DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.

Words not spoken in English will be italicized.

A/N: I hope to updater sooner next time! Sorry for the delay.

Chapter 123-Hurt II

When Gale reaches the middle of the village, he is swarmed by the other tribe members who run over to him. The scene suddenly becoming very loud and not understanding what is being said, Gale gently places the unconscious man on the ground and runs over to Morning Sun's teepee.

Gale opens the flap and calls out, "Sienna, Avery!" as he heads inside. He pauses as he sees his daughters sit on the ground, Morning Sun between both of them as they help the old woman peel food.

"Daddy?" Sienna says, confused by her Father's strange behavior.

"I want you both to stay here with Morning Sun, DO NOT LEAVE" Gale says sternly, raising his voice at the last few words as he motions for Morning Sun to go with him outside.

When he is far enough away from the teepee, he turns and looks down at Morning Sun and says, "Katniss-"

Knowing that something was terribly wrong, she places a hand on his shoulder and looks up at him, encouraging him to try to speak the best that he could. "Killing Bird" she says to him.

Gale nods and says, "Yes." He pauses and then says, "Gone. The baby-gone" not able to remember the other Sioux words he knows due to his fear and anxiety.

"Stay" Morning Sun says as she goes and heads towards the noise nearby. Gale paces back and forth for a few moments before she returns, with Red Bear, White Wolf, Hawk, and Walks without Sound. Gale nodding to the men, Red Bear says, "We have a group of twelve to go with you, the rest will stay here to guard."

Understanding most of what he said, Gale nods and says, "Thank you" as he begins heading to his family's teepee. He goes inside and grabs his gun that was securely hidden in his bag along with his portable phone and some other devices. When he goes back outside, he is given an axe from Hawk and he walks around the back to show the men the tiny hole cut into the teepee and shows them the evidence of someone sneaking inside. Gale then motions to the woods and the large party heads into the forest, spreading themselves out but staying close enough to each other in case anyone sees anything. They make their way down to the river, scouting the area. While walking along the river Gale hears one of the tribesmen call out, signaling that he found something. Gale runs over to the man and looks down at the knife in his hand. Knowing that most likely the knife belongs to Jasper, Gale yells "Katniss!" at the top of his lungs, heading into the woods, continuing to call her name. Suddenly, his tracking device begins to beep, signaling that it has been activated. The men all approach as Gale frantically takes the device out of his pocket and waits while the coordinates load onto the screen. Looking at him with suspicion, Gale gives the men a reassuring look and says, "This-helps-me-find her."

Gale sees some of the men become uncomfortable, some of them shouting, still suspicious of what is happening, he watches as Red Bear and Walks without Sound try to calm some of them down, all of them speaking rapidly. Gale then sees the location of Katniss's distress watch and takes off, seeing on the screen that they were heading in the wrong direction. Not willing to wait to see if they will join him and not caring, he begins jogging and soon hears the others following behind. He jogs for ten minutes before he sees a break in the tree line, pausing as he sees a drop off ahead of him. He stops and looks at a large open area below, and sees a pack of wolves eating something, or someone.

He begins sprinting down the hill, firing a few shots into the air to scare off the wolves. The wolves take off and his fears subside when he sees a man lying on the ground, and not Katniss.

He approaches the scene and is horrified by what he sees, the man's body bloodied and partly eaten. He bends down and sees the man is somehow still breathing, but barely. He pulls out his phone and calls the emergency line to the military base in District 9, requesting a medical hovercraft to come as soon as possible and tells the person on the other end of the line that Katniss is still missing but that she may need medical attention as well. He sees a trail of blood in the snow and begins following it, turning around and seeing only Red Bear, White Wolf, Walks without Sound, and two other men following behind, the others nowhere in sight.

Not caring that their search party has become smaller, he continues to call out Katniss's name as he heads back into the woods. With darkness approaching, he stops to wait while Hawk chops down a tree branch and lights a fire, helping them to see in the approaching darkness the blood trail on the ground. It begins snowing and Gale grabs the torch from Hawk's hand and begins moving faster, desperate to keep moving for he knows the snow will soon cover their trail. Panic setting in, he screams even louder but his calls are met with continued silence.

