After the blast, Haymitch realizes he has not stopped the Games. He watches the arena unleash a volcano effect over the mountain where many tributes were gathered and fears Wellie, Hull, Maysilee, and others have suffocated. Ash and toxic wind force him down from his tree, and as he hides against the trunk, he sinks into self-hatred, blaming himself for failing Plutarch, the rebels, and especially Ampert, whose death now feels meaningless.

Through the night and into morning, Haymitch lies in despair, thinking of Lenore Dove and imagining his own death. When the ash settles, he recognizes the hum beneath the arena floor as the generator Beetee mentioned and understands that enough of the arena still works for the Capitol to continue the spectacle. Remembering Mags's belief that tributes may want more than mere survival, he decides that if anyone else is alive, he should at least try to help them or die usefully rather than give up.

Haymitch recovers what supplies remain, retrieves Ampert's ax and his own knife, and takes comfort in carrying tokens of his allies. Seeing that his explosive sunflower is useless without another detonator, he forms a new plan: head north, escape the arena if possible, and destroy the generator outside it. On the way, he endures hunger, thirst, and soreness, briefly benefits from clean rain that washes away the glittering volcanic ash, and then reaches what seems to be the arena's edge.

Instead of a wall, Haymitch finds a deep hedge maze. He enters hoping it leads north, but soon becomes disoriented, panicked, and trapped for hours. Just as he is about to hack through the hedge, a gray rabbit appears and leads him to an exit.

The escape drops Haymitch directly into a Career ambush. Acting on reflex, he stabs a District 4 girl who attacks with a trident, cripples and then kills her district partner with Ampert's ax, and faces Panache alone. Panache, burned, dehydrated, and half-crazed, disarms Haymitch and ignores Haymitch's attempt to talk his way into a fairer fight. As Panache prepares to kill him, a dart suddenly pierces Panache's throat, interrupting the execution at the last possible moment.