The Fire

Watching Katniss starve to death may be worse than watching her be killed instantly. Yesterday, I watched as the girl from District 8, Wenda, nearly got Katniss killed. She sat for hours warm by her fire, Katniss frozen in place the entire time just an arrow shot away. The Career pack had been able to see the plumes of smoke from her fire though. She had been fast asleep when Cato grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her up. She pleaded with him, tried to talk about her family, but he didn't care. He shoved a sword through her stomach as she screamed one final time. She lied there, twitching in a fit of endless suffering as Cato and his pack scavenge her things and walked away.

That was when Katniss realized Peeta was a Career. I still wasn't sure what his game was at that point, but I knew his story about Katniss and him fighting had been a lie when Katniss nearly fell out of the tree when she saw Peeta. One screen had shown Peeta going back to the girl to finish the kill quickly while the other was showing Katniss listening to the gossiping Careers. She fell to the ground when they were cone and smiled, like she knew exactly what Peeta was doing. I know her better than that. She is well aware that she is in the Games.

There was so much going on in the second day that they couldn't show it all. Apparently Peeta had shown some skill with the knife to keep in the Career's favor. They mostly aired what the other tributes were doing to find food or shelter. Some found water, the little girl, Rue, waited above a pool of water after she collected a few berries to eat. She sat in the tree branches, watching everyone walking below like an Owl watching a mouse run through the grass. There was another girl, the one from 5, Finch, who was an expert at staying right where the others couldn't see her. She stole some food from the Cornucopia when they went to hunt to the others and then she took off and hasn't really been on the screen much since. Finch looks like an animal, her face is long and her hair is orange, like a fox. She blends into the surroundings easily.

Today, Katniss is pale, slow, and groggy. She is soaked in sweat as she treks through the woods. I sat through the entire school day watching her do nothing but wander the woods, clutching her side and rubbing at her dry tongue. Peeta, on the other hand, drinks away at the lake he and the other Careers claimed before they set off again looking for more tributes to kill. By the time I brought dinner home from the Hob though, she had a change of luck. She is swimming in a small pond with her water jug filled. She drinks two gallons and feasts in the tree she's strapped into. The others are either in the same dire situation as she was, or have already found their go-to water source. One tribute had a sponsor send them some water, someone from the Environmental Council, I think. I didn't care. I went to bed happy.

Until now.

The loud sound from the other room of the screen turning on meant something big was happening and the Capitol wanted everyone to watch as another tribute died, no matter the time. Rory and Vick shoot up and I hear Posy let out a startled cry. My mother comforts her as she rushes with us toward the screen. I know before I get there that it's Katniss. They wouldn't have woken us at 4am if it had been any other district, and Peeta is with the Careers.

We reach the screen in time to see Katniss jump down from a tree as a massive wall of fire closes in around her. She just moves away from a falling branch on fire as she heaves the pack on her shoulder and follows the route the animals with much keener senses takes. But she runs into smaller branches that cut her face, and she looks down to avoid all the upraised roots that hide in the ground, and soon, the smoke hides the rest of the trace of them. She holds her shirt over her nose to give her some air. Air is something I do not have myself either as I watch her duck and dodge falling debris and gasp in the small patches of clean air left in the forest for a solid five minutes. The cameras only cut away once or twice to show tributes reacting to the plumes of smoke in the distance. Some are close by and run as far as they can as the Gamemakers heard the tributes like sheep, but only Katniss is caught deep within the woods.

When the camera is back on her, she doesn't quite clear a jump over a log on fire and glances behind her at the wall closing in. She rips off the jacket and tosses it on the ground, kicking the dirt on it and stomping out the worst of the flame before tossing it in her pack and running again. Each breath she takes is painful and clearly taking all the air she has left. She ducks down behind a large rock and doubles over, clutching her chest as she vomits. She is shaking violently and coughing, retching, but nothing is left to come up.

I find myself mirroring her. My breath has all but left me and I clutch the table for support as though it is the last thread of my life. I can feel my mother's eyes on me as I too start to shake. I clench my teeth and stare at the screen as anger begins to flood through me. The Capitol wants her dead, and they always get what they want. If she survives the fire, they'll send the other Tributes her way. If they would show the map, I'm sure that there are already a few headed in her direction.

She gathers her things together before looking around for the clearest path. When she looks like she'd made up her mind and was about to stand, a giant fireball slams against the rock with a loud bang as it explodes. She springs up, urgency replacing the sickness and smoky haze she'd been in. She drops to the ground as another one flies over her head. The screen splits and shows two other tributes as they run from the fireball onslaught. The three of them run through the trees, zigzagging as they attempt to dodge the falling branches and the deadly fire orbs aimed for their heads. One makes it out of the fireball zone and the screen disappears as he throws himself on the ground and lies there.

There aren't two screens for long. Katniss takes the entire screen as she begins to gag again. She can't stop and throws herself against a tree, coughing, clutching her throat as her body violently spasms again and again. The camera zooms in as she wipes her eyes and reaches at her head. She pulls out clumps of burnt hair from her braid and stairs at it as the pieces drift to the ground. She is completely out of it. Her eyes aren't focused, her face is pale as snow but with a sharp contrast of flushed cheeks.

She can't even move when the fireball flies out at her. I can see it happen, and I can see that she isn't going to move fast enough. Vick gasps next to me and buries his face in my pant leg as Katniss yells out when she is hit. Her pants ignite and she rolls it around in the dirt to put it out before ripping the fabric away before it melts into her burn.

"Gale," I hear my mother say, but I can't respond. Her hands are covered in large welts, her face is cut up and bleeding, and her leg is damn near burnt off. I feel my mom pull Vick off me and usher them back into bed. Katniss lies there rolling her leg back and forth, her body involuntarily lurching forward with pain.

"Gale," my mom says again. This time I look at her. Her face is filled with concern for me, not for Katniss. I glance back at the screen where she still is on the ground. My mom grabs my face, her hand behind my neck and I look at her once more. She says nothing, but pulls me toward her and her arms lock in place. Slowly, I find myself responding, my chin resting on her shoulder. As I stand there, I realize that I am crying. I realize that I am afraid for Katniss, but also afraid for me. What would I do without her? She's my best friend, and I care for her as much as I care for my family. And I can't lose her.

My mom lets me go and I look back at the screen. Katniss is limping away, out of the smoke. The map comes up with her location and I see that she is headed straight for a pond. I wipe my eyes from the few tears of relief that still escape from my eye. I take a breath and calm myself.

"She's alive, Gale. She will make it."

I feel much more composed and take a seat. "If it were just her and the tributes. The Capitol wants them all dead and if they didn't want a good show, she wouldn't be alive right now. They shouldn't have that much power, they—"

"Shhhh…" my mom whispers. "It's okay, I know, but you can't say those things."

I stand and pull my boots and jacket on. "I know one place I can say whatever I want."

"Gale, it's nearly five in the morning."

"I'll be back to bring them to school."

I don't want to wait for her response about how we can't say what we want, or to sleep it off. I was wrong when I said watching Katniss starve was worse than watching her die instantly. Watching her even come close to death, to see it staring her in the face, was the worst. I'm angry, and that's what I want to be as I head toward the hole in the fence.

A/N: So this was mostly stuff we know from Katniss' perspective, but I feel like this would have been such a pivotal moment for Gale in terms of his character arc. He really sees just what the Capitol has the power to do to the people he loves, and I wanted to focus on him seeing it, even though we see all of it in the actual book. So I hope that wasn't too boring without any really new info! Let me know what you thought, as always! And thank you for reading!