Hello everyone! Thank you all to reviewed last chapter, I love you all! I'm sorry this last chapter took a little longer than expected but here it is! Enjoy :D
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE HUNGER GAMES
Chapter 11
There is a moment when the pain becomes irrelevant. When the horror doesn't matter anymore. When the only thing that matters is self-preservation. For me that moment is now. The pain in my ankle all but disappears as I crash through the forest, sprinting away from the vicious tributes from District Two and the still, lifeless bodies of Ronan and Marina. I don't dare go back to Rue in fear that they'll find both of us, so I simply follow Maysilee as she guides me away. I don't question, I don't look back and I don't cry. Because if I cry then I won't be able to stop.
I run for more than an hour straight, even after May tells me that I've lost them , that they've given up and gone back to their camp. A large rock catches my foot and I fall to the floor, twigs and dirt scraping my face. I don't get up, preferring to just lay here on the ground. It's better on the ground. The tears begin to fall without my permission and since I know there's no use in fighting them, I give in completely, cradling my knees to my chest as the sobs rack through my body.
It's my fault. If he didn't let me escape, if I didn't tell him to come with me, if I had picked out a tree farther away, if I had forced him to stay, if I had gotten there fast enough, if I had done something, Ronan would still be here. Alive. And now he's dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. My fault. My fault. My fault. My fault.
"Stop it Madge. Do you hear me? Stop that right now," May says, stroking my hair as I continue to sob. "I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. There was nothing you could have done. Nothing, Madge." But she's the one that's wrong. He was my ally, we were supposed to look out for each other, to protect one another. And I didn't protect him. And now he's dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.
The sun is completely set by now and I know that I have to get back to Rue. I lost one ally today, and I'm not about to lose her too. I get unsteadily to my feet, my ankle not hurting as much as before but still stinging. I brush off the dirt and leaves from my clothes, drying my face as best I can.
No more tears, I tell myself, keeping my head high, refusing to think about Ronan. Refusing to think of the sound of his laugh, the way he would twist his bracelet around his wrist when he was trying to think, how his whole body relaxed the moment that his feet hit the water, how he's cheeks turned red as he asked if we were allies, the way his whole face lit up like a candle whenever he smiled.
No, I won't think about that. And I certainly won't think about the sound of Marina screaming, how Clove grinned as she slit her throat, how Ronan fell to his knees, the way Cato sneered as he stabbed him in his stomach. And the blood. I will not think about the blood. How the red liquid poured out of Marina's slit throat, how it coated her once pale neck. Who knew there was so much blood in such a little body?
May instructs me on which way to go and I follow her without thought, my eyes hazy and unfocused. Once I begin to recognize where I am May stops offering me directions, which means she wants me to find Rue on my own. I stumble passed the trees, looking up into the branches for my little ally.
"Rue?" I whisper as loud as I dare into the darkness.
"Madge?" a voice squeaks out and my head darts up as I see two bright eyes staring down at me. Relieved, I give her a forced smile even though she can't see it in the dark.
"Yeah it's me." I say as I climb up to her. When I reach her, she throws her arms around me, squeezing me tight. I clutch her close as I feel her tiny body shaking with sobs. "You saw?" I ask even though I'm pretty sure I know the answer.
She nods, burying her head deeper in my chest. "I climbed up to the top of the tree and I saw Ronan and the girl from his district. I saw the Careers kill them. And you didn't come back for so long, I was scared that they got you too."
"It's okay little bird, I'm right here." I hug her tight before releasing her. She wipes her nose on her sleeve and I kiss her forehead, "It's going to be okay." She nods, pretending to believe me.
We climb into the sleeping bag, but I know that I won't be getting any sleep. Any kind of exhaustion I had before the Careers showed up has been wiped out, leaving only adrenaline and anger in its place. My words from the first night I met Ronan plays in my ears, "No one likes to kill." But now I know that I was wrong. Because the grins on Cato and Clove's faces as they murdered Ronan and Marina stated clear as day that this is what they like to do, what they were made to do. Kill.
