5

Gale was taller than Katniss was and he had never needed to quicken his pace to keep up with her before. And yet, there he was, hurrying after her while she strode through the woods toward an old church in ruin that seemed to be rising from the muddy earth in the distance… The church was on a deserted patch of road, which was probably why it had been abandoned in the first place. Except it wasn't so abandoned now. There were strange flickering lights inside, he could see them even through the covers of the trees. Candles, maybe.

He glanced at Mellark who was trying to keep up too, firmly gripping an axe in one hand and a stake in the other. The boy's gaze was on Katniss and never strayed from her.

Gale was carrying her bow. It was a very nice bow, not her old one – that one had been lost, she had briefly explained – and he was itching to use it because… Well, it was fine craftsmanship and he had a thing for bows.

Once they were closing in on the church, Katniss started slowing down, moving more carefully… There was no being discreet though. Not with the mud sticking to their shoes in a wet suction sound every time they took a step. And they were upwind too. But maybe the thunder and the rain would mask their approach long enough that they could snatch the element of surprise.

"Here's the plan." Katniss said. "Gale, find high ground and shoot them through the heart. Peeta, stay with him and guard his back. You don't take any risks. If it looks like we're losing, make a run for it."

"What are you going to do?" Mellark frowned.

She was going to run straight in the middle. Gale just knew it.

"Maybe you should take Mellark with you." he suggested. "I can handle myself."

"I want you shooting." she argued. "Once they figure out there's an archer, they will try to take you out. This is the plan. Stick to it."

And with that, she was rushing straight to the church without waiting for either of them, this time.

Mellark cursed and then the two of them were running too.

During the short walk, he had tried to prepare himself. Vampires were real. He still had some problems swallowing that one down. Katniss had been chosen to kill them even though it made no sense for a sixteen year-old girl half his size to be chosen when there were stronger people who could probably make a better job of it. Vampires were stronger than your average human and going against one was dangerous – but Mellark had apparently gone against a few already and had survived to tell the tale because Katniss had confided in him first and wouldn't have told Gale if… Lingering on that was probably not helpful.

Ways to kill vampires included wood through the heart – it had to be the heart and preferably wood – beheading, fire and sunlight. Holy water and crosses would hurt them but not kill them and they couldn't come in unless they were invited. To be turned, you needed to be sucked dry and to be fed enough vampire blood.

He went over the list as he ran and still didn't find any of it reassuring.

Katniss had already jumped inside the church by the time they reached it, disturbing the odd chanting the black hoods clad vampires had been doing. As far as Gale could tell, they had been standing around the big red circle painted on the floor – was that blood? – and lined with flickering black candles. There were also strange symbols painted at each cardinal point but he didn't pay them much attention because Katniss was fighting seven of them on her own, her sword not quite keeping her from getting overrun.

He looked for higher ground.

The church really was in a sad state. One of the walls had crumbled and so had parts of the ceiling. There had been a second story, though, either for the choir or to allow more people in… He spotted the old rotten steps that led up and dashed in that direction, Mellark on his heels.

The other boy hesitated at the bottom of the stairs and Gale figured he was tempted to go help Katniss. He couldn't really blame him but he wouldn't stop to reason with him either.

He found the best vantage point and he nocked an arrow.

He took a deep breath before releasing the shot, making a short prayer that the whole thing was real and that he hadn't let his mind been turn by tricks. The vampire that had been about to jump on Katniss' back exploded in a cloud of dust. He stopped holding his breath.

He was aware Mellark had finally made his choice and had reluctantly joined him on the upper floor, his axe and his stake ready to be used.

"Look! The amulet!" the other boy told him, pointing at the three vampires that had left the fray and had started chanting again. "Stop them!"

He spotted the one who was clutching an old amulet in his hand and released another arrow. Unfortunately, it also brought the attention on them. Mellark rushed to wait for them at the top of the stairs while Gale released more and more arrows. Some of them didn't find their mark.

They were faster than humans and nobody had told him that.

Katniss tried to move between the vampires and the stairs but she was still fighting two of them and she had lost her sword at some point. Gale tried to shoot the two who were coming at them but he only hit a shoulder and a chest, not the hearts.

