Chapter 24
(Madge POV)
Gale had been right about Peeta being able to sneak us a snack to take to the tree area with us. Gale returned to me carrying two crisp, red apples. I make a mental note that I should seek Peeta out sometime tomorrow, see how he's doing. He's been so kind to me and to Gale and helped us all along the way but I wonder how he's doing. I know it was rough for him not having his family here with him and I know that Katniss just got injured and that must not be easy to deal with. I don't even know if during the rescue mission if they were able to save any of his friends from town or not. I hope so. I really hope so. He's been so kind and I hate to think of him being all alone here.
"Gale, did Peeta's family get put into prison like my father? I mean, I know they were taken to the Capitol for questioning but what happened to them after that?"
"I dunno. I can ask Haymitch tomorrow, try to find out for you if you want."
"I'd appreciate it. I'd hate to think they were enduring the same fate as my father. It isn't their fault that we all escaped and they were left behind. They didn't know what was happening."
"None of us knew what was happening." Gale corrects quietly.
"Who did know? I mean, someone must've known something."
"Mrs. Krull and Haymitch. Some undercover people too. Peacekeeper for sure. Maybe a train worker too."
"Who would've known that Mrs. Krull was a part of a connection to 13. Or our very own drunken Victor for that matter." I muse aloud.
Gale takes a bite of his apple and pulls me to lean against him as we sit on the bench under one of the trees. We're both quiet for a little while, neither of us in a particularly chatty mood.
"Do you think they'll go back to 12 anytime soon?" I ask Gale quietly. He really isn't supposed to tell me about the business of the Defense Department but he does anyway.
"Yeah, eventually. I really doubt anyone will be left by then though. From what I've heard, everything was destroyed. If anyone managed to live through that, they'd have to be able to survive the woods. It'd be hard for sure."
"Will you go with them when they go back to look for survivors?"
"Probably. Especially if they're looking in the woods."
"Do you think you'll go inside the district at all?"
Gale shrugs. "If I could. All depends on the situation. Why?"
"Just curious is all. It's hard for me to imagine what 12 looks like now."
"Yeah, I'm not sure if I want to see it or if I'm better off just remembering it like it was."
Another quiet moment passes between us. We just sit, me leaning against him, as we both try to picture what our former district would look like to us now. Would we recognize it? Would there be any buildings or houses that survived? Would it be like the images of the original 13 after the Capitol destroyed it? At every reaping day they'd shown all of Panem horrific images of the wasteland that 13 became following the rebellion. It was supposed to scare us. Supposed to show us what would happen if we too tried to rebel against the Capitol. And I have to say, it did scare me. A lot.
Once we go back to our place and get in bed I find it difficult to sleep. Every time I manage to drift off, I have dreams that shake me back awake. Dreams that are completely dark and I could hear my father crying out for me as I searched the darkness for him, never quite able to find him. I wake up, calm myself down, reminding myself it was only a dream and then roll over, trying to find sleep again. And the cycle repeated over and over throughout the night. I don't think Gale slept much either because neither of us get up and go to breakfast this morning. When Gale left for work, I still haven't even gotten out of bed. After he leaves, I pull the blanket over my head and close my eyes again hoping that this time, the dreams will stay away and I can just sleep.
(Gale POV)
After a night filled with bad dreams, replays of the torture Mayor Undersee was enduring, I drag myself into work. I was so exhausted I didn't even go to breakfast. I don't think Madge slept well either. She tossed and turned a lot it seemed. And she was sleepy this morning too. When I left to come here, she was awake but still in bed. I hope she's able to go back to sleep and get some rest.
I slump into the chair and try to focus on the communication logs I was working on yesterday. I must doze off at some point because Haymitch ends up smacking a mug of coffee on the table and I jump clear out of my seat.
"Drink up kiddo. Need ya awake for our departmental meeting later. Gonna want your input on everything." He says shoving the mug towards me, a little of the dark liquid spilling onto the pages of communication in front of me.
