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Summary: Chapters 17 & 18

Chapter 17

Haymitch hears a cannon and knows that Lou Lou is dead. He leans down and whispers, “You did this to her. This is who you are…murderers” into the ear with the earpiece. Soon, he hears the hovercraft that has come to take her body away, and he instinctively picks her up and brings her into the woods. He is in the process of worrying if this is the type of behavior that could get his family killed when butterflies appear and sting him. He leaves Lou Lou’s body and runs.

As he runs, he realizes the butterflies are punishment for creating a spectacle over Lou Lou’s body. He trips and falls into a berm of gas plants and ignites them to stave off the attack. He then pretends to follow them in a rage so that he can find the berm with the mutt portal from which they were released. He eventually finds it and wedges the branch into the opening before it closes, and pretends not to notice that he left it open a crack. Exhausted and in pain, Haymitch climbs a tree for the night. He learns that one Career died today, in addition to Lou Lou, and falls asleep. 

He is awoken by a parachute with bread, cheese, grape juice, and a wine glass. He decides to look for Ampert with the binoculars, and eventually sees him approaching from about a mile away with two sunflowers. The two meet, and Ampert reveals Wyatt died protecting Lou Lou and Maysilee has been missing since the bloodbath on the first day. Ampert asks Haymitch to show him around the woods. He claims the other Newcomers want to know if it’s safe, but Haymitch understands he is doing so for the benefit of the audience and what he is actually asking is whether Haymitch found a mutt portal. Haymitch plays along and casually shows him the butterfly berm. He sees Ampert take note of the branch lodging it partially open, but the boy does not say anything. Ampert takes a nap and Haymitch prepares for the tank-igniting mission. He assumes that he will die in the process, and hopes Ampert will not.  

Chapter 18

Night falls and Ampert says he is going to stay the night for the benefit of the viewers. He pretends he is going to hunt a rabbit for them to eat in the morning, and begins to unwrap his token to make a snare. In reality, he is winding the black fuse around his hand and surreptitiously tucking the blasting cap in the coils. He then asks if Haymitch would like to wear a sunflower to remember the Nines, so they each have an explosive on them. While Ampert sleeps, Haymitch waits for the right moment to enact his plan. As he does, he thinks about all of the people he loves and says goodbye. At midnight, when he figures nobody is watching except the Gamemakers, he lights a branch and wakes Ampert. The boy quickly gives Haymitch the fuse and the explosive, and whispers that he will have sixty seconds. Ampert holds the torch while Haymitch pries the berm open with his spear and climbs down the utility ladder into a narrow hallway. He walks what he hopes is northward, attaches the explosive to the water tank, lights it, and then runs. 

He starts to climb the ladder when a hoard of genetically engineered bat mutts with sharp claws descend upon him. Ampert throws him the torch and Haymitch manages to fight some of them off. The flooding starts, and Haymitch swims to the surface. He returns to the campsite but he can’t find Ampert. While searching for his ally, he eventually comes to a clearing of carnivorous mutt squirrels who are tearing Ampert apart. Haymitch tries to fight them off and notices they are not attacking him; they are programmed for Ampert specifically. All at once, as if hearing a signal, the squirrels clear out, leaving only a skeleton behind. In a rage, Haymitch starts to tear at the arena.

Suddenly, the space around him begins to malfunction, and the dome of the area gives way to the real sky. Haymitch is thrilled; they broke the arena. In a state of wild glee, he jumps around and sings a song that he learned from Lenore Dove condemning the Capitol. However, his joy is short-lived; the arena sky flickers back. Haymitch climbs a tree and uses his binoculars to determine whether the arena is really broken. Suddenly, the mountain erupts and spews “lethal gold,” and Haymitch assumes that his death is imminent.

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