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“We have to save Willow,” I say sternly. My arm is wrapped in a make-shift cast, my fingers held in place by sticks and cloth. The pain is long gone, a constant tingling taking over.

We escaped the hovercraft hours ago. The sun is far past the horizon, the full moon wakening from its long sleep for the night. The forest hides us from dangerous eyes, allowing us to stop for rest.

“You can't be that stupid, Gale. She's long dead by now.” Katniss looks up briefly. “I know how it feels to lose a loved one,” she continues. “But you have to move on.” Her jaw clenches together tightly. I feel a yank on my arm as she starts to change my wrappings.

“We can't just leave her there!” I say loudly. “She's the only family I've got left. Whether you're with me or not, she will be saved.”

“You need to think reasonably. They're just trying to draw you back to them. Besides, we don't even know why they want you, or who they even are. Let it go.” I can't believe this is who I had trusted everything with for so long.

I look at her shaded eyes. She looks back with an intensity most people would look away from. Our eyes stay locked. “Coward,” I whisper.

“I'm not a coward. I'm thinking reasonably, like you should be.” We drop eye contact after a few more seconds.

“Is that how you were thinking when I was at the Capitol?” I had forgotten Peeta was still with us. “I know the sort of things those people can do. I remember them. If we're going to save her, we need to get moving,” he says in a calm tone.

“Peeta, we had strong help on our side! I knew we could save you,” Katniss stammers. Her entire body language changes. She looks at her hands, twisting them together and shaking slightly.

“That's what we need,” I say, half to myself, half to them. I move my head upwards, gathering strength in my voice. “Help.”

The small word cuts through the warm forest air. The only problem is, where do we find it?

“We don't even know where we are,” Katniss says. “And who knows, maybe no one will even be willing.” Her voice dies out as her eyes wander to the grass-covered ground we're sitting on.

Peeta grabs a chunk of his untidy hair. His mouth opens, but he stays silent. “I know their weakness,” he says in a rush.

My hands are sweaty, my head pounding. I slowly stand to my feet and walk over to Peeta a few feet away. I talk in a low whisper, using as soft a voice as I can. “Don't bring back those memories, Peeta. Whatever happens, it's not worth the torture. Someone will help us. In the end, we will get them for what they've done.”

Katniss joins us by the tree. She whispers in Peeta's ear too quietly for me to hear. He nods solemnly and they stand. Peeta slowly takes off his shirt, his chest facing Katniss.

I see the scars and can't help but stare. Three long gashes run down his back, the white scar tissue standing out the most compared to the rest of his injuries. Pink skin nearly faded to his natural coloring covers him from shoulder to shoulder. Hundreds of scratches, ranging from the size of a toothpick to the length of my forearm, cover the rest of his back. Burn marks lick at the back of his neck indicating use of torturous tools. I cannot fathom the extent of pain he went through.

Katniss turns away, but I can still see her arm reach up to wipe her face.

Peeta shifts back towards me and I see even more signs of torture on his stomach and chest. “Everyday I dream in a world where I'm still hijacked under the tracker jacker venom. When I wake up, the nightmares don't go away. I live them. No one deserves this. If I can help someone, anyone, before their life becomes a living hell, I'm going to. Revealing these, these inhuman people's weakness, it won't trigger any more memories than I already experience everyday. Let me help you.”

I nod. There's not much else I can do in this situation.

“We have to bring the Hunger Games back.” He says it so calmly, I almost think I had imagined it.

Katniss takes a large intake of breath. “No!” she says. Her eyes look wild, her face scared.

I fall to the ground. There's no chance I could ever do that to the districts. This was supposed to be the Golden Age, the time of peace. “We can't,” I say to the ground.

“If we don't act now, those men will just grow stronger and stronger. Whatever they're planning, we can only guess it'll be destructive to the people.”

I don't realize those words were said by Katniss until a few minutes later when I finally look up. That leaves it two against one. My stomach turns upside down. “How do we do this?” I ask.

-

We make it to the Capitol in a few days. My arm with the broken bones has healed to a blue-yellow color, hurting less and less as we walk on.

Most of the buildings have been reduced to rubble over the years. We walk at a glacial pace to the headquarters building, our intended destination. We hide during the day, traveling as fast as we can at night.

“So, how did you two meet?” Peeta asks one night. His attempt at small talk is annoying, but it's better than complete silence the whole time.

“Willow came from district 4, planning to start a new life like me. Work was stressful and I needed a quick release, so I grabbed my old bow and headed to the woods in the mountains. It was sunrise.

“Her hair was down and she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I startled her by accident. She was drawing in a notebook on her lap, looking at the sun with careful eyes. 'Would you like to sit with me?' she said. I wanted to hunt so badly but I just couldn't bring myself to leave her there.

“We talked for hours. We talked about the sun and the trees and the animals in the forest. The wind started to pick up, cutting sharply through our thin clothes. I walked her back to the district boundary. She told me we would meet again soon. Sure enough, we met the next day, same time as before. We fell in love gradually, then all at once.”

Peeta's in a daze. Not wanting him to notice me staring at him, I look over at Katniss. Her head is down. She sniffles and wipes her nose as her eyes travel to my face. She smiles for a short second. Her face drops and her eyes widen.

“We have to run.”