Mockingjay Chapter 20 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Suddenly everything gets real. Katniss hears another bomb go off and rushes straight to Boggs. Boggs fights through the blood and pain to demand his Holo.
  • Katniss goes to find it while another team member, Homes, works desperately to save Boggs.
  • Boggs gives the Holo officially to Katniss, totally breaking the rules. She can tell that he's dying.
  • The others say they have to get out.
  • More bombs go off. The team tries to retreat, taking Boggs, but conditions are rapidly getting worse.
  • To make matters worse, Peeta has a mental break and tries to attack Katniss as they retreat. Another guy, Mitchell, tries to stop Peeta. But as they struggle Peeta pushes Mitchell into another pod, releasing a net with tiny lethal points. Again, worse.
  • A dark wave of gunk descends over them.
  • Mitchell is dying.
  • Other team members find a house and break into it. The remaining members of the team retreat there. They're able to bring Boggs but not Mitchell. Peeta is tied up again
  •  Just in case you were wondering, at this point, Gale, Finnick, Homes, Jackson, Castor, Pollux, Messalla, Leeg 1, and Cressida are also still alive.
  • Gale makes it into the house just in time. They shut the door and are temporarily safe.
  • Boggs emphasizes to Katniss that she must take the Holo one more time and tells her she shouldn't trust anyone, that she should carry out her mission, and that she has to murder Peeta. Then he dies. (Wait, what was that last point, Boggs?)
  • Finnick and Castor say they have to get out of there – they're being watched. The house they're in isn't safe and now the Capitol knows where they are.
  • Jackson demands the Holo, and she and Katniss fight about authority.
  • Katniss already misses Boggs. But now she has the Holo and no one else can take it. She wishes Boggs would tell her what to do.
  • She creates a secret task and tells everyone that Coin assigned her something confidential: she has to kill Snow.
  • Jackson resists and things seem at a stalemate, until Cressida sides with Katniss's lie. Cressida even makes up a reason for why Peeta is there with them: as a guide.
  • Gale sides with Katniss too and they get going. Jackson eventually comes around and helps Katniss figure out the Holo. They (sadly) leave Boggs's body behind.
  • Katniss is worried that there are still a lot of hidden traps they don't know about. She says they should retrace their steps because it might be safer.
  • They put on their gas masks and Katniss leads them out. The dark wave of stuff has stopped moving.
  • Katniss says anyone who doesn't want to continue doesn't have to; she'll understand.
  • They move ahead cautiously but quickly. After several blocks, they break into another small apartment to stop and regroup.
  • Katniss frets about what she's done and how they'll move ahead.
  • More bombs explode and they turn to the television in the apartment for answers.
  • The broadcast shows what's just happened to them, and even names some of their team members. The house they were in before is destroyed, and the Capitol says that they all died in it. Right…
  • The team worries that everyone back in 13 will believe the news.
  • They're trying to figure out what to do next, and Peeta says they should kill him.