AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm sure that this has been a hotly-anticipated chapter, and so I hope I was able to do it justice. Haymitch's Hunger Games marks the halfway point for The Victors' Chronicles, and now that some of the particularly lengthy chapters are behind us, I might be able to update twice a week. If I do, it will likely continue to be on Mondays and then another chapter near the end of the week, depending on how much progress I've made. That said, here's the infamous 2nd Quarter Quell.
Happy Reading!
The 50th Annual Hunger Games
While the decade that would later be known as "The Golden Age" had ended, the Capitol was not about to just settle for less due to arenas and tributes not living up to the greatness that Panem had witness over the last 10 years. Instead, they'd make sure that this year's games were just as memorable as all of those that had come before.
Right around the time that Laurel's victory in the unique Quarter Quell 2½ decades ago had started to fade, the Capitol struck back with another one 25 years later, just as they promised they would. This 2nd Quarter Quell altered the rules by reminding the districts that for each Capitol citizen killed, two rebels died. As such, there would be twice the usual number of tributes this year, bringing the roster up to 48. Thus, two girls and two boys from every district were taken to the Capitol, many of which had a grim feeling that they would never return. More tributes meant slimmer odds—and more career tributes to worry about.
However, even District 12 was not about to throw in the towel just yet. They had won the last of these games with the rule twists, and so perhaps they could win it again. Time would tell as the 50th Annual Hunger Games prepared to unfold.
Naturally, events like the chariot parades, private training sessions, and tribute interviews took much longer than usual given the increased number of tributes, but it brought in more attention than ever, and the betting industry went wild. With half a century of games under their belts and above-average performing tributes at their disposal this year, the Gamemakers intended to make sure that these games were the most memorable ones Panem had seen.
Foremost, the arena itself was absolutely breathtaking. There were a few tributes killed in the opening minutes simply trying to take it all in. Situated in a lush and sweet-smelling green meadow that stretched for what seemed like, the cornucopia clearing had the horn situated in the center of the semicircle, and it was overflowing with weapons, tools, supplies, and ample amounts of food. Some of the tributes took this as a warning, and escaped into the beautiful woods and away from the picturesque, snow-capped mountain that loomed overhead.
Similar to the last quell, two tributes from District 12 survived the bloodbath, where 18 tributes lost their lives in the carnage. Most of these deaths were caused by the 13-strong career pack: this year consisting of the four tributes from District 1, the four tributes from District 2, a boy and a girl from District 3, the two girls from District 4, and even a girl from District 5. When they finally turned on each other, that alone would be a bloodbath to remember.
So vast was the arena that it almost seemed like it would be difficult to find other tributes. Then again, there were about 48 of them (now down to 30) when this mess started, and so the increased numbers made it seem like there would be more of them. Besides, there was no way that 13 tributes in the career pack could remain hidden for too long.
A certain Haymitch Abernathy, however, could. One of the surviving tributes from District 12, he was also one of the few that did not let the dazzling beauty of the arena distract him, and he was thus able to grab a large knife and get right into the mouth of the cornucopia to grab what he was fairly certain was one of the best backpacks. This turned out to be the truth, as it came with a few survival kits, and most noticeably, lots of food. He found it odd that there would be so much food at the cornucopia when the arena had so much food as well. He had suspicions about what it might be though, and so he went on the prowl in hopes to try and find some other sucker to do his dirty work.
Sure enough, on the end evening, one of the hungrier kids—a girl from District 7, went hunting for food, only to find some in the arena with relative ease. As tasty as it looked, Haymitch's fears were verified a moment later when she began convulsing, only to die a few seconds later causing a cannon to go off. His conclusion: everything in the arena itself was poison. This proved to be doubly true, when the scent of some flowers made him lightheaded. If they were releasing noxious fumes into the air, then he had to watch out for even the air.
Naturally, he didn't trust the water, and waited for rain instead. This proved to be the logical choice for the same reason. He was a lone ranger in these games, pitted against at least 25 more tributes, a dozen or so of which were part of the vicious career pack.
Still… by day 8 he had managed to evade being spotted, although that was a trend that was cut short immediately upon encountering three of the career tributes: a girl and two boys..
"Looks like '12 got a bit lost," one of the boys taunted.
"I ain't even scared," Haymitch retorted without hesitation, whipping out his knife and tossing it skillfully up into the air before catching it.
"That's because you haven't seen Marx and Severa yet." The girl warned. "you'll learn."