Rue snuggles up against me, resting her head on my shoulder."Madge?"
"Yes little bird?"
"Did you hear the other cannon today? It was right after you run away, I-I thought it was you," she says, cuddling closer to me.
"No I didn't hear it, who do you think it was?"
She shrugs once, looking up at the sky, "You don't think that…you don't think it could be Thresh do you?"
I look down at her to find her staring at me with trusting innocent brown eyes, waiting for me to offer words of comfort, "I'm sure wasn't him, you don't have to worry about him."
"Do you worry about your district partner?"
I blush, "Of course I do."
"Do you really love him?"
My blush deepens as I imagine every Capitol citizen hanging off the edge of their seats, "Yes." I say simply, willing her to drop it.
She does for a moment before saying, "Thresh said he would ally with me if we ran into each other here, if we find him all three of us can form an alliance." She must mistake my silence for something other than fatigue because she quickly adds, "Oh and your District partner too, if you want."
She's looking up at me with those eyes again and I smile as I ruffle her hair, "Sure little bird, if we run into our district partners we can offer an alliance." That must satisfy her because she relaxes against me, looking relieved.
I grasp her hand under the cover of the sleeping bag as I see the Capitol seal appear in the sky. I don't worry about Gale, I know his face will not be in the heavens tonight, Maysilee would have told me. Still, as the anthem begins I feel myself freeze up, staring up at the sky, wishing…wishing…wishing what exactly? That Ronan's face won't be up in the sky? That somehow if his picture isn't shown then it was all a bad dream? No matter what I'm wishing for it doesn't come true as his sweet, innocent face lights up the sky. There's a sharp pain in my stomach as I stare at his picture in the sky before it fades too quickly to Marina's picture. Marina, the young girl who thought that staying with the Careers would mean a better chance at survival, who screamed for Ronan to run, who died because she let us escape. But then her picture is gone too.
And suddenly, I feel like screaming. It's not fair. It's not fair that that's all I will ever have, a ten second glimpse of Ronan's snapshot and then he's gone forever. I don't realize I'm crying again until Rue snuggles closer to me wrapping her arms around me. I'm not sobbing like I was before, instead the tears roll silently down my face. I press three fingers to my lips and raise my arm up to the night sky. A silent goodbye. Goodbye my friend.
For a brief moment, right before the sleep fades from my eyes, I forget. I forget where I am, why I'm here, what I've lost. But then I feel my swollen red-trimmed eyes and the moment of bliss is gone. It's a gloomy, overcast day but I know that we should get moving anyways. I don't want to be here anymore, it's too close to where it happened.
I wake Rue up, gently coaxing her to open her eyes. Once she's awake we pack up and climb down the tree. My ankle is all but fine today, just slightly sore. "Are we going to catch some fish for breakfast?" Rue asks.
I can feel a lump rise in my throat but I nod once, "Well, we're certainly going to try." The stream is only a ten minute walk from the tree and as soon as we get there Rue sets off to collect more berries and roots as I try to catch us some fish. After my third failed attempt at casting the net I string an arrow onto my bow and point it at the water, watching the fish swim lazily by me. I release the arrow, succeeding in shooting a fish. I hold it up, a victorious smile on my face.
"Well that's one way to do it." Rue laughs, her hands full of berries. I laugh along with her, shooting three more fish before bringing them back to her. I take the arrows out of their bodies, cleaning the arrowheads off in the grass before I gut and clean the fish, trying to remember Ronan's instructions on how to do it. Mays helps, giving me directions on what to do and finally all four fish are ready to cook.
Rue starts the fire and we hook the fish onto sticks, roasting them over the fire like we did yesterday. "Are you okay Madge?"
I nod, trying to look less depressing, "Of course I am," I tell her, fiddling with my pin.
She looks at me for a moment before pulling out a necklace out of her shirt, "This is my token." She explains with a smile. Its looks like its woven out of some kind of grass and has three small carved wooden stars charms dangling from it. "It's a good luck charm. The stars stand for truth, sprit and hope."
