Chapter 38
(Madge POV)
I stare at the screen, not believing what is happening, thinking this can't possibly be real. But it is real. Katniss and Peeta just eliminated themselves from the games, taking their own lives in lieu of killing one another. They left the games without a winner at all and made a fool out of the gamemakers in doing so. This is incredibly bad. The screen flicks off suddenly and Peacekeepers start blowing their whistles and instructing everyone to go to their homes. There's lots of confusion and chaos happening and all I can think is that I need to ask Gale what to do. I dart down the stairs of the stage and towards him. He tells me to go home, that he's going to make sure his family gets home and then he'll come to my house and we can figure out what exactly just happened and what we might need to do next.
I hurry home, expecting the house to be empty when I go in but it isn't. Drew is there, waiting to talk to me.
"Madge, I know you're mad at me but we need to get out of here. We need to leave and get on the train right now!" He says as soon as I step inside.
"Mad at you? I am not simply mad at you. I am disgusted by you!" I tell him, glaring as I walk past him. Then I glance back and add "And I am not going anywhere with you."
"No, forget about me, just go get on the train. Things are about to happen and you need to get to safety before it starts. Please, you have to trust me!"
"Trust you? Are you serious?" I scoff as I start heading for the front stairs to go to my room.
"I'm serious, Madge, they're about to destroy this place and everyone in it! We have to go now!" He practically screams.
I freeze and turn back to look at him. "They're going to destroy the district? How do you know that?" I ask.
"It doesn't matter but we have to get on that train, now!" He pleads.
"Go. I'll be right behind you, I have to get something first." I tell him. I'm actually lying but doing so in order to save his life.
"I'll wait. Hurry!"
I shake my head. "Go, I'll be right there. I promise."
He looks torn but nods and does go out the front door. With him gone, I climb down the stairs again and head through the kitchen to the back door. As I walk through the kitchen, the electricity flickers then goes out completely. He's right. He was actually telling the truth. They're about to destroy my district and I need to get out of here. I will not be doing it on the train though. The train will only take me to the Capitol and to a life I want no part of. I am going to run, to get out of District 12 but I am doing it in a way that may lead me to a better life.
Outside, I use my high heel to pry the side board off the steps and I retrieve my bag. I quickly open it and slip on my flat shoes, leaving the high heels behind. I run back inside and throw a couple more things in the bag from the kitchen, knowing we'll need them. Another bottle of water, a small kitchen knife, a container of almonds and one more book of matches. I slip my arms through the straps of the bag and then head back out the back door again.
I run straight to the fence which of course is turned off because they cut power to the district. As I climb through the fence, the hem of my dress catches on the wire and rips, a shred of green satin fabric clinging to the wire now. I stare it for a second, feeling like it's symbolic of the life I'm about to leave behind. I hear the train leaving the station as I start running towards the woods. Even though I hate him with everything in me, I do feel relief that Drew is on that train and headed to safety.
Not long after that, I hear aircraft approaching above, I can't see them yet but it's really loud and town has gone so silent that I know that's exactly what it is. I run faster as I make my way through the trees. I never realized how hard it is to run in the woods when you don't have a clear path. Especially as it gets dark and there's no sunlight. It slows me down considerably and even though I keep going, I'm not sure that I'm going the right way. Suddenly, the ground shakes and a massive boom happens in the distance. Flames of fire shoot up into the sky and I can see it above the trees. I still for only a second and I think of Gale, hoping he was able to get his family to the woods before the bombs started. He's wise and he was prepared for this so I feel confident that he did but I won't feel at ease until I see him.
I keep going, at a quick walking pace, unable to run as I get deeper into the woods and have less moonlight to see. It's scarier than I expected, being out here alone in the dark. I move in what I think is the direction of the Seam but also outward at the same time, sort of diagonally, hoping that eventually Gale and I will cross paths.
