Several Months Ago — Quarter Quell Announcement

Location: District 12

...

Madge Undersee's fingernails had dug into the skin of her palms, leaving angry red half-moons on the pale of her hands. Other than the nails digging into her skin, she was completely still as she watched the Quarter Quell announcement. As per usual, she was completely alone and seated at the very edge of the couch. Her mother gave herself enough morphling to forget her name, and her father's in his office, trying to keep District 12 safe.

His job had gotten a lot harder ever since Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark returned from the seventy-fourth Hunger Games. Because of the duo, District 12 has a new Head Peacekeeper and a nasty one at that. The new peacekeeper was a stern man and gave her father a hard time. They argued in the Justice Hall over curfew and the mines mysteriously closing. Not that anyone in District 12 would ever know about their long arguments.

So Madge sat on the edge of the pristine white couch and watched President Snow step on to the podium. His snake-like eyes fixed on the sheet of paper in his hands and he began to read off the script. That's exactly what it is: a script. He says the same thing every year, changing up some of the words and droning on about the Hunger Games being a punishment to the districts.

She inched closer to the edge of the couch till there was no more fabric to inch forward on. Madge pressed her fingernails harder into her palms and was vaguely aware of the trickling of blood down her palms.

Finally, President Snow wrapped up the lecture and reached for the box of Quarter Quell twists that was rested on a velvet cushion. He took the box into his hands and carefully drew out an envelope. It dawns on her that the last time President Snow drew an envelope out of that box, her Aunt Maysilee had unknowingly received her death sentence. That's why her mother's doped up on morphling today. Why she'll be inevitably doped up on morphling the day of the seventy-fifth reaping.

President Snow cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to the screen. "Now we honor our third Quarter Quell." He paused momentarily as the cheers from the Capitol drowned out his voice. Lifting a hand up, he silenced them before continuing. "On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors."

She snapped.

Tears rolled down her face and she screamed into a velvet pillow. A maid scrambled out of the kitchen to see if she was alright, but Madge had completely ignored her. She heard her hesitate before slowly padding out of the living room. She tossed the pillow to the ground, followed by various other items around the living room. All of a sudden, Madge couldn't handle being stuck in this house.

She ran out the front door and her feet carried her to the meadow. She wanted to go into the woods. She wanted to escape into the woody area behind the fence just one last time. But even before she reached the fence, she knew that it was turned on. So she collapsed in the meadow, wrapping her arms around her knees and sobbing until there were no tears left. She couldn't handle Katniss being thrown into that arena again.

Only after several moments was she aware of the fact that she wasn't alone. Gale Hawthorne stood rigidly several yards away from, staring longingly at the fence. He picked up a rock and hurled it above the fence. A picked up another, then another, until there were no more rocks to hurl. He sat down, cupping his face with his hands. He was aware of her presence and looked over at Madge.

"She's going back in that goddamn arena, Undersee," he muttered. His voice showed that he was exhausted. Beyond exhausted.

Both of them were.

They both knew that this time around, Snow wouldn't let her come home. And this time, if she tries anything — if she pulls another stunt — Katniss would be bringing down all of District 12 along with her.


Present Day — The Night of The Bombings

Location: District 12

...

She pulled another stunt. She's bringing District 12 down with her.

The thought flashes through Madge Undersee's mind as she watches her friend die on screen. Katniss aimed her arrow in the sky, and the arena fell apart. There's a still silence in the air, and Madge feels tears running down her face. Everything, in a matter of seconds, has flipped on its head.

She looks up at the Seam boy standing beside her. His jaw is slack and he meets her gaze with equal terror. Madge has never seen Gale Hawthorne truly scared, not even at his father's funeral. The pair got close while they helped Katniss and Peeta train. Over the past several weeks, their conversations went from the usual strawberry-selling exchanges to rants about the injustices of the Capitol. Madge loves to listen to him rant.

She fuels the fire burning within him. And he fuels the fire burning within her.

"She's gone," he breathes.

Madge spots the tears staining his handsome face.

She's bringing District 12 down with her. We're going to burn with her.

Immediately, the Head Peacekeeper stomps on to the stage and starts ordering everyone back in their houses. "Clear the Square!" he shouts. He fires a few rounds into the sky, causing people to scramble out of the Square. He looks at his gun, almost as if he's contemplating whether to start shooting into the crowds. Instead, Thread gives the crowd one last glare and stomps off the stage.

Madge stands her ground. She would not be cowed. Her entire life, she's been forced into submission. Forced to give a pretty smile and keep all rebellious thoughts at bay. For the sake of her father. For the sake of District 12. Now, the world's gone to shit and there's nothing left worth protecting. They'd all be dead in a matter of minutes if they did what they were told.

"Run," she hisses at Gale. "You need to run and get your family. The Capitol's not going to let us go unpunished." She swallows thickly. "Not this time."

Gale nods, apparently understanding what Madge is trying to tell him. He turns to run off in the direction of the Seam, but Madge catches his arm before he can go. Without thinking, she brings him down to her level and presses her lips firmly against his. His lips are softer than she expected, sending sparks up her spine.