"Let's dance then," Haymitch shifted his legs apart into a stance. "There can only be one victor and it'd be a right shame if it was one of you sorry bastards."
The curly-haired Seam boy managed to overpower one of the boys almost immediately, suffering only a minor cut to his shoulder. He landed a good slash on the girl's left arm, but she was right-handed and was only using a shortsword anyways. The second boy went down a little harder, but in a reckless attempt to stop the career boy from putting his axe through his skull, Haymitch threw his knife, lodging it firmly in the boy's forehead. The problem then was that the girl, who had a number 4 on her shoulder, managed to throw him down and was moments away from cutting his throat open before she froze and fell over on top of him, motionless. Climbing out from under her, Haymitch saw a girl with a 12 on her shoulders, and a blowdart in the career girl's back.
"Thanks?" He shrugged, not sure if his last surviving district partner was about to turn on him next, or if she was here to help.
"No problem." She chuckled, retrieving her dart and stowing it with a collection of other ones she had, as well as a dart gun at her hip.
"Where'd you get the poison?" He raised an eyebrow.
"From literally anything in the arena," she chuckled, extending her hand; "Maysilee Donner, by the way"
"Haymitch Abernathy," Haymitch shrugged, shaking her hand. Obviously if she was offering a hand free of any weapons or other poisons, then she was not hostile—at least for the moment. "you want to team up then?" Still—there was something to be said about asking anyways.
"The last victor from District 12 won a quarter quell by teaming up with a guy from District 2 of all places," Maysilee quipped, "We'd live longer with two of us."
After a bit of an exchange, Maysilee learned from Haymitch that the only thing he saw near the southern fringes of the arena was a vast mountain vista that was far beyond the boundaries of the arena. Similarly, Maysilee warned Haymitch that most of the careers had taken refuge on the side of the mountain with all of the best food, and also steering clear of the dangerous mutts and poisonous flora that had already claimed the lives of nearly a dozen tributes.
Day 10 proved this dangerous premonition to be correct. The snow-capped mountain lost all of its beauty in a single afternoon, erupting into an enormous volcano that killed a good number of tributes.
"8… 9… 10." Maysilee counted, "damn—that's the rest of the career pack unless there was another straggler on the mountain."
"Probably was," Haymitch quipped, "the odds aren't in our favor enough for that."
Marx's name appeared in the sky that night, saving Haymitch the trouble of ever having to meet him. It turned out that he was from District 1. Maysilee lay on her back watching the career pack's faces all light up the sky, except for the last face, which was a boy from District 8.
"Was that all of them?" she asked, "counting the three we killed the other day."
"Severa," Haymitch muttered, "there's one more girl out there."
"Did you see her?"
"No, but those careers we fought said that I should be afraid of her."
"I take it you didn't heed their warnings then."
"Course not," Haymitch chuckled, "I'm not that stupid."
The next few days consisted of the two District 12 tributes exploring the arena without finding much in the way of other tributes, and luckily, no other dangers. They did make a trip back to the cornucopia to find that it would restock itself periodically—It was the only way they could keep the tributes fed, it seemed, since the arena flora and fauna were deadly or poisonous (or both). They wondered why the careers had not stayed here—maybe they didn't know about it, or were too worried about the dangers the arena held. Dozens of children had died in this exact spot, after all.
Maysilee and Haymitch continued exploring the vast arena, with a few more cannons going off periodically. It was only when they neared the edge of the arena that Maysilee finally spoke up.
"Hey," she noted, "I'm starting to think that it's about that time."
"Already," Haymitch tilted his head, "there's still 3 others out there." He was still curious about who this Severa girl was, and why they hadn't seen her.
"I just don't want to outsmart the others and then be forced to turn on you." She reasoned.
"Alright," Haymitch shrugged, "May the odds be ever in your favor…"
And with that, Maysilee headed back north, while Haymitch continued south towards the fringes of the arena towards the mountain vista off in the distance, until he came to a cliff. Here he was, looking at freedom it seemed. He kicked a rock off the cliff, just to hear how far it would go before it hit the bottom. To his surprise, a few seconds after he kicked it, it flew back up, landing right where it had been before he had kicked it. He tried it again—the same effect happened. He threw a larger rock down, only for it to land right back at his feet.
Haymitch had discovered the forcefield. With this knowledge, and a smirk on his face, he headed north to try and find another tribute.
