The Hunger Games: The Rebellion

Chapter 2

On the train to the Capitol…

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of beer," Haymith sang sadly, as he swayed in his seat, then burst into tears.

"Please, just kill me now," Katniss moaned and covered her ears.

"Effie, you've got to help us." Peeta begged. "Haymitch is obviously not fit to be our mentor again."

Effie Trinket looked at Haymitch in disgust.

"This is the worst thing that's ever happened to this country," Haymitch sobbed.

Katniss smacked him. "Yeah. Much worse than sending children to die in the Hunger Games. Much, much worse," she replied sarcastically.

"Why don't you two review the tapes of the victors from the previous games and their strategies?" Effie suggested as she led Haymitch to his room.

"Good idea," Peeta muttered. He noticed one tape that said "50th Hunger Games—Second Quarter Quell".

"Hey, that's the year Haymitch won!" Katniss said, leaning over to look at the tapes. "There were twice as many tributes that year. I wonder what his strategy was."

Peeta popped in the tape. They saw all the reapings from the districts. Then the interview, and finally on to the games. They saw many tributes die from the bloodbath on the first day. Finally, with only ten victors left, the focus of the tape was on Haymitch. They saw him sitting behind a tree drinking a bottle of beer.

"How did he get that bottle into the arena?" Peeta asked in astonishment. His question was answered when he saw Haymitch pull another bottle from the inside of his suit and gulped it down. He suddenly slammed it against the ground, breaking the bottle in half. They saw him savagely attack the remaining tributes with the broken beer bottle.

"I can't believe the gamemakers just let him do that," Katniss whispered in awe.

Finally there were only two tributes left. Haymitch and a girl from District 1. She chased him with an axe. He was able to hide from her for a bit. Haymitch grabbed another bottle from his suit and sipped his beer. Then he tossed the bottle of the cliff. To his surprise, it bounced right back. The girl from District 1 found him. He started backing away, and tossed the bottle over the cliff, but then it bounced right back and right into the girl's face, glass cutting the girl's eye. Haymitch used the opportunity to grab the ax and kill the girl. He was the victor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the 50th Hunger Games and 2nd Quarter Quell—Haymitch Abernathy!" Caesar Flickman announced.

"Alcohol is a way of life!" Haymitch shouted victoriously, raising his broken bottle of beer.

Katniss and Peeta stared in disbelief.

"Haymitch discovered that the force field could be used as a weapon against the Capitol," Katniss muttered. "I bet Snow was pissed about that. Maybe that's why Snow killed his family not long afterwards. "

"No. He was pissed because I stole his supply of beer," Haymitch said, walking back into the room. "That's why he killed my family. And my girlfriend. That's why he didn't kill me. To set an example to other victors. DON'T MESS WITH SNOW'S BEER."