All too soon, she forces herself to pull away.

"What was that for—" he asks breathlessly.

"I had to do that. At least once," she whispers.

He swallows thickly before nodding once more. And then he turns and runs into the Seam. Madge's gaze lingers on his back for a moment before she decides to start running towards her own home. She needs to get her parents out. Her house would be the first to be destroyed.

...

The moment Madge steps foot into her house, her mother's cold hands yank her in. She stumbles, regaining her footing, and looks at her mother's face. Mrs. Undersee's eyes, usually dull with morphling, are alert and bright for the first time in years. Her movements are jerky and her eyes watery.

"Your friend handed us a death sentence on a silver platter," her mother hisses accusingly, grabbing Madge's arm and running frantically through the house. "Fortunately for us, your father already anticipated something like this."

Madge is dumbstruck, unable to understand what her mother was trying to tell her. "Where's Daddy?" she asks, her voice wavery.

Her mother doesn't answer, instead shoving open the back entrance of the house and pulling Madge along with her. Both blondes run into the plot of land directly behind their house, the older woman yanking along her daughter. A large, hilly field exists at the back of the Undersee Estate. And unbeknowst to Madge, her father had built a secret bunker in the field when he first took office.

"It's a bunker that'll withstand anything the Capitol will throw at us," her mother explains. Her mother grips a dark-blue, large backpack tighter in her hands.

They approach the side of a hill, and Madge's mother pushes back cleverly-placed vines to reveal the opening of the bunker. As Mrs. Undersee works to open the door of the bomb shelter, Madge's mind wanders back to Gale. She hopes he's made it to the meadow. Mrs. Undersee finally cranks open the heavy door of the bomb shelter and roughly shoves Madge in it.

Madge lands on the cement ground with a thud, and her mother tosses her the backpack she had been carrying.

"Everything you'll need to survive is in that bag. Food, water, warm clothes, a flashlight."

Next, her mother hands her a necklace. Madge takes the necklace into her hands. In the half-darkness of the bunker, she has to squint her eyes to figure out what it is. She recognizes it as her mother's golden Mockingjay necklace, the one that matched the pin that Maysilee took into the arena. The pin that now belongs to Katniss.

Her mother's eyes water. She kneels, cupping Madge's face with her cold, cold hands. She kisses her daughter's forehead. "Darling, I'm so sorry," her broken voice croaks. "I'm sorry that I never paid enough attention to you. That you were so alone all these years." She kisses her daughter's forehead once more. "And I'm sorry for what I'm about to do now."

"What're you talking about?" Madge grows concerned.

Her mother smiles. "Your father's in the Justice Building, shutting off the fence. His place in this world has always been protecting District 12. And my place in this world has always been right beside your father."

"Mom, no!" Madge starts scrambling to her feet, but her mother pushes her back on the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Madgey," she repeats. "You'll have to live for the both of us. We both love you so much more than you'll ever know."

And with that, Mrs. Undersee steps out of the bunker and slams the door shut. Her daughter, still inside, is plunged into complete darkness.

Madge scrambles to her feet once more, trying to find the entrance and open the door. With the door closed, she can't see a thing. Her hands feel the lock bolting the door shut. Fuck. Her hands start feeling the ground for the backpack containing the flashlight. She needs to get her hands on the flashlight, she needs to figure out how to open the damn door.

"Mom! Open the door and get in here!" Madge begs, hands still feeling the ground for the flashlight. "Mom, please!"

But she doesn't work fast enough, she doesn't open the door in time. Before she could find the flashlight, before she could open the door and drag her mother back in the bunker, she feels the Earth give a heavy shudder. Then another. And another. Even though she's underground and a good distance away from the blasts, they're powerful enough to make Madge fall to the concrete ground beneath her.

Katniss has brought the rest of us down with her. We're burning with her.

Madge sobs, cradling her knees and crying into the fabric of her dress. She clutches her mother's necklace tighter in her hands and cries. She cries for her poor father whose eyes would crinkle when he laughed, whose head was balding, whose last moments were spent protecting people who would never know of his sacrifice.

She cries for her mother — the woman who Madge had felt bitterness towards all her life — whose last moments were spent protecting an ungrateful, bitter daughter. Her mother — the woman who was much stronger than Madge ever gave her credit for, who lived out her miserable life in pain, who pressed her much-needed vials of morphing into Madge's hands when Gale was whipped — is gone.

She cries for her Katniss, the girl who died attempting to rebel against the Capitol. She cries for Peeta, the boy who would be inevitably dead by tomorrow.

She cries for Gale, the boy who hated her. The boy who she loved. The boy who could be very well dead by now.

As Madge cries, she realizes that she is nothing more than an orphan full of wishes and regrets. She wishes she had loved them all more. She wishes she had told Gale how she felt about him much sooner. She wishes she had told her father that she loved him, at least one more time. She regrets not pulling her mother into the bunker in time. She regrets not being closer to Katniss. She regrets hardly speaking with Peeta.

Most of all, she regrets all the times she had told herself that she was all alone in this world. All the times she convinced herself that nobody loved her, and that she was destined to live a life of solitude.

Because now, she truly has no one.