Madge has never run so hard in her life. Her calves are screaming at her by the time she reaches the Everdeen house in the Victors Village, her chest is heaving. The ground shakes below her and more than once she stumbles. There's a point in which her ankle is searing in pain but she powers through it, knowing that getting to Prim is more important than the dully throbbing that wants to slow her down. She runs so hard that she can't hear the screaming, that she can't hear anything except her heartbeat thrumming in her ears.

Madge makes it to their door as they're scrambling outside, Prim rubbing her eyes still half asleep from the tea her mother gave her. Mrs. Everdeen is right behind her, pushing her outside.

"Prim!" Madge screams. Madge continues plowing forward, waving her hands unceremoniously to get their attention. "Prim!" Prim's eyes find her in the panic and Madge is panting too hard to say anything. Come on, she thinks as she waves them in her direction. Come on!

"What—" Prim hurries down the stairs, looking back at her mother in a panic. "What's happening?" she cries as she reaches Madge. "Why…" her eyes are off in the flames, out in town where the firebombs are focused.

"We've got to go," Madge croaks. Her eyes lift to Mrs. Everdeen. "The meadow," is all she says. Mrs. Everdeen nods her head in confirmation. Madge's hand tangles with Prim's and they start toward the edge of the district, ready to follow the fence all the way around to avoid going through the fire. They walk quickly, the ground shaking every now and then but less so once they're closer to the fence.

Prim frequently looks back at her mother who is a few paces behind them, hurrying along in her nightgown and trying her hardest not to look at the hovercrafts that zoom overhead.

Mother.

"My mom," Madge freezes. Her feet fumble, her heartbeat picks up again despite the fact that it hadn't slowed down much. "I've got to get to my mom," Madge says again. She grabs Prim's hand and forces it into Mrs. Everdeen's. "You get to the meadow," Madge instructs. "I don't care what you have to do, but you get there!"

"You can't!" Prim cries, springing away from her mother and grabbing Madge's shirt. "You'll die!"

"I have to!" Madge says, pushing Prim away. There's a sadness in Prim's eyes that overwhelms Madge to the point of exhaustion. She's on the brink of tears as she forces Prim back to Mrs. Everdeen, and then she's sprinting away from them.

"Madge!" Prim screams. "Madge!"

But Mrs. Everdeen holds her daughter close and lets Madge run into the fire.

Gale is crushing Vick to him as they run toward the meadow. Hazelle is behind him with Posy in her arms, Rory behind them. It was chaos in his house, screaming citizens and a static on the television that Gale can still feel in his bones. His family had just reached the parlor, confused but awake, and he took them with him at once. There was no time for questions, no time to explain.

They just left.

The floorboards had started to break, the house was crumbling as they stood inside. There was no chance they could make it upstairs and get out alive. No chance to grab important things, to say goodbye.

Posy is screaming and Gale's shirt is wet from Vick's tears, but they're all here. Everyone but his father. There wasn't any time to wait, any time to check upstairs. The house collapsed after another bomb dropped, and they were barely a mile down the road when the watched their house go up in flames, the mayor's house targeted by the hovercrafts above.

Gale holds Vick's head with the back of his hand as they move alongside the edge of the district. They're not far enough that they can't hear the screaming. Help me help me, oh God, please… Gale heaves for air, tries to force out their pleas of desperation to keep himself balanced. People are trapped under burning boards, people are suffocating under ash. There's nothing he can do. Nothing he can do.

One foot in front of the other. Follow the crowds. Get to the meadow. They can feel the fire because of how strong it is, an inferno just out of reach. One gust of wind could have them all burning, one more bomb could have them dead. Another step. Another. He has to carry on. Gale refuses to lose this fight.

There's more screaming, and the closer they get to the meadow, more panic. "Gale," Hazelle chokes, "slow down!"

He stumbles to a halt and spins around, finding his mother panting a few steps behind him. She's covered in ash, it's sprinkled in her and Posy's hair snowflakes from the Seam. Sweat is pooling on her forehead, there's a tiredness in her eyes that Gale can feel in his feet.

"We're almost there," he forces out. "Just a bit longer. Okay? We can make it."

