Normal POV
"How long until you leave" said Gale with an edge of iciness in his voice.
"A couple of hours" I reply.
"Wanna hunt or do you wanna go snuggle up with your boyfriend for a few hours before you see him for the next 3 weeks?"
"Gale. That was all for the cameras, you know as well as I do I wouldn't date Peeta. I had to keep us alive in the Hunger Games!" To speak about the Hunger Games hurt but I couldn't lose my friend. Gale was one of the only people who knew a lot about me. He was my best friend and I couldn't lose him.
"Honestly?"
"I swear Gale, I've never thought about marriage or love or children. Whatever happens on the victory tour with the wedding will be to entertain the capitol."
He smiled, I'm glad; I finally have the old gale back. The Gale who I've known for most of my life. We stayed in the woods for quite a while before we decided to go back to the hob. We were just walking back through the field before the hob where the fence is when Gale speaks.
"I need to talk to you Catnip"
"Me too Gale"
"You first then Catnip, you are a lady"
"We need to evacuate, before they kill us all"
"I have an even better idea!"
"What?"
"We start a rebellion"
Katniss thought back. Something about the word rebellion was familiar to Katniss. When she was in the mayor's house whilst talking to Madge when she came back. She had seen a rebellion in district 8 on the TV in the mayor's office.
"I think they already are"
"WHAT?"
"I saw it at Madge's house, it was on the TV as an urgent news broadcast"
"It's finally happening"
"What's happening?"
"It doesn't matter."
I stare into Gale's wonderful eyes. They are full of emotion. I know he wants me to think about it so I say I will. I look at his face. And then suddenly we are kissing. His lips touching mine.
"I had to do that before you left. I love you Katniss."
I run. I run as far as my legs will carry me down to the hob. When I arrive at the hob I can see the capitol have sent a new headpeacekeeper and many new peacekeepers as well. A group of them are putting up a pole in the middle of the town. Another group of them are attacking the hob. I go to run and help the people at the hob but the new headpeacekeeper steps in front of me.
"Well, well, well, what have we got here? I think somebody's been somewhere they shouldn't have been"
He grabs me by the scuff of my jumper and drags me to the pole. It sinks into me now what the pole is going to be used for. It's a whipping post.
"Please, please, let me go" I scream. I just want to get home. I have cameras coming to see me later and me and Peeta are having our wedding tomorrow for the capitol.
He ties my hands together against my back. He then ties the rest of my body up against the pole. He strips me of my jumper and everything else that keeps me warm. He leaves my bottom half of clothing on though. A crowd is starting to form but I keep my head down. I see him lift the whip and I brace myself for the pain.
CRACK
The pain is agonising. It spreads all over my back. I can feel the red patch swelling up now. The whip is brought up again. I grit my teeth and try not to let any noise escape my lips.
The pain keeps coming with every whip that hits my back. It gets worse every time. Where's Peeta or Gale or Haymitch? Surely one of them would be in the town and be able to hear me
Gale POV
I've come to Katniss's home in victors village. I peer inside and see that she's not there. Maybe she went to see lover boy. I'll try his house and see whether she's in there.
I knock at the door. Peeta opens it. He is obviously shocked to see me.
"Hey Gale, What can I help you with?"
"Is Katniss in there?"
"No I haven't seen her since this morning when she went out with you"
Screams could be heard coming from the town square. Gale and Peeta looked at each other, they both knew those screams. They were belonged to Katniss.
"We need to go tell Haymitch, he can persuade whoever's hurting Katniss to stop it."
"Ok, but we better be quick"
We run over to Haymitch's house.
"HAYMITCH, WHERE ARE YOU? WE NEED YOU URGENTLY"
"What do you want?"
"It's Katniss, we heard her scream. Someone's hurting her in the square"
Haymitch stands up immediately.
"Of course"
"What?" Me and Peeta reply at the same time.
"They've got a new head peacekeeper. A friend of mine knew him and he says that he put up a whipping post in the town. That's where Katniss will be."
"Let's go"
We run as fast as our legs will carry us down to the square. We push past many people in the square and what we find there neither of us will ever forget.
Katniss has her top removed and is just out there in her bra. Her back was bleeding and looked nothing like a back should be. Peeta rushes up in front of Katniss asking her whether she's ok. I run up in front of the peacekeeper and try to get him to stop whipping Katniss but instead I get a whip across my cheek. Haymitch runs over to the peacekeeper.
"STOP!"
"Why? This girl has broken the rules and she deserves to be punished!"
"Do you know who you whipping here? This is the girl on fire. She is the darling of the capitol and it's her wedding tomorrow. How do you think her stylists are going to feel about that?"
"I don't care who she is she broke the rules-"
"Let her go. I know she broke the rules but the capitol isn't going to like you if you ruin their pretty girl on fire"
"FINE, BUT NEXT TIME ITS TH FIREING SQUAD! EVERYONE GET INSIE YOUR HOUSES AND STAY THERE. ANYONE OUT AFTER DARK WILL BE SHOT"
Everyone runs home. Me and Peeta untie Katniss from the pole. She groans in pain. Peeta found a spare board that wasn't burnt. We lay her down on the board face down and all grab a part of the board.
"Come on we need to get her to her mother."
We walk as quickly as we can without causing any more pain to her frail body. We finally arrive at the house and open the door. Katniss groans again.
Mrs Everdeen looks stunned. I can see the tears in her eyes.
"What happened?"
"New headpeacekeeper. He whipped her back till it was bone dry."
"PRIM, I need you to come down here, bring the herbs with you."
Prim is down in no less than 30 seconds. She takes one look at Katniss and her face become as determined as ever. Katniss keeps groaning and it hurts me to see her this way.
She grinds the herbs with some snow outside and applies the mixture to her back. Katniss groans again. Prim eventually finds a needle and finds the right liquid because she thanks under her breath. The needle goes in and Katniss goes limp. The mixture is applied and I can see that her back is getting better already.