Gale Hawthorne wanted to die. The only reason he couldn't raise his hand up and scream "I Volunteer" like Katniss had done was because he was busy keeping Prim from running to Katniss. Prim bit him and kicked his leg four times but Gale couldn't let go off her. He didn't know what Prim would do. Effie Trinket had called out "Peeta Mellark" the bakers son as the male tribute. He wanted to raise his hand, yell "I Volunteer as Tribute" right then but Prim's teeth which had sunk into his left arm and his right arm which was around Prims waist so she'd be stuck in that position prevented him from raising his hand. He opened his mouth to yell "I Volunteer" but he remembered the promise he kept to Katniss 'If either of us get reaped, the other will support both the families'
He thought "Screw it, I'm keeping Katniss safe" He took in a deep breath and was ready to scream "I volunteer" when he heard the anthem. He looked up and then realized he was too late. He was going to scream out in agony. He wanted to but Prim was shaking in his hands, sobbing and crying. She was screaming loudly but the anthem drowned her out.
Gale walked in the room which Katniss was in. They hugged each other "Listen" he says "Getting a knife should be pretty easy but you've got to get your hands on a bow. That's your best chance". "They don't always have a bow" Katniss said. "Then make one, a week bow is better than no bow at all!" Gale said. "I don't even know if there'll be wood" Katniss said. "There's almost always some wood" Gale said. "Yes, there is usually some".
Gale didn't know what to do "I wanted to volunteer" He said in a low voice "Don't you dare!" Katniss said "Who'd take care of our families?" She asked. Gale looked at her "Katniss, with me around, you'd win, you'll come back and I know you'd take care of our families like that!"
"But what if both of us died!?" Katniss asked. "I wouldn't let anyone kill you, even if we were the last two alive, I'd kill myself and let you live" Gale said. "Let me live? With what Gale, I'd die guilt, and if you killed yourself I'd kill you!" Katniss said, fully aware the last line didn't make sense. Gales mouth twitched but nothing could make him smile, not even a Katniss who was saying stupid, nonsensical things.
The peace keepers came soon and pulled Gale away, he asked for more time but they wouldn't give him any, he yelled for Katniss to remember what he told her about making a bow but the doors were close, Katniss wouldn't know what he wanted her to remember.
He walked out of the Justice building and saw Prim and Mrs. Everdeen sitting next to each other, with his mother and his little brothers and sister around them. Greasy Sea and a few from the hob were there to, offering condolences. They seemed indifferent to the people around them. Gale walked to them.
"I'll be out hunting" he said. His mother looked at him and nodded. No one else cared.
Gale had fixed up a snare around the strawberry patch he and Katniss had found. He was sitting among the bushes, his teeth clenched, eyes shut, trying not to cry. Suddenly he heard the familiar sound of his snare being pulled back, but something he'd never heard before was an "AGAH! WHAT TH- HEEELP!" coming from the direction of his snare trap. Gale jumped to his feet and looked at his snare. He couldn't believe his eyes. Maybe because they eyes were blurry from the tears, so he rubbed them once twice, thrice
There was a girl, upside-down, hanging 10 feet above ground trying to touch her foot to free herself from the snare, but the leg not tied on to the snare made it hard for her to reach her feet, she started rotating. "Ugh. No!" She groaned and then rotated slowly to face the very puzzled Gale.
"Who the hell are you?" Gale yelled at her. The girl had hair that seemed to be a mix of white at the start to blond around the middle to brown to black at the tips. She hesitated for a moment and then said "I'm Storm, help me down?" she asked, she said her name as if she was trained to say it in that manner. "Storm, what kind of name is that?" Gale asked taking a step toward the tree he'd tied the snare around, she was wearing a white shirt and white jeans, and she had a white bow and a quill of silver arrows around her back that surprisingly hadn't fallen off her back yet. Gale started to wonder how that was possible when she yelled back "A weird name, why what's yours!?" She asked, she was spinning now, the more she moved the faster she spun "Gale" he said and walked slowly toward the tree.
He looked at her groaning and cursing the world, he pitied her and decided he should her; he bent down and pulled out his knife, deciding to cut the snare the usual way. "Don't!" Storm yelled before Gale could cut the rope, he looked at her "Why?" he yelled back. "Because I won't survive a ten feet drop, not with all my bones intact at least" she said. Gale smirked and proceeded to cut the snare anyway
"Hey, I told you not to – whoa!" she screamed as she almost fell to her death (death here to her was a few broken bones) but instead of feeling the hard ground and shooting pains up and down the broken bone, she felt two arms around her, one around her waist and one around her shoulders.
"You can open your eyes now!" she heard Gale say and felt her feet touch the ground. She hadn't even realized her eyes were squeezed shut till Gale told her. She slowly peeked out of them to see everything was upright and realized that she wasn't dead. She looked at Gale who seemed to be looking at her like a new species, but from what she was wearing, it was a little obvious she was freak to Gale. "Thank you" she said softly.
"How your bows and arrows still on your back" Gale asked. "Oh" Storm said and then slid the quill off her arm, the bow was still on her back. "They're sort of magnetic, the arrows don't come out till you pull them yourself" she said and pulled one out to show Gale. The arrow, instead of having a sharp tip had some-what blunt one, it also had a small black ball attached at the end "The magnet" she said slowly.
Gale looked at the Bow and Storm followed his gaze. She sighed, she reached around to her back and pulled something at her collar, the bow then slid down her arm, she pointed at a small hook like structure "I hooked it onto the collar, and the bottom of the jacket has a magnet like the arrows that keep it attached onto the quill" she said.
Gale examined the bow and the quill. "What's this do?" Gale asked as her pressed on of the decorative patters on the bow that was the only thing red. "No, don't!" Storm said but she was too late, the bow had already turned into a necklace with a tiny cuboid hanging at the bottom. "How did that happen?" he asked, almost dropping the necklace.
"My dad got a few of his, uh, colleagues to a send, sorry – make one for me as a, uh, gift" she stuttered. Gale looked at her, his eyes suddenly sharp "Where are you from?" he asked his voice got deep and a little too scary. "District 2" Storm said. Gale looked at her. "How did you leave?" he asked in rough tone. Storm frowned; no one spoke to her that way "Shut up. And who the hell are you to ask me that? I flew out of District 2, but that is none of your business, so butt out!" she said, she wasn't screaming, her voice just sounded as scary as Katniss's when she screamed. Gale took a step back
"Good bye, Gale it was nice to meet you!" she spat the last word and the walked away.
Gale was lying down on his bed, turning left and right; he knew he had seen the girl before. He was sure she wasn't from district two. But who was she? Gale stayed up half the night thinking but eventually his mind decided his body needed to rest so he went to sleep.
The whole time he was asleep, he dreamt of the blond-brown hair, her red lips and grey eyes. Something he had failed to notice, but his sub-conscience had defiantly made a note off.