The snowfall begins to come down harder and a large burst of wind causes him to stop and put his hand up to his face to help shield the snow from blowing into his eyes, the wind almost causing the torch to blow out.

Once the wind calms, he begins moving and sees the trail continue on to a large tree. Blinking a few times to adjust his eyes to the darkness, he sees a figure sitting at the bottom of the tree. Dropping his axe to the ground, he sprints to the tree and falls to his knees as he sees Katniss in front of him, her body slouched over, holding a small fur bundle in her arms.

"Katniss! Katniss wake up" Gale says pleading as he takes his son from her unmoving body.

His son begins to stir as Gale begins shaking her, Gale looking down and seeing that Jackson looked unharmed, he turns and hands the baby to Red Bear as he pulls out his phone and calls the base again.

His voice shaking, he informs the base he will send off a signal of their location when he hears the hovercraft approach. Dropping the phone into the snow, Gale resumes trying to shake Katniss awake, pulling her body close to him in an attempt to warm her. He sees her clothes covered in blood and screams in horror when he moves her tucked arm from her side, revealing her amputation.

Stripping off his jacket, he wraps her hand and applies pressure to the wound, the men working quickly to build a fire while Red Bear tries to comfort a now screaming Jackson.

He sees that she is still breathing and relaxes more as he sits on the ground holding Katniss in his arms while waiting impatiently for the hovercraft to come. His wailing son causing his anxiety to rise even higher, he curses loudly to help calm his nerves, the tribesmen staring back at him with blank expressions on their faces. The fire now burning brightly, Red Bear moves closer to help warm the unhappy baby.

Jackson still screaming, Gale motions to Red Bear for the two of them to switch positions and Red Bear continues to apply pressure while Gale takes his son into his arms. After a few moments the baby begins to calm down and eventually drifts off to sleep, Gale's stress level decreasing only slightly.

The hovercraft finally comes and after Gale sets off a flare they see a light shining down on them and a small claw descends and Gale shouts, "Move" as the men move away to let the claw lift Katniss up into the hovercraft.

A different type of claw comes down soon after, signaling for Gale to strap on. Before going over to it Gale looks at all the men and says, "Thank you. The village- I will come."

Red Bear lays a hand on Gale's shoulder and nods as the men move back as Gale goes over to the claw and straps himself in holding Jackson who was now awake. They lift up carefully and Gale adjusts his eyes to the brightness above them.


"Sienna" Gale says as he shakes his oldest daughter awake. Sleeping beside her sister in Morning Sun's teepee, Gale had returned to take them to the hovercraft that was waiting nearby.

"Daddy?" Sienna says groggily, slowly waking up.

Gale smiles down at her as he says, "Yeah sweetheart, it's me."

"Is Mommy alright?"

"She's hurt, but she will be alright. Come on, we are going to go see her now."

It takes Gale a little longer to wake Avery and both girls hug Morning Sun goodbye as they leave the teepee.

"Our bags!" Sienna says pulling Gale towards their teepee as they head away from the village.

"I already got them" he says reassuringly as he carries a sleepy Avery while holding Sienna's hand.

Sienna nods and continues to follow her Father in the darkness, scared but holding onto her Father's hand tightly. She then sees the lights of a hovercraft on the ground. Once inside, Gale takes her into a small, bright room and Sienna gasps in shock as she sees her Mother laying up in a bed, hooked up to a machine that was pumping a red liquid into her body.

"Mommy!" Sienna cries out, running over to her.

Katniss smiles weakly at her and says, "I'm okay sweetie. This machine is helping me get better."

"What's happening?" Sienna asks worriedly.

"The machine is giving your Mother blood" Gale says, Avery holding onto him not wanting to get down.

Knowing what blood was, Sienna gives her Mother a sad look as she watches the liquid move quickly through the small tube. Avery finally getting down from Gale's arms comes over to Katniss and says, "Does it hurt?"

"It does, but I'll be okay, all that matters is that we are all together and safe."

"Where's Jack?" Avery asks.

"He's right over there" Gale says pointing to the small square object in the corner that acted as his crib.

"Is he okay?" Sienna asks, going over to look at her sleeping brother.

"He's fine" Gale says, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, your Mom needs to rest."

Both girls lean down and give Katniss a hug and then wave goodbye, neither one noticing the tears forming in Katniss's eyes as they walk away.