The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion (38 page)

MEDICAL SUPPLIES

Survival in the wilderness is tough without even the most rudimentary first aid kit. Most people bring items such as:

It’s hard to forget Peeta’s leg infection in
The Hunger Games
—the fever, pus, swelling, and blood poisoning. Katniss hopes that a sponsor will drop a gift of anti-infection medicine before Peeta dies. She’s been using chewed leaves, all that’s available in the wilderness, and ineffective ointment. As for a first aid kit, forget it: The tributes are on their own. They’re lucky to plunge burning flesh into cool water, and if they want bandages, they have to make them from strips of clothing. The best they can hope is that medicine and supplies drop from gift parachutes out of the sky.

This may be the one area where the tributes, including Katniss with all her wilderness skills, have no chance whatsoever. Break a bone, you’re doomed. Get an infection, pray that a magical ointment falls from the sky.

TRAINING AND OVERALL KNOWLEDGE

If you’re lost in the wilderness, as in the first Hunger Games, and you’re with other people, it’s essential to immediately identify the skills of your potential killers; or in the case of the real world, your friends. Potential killers or friends, you need to know immediately who among you possesses the following skills: