Chapter 7: 75th Reaping

Time for the Third Quarter Quell. I am now 91 years old, the oldest Victor still alive.

Many of those I love have been long dead. My husband of sixty years has been gone awhile. Sabille Rosehearty, she has been gone many a year. So has Cassiope Fletch, who passed away just after Blight won. She only produced three successors. One was named Haymitch Abernathy, a drunk who won the Second Quarter Quell. The other two won an unusual victory together in last year's arena; apparently, they are lovers.

So when the Quell twist is announced as previous Victors, I know I'll be damned before I see my great-granddaughter go in.

There are only two women and three men to choose from at the Reaping - Jago has been dead for a long time too. Johanna, my great-grandchild, is chosen, but I volunteer in her place. Blight Jordan is made my counterpart. Johanna, Eero Nitva and Pliny Arausio mentor us.

I get only a 7 over three days of training. But my rebellious interview as the Victor with No Predecessor is legendary.

The arena is a dense jungle with the Cornucopia on an island with rocky spokes in the middle of a tiny sea. Despite my age, I make the beach, and rescue Blight as well as the District 3 Victors, Wiress and Beetee. I sadly lose Blight along the way; he wasn't much, but he was from home. However, I get District 3 to Haymitch's kids and we ally with them.

Later, I welcome death like an old friend, killed at the hands of the Careers after Wiress and District 1. I barely make the Final Eight for the second time in nearly three-quarters of a century.

BOOM.