Days pass. We advance forward, stopping for nothing, and no one. We lose more soldiers everyday. Fighting becomes easier. Killing becomes easier.

We fight all day, everyday. Whenever we make it to a safe station, I can never sleep. I don't sleep anymore. I'll see everything that I've done. Everything that I've become.

I sit outside and take watch every night. Boggs and Katniss always try to get me to sleep, but I won't. I'll see every horror that I've seen. I end up staring at the pictures I have of my family and Madge. I don't even know if she's alive anymore and it kills me. I don't know if my mail has gotten through. I haven't received anything in return.

During the day we fight through armies. We plow right through them. I've become one of them. A killer. I try not to think about it, but at night, when I'm alone and it's quiet, the thoughts rush into my brain, and destroy me from the inside out.

I try to act normal during the day, and most people think that I'm okay, but Finnick, Boggs, and Katniss know I'm not. They try to get me to think about other things. My family. Madge. Happy things. And trust me, I try. I really do. It's just never enough.

A few weeks pass by before I get something from my family. Immediately, I retreat to my tent I share with Finnick and tear open the letter. It's been through quite a bit, I can tell. The paper is pretty withered, and old, but I can still read it.

My mothers familiar handwriting stands out against the paper.

Gale,

Hope you're well. We haven't heard much about the progress on the war, only bits and pieces from Haymitch Abernathy. We haven't gotten any bad news about you or Madge, yet. We'd like to keep it that way.

Posy misses you a lot. She keeps asking when you're going to come back and play with her again. She lost a tooth, you know. She was so happy and wanted to tape it on this letter for you to see. I didn't let her though.

Rory and Vick are coping well. They won't admit it to me, but they miss you. I've found Vick looking at the few pictures we have more often than not. Rory was furious that you didn't wake him up before you left. He wanted to say goodbye. It was very funny watching him stalk around the apartment for an hour.

As for me, well, I'm doing okay. I miss my little boy. I hope the rebels are able to break into the Capitol sooner rather than later. I want all of my children back with me as soon as possible.

Enclosed is a letter from Madge. She sent it back with her first letter and asked if we could mail it to you. Of course we had too.

Gale, please remember that we're praying. We will love you no matter what goes on during the war, and what happened. Please remember that.

Love,

Ma, Rory, Vick, and Posy

When I finish reading, I find myself smiling and tears sliding down my cheeks. I was smiling widely at the part about Posy wanting to mail her tooth to me. I grinned at Rory being furious, and chuckled at Posy's messy handwriting. She must've demanded that she write her own name.

I shake at the envelope and another sheet of paper falls out. Madge's letter. I brace myself.

Gale,

I miss you. A lot. It's hard to be on the front lines and know that you're out here somewhere too. I hope you're okay. We've seen so many soldiers laying on the ground but we can never stop to see who it is.

It's terrifying out here. Everyday I wonder if I'm going to make it out alive.

I'm okay, no major injuries yet. Only a few bumps and bruises. How has your squad been doing? We've lost a few along the way, and it's only been a few weeks. We've heard updates on your squad, because of Katniss. Those are going to stop coming as you get closer to the City Center. We'll be right behind you.

I don't sleep very well here. It's harder and I always wake up from nightmares. I wish we could be together again. How are you doing?

After you left that morning Posy cried for hours. She couldn't even go to school she was so upset. I think she might miss you more than me. It was horrible watching her.

A guy in my squad keeps hitting on me, all the time. I hoping that you can beat him up when the wars over because it's just awkward. I hope you're laughing now. We all need a few more laughs nowadays.

I love you so much, Gale. I need you to know that, especially since we're going into a worse time. I love you and nothing's changing that.

Love always,

Madge

I collapse backwards onto my mat and bury my face in my pack. I miss my family. I miss my Madge. I miss my home. Heck I even miss District 13.

I tuck the letters into the pockets where I keep their pictures and the bracelet and zip it up tight. The pictures are wrinkled and worn, I take them out after we've won a specifically long battle, or I've killed many people.

The fact that I've heard from my family and Madge, returns a bit of humanity to me. It's still hard to get through the fighting and not want to destroy everything, but it helps. I know that I'm still human. Somewhere, I'm still human and I'm still me.

The war last for a total of six months. It's the longest six months of my life.

The battle at the end of the fifth month is when we lose most of our squad. All that remains at the end of it is me, Katniss, Finnick, Boggs, Cressida and Jackson. Jackson's on the brink of death, though. We had to leave him at the last safe station before we descended into the underground to get into the city center.

My heart pounds as we silently slosh through the Capitol's waste.

"This is literally disgusting." Finnick growls from behind me and I chortle.

"We are knee deep in shit." I respond and Boggs shoots us a look, but cracks a smile. Boggs has grown on me since Day One. We've all abandoned all military tactics, and by this point, it's an every man for themselves. Whoever gets out gets out.

