Sunrise on the Reaping

Haymitch never manages to destroy the arena outright, but he ends up the sole survivor of the 50th Hunger Games (the Second Quarter Quell). His sabotage plan with Beetee's son Ampert—flooding the arena's underground systems—fails to fully disable it, and Ampert is killed by mutated squirrels during the attempt. Maysilee Donner, who had renewed her alliance with Haymitch, is later killed by mutts sent specifically to punish her for killing Gamemakers the two of them stumbled upon. The last Newcomer, Wellie, is killed by the final Career, Silka of District 1, who is then killed herself when her axe rebounds off the arena's force field. Grievously wounded, Haymitch tries one last time to blow the force field with an explosive, but the blast only knocks him unconscious, leaving the arena's mechanisms intact. He wakes in the Capitol having won by default as the last tribute standing.

Back in the Capitol, Haymitch discovers that the broadcast of the Games has been edited to erase any hint of rebellion and to make him look selfish. President Snow personally warns him, telling him only to "enjoy your homecoming." That homecoming is a trap: Haymitch returns to District 12 to find his house burned down and his mother and brother Sid dead, Snow's punishment for his defiance. Shortly after, he meets Lenore Dove in a meadow for what should be a joyful reunion, but Snow has arranged for a poisoned gumdrop to be planted among treats Haymitch gives her; she dies in his arms, urging him with her last words to make sure there is never "another sunrise on the reaping."

Devastated, Haymitch withdraws into isolation and heavy drinking in the Victors' Village, cutting himself off from surviving friends like Plutarch Heavensbee and others to keep them safe from Snow's reach. During the Victory Tour, Plutarch's quiet encouragement reignites something in Haymitch, pushing him to keep resisting in whatever small ways he can rather than simply giving up.

The book closes with an epilogue set years later, after the events of the original trilogy: an older Haymitch tells Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark the full story of his Games, his losses, and Lenore Dove. He finds a measure of comfort tending goose eggs given to him by Katniss, a quiet memorial to the girl he lost.

Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel set decades before the original trilogy, following sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy in District 12. Haymitch supports his widowed mother and younger brother Sid by illegally distilling moonshine, and secretly loves Lenore Dove Baird, a member of the traveling Covey musical family now settled in District 12.

At the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games (the Second Quarter Quell, requiring double tributes from each district), chaos erupts when a male tribute tries to escape and is killed. Haymitch shields Lenore Dove from Peacekeepers during the chaos, and as punishment/spectacle, escort Drusilla Sickle and cameraman Plutarch Heavensbee force a re-staged reaping that names Haymitch as the substitute male tribute. His fellow District 12 tributes are Wyatt Callow, his close friend Louella McCoy, and wealthy, callous Maysilee Donner.

In the Capitol, Louella is killed in a chariot accident; Snow covers it up by substituting a drugged double the tributes call "Lou Lou," believing her to be from District 11. Haymitch publicly defies Snow by carrying Louella's body to him and mock-applauding, earning Snow's private threat of a painful death in the arena. Mentored somewhat by Wiress and Mags (District 12 has no living victors of its own), Haymitch is recruited by fellow mentor Beetee—whose son Ampert was reaped as punishment for Beetee's own past defiance—into a covert sabotage plot to destroy the arena from within using explosives in its underground water system. Plutarch, seemingly sympathetic to the tributes, aids the plan and arranges a farewell call between Haymitch and Lenore Dove.

In the Games, Haymitch abandons the "Newcomers" (non-Career tributes) to carry out the sabotage with Ampert; the plan only partially works, flooding but not disabling the arena, and Ampert is killed by mutated squirrels. Wyatt dies protecting Lou Lou, who later dies from toxic pollen. Maysilee saves Haymitch from Careers and the two team up again; they stumble on Gamemakers doing maintenance and kill them, after which Maysilee is killed by mutts sent as retribution. The last Newcomer, Wellie, is killed by the final Career, Silka, who then dies when her own axe bounces off the arena's protective force field. Haymitch's last attempt to blow up that force field only knocks himself unconscious, and he emerges the Games' sole survivor.

Haymitch discovers the Capitol has edited the footage to hide any rebellion and make him look selfish. Returning home, he finds his mother and brother dead and his house burned down—Snow's punishment for his defiance. Reunited with Lenore Dove, he unknowingly feeds her a gumdrop poisoned on Snow's orders; she dies telling him to prevent "another sunrise on the reaping." Grief-stricken, Haymitch becomes an isolated alcoholic in Victors' Village, pushing away remaining allies to protect them, though Plutarch's encouragement during the Victory Tour keeps a spark of resistance alive in him. The book ends with an epilogue, set after the original trilogy, showing an older Haymitch recounting this story to Katniss and Peeta, tending goose eggs in memory of Lenore Dove. Going forward, the open threads are Haymitch's deep personal losses (family, best friend, and Lenore Dove), his fraught but pivotal connection to Plutarch Heavensbee, his hatred of and vow against Snow's regime, and his descent into alcoholism as a coping mechanism—all backstory that shapes the man readers meet as the embittered mentor in the original trilogy.