Chapter 7

A/N Just a quick note. I decided to do a chapter for Kantiss' POV about what has been going on with her and the rest of district 12. Do you like the change or not? Let me know!

Katniss POV

The woods feel lonely without him. I am resting in our usual spot after a long day. I managed to find a little more game today, three squirrels and two pigeons. It still wont be enough for everyone to go to bed full tonight, and certainly not enough for me to trade for the other things we need. I have lost weight since they took Gale, I'm starting to be able to see my ribs again.

When I do manage to trade at the Hob, people are more generous than usual. They know I am trying to provide for Gale's family too. I hate their pity, but I am in no shape to refuse it either. I get up, and make my way for the fence. I pick some dandelion greens on my way, that will help drive away a little more of the hunger. I stash my weapons, slip under the fence, and head for the Hawthorne's place.

Hazel is busy washing clothes when I arrive. She has tried to take on more work, but everyone who can afford her services, already comes to her. She gives me a weak smile as I enter the house. "Not much luck today I am afraid," I say as I lay all three squirrels and a pigeon on the table, along with a little over half the greens. She walks over and puts her hand on my shoulder. "This is great Katniss, you have done so much for us." She gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze, her eyes saying all the things that can't be put into words. She turns to her children smiling and tells them to go wash up for dinner. Hazel has always amazed me. Here she is, a widow with three children at home and one in the games, and she still has the strength to care for her children and even some left over to give me. "I'll be back for the viewing tonight," I say as I leave.

I make my way through the streets to my house. I go inside kick off my boots and lay the pigeon and greens on the table. I wash off quickly and change clothes. Prim is in the backyard milking her goat, Lady. Good, at least they will have that tonight too. My mom has already cleaned the bird and started roasting it over the fire. I sit down at the table and pour my self some of the tea from the kettle. "This will make a nice meal for the three of us tonight," my mom says. "Hazel invited me to eat with them tonight, while we watch the mandatory viewing," I say to her. She nods, and pulls the bird from the fire. She hollers for Prim to come eat. I excuse myself and leave for the Hawthorne's. I know I have been avoiding Prim, I miss her so much, but I can't stand to see the slight disappointment on her face when she sees the small meal tonight. I feel like I'm letting everyone down, but especially Gale.

I think back to the day of the reaping. Hearing his name called, was one of the most painful moments of my life. I know he was terrified, even if no one else did. Why did I kiss him before he left? I ask myself that question all the time. Do I actually have any romantic feelings for him? I don't really know. I have been so against the idea of love and marriage my entire life, all it brings is pain. The kind of pain I am feeling now. One thing I do know from this experience is that I don't want to live without him. I don't think I can. I didn't realize how much apart of me he was, till he was gone. I feel out of step, like part of me is missing. Everything I see and everything I do reminds me of him in some way. Is that what love is? I really don't know. I tell myself I'll figure it out when he makes it home.

I arrive at the Hawthorne's just before the viewing begins. Posy squeals when she sees me and jumps into my arms. Hazel smiles warmly at me. "Would you like some dinner dear?" She says to me. "No thanks, Hazel. I ate with my mom before I came." She raises her eyebrow and gives me a look. She knows I'm lying, but she won't call me on it in front of the kids. I can't take food from them, not after I have failed them. Rory gives me small smile. He's upset that I hardly take him in the woods with me. I make a note to make sure I take him out with me this week. The TV clicks on by itself and I see different announcers analyzing the odds for each tribute. Hazel makes Vick and Posy go to bed. She won't let them watch any of the games. The whole spectacle makes me sick.

I remember seeing him at the parade, covered in glitter, and stifle a laugh. While he looked completely ridiculous, it was just good to finally see his face. His score was really impressive as well, one of the highest in the history of District 12. I was he had been here to see the hope on peoples faces when they announced it. The start of the games was brutal. Seeing that girl throw a knife and cut open his arm was brutal. Seeing Brooke die was worse. She didn't stand a chance, She hesitated when the gong sounded, she just stood there froze in fear. When she finally started to run it was too late. The girl from one caught up to her easily, and slit her throat in one swift movement. At least her death was quick. Her parents haven't been seen since. Like most of the families of tributes, they have locked themselves in their home. Gale seemed upset, when he found out she died. I wonder if he befriended her. I know the look on his face though, he felt guilty.

Then the bats came. I had never been so scared in my life. Hazel even made Rory leave for that part. Her and I held hands, with silent tears in our eyes through the entire thing. Neither of us knew if he would make it. When he found the water, we celebrated together. I can't imagine what must have been going through his mind as he watched that boy being torn apart. I nearly threw up.

