Gale POV
It's only 9 o'clock in the morning and hardly anyone is on the street. People will have just begun to wake up, getting ready for the day and awaiting the horror that lies ahead. Those with children will be holding them tightly this morning, cherishing every moment as they hope they will be all back together for dinner tonight. A few stragglers are out wandering around, those without kids up for the reaping of course. Luckily we only see one group of peacekeepers are on our walk and they pay us no mind. We near the edge of the town, the opening of the deserted mine shaft just in sight. From behind a row of shacks we call homes Katniss's family emerges, looking as inconspicuous as ever.
She's aware of me, but doesn't show any sign that she is. It's part of the plan, to ignore one another and just keep walking. On sight of Katniss though, Posy lets out a quick "Katti!" and toddles up to her with arms reaching to wrap around her leg.
"Well, who would've thought we'd see the Hawthorns here?" Katniss covers up, I guess it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary to all be seen together. We all exchange quiet pleasantries and continue on our walk. Everyone tries to act uninterested, as if nothing is going on, but I can feel the tension between us. Katniss is holding Posy's hand but the fingers on the other are fidgeting ever so slightly. The boys are quiet for once, too focused to goof around like they normally would. I only become aware of my nervous gnawing on my lip when the taste of blood hits my tongue. I can see a bead of sweat rolling down my mother's neck, despite the cool breeze. The only people who seem to be acting normally are Prim and her mother, who converse