Tracker Jacker Nest
The Tracker Jacker Nest is a bio-engineered weapon of the Capitol, a living remnant of the rebellion that now serves as a deadly obstacle in the Hunger Games arena. Larger than ordinary wasps, with a distinctive solid gold body, these killer insects were spawned in a lab and strategically placed like land mines around the districts during the war. Their sting raises a lump the size of a plum on contact, and most people cannot tolerate more than a few stings; some die at once. The venom induces hallucinations so severe they have driven people to madness. The "tracker" part of the name comes from the wasps' behavior: they will hunt down anyone who disturbs their nest and attempt to kill them. After the war, the Capitol destroyed all nests surrounding their city, but left those near the districts untouched as another reminder of the districts' weakness, just like the Hunger Games themselves. In District 12, when Gale and Katniss come across a tracker jacker nest, they immediately head in the opposite direction.
Appearance and Location in the Arena
The nest that becomes central to the Games is discovered by Katniss when she is trapped high in a tree by the Career pack, including Peeta Mellark, who has allied with them. Rue, a small tribute from District 11 who has been silently watching from a neighboring tree, points to something above Katniss's head. At first, Katniss cannot identify the vague shape in the dimming light, but then she makes out a form about the size of a raccoon hanging from the bottom of a branch, swaying ever so slightly. A low hum emanates from it. The nest is papery gray, and a single tracker jacker, bright gold, is lazily making its way across its surface. The smoke from the Gamemakers' fire attack has sedated the wasps, which is the one defense the rebels found to battle them. The nest is located in a tree near the lake, in the same area where the Careers have set up their base camp. Later, after the attack, the husk of the nest, beaten to a pulp by heavy rains and dried in the burning sun, dissolves into dust at the touch of Katniss's boot, carried off by the breeze.
Katniss's Plan and Execution
Realizing she is wounded and trapped, with the Careers formulating a plan to kill her by dawn, Katniss sees the nest as her sole remaining option. She knows she cannot get close enough to cut the nest free; she must saw off the branch at the trunk and send the whole thing down. The serrated portion of her knife is suited for the task, but she worries about the vibration from the sawing raising the swarm, and whether the Careers will move their camp. She decides to saw during the anthem, when the noise will cover her work. Climbing to the limb that supports the nest, she begins to saw as the seal of the Capitol shines above her. Blisters burst on her right hand as she drags the knife back and forth. She is only three-quarters of the way through the wood when the anthem ends, and she is forced to stop. She plans to finish at dawn. When she returns to her fork in the tree, she finds a gift from a sponsor: a small plastic pot of burn ointment, which she uses to treat her injuries.
At dawn, Katniss positions the knife in the groove and begins to saw again. The tracker jackers begin to buzz and emerge. A stabbing pain shoots through her knee as one finds her, and she knows others will be homing in. Just as the knife cuts through, she shoves the end of the branch as far away from her as she can. It crashes down through the lower branches, snagging temporarily but then twisting free until it smashes with a thud on the ground. The nest bursts open like an egg, and a furious swarm of tracker jackers takes to the air. Katniss feels a second sting on her cheek and a third on her neck, and the venom almost immediately makes her woozy. She clings to the tree with one arm while ripping the barbed stingers out of her flesh. The rest of the insects target the enemies on the ground.
Consequences and Aftermath
The attack is mayhem. The Careers wake to a full-scale tracker jacker assault. Peeta and a few others have the sense to drop everything and bolt for the lake, hoping to evade the wasps by taking to the water. Glimmer and the girl from District 4 are not so lucky. Glimmer receives multiple stings and appears to go completely mad, shrieking and trying to bat the wasps off with her bow, which is pointless. She falls, twitches hysterically on the ground, and goes still. The girl from District 4 staggers out of sight, and a second cannon later confirms her death. Katniss, suffering from the venom, finds her way back to her own little pool and submerges herself in the water. The effects of the stings are severe: the one on her knee is closer to an orange than a plum in size, and a foul-smelling green liquid oozes from the places where she pulled out the stingers. The hallucinations begin, with the world bending in alarming ways: a butterfly balloons to the size of a house then shatters into a million stars, trees transform to blood, and ants crawl out of the blisters on her hands. She blacks out, entering a nightmare from which she wakes repeatedly to find greater terrors, reliving her father's death and watching Prim die in countless ways. The venom is carefully created to target the place where fear lives in the brain. When she finally comes to her senses, she is lying in a shallow hole filled with old, dead leaves, having been unconscious for two days. The tracker jacker attack kills Glimmer and the girl from District 4, wounds the remaining Careers, and forces Peeta to flee, ultimately leading to him saving Katniss's life when Cato pursues her. The nest also indirectly leads to Katniss obtaining the bow and arrows from Glimmer's body, a turning point in her survival. Rue, who tipped Katniss off about the nest, later becomes her ally. The site of the nest, the tree where Katniss was trapped, becomes a place of dark memory, and she touches the husk with her boot, watching it dissolve into dust, a reminder of the terror and the lives lost.
