Haymitch wakes after the explosion believing he may be dead, but he finds himself alive on a metal table in a Capitol laboratory. He is naked, restrained, cut open and stitched, with tubes in his body and his flint striker tied around his neck. Through glass he sees desperate Avoxes and trapped mutts, including the gray rabbit that once helped him in the arena before a snake devours it. When Haymitch resists treatment or asks questions, masked attendants ignore him and sedate him, teaching him that any disruption will be punished with forced oblivion.

After an unknown stretch of confinement, Haymitch wakes in the tribute apartment, weak but healing, with a pump embedded in his chest and scars replacing his stitches. The building is empty, locked down, and clearly under surveillance. As he slowly regains strength, he thinks through what his televised defiance of Snow may cost everyone who helped him, especially Beetee, Mags, Wiress, and the people he loves in District 12. Snow had promised Lenore Dove and Haymitch's family would be safe if Haymitch died, so Haymitch now fears that surviving has endangered them instead.

During his isolation, Haymitch is shown old Hunger Games footage. A song performed by a long-ago Covey girl from District 12 makes him realize Snow may have known a previous District 12 victor personally and may have learned intimate details about the Covey from that connection. That memory recontextualizes Snow's comments about Lenore Dove and convinces Haymitch that Snow's knowledge of her is personal and dangerous. Overwhelmed by fear and guilt, Haymitch smashes furniture and tries to break out until Peacekeepers stop him at gunpoint.

Effie and the prep team then arrive to clean and dress Haymitch for the Victor's Ceremony. Though still restrained, he is struck by Effie's attempt to stand beside him, even if she still believes in the Games. Backstage, he sees that Mags and Wiress have been badly abused, confirming for him that Capitol punishment has already begun for others. When he is raised onto the stage, however, the audience greets him with adoration rather than condemnation and demands to see the scar across his abdomen, turning his suffering into spectacle.

Seated for the official recap, Haymitch watches the Capitol's version of the Quarter Quell. The broadcast erases the rigged reaping violence, hides Louella's death before the Games, minimizes his alliances, removes the bombing of the water tank, and recuts events so he appears selfish, brutal, and apolitical rather than rebellious. By the end, even his final act with the bomb is omitted, leaving only a Capitol-approved victory story. President Snow crowns him in public triumph and, instead of openly punishing him there, quietly tells him to enjoy his homecoming, making clear that the real reckoning is still ahead.