Hazelle reaches up and wipes the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Okay," she breathes. "You're right." She turns to Rory behind her who's heaving for air himself. "Just a bit longer."

The world is crumbling around Madge and she can't see straight anymore but she carries on. She feels the screams that are in the air, her veins are cold and filled with ghosts but her skin is hot, burning from the flames.

"No!" someone's shouting. Their hands are on Madge's shoulders and she feels off kilter, struggling against this stranger. She turns to find an older woman with graying hair and soft but panicked eyes. "You can't go in there!"

Madge pushes the woman off. "My mom's in there!"

"If you go," the woman says, "you'll die."

"I don't care!" Madge screams. She struggles against the woman even more and pushes her away, trying to right herself. "I don't…" Madge's eyes focus on her destination, a spot in the middle of the chaos, but there's nothing left to find. "No!" Her feet twist and tangle, trying to walk but not succeeding. "No!"

The woman steers her away as she screams. A home. Her home. There's nothing there. Nothing left. Madge is desperate, her lungs full of ice and her throat burning.

But there's nothing left. There is nothing left. Madge is gasping for air, tears leaking down her cheeks and carving trails in the dark ash that has stained her skin. Her body is shaking, her hands and her calves and her vision, blurring as she attempts to breathe. The woman is still pulling her away, pulling her toward the edge of the district. Toward the meadow. Toward Prim.

"Prim," Madge croaks, righting herself alongside the woman. The only complete thought she can make at the moment is Prim.

What if Prim didn't make it? And then a weigh settles in her stomach. What if Gale didn't make it? Or Thom, even? She looks toward the woman and meets her dark gray eyes before nodding once, the only thank you she can give, and then Madge runs into the masses.

The meadow is mass chaos. Gale's muscles are cramping from exertion and his mouth is dry. They had to stop a few paces back because he went into a coughing fit, having inhaled a puff of smoke or ash or God knows what. He still feels death in the back of his throat.

People are lingering by the fence, close yet not too close, afraid to touch it and push past. Gale turns to find his mother and she runs into him, the crowd much too close. He lowers Vick and Rory steps up, grabbing his little brother's hand and nodding at Gale.

"Going to see what's going on," he rasps.

He elbows his way away from his family and toward the fence, finding a group of men congregation. There's a certain relief when Gale sees Thom among them. The Seam was hit just as badly as town. Not many people could've gotten out. Madge didn't try for the Seam, did she? He blinks a few times, staring at Thom, and wondering where Madge could possibly be.

"Hawthorne!" Thom calls, having spotted him too, and pulling him from his doubt. He waves him over and Gale jogs, though his legs protest. "Help us get this gate down," he says.

It takes a few minutes but with the force of a group like this, they get the fence down easily enough. No one fries up, meaning the electric must've cut out in town. Which means the Justice Hall is gone.

Gale casts a glance back into the District as people scream and shout, pushing past him further into the woods and away from the meadow, as far as they can get from the hell on earth they just escaped from. He sees it but he doesn't understand it. Could it only have been minutes ago he was standing outside his house with Madge, pleading for her not to leave him? How desperate he is for that to be his biggest problem again, not this.

His family finds him and they too follow the crowd into the woods. Other sections of the gate are knocked down in the chaos and walking over the chain link is a new breath, even with the fire lighting up the world behind him.

"Gale," Rory moves to his side and tugs his arm. They've been walking for a few minutes, the crowd too tightly packed to run too quickly. "Since you won't ask I will. Where the hell's Dad?"

Gale feels his stomach in his throat. "I don't know."

Rory glances at Gale with disbelief on his face, and then back over his shoulder. "What about Ma?"

Gale shakes his head, not understand. "What about her?"

"What'll she do when she figures out that he's dead?" Gale grabs his brother's shoulder roughly and forces them to keep walking.

"Don't you say a fucking thing," Gale growls. "We don't know if he is or isn't."

"Dad wasn't home," Rory says. "He went to the Justice Hall. Said it was an emergency. And that place is gone, Gale." He pauses. "It all is."