Katniss walks slowly in front of me and I shove her a little.

"Keep walking. The sooner we get through this the sooner we can finish it." She nods and speeds up, her braid swinging behind her. We're all exhausted. Mentally and physically. No one thinks for themselves anymore. We always talk to the others before doing something. No one trusts anyone but their squad anymore.

We've been through so much. Death and destruction is around every turn. You can't go anywhere without finding someone dead on the ground. We lost Leeg in an explosion. Castor and Pollux in a black poison swamp. Many others in a gun-to-gun fight right outside the limits of the Capitol. We've almost lost Finnick and Cressida several times. Katniss and Boggs twice. Me a few times. It's been rough.

Boggs holds up and hand and we silence ourselves. We all look around silently and don't hear anything. We start sloshing forward again, when it starts. The music.

"What?" Finnick asks, looking around. It's carnival music. We all look at each other and Cressida's eyes widen.

"They knew we were coming down here." She whispers. "If we move very slowly, they might not be able to detect us easily. Stay together." Considering she's lived in the Capitol the longest, we quickly follow her instructions.

The tunnel echoes with the carnival music. It's so creepy. The only sounds other than the sloshing and music are our breathing, and heartbeats.

We almost make it.

Then, Finnick slips.

And the lion's spring.

Katniss loses it.

Immediately, a lion lunges towards Boggs, but he sidesteps it in the small tunnel.

"We each have to handle one!" Finnick bellows next to me when new ones emerge. I swallow when the one by me growls.

"Come get me kitty." I mutter as it charges towards me. I use my gun until the bullets run out. They have an armor on. "There's armor!"

"It's like the one Cato had!" Katniss shouts back as the lion scratches across her face. I hear her shriek and I turn to go help, when the lion pins me down in the muck. My face is almost under the sludge, and even though I'm about to die, I can't help but think that this is a crappy way to die. Literally in crap. The irony is killing me.

I start choking and the lion scratches across my chest, deep cuts and I shout in pain. I struggle against it for a few seconds, before I finally accept that this is the end.

That is, until the thing falls limp against me. I force my head up and look at Finnick, eyes dark, holding a trident in the lions back.

"Thanks," I choke, and he helps me up. "Where's yours?"

"I got it. You okay, Hawthorne?" I wince in pain and look down at my chest.

"I'm okay." I lie, pressing my hands against the torn muscle flesh. "Let's keep going." I push myself up from the wall, and grab my bow. Before we can move to the others, there's a shift in the air. I turn back around slowly to find two lions staring back at me.

"Shit." I yell and sidestep a paw. "They're mutts! They'll keep reforming!" I shout and Katniss looks at me. She's just killed hers.

"Then what do we do!? We can't keep fighting them! They'll wear us out!" She tells back and I stab the thing again in the chest, and it falls.

"I don't know!" Finnick bellows, trident flying.

"I do." Cressida grits her teeth. Her head is bleeding greatly and she doesn't look like she can stand. "You guys go ahead. I'll hold them off."

"You can't even stand, Cressida!" Boggs yells at her while moving in circles from the beast.

"I'll distract them. You guys need to get through! Just go!"

We all lock eyes for a moment, and then the four of us rush down the tunnel. In a moment, I know she's been overtaken. I hear her screaming and shouts and I know that they will always echo in my brain.

But she's given us an edge. We've made it to the end of the tunnel. Immediately, we're climbing up the ladders. I hear Finnick yell from bellow me, and I risk a glance down. The lion has his foot.

"Finnick!" Katniss shouts, and shoots an explosion arrow into its eye. Boggs and I are able to pull Finnick up just in time, right as the mutt explodes. We all dive towards the ground, and watch as the last tunnel explodes, Cressida down in it.

Our breathing's heavy as we wait on the ledge. Finally, I realize the pain shooting through my body. I wince and try to move.

"Gale!" Katniss shouts, and crawls over towards me.

"I'm okay," I force out, "I'm fine." She pulls off her jacket and rips it in two, one of them going to my chest, the other against Finnick's ankle.

Boggs helps Katniss up.

"We need to go. We can get you two to a medical station once were inside. The Capitol is right up there. I don't know where we'll end up. But we have to keep going. For them." By them, he means everyone who's died.

I nod thickly and stand, wincing when sparks of pain shoot through my body.

"Okay. Let's go." Boggs and I support Finnick and Katniss goes in front leading the way. We walk up several hundred steps, until finally we reach a door.

"Ready?" She turns around and looks at us. We all nod, and she pushes the heavy metal door open.

What we see completely surprises us.

Bombs.

Bombs raining down on the Capitol.

A/N: What do you think? Believable? Anyways, I have a couple more chapters written after this, and then I think the story is gonna be over. I'm not sure exactly. Maybe. Happy Thanksgiving, hope you lovlies are all well!