I take a drink, burning my tastebuds as I swallow it down. It tastes terrible but refreshing at the same time. Almost like the caffeine has started to hit me right away. I drink more. "Thanks. Didn't sleep real good last night. Hard to shake the memory of what I saw." I explain to him.
He nods just once. Not that he says anything about it but something tells me that he himself doesn't always sleep so well. Like he too has been haunted more than once by something he's had to see.
"Meeting is right after lunch. They'll show a few minutes of the tape so that everyone's on the same page and then discussion will open up as to what, if anything, can be done about it."
"I'll be ready. Thanks for the coffee." I tell him as I look back to my log again. I use my sleeve to wipe away the little puddles of coffee Haymitch spilled. It makes the ink on the paper smear but I figure that won't matter since I'm more or less just reading this as busywork. Besides, if there anything of value in here it would have been found long ago.
I find that the communications leaving Madge's house are at all hours of the day and night. It's like Mayor Undersee never slept. Never took a break. Always, always working. There are a few noteworthy things on a personal note. I notice more than once where it is suggested by the Capitol that Mayor Undersee extend the working shifts of the miners from 12 hours per day to 15 hours per day. The suggestion is accompanied by statistics that show how coal mining production would increase therefore increasing district revenue. Each time it was suggested, Mayor Undersee managed to tactfully decline the increase of hours. And really, aside form the Capitol, he would be the only person to benefit from such actions. It isn't as if us miners would benefit. And an increase in district revenue would increase Mayor Undersee's paycheck. He turned down money so that we wouldn't have to work even more ridiculous hours than we already did.
Another thing I notice is how the Capitol suggested an increase in electricity prices for those in 12 who were lucky enough to have it. This was so that he could afford to have the fence turned on at all times. Again, he declined, stating that there had never been an instance of anyone going out into the woods or crossing the fence. He argued it was better to have the power to the fence work intermittently so as to possibly catch anyone who dared to cross it. It was a lie of course. He knew good and well that Katniss and I used to go out there and hunt. I'm terribly glad he argued against keeping the fence power running nonstop. If that had ever happened, my family and I wouldn't be alive right now. There's no way we ever would have managed without my being able to hunt for food. Katniss's family either. A huge part of me really wishes I could ask him about this. Ask him why it is he wanted the fence to be off sometimes. Was it so people like myself and Katniss could survive?
This man, my father in law, had apparently done whatever he could to keep 12 from becoming a prison in and of itself. Sure he couldn't change the way most things in 12 ran but according to the logs I'm reading, he did do what he could when he could to make life for all of us better. And turning down a suggestion made by the Capitol is never an easy thing to do. It takes real guts along with smarts to find a way to spin their suggestion so that it doesn't look as good as they originally thought. If I ever do manage to see him again, I'm going to make sure I thank him.
When lunchtime rolls around, I stop by our place to get Madge but she's sound asleep so I don't wake her. I leave her a little note on the pillow next to her.
Stopped by to take you to lunch but you looked so peaceful sleeping here that I couldn't bare to wake you. See you for dinner my love.
I end up grabbing my sandwich and taking it back down to work. I want to be here when the meeting begins and be ready to have my say in all of it. I hope that amongst us all, we can come up with a way to help Madge's father. I'd love nothing more than to come home tonight and be able to tell her that a plan is in the works. That there's something that can be done for him.
I mutter a few hellos and nod to a few as the rest of the department begins to file in as I wait very impatiently for the meeting to begin. Finally, Haymitch shuffles in and calls the meeting to order.
"Listen up folks. We're gonna show you a few minutes of some footage sent to us from inside a Capitol prison. Just watch it, then we'll talk after." He instructs as he clicks on the video.
I look away while the video plays out for everyone else. I've already seen all I'll ever need to see of that. Images and sounds burned forever into my mind. As it plays I expect to hear gasps from those around me but to my surprise, I don't hear a peep. Once the video stops playing, I look back at the group. I see concern on faces. Disgust even. But I don't see shock like I'd expected. I guess after awhile, you learn what to expect from our dear President Snow. His evil ways eventually loose shock value I suppose.
