A/N: Special thanks for richards25, charliesunshine, MJElliot and TGPH for reviewing!

I guess that I should warn that this oneshot contains minor 'Catching Fire' spoilers. I'm sure that all of you readers have already read the second book in the trilogy, but I'm writing this just to be on the safe side :)

I hope that you enjoy this chapter about the most important of the victors in the trilogy, Haymitch Abernathy :)


"We can pretend that none of this ever happened

And I do depend on the power of positive drinking

Hold out your hand, and help this drowning man sinking

Off the deep end with the power of positive drinking."

- Colin MacDonald, 2012.


The 50th Annual Hunger Games (The Second Quarter Quell)

Haymitch Abernathy (16), District 12 Male

The Trews - The Power of Positive Drinking (2012)


I've lost track of how many days that I've been in here already, but I've had quite an easy ride through the arena so far. There are only fifteen tributes left. Now, usually that would sound like quite a lot, but this is the Second Quarter Quell, and the twist that President Snow revealed for this year's Hunger Games is that two boys and two girls will be reaped from each district, resulting in forty-eight tributes in total.

The arena can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. The weather conditions are perfect; eighteen or nineteen degrees, a slight cooling wind. The aesthetic beauty of the arena is unparalleled, too. A tranquil meadow, filled with lush grasses and exotic flowers covers seventy percent of the arena. Several cool, clear rivers wind their way through the meadow. At one end of the arena lies an idyllic snow-capped mountain; at the other, there is dense woodland.

At first sight, the arena appeared to supply the needs of every tribute. So many tributes(including two from my district) were simply so stunned by the arena's beauty that when the gong sounded they remained on their pedestals, gazing in awe. Due to this, I was one of very few tributes that sprinted to the cornucopia, allowing me to pick up a backpack of choice and a knife, evaporating into the meadow before most of the tributes had even stepped off of their pedestals. I was lucky that I got out of there early. Eighteen died in the initial bloodbath at the cornucopia. We were down to thirty tributes within an hour.

Of course, double the amount of tributes meant double the amount of Careers, and after the death of two of them at the bloodbath, a well-stocked pack of ten Careers formed on the first day.

Luckily, my early escape from the cornucopia meant that I didn't have to worry about them for the first two or three days. I was also lucky that I had enough food and water from the cornucopia to last me for a long time; it quickly became apparent that almost everything in the meadow was poisonous. Everything from the clear water into the streams to the pollen from the flowers, if inhaled too directly, at least. Having my own supplies was a massive advantage as the numbers were culled to twenty-two within five or six days.

In this time I stuck to the edges of the meadow, towards the end of the arena with the mountain, and I managed my first kill in the arena. It wasn't anything to be proud of, I still feel guilty about it now. It was some poor young boy who had chosen to sleep in a really vulnerable position within the meadow. It was an easy to move to make to slit his throat, but the will power required to do it was massive.

And I regret doing it.

But life in the arena went on, and yesterday I ended up in the midst of chaos as the oh-so-peaceful mountain exploded in a volcanic eruption, wiping out ten tributes, including five of the Careers.

Today one more tribute has gone, but as there has been no death recap since their death, I have no idea who it is. All I know is that eleven tributes are still alive as I walk slowly along the border between the meadow and the woods, taking care to stay away from the now lava-filled half of the arena, where the scarred remains of the mountain are still smoking.

"Over there!"

Who was that?

My worry turns to panic as I turn to find three Careers, all of which are from District 4, forty yards behind me, singling me out as a target.

Oh, hell.

I turn to run but quickly realise that any attempt to escape the Careers would be in vain, as all three are older, stronger, faster than me. Despite the odds, I realise that I have no choice but to turn and confront them.

By the time that I turn, I'm amazed how close the Careers have got to me; they are barely ten yards away and closing fast. Trying to catch them out, I raise my knife, prepared to make the first strike.

The first Career - a boy armed with a sword - is completely caught out as I plunge the knife straight into his chest. He screams and drops to floor as my attention turns to the second tribute. It occurs to me that I might have just killed for a second time, but before I get a chance to think more about it, the second boy from District 4 charges at me with an axe, slicing through my left forearm. I cry out in pain but somehow manage to keep my focus as he swings the axe again, dodging his blows. Over time he becomes reckless, leaving me with an opportunity to drive my knife up into his ribcage. His cannon sounds almost as soon as he hits the floor.

