Item from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Genetically engineered killer wasps — Capitol-designed biological weapons whose venom triggers hallucinations, agony, and death, deployed in arenas and left to nest in the wild as a permanent reminder of the Capitol's creative cruelty.
Tracker jackers were engineered during the war as biological weapons and never decommissioned — the Capitol found them too useful. Their venom is a cocktail of pain, swelling, and powerful hallucinogens. A few stings cause agony and terrifying visions. A swarm kills. In the 74th Games, Katniss sawed through a branch to drop a tracker jacker nest onto the sleeping Career camp below — a desperate, brilliant move that killed Glimmer, scattered the alliance, and let Katniss claim the bow. The hallucinations from her own stings nearly killed her: distorted reality, paranoid visions, lost time. The Capitol later used concentrated tracker jacker venom to hijack Peeta's memories, replacing his love for Katniss with murderous terror. The wasps are the Capitol's philosophy made flesh: even nature serves as a weapon of control.
Oversized golden wasps with a distinctive metallic sheen. Larger than natural wasps, more aggressive, and they track targets that disturb their nests — hence the name. Their stings raise hard, plum-sized lumps that ooze green pus.
Also known as: tracker jackers, tracker jacker wasps, Capitol wasps