Chapter 22: Most Wanted

Thanks for reading, thanks for the constructive criticism, thanks for the support, and thanks for your

patience! "The more you get from pretending, the less you actually have." (Genie v.) Even when I'm

broken and tired, You are enough, enough, enough!

An arrow whizzed past Katniss' head. She felt the sting of the next one graze her cheek. Gale pulled an

arrow from his quiver and took aim. Katniss pulled an arrow from her quiver and listened. A twang

broke the silence.

"On your left!" Katniss yelled.

Gale acted instantly and a body fell to the ground with a loud thump. Katniss and Gale stood back to

back. They were breathing at the same pace. Katniss fired her arrow into the forest and heard a body

fall.

"This isn't right. We shouldn't be trying to kill each other!" Katniss yelled.

"It's us or them, Katniss. I choose us." Gale whispered sharply.

"How can you be so heartless?'

"Heartless? Katniss, are you ready to die?"

She looked at him. It was as if the Gale she knew had vanished right before her eyes. He was more

militant. Nothing was going to get in the way of him keeping them alive. Katniss began to wonder how

she would live with the blood on her hands. Then she knew, as Prim's young and sweet face came to

mind. Better her blood stained hands than Prim's.

"Twelve down and twelve to go, President Snow." The gamemaker toasted to the Hunger Games.

His glass clinked with President Snow's.

"Those two are resilient." Snow noted.

"How so?" the gamemaker asked.

"How so? Did you see her praying to her imaginary friend? Take things up a notch, won't you? We don't

need this disease spreading any further. It'll be better for all of us to be rid of them." Snow bitterly

retorted.

"Yes sir," the gamemaker said, as he headed to the control room. "We're pest control, people. Change

the landscape by any means necessary. Only a few come out of this alive. Katniss and Gale can join the

other tributes. President Snow's orders."

No one uttered a question. They knew what that meant. He had it out for Gale and Katniss. They knew it

was fatal to be under his magnifying glass with the blazing sun behind him. Their very lives depended on

their success or failure.

The ground began to shake and crack. Katniss and Gale headed out of the clearing. Gale took Katniss'

hand as the ground around them began to collapse. Katniss looked back and choked back a sob, as she

saw some tributes get swallowed up by the ever-widening hole.