In the Viewing Room, they're showing the arena. Haymitch is seated at the very end of the row, Seeder next to him, and Chaff next to her. Then 10's mentors, and 9's and so on.
There's a big screen showing the live feed at the front of the room. Seeder tells him the five smaller screens on a column in front of him are for his use, no one in the Capitol will see what he sees, except the Gamemakers.
She and Chaff are drinking, and when Seeder hands him the flask, he takes a deep pull. He's very nervous.
It's a jungle arena. Bright green trees, a wide river that looks very deep, but should be an excellent source of water, and some large, brightly colored birds, that Claudius Templesmith's voice informs them are, "Parrot mutts." Haymitch clenches his hands into fists, his fingernails digging into his skin, as he sees candy-colored birds piercing Maysilee's throat with their long, sharp beaks. Claudius Templesmith's voice informs him, "These birds are engineered to record sound, like a jabberjay, but they have been given special training to turn those sounds into a tribute's worst nightmare."
The camera focuses on a wide shot of the Cornucopia, piled high with food, gear, and weapons.
Seeder pats his knee, and he realizes his fists are still clenched. He takes the drink she offers him, grateful.
The tributes rise up into the arena. They wait for 60 seconds and the 51st Annual Hunger Games begins.
He watches Bennet run straight for the trees and couldn't be more proud. He thinks again about yelling at him over playing with swords, but at least the guy listened to him about this.
He looks for Trudie, then remembers his screens and taps icons he doesn't understand till he gets a close up.
She's just standing there, screaming, watching children dying.
His heart sinks. Bile rises up in his throat.
He hears her voice, thick with tears, "I don't want to die."
He can't look at any of the other mentors, can't let them see his pain, and rage, and terror. If they see it, it will be real, and he will let it out and probably be dragged away to some secret, Capitol torture chamber. Or they'll do nothing to him, and kill what friends he has left in the Seam.
One of the girls, he thinks it's District 4, is laying waste to kids trying to get to the Cornucopia, helped by other Careers, not that she needs it. Soon, the kids from 1 and 2 run into the trees after the ones that ran away.
The District 4 girl is ruthless. She checks that each one of the limp forms on the ground is dead, and slits their throats if they're not.
Covered in blood spatter, some of it even her own, she walks steadily toward Trudie, who has fallen to the ground, head on her knees, hands covering her ears, sobbing loudly, half screaming. Haymitch can't believe she has voice left enough for the amount of noise she's making, and has a sudden memory of her singing in music class, in a soaring soprano.
The girl with the sword grabs a fistful of Trudie's hair and yanks her head up. Trudie is begging, "Please, please don't kill me, DON'T -"
The girl stabs her so hard with the sword, it comes out of the back of her neck.
She drops Trudie's hair, stalks over to the Cornucopia, grabs some supplies, and runs into the trees, still holding her dripping, red sword.
Haymitch trains a camera on Bennet, who's walking at a fast pace through the trees, looking over his shoulder every so often.
He's watching the screen, hearing the cannons marking the end of the bloodbath. He can tell he's hearing it, because he's counting in his mind. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. He knows he is hearing and seeing these things, the things around him, but in his mind, all he sees is Trudie's head, half severed, the way it flopped when she fell to the ground.
Fifteen kids left, and one of his is still running. He tries not to think of Trudie. He'll think about her later.
Seeder hands him the flask again and he drinks deeply. He needs to start bringing his own flask, but he's not technically old enough, though no one in the Training Center seems to mind, not even Frugi.
The Careers catch up with two more kids, including Chaff's boy. Then they go back to the Cornucopia, start divvying out weapons, and food, and gear. The District 4 girl with the sword is not among them. She's being followed on the live screen, the shots changing between her and the Pack, the viewers back home probably wondering why she's not among then.
It's a good strategy, as far as Haymitch is concerned. The Careers' alliances have always broken up and ended with just one winner. Why put yourself in that position if you can avoid it?
He looks past the row of people between them to Mags. Her red, curly hair is just starting to gray. She's keeping one eye on her girl, and talking animatedly to Sell, 3's only mentor.
Haymitch looks back at his screen in time to shout, "No! You idiot!"
And then Bennet's dead, and the cannon fires, and the last thing Haymitch ever said about him is, "You idiot."
He had found a bush of berries. Haymitch has no idea what kind of berries they were, until Claudius Templesmith's voice informs the viewers that they were a Capitol creation, made to look like blackberries, but the leaves on the bush are red.
Haymitch storms out of the Viewing Room.
Idiots!
Screaming and crying, giving in to the first pangs of hunger for a handful of berries?
When he reaches 12's apartment, he pours himself more of that amber liquid. It's warm in his mouth, and sweet.
After two pretty full glasses, he can admit that he's actually mad at himself.
Chaff had spelled it out for him in the garden. Anyone from the outlying districts only won by luck, and the Training Center was there to punish the victors for living, as much as it was there to excite the Capitol.
After two more glasses, Haymitch feels ready to go back to the Viewing Room.
He stumbles away from the bar, and falls flat on his face. What was that, an earthquake? Shit, if it's an earthquake, he better warn some people.
People! That's what he was doing. He walks to the door that leads to the elevators. The hallway seems swimmy, like he's underwater. He keeps bumping up against the wall.
He gets into an elevator, goes to the Viewing Room floor. He giggles. Floor. What a weird word.
Haymitch steps out of the elevator and wonders why he's going to the training room. He's a mentor now, not a tribute.
He stands in front of the elevator. Is he unsteady, or is the floor moving around?
"Haymitch?"
He turns toward the voice, something gets between his feet, and he trips and falls.
"Whoops," he says, and giggles.
He's leaning against the wall, trying to keep his head up, even though it keeps falling to the side, like his neck is made of rubber.
Someone kneels in front of him. Red hair. Used to be redder.
"You're Mags Flanagan," he says, in a high voice he hardly recognizes as his own.
She smiles.
"How much have you had to drink tonight?"
He touches her nose and grins.
"Now, now."
She laughs.
"You stay here. Don't move a muscle, you hear me?"
"You got it, Mama."
She gives him a strange look then, and walks away. Haymitch tries to stay where he is, but he thinks he's falling. That's okay. Falling is fine.
Whoops. Sorry, Mama.