I smile at her, "It's very pretty."
"Thanks, my mom made it for me." After we finish the fish we decide to head away from the stream, the Careers found us here once already and it would foolish to stay here any longer.
We pack up and start heading out, on the lookout for game and edible plants as we go. I suddenly remember my snares and tell Rue that we should go check and see if they caught anything. She agrees, eager about the promise of meat other than fish. We're about a quarter of a mile away from the first snare when she stops in her tracts, looking around at out location. "I found a patch of berries near here, I remember I passed that big rock to get to it."
"Great," I say with a smile, "let's go pick ourselves some berries."
"I can go by myself, you go check the snares."
I shake my head, "No way are we splitting up."
"We'll get more done that way. Besides it's not like we'll be very far from each other." I don't like it, especially after losing Ronan yesterday, but it does make sense. Seeing my distress Rue opens her mouth and sings four simple notes. Almost immediately I hear the tune being echoed by the white and black winged mockingjays up in the trees. "We can use it to signal each other."
"Alright," I agree since there's no sense in arguing with her, "We'll meet back here at the rock. Don't take too long and be careful. Signal me when you're on your way back here." She nods and I hand her one of the knives from my backpack, just in case she runs into trouble. I bend down, hugging her once before letting her go. I watch as she walks away towards the berry patch and I can't help but feel that no good is going to come of this.
Maysilee leads the way, oddly quiet again today and I follow after her, trying to keep my footsteps light. As I reach my first snare, I find to my great surprise a medium size brown rabbit. Great, I killed Peter Cottontail, I hold back a flinch as I release it from the snare, reminding myself that this is what I need to do in order to survive. I reset the snare and walk the ten yards to my last two traps. Two fluffy squirrel carcass greats me at both of them and I grin in spite of myself. Looks like the girl from Town can hunt after all.
As I rest the last two snares I hear a handful of mockingjays singing Rue's song. I relax slightly, relieved that she's on her way back. I sing the tune back softly, telling her I'm heading back too. I smile as I walk, happy at the idea of fresh meat and a full stomach.
I reach the rock only to discover my little ally is nowhere to be seen. Worry ebbs through my body as I bite my lip, telling myself she'll appear any second now. But she doesn't. I sit down, gathering a few pieces of dry wood to create a fire to cook the meat over and wait. I sing the tune again, hoping it will cause her to hurry up and get here. Still nothing. I pull on my ear as I look at May but she doesn't respond either not seeing me or choosing to ignore me. Probably the latter.
She said the berry bush was near here, she should have gotten there before I reached my second snare. And the mockingjays delivered her tune meaning that she was coming back before I even reset the traps. After another minute I break down calling her name as loud as I dare. "Rue? Rue!"
Nothing. But then, so quiet I almost miss it I hear her call my name. I'm on my feet in an instant, twirling around to try to figure out where the sound came from. "Rue!" I call again.
The mockingjays around me fall silent, all of them but one, whistling a long high note before falling silent with the rest of them. I don't waste time asking Maysilee who or what is coming, instead I scamper up the closest tree, hoping that I'll have the advantage from above. There's a rustling in the trees and my blood runs cold as I imagine Cato coming towards me, my hand griping the handle of my knife. A boy emerges from the trees and without a second thought I jump down from my perch, falling down on top of his back. He cries out, trying to rip me off of him. We're rolling on the ground until I grab him by the back of his neck, forcing him down. In one fluid motion I have him pinned to the ground, me straddling his torso, my knife touching his throat.
"Madge!" I don't dare take my eyes off the unfamiliar boy, not even as Rue falls down next to me. "Madge it's okay, it's just Thresh. He won't hurt us!" her voice laced with shock.
Judging by the boy's enormous size, I highly doubt that, and I refuse to move my dagger away from his neck. Maysilee says something to me, but I don't hear her, too focused on this boy in front of me.
"Madge?" a voice calls out in surprise. I stiffen as I turn my head to face the all too familiar voice.
