The Hunger Games

The tributes are given 60 seconds on their platforms before they can run. Before them is the Cornucopia, which offers provisions and weapons in a bid to draw the tributes to the same location at the same time—resulting in a bloodbath. Despite Haymitch’s explicit instructions to run away from the Cornucopia and find water, Katniss finds herself tempted by a bow and arrow. When she sees Peeta, he shakes his head at her, making her question her choice to get to the weapon she needs. Second-guessing delays her movements by a few precious seconds, giving the others a head start. Frustrated, she makes a dash for a nearby backpack instead of running deeper into the bloodbath for the bow. She and a boy both reach the backpack, but another tribute throws a knife, killing the boy. Katniss then uses the backpack to block the knife thrown at her. Despite the danger, she is pleased that she now has a good knife in addition to the backpack. The backpack offers useful supplies, including a sleeping bag and an empty water bottle. Her first priority is to get away from the other tributes. Her second is to find water.

As Katniss flees, she considers her feelings about Peeta. She tells herself that she hopes he is alive for her family’s sake, but she knows she has other reasons for wishing him well, though she is unwilling to explore what they might be. She also hopes Rue survives. Cannon fire announces each death and, at night, the images of the day’s victims appear in the sky. At the end of her first day in the games, Katniss is relieved that both Rue and Peeta are still alive.

Katniss makes the tactical decision to climb a tree for the night. She straps herself to a branch to avoid falling to her death and falls asleep. She is awoken by a foolish tribute lighting a campfire. Katniss considers killing her but knows the smoke has already drawn in Careers looking for an easy kill. She stays in the comparative safety of the tree to avoid capture by the Careers. A group soon arrives and attacks the girl as expected. To her surprise, Peeta is a member of the group.

Katniss is offended that Peeta would ally himself with the “Capitol’s lapdogs.” When he goes to finish off the girl, who is revealed to be alive by the lack of cannon fire, Katniss hears the Careers discussing killing him. They decide to keep him alive to get to her. Katniss initially thinks she’s been betrayed, but they also wonder how she got her score of 11, making it clear that Peeta has not told them what she did. This makes her question whether he has really betrayed her and whether he is still pretending to be in love with her. In the morning the Careers and Peeta depart. Katniss retrieves a rabbit that was caught in her snare, cooks it over the dead girl’s coals, and eats it as she travels in the opposite direction, looking for water.

As she continues, she becomes increasingly dehydrated. She finds berries and is tempted by the moisture they offer, but she chooses not to risk eating unknown, potentially toxic vegetation. As her condition deteriorates, she requests water and is frustrated that Haymitch does not send her any. She realizes that if he has not betrayed her, it means he is saving her sponsors’ money for future gifts because water is nearby. Eventually, she finds a lily pond and purifies enough water to drink and recover. She straps herself to another tree branch only to be awoken by a stampede of animals running from a wall of fire.

Katniss runs away from the manmade fire, but it eventually starts shooting fireballs at her. She dodges most of them, but one burns her calf. She also injures her hands trying to get burning fabric off her leg. After she finds sanctuary in a tree, the Careers and Peeta arrive. Katniss jokes with them to play to the audience in the Capitol, taunting them for their inability to climb her tree due to their greater weight and lesser experience. One of the Careers, Glimmer, has the bow but cannot use it effectively. After nightfall, Katniss sees Rue in another tree. She gestures to something above Katniss’s head.

Katniss discovers that Rue is pointing out a nest of tracker jackers—mutated wasps that track and attack anyone who disturbs their nests. Their stings cause large welts, hallucinations, and even death. Katniss uses the nightly playing of Panem’s anthem as cover to saw the branch holding the nest. She gets most of the way through and decides to return in the morning rather than risk the Careers learning what she is planning. When she returns to her branch to sleep, she is relieved to find that Haymitch has sent her extremely expensive ointment for her burns.

In the morning Katniss warns Rue of what she is intending. Rue jumps from tree to tree to escape. Katniss then drops the tracker jacker nest on the Careers. She is stung three times in the process and begins to hallucinate. A tribute from District 4 and Glimmer die from the stings, while the other Careers and Peeta run away. Katniss’s hallucinations delay her retrieval of the bow. She is still there when Peeta returns. He surprises her by telling her to run. As she flees, she sees Cato, a Career, appear behind him. Before Katniss passes out from the tracker jacker stings, she realizes that Peeta has saved her life.