She's outside, picking flowers for her mother when she hears it. A horrible, earth shaking noise.

One minute Madge is leaning forward to pluck the dandelion she almost stepped on from the grass, and the next she is sprawled across the ground as though someone pushed her from behind.

Another booming sound; Madge screams, and the ground shakes again.
The basket she'd been using to collect flowers is upside down, the flowers strewn across the grass.

Madge wobbles as she stands, she needs to get home, but she is closer to the Seam than she is to the Mayor's Manor. The best flowers are always by the meadow, and that's where she is.
In the distance, she can see fires, in the town, she thinks, because of how tiny the flames look.

Her heart skips a beat as she steps forward, then begins to run.
Madge isn't sure, but those sounds she heard? They sounded like the bombs they set off to open a mine.

She sprints as fast as she can, through the Seam houses, her feet pounding heavily on the coal-blacked road. The closer she gets to the town, the more people she sees. But they aren't running in the same direction. In fact, they seem to be running passed her, back towards the meadow.

Madge trips, stumbles, falls to the ground as another bomb whistles through the air. She watches as it lands, unable to tear her eyes away. She is at the edge of the Seam now and she watches as the bakery owned by the Mellark family explodes in an eruption of flames.

She is too far to feel any heat, but those closer fly through the air like puppets from the force.

A man lands not a mile from where she is lying. The shock spurs her into action.

Her parents.

Her mother.

"No," she half pants, half sobs to herself.

The streets are chaotic and crowded, townspeople and Seam folk stampeding around her.
Someone knocks her down, but she pushes herself up, shoving through.

Another bomb whistles through the sky, people scream as it lands, so much closer than the last.

Madge cries out in pain as something lodges itself in her calf. Her heart is seizing in fear, and for a moment, she can't hear the screaming or see the terror in everyone's faces.

I will die here, she thinks, as District 12 swims around her. I will die here while my home burns around me.

"Madge? MADGE!"

She hears the yell but cannot respond. Consciousness is leaving her quickly. The pain in her leg is too much to bear.

An arm wraps around her waist, yanks her up and over someone's shoulder. Her stomach is pressing painfully against the hard bone, her world flips upside down, then, there is nothing.

0000

Madge awakes in a room so bright, she has to shut her eyes as soon as she's properly opened them. Eyes tightly closed, she realises she is on a bed, and her leg is achy but not painful.

Slowly, she cracks her eyes back open. This must be a hospital, of some sort. But...where? And why is she alone? Didn't anyone else escape?

Madge blinks away tears. Her parents must be dead then. Even if others had escaped, her parents wouldn't have been able to run through the burning town to follow the rest of District 12.

Her mother barely made it out of bed for supper on a good day.

There are too many tears to blink back, and Madge's breath catches in her throat as she cries, gasping and sobbing as she lies there.

"Is your leg hurting you? The doctors said it shouldn't be."

Somewhere between catching her breath and letting out a sob, she chokes, coughing and hacking as she tries to sit up.

Madge swipes her hands over her face, trying to clear away the snot and wetness when she sees that it's Gale Hawthorne, tall and intimidating as ever, standing in the doorway.

She shakes her head violently, clearing her throat, "No I- no." She must look horrible, she thinks, all bedraggled and puffy-eyed.

Gale invites himself in and sits in an empty chair beside her bed.

"Do you, um, need anything?" he asks. He sounds uncomfortable, she thinks.

She sniffs and wipes at her eyes again. "No," she mutters. A lump is still blocking her throat, and talking seems to make her want to cry more.

But... she needs to ask. About the District.

Not her parents, that is an answer she does not need.

A heavy hand lands on her shoulder, it's weight warm and a little comforting. Madge keeps her eyes glued to her hands where they lay in her lap, she can't look at him for fear she'll lose the battle against her sobs.

"You should rest, Madge, your leg will be fine, I'll get the doctors to give you more morphling." Gale adds pressure to her shoulder, and she allows him to push her back onto the pillows.

He keeps his hand there, but she keeps her eyes downcast.

Gale lets out a puff of air, removing his hand and resting his elbows on the edge of the bed.

"We're in District 13, if you were wondering."

Before she can stop herself, her head snaps up, and suddenly Gale's pale grey eyes are locked with hers.

"I- I thought- we, how?" She stammers, trying to sit up again. Gale pushes her back down gently.

"The Capitol destroyed 12, there's... there's nothing left, not that I saw. I tried to get everyone I could to the Meadow, thought maybe they wouldn't bomb where there weren't houses. I- uh- I couldn't get everyone, not from the town, I'm-"

Madge inhales sharply, grabbing his hand to make him stop.

Gale's words fade away, and he looks at her, pity etched in his expression.

"Don't," she whispers, "Please."

He nods, but his hand turns in hers. He's holding her hand, she realises.

They remain silent, and she dozes lightly, falling in and out of sleep. Explosions fill her dreams, shocking her out of sleep, but Gale is there, his hand, warm, in hers.

Madge isn't sure when he leaves, but the last thing she feels as her eyes droop, and her body relaxes, is Gale's hand squeezing hers.