An excerpt from The Hunger Games‘ next book, Sunrise on the Reaping, reveals heartbreaking new details. Sunrise on the Reaping is set during the fiftieth Hunger Games, known as the second Quarter Quell, where Haymitch Abernathy wins after being one of 48 tributes. Sunrise on the Reaping‘s story is first being told via the novel by Suzanne Collins that will be released on March 18. It is also being adapted into a movie that is scheduled to make its theatrical debut in 2026.

People has now released an excerpt taking place the morning of the reaping, which is also Haymitch’s 16th birthday, as he spends time with his family. He is revealed to have a 10-year-old brother named Sid, with whom he has a good relationship. Their mother had to raise her sons on her own after their father died in a coal mine fire years ago. Haymitch thinks about his girlfriend, Lenore Dove, and tries to avoid ruminating on the chances of his name being chosen during the reaping despite the increased odds this year. Check out the excerpt below:

“Happy birthday, Haymitch!”

The upside of being born on reaping day is that you can sleep late on your birthday. It’s pretty much downhill from there. A day off school hardly compensates for the terror of the name drawing. Even if you survive that, nobody feels like having cake after watching two kids being hauled off to the Capitol for slaughter. I roll over and pull the sheet over my head.

“Happy birthday!” My 10-year-old brother, Sid, gives my shoulder a shake. “You said be your rooster. You said you wanted to get to the woods at daylight.”

It’s true. I’m hoping to finish my work before the ceremony so I can devote the afternoon to the two things I love best — wasting time and being with my girl, Lenore Dove. My ma makes indulging in either of these a challenge, since she regularly announces that no job is too hard or dirty or tricky for me, and even the poorest people can scrape up a few pennies to dump their misery on somebody else. But given the dual occasions of the day, I think she’ll allow for a bit of freedom as long as my work is done. It’s the Gamemakers who might ruin my plans.

“Haymitch!” wails Sid. “The sun’s coming up!”

“All right, all right. I’m up, too.” I roll straight off the mattress onto the floor and pull on a pair of shorts made from a government-issued flour sack. The words “courtesy of the Capitol” end up stamped across my ʙuтт. My ma wastes nothing. Widowed young when my pa died in a coal mine fire, she’s raised Sid and me by taking in laundry and making every bit of anything count. The hardwood ashes in the fire pit are saved for lye soap. Eggshells get ground up to fertilize the garden. Someday these shorts will be torn into strips and woven into a rug.

I finish dressing and toss Sid back in his bed, where he burrows right down in the patchwork quilt. In the kitchen, I grab a piece of corn bread, an upgrade for my birthday instead of the gritty, dark stuff made from the Capitol flour. Out back, my ma’s already stirring a steaming kettle of clothes with a stick, her muscles straining as she flips a pair of miner’s overalls. She’s only 35, but life’s sorrows have already cut lines into her face, like they do.

Ma catches sight of me in the doorway and wipes her brow. “Happy 16th. Sauce on the stove.”

“Thanks, Ma.” I find a saucepan of stewed plums and scoop some on my bread before I head out. I found these in the woods the other day, but it’s a nice surprise to have them all H๏τ and sugared.

“Need you to fill the cistern today,” Ma says as I pᴀss. We’ve got cold running water, only it comes out in a thin stream that would take an age to fill a bucket. There’s a special barrel of pure rainwater she charges extra for because the clothes come out softer, but she uses our well water for most of the laundry. What with pumping and hauling, filling the cistern’s a two-hour job even with Sid’s help.

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” I ask.

“I’m running low and I’ve got a mountain of wash to do,” she answers.

“This afternoon, then,” I say, trying to hide my frustration. If the reaping’s done by one, and ᴀssuming we’re not part of this year’s sacrifice, I can finish the water by three and still see Lenore Dove.

A blanket of mist wraps protectively around the worn, gray houses of the Seam. It would be soothing if it wasn’t for the scattered cries of children being chased in their dreams. In the last few weeks, as the Fiftieth Hunger Games has drawn closer, these sounds have become more frequent, much like the anxious thoughts I work hard to keep at bay. The second Quarter Quell. Twice as many kids. No point in worrying, I tell myself, there’s nothing you can do about it. Like two Hunger Games in one. No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it. So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already.

What This Means For Sunrise On The Reaping

The Excerpt Introduces Characters Who Will Be Tragically Killed

It is known from previous Hunger Games books that in the aftermath of Haymitch’s victory, his loved ones are killed by President Coriolanus Snow. This is because Haymitch manipulated his final opponent into throwing her axe into the force field surrounding the area, causing the weapon to bounce back, kill her, and make him the winner. President Snow saw this as a defiant manipulation and mockery of the Capitol and of the Hunger Games, leading Haymitch to be punished in the worst way imaginable.

Those deaths will likely be shown towards Sunrise on the Reaping‘s ending, with Haymitch’s mother, Sid, and Lenore all being murdered. They will be among The Hunger Games‘ most tragic deaths after the novel is spent getting to know each of these characters and seeing how much they mean to Haymitch. It will be devastating to see Haymitch make sacrifices and to fight hard to get back to his mother, brother, and girlfriend, only to have them taken from him forever.

Our Take On The Sunrise On The Reaping Excerpt

Haymitch’s Tragic Story Already Has Parallels To Katniss

Sunrise on the Reaping‘s excerpt does an effective job showing Haymitch’s life before the reaping. It is already tragic that he must attend the reaping on his birthday, which will be followed by many injustices he will be forced to endure. There are unmistakable parallels between Haymitch and Katniss Everdeen’s beginnings, from their family dynamics to growing up in the poorest part of District 12 known as the Seam. Based on what is known about the fates of Haymitch’s loved ones and the second Quarter Quell, Haymitch’s The Hunger Games story is poised to be even darker.

Source: People