"Gale?" I squeak, staring at the boy in front of me, not trusting my eyes. There are tears in my eyes and I'm grinning like a fool but I honestly couldn't care less. He's grinning at me, as if he's trying to hold in a laugh.
"Hey Hawthorne? You think you can get your girlfriend off me now?" I look back down at Thresh, my cheeks burning red as I jump off him.
"Sorry about that." I say, trying to keep my eyes off Gale. Thresh shrugs it off and Rue giggles. I behind down to look at her in her face, trying to appear stern, "Where were you? I heard your signal but you weren't here." I try to use the same tone of voice my father uses when he's being strict with me but end up sounding like a worried mother.
"I'm sorry, I was picking berries and on my way back Thresh found me." Her face lights up as she looks back at the boy and I look back up at Gale, he's expression still one of surprise and amusement.
Before I can stop myself I throw myself into his arms, wrapping arms around his neck. He's frozen for a second before his arms wrap around my waist, holding me so tight I can barely breathe. I can hear laughter behind us but I'm too giddy to care.
"Now can you finally stop whining Twelve?"
"Shut it Eleven." Gale mumbles, his voice muffled by my hair.
I let go of him, curiosity getting the better of me, "You know each other?"
"We're allies." Gale explains smiling down at me, as if he still can't believe I'm right in front of him. "So I see this is where you ran off to," he says, facing Thresh, " Thought the Careers got you for a second there, the way you screamed."
"I didn't scream." He grumbles and I hold back a giggle. "I just didn't expect to get jumped by Miss Twelve here. Didn't you say she was shy." Gale laughs, one arm, loping around my waist and I have to remind myself to breathe. "Well it seems I accomplished what you weren't able to. Looks like someone owes me a rabbit leg." Thresh laughs and Gale rolls his eyes.
"What did you accomplish?" Rue asks, looking up at Thresh with an admiration similar to that of a little sibling.
"I found you two," he says ruffling her hair.
"You were looking for us?" I ask surprised.
Thresh nods his head and Gale explains, "Me and Hawthorne here made an agreement to try to find our district partners." He says before facing Rue, "Who knew you would be allied together already? If somebody had stuck to the plan and ran to me instead of into the bloodbath then I wouldn't even have to be searching for her in this godforsaken forest." Thresh poked Rue and she blushed red under her russet skin.
"So you two are allies?" Gale whispers to me. I nod and he smiles, "Figures, only you would go looking to pair up with the smallest tribute here." I scoff at that and his smile grows. How can I miss a smile so much?
Gale sizes me up, his eyes widening at the fresh game in my hands, his mouth almost hanging open when he sees the bow and quiver of arrows on my shoulder. "How'd you get that?" he asks astonished.
"It's a bit of a long story." I tell him, not wanting to go into detail about the Careers and Ronan just yet. He nods once but I can tell he's curious.
I sit down, quickly making a small fire to cook the meat over, Gale plopping down next to me. I don't bother hiding my smile as I peer up at him. Rue drags Thresh over to the fire and Gale makes quick work of skinning and cleaning the meat while Rue chats with Thresh. This is the first time I ever heard him talk above a mutter and it surprises me that he's actually not as frightening as I would have thought. He laughs allot, cracking jokes that make Rue giggle until her face is red. When she asks him how he became allies with Gale he smirks, "I spared his life."
Gale snorts besides me, "Did not."
Thresh ignores him, still addressing Rue, "So I'm running away from the bloodbath and I don't even get fifty yards away before I run across this guy," he says gesturing to Gale, "He's got a spear pointed right at my head, I got a sword pointed right at his stomach so neither of us going anywhere when Hawthorne here says, 'Want to team up?'" Rue laughs at his impression of Gale's voice and I bite my tongue to hold in a chuckle, "And I say 'Sure why not?' and just like that, boom we're allies."
Gale shakes his head, looking down at me, "Don't believe anything this guy says, he's a compulsive liar."
Thresh laughs again and I find myself thinking that maybe he's not so bad. We roast the meat over the fire, the rabbit fat dripping off the sides. As the meat cooks I can't stop looking away from Gale, trying to convince myself that he's really here. Thresh clears his throat and I force myself to turn to him, "So, we got ourselves an alliance?"
