After the explosion, Katniss reaches Boggs and realizes he is mortally wounded. While Homes tries to stop the bleeding and Jackson attempts to call for help, Boggs uses the Holo to transfer prime security clearance to Katniss. Before Katniss can understand what he has done, another pod releases a black, oily wave that blocks the squad’s retreat and turns the street into a lethal trap.

As Gale and Leeg 1 try to clear a path forward by firing into the street, Peeta suddenly relapses into his hijacked state and attacks Katniss. Mitchell tackles Peeta away from her, but the struggle triggers another pod, and Mitchell is caught in a barbed-wire net. The squad drags Boggs into a nearby apartment, restrains Peeta in a closet, and barely seals themselves inside before the black wave floods past the building. Messalla is injured, Mitchell is lost, and Boggs dies after whispering to Katniss, "Don’t trust them. Don’t go back. Kill Peeta. Do what you came to do."

With Boggs dead, Jackson tries to take the Holo and command, but Katniss refuses. Unsure whom Boggs meant she should distrust, Katniss decides at least to obey his warning not to return. To justify keeping control, Katniss claims she is on a secret mission from President Coin to assassinate Snow. Jackson doubts her, but Cressida supports the story by saying Plutarch wanted the killing filmed, and Gale openly says he will follow Katniss. Faced with a split group and no time, Jackson reluctantly helps Katniss use the Holo.

Katniss decides the best route is actually back through the gel-covered streets, reasoning that the black wave may have already triggered or disabled other pods. The plan works better than expected: the thick gel hides their tracks and appears to have neutralized multiple traps, leaving dead tracker jackers and collapsed structures in its wake. The squad moves deeper into the Capitol and takes shelter in another apartment once the wave’s effects begin to fade.

Inside the new hiding place, the group tries to regroup while Jackson keeps her weapon on the unconscious Peeta. Then a Capitol emergency broadcast appears on the television, showing footage of the squad’s disaster, identifying several of them by name, and then broadcasting the destruction of the apartment block they just left. Capitol news declares them dead, which gives the squad temporary cover but also means their allies in District 13 likely believe they are gone. Realizing they are now effectively cut off and alone, the group considers its next move until Peeta wakes and, horrified by what he has done, says their next move should be to kill him.