After an hour or so, I feel like I am far enough from town to stop and take a break for a moment. My feet are killing me and I'm sweating like crazy. I pull one of the bottles of water out and take a small sip. I want more but know that I need to ration it. Just as I'm zipping up the backpack again, I hear something coming towards me. I press my back to a tree and hold my breath. Please don't be a wild animal coming to kill me, I plead inside my head! The sound gets increasingly closer and I know it's large, whatever it is. I pray it's something like a deer that isn't going to hurt me. Suddenly, in the moonlight, as a shadowy figure approaches, I see what it is. It's Drew!
"What are you doing here!" I seethe.
"You didn't get on the train! I came back to get you and saw you slipping through the fence so I followed you." Drew tells me.
"You weren't supposed to follow me! I don't want you with me!" I yell at him, rage running through me.
"I couldn't let you come out here by yourself! Where are you going? Why didn't you get on the train?"
"We are not together, do you understand that? I am not your girlfriend or future wife or anything. I'm not even your friend. You should've gotten on the train." I tell him as I start walking again, eager to get away from him again.
"Wait! What are you doing out here?" He calls after me.
"What do you think I'm doing? I am escaping the insanity that is Panem. And I'm doing it without you!" I call back to him, not stopping.
"I'm coming with you. I don't know where you think you're going to go but I'm coming with you." He calls up to me.
I ignore him and keep going. He doesn't say anything else but I can still hear him following me. I cannot believe he followed me out here. I cannot believe he is still following me. Does he not understand that I want absolutely nothing to do with him? Does he really think I want him to come with me anywhere? Why in the hell did he not just get on the stupid train?
I hear noise up ahead and pause to hear it better. Too much noise is still coming from behind me so I turn around and shush at Drew. He stops walking. I turn and listen again. It's talking. I hear the low murmur of talking. It must be other people from the district, hopefully Gale! I start hurrying towards it and come upon a very small clearing where I find Gale, his family and several others from the Seam.
I run full speed towards Gale and throw myself into his arms, so happy to see him! "Gale!" I shriek.
(Gale POV)
I hear something coming through the trees and I'm on my feet ready to find out what it is when she comes running out of the trees. She made it! She made it out!
"Gale!" She practically screams as she throws her arms around my neck and I pick her up, relief flooding through me.
"Oh my God, you have no idea how happy I am to see you! I was starting to worry that you didn't make it out! Oh my God, Oh my God!" I say against her hair. I kiss her, hard. I don't even care who's watching, it doesn't matter anymore.
When I put her down, I notice someone coming through the trees behind her. I still and stare in disbelief. It's the guy. She brought him with her? I thought he was gone before the viewing. "What's he doing here?" I ask her as quietly as I can.
"He followed me. I didn't know until a little while ago. I told him he wasn't welcome but he won't go away." She says angrily, loudly enough for him and everyone else to hear.
"You're with him?" Drew asks her, his eyes going between Madge and me, stopping on my arms that are still around her. He looks so surprised.
"Yeah, she is." I answer for her.
He takes a step towards her and I immediately step in front of her, shielding her from him. "Get away from her." I tell him.
"Madge, can we just talk for a minute?" He asks her even though I'm still standing in front of her.
"I do not want to talk to you." She answers.
I don't know exactly what happened before the viewing today but I know whatever it is, if she's being this blunt with him, it's bad.
"Do we have a problem here?" A guy from the Seam asks, stepping up and standing next to me. I don't really know him or anything but Seam people tend to stand in solidarity together when it's against a townie and he looks like a total townie out here in his suit and tie.
"He's Capitol. He followed her." I tell him.
"I'm not from the Capitol. I'm her match, the man she's supposed to marry next year. I couldn't let her come out here alone. I had to make sure she was safe." He tells us.
"You are NOT my match, you never were! And I'm safe now, you can go!" She yells at him as I push her back with my arm. I've never heard such anger in her before.
"Where am I supposed to go?" He asks her.
"I don't care as long as it's away from me! Go back to 12 and wait for them to look for survivors then you can go back home to District 4!" She yells again, tears streaming down her face.