"You don't know anything," Gale says, still squeezing Rory's shoulder. "We can't look back now." His voice is a concoction of anger and terror, so intense that Rory shakes a little. "You got that?" Hesitantly Rory nods. They stride on in silence.

Gale doesn't know at what point they stop walking. His feet are aching and he knows he's going to fall asleep the second he sits down from sheer exhaustion, despite the fact that his mind is racing. They slow down and Gale turns back to his mother, finding Posy asleep in her arms.

Hazelle looks like she's aged twenty years in a matter of minutes. There are dark bags under her eyes. "Ma," Gale starts softly.

"I never thought it'd get this bad," she responds weakly.

Hazelle lowers herself to the ground and readjusts Posy in her arms, Vick following after them with a thud as he hits the ground and drops his head into his hands. Gale turns back to Rory who's suddenly sprinting away from him.

"Prim!" Rory calls. Now is not the time to get split up. Gale follows Rory as quickly as he can. "Prim!"

"Rory!" Gale shouts.

"Prim!" he continues screaming. Gale is stopped immediately when he sees Rory come in contact with Prim, her small arms linking around him and her chest heaving as they hold one another. "You're alive," Rory is whispering. "You're alive. You're alive."

And before Gale knows what he's doing he's marching forward, pulling them apart. He hasn't been thinking, and he's certainly not thinking now. "Prim," Gale lowers down to her eyelevel. "Where's Madge?"

She blinks at him a few times, her head tipping to the side as she looks back at her mother who is just behind her. "I—I don't, I thought she'd be here but I haven't seen her yet."

"She went to find you," Gale says slowly. He can already feel his stomach clenching, nausea bubbling in his gut. The thought of Madge burning…

"She went to get her mom," Prim says, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. "You don't think—you can't think that she…" Prim turns to look at Rory. "She has to be here."

Suddenly there's a shriek, "Prim!" Madge appears at the edge of a crowd, elbowing her way past people and sprinting for the girl. Her eyes are directly on her, she hasn't even seen Gale yet. Relief floods him as Madge and Prim meet halfway, Madge crushing her to her body as tightly as she can. "You made it," Gale hears Madge breathe. Rory reaches over and nudges Gale, a slightly look of relief on his face as well, a tiny smile. Madge is a mess. Her hair is filthy, the usual blonde curls now a disgusting dark mess. Her skin is covered in black patches, her body is shaking. "I was s-so worried," Madge's voice hiccups and Gale can't control his feet as he steps forward, resting a hand on Madge's back.

She leaps away from Prim, her eyes wide, and then throws herself at him. Her hands wrap around his waist and she buries her face into his chest. Madge is still hiccupping and he runs his hands up and down her back carefully. With her in his arms he can feel the world slowing down again, regaining balance if only a miniscule amount.

His grip tightens as she inhales his scent, desperately trying to find him underneath the sweat and smoke. Gale leans down and presses his lips to the top of her head. She feels it in her toes, the throbbing from exertion dying down for just a moment.

Even with him here Madge doesn't feel relief.

Much like the meadow, the night is also chaos. There's no moon tonight so people build fires to see, though many don't get too close. The air is filled with thick smoke, it drifts from the dying district into the woods, causing people to cough every now and then. Terrified and drowsy people drift away in groups, clinging to their loved ones with all they've got.

Parents try to calm their wailing children, while children without parents huddle together and sniffle back their tears. The shouting dulls into murmurs, the screams fade in the distance, and finally people begin to fall asleep. Gale constantly switches between watching his family and watching Madge, unsure what to do with himself.

He was once going to be the next mayor of District 12. What now?

"Madge," Gale nudges her with her elbow but she doesn't turn to him. Her eyes are focused on a fire, the deep flickering of oranges and reds. "Get some sleep." Her head tilts slightly to the side, denying his request. "You're exhausted," Gale says. He's been trying to get her to go to sleep for a long time but she won't move.

"I'm fine," she lies. She won't admit that she's seeing things that aren't there, hearing things that have faded by now. It all echoes, in her mind or her ears, she can't get it to stop no matter what she thinks about. "Go to bed, Gale."