Rue's eyes widen as she looks at me, pleading me to say yes. I don't even have to think about it, any alliance with Gale is an alliance I'm willing to take. And even though I don't know Thresh, Rue and Gale trust him and Maysilee isn't telling me otherwise. I nod, sticking out my hand. Thresh takes it, and we shake once, "Allies."
Rue puts her hand out to Gale and he smiles at the little girl, shaking her hand. She turns to Thresh with her hand out and I hold back a grin. I've never seen her so happy. "Madge?"
I turn to see Gale smirking at me, his hand outstretched. I blush, shaking his hand, unable to look away from his stormy grey eyes. After we shake he keeps holding unto my hand, his finger interlacing with mine. "I'm so glad your okay." He says, looking at me with an emotion I can't place.
My cheeks turn scarlet as I say, "I'm glad your okay too. You have no idea how glad I am." He smiles at me and my breath catches in the back of throat.
"Hey Hawthorne? So does this mean I can finally stop hearing you worrying about Miss Twelve?" Rue laughs and Thresh grins, "She's so freaking annoying, she's good at everything she tries. Was that a cannon? Do you think it was her? You don't think the Careers caught her do you?" he says, trying to impersonate Gale again.
A laugh escapes my mouth, my face turning redder by the second as I see Gale narrow his eyes at him. "That wasn't nearly as bad as your bragging big brother act, Rue is so smart, she's the smartest kid I know. And you should see her in the field she works harder than anyone."
Rue giggles as she says, "Well Madge says your name in her sleep."
My mouth gaps open, my eyes widening, "I do not!"
She just grins, nodding at me like the little traitor she is, "Yes you do, even Ronan told me you did." Her words stop as my smile fades, my face going pale. "Madge, I'm sorry." She says, her eyes watery and her voice apologetic.
"It's okay little bird. I'm going to try to find us some more game, this won't feed us all." I say, quickly getting to my feet, slinging my bow and quiver on my shoulder.
"I'll come with you." Gale says, grabbing his spear. I nod not looking at his face as I walk away from the fire, walking deeper into the forest. We don't say anything, my feet taking me farther and farther away till Gale gently grabs my arm to stop me. "Hey, you alright?" I nod, not meeting is gaze. He sighs letting go of my arm to take my hand, "So, whose Robin?"
"Ronan," I correct him, still staring at my feet. I take a deep breath before looking up at him and telling him everything. From how Cato found me at the stream, Ronan letting me go, running from the fire, finding Rue, to Ronan trying to save Marina. "Cato killed him, stabbed him in the stomach." I tell him, wrapping my arms around myself.
He doesn't say anything for a moment before he envelopes me in his arm , crushing me to him chest. "I'm so sorry Madge." My arms wrap around him as I take in the scent of pine that clings to his clothes. He rests his head in my hair and I feel my heart pound in my chest. "We better get moving if we want to catch lunch," he says, letting me go.
I smile at him as he leads the way. After a few yards of walking he holds up his hand to signal me to stop. I freeze, then see what he's looking at, a group of fluffy feathered gooslings. Gale aims at one with his spear but I tap his shoulder to stop him. He turns to me with an annoyed look before I hand him my bow, already loaded with an arrow. He raises an eyebrow at me but takes the bow anyways, aiming and shooting a bird in two seconds. Before the birds get a chance to take flight I throw my knife into one more, right in the neck. He grins at me, "Nice shot."
I beam up at him before going up to the dead creatures. Gale retrieves the arrow from the one he shot and I clean the blade of my knife off in the grass. He grabs both birds by the neck as we head back to camp, and I catch him looking at me more than once. Or maybe it was him catching me looking at him.
By the time we reach Rue and Thresh, the two squirrels and rabbit are already cooked, as well as an assortment of roots that Rue and Thresh apparently gathered. Gale skins the birds and begins to roast them over the fire. Meanwhile Rue and I begin to dig into the two squirrels, both the boys claiming that they are not yet hungry since they just ate a short while ago.