Mellark was ready though.

He flung the axe with a battle cry that would have been more impressive if the first vampire hadn't grabbed it with his bare hands and torn it away from him.

Gale shot at the vampires Katniss was fighting. He got the one on the right. She rolled down, snatched the sword from the ground and dispatched the one on her left by cutting off his head.

The two vampires on the stairs probably saw their luck had run out because instead of jumping on Mellark to kill him, they jumped off the stairs and to the main floor and made a dash for the exit. Katniss tossed one stake and hit the one closest to the broken down doors in the heart.

The last one turned around and hissed at her like an angry cat, his yellow eyes looking around for a way to escape...

Katniss didn't flinch or hesitate. She raised her sword and jumped. It was almost beautiful to watch. The vampire tried to avoid her but she turned on herself and hit him with a flying kick, sending him soaring in the air… He landed hard enough to break his back.

Gale never found out if vampires' spinal cords could get severed because Katniss cut off his head before the guy could even look up.

For several minutes, they all stood still.

Katniss was panting in the rain that poured from the half collapsed ceiling, wayward strands of hair plastered to her face, blood, mud and dust painting an odd battle mask on her face…

Gale thought she had never been more beautiful.

It was Mellark who recovered first. He stumbled down the stairs and right up to where the vampire with the amulet had been and rummaged through the pile of dust until he could fish he old thing out.

"Do you think we made it?" he asked anxiously. "Do you think we stop them in time?"

He was watching the painted circle, the candles and the weird symbols warily.

Katniss shrugged her ignorance. "Try calling Haymitch. We need to know if he needs help anyway."

Another fight?

Gale didn't know if he had another fight in him. He realized he was still holding the bow ready and forced his arms to lower it. Then, he slowly made his way down the stairs, wondering how the two of them could look so nonchalant about the whole thing.

How soon had they gotten used to risking their lives like that?

He didn't really listen to the conversation Mellark was having with Abernathy. He approached Katniss and pulled her into a hug without really asking for her permission. His heart had been in his throat the whole time she had been down there and he up there, too far to help if she really needed it… After a second, she dropped the sword and clung to him.

There was a long silence on Mellark's end but Gale barely noticed.

"No. Sorry. I'm still here." the other boy said, his voice strained. "No giant demon, no, but we could use a ride back to town. I crashed the car."

Gale buried his face in Katniss' wet hair. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"You wouldn't have believed me." she retorted.

And she had a point.

"You shouldn't have gone through that alone." he insisted.

She drew back and frowned. "I wasn't alone."

She looked to where Mellark had been standing a minute earlier but he wasn't there anymore. Gale let go of her and looked around but the church was empty.

They found him outside, he was watching the lightning bolts in the distance, his face angled away from them.

"Haymitch says if an old god had come through we'd know." Mellark told them. "He also says you need to hold on to the amulet, he still wants to destroy it." He forced the weird-shaped piece of metal in Katniss' hand. Was it gold?, Gale wondered. It looked like gold. "They're coming to pick you up in Miss Trinket's car. They've taken care of things on their end but Haymitch said, since there's no emergency, they might take five minutes to recover so you might want to take shelter until they get here."

"What do you mean?" Katniss frowned. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go and try to start my car again." Mellark explained. "Don't worry about me."

And with that, he started walking toward the road as if it was perfectly safe for him to do so. As if there weren't vampires and apparently old gods and huge demons hiding in the shadows of the night… Gale exchanged a look with Katniss. He didn't need her to say it to know they would be following.

"Wait!" she demanded. "We're coming with you. They're going to drive past your truck anyway." Mellark didn't acknowledge that and Katniss started scowling. Gale wisely hung back a little. "What's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem." Mellark snapped. "I'm just… Look, I'm sorry. I'm tired."

"Did you get hurt?" she worried.

"No. I'm fine." Mellark sighed, pushing ahead. "You should check on Gale. He banged his head pretty bad when we hit that tree."

Katniss didn't check on him but she did fall back to walk with him. Even if she spent the whole time glaring at Mellark's back.

"I don't get it." she muttered eventually.

"I know." Gale snorted, not really amused.

"Do you?" she challenged.

