CHAPTER 43
YOU BURN WITH US

THE scent around the mess hall was enough to make Bex upchuck. The longer she stayed, the worse it got. But as soon as filming ended, she allowed a small boy who recognized her to lead her over his dying family. Looking down at the mother and father, who had suffered multiple wounds, to the little boy's face – Bex decided that she could stomach anything. How selfish would it be to leave her own people without saying goodbye, just because she couldn't stand the smell of blood?

Some whispered her name as if it were a deadly secret, walking over to her with scratched-up hands and blind eyes, and she hugged each of them like they were her own family. These were the same people who stopped caring for her once a new Victor had been chosen after her win. The same people who looked a different way from her at the market. But now, she guessed, seeing her meant something different entirely. It meant that they were all survivors.

But, like Boggs said, their visit here had to be fast. Mrs. Yance led them out of the hospital and back to where their hovercraft would hopefully be waiting. If it wasn't, then she'd know where to shelter them for the time being. Boggs walked with Mrs. Yance, discussing military strategies, as Cressida and her team reveled in all the good footage they got in the hospital. Bex walked with the two best friends from Twelve, listening to Gale as he exclaimed, "Your mom's gonna be proud of you when she sees the footage, Katniss. It's playing in all the Districts?" He asked Cressida.

The director laughed. "Are you kidding? It'll be tattooed on their eyes."

Bex opened her mouth to chuckle at her statement, but Boggs was suddenly putting a hand out to stop all of them, looking up towards the sky. He had his radio gripped tightly in one hand. "There's a problem," he said. "Incoming bombers from the north."

"From the Capitol?" Bex blinked a few times. "How would they have known we're here? The center of the District used to be crawling with cameras, but they all would've been destroyed from the bombings. Just like the buildings." She gestured to the rubble surrounding their feet.

"It doesn't matter. We need to find cover now," Boggs said.

"There's a bunker up ahead," Mrs. Yance informed, already running. She led them to a small building situated around a sharp corner. Bex hardly remembered seeing this in the Square until the commander explained, "This was actually an old bar a lot of our lumberjacks would go to after work. You might recognize it, Bex."

As they neared the building with cracked windows, Bex realized that she was right. The sign that used to hang crookedly outside the bar was gone, probably lost in the bombings. The once green roof was now covered in ash. Her dad used to visit sometimes, after a long day at work. It used to worry her mother when she was little.

"Aspen's Saloon, right?" Bex asked.

"Exactly," Mrs. Yance replied, holding the door open for everyone. (Well, what was left of the door.) The bar was small, and hardly any of the furniture was left unharmed. Bex noticed a set of stairs that led down somewhere. "Take the stairs," her friend instructed. "Down there is a basement I equipped as a bunker –"

Before she could finish her sentence, bullets began to rain down outside, loud and furious. Boggs screamed for everyone to take cover. They all bent towards the ground, shielding each other, as Mrs. Yance slammed the door shut. Bex was hardly breathing as the commotion outside got worse. She plugged her fingers in her ears, hoping to cancel it all out.

And then, it all stopped. Silence echoed throughout the District.

The group looked at each other with perplexed expressions. Bex was the first person to stand, despite Boggs' demands, and walked over to one of the big windows in front of the bar. Boggs kept ordering her to come back to the huddle, but Bex decided she didn't care. She just wanted to make sure her District was safe. Mrs. Yance was looking at her as if she were crazy, back pressed against the door.

"Everdeen, Hawthorn, get back here!" Boggs commanded.

Suddenly, Katniss and Gale were standing on both sides of her, peering out the window. Hovercrafts zoomed throughout the sky at an impressive speed. Bex blinked, registering the Capitol symbol painted on them. Soldiers on the ground aimed their rifles at the hovercrafts and shot until their fingers felt like bleeding. As they watched the hovercrafts fly farther and farther away from the remains of the District, Bex wondered if they had come just to scare everyone.

But then the bombs came.

One, two, even three explosives went off outside the bar, killing every soldier on foot. The window in front of them shattered completely, sending Bex, Katniss, and Gale back against the floor. A cloud of smoke wafted into the bar and obscured their sight. Bex lifted her head from the ground, and for a second, all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. She looked around and saw shadows moving in slow motion through the smoke. She was sure that she had said something, but she couldn't hear it until a moment later, when everything got loud again. More shots fired outside.

Pollux helped her stand. She gripped him for balance and asked, disoriented, "What happened?"

He motioned an explosive with his hands before reaching out. Bex suddenly felt something protruding from her cheek. When Pollux brought his hand back, she saw glass between his fingers. Her cheek stung and blood leaked from her wound as he picked off the rest of the small shards. "It's okay," Bex said after a moment. "I'm okay. There are more pressing matters."

Katniss coughed and waved away the smoke with her hand. Despite the threat still coming for them, she walked back to the broken window and stuck her head out. Gale followed her lead and pointed to one hovercraft headed in the opposite direction of their hideout. Bullets were still buzzing in the air as he said, "They're heading towards something in the south."

"The hospital," Katniss breathed.

They didn't have time to do anything. Katniss had been nocking one of her enhanced arrows, gifted to her by Beetee, when she realized all hope had been lost. Within seconds, another bomb was dropped, and the explosion shuddered throughout the District. The hospital had been bombed.

The group stumbled to the ground, but Bex had made sure to hold onto one of the old barstools for dear life. She clutched her axe tightly with the other hand, as if it were a lifelong friend. More smoke drifted through the window. She crawled over to it, eyes stinging from the ash. In the south, fire erupted and tore down what remained of the hospital. Mrs. Yance saw it too, and together, they began to sob uncontrollably.

