Katniss recovers in the hospital after Peeta nearly strangles her. The doctors confirm that her spine, airway, and major blood vessels were not permanently damaged, and Boggs is credited with knocking Peeta out before he could kill her. When Plutarch, Haymitch, and Beetee come to explain what happened, Prim refuses to leave and forces them to speak plainly.

Beetee explains that the Capitol has "hijacked" Peeta by using tracker jacker venom to reopen, distort, and re-store his memories with fear attached. Because Katniss is now bound up in Peeta's altered memories as a threat, he sees her as something deadly and may keep trying to kill her. Prim demands that they attempt to reverse the damage, but Haymitch admits that even if Peeta improves, he may never be the same; then Plutarch adds that Snow has executed Peeta's stylist Portia and his prep team on television, leaving Effie Trinket's fate unknown. The news overwhelms Katniss, and she has to be sedated.

Over the next few days, Katniss becomes a silent, obedient patient while privately fixing her thoughts on killing Snow. Her mother and Prim nurse her, and she receives updates that Peeta is being treated only by District 13 strangers to avoid triggering dangerous memories. Gale, though injured himself, slips into her room one night, touches the bruises on her neck, kisses her forehead, and leaves without speaking.

After Katniss is discharged, Prim tries to reassure her that the old Peeta may still be inside and fighting his way back. Restless in the underground compartment, Katniss goes to Special Defence and finds Gale and Beetee turning Gale's trap logic into weapons for war. Their designs include bombs that exploit human compassion by injuring victims first and then killing the rescuers with a second blast. Katniss recoils at the cruelty, but Gale argues that they are only using the same moral rule book Snow used on Peeta.

Haymitch then brings Katniss to watch one of Peeta's rehabilitation attempts. Delly Cartwright, a gentle survivor from District 12 who knew Peeta as a child, is sent in to trigger harmless memories of home. At first Peeta recognizes Delly and responds to talk of chalk drawings and baking, but when District 12's destruction and Katniss's role come near the surface, his conditioning takes over. Peeta angrily blames Katniss for the destruction of Twelve, calls her a liar and a mutt created by the Capitol, and warns Delly away. Convinced that Prim was wrong and that Peeta is irretrievable, Katniss says she cannot remain in District 13 waiting; when Plutarch refuses to send her to the Capitol yet, she asks instead to be sent to District 2.