Jade Silverman, District 1
The doors of the train shut behind me.
Before I left, my parents had visited me. Mother was barely keeping it together, and during the few minutes the they were allowed to see me she barely spoke a word. She just embraced me and cried on my shoulder. Father, on the other hand, had regained some life in his eyes. If it was hope, then it was ridiculous. He gave me a book, small enough to fit in the pocket of my jacket. A guide for "wilderness survival in the winter", apparently. He quietly told me that he had talked to some contacts and found out that the arena would look like a winter forest, and gave me some advise too. Unlike me my father had been trained as a careerist, but had never been chosen, so he knew a thing or two. Run away at the beginning, do not try to take any supplies. He would sponsor me so that I could get the basics anyway. Avoid the others, but do not stray to far away or the game-leaders will interfere. Hide your tracks no matter what and try only to move when it's snowing heavily, and for gods sake, do not make a fire unless you're really freezing to death. Then he hugged me and they both left. After a while I was escorted to the train by two peacekeepers.
It had never occurred to me that my father was actually rich enough to send me what I needed, or most of it anyway. Maybe I would come out of this alive, just maybe.
The other tribute from district 1, the girl whose name I didn't know yet, was staring at me from her seat. She gave me a smile filled with malice. Across from her sat our mentor. She seemed to be ignoring me, which was exactly what I had expected. The people who put me here wanted me to die in the games, so they had probably bribed our mentor. Even so, I wouldn't go down without a fight, that was the least I could do for my parents.
For a moment I managed to get my hopes up, but then it struck me. What if the game-leaders were in on it too? If that was the case, then I was screwed, really, really screwed.
