Katniss learns from Haymitch that she has not been assigned to the Capitol assault and storms into a war meeting to protest. Coin, Boggs, and Plutarch make clear that Katniss is valuable as a symbol, not yet reliable as a soldier, especially because she skipped training and is still physically weakened. When Katniss argues that District 12’s destruction gives her reason to fight, Coin offers only a conditional chance: Katniss has three weeks to train and then must be approved by the Assignment Board.

Back in the hospital, Katniss finds Johanna furious that she is also being left behind. The two begin training the next morning with younger, less advanced recruits and quickly discover how badly damaged they still are. Katniss cannot finish the run because of her ribs, so Soldier York sends her for a painful treatment to speed healing. That night is miserable: Katniss suffers from the rib treatment while Johanna endures morphling withdrawal, but by dawn Johanna pushes both of them back into training.

The next day, heavy rain triggers Johanna’s fear of water, yet she forces herself through the outdoor exercises. Katniss continues to struggle physically, while Johanna shakes too badly to assemble her rifle until Katniss secretly helps her. The shooting exercises finally give Katniss an advantage, and she earns the best score in her class. Afterward, Johanna insists that living in the hospital keeps both of them trapped in the role of patients, so Katniss arranges for them to share a compartment near Prim and their mother, with Haymitch supporting the request.

In their new room, Johanna examines Katniss’s few keepsakes, including the locket, spile, and Peeta’s pearl, and the two acknowledge how permanently the arena has changed them. Their relationship shifts into a practical alliance built on shared damage and determination. Over the next week, Katniss’s ribs improve, Johanna regains steadier control of her hands, and both women make real progress in training, enough to earn Soldier York’s approval.

At dinner, Katniss joins Gale, Delly, Finnick, and Annie, noticing how marriage has revived Finnick and how Delly has defended Katniss to Peeta. The meal is interrupted when Peeta arrives under guard and in shackles. Peeta speaks with flashes of his old gentleness toward Annie, but he is cold, suspicious, and cruel toward Katniss, Gale, and Finnick, making clear that the hijacking still governs his view of them. After Katniss leaves, Johanna reports that Delly confronted Peeta and that Peeta began arguing with himself before being taken away; later, Johanna confirms that she truly heard Peeta scream under torture, and Katniss falls asleep dreaming of everything in her life screaming back at her.