How It All Goes Down
- Peeta wakes Katniss up. She has fallen asleep holding Gale's hand. They scheme about the plan to run away, exchanging important looks but saying little.
- He tells her to go to bed, which she does, but has terrible nightmares about being back in the arena.
- A huge blizzard hits District 12. Katniss hopes this will give them all time to strategize.
- She takes stock of the new situation. She's afraid but also brave. She's worried about what will happen to her and her family, but realizes they've already been damaged. In a certain sense, she has little to lose now.
- Katniss has to keep fighting – in memory of Rue, and in honor of her sister and all the little ones out there who need her help.
- She bathes and thinks about what's happening in District 8. In some ways, she decides, Peeta would be a better rebellion-leader than she would. He's great at public speaking and at inspiring people.
- Katniss meets her family and Gale. Her mother gives them a special medicine made of snow for their wounds.
- Katniss is forced once again to think about her feelings for Gale.
- She finds out Peeta went home, so she calls him. They make an appointment to talk, along with Haymitch, when the blizzard passes. This takes two days.
- Then Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch meet in a safe place outdoors. Katniss says they shouldn't run away anymore, they should help lead the rebellion.
- Haymitch says that's absurd; she and Peeta should get married ASAP. They can't fight the Capitol.
- As they disperse, they realize that the new Head Peacekeeper, Thread, has already started turning 12 into a police state. Armed guards are everywhere. They'll have even less freedom than before. The old Hob, where they exchanged black market goods, is burning to the ground.
- Haymitch's solution to every problem is simply to get drunk, so he goes off to try to find a drink.
- Peeta and Katniss pay a visit to Gale's home. His mother's there and says no one is using her business because they're afraid to associate with her family after Gale's actions. Gale's sister Posy has the measles. The mines, where Gale usually works, have also been shut down.
- Katniss wants to help the people of the Hob, but Peeta says there's nothing they can do.
- Time goes by, and the situation in 12 only grows more dire. There's no work and not enough food to go around.
- Gale heals enough to return home. His little brother, Rory, has committed to tesserae, which means entering the drawing for the Games extra times, so their family can get more food.
- Katniss finds a way to help Gale's family by setting Hazelle up as Haymitch's housekeeper. Haymitch is in a bad way, though, because liquor supplies to the district have been cut off.
- Their freedoms are curtailed more and more.
- Wedding dresses from the Capitol arrive for Katniss to look at. This freaks her out so much that she heads to the woods on her own, ignoring the danger.
- She sneaks through the fence around the perimeter and heads to the house where she and Gale met. It's too late to turn back when she realizes there's a person there in a Peacekeeper suit. Katniss is about to shoot her when the woman shows her a mockingjay sign on some bread.