ME: Warning: This will probably be my darkest chapter.
Enobaria had taken Gale to their final destination; a room in District Two's Justice Building, the place where he committed his most grievous sin.
For an hour the former coal miner stared at Cheyenne Mountain, and in those sixty minutes he had concocted what would condemn Enobaria and countless others to thei deaths.
Lyme, the Commander of District Two's rebels, was frustrated beyond belief at the repeated suggestion of taking the entrances due to having lost far too many soldiers to Peacekeeper machine gunners. "The next person who suggests we take the entrances better have a brilliant way to do it, because you're going to be the one leading that mission!" She snapped finally.
"Is it really so necessary that we take the Nut?" Young Gale interjected, hoping his horrific plans would be accepted. "Or would it be enough to disable it?"
"It's war," Gale thought, "war is hell." But no matter how hard he tried, he could no longer justify his atrocities.
"That would be a step in the right direction," Beetee said; he was feeling remorseful of implementing Gale's suggestions and designing the snare-bombs on Coin's orders. "What do you have in mind?"
"Think of it as a wild dog den." Lyme briefly recoiled in horror but kept herself under control. "You're not going to fight your way in. So you have two choices. Trap the dogs inside or flush them out."
"Dear God," Gale murmured softly, "was I really this twisted, Enobaria?"
When she replied, her voice was cold and emotionless. "Yes."
"We've tried bombing the entrances," Lyme replied. "They're set too far inside the stone for any real damage to be done." She believed in God, for her parents had secretly raised her that way despite it being a capital offense; now she prayed internally more than ever before.
"I wasn't thinking of that," Young Gale went on. "I was thinking on using the mountain." Beetee joined him at the window. "See? Running down the sides?"
"Avalanche paths," the District Three Victor said. "It'd be tricky. We'd have to design the detonation sequence with great care, and once it's in motion, we couldn't hope to control it." Beetee hoped in vain that Gale would not go through with his plan, having heard of civilians evacuating to Fort Cheyenne.
"We don't need to control it if we give up the idea that we have to possess the Nut. Only shut it down." As Gale watched in horror, he remembered that as a young and foolish man he did not care about the dangers of his idea; bloodshed was desired.
"So you're suggesting we start avalanches and block the entrances?" Lyme was desperately pleading now with all her heart internally while wearing a mask. Father in heaven, save my neighbors.
"That's it. Trap the enemy inside, cut off from supplies. Make it impossible for them to send out their hovercraft." By this point, Gale stopped trying to justify what had been the biggest mistake of his life.
Defense Minister Boggs flipped through blueprints of Fort Cheyenne and frowned; he hated growing up in Thirteen and thus was mildly claustrophobic. "You risk killing everyone inside," the middle-aged man said. "Look at the ventilation system. It's rudimentary at best. Nothing like what we have in Thirteen. It depends entirely on pimping in air from the mountainsides. Block those vents and you'll suffocate whoever is trapped." Boggs had feared for his family during the Bombing of Thirteen and wished that fate on no one in Cheyenne.
"They could still escape through the train tunnel to the square," Beetee suggested, even though he knew many would die regardless; at this point, he was hoping to do some good via damage control and thus limit the loss of life.
"Not if we blow it up." Young Gale wanted his lust for blood satisfied.
Though Beetee's voice was neutral, he no longer had any illusions about Young Gale; he was dealing with a monster. "The majority of the workers are citizens from Two."
"So what?" Young Gale said callously. "We'll never be able to trust them again."
"They should at least have a chance to surrender," Lyme said, hoping that Young Gale had a shred of humanity left.
"Well, that's a luxury we weren't given when they firebombed Twelve, but you're all so much cozier with the Capitol here."
Gale froze; what seemed like a great point in the past presently was what it truly was; the ravings of a deluded madman.
"We watched children burn to death and there was nothing we could do!"
Gale realized that parents would either bring or send their children to Fort Cheyenne.
Katniss took Young Gale's arm, not wanting to condemn anyone to the type of death that killed her father. "Gale. The Nut's an old mine. It'd be like causing a massive coal mining accident." She vainly hoped that he, being an ex-miner, would stop his madness.
"But not so quick as the one that killed our fathers. Is that everyone's problem? That our enemies will have a few hours to reflect on the fact that they're dying, instead of just being blown to bits?"
"You piece of shit," Enobaria snarled presently. "By the way, your father no longer considers you his son for trying to justify your crimes with his memory."
