24 Years, 24 Tributes

Chapter 21

I thought I'd add one chapter in that showed what the Tributes are like when they aren't training. I didn't include everyone because I didn't feel like it, and these characters had stories that came right up. If you want me to add a story for your character, you can send me a message and I'll write up another chapter before I work on interviews and then, finally, the Games. There's gonna be about twice as much preparation as actual Games. I'll try to draw them out as long as I can.

Oh yeah, and chuckwallas really exist. As for why there's a zoo in the Hunger Games building, it's a pretty small zoo. It's for entertaining kids while Capitolites look at Games museums and whatever.

Celestial POV:

"Do you guys have pets in the Capitol?" I asked a servant as she tidied up my bed.

"Exotic animals are all the rage. Would you like to see a chuckwalla?" she asked.

"A what?" I asked. "I was hoping for otters."

"I don't know if we have any otters. Let me show you to the Zoological Gardens," the servant said. She led me down a hall to a glass door. I looked inside and saw dozens of animals in huge cages. I squealed and ran inside. There were birds flying around and monkeys in trees and all sorts of animals. There was a tank of water behind me, and I turned around to see what was in it.

"AGH!" I screamed. There was a giant freaking shark inches away from my face, staring at me. Where did he come from?

I beat a hasty retreat and stopped when I saw an enclosure filled with grazing deer. I watched them gracefully meander about until the servant came over.

"Would you like to pet one?" she asked. And suddenly, even the Games were worth it.

Timber POV:

I'd trained hours already, and I knew I wasn't going to get much better in two days. I knocked on Sarla's door and asked if she wanted to come out and explore with me. She told her brother she was going and we set out to see what all the other floors in the building had. It turned out that since us Tributes are only here a little while every year, mostly the building is used to entertain Capitolites who want to see where the Games start. There were shopping floors and movie theaters and all sorts of great stuff- I even saw a zoo on one of the floors. We went to the very top and stood on an observation deck. We could see the whole Capitol stretching out into the distance. There was also a boring art gallery, but we ignored that.

It was then that we found the food court. Of course we could order room service whenever, but there was something special about seeing all the choices right there in front of us. Sarla pointed out an ice cream parlor, and we made a beeline for it. I'd never had ice cream before, but it looked awesome. Neither of us had any idea what any of the flavors tasted like, so Sarla asked for the most popular flavor and I opted for the awesome rainbow ice cream. There was a huge bar filled with toppings, and I added just about everything, from foamy cream to chewy animal-shaped candies. Sarla took rainbow sprinkles and cookie pieces.

"Let's come back here every day," I said to Sarla as we ate. Ice cream turned out to be even better than it looked.

"That's the greatest idea I've ever heard," Sarla said.

Daniel POV:

The Training Room closed late at night, so I took a sword with me and kept practicing in my room. Soleil worked tirelessly with me, even though weapons weren't her thing.

"Did you have any allies in the Games?" I asked her.

"No. Nobody paid much attention to me, and I didn't want my ally to realize I wasn't helping much," she said.

It didn't seem right that she didn't have anyone to care about or to protect her.

"What kept you going?" I asked.

"I didn't want to die," she said.

I didn't really want to die either, but my first job was to take care of Sarla. I couldn't think about what would happen to me. I tried to push the thought from my mind, but it didn't want to go.

Bree POV:

I lay on my bed and tried not to think about what tomorrow would bring. I wished Nate was with me. He always used to come in and lie down by my bed when I needed him to keep the monsters away.

Something went bump in the night, and that was the last straw. I pressed a call button by my bed, and soon there was a knock on my door.

I opened it to find Cornflower.

"Sorry, I didn't think that called you," I said.

"It's okay. It's nice and quiet at night," she said. "Hey, wanna see something really cool?"

She smiled, and it was first time I remembered seeing her smile. She walked next to my bed and waved her hand over a little nook I noticed when I first moved in.

"Check this out," she said. She tapped a light that flashed on over the nook, and a message came up. She stood aside and let me look.

LATE SNACK? It prompted. I tapped the letters.

SAVORY

SWEET

I tapped sweet.

CHOCOLATE

CANDY

OTHER

"Other" seemed interesting, so I picked that.

COOKIES

PASTRY

OTHER

I went for cookies.

CHOCOLATE

CANDY

CHOCOLATE CHIP

SUGAR

PEANUT BUTTER

SNICKERDOODLE

I'd never had a "snickerdoodle", but that sounded like the best cookie ever. I pressed it and six cookies came tumbling out of a chute over the nook.

I was amazed. How had I not known about this before? I took three cookies and offered the rest to Cornflower. They were buttery and covered with cinnamon. She pressed a few more buttons and two glasses of milk came out nestled in claws so they wouldn't spill. We sat on my bed and ate. When Cornflower was done she peeked over at me, then got up and left. I guess I looked like I was better. And I was.