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Summary: Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7

Haymitch continues to cry, and Mags directs him to a bath. When he emerges, Mags offers him bean and ham stock soup—what they eat in Twelve when someone dies—and he is struck by the gesture.

At breakfast the next morning, Mags and Wiress ask what they want from the games, besides the obvious. Haymitch wants a quick death so that Lenore Dove and his family are not traumatized; Wyatt agrees because he does not want the people who bet on his death being drawn out to make money on it. Maysilee does not want to beg, and to go out with her “head up.” Haymitch adds that he wants to end the Hunger Games by proving that tributes are people, just like Capitol citizens, but he doesn’t think he is clever enough to outwit the arena. Wiress and Mags jump on his comment, claiming the arena is just a “machine” that it is possible to outsmart—and that, ideally, he should figure out a way to do it on camera. However, they also remind him this would be a dangerous undertaking that could put himself and his allies at risk.

Haymitch reveals Ampert’s plan to the others and says he will put in a good word for them, even though he previously didn’t want to be allies. Wiress and Mags offer some advice, such as prioritizing water and forming alliances so someone can watch while you sleep, and then send them to the training center. They encourage them to take note of what is going on around them because, sometimes, the activities in the training center can offer clues into the arena. Haymitch, Maysilee, and Wyatt go to the gym and, on the way, they vow to be “loose cannons” who deserve respect. They practice throwing knives, and Haymitch starts to talk to Ringina, a girl from Seven, when Panache (the boy from One whose chariot Haymitch stole) punches him in the ribs. Haymitch and Ringina contemplate fighting Panache, but decide not to. They are in the middle of discussing their decision when Plutarch emerges and asks why they didn’t. 

Chapter 8

Plutarch presses on and asks why they “submit to it all”—the Peacekeepers, the Games, the hangings—but Haymitch cannot come up with a good answer besides “we don’t want to end up dead.” Plutarch continues to ask why everyone, including himself, submits to the will of President Snow, and Haymitch realizes he is genuinely asking, not taunting or mocking him. Plutarch then apologizes, admitting that the feed was cut right before the firework went off so nobody saw what Haymitch did. He attempts to offer sympathy for Louella, but Haymitch brushes him off. 

Haymitch later introduces Maysilee and Wyatt to Ampert, who takes to them immediately—especially Maysilee, who uses her braiding skills to fashion Ampert a token. Ampert then tells Haymitch that his father wants to speak to him and guides him to Beetee, a victor from District 3 who is being forced to coach his son to the death in the Games as punishment for trying to sabotage the Capitol's communication system. Beetee shows Haymitch how to make a battery out of a potato for a light source. Haymitch, immediately sympathetic to Beetee’s plight and his concealed resentment of the Capitol, surreptitiously asks how a person could break the arena. Beetee speaks in code, saying one would only need to disconnect a piece of a circuit to destroy the integrity of a machine. Beetee shakes Haymitch’s hand and dismisses him, slipping him a plastic packet of coins and nails so he can make a battery in the arena.

The tributes head to lunch; Twelve, Three, Seven, Eight, and Ten all sit together while Ampert explains his plan. He says the Careers win the Games a disproportionate amount of the time, even though they only make up one-quarter of the tributes. Ampert wants the rest of the districts to team up so they can hunt the Careers down instead of letting the Careers hunt them. So far, he has gotten five out of the nine remaining districts on his side. Haymitch notices the Careers are bullying the injured and frail kids from Six and invites them to join.

They decide they need a name for their alliance, since the Careers have one. Haymitch suggests the “Newcomers” to show that, even though they did not spend their lives training for the Games, they are up to the challenge—“Neddie Newcomer” is a District 12 term for someone who is just starting out. Everyone agrees to the name and Maysilee helps her fellow Newcomers make tokens. Training ends and a van is set to take them back to the tribute apartments, but Haymitch is told to get out. When he does so, he is met by Plutarch, who says President Snow “had second thoughts about [his]… performance” and wants to meet him.

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