The third tribute from District 4 (and the only girl) is armed with a dagger very similar to my knife, and we are very equally matched as we fight, always somehow managing to counter each other, but never managing to deal a serious blow. Slowly she begins to push me backwards into the meadow, and suddenly I lose my footing and slip, crashing to the ground. The girl reaches down with her free hand, grabs the front of my shirt and hoists me off of the ground, so that our faces are almost touching. I become aware that she brings up her knife so that it is between my body and hers, touching my neck with just enough pressure for me to know that she is the one in control.

"Drop the knife," she whispers, and I have no choice but to obey. I hear the soft thud as the blade drops into the grass.

"It's all over for you now, District Twelve," the girl taunts, and I can tell that she's the type of Career who wants to make sure that their victims suffer tenfold before their death. She's trying to cause me distress, but if I'm honest. I'm not worried. I know that there is nothing that I can do but accept my fate, so I have nothing to worry about. So when I do reply to the girl, it flusters her slightly.

"Yeah, I know."

"Enough of your lip, little boy," she snaps fiercely, but I don't regret my answer. "Any more of that, and I'll-"

The girl cuts herself off as she suddenly starts screaming and her grip on me loosens, dropping me to the ground.

Fumbling to find my knife, I notice that the girl has a dart buried in her throat as she fall forward, still screaming, never to rise again. Two cannons - that of the girl and the boy that I stabbed earlier - go off one after the other as I watch a sleek figure with blonde hair and blue eyes appear out of the woods, holding a blowgun in their right hand.

It's Maysilee Donner, one of my district partners,and the only District 12 tribute from the town this year. The other three, including myself, are from the Seam. Despite being district partners, I'm not expecting her to show me sympathy; there are only eight of us left, after all.

"Allies?" Maysilee asks suddenly as I lie on the ground in front of her, surprised by her offer. "We'd live longer with two of us."

For a moment, I pause, but then realise that already I have become dependent on the help of other tributes to last this long, and so I make a quick decision.

"Yeah," I say, smiling as I pull myself to my feet. "Allies."


And so the District 12 alliance was formed with only eight tributes alive in the arena. Haymitch and Maysilee worked well together, surviving for the next four days as they slowly moved towards the edge of the arena, at which point Haymitch managed to break through the barrier hedge to the land beyond.

Maysilee told him that they needed to move on, but Haymitch didn't want to leave, and so the alliance was broken, with just five tributes remaining. After, Maysilee left, Haymitch discovered by accident that beyond the cliffs that lay behind the hedges, there was a force field that repelled objects back onto the land. But before he could study it in more detail, he was interrupted by the sounds of Maysilee's screams.

She had been found by a pack of muttations; brightly-coloured pink birds with skewer-like beaks that had descended upon her from within the woods. Even though he was no longer allied with her, Haymitch ran to her aid, but he was too late. Before he arrived, one of the birds had skewered Maysilee's throat with its beak. Still, Haymitch stayed with Maysilee, holding her hand until she died.

That evening, the pool of tributes was reduced to three as one of the boys from District 2 was attacked by a pack of man-eating squirrels, no doubts muttations.

With all three remaining tributes in the woods at one end of the arena. The boy from District 5 was the first to go; killed by an axe that the girl from District 1 used as her weapon of choice.

The final confrontation occurred just after noon, and it was a long and drawn-out battle. Haymitch, despite being the far weaker tribute, managed to cause heavy injuries to the girl from District 1, but not before she had cause serious harm to him, too.

Looking to escape, Haymitch ran back towards the edge of the arena where he had found the gap in the hedge that he had created earlier, and stood by the cliffside, waiting for the girl from District 1. With both tributes being on the verge of death, the girl threw her axe at Haymitch desperately, but Haymitch ducked beneath it. Haymitch watched as the axe flew over the edge of the cliff, only to come rebounding back moments later. The unsuspecting girl had no time to react as the axe buried itself in her head causing her to collapse, never to rise again.

With more than his fair share of luck, Haymitch Abernathy has become the victor of the Second Quarter Quell, and the first District 12 victor in forty-three years.


A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, which has been one of my favourites to write during the series so far.

If you did enjoy it, please review! Constructive criticism is most definitely welcome. I want to make this chapter as perfect as possible.

Also, now that we have fifty complete chapters, I'm curious to hear if you have any favourite victors/arenas/moments from the series so far. I'm sure that some chapters have stood out more than others :)

P.S. You have twelve hours remaining if you want to submit a oneshot for the 51st Annual Hunger Games. The competition ends at 10 pm BST tonight.