"Oh my god, Katniss, you're bleeding!" he cried as he peeled of her jacket and examined the wound. Her shirt underneath was soaked with blood.
Katniss looked down in disbelief, not feeling a thing. Strange, she thought, how did that happen?
Gale carefully pulled up her shirt and looked at the cut. It was long, but not too deep. Katniss stared at his face, confused by his worried expression.
"I'm fine, Gale, don't worry." She assured him, cradling his cheek in her hand.
His eyes looked into hers, and for the life of her, she couldn't register his concern. "We need to get you help," he said, applying pressure to the wound. He looked back at the burning hovercraft, knowing medical supplies had to be in it. As he was thinking about running inside it, the machine groaned and spit flames. Part of the roof collapsed. It was a lost cause. "Where is the craft you crashed in?" he asked Katniss desperately.
She looked around. All of the woods suddenly looked the same to her. She crinkled her brow, confused. Trees in every direction. "Oh, I don't know, Gale…what does it matter?" Her head was starting to feel funny.
"Katniss!" he patted her on the face and his voice was harsh. She thought unnecessarily so. "Katniss, stay with me."
"I'm not going anywhere, Gale, I just found you…"
"Katniss!" he screamed. She rolled her head up to look at his face, uncertain why he was acting so strangely. "This is very important. I need you to tell me where the other hovercraft crashed."
She looked at him crossly, trying to focus her eyes on him. She thought back to when she came running towards the burning craft. What position it was in. She remembered seeing its underside. "Ohh…"she looked at the hovercraft, "I guess, that way." She pointed to the woods across from the machine's bottom.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Gale, I think so."
There wasn't time to second guess her. Gale scooped her up in his arms and started running. He jumped over fallen trees and had to shuffle over a few exposed rocks. Luckily it took Gale only a few minutes to find her fallen ship.
"Jeez, Katniss," he swore as he saw it, nose buried deep in the ground. It had been quite some impact. Luckily, this machine was not on fire. He gingerly laid her down only a few yards away from it and hoped inside. He ignored the dead man and the red window and immediately searched for the medical supplies. Luckily, everything was clearly labeled, and in only moments he found a box with a big red cross on it. He snatched it and rushed back to her.
Gale ripped the medical box open, frantically searching through the supplies. His eyes darted from one thing to the next, looking for something he needed. His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when a voice came from the box. The inside of the lid turned into a screen and the image of a friendly woman appeared on it.
"State the medical emergency," she commanded in a clear capitol accent.
Gale stared uncomprehendingly at it for a few minutes before he realized he realized what he was supposed to do. "Umm…" he stammered, "Cut on her side…"
"I do not understand," said the woman, "could you please repeat?"
Gale cursed loudly. He looked over at Katniss, trying to find the right words to make the woman in the box understand him. "She has a deep cut over her ribs. There is a lot of blood." He tried not to sound to panicked.
"Do you mean the patient as a laceration of the epidermis?"
Gale had no clue what that meant. He was using all the resolve he had to try not to yell at the box. "I don't know what that means," he fumbled, feeling stupid and helpless, "can you repeat? Please?" He didn't know if being polite would help.
"Epidermis means skin, Gale." Katniss said out of nowhere. She heard her mother use this word before.
"Okay, yes, she's lacerated her epidermis," he told the box, "and there is a lot of blood."
"Begin with an injection of the intravenous essentials…" Gale had no idea what that was, but he found a large syringe thusly labeled. "Insert into patient's blood stream to provide essential fluids and medicines…" He grabbed it, pulled off the cap, and stuck it into Katniss's arm.
"Oww," she reproached him, "that hurt." She still seemed oblivious to the wound in her side, however. "I'm so sorry, Gale," she muttered, looking at nothing in particular, referencing nothing in particular.
"Don't worry about it, Catnip, you'll be just fine." He shot her a reassuring look as he waited further instruction.
"Apply adhesive gauze to soak up excessive blood." Gale obeyed. "Clean area of laceration with iodine solution and wipe clean with sterile clothes." But as soon as he took off the gauze, her wound continued to bleed and this was easier said than done. Gale did his best though, one hand with the gauze trying to soak up the blood, which was lessening, and the other trying to wipe the area clean.
"Once disinfected, apply mending cream to laceration generously, ensuring that both edges of epidermis are completely covered. Then match the severed sides together and hold until cream congeals." Gale gently tried to put her skin back together and held it as carefully as he could until the cream, which was more of a clear gel, started to stiffen.
"Once cream has hardened, cover entire area with sterile adhesive gauze, then bandage appropriately to keep would clean and stable." Gale followed her instructions as quickly and carefully as he could. "Monitor patient condition and administer intravenous essentials as needed. Consult a medical professional as soon as possible."
"Sure," Gale finally breaths, "I will as soon as I find one." He looks down at Katniss. She seems calm – something in the injection probably sedated her – but she was conscious. Not exactly coherent, he would soon find out, but conscious. Alive.