His casual stroll turned into a frantic run only moments later as he heard Maysilee's scream. Shouting her name, he raced to the scene, only to find her throat skewered by a large, candy-pink bird—definitely another one of the Capitol's mutts. He fought it off, as well as the couple others that thought they could make easy pickin's of him.
Haymitch held Maysilee until she fully died, which totaled around 5-7 minutes. 5 tributes dropped down to 4, and Haymitch persisted. The days went by until two more faces showed up in the sky, and to his dismay, neither of them were Severa. If nothing else, it meant that sooner rather than later, he would end up crossing paths with this girl and either killing her or being killed by her.
Sure enough, hardly more than an hour later, Severa came barreling into view, wielding a wicked-looking throwing axe. Haymitch was stronger than he looked, but knew that he was outmuscled and outgunned so to speak, against this career girl.
He fled southward, although now and again he jumped back to strike at her, scuffling for a while. This earned him a slash on his arm and one that nearly decapitated him, while his knife found a spot on both her legs and across her side. Things went south for Haymitch fairly quickly as he felt his stomach sting, and suddenly he found himself nearly having to hold his guts in place to keep them from falling out. In a fit of anger, he lunged backwards, throwing his knife which struck Severa right in the eye. It was not enough to kill her, but it caused her to stagger as blood ran down her face. Haymitch used this time to limp like a madman towards the arena forcefield. This was his only hope.
Sure enough, Severa came bounding after him after a moment, but by this point Haymitch was strategically positioned near the cliff. In her fury, Several threw the axe at Haymitch, but the boy ducked at just the right moment, the whizzing of the axe nearly taking out a few of his stray curls. She smirked as Haymitch sunk to his knees, hacking as he tried to keep his insides in. She knew that Haymitch was bleeding out. All she had to do was wait…
…or so she thought. Moments after her axe had disappeared into the gorge, it flew right back up and lodged itself firmly into her forehead, killing her immediately. Through a bit of his own cunning, Haymitch had just become the 2nd victor from District 12, and the 50th Victor of the games.
The Capitol did not take well to being outsmarted though, and similar to Zerviah Hawke and Alice DeSiete, Haymitch's loved ones mysteriously 'disappeared' hardly two weeks after the games had ended. Haymitch knew it was no coincidence, and it was one of the reasons he took to drinking. Still, there was something to be said about District 12 and the wily ways of its tributes. If nothing else, they had a knack for winning the Quarter Quells, and a dangerous attitude towards the Capitol and the Hunger Games that no number of death arenas could take from them.
VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)
11HG: Maius Karuha (#2, District 2)
12HG: Iunius Karuha (#3, District 2)
13HG: Hilda White (#1, District 10)
14HG: Minali Otoyome (#2, District 3)
15HG: Willow James (#3, District 1)
16HG: Lark Chandnea (#2, District 11)
17HG: Woof Casino (#1, District 8)
18HG: Leah Holden (#2, District 7)
19HG: Zeruda Mezkiel (#2, District 6)
20HG: Muscida Lee (#2, District 4)
21HG: Kada Lahka (#4, District 2)
22HG: Gleam DiFronzo (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ivette Coronado (#3, District 5)
24HG: Olivia Thurman (#1, District 9)
25HG: Laurel Fox (#1, District 12)
26HG: Daron Armstrong (#5, District 2)
27HG: Cobalt Evans (#5, District 1)
28HG: Lyme Golding (#6, District 2)
29HG: Ash LosDias (#3, District 7)
30HG: Challis Worth (#2, District 8)
31HG: Beetee Latier (#3, District 3)
32HG: Fletch Crossley (#4, District 5)
33HG: Seeder Howell (#3, District 11)
34HG: Price Emerson (#6, District 1)
35HG: Leto Irizari (#7, District 2)
36HG: Jackson Kjelle (#5, District 5)
37HG: Zerviah Hawke (#3, District 6)
38HG: Wiress Plummer (#4, District 3)
39HG: Nephi Lott (#3, District 4)
40HG: Miriam Luxio (#7, District 1)
41HG: Marcelina Kovac (#6, District 5)
42HG: Niles Lincoln (#8, District 2)
43HG: Blight McKay (#4, District 7)
44HG: Sagittaria Svenja (#4, District 11)
45HG: Dezna Meraxa (#4, District 6)
46HG: Alice DeSiete (#3, District 8)
47HG: Aurum Zianja (#8, District 1)
48HG: Layla Aranai (#9, District 2)
49HG: Chip Sangster (#5, District 3)
50HG: Haymitch Abernathy (#2, District 12)