Work Text:
BOOM
The ringing explosion echoes in the night sky as everyone’s breath catches.
“What just-” Gale’s eyes are wide with confusion, panic, and slowly they fill with dawning realization as he cuts himself off.
Otho’s hand clamps on Rye’s shoulder and he shares a glance with Asterid as she clutches Primrose to her, as if to protect her from an explosion happening thousands of miles away.
The entire crowd whispers with confusion, horror, and a strange stillness, as if nobody knows what to do now… even as they slowly realize what just happened.
Nobody wants to be the ones to speak the words out loud, to confirm what everyone knows.
Katniss blew up the arena.
A redheaded Peacekeeper calmly approaches the families in the front, the dark haired Hawthorne family surrounded by the blonde hair and blue eyes of the Mellarks and Everdeens that were left behind.
“Hawthorne,” he says gruffly, the only words that can be heard over the microphone before they're cut off with a reverberating ringing sound.
“Darius,” Gale leans in, incredulous.
“Go home. Get the girls home safe,” he jerks his head towards Asterid and Prim. “The road won’t be safe. The woods are your only chance-” his words are cut off as Thread takes the stage, using a new microphone to project his voice.
“CLEAR THE SQUARE! ANYONE SEEN OUT WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT.” His gruff voice rings aloud the square as everyone moves immediately.
The group at the front understand immediately what Darius has said, especially because Katniss and Peeta had both made vague references over the months.
What to do if something went wrong.
None of them are safe. Not a single person in the District.
Cooper and Delly need to head back to the square, and Madge should be walking the same direction to get back to the Mayor’s house.
Cooper and Delly offer wide eyed nods to both Gale and Madge before they take off at a run, slowing down next to large groups of people, whispering so as to not be overheard.
As they move towards their respective shops and houses, everyone they talk to gets a bit more stiff, a bit more purposeful with their movement. Steps are taken quicker and the air gets colder as everyone comes to the same realization.
They have to be silent. They need to do exactly as they are told until they can’t any longer.
It’s not fight or flight… it's faring through the inevitable.
It's surviving.
Madge clings to Gale's hand tightly, all of them following the Everdeen and Mellarks in the direction of the Seam and Victor’s Village.
“Leevy.” Gale calls, his voice just carrying on the wind.
Her dark hair whips around as she hears him call for her.
“The Capitol won’t let this slide. Spread the word. Only what you can carry. Meet at the fence as soon as the Peacekeepers evacuate. Which they will.” Gale stares at her terrified eyes. “Do you understand?”
She nods, her darker skin tone getting paler by the moment as she realizes what she has to do and then she's off like a shot.
She doesn’t run, too much attention has been called to her already, but she grabs Nick and Thom, the two tall miners moving through the crowd easier than she can with her small stature, they work together to spread the word.
Gale nods at everyone who looks at him for confirmation, leading his family and the Everdeens towards Victors Village.
The Seam will go up immediately, all of the coal dust baked into every surface creating the perfect environment for flames to prosper.
“Stay with us,” Prim begs, turning to Otho and Rye, Graham and Brandy following close behind.
“You didn’t even have to ask,” Otho tells her softly, his eyes betraying his fear but his voice is as soft as it always is, especially when talking to either of the Everdeen girls.
“Come here,” Rye says, pausing just a moment to pull Prim into a comforting hug, remembering his promise to look out for her while her usual protector is away.
She clings to him like the child she is, her thirteen years more like five as she leans into his comfort.
“Let’s get you home, Rosie,” Rye whispers, using his nickname for her.
She nods but doesn’t let him go, so he just scoops her up and carries her. She’s still too light in his arms even after almost a full year of good food.
Asterid mouths a “thank you” to both Otho and Rye who wave her away, this is exactly where they want to be. They're family after all.
All 12 of the group pile into the Everdeen house.
Gale silently gets everyone's attention and holds up a 1 with his fingers, getting nods from all of the adults, including Rory and Prim.
Hazel heads up to Asterid's room, determined to get a bag packed with the essentials as Asterid hurries to their stash of medicine and herbs, grabbing everything she possibly can, especially the things she cannot get in the woods.
Madge goes with Prim and brings Posy as well to keep an eye on her.
They head upstairs and pack bags with Prim’s essentials and some of Katniss’ things.
