Where hunger sets us apart

Good things dont last

When you lead lambs to the slaughter, there's always one that shrieks, alerting the others. Perdita was that lamb, the one that screamed—and now she's gone. She was sixteen when she disappeared. Not dead, but vanished, lost to a world of broken dolls where young tributes lay down to die.

In Panem, children aren't born—they're forged into warriors. Generations have passed down something primal, a soldier's strength that pulls them through the Games. Perdita was sixteen when the Capitol demanded her life. Her brother, Esupofo, was twelve when they came for his. She was the one who slipped away; he was the one they captured.

Being the sibling of the Capitol's only traitor in 68 years put a target on Esupofo's back. Born into the scraps and shreds of District Eight, he learned to survive in cold that felt like home and warmth that felt like a ghost.

Work was the only currency that kept you fed, the only freedom in a life that could never be free. Bodies disappeared in District Eight without burial, without tombstones—just like Perdita. When Esupofo was reaped for the 69th Hunger Games, his district raised their hearts, bracing for his funeral, the one they never got to give his sister. No body, no burial.

He was a child playing an adult's game, clothed as a wolf but still a lamb. If Perdita hadn't run, she would have worn the wolf's cloak. Now he must pay for her crimes the only way the Capitol knows—by fighting to the death in a game he was never meant to survive.

But he did survive. His smile became a blood-streaked snarl, his teeth closing over the flesh of an enemy's neck. He was the Capitol's punishment, a traitor's blood. But now, he's the Capitol's darling.

The youngest victor in history. When they sent him home, his district didn't celebrate. They mourned. They mourned for the boy who was lost in the arena and the predator who returned. And he mourned, too, because he would never be the same.

In time, his grief hardened into rage. Rage at his sister for running. Rage at the Capitol for making him their weapon. When he was reaped again for the 75th Hunger Games, that anger found its target—not just the Capitol, but the Mockingjay herself.

Just like his sister, just like his mother, another lamb would go silent.

And the Capitol, as always, would make sure of it.

Lamar Johnson as Esupofo Duran

Kiana Lede as Katniss Everdeen

Kiki Layne as Perdita Duran

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mallark

Mykal-Michelle Harris as Prim Rose Everdeen

Young! Skai Jackson as Rue Bennett

The Hunger Games cast as themselves