds that all volunteered at once. Apparently anticipating this as it usually happens every year in District 2 (I wonder why District 2 even bothers with the Reaping at all) they then have the most recent victor pick the one they think would be best. They pick a boy named Buzz Vandermon who was the biggest of the 9 volunteers.

There was then the replay of District 3. On the TV screen, Barbie's name was called, then Victor Tabbill. Then I saw myself rushing forward to to take his place. The announcer on the television was quite surprised saying that District 3 had never had a volunteer before, and they wondered why, and considered if I would make the Games more interesting.

From District 4, a 13 year-old was reaped, but was then replaced by a strong, fit, and confident looking volunteer who said her name was Annabel Ivy. Then a strong, fit, and confident 16 year-old named John Green was reaped but no one volunteered for him.

The rest of the districts went by one at a time they all looked scared and vulnerable though there were a few that were physically stronger that stood out but no volunteers.

The announcer then said that the tributes would arrive within less than a day and for everyone to please tune in for the tributes parade tomorrow night, and that if you lived in the Capitol you could even attend the tributes parade in the audience.

Barbie Nettel, then spoke up.

"So when do we start?" asked Barbie. "I assume we are going to need mentoring of course?"

Neil Osmo then became extremely irritated.

"And what exactly would you two need mentoring for?" he directed his question more to Beetee then to Barbie.

"I don't think I quite understand?"

Neil looked at Beetee with anger on his face.

"I have no interest in mentoring an insane person."

"And since when does insanity come into this?" questioned Barbie.

"I do have to admit, I am trying to figure you out. I mean, you volunteered!" he said loudly trying to emphasize the unusualness of the thing. "No one volunteers. What do you think this is? District 2?"

"What does it matter to you what I do?" asked Beetee.

Neil then gave an amused smile which Beetee assumed could have only come from all the alcohol that he just downed.

"If you volunteer to go into the arena which pretty much for ensures your death, then you either need to be really stupid with a deathwish, or you're just plain out of your mind."

"Maybe he's just really brave?" said Sora Petford.

"Volunteering for the Hunger Games is not bravery, its recklessness. A brave person does not go looking for trouble. And I want nothing to do with mentoring him."

"I will be his mentor then." said Sora Petford.

Neil raised his eyebrow in interest.

"Fine." said Neil, "You take the boy, I will take the girl."

Sora led me to a table there in the dinning room at the far side of the car.

"So, tell me, why did you volunteer?" asked Sora.

Rather than answer her question, I decide to ask her out-right.

"Is he always like that?" I asked gesturing to Neil.

Sora looked over at Neil who was bent over a table leaning in close to Barbie.

"Don't take it personally, I don't think he actually thinks you're insane. He is just depressed."

"Depressed?" I asked out of curiosity. "About what?"

Sora pauses to think about it for a while.

"There are several contributing factors." explains Sora. "He's been at this mentoring thing a lot longer than I have. He's a brilliant scientist, and by some gland disorder he has an excess of strength. But all that adds up to nothing not even winning the Games. Until me, he had to endure a lot of tributes that he mentored dying, and now he wishes that he could drown his pain and sorrow way with alcohol... as you've probably seen he tries. But not even alcohol can make him forget his troubles because a side effect of his strength is apparently a 99% resistance to intoxication. Also his entire family died mysteriously two months after he won his Games."

'What? I was unaware of that?' I thought to myself.

The look on my face must have indicated that I understood as she responded.

"Now I must ask you again." said Sora. "Why did you volunteer?"

"My sister Lori. She's dying." I stated matter-of-factly. "She has a degenerative deficiency disease. Her body can't absorb enough of the nutrients in what little food that my family can get a hold of. Scientifically speaking her body is digesting itself from the inside out and she will eventually die of protein deficiency. The only way to save her is for her to have a diet of excessive consumption of protein meat in order to counteract the effects of the disease. And the only way for me to get the money to be able to do that is to win the Hunger Games."

Sora raised her eyes in interest.

"That's very noble and brave of you." said Sora. "But it's a longshot at best. What makes you think that you can win the Hunger Games?"

"I think that the odds are in my favor." I told her.

"How so?" she asked.

"It's all in the numbers, and the manipulation of the statistics. With my friends I win it all the games, I've rarely lost a game of poker, and I've never lost a game of chess."

The look on her face indicated that she was impressed, but she also had a serious reprimanding look on her face.

"The Hunger Games is not a game, 'contrary to the event's name'. The Hunger Games is not something that you can practice until you're sure that you can get it right every time. The Games are different every time, the arena, the landscape, the environment, the tools that you will have to work with. When you go into the Games, you have no idea what you have in front of you, and you then have one chance to get it right the first time. And then every decision you make is life or death. You got to get your hands on a weapon, preferably something long and sharp. You got to aim for the heart, or the neck, or the head every time, even if it's your district partner."

She paused after she said the last sentence I could tell the look of horror was flooding into her mind's eye as she stared over my shoulder at the wall at some dark memory.

"You may be able to take on can ally or two, but be wary, they are in the same position as you. They know they will die if they don't win and you need to think like them, they die or you don't win, it would not be wise to have it come down to you and your ally, and you can't always trust them to die at someone else's hands." her tone of voice indicated determination and seriousness that this was not a laughing matter. "When that gong sounds, and you go up against 23 opponents that are determined to win, YOU HAVE TO BE FULLY PREPARED TO KILL! You can't hesitate to hit a Career Tribute 'while he's down', or even slit the throat of a twelve year old girl, though there a hundred different ways to kill them much faster and less painfully. Just so you know, I did not win the Hunger Games because I was nice. All of that; that is what you must do. That is what you must become. That is the price you must pay to save your sister."

"I am well aware of what is at stake and what I have to do." I told her. "I am willing to kill Barbie Nettel as well as all of the other tributes if it means that I can save my sister. I thought of other options, and there are none. The Hunger Games winnings are my only chance. No tribute is more determined to win than I am right now."

My tone of voice had a note of finality in it.