All those innocent people – wounded people – were dead. Hot, wet tears stung at Bex's eyes as she watched the last of her District burn to the ground.

She had done so much to stay alive over the years, to make sure something like this didn't happen. She had pretended to like President Snow. She agreed to his plan to save her brother. She allowed stylists to dress her up, and men to use her, touch her, and fuck her like a sex doll. She wasn't a person anymore, but that had been okay as long as people were safe. There were no more people left to worry about now. They all died in that hospital.

"EVERDEEN!" Boggs shrieked behind her head.

Bex whipped her head around, realizing that Katniss had jumped from the window, headed right out into the fire and rubble scattered around what was left of District Seven. She aimed her arrow into the sky, a snarl rippling from her throat. One of the hovercrafts – the same one that had just bombed the hospitals – was circling back around. As it got closer, a large gun dropped from the bottom of the hovercraft and positioned itself right on Katniss. But she didn't let them attempt a shot. She screamed and sent her arrow flying, attaching itself to the side of the hovercraft.

A few seconds later, it went up in flames. The hovercraft zoomed past Katniss' head and crashed right before the bar, exploding into several different pieces. Flames shot from the rubble, surrounding the entire District in a ring of destruction. Bex heaved and cried as she stepped out of the old bar. Boggs, Gale, and Cressida's team followed suit to check on Katniss. Mrs. Yance didn't move from inside the bar, too shocked to move. She couldn't stop sobbing into her shirt. Bex didn't blame her. She wanted to believe this wasn't real, but as she scanned the ruins around her, all she wanted to do was beg for Snow's mercy. Anything to make this stop.

But doing that would useless. She didn't have her home anymore. She didn't even have her brother. Mercy wouldn't solve anything.

Slicing his head right from his wrinkly neck was the only solution.

The smoke around the hovercraft dissipated. Boggs walked ahead of the group, gun pointed towards a figure emerging from the crash. The group almost didn't believe their eyes when an unmasked Peacekeeper began to crawl out. His pristine white suit was now covered in dirt and blood. He couldn't even stand on his own two feet. "Everyone is dead," he shouted, putting one arm up in surrender. "I'm the only survivor. Please. Mercy."

Bex grit her teeth. Before he could say another word, she hurled her axe in the Peacekeeper's direction. He screamed, and then the blade sunk into his back. His whole body went limp as bone cracked and the blood spread throughout his uniform. Bex allowed her jaw to relax, but her body still felt like it was on fire. No amount of bloodshed would be enough until Snow was dead.

Boggs lowered his weapon and turned to Bex instantaneously. "Why didn't you wait?!"

Bex stomped through the dirt and ash, yanking her axe right from the Peacekeeper's back. She heard his spine crack as she ripped the blade out. She looked back over at Boggs. "Because he didn't deserve it."

All she could see was red. Bex viewed down at her hands, and there it was again. The red, the bloodshed. It was splattered across her palms and caked underneath her tiny fingers. This had once scared her. Not anymore. For the first time, Bex welcomed the carnage like an old friend, because she knew that she couldn't escape the anger any longer.

Rage was a quiet thing, but there's always a breaking point. A point when it all gets too loud. As she looked into the burning embers of the fire around them, Bex knew that she wasn't going to ignore that rage anymore. Revolutions were built on it.

Katniss was attempting to run into the flames, just to help anyone still left in the hospital. But it was no use. The building was all but burned to the ground. Gale latched an arm around Katniss' small torso and held her back. "We need to help them!" She screamed, even though she knew it was futile.

The propo team surrounded Katniss in a circle. Cressida called out her name and aimed her camcorder at Katniss' face. Boggs and Bex joined the group, watching the Mockingjay's expression change to one of true anger.

"Katniss," Cressida called again, "can you tell everyone what you're seeing right now? What do you want to say?"

Katniss slowly turned to face the cameras. Gale released his grip on her to get out of the shot. She looked to Bex as if she was asking for permission. Wiping away the dried tears on her cheeks, Bex nodded.

Cressida pointed to Pollux's camera. Katniss breathed heavily and approached the lens, lips trembling.

"I want the rebels to know that I'm alive," Katniss spoke loudly, struggling not to choke on the smoke surrounding her. "I'm in District Seven, where the Capitol just bombed a hospital, filled with unarmed men, women, and children. And there will be no survivors!"

Bex felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes again. She pulled up her collar, trying to hide her mouth as it wobbled. The embers floated all around them.

"If you think for one second that the Capitol will ever treat us fairly if there's a ceasefire, you are lying to yourself! Because we know who they are and what they do." Katniss jabbed a finger at the explosion continuing to wreak throughout Seven. "This is what they do! And we must fight back!"

Katniss turned, facing Castor's camera now, brow narrowing. "President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us, and bomb us, and burn our Districts to the ground. But do you see that?" A sick smile grew on her face as she gestured to horror rippling around them. One of the last of the hovercrafts could be seen through the flames, soaring off into the distance. The Capitol seal on its wing seemed to shimmer through the fire, now reaching up towards the sky.

"Fire is catching," Katniss growled, making sure no one missed a word. "And if we burn, you burn with us."

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A/N: I will NEVERRR get tired of that ending line 🤩 truly a mesmerizing moment!!! also if you guys missed it on my message board, I've officially finished pre-writing this entire story and I couldn't be happier with it! of course, I still have to edit every chapter before I post and all that stuff, but it's like........done being written..............OFFICIALLY. there's still a lot of chapters left to post, but I really kicked myself into gear and now I can really stick to my posting schedule for the chapters ahead! I'm so excited to show you guys the rest of the story! ✨