Kai McDonald, District Six [Done]

Intake: Kai [redacted]

Capitol Name: Kai McDonald

Registration Date: August 14, Year 73

District Registration: 6

Determined Date of Birth: Approximately Summer Year 62 (Age 18)

Birth Parent: Tatum [redacted]; presumed dead Confirmed Dead [subject found in mass grave outside of district four following patrol on January 21 Year 75] 

Distinguishing Marks: Subject has an M tattooed on left calf leg. 

Weight: 170 pounds

Height: 5 feet, 8 inches

Examiner Notes: Subject experience no known allergic reactions to vaccinations. [Redacted] conducted a psychological evaluation to determine feral status. Results of socialization tests proved inconclusive. No known other language spoken, though displays an interesting if not robust vocabulary for young person spent wandering. Test subject deemed competent in language capabilities, but marginal in writing. Displayed unique sense of self-awareness, does not display affinity for or against the capitol. Does not know basic facts about the capitol or districts.

Kai was captured outside of district six. Two peacekeepers approached four wanderers [Kai among them]. They were informed not to flee and surrender. Two raised makeshift weapons to attack peace keepers, and were shot on sight. The third attempted to run and was killed in her escape. Kai did not resist arrest. He was taken within the confines of district six for further examination.

He noted the nomenclature used to describe his type, a wanderer. Further notes below detail questions answered of his own volition. He was deemed ineligible for study by the Psychiatric Institute because [redacted]. He [redacted] with [redacted] and due to his closeness [redacted]. Dr. Sandra McDonald determined that as the boy had no next of kin and no means, adopted and registered him as a citizen of panem.

His sturdy frame and build are remarkable for someone that did not live within the districts. Not beyond average height, but his weight is solid for someone with little access to ready food or rations. He does not match the description of his mother, but instead his father [redacted], who had blue eyes and blond hair. Additionally, his teeth will need to be straightened over time, with dental work a necessity. Various disease screening have proven no lasting health issues, though there is evidence of a minor tibia fracture from years prior.

The following is a series of interview questions completed in a recorded interview between [redacted] and Kai McDonald. Please note that they have been edited for accuracy and redacted for sensitive content.

Hello, Kai.

Heyo.

How are you today?

I’d be better if you took these chains off of me.

You know that we can’t do that.

[redacted] said that you could, but, I get you might not want to. You’re probably not used to seeing a wanderer as strong as me, huh? You think we’re all just living off scraps outside the walls.

We are impressed at your survival skills, that’s true.

Oh—

…so why don’t you tell me how you came to live outside the walls?

That’s a stupid question. You already know.

I’m sorry?

You know that my mother gave birth to me outside of the districts. Otherwise I’d have already been registered.

Well—but we want to get to know about how people like you come to exist.

I’m pretty sure the same as you. Two people fucked and then I came out of that.

If you’re going to be insubordinate, then we can send you back to the cage, Kai.

[rustling chains]

Good. Now, tell me about your mother.

Her name was Tatum. She… had brown hair, brown eyes. Didn’t look a whole heck of a lot like me. She always said I looked more like my father but—I never got to know [redacted]. They met once or twice when she snuck into district six. She knew that there wasn’t much to it, though she’d hoped they would wind up together. She found out he was dead a few years after I was born, so she kept coming back here, like some kind of memorial. That’s how we wound up getting caught and now I’m here in these chains. So. I guess she lost me, too.

Are you sure of the veracity of your mother’s claim that she copulated with [redacted]?
I don’t know what any of that garbage means.

[redacted] died in the year 61, which would place your birth sometime in year 62.

You must be some sort of genius, hmm?

Why didn’t you run from us?

There wasn’t any use of running. I saw three people die because they tried to fight, or run. I don’t know why they thought that any of this would turn out any better. Do you know how many people I’ve seen die out there, just from getting sick, or because they had a bad fall? And then they thought they could fight these men with guns, and armor. Or that you all already don’t know every step we’ve ever taken.

Well, we don’t have cameras out in the wasteland.

It’s not like I liked the life out there. We lived from day to day, collecting berries, or chopping wood, or hunting. You go to bed tired and you wake up hungry. And there’s freedom, but—it’s hard. Watching people die, moving on, living in the moment. It’s hard when you don’t have anyone else to live in the moment with you. You don’t get a lot of kids outside the walls, living as though they were the ones supposed to be free. And I don’t think we were the best at living that way, but we had a little tribe. I met a man once—

Another wanderer?

Yeah. His name was Rum Tum, and he had been wandering his whole life. He was about the only person that had ever been like me, born outside the walls. And he told me I had to keep going, because inside these walls was worse. But…

You don’t mind what you’ve been through here?

Sandra has been good to me. She’s—she said because of [redacted], they’re letting her take me when all of this is over.

You’ll have to report to us frequently, when we have questions. You won’t be allowed within 100 feet of the gates or fence.

Okay.

You will still be placed in the reaping, as your age determines.

I think my luck is better than you think.

Be that as it may…

Kids here don’t know shit about death.

You’ll be remanded to Dr. Sandra McDonald’s custody as of this evening. You will no longer claim to be Kai [redacted]; you will not mention your life wandering. You will be provided additional information about your identity, so as not to arouse suspicion. Any violation of this agreement and you forfeit your right to live within district six, and will be grounds for immediate dismissal to the detention center.

You got it, doc.

[Arrangements and registration papers can be found in Annex, File XJC, Operation: Wander. End Recording]