Katniss tried to prevent the mass murder of District Two again. "You don't know how those District Two people ended up in the Nut. They may have been coerced. They may be held against their will. Some are our own spies. Will you kill them, too?"
Young Gale showed how much he cared for the lives of his comrades at risk of dying from his actions. "I would sacrifice a few, yes, to take out the rest of them. And if I were a spy in there, I'd say, 'Bring on the avalanches!'"
Gale realized how cowardly he was to talk brave while rebels actually risking their lives were in danger. He wasn't a hero; he was a fool to think that after what he said.
Enobaria grabbed his forearm; now they stood before a captured Peacekeeping Air Force facility once known as Peterson Air Force Base with rebel hovercraft being readied for war.
"Comrades!" The bomber squadron's Political Officer announced. "By order of President Alma Coin, savior of the peasants and industrial workers, we are to bomb the mountainsides of Cheyenne Mountain and initiate avalanches! Our actions will annihilate the consumerist pig-dogs!"
The actual commander of the unit, a Lieutenant Colonel, raised his hand. "Comrade Political Officer, there are reports of civilians taking shelter in Fort Cheyenne."
The lackey of Coin laughed along with his two guards, although one of them forced it out of compliance. "What civilians, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel? There are no refugees, that is Peacekeeper propaganda."
After the square was taken, the Thirteen bombers took off and flew to the southwest, the pilots feeling uneasy (appropriately enough, for unknowingly they were perpetrating an act of mass murder). Though Cheyenne's anti-aircraft weaponry opened fire, it was too late.
Enobaria took him inside the Nut; they stood in a mess hall full of refugees.
Pregnant women fretted over the future, elderly described the experiences of themselves or their parents during the Dark Days, orphans played games to distract themselves and Enobaria talked with Clara, Lawrence's wife, and her parents. A Loyalist Militaman comforted a District One orphan over the loss of his parents due to war.
Then the ceiling caved in from the bombing.
The inhabitants of the room screamed as they were crushed to death. Enobaria, thinking quickly, shoved Clara into the arms of her husband as the latter's in-laws ran towards him. However, the young Captain sacrificed her own life; a rock fell on her head and cracked her skull, killing her instantly.
Next they went to the hospital, where patient, medical professional and visitor alike perished. Many of the injured were immobile and could only pray for a quick end, while doctors performing surgeries at best killed their patients or at worst died with them. More than a few visitors tried to drag their love ones to safety only to die trying. Worse was a crippled Cadet who was barely twelve dying due to a nearby oxygen tank exploding; Gale watched a child burn to death and could do nothing.
Next was a hallway to the train station, which was blocked off by debris. Some were lucky enough to have a bullet or blade to end their agony, while others used grenades to commit murder-suicides or could only curl up in a ball and suffocate to death.
Aboard the two trains themselves soldiers and civilians alike crammed onto them, desperate to survive. Gale realized that if he had had his way, none of them would've been able to escape.
Enobaria took him through Cheyenne. The barracks, the arsenals, the shooting ranges, the hangars; they were all empty of life, all because of him.
"Oh God!" Gale cried as he fell to his knees. "I killed all of them! I killed them!"
"You finally see what your actions and bloodlust cost humanity," a new voice said.
Gale looked up to find Romulus Thread, flanked by Darius and Purnia, the former of whom continued to speak. "You sinned, and these victims paid the ultimate price needlessly. My brother and his adopted daughter nearly died because of your actions, and they were among the lucky ones."
"Darius, Purnia-."
"YOU FUCKING MURDERED ME!" Purnia screamed.
Darius growled, all traces of humor gone from his face. "I was Avoxed for trying to help you, and this is how you repay me? Pathetic."
"I know, guys, I'm sorry! I want to fix this, I don't want to be evil anymore!"
"Too late," Enobaira replied, joining the trio. "There is not a goddamn thing you can do. Even if you worked every single remaining nanosecond of your natural life, you will never unbury Fort Cheyenne. You will never undetonate the bombs that murdered Prim and Purnia, and you will never bring back the souls you murdered here back to life. I was not the first, last or most important of your kills; I was merely a messenger."
"PLEASE!" Gale sobbed. "PLEASE!"
But he pleas went unanswered, for Gale Hawthorne was now alone in the tomb that he had created.
"I don't want to be evil anymore..."