Mockingjay Chapter 7 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Katniss, Gale, and Boggs, along with some other soldiers and a camera crew, are dropped off in 8. Some medical care workers, who bring supplies, join them and they venture out into 8 too.
  • They walk into a scene of bombs and death, surrounded by bodies. Katniss freaks out a little.
  • They meet up with the woman in charge, Commander Paylor. Boggs explains to her what Katniss is doing there.
  • Katniss and her team go with Paylor into the huge hospital, where all the victims of the bombings are gathering.
  • Clinging to Gale, Katniss has to work hard to pull herself together, surrounded by so many people who are dead and dying.
  • People recognize her and it's almost like she's a medicine; the sight of her makes them feel better.
  • Katniss moves through the hospital, meeting people and trying to comfort them. They ask after her and her lost baby. It makes Katniss feel badly but she can't help it – she has to keep up the lie.
  • This experience makes Katniss realize that she <em>does</em> have authority, authority over the people. That she's a force to be reckoned with in her own right.
  • They finally leave the hospital and regroup outside. It seems to have gone pretty well.
  • Suddenly, Boggs gets a warning that an attack is coming and they have to get out of there, pronto.
  • The rebels run, and Katniss gets hit. They get intelligence from Plutarch and Haymitch about where they should go hide. The rebels don't want the Capitol bombers to know Katniss is there.
  • They head to a nearby warehouse but don't quite get there before the next wave of bombs. Gale tries to protect Katniss and they have an intimate moment in the midst of all the terror.
  • Then, Katniss realizes that the bombers are aiming at the hospital, where all the innocent and wounded have been collected. Ack!
  • Katniss and Gale deviate from the scheduled plan and go try and help defend the hospital. They go to another warehouse and meet Paylor, who's also trying to defend it.
  • They shoot at the incoming bombers, but can't do enough to keep the bombs from falling. During the intense fight scene, they make it through, but things don't look so good for the hospital.
  • Meanwhile, the media team is still filming.
  • Katniss realizes the hospital got severely attacked. Even with the remaining revolutionaries working, it's no good – most of the people inside are dead.
  • Gale and Cressida pull her away. Cressida says President Snow made a telecast saying that they were telling the revolutionaries something through these actions.
  • She then films Katniss's response, which is an eloquent and passionate plea to the rest of the citizens of Panem. Katniss speaks from her heart and feels as though she's pulsing with power. (And certainly doing a better job than the scripted attempt at a propo.)
  • Then, Cressida says they are done filming.