Katniss wakes half-fallen from her tree and overhears the Career tributes arguing about Peeta. She sees that Peeta is bruised and injured, then hears the pack admit they are keeping him alive because he may help them find Katniss. When Peeta returns from checking on the wounded girl from District 8 and says she is now dead, the cannon fires. Katniss is furious and feels betrayed, although she notices Peeta still has not told the Careers about her skill with a bow.

After the hovercraft removes the dead tribute, Katniss climbs down and deliberately performs calm confidence for the cameras instead of showing confusion. She checks her snares, finds a rabbit, and cooks it over the coals from the dead girl's fire. While eating, Katniss darkens her bright orange pack with charcoal and thinks strategically about sponsors, the audience, and how Peeta's alliance with the Careers may damage or reshape their star-crossed-lovers story. Then Katniss heads away from the Careers with food but no reliable water source.

As the day goes on, thirst becomes Katniss's real enemy. She searches downhill for water, studies the land, and resists eating unfamiliar berries because she suspects the Gamemakers may have made them dangerous. By night she is severely dehydrated, and after seeing the District 8 girl's face in the sky, Katniss realizes the Careers are less urgent than her need for water. The next morning her condition worsens so badly that thinking clearly and moving safely become difficult.

Desperate, Katniss asks aloud for water from Haymitch and the sponsors, but no parachute comes. After first taking this as neglect or cruelty, Katniss reconsiders and concludes Haymitch must be withholding water as a message: she is close enough to find it herself. That idea gives Katniss just enough determination to keep walking. She staggers onward until she collapses, then notices cool mud and the scent of pond lilies. Realizing these signs mean water, Katniss crawls forward and reaches a pond.

Katniss forces herself not to drink recklessly. Instead, she fills her flask, purifies the water with iodine, and drinks slowly until her strength begins to return. She spends the evening recovering, eating the rest of her rabbit and a cracker, and planning to stay near the pond to rest, gather roots, catch fish, and camouflage her pack with mud. No deaths are announced that night, but the brief safety ends when Katniss is jolted awake before dawn by the sight of a wall of fire descending toward her.