Having never eaten squirrel before I was expecting the worst, but I find it oddly good, the meat texture being almost that of a chicken but with the taste being that of a rabbit. Not as awful as I dreamt up. Mays smiles at me across the fire and I can't help smiling back, not caring if the audience thinks I'm crazy for smiling at nothing. I do worry though about how my parents are taking all of this. How does it make them feel to watch their little girl, who always had a scrap of food to spare for any stray animal, kill a living creature. Not as bad as seeing her die, I tell myself.
The goosling cooks quickly, the grease and fat dripping off its meat. We share the rabbit and goosling amongst ourselves, filling our stomachs until we can't move. Still, after eating for at least an hour, half of a goosling remains as well as a fair amount of roots. We decide to save it for tomorrow. Thresh and Gale both have backpacks full of supplies, combined between the two of them they have a lighter, a bottle of iodine, two water bottles, three knives, a sleeping bag, an assortment of bandages, a dozen biscuits that are now down to eight, a pack of dried fruit, a flashlight, a spear obtained at the Cornucopia and an extra jacket.
Rue and I show them our supplies and Thresh's eye widen as he grabs the sunglasses, excitement in his voice, "Do you know what these are?"
I shrug my shoulders, "Sunglasses."
He snorts at my response and Rue grins at me, "They're night vision glasses, they sometimes hand them out to us when we work late in the fields." Night vision glasses. A smile comes to my lips and I see Gale grinning besides me.
"Do you think the Careers have any of these?"
Rue nods, "They have two pairs, I was spying on them the day before the fire happened."
"Did you see what lies on the backside of the Cornucopia?" I ask her.
Thresh is the one to actually answer me, "It's a field. We were hiding out in there for awhile but the fire drew us out." A forest, a field and a lake, that's all this arena has to offer. I suppose it could be worse, one year the tributes were thrown into a frozen wasteland, snowing and raining constantly. If the cold didn't kill you, the mutated predators would. Needless to say those Games ended quickly, the Capitol audience growing bored of watching tribute freeze to death.
It's midafternoon by now and we pack up our supplies and keep moving. "Here," Gale says, handing me back the bow and quiver.
I shake my head, thrusting the weapons back in his hands, "No, you're better at it than me. And besides I got my knives." He looks at me once before smiling and slinging the weapons back on his shoulder.
Gale leads the way and I grow weary as we walk, it being the first time I hadn't followed Mays through the forest. But May still walked next to me, uncomplaining and silent so I figured that Gale must know his way enough for her not to be too paranoid. I wonder vaguely about our sleeping arrangements, since both Thresh and Gale are far too big to be able to climb high enough into a tree to be safe. Which means sleeping on the ground. I doubt Gale will be very happy about that. Before long we reach another small stream, flowing underneath the side of a overhang, a few rock formations forming around the stream. "Turn left at the next rock." Maysilee tells me in my ear.
I do as she says, trying to make it look like I'm just taking in the surroundings. Rue calls out my name, asking me what I'm doing. "I think I see something," I tell her, watching my footing as I climb over the jagged rocks, following May into the stream. I hear Thresh mutter something but I pay him no attention, scrabbling to catch up to my aunt. She stops finally, hovering above me with a grin on her face.
I frown as I look around, trying to find why she dragged me out here. There's a rock leaning on the side of the overhang and I lean against it taking a moment to catch my breath when I feel it give a little. I look back at it, an idea forming in my head. I grab a hold of the edge of the rock, pulling it away from the wall. It's not very heavy, and I feel it budge more. I hear a splashing in the water and Gale appears besides me grabbing grasping of the rock and pulling it towards us. The rock falls away to reveal a dark cave, not very long but with a high ceiling and wide walls.
Gale laughs out loud, throwing his arm around my shoulder, before turning back to look at Rue and Thresh's surprised faces. "Looks like we have shelter for the night." Thresh lets out a funny little whoop and Rue grins at me.