"Now Gale, I want you to listen to me," she told him sternly as he carried her away from the craft and tried his best to make her comfortable, placing her head in his lap as he leaned against a tree. "Are you listening to me, Gale?"
"Yes," he said, kissing her hand and brushing her hair from her eyes.
"Good. Because I have something very funny to tell you…" She laughed for minutes, giggling like a school girl, something Katniss never did, even when she was a school girl. Then her eyes got lost somewhere in the distance. She stared, blinking like she was trying to focus. She didn't pick up her thought, and Gale wondered if he should ask her or let her be. "I don't think we'll be able to fly the hovercraft back to Twelve," she finally said, looking up to meet his eye.
He grinned and shook his head, looking over to the damaged ship, front half buried in the ground, side torn apart from her midair collisions, "No, Catnip," he agreed, "I don't think so either."
She continued to mumble and doze over the next hour. Gale attentively watched her face, looking for any sign or expression of pain. But Katniss seemed peaceful – at times confused – but peaceful as she fell asleep in his arms.
Once Katniss was asleep, Gale carefully pulled himself out from under her. He went into the shell of the ship and scavenged it for anything that might be useful to them. He found two supply packs, with water bottles, food, weapons, even a couple of blankets. He filled them with everything possible, and packed the medical kit too, hoping they wouldn't need it again.
He carried the supplies deeper into the forest. He was wary of staying too close to the hovercrafts for too long. There was no telling when other Capitol agents would come to recover them. He found a big tree that looked like it would give them shelter. It was near an outcropping of rocks as well, which would be a good place to hide, if that were necessary. Gale thought about Katniss's condition, and hoped it wouldn't be. Once he'd hidden the packs and supplies amonst the rocks, he went back to retrieve Katniss.
And his heart nearly burst when he realized she wasn't there.
"Katniss!" he screamed. If Peacekeepers had taken her, he wanted them to hear and come back for her. "Katniss!" he started running, alarmed, a thousand horrible thoughts tearing around his head, eyes searching every direction. His ears honed in on something to the left. He immediately looked in that direction.
"Katniss!" he screamed so loudly she had to stop.
"Calm down, calm down," she held her hand up as if to stop him, "I just had to pee."
"Damn it, you scared me!"
"I had to pee!"
"Okay, okay…" he calmed himself, "I'm sorry."
She shook her head, stumbling slightly, and he rushed over to steady her.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she insisted.
"No you're not. You're actually quite badly injured."
"No," she stubbornly insisted as she limped towards him, "I'm fine."
"Yeah?" his voice teased, "then why are you limping?" There was a wicked smile on his face.
Katniss's hand shot immediately to her side and she tried to straighten herself.
"Katniss, please," Gale insisted, seeing her struggle, "let me help you."
He went over to her. But she shook her head. "I can do it!"
"I know. I just want to help you."
She looked up at him, eyes revealing the thoughts tugging at her mind. "Well, only if it will make you happy."
"Very happy," he played along. She looked like she hadn't made her final decision; a slight scowl on her face that Gale thought was adorable. She looked about like she was considering this very deeply, then nodded. Gale gently scooped her up in his arms. "Better?" She nodded at again vaguely, as if it really didn't matter. And her carried her to the spot he'd set up by the tree.
Gale didn't want to risk making a fire because he knew the Peacekeepers would come eventually for the fallen ships. And he was right. No less than an hour after they made came did they see two more hovercrafts enter the area. They heard the distance voice of Peacekeepers patrolling the area, but they crouched low in the rocks and were never seen. Gale insisted they stay low until they were certain the Peacekeepers were gone. Katniss agreed and fell asleep in his arms. He held her close and cursed himself for letting anything bad happen to her.
She didn't wake up until well after dark.
"Is it safe?" she asked groggily.
"I think so," Gale said, having been alert the past few hours. "I haven't heard anything for quite a while."
Katniss rose from his arms and stretched, stopping suddenly when she felt the pain in her side. "I forgot about that," she said stiffly, as she her hand instinctively went to it. Gale frowned at her, but her face told him it was okay. "How long was I out?"
"A good few hours, I think."
She nodded.
"How do you feel?"
"Fine."
He looked to her eyes to see if she was telling the truth. "Not too much pain?"
She shook her head. "I've had worse."
Gale didn't like the ambiguity of her answer but accepted. "Are you hungry?"
"Always."
Gale pulled some food out of one of the packs. It was strange processed Capitol food that had a strange texture but tasted good.
"I think mine tastes like lamb," Katniss said through a giggle.
"Lamb?" Gale threw her a quizzical look. "When did you have lamb?"
"At the Capitol."
"Ahh," Gale nodded.
"Here, want to try it," she brought the bar up to his mouth. Gale looked suspiciously at it and took a little bite.
"That's not half bad," he agreed.
When she finished she leaned in and kissed Gale. It was at first sweet, then sensual. Their lips worked against one another's. Each taking the other in and giving a little bit of themselves.
"What are you thinking about?" Gale asked.
She replied with a knowing smile.
"Katniss, you're hurt…"
"Yeah, but I'm not dead," she said, starting to pull off his shirt.
