Part 2, Chapter 11:
"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!" I almost fall out of the tree. The voice belongs to Peeta.
Honestly, the first thing I noticed reading this chapter is that Katniss grabbed a tarp and bread before the backpack. Honestly, I never noticed that she did that before. It makes sense, given how she describes it being close to her, but I guess I never considered it until I read a little bit more carefully. And now time for nameless tributes to be slaughtered! District 9 boy is so irrelevant...and the sad thing is that this guy who gets killed, like, two pages into the chapter is the most relevant character from district nine in the entire series (I don't think that's really a spoiler, is it?) But yeah, hands off Katniss' backpack, b****. Thanks to District 2 Girl, aka the best tribute in this book, for killing District 9 Boy and helping Katniss escape with a knife in her possession. Also, how funny is it that Katniss' overstrategizing is what costs her the bow and arrows? She's SO the Russell Hantz of this game.
I do like the fact that there are constant reminders of the fact that there's a viewing audience watching the Hunger Games play out. It adds an extra layer beyond just "Oh, I have to survive" because you have to play to the cameras as well. That's one place I give THG props ahead of Battle Royale, because in the book, it's just kids on an island, and I'm pretty sure nothing is televised. The manga is a different story, but I'm comparing book to book. But yeah, the idea that people are betting on which kids survive...it's barbaric, but at the same time, it makes perfect sense. I mean, they bet on the winner of British Big Brother too, and are right a lot of the time.
Katniss meanwhile has no water, but a good grasp on the other survival aspects of the game, as she has food and means of getting more food, a tarp, sleeping bag, a knife, and of course her woodlands training. At least she's got the strategy/survival aspects of the game down, which are really all that matter at this point, since the social game is only worth a damn really in the pre-show when you're trying to get peoples' help with sponsorships and such.
So anyway, day one and half the field is gone. Looking at the survivors as of the death recap, it's pretty standard. You've got the career duo from 1, career duo from 2, career girl from 4 (I WOULD like to know who got the boy though), gimp from 10, Foxface from 5, , duo from 11, Katniss and Peeta. The only two that stand out as being still alive are the district 3 boy and the district 8 girl, neither or whom have gotten any screentime thus far and are thus Edgically inviable winners. And of course Katniss goes over the names in her head and forgets old gimpy, which is a blow to his chances too.
And then Katniss meets her first real opponent, by which I mean she hate-stares at an opponent from afar. And given how the above-paragraph only references two expendable males, I think it's pretty girl that District 8 Girl done f***ed up and got her ass killed by the Career pack. It really is just like Survivor, only with death instead of going to the jury. But yeah, you've got the Careers...and PEETA? Gasp. That IS a pretty intense way to end the chapter, leaving you on a total cliffhanger like that, wondering why the hell (and how the hell) Peeta got in with those guys. But it seems Mr. Mellark has more up his sleeves than meets the eye.
Ranking of the Remaining 12 as of this chapter:
2F
12F
11F
12M
1F
5F
10M
11M
2M
1M
3M
4F
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Captain Tracy Mombaro and Agent Mirasuke Inhara: Two of the toughest, hottest furrs you'll ever meet.