Inferno

Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I don't own the Hunger Games.

Chapter 10

"Are you insane?" I ask Gale slowly, glaring at him.

"Not any more than the Capitol," he answers stubbornly. Everyone is quiet, silently observing our exchange.

"But the Capitol has control of your life right now, Gale Hawthorne," I hiss at him, "Does that mean anything to you? They can take you and kill you anytime they like."

My voice starts rising, and the others take that as their cue to leave. Effie makes an excuse about tending to her hair, Haymitch goes off to find more alcohol, and both of the stylists say that they have to work on new design. Good. At least we don't have an audience.

"Don't be stupid, Catnip," he replies, "It'll be a pain for them to replace me at this point, won't it?"

"They'll make your life in the arena a living hell," I say through gritted teeth.

"Then I'll only be harming myself," Gale says easily.

"I hate the way you just brush it off, Gale! What about your family? Think about it!" I yell at him. A grim look passes over his features.

"You'll survive and take care of them for me, then. You will do that, won't you?" he says.

"You'll be harming me, Gale!" The words slip out of my mouth without thinking. "If-if you don't survive, and I do, I'll never be the same, and you know it."

"You're strong, Katniss, you-"

"That's the problem, Gale. You're tremendously overestimating my strength. I'm. Not. That. Strong," I say, making sure my point gets across.

"You have Prim, Katniss!" he says, suddenly yelling, "Or have you forgotten that, too?"

The mention of Prim makes me go cold. How can I leave my little sister, my sweet little Primrose?

"See? We both have things we'll be leaving behind, Catnip, but one of us has to die. There's no use dancing around it," Gale says softly.

"Then I'll be the one who dies. Why are you hell bent on making that person you?" I ask angrily.

"Why do you think I volunteered?" Gale asks in a low voice.

"I-I don't know." It hadn't yet occurred to me to ask him.

"To protect you, because I-" he pauses, seeming as if he just caught himself from saying something else. "Because I can't bear to let you go through this alone."

"You shouldn't have," I say weakly. Gale scoots over a bit and reaches out to wrap his arms around me.

"Stop, Catnip. I don't want to fight during the last few guaranteed days we have together," he says, his voice muffled by my hair. His face rests in the crook of my neck, his soft breath tickling me.

I give in and rest my head on his chest. We curl together, creating our own little nook. I vaguely wonder if what Gale said is really the only reason he broke our sacred pact and volunteered to take Peeta's place. But that line of thought only leads to things I'd rather not think about, things that would change our relationship, so I banish all thoughts from my mind and only focus on our mingled breathing.

There's a sharp jab in between my shoulder blades. "Sorry to interrupt your little moment, but dinner's ready," someone slurs. I groan and shift, only to find that I'm stuck in place. I wriggle a bit more, and then I realize I probably fell asleep in Gale's arm. I blush , suddenly alert, and gently shake Gale to wake him up.

He frowns in his sleep, making him look twelve years old instead of eighteen, and I stifle a laugh. "Come on, Gale. Dinner's ready." I freeze up for a moment, remembering what comes after dinner. Our training scores.

"Dinner?" he asks drowsily, his eyes fluttering open. I let out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, come on already," I say, untangling myself from his embrace. My neck feels a bit stiff, and I try rolling it around a bit.

Gale gets up off of the couch, and I suddenly notice Haymitch watching us. He looks at us intensely; or rather, as intense as you can get when you're drunk, and takes another swig from his bottle. "Let's go."

We follow him to the dining room.

Tonight, dinner is a silent affair, minus the clattering of dishes and utensils. I realize that all of these people - Cinna, Effie, Portia, and Haymitch- actually care enough about me and Gale to worry about what our training scores will be. It gives me a strange sense of fulfillment, knowing that they actually haven't given up on us already.

"The scores will be broadcasted any minute. Maybe we should skip dessert. All it does is make you fatter, anyway," Effie says, glancing at the delicate silver watch on her wrist.

Everyone nods in silent agreement, leaving the dishes for the Avoxes to clean.

We all head back into the sitting room, and Haymitch turns off the lights before sitting down. I take a seat next to Gale, sitting up completely straight. His hand fumbles around in the darkness, searching for mine. I somewhat reluctantly lace my fingers with his, holding on tight. We all wait patiently for a few minutes, and the giant TV automatically turns on, scaring me half to death.

Caesar Flickerman's easy voice fills the room, announcing that it is time for the scores to be revealed. I wonder how Prim and Gale's family will react when they see that we got incredibly low scores.

Most of the Careers score an eight to ten, while the other tributes score an average of six, with the lowest being four. Surprisingly, Rue earns a seven. She must've really impressed the Gamemakers, since she's so small. It's finally time for District 12, and I desperately hope Gale gets at least a four.

Gale's grip on my hand tightens as Caesar announces, "And Gale Hawthorne's score is...," he trails off, looking behind at the screen where the scores are being flashed.