It doesn't take very long to organize our supplies and store them in the cave, placing the rock over the entrance to mask it from any predators or tributes. With only our weapons at hand we head back into the woods, looking for meat for supper. Rue finds another berry bush she recognizes and Gale manages to shoot another goosling and two more squirrels.
While we walk Rue comes up to me, placing her small hand in mine. Looking down at her I can tell something is not right, "What's wrong little bird?"
She looks at me nervously, "I told Thresh about Ronan."
"Oh, yeah I told Gale about him too."
"So you aren't mad I told him?"
"Why would I be mad?"
The tiny girl shrugs, "I don' know, I just thought you might be upset that I told him."
I smile at her, shaking my head, "No, of course not." Thresh calls out to her, waving her over with a grin on his face, triumphantly holding up some kind of white root. Rue looks back at me, and I laugh, ruffling her wild hair, "Go, get out of here." She giggles, running over to Thresh, saying something about what a great find and a rare root.
Gale shoots another squirrel and I sigh, wishing that I could contribute to supper as much as everyone else is. "Medium size brown bird, in the tree up high."
I look around at the surrounding trees, not seeing the bird Mays is talking about until she points it out to me. A good distance away sits a brown feathered bird of some kind, blending in perfectly with the leaves and bark of the tree. My knife leaves my hand, penetrating the bird's heart and killing it instantly. I smile in spite of myself, jogging over to collect the fresh kill.
I hear a long whistle and turn to see Thresh smiling at me, looking impressed. "Nice eye, I didn't even see that thing."
I found my smiling back at him, "Lucky shot I guess."
He laughed, "Lucky shot you found the cave too right? You need to give yourself more credit Madge." He chuckled again and I couldn't help but join him.
"What's so funny?" Gale asks, walking up to us.
Thresh shrugs, "Your girlfriend just hit a bird in a tree some twenty yards away with her knife. I told her she needs to stop being so damn modest."
Gale laugh, grabbing my hand, "Yeah, I told you she's annoying." I shove him playful and he laughs, not letting go of my hand. Rue runs up to us, a mound of dug up roots in her arms. We decide that this will be sufficient dinner and head back to camp.
Rue walks ahead of us, eager to get back to our little cave. "Hey, wait up little bird." I say, not wanting her to go too far ahead of us.
"Little bird?" Thresh asks, arching his eyebrow.
I blush, looking down at the ground, "Yeah, that what I nicknamed her. Don't you think it suites her?"
He smirks, turning to look at Rue again, "Hmm, yeah I guess it does." I smile back, surprised at how easy it is to talk to this giant of a boy.
We reach the cave in no time, and since the sun hasn't begun to set yet we can still make a fire without worrying if the Careers will see it. Gale and Thresh skin and clean the meat while I try to make myself useful by gathering and purifying water from the stream and helping Rue roast the roots. After the food is cooked and we all gorge ourselves on roots and fresh meat, the odd bird I caught was tough and chewy but had a good flavor similar to that of turkey, we lay our sleeping bags on the floor of the cave, the temperature already starting to drop even though it is not yet night.
Gale doesn't have a sleeping bag and I offer him my blanket to sleep in, fighting the wave of nostalgia that hits me as I think about another boy that had used the same blanket for warmth not twenty four hours ago. I wonder what he would think of me and Rue's additions to our alliance. I know he would have liked Thresh, Gale might have taken some getting used to though. Gale sits down next to me, his fingers laced with mine. I smile as I lean into him, and for a moment I allow myself to forget that this alliance is only temporary, that only one of us can go home. For just a moment I imagine that we're not running for our lives, being hunted by crazed teenagers. For just a moment, I pretend that we're normal kids, that we're all friends, that we haven't seen and done things that we'd never imagine in our worst nightmares. No, for just a moment, we aren't in the Games. For just a moment, I'm actually happy. And then the cannon sounds and the moment is over.
Yay GALE IS BACK! I know everyone was missing him, me included so he's back! I hope you guys liked this chapter, PLEASE REVIEW! Kisses to all!