He seems to be set up pretty well. I wish he had a bow, but I know that he will do well the set up he has right now. Theres not much Gale isn't good at. That fact used to make me mad, I never caught onto new things as quickly as he did. Now, I am thankful for it. The recap doesn't feature him very much, which is good and bad. He has been safe, but he has also been boring. We mostly watch the careers try and hunt down the other tributes. They are having some trouble navigating the tight spaces, but they are doing better than most tributes. They find the boy from 6, Kirk, trying hide from them. They toy with the poor boy for a while, arguing over who would get to kill him. The whole spectacle makes me sick. Slate seems to be fed up with them and takes his spear and puts it swiftly through the young boys heart. The other careers are pissed, he took the kill from them and didn't have any fun with it. When turns from them, you can see his face. He hates them and hates himself. He didn't kill that boy out of want, he killed him to spare the boy from being tortured.

The camera switches and we see Cane, the boy form 11. He barley escaped the blood bath, slipping away from Gleam at the very last second. He doesn't have any supplies. He looks ragged and sluggish. I can see he's close to the girl from 7, Ivy. She's small but she managed to slip out of the blood bath with a few supplies, even got sponsored a canteen of water. She's oblivious, and begins tossing some pebbles against the wall out of boredom. The noise peeks his interest and he silently heads in her direction. When he sees her supplies he lunges at her. He catches her off guard and tackles her to the ground. She is screaming and trying to grab her knife, but she can't overpower his large size. He grabs her by her shoulders and slams her head into the floor. She lets out a cry and I see the blood on the ground where her head hit. He continues to hit her till the cannon sounds. He looks like he might have lost his mind. He grabs her supplies and runs off. He drinks some of the water and eats some food.

The camera switches again. I finally get to see Gale. He has made some kind of net and is in the water. He must have seen some fish in there. He lifts the nets suddenly and its some type of slimy looking lizard. He takes its head off with the knife and goes back to fishing. He's caught six of them and he seems satisfied. They aren't huge, but combine them with the food he already has he will be good for the next few days. He seems almost comfortable and I am immediately scared for him. The gamemakers don't want anyone comfortable, something is bound to happen to him. He cleans the lizards and manages to start a fire with some weird black rock, must be Capitol technology. He cooks the lizards and eats one of them, sticking the others in his pack for later.

I am really nervous for him. Hazel seems to sense is and brings me some tea. I thank her and she offers me a small smile. "He will be ok Katniss." She says to me. I want to believe that. He could do it, but anything can happen in the arena. I have seen gamemakers kill tributes outright, no amount of skill can stop them. He has to come home, I don't know what his family would do without him. I don't know what I would do without him. The camera switches again to catch up with the other tributes. Most are wandering around trying to stay out of sight and scavenge for anything they can find. If the gamemakers don't do something soon, half of them will die of dehydration in the next day or two. The broadcast ends for the night and I am relieved, he has survived another day.

I thank Hazel for the tea and she reaches over and pulls me into an embrace. "You are doing everything you can. We will never be able to repay you for what you have done for this family, for Rory." I gulp. Last week we signed up for tessera. I went down, not only to sign up for myself, Prim and my mother, but also for every member of the Hawthorne family. That means in addition to my usual three additional slips, I will have an extra four this year. I saw Rory standing a few people in front of me. I yanked him out of line and forced him to go home. I know he wants to be a man and protect his family, but he is just a child. I won't let him take that risk, just as I would never let Prim. I hug her back, "He would have done the same for me." She releases me, smiles and nods. I see Rory standing behind her. He comes up to me and folds his arm across his chest, trying to stand a little taller. "You're taking me with you to the woods tomorrow. I wont take no for an answer." I laugh a little at his attempt to be intimidating. "Ok, Rory. I'll be here at dawn. You will be up and waiting for me on the porch. I will not come in. If you're not there waiting, I will leave without you." His eyes widen when I say dawn, but he nods and agrees. "I'll see you tomorrow then." I say as I walk out the door and head back to my house.

Prim is already asleep when I get there, and my mom is busy in the kitchen. I go up to my shared room and slip into my bed. I know Rory wants to learn to hunt, and sometimes he is usefully. It just feels strange to me. The woods are mine and Gales, being there with anyone else feels wrong. I try to sleep but its useless. Every time I close my eyes I see his face. I think about what he's doing now. I almost feel guilty being here, relatively safe, sleeping in my bed, with my family, knowing what tomorrow holds for me. I fall asleep and I dream of Gale stuck in the arena, dying a hundred different ways.

