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Summary: Chapters 23 & 24

Chapter 23

Haymitch is upset to have come upon another dead end. Maysilee insists they should leave, but Haymitch wants to stay because this stretch of ground is not the arena. He figures if the Gamemakers want him dead, they will have to follow him out here, into the real world. The two consider separating after they eat; the numbers are dwindling, and they don’t want to have to attempt to kill each other, but they are reluctant to part ways. Maysilee leaves to get their food and Haymitch kicks a rock off the cliff while he waits for her. The rock bounces back and he realizes there is a forcefield around the generator. 

All of a sudden, he hears Maysilee scream. He races back to his friend and finds her being mauled to death by lethal tropical birds. He holds Maysilee while she dies and she locks her pinkie around his, a final confirmation of their promise. Following her death, Haymitch takes her copper flower necklace as a memento and sits in a depressive stupor as the hovercraft carries her away and, once again, refers to her as his sister. Mags sends him a gift of strawberry ice cream and coffee, meant to trigger happy memories of Maysilee, and Haymitch cries over his fallen companion.  

Later, he prepares to head back to the hedge. He quickly takes stock of his supplies and finds the battery-making kit that he gave to Maysilee before the Games. The anthem plays; Haymitch sees that Maritte is also dead. He guesses he and Silka are allowed to live for now, as they did not kill any Gamemakers earlier. He decides to find Wellie instead of going to the hedge right away. He calls for her and finally hears a bell, and remembers Wellie brought a bell as her token. He follows the sound up a tree and finds her on the brink of starvation.

Haymitch gives her some water (she is too weak to eat solid food) and she begins to fall asleep. He takes a potato from his pack and makes a battery with the copper flower on Maysilee’s necklace, and Wellie appreciates the light. Haymitch then ties himself and Wellie to the tree so they can rest. Later, a parachute sends some pudding and chocolate candies. Haymitch hears crying from the base of the tree and realizes it is Silka. In a show of solidarity, Haymitch drops a few of the chocolates down to her. 

Chapter 24

Haymitch wakes and discovers black residue on his hands—the same residue that rubbed off when he lit the fuse at the water tank. Recalling Beetee trying to tell him he replaced another tribute’s token, Haymitch realizes the flower on Maysilee’s necklace is also a fuse. He decides to use it to symbolically destroy the arena by blowing up the Cornucopia, because it represents the core of the Games: “A horn of plenty for the few. Desperation for many. Destruction for all.” He intends to lure Silka to the Cornucopia so Wellie will win the Games after he and Silka are killed in the explosion. 

First, however, he needs to feed Wellie, so he hides her and goes to look for kindling. While he searches, a parachute delivers milk in an exact replica of the pitcher that Haymitch drained in Plutarch’s library when Snow was ill. He knows that it is a trap from Snow. On the one hand, if Haymitch does not immediately take the milk back to Wellie and attempt to save her, it will look to viewers like he was only playing nice, and actually wants to kill her so he can improve his own chances of winning. On the other hand, Haymitch is almost certain the milk is poisonous. He realizes he and the rest of the tributes are just “puppets” for Snow to control, and that he is simply a propaganda tool. He is about to drink the milk himself when he hears a cannon.

Haymitch runs back to Wellie and finds Silka holding her decapitated head. He thinks to himself, “We’re neither of us going home. I will kill her, and Snow will kill me. These Games will have no victor,” and the two of them begin a fight to the death. Haymitch makes his way back to the cliff while they fight, and both are gravely injured. Silka throws an axe at Haymitch but it soars over the edge of the cliff, hits the force field, and bounces back, killing her. Haymitch uses his final moments to light the fuse. He hears voices telling him to stop, but throws it at the generator anyway before losing consciousness.

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