Gale and the Mellark boys run across the street, the Mellarks to their place to grab their stuff, and some things for Peeta, while Gale heads to Haymitch’s place, knowing he has a mission to carry out and he cannot fail.
Vick and Rory help Asterid and within twenty minutes all of the group has reconverged in the living room, bags stacked by the back door.
“GALE!” A voice can be heard screaming at the same time as the Village gates squeak open and everyone is off like a shot.
Leevy has run all the way from the Seam and once she sees the group all heading towards her she doesn’t waste a second, she turns on her heel and heads straight back the way she came.
“Get out. Prim, Madge, both of you know where Katniss has hidden her bow, grab everything and get further in. I will find you. Take everyone you can with you and hide them.” Gale says, his voice hard as the shock falls away and is replaced with adrenaline. “I have to go make sure everyone knows what’s happening. I will meet up with y’all right away. I promise.”
Madge yanks Gales head down and kisses him straight on the mouth. “Be careful.”
“Go.” Gale orders, his voice hard as he presses another kiss to her lips before he turns and runs, heading towards the square.
Rye and Graham share a look and take off after him.
“Come on.” Prim says, leading the group. “I know where to go.”
Gale slides on the gravel as he turns the corner into town, Delly and Cooper have gathered a large group, all of them carrying far too much stuff, but he can’t care about that right now. The air has gone even more quiet and they need to leave.
Immediately.
“Fence! Come on!” Gale doesn’t waste time with niceties.
Delly and Cooper lead the pack but many of the merchant families hesitate at the word “fence.”
“We should just follow the road instead!” Someone shouts from the back, and gets exclamations of agreement.
“NO!” Gale roars, out of breath but still moving as fast as he can. “They’re targeting the road! A peacekeeper told me so. The woods are your only chance!”
He doesn’t say anything else. They have all the information, if they want to die they can do whatever they want. He wants to live.
He needs to live.
He sees the pushed over fence and the trampled foliage, so different to his usual woods but a very clear path for him to follow to reach his family and everyone from the Seam.
A large group splits off, heading towards the road, but a bit less than half of the gathered merchant group follows him bravely into the darkness.
That’s when the first explosion drops.
The ground shakes beneath their feet, a child screams in pure terror, and multiple people fall to the ground.
The darkness of the night is taken over by heat and light and Gale has to blink to clear his vision, he barely has time to brace himself before the next one hits.
He crawls on the ground to a crying child, the girl whimpering as she curls into a ball. He drapes himself over her, he hopes someone is doing the same for his little sister deeper in the woods.
He tries to whisper words of reassurance but the booms are so loud he can’t even hear himself speak.
It feels like mere seconds and somehow also days at the same time.
It feels like being underground.
It feels like death.
Every whoosh of a bomb falling, every shaking boom that echoes in his chest, every time the young girl wraps in his arms shakes and lets a tear slip, it all collides to create a symphony of death and chaos.
When it finally stops, no more whistling, no more booms, no more screams, it’s eerily silent.
More still than Gale’s ever felt.
More than the silence of a shocked square, than a quiet day in the woods, more silent than the entire district during curfew.
It’s a stillness that grabs his breath and refuses to let go.
He unwraps himself and the girl clings tighter, her face tucked in the crook of his neck and her small hands tangled in his shirt.
He doesn’t hesitate to carry her, knowing they all need to move just in case the hovercrafts come back for another round.
“We need to go.” Gale says, looking around for others.
He sees Cooper help Delly and her brother up from the ground, he sees as Mr. Donner helps his wife off the ground gently, her hands shaking and her face pale but seemingly unharmed even in their old age, the both of them living well past the average as their daughter married the mayor and they are well taken care of in the District.
He looks at his group, noting who is present but mostly who isn’t.
Mrs. Mellark, Mayor Undersee, Mrs. Undersee, the Marches from the apothecary, he doesn’t see the miller or his wife, he doesn’t even see Rooba.
“Is anyone injured?” He calls, hoping beyond all else that nobody answers affirmatively.
“Yes!” A voice calls from the back.
Gale hands the young girl off to Cooper, Delly, and Tyre. All of them work together to comfort her while he rushes to see what’s wrong.
He finds Graham and Rye together, Rye leaning on Graham as he winces every time his foot touches the ground.
Rye’s ankle has swelled up more than double what it should be.