When I wake at dawn I feel more exhausted than when I went to bed. I try to shake the nightmares away as I get dressed to meet Rory. I make my way to his house. I am surprised to see him sitting on his porch ready to go. He sees me and jumps up, eager to get going. He picks up Gale's hunting bag and my heart nearly stops. He looks so much like the boy I met in the woods so many years ago. This is going to be harder than I thought. I sigh and he falls in step with me. We slip under the fence and head for the log where my weapons are stored. I reluctantly hand him the child's bow my father taught me with. He has been out here a few times, even shot that bow on a few occasions, but he's a novice at best. I mostly give it to him to keep him quiet. He takes is eagerly. "So what do we do first." He says, a little to loudly. "First," I whisper, "We speak quietly and only when we have to." I give him a stern look and he nods. "We are going to check our snare line first. Move softly, watch where you walk. If you see any movement, tap me and point. Don't speak. Then we will hunt some spots I know are good, and gather any greens along the way." He gives me a smile and nods again. We set off along the snare line. Not much luck there. Most snares went untouched, and a few triggered with nothing in them, probably from the wind or a falling branch. I do manage to get two small rabbits. Rory has been good so far. I had the rabbits to him and he slips them into his brothers bag. I sight makes my heart ache. It should be him out here with me.

I can't believe the luck I have had over the last couple days. Just when I think I have had the worst day hunting, the next day is worse. I show Rory how to reset the snares. I am not as good as Gale. It should be him out here teaching his brother, not me. We then sit in a few spots that usually turn something up, and still nothing. I am getting frustrated. I can't even find many plants because I have picked over my usual spots already. I look at Rory and sigh. If we fail today, we all go hungry. "What do we do?" he asks me, reading my thoughts. "We're going to have to go deeper than I normally do. We have to move with the game. I have seen many edible plants around. That means they have probably moved on. We walk for about a mile, when I start seeing more plants and then I spot the turkey tracks. I point to them and smile at Rory. He smiles too. We are going to eat tonight. I follow the tracks, and I finally see them. I'm not in range yet so I motion to Rory to stay put. Turkeys spook easily. I don't need his untrained tread to startle them. When I am in range I line up my shot and fire. I get one, right through the eye. Rory, comes up behind me, and I motion for him to go collect it. He walks over, and stops dead in his tracks. He moves his hand slowly to his back and motions me to come forward. He then slowly starts toward to bow across his back. My heart stops, what has he stumbled upon, wild dogs? A bear? I never should have taken him this far out. If anything happens to him, I'll never forgive myself. I string another arrow and make my way to him as quickly and quietly as possible.

What I see when I get there, I can't even believe. It's a deer, a young buck. Rory is continuing to reach for his bow, but I stop him with the shake of my head. I can't let him take this shot, its hard to take down a deer, even for someone with my skill. I take aim. If I hit this we will all eat like kings for a while. I over extend my bow, to get more power behind my shot. Deep breath in. Exhale. Let my arrow fly. I hit the buck just below the shoulder and it starts to bolt. It's a fatal shot, but that deer could run for up to a mile before it dies. I take off following its trail. Rory is behind me. I lose sight of it and slow down, waiting for him to catch up to me. "We have to find it." I say. "We follow the blood trail till we find it." I find blood quickly and follow it about half a mile and I see the deer on the ground, not moving. I did it. My worries are over. Now how am I going to get this thing back? I am suddenly so thankful Rory is here. There is no way I could do this without him. I look at him and I know he sees what I see. We wont have to worry for a little bit. No one will go to bed hungry tonight.

I grab the rope I always keep in my bag. You never know when you will need it in the woods. and tie the front legs of the deer together. We both grab the rope and start dragging. We take multiple breaks, grabbing greens and even snacking on some berries I found. He tastes one and his face lights up. I makes me sad we never bring them home for the kids to try. They are to valuable in trade for us to keep. We are back to our original hunting spot and we are both exhausted. We won't be able to get this thing back before dark at this rate. I find a clearing with a stream nearby and a nice tree with a perfect branch hanging out at the right height. I throw the rope over the branch and Rory and I hoist the deer off the ground and tie our end off the rope to another tree, suspending the deer upright in front of me. "We are going to have to clean and dress this ourselves. There is no way we can continue to haul the whole thing this way." I tell him. He looks scared, he has never cleaned an animal before. I know how to do it, in theory. I have cleaned more small game then I can count, but I have never done a deer. I pull out my knife and other tools. "Hand these to me when I ask for them and be ready to help when I call for you." He nods, still wide eyed.