He inches closer to her and attempts to reach for her, but she leans away. "Madge, c'mon. Don't do this. Not now." He scoots closer and again she moves away. "Madge," he tries again. "The world just fucking ended. Can you at least talk to me?" His words are harsh but she barely registers them, in one ear and out the other. Gale stares at her and when he realizes she hasn't reacted, sighs. "That came out wrong."

"What came out wrong?"

He suppresses a growl of frustration and rubs at his face. "Never mind." Exhaustion is settling in his bones now but he can't sleep, not until she at least lies down. "We haven't found my dad yet," Gale says. Her eyebrows collide at his words but she doesn't look toward him. Instead, Madge swallows thickly. "I don't…" Gale looks over his shoulder toward his sleeping family and sighs again. "I don't think he made it out." Gale shakes his head and tries not to think of his father, crushed to death or burning alive. He lets out a huff of air. "Talk to me?" he pleads. Madge feels the waves of sadness in his voice and turns to look at him. "I'm scared, too."

"I'm not scared," Madge says. Her voice quivers. Gale knows that she's lying.

His face falls. "Okay," Gale murmurs. He clearly isn't going to get her to talk to him. She blinks a few times, trying to place herself, before she looks back at the fire. Gale squeezes his eyes shut. He wants to be angry that she's shutting him out but he can't find it in himself. Not now. "Get some sleep," Gale says again.

He gives up, lying down and curling away from her, and falls asleep in minutes.

Madge is gone in the morning. Gale sits up in a panic and looks around frantically, trying to piece together what happened last night. It's barely light outside. Those who are awake are quietly whispering amongst themselves as to not wake those who have managed to evade the nightmares. His eyes find his mother who is lying down beside Posy, stroking her daughter's hair and trying to put her back to sleep for a little bit longer. Vick is awake but only barely, his eyes dark and heavy. It's going to be a long day.

"Where's everyone?" Gale croaks. He sits up, scrubbing his face with his hand, and coughing a few times. His throat is dry, he's incredibly thirsty.

"Rory went with Prim and Mrs. Everdeen. They're looking at some wounds." Gale waits a moment, blinking to wake himself up. Hazelle adds, "Madge was gone when everyone woke."

"Christ." Gale coughs again and pushes himself to his feet. It takes a moment and he sways awkwardly. His calves protest but he balances himself easily. "Any food or anything?" he asks. Hazelle shakes her head. "I'll take a look around. Be right back."

"Gale—" Hazelle's voice is full of panic. She sits up slightly but continues stroking Posy's hair. "Just be careful," she pleads. "People are scared."

"I know," Gale nods. He looks toward Vick who's drifting off. "Stay with the kids."

In the crowds of those who are awake, people are just as clueless as he is. He hasn't even the slightest idea of where to start. Even the woods, which rejuvenated him the one time he was over the fence with Katniss, give him no solitude. God only knows what's out here, what wild animals lurk, what poisonous plants there are. The smartest move for right now is to stay put, but Gale can't help feel like they're sitting ducks here.

Gale weaves his way through the crowds, his eyes open as he looks up toward trees for apples and down at bushes for berries. Up ahead he spots a lake he didn't realize was here last night and sees people using a variety of containers to scoop up water to drink. There are a few people, older men mostly, around the perimeter of the late stopping people from getting in, saying something about how people climbing in would contaminate their only water source at the moment – and they need it for drinking.

He licks his cracked lips and swallows back the urge to sprint over. He can get water in a bit, but he has to find something for his family to eat right now. They're the main priority, despite the fact that Madge's disappearance is making his hands sweat. After a bit more walking he stumbles upon a berry bush that's in the process of being picked clean. He's bought these berries from Madge and Katniss before, he knows they're not poisonous, so he joins in, greedily filling up his hands until he can't carry anymore, and then quickly moves away from those who are desperate.

"It's not much," Gale says, crouching down to deliver the fruit. Vick stirs, having drifted off for a minute, and smiles sleepily at Gale. "I'll keep looking."

Hazelle smiles weakly at her son, nodding gently in his direction.

A/N: Kind of a soft ending, but the chapter was very filled with a lot of things. I promise to update soon, honestly! Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I've never really written a story with the bombing/aftermath of the bombing, so this is new for me. It's very difficult. Let me know!