“He tripped as he grabbed Scarlett,” Graham tilts his head downward and explains the young girl hiding behind his leg, the daughter of the tailor dressed in the color of her namesake, her parents nowhere to be seen.
“Her parents ran without even thinking of her, how could I just leave her behind?” Rye gets out through gritted teeth.
“You did the right thing,” Gale tells him, already trying to come up with a plan. “Now though, until Mrs. Everdeen can look at it, you can’t put any weight on it so Graham is going to have to carry you.”
“This is the worst,” Rye whines as Graham nods, already moving to hoist his brother up onto his back.
“Deal with it.” Graham says back, unwilling to fight with his brother or entertain his whining. Not when they’re lucky to even be alive.
“Come here, Sweetheart,” Gale uses his “Posy voice” as he holds out his arms.
Scarlett runs straight towards him, her hair flying behind her as she rushes towards him and he scoops her up. The two year old is cold to the touch as her body adjusts to the shock of what she's just been through.
“You’re okay, let's get somewhere safe.” Gale pushes back through the crowd of people and leads the group into the woods.
He realizes after about a mile that Prim and Madge must be leading everyone to the lake.
He knew Prim had never been there, and neither had he ever taken Madge, so he is curious how they know the way but he isn’t complaining. Fresh water, ample opportunities for food, and a shelter for the injured, it’s the best place he can think of to keep everyone alive for the moment.
The group walks for what seems like forever, but not one person complains or falters. Graham is helped along as he carries Rye, the younger kids all claim an adult to stick with whether it is their parent or not, and everyone follows diligently. Gale has passed Scarlett off and he takes down everything he possibly can with his bow, even if it were just the people he was with, it is going to be very difficult to feed this many mouths, but he knows he hadn’t seen how many had gotten out from the Seam. He has a feeling it will be a lot more than the 23 people from town that are with him.
He bags three raccoons, a possum, two rabbits, four squirrels, and he makes everybody stop and grab all of the dock seed in the area as he finds a new batch on their way.
When they finally step into the clearing surrounding the lake, it is like stepping into a different world.
Prim, Mrs. Everdeen, and Hazel have gotten the place running as smoothly as they possibly could.
Mrs. Everdeen has set up her station in the small hut. Prim is leading all of the children in gathering katniss roots along the shore line. A group of people are setting up a sleeping area on one side of the lake and another group are setting up a lavatory area on the side the furthest away.
There are multiple fire pits already boiling water for consumption in another area.
Rory is setting up a couple of the few snares he knows just a bit into the tree line.
Madge is distributing tasks and running things in the same way her father always does.
Did. The same way her father always did.
“Gale!” Posy screeches as she rushes away from the lake shore, her arms outstretched as she heads to the safest place she knows, her oldest brother's arms.
“Baby Girl!” He catches her, taking a whiff of her baby scent, though he misses when she was really little and was just barely the length of his arm.
“Gale!” Hazel screams as well, tears falling as she has confirmation her eldest is okay.
“Graham! Rye!” Otho calls, seeing his sons together and mostly perfectly fine.
“Asterid!” Graham yells, his panic filled voice getting more attention than any of the happy yells.
Everyone separates to let him through as he uses the very last of his energy to get his brother to the med station.
“Lay him down. We got him. You did good.” Prim tells the eldest Mellark boy with a quick hug before she steps into her healing headspace and assists her mother.
Everyone watches the chaos but nobody can blame the family for being worried.
Gale looks around, there has to be hundreds of people in the area.
There are people everywhere.
He sees Sae and her granddaughter.
He sees the young James family still holding one another.
He sees the McCoy brothers and their families all together.
He sees dozens of miners, both from his shift crew and others, he sees many of the Hob stall owners, the one with the soap scraps seems to have been able to save his whole family, he sees Rooba, who has made it all the way out here separately from the other Merchants he had brought. He sees the Hob tanner and the woodworker from the Hob.
He knows this isn’t even close to everyone from the Seam, and even further from everyone in 12.
How is he going to keep them alive? He’s the only one with knowledge of how to live out here.
How can he keep his promise to Katniss to take care of her family when he doesn’t even know if he can take care of his own.
There is one thing he knows for sure though. He has to try.
These are his people. They may not have a home to return to, everything in 12 bombed to dust and ash, but he knows it’s not the place that makes a home, it’s the people in it.
He has to get everyone through this.
He has to.