I start to remove the skin and roll it up. This will make a nice hide and have a lot of use this winter. Next I split the belly and remove the entrails. This makes Rory a little green in the face and I have to admit it smells terrible. Next I start removing the strips of meat, handing them off to Rory to rinse in the creek and put in my bag. When I have finally finished, I can see its late in the day. We still have a long walk with a very heavy bag, but not as heavy as an entire deer. When make it to the fence and the sun is just starting to set. As we stash our weapons, Rory stops and gives me a quick hug. "Thanks for taking me with you Katniss. It was a good day." I give him a small smile. "It was, I couldn't have done it without you." I say and I mean it. Yes, it was painful being there with someone other than Gale, but I wouldn't have been able to get this deer without his help. We go into the Hawthorne's house and Hazel greets us. She sees the game bags and her face lights up. "Mom! We got a deer!" Rory exclaims, as he runs up and gives her a quick hug. She looks to me for confirmation and I nod, a proud smile growing on my face. "I'm going to go get my mom and Prim and we can start preparing it tonight." I say and head out the door.

The three of us head back to the Hawthorne's place. Hazel has already prepared a dinner of fresh venison and some left over greens. Prim has brought some goat cheese with us and for the first time since Gale left, everyone seems almost happy. His absence leaves a heavy sadness in everyones heart, but for one evening we can just be one, big, broken family.

After dinner, Hazel, my mother, Prim, and I all work on preparing the meat to store. We get Gale's make shift smoker fired up and lay the meat in. By tomorrow, we will have preserved meat to last us for a while. As we finish the TV switches on automatically, signaling that the viewing is about to begin. The first thing we see is the girl from 3, Telle dying of dehydration. I feel bad for her, it is a terrible way to die. The careers haven't killed anyone today. It looks like they are still having trouble navigating the arena. They can't seem to agree on much and they are growing frustrated. They show a few other tributes, Cane is wandering through the arena, looking like he's starting to lose it. Koi, the girl from three has found a good hiding spot but is starting to run out of supplies. She will have to move soon and hope she finds something. The girls from 10 and 11, Eve and Pepper have found each other and stuck up a friendship. They managed to find a small puddle of water dripping from a stalactite, its not much, but its keeping them alive. The camera then turns to Barley, the boy from 9, He's very close to Gale. I hold my breath. Gale is in his little cave, working on his fishing net. His head shoots up when he hears the echoes of foot steps, he grabs his machete and peeks around the corner seeing Barley run up to the water. He stops, probably trying to decide if its worth the risk to drink it. I notice he only has a small pack of survival tools.

He looks up toward Gale's cave. "Hey, Who's there?" He shouts. Gale doesn't answer. "I know someones there. I don't want a fight. I just want to drink some water without getting killed." Gale seems to weigh his options, and finally decides to show himself. "I don't want any trouble." Gale says. "Good, I don't either, names Barley. Gale right?" He says. Gale nods. "Is the water safe?" He asks. "I don't know, I have been using iodine on it." Gales says. "Can I have some? I haven't had water in days, I don't think I'll make it much longer without some." Barley asks. Gale thinks for a minute and the grabs his pack and machete and swims to the other side. He hands Barley the bottle. "Thanks so much, I don't know what I would have done." Barley says. They talk for a while, Barley seems relaxed and Gale seems skeptical. Barely seems to have made himself right at home and I know Gale does not like this. He has always been more comfortable alone, never fully trusting anyone. "You don't mind if I stay here do you man, I can watch your back and you can watch mine." Barley says. I see Gale think it over, it would be nice if he had help if the careers show up, but something just doesn't seem right about this boy. "If thats what you want." Gale finally says, pulling two lizards out of his pack. "Wouldn't be very fair of me to eat in front of you and not offer you anything." Barley comes over and sits next to Gale, pulls out a pocket knife and starts to cut the meat off the lizard thing. "Thanks man," Barley says. "Looks like you made out well at the cornucopia." Thats an odd thing to say, I think as I watch him eyeing Gale's stash. I don't like this, not at all. I see Gale tense up too, he's got the same feeling. Gale turns his back slightly to Barley, he's gathering up his stuff, probably to go back to his spot across the pool. His hand hovering over the machete. I see Barley lift his pocket knife, and bring it down towards Gale's back. I know in that spit second I cannot survive without him. I let out a strangled scream and drop to my knees.

A/N Sorry for the cliff hanger! So what did you think of Katniss's POV? Do you want more from her? Please, please review and let me know!