"Alright. So here's what we've gotta decide, is there anything we can do about this?" He asks as he settles into a chair.
"What we need is a way to get rid of President Snow. That would solve quite a few problems." A woman from another team says evoking a series of agreeing nods and yeses from around the room.
"We've been down this road before, Ethel. It isn't like we haven't thought about it from every possible angle. He's too powerful, we just can't take on something of that magnitude. We just can't." A tired looking man replies.
"I realize that. It was merely just a thought I shared aloud. A thought we're all probably having."
I haven't said anything yet but I feel like I need to. I clear my throat and go for it. "Listen, I agree with the comment about Snow being the root of all problems but I think we should focus on what we can do for Mayor Undersee. He's being tortured and unless we can find a way to help him, it's going to continue."
"You want us to break into a Capitol Prison and rescue a prisoner that Snow's most likely watching like a hawk?" A grumpy man across the table from me asks with a raised brow.
"I don't know what we can do, I just think there has to be something." I reply.
"How many guys do we have working for us in that prison right now?" Another man asks. I haven't learned many of the names here of the people who aren't on Haymitch's team.
A woman taking meeting notes pulls up something on her computer and then answers the question. "We have three total. Two Peacekeepers, an administrative clerk."
"And just how big is this place?" Someone else questions her.
She pecks a few more keys on her computer and then answers. "It's the smallest of all Capitol prisons, however it's reportedly the most secure. Only the worst of the worst get sent here. Solitary cells. Solitary torture. Able to house up to 100 prisoners. Peacekeeper to prisoner ratio is 9 to 1."
Crap. 9 to 1? That's horrible. We'll never be able to get to Madge's father with 9 peacekeepers hovering over him!
"Well if we can't get him out, can we do anything else to help him?" A woman asks in a quiet voice, not looking up.
"What are you suggesting?" Haymitch asks the woman.
"Only that if we don't anticipate a rescue, should we find a way to end this all for him? Have one of our men slip him a pill or something of the like. Something to put an end to all his agony."
Kill Madge's father? They want to kill Madge's father? How is that helping him?
"I agree with her. If we're one hundred percent confident that we won't be able to rescue him ever then we should consider ending this for him." I hear a man's voice pipe up. I'm staring down at the floor because I can't bare to look up at everyone.
"Are we really resorting to murder as an option here?" I ask deciding that I have to speak up. Have to fight this.
"Not murder. We wouldn't do anything for him without his consent. We'd have one of our guys provide him a lethal pill. It would be up to him as to if he decides to take it or not." The quiet woman explains softly showing her compassionate side.
I run my hands over my face. I can't imagine this as our only option. There just has to be something better. There just has to be. "But is there really nothing else we can do? Is this really our only option?"
"Right now, with the kind of security he's buried beneath, no, there isn't another option."
"I say we take a vote and begin plan development. The more time we waste discussing this, the longer that poor man has to suffer."
Everything feels like a blur. I can't even match up voices to faces anymore. My mind is desperately screaming for any other option. Madge. Madge needs a say in this. It's her father for crying out loud. If anyone deserves a vote, it's her. "I think his daughter should be given a vote. If this were my father, I'd want to be able to have some sort of say in it."
"She doesn't work in this department. This is classified information." The grumpy man barks at me.
"It's her father!" I spit back at him.
"Hey, hey, hey. No need to get all huffy about it. I think the kid has a point. It is the girl's father and it's not unreasonable to get her opinion on the matter." Haymitch breaks in before tempers boil over too much.
"Fine. Someone go get her so we can get this over with. Let her vote." The grumpy man says sitting back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest.
I look at Haymitch waiting to see what he'll say. He tilts his head to the side and gestures to the door. "Better go get her Gale. We need to wrap this up."
I stand, legs feeling a little shaky and head out without saying a word. I hate that I'm about to have to bring her down her and make her have a say on such an unthinkable matter. It breaks my heart to have to do this but there's no possible way that I can let them make this kind of decision without her input. No possible way.