He did, actually, but he wasn't ready to confront her about it in the middle of spooky woods under a thunderstorm when they were both soaked, bloody, and, above all, not alone.

The truck looked worse now that the emergency had passed. It was lucky it hadn't hit the tree face on. First, because Gale was pretty sure they would all be dead if it had. Second, because the truck might still be salvageable.

Mellark walked around it and inspected the car with his phone's flashlight, becoming whiter and whiter with every new turn he took. "I'm dead. I'm dead, dead, dead."

"Look, your parents will be angry but it's not like they don't have the money…" Katniss awkwardly offered in a slightly miffed attempt at comforting him while still being very much pissed at him.

"I know a few things about cars." Gale added, with a little more tact. "I can help you fix it, maybe."

He wasn't thrilled at the thought of spending more time with Mellark than necessary but the other boy had saved his life earlier.

Mellark didn't seem to hear either of them. He was staring at the truck, pale and stricken.

Gale had had no idea he was one of those people who cared so much about their wheels. Unless, of course, it had more to do with him hugging Katniss in the church…

Gale and Katniss spent the next twenty minutes staring at Mellark while Mellark stared at his truck, all the while acutely aware that being so close to trees in a thunderstorm was dangerous on top of the whole thing being a little awkward.

Gale was relieved when headlights finally pierced the darkness and it was him who climbed back on the road to signal the car to stop. Trinket's car or not Trinket's car, he wasn't going to wait any longer for rescue.

It was the Art teacher though. And he took a second to wonder how they were all going to fit in her Mini Cooper. He wasn't sure because he couldn't really see in the darkness but he thought it was pink.

Abernathy certainly had the pinched look of someone who had been forced to ride shotgun in a small pink car.

The man was out of the car before Gale could get more than a glimpse at his face through the windshield though. Trinket hadn't even properly turned the engine off yet.

"You're okay?" the History teacher asked Katniss and Mellark both – deliberately passing in front of him without asking, Gale noticed. Once he was certain they were both alright, he let out a long whistle. "Shit, kid, you weren't kidding when you said you wrecked it..."

Trinket was slower in getting out of the car and, when she did, she had an umbrella in her hand. She didn't look pleased to see him either. Gale tried not to take it too personally. They weren't his favorite people either.

"You took your time." Katniss reproached, burrowing further into her leather jacket.

"Would have been here quicker if the diva over there hadn't insisted on doing her make-up." Abernathy scoffed.

Trinket bristled. "My apologies. I had to keep busy while you were trying not to faint with every step you took."

The teachers glared at each other.

Katniss rolled her eyes and pushed Gale toward the car. "Let's go."

Abernathy had to actually guide Mellark toward the Mini by the shoulder.

"You are not hurt, dear, are you?" Trinket asked him gently before the boy climbed in, sandwiching Katniss between the two of them.

Another awkward fifteen minutes to go, Gale figured.

"No. I'm fine." Mellark answered in a very flat tone. "Thanks."

"I can talk to your folks, if you want…" Abernathy suggested, once both teachers were back in the car and Trinket was driving toward town. "We can say you swerved to avoid me. Make it my fault. I can pay for the repairs…"

Trinket shot him a surprised look that the man ignored.

"It won't help." Mellark answered in that same flat tone. "Thanks, though."

The rest of the drive was spent summing up what had happened on both part. Since Abernathy and Katniss were both equally laconic people, it was soon followed by a very long silence.

"You're sure you don't want me to come with you and explain?" Abernathy insisted when they stopped in front of the bakery.

Gale didn't really catch what Mellark mumbled but it must have been a refusal because he took out into the heavy rain by himself.

Tension rose up a notch after his departure.

Abernathy's blatant hostility toward him was perhaps only equal to Trinket's obvious exhaustion. More than once Abernathy was forced to poke her arm so she didn't fall asleep behind the wheel.

All in all, it was almost a relief when he slipped out of the car and sneaked back into his family's trailer.

The night had brought a lot to take in and he needed the peace and quiet to let it sink in.

They beat the vampires! Yeaaaah! Now, what's going on with Peeta? Will they manage to destroy the amulet? Will Gale and Effie become part of the team? Let me know your thoughts!