12.

"A twelve?" Effie gasps from somewhere off to my right. I stare at the screen in pure shock, making sure that I didn't read the score wrong. Gale's hand goes limp. I don't whether I should scream or cry or congratulate him. Everyone is dead silent, and it's only when my score comes up that everyone starts talking.

11.

"This is not good," Haymitch mumbles next to Gale.

"Why not?" I ask, regretting my words when everyone but Gale and Effie turn to look at me in disbelief.

"Don't you see what they're doing?" Haymitch asks, his signature smirk gone.

"What?" Gale asks.

"Sure, a good score's going to get you sponsors, but now you might as well have a giant bull's eyes painted on your faces," he replies.

"They're making you a target," Cinna says.

"The Careers are all going to be after you," Haymitch adds.

"Thanks for the encouragement," Gale snaps sarcastically, and Haymitch blows up.

"This isn't funny, boy! If you hadn't pulled that stunt with the dummies, this wouldn't have happened! We're only warning you, but if you want live in your little fantasy world, then go ahead," he fumes.

Gale tenses, and I know that he'd like to say some not-so-kind things back, but he stops himself and leans back on the couch.

"What are we going to do with you?" Haymitch asks no one in particular, and promptly walks out of the room, bottle in hand.

Cinna and Portia stand up. "We should get back to our rooms," Cinna says. He comes closer and leans down to whisper, "It's okay, Girl on Fire. We'll help you two get through it. Don't worry yourself too much." Only those few sentences from Cinna make me feel better than Haymitch would in a century.

Once Cinna and Portia clear out, only Effie is remaining, and she gets up awkwardly, definitely not expecting to be left alone with me and Gale. "You know, I don't think the Capitol should ignore you just because you're from District 12." She looks around nervously, as if expecting someone to laugh at her. "I think that your scores mean you'll finally get noticed. I see it as a good thing." She rushes out before I can reply.

I stand up slowly, holding out a hand for Gale. "That was interesting, wasn't it?" I ask.

Gale takes my hand and pulls himself up. When he's standing up straight, I have to tilt my head up to look at his face. "It was, Catnip. It was."

I change out of my training clothes and wear a pair of silky pajamas, that are admittedly lavish, but comfortable. Along with the giant bed and soft mattress with matching pillows, I should be able to fall asleep. I try and fail many times to trick myself into sleeping, by counting silently in my head and daydreaming about home. But all I can think about is Gale's perfect score and my near-perfect score, and how much they can harm us in the arena.

Still wide awake, I roll over onto my side so that I can see the clock sitting by my bed. 1:06 AM. I went to bed at around eleven. Sighing, I shift back over, facing the right side of the room. Just as I'm finally about to drift off to sleep, I hear the door crack open. My eyes suddenly snap open, and I strain to hear any sounds. Someone then touches my shoulder and I jump a little, but immediately relax, knowing exactly who it is. There's only one person with footsteps that quiet.

"Hey, Catnip," Gale whispers, standing cautiously at the side of my bed. "Were you sleeping?"

"No, not really," I reply, sitting up. I cross my legs and pat the spot beside me. "Sit down."

Gale takes a seat on my bed, wearing the same type of silky pajamas as me.

"These pajamas are ridiculous," Gale says, touching the hem of his shirt, and we both laugh.

"I can't help thinking about our scores," I say softly.

"Don't worry, Catnip," Gale says, "I won't let anything get you."

I roll my eyes and laugh, playfully swatting at him with a pillow. We start talking about home and our times in the woods, and even though we don't usually talk to each other this much, it feels good to be distracted from our worries, even if it's just for a little while. Neither of us bring up the issue of our families possibly starving, and we only focus on the good things. That time that I got stuck in a tree and Gale had to help me get down. Another time when the fence had been on and we both had to camp out in the woods.

After a while, both of us get drowsy, and Gale yawns before getting up. "Well, Catnip, I think I should go back to my room now. 'Night," he says, getting up to leave.

As soon as his weight leaves the bed, the room suddenly seems too big again and I touch his arm. "Wait, Gale, just stay."

He hesitates slightly. "You sure?" he asks. I nod, and he sits back down again, the mattress shifting under his weight. He lays down in the center of the bed, as close as he can get to me without actually touching me, and as our eyes meet my breath catches in my throat and I'm hyper aware of the little space between us.

"Good night," he says softly, his warm breath fanning over my face. I shudder, my stomach fluttering, and I roll over so I'm facing the other way.

"Good night," I mumble back. The last thing I feel before I fall asleep is Gale wrapping an arm around me and pulling me closer to him, so close that I can faintly feel his heartbeat drumming against my ear.

(A/N)

The movie finally came out! Has anyone seen it? Please tell me what you think of it in the comments or PM me! Where I live, I won't be able to see the movie for a long, long time :(

Comments? Things you liked? Didn't like about this chapter?