After the broadcast cuts away from District 12, the square collapses into panic. Peacekeepers fire over the crowd and force everyone to the ground while Drusilla angrily tries to hide the bloodshed before the delayed reaping feed resumes. Haymitch realizes the reaping is not truly live, and he sees Lenore Dove trying to help Woodbine Chance's mother keep hold of Woodbine's body.

When more Peacekeepers move in, Haymitch runs to protect Lenore Dove and takes a rifle butt to the head. Drusilla immediately decides he will replace the dead Woodbine as the second male tribute. Lenore Dove begs to be punished instead, but Plutarch intervenes, keeping her alive because her distress may be useful on camera. As the Capitol crew resets the scene, Haymitch is ordered to stand in place, walk on cue, and not resist.

The reaping resumes as if nothing happened. Drusilla calls Wyatt Callow first and then Haymitch Abernathy, forcing Haymitch to step onstage and accept what has happened. Haymitch and Lenore Dove exchange a silent declaration of love before cannon fire, confetti, and canned applause bury the moment. Once the broadcast ends, the Capitol crew congratulates itself while District 12 stands stunned and grieving.

As the crowd is pushed out, Lenore Dove is nearly arrested but is released after Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber intervene. Families try to reach the tributes, but Drusilla revokes the usual farewell visits as punishment for the disturbance and orders everyone taken straight to the train. Plutarch delays this only because he wants reaction footage for the recap. He films Louella McCoy's family, fails to make them perform on command, then captures their real anguish after Louella is taken away. He offers Ma and Sid one minute with Haymitch if they reenact their reaction to his name being called, and he keeps demanding stronger emotion until Sid is crying for real.

Haymitch finally stops Plutarch and gets his brief goodbye. He gives Ma his money and peanuts, gives Sid his knife and the sack of gumdrops for Lenore Dove, and tells Sid to look after the family. As Peacekeepers tear them apart, Ma urgently repeats Pa's old warning: do not let the Capitol use him. Haymitch is shocked into submission, locked aboard the train, and carried away in a storm. From the barred window he sees Lenore Dove on a ridge, soaked by rain and clutching the gumdrops, crying out in private; even in his grief, Haymitch is grateful that the Capitol does not get to own that final moment.