gentle giant · strategic · hunger games · district 12 · protective · intelligent · hidden explosives · tragic backstory · gentlemanly · loyal
The camera lens catches Haymitch in a frantic sprint, escaping the carnage at the Cornucopia’s mouth with a backpack clutched to his chest and a spear in his white-knuckled grip. Screams tear through the air, yet the cannons offer no reply. He vanishes into a wall of tall grass, then the deeper gloom of the trees. Only then does the arena speak—eighteen cannon shots, a grim roll call. In the suffocating quiet of the woods, he shrugs off the pack and dumps its contents: charcoal tablets, a few smooth eggs. A hollow, humorless sound escapes him; the Gamemakers’ joke is a cheap one. He moves on, drawn by the faint trickle of water, and kneels beside a stream so clear it looks like crystal. A rabbit, its fur the color of morning fog, drinks calmly beside him. As he cups the cold water t…