"Wait, I don't want some Capitol guy going back and telling them we all escaped." One of the Seam guys points out. A few others have started to crowd around us and I hear murmurs of agreement.
I know he's right. We can't send him back. If they send crews of Peacekeepers to 12 to look through for survivors and they find him, he could easily rat us out. Then they'll come looking specifically for us and that can't happen. He's gonna have to stay with us, even if she wants him gone. "He stays but only so he can't turn us in." I say to the group.
Then I turn to him, warning him clearly. "You stay but you stay away from her. You don't even talk to her, got it?"
He nods and lets out a sigh.
I take Madge by the hand and walk her over to the far side of where our group is resting for the night. When we're far enough away to speak privately, we sit facing one another and I ask her what happened.
"What happened?"
"Just like he said, he tried to get me to go to the train and I went to the fence but somehow he followed..." She starts.
I shake my head. "No, what happened before the viewing?"
"He's a liar. A despicable cheater and a liar. He rigged the system and tried to make me his match but somehow I got matched with Martin anyway and so he lied. Gale, he made up lies about Martin and intentionally had him turned into an Avox just to keep him from being matched with me! Martin was completely innocent!"
My head rears back in shock. How could he do that? How could anyone lie to have their friend's tongue cut out? It's sick.
When I don't say anything she keeps going. "And there's more! He's been watching me since I was a little kid and filling a book with information about me. That journal I saw? It was full of things about me, things I still don't even know how he knew but somehow he did. He's been watching me for years!" she says as she pulls a small leather bound book from her pocket holding it up.
"I don't even know what to say to all of this." I tell her, still shaking my head.
"He was never even my real second match. He manipulated the whole thing! I've never been so disgusted by someone in my whole life! And for some reason, even though I've spelled it all out clearly for him, he won't stop thinking we're still together. He thinks we can fix this and still live happily ever after!"
I look over to where he's now sitting, by himself against a tree, head resting face down on his arms and knees. How could he do this? How could he do all that just to be with Madge?
"Madge, I don't know why he did all the things he did but I promise you he won't do anything else to you, ever again. You never have to talk to him again." I tell her, kissing her forehead.
"I feel like such a fool. I actually thought he was like me. I thought I was lucky to have someone so kind as my match. I was going to have to marry him!" She rambles, letting all her emotions flow out.
"You're not a fool. And he's nothing like you. You would never do the things he did. And you don't have to marry him now. You're free." I tell her.
"Enough about my mess of a life. Did today just really happen? I feel like this whole day is just one big nightmare that I'm going to wake up from any minute now." She says.
I rub my hands over my face and just shake my head. "I can't believe she did that. It's like she lost her mind or something. I don't know how she could do that to Prim."
"It was awful how they tricked them into thinking that they could both win. They did what they were told, they survived all the way to the end. And for what? To be made fools of by telling them it was all a joke? That now they have to decide who wants it more because only one of them can win? The Capitol is so evil."
"What do you think will happen to the Everdeens and Mellarks?" I ask, not sure if she knows.
She shrugs. "Nothing good, that's for sure. He may know though." She says waving a hand in the direction of that guy.
I look over at him. I want to ask him but I don't know if he'd even answer me.
"I'll ask him." She says, getting to her feet.
I stop her, reaching up and pulling her back down and into my lap. I do not want her to talk to him, even if it's to get information from him. "Don't. It doesn't matter right now anyway. We should be figuring out what our plan is. If we get to 13 and it's really there, we can see what to do about rescuing them."
"My father is there too, in the Capitol." She points out quietly.
I'd forgotten that little fact somehow. "I'm sorry." I tell her.
She just inhales deeply and shakes her head then leans it against my chest. "So what's our plan? What in the world do we do now?"
"We sleep here tonight and start heading towards 13 at daybreak."
"And what if it isn't there? Then what?"
I look around at the 30 or so people in our group of survivors. A few men, women and several little kids. None of them are prepared for a long term survival out here in the woods. We really need for the rumors of an existing 13 to be true. "We worry about that if it comes to that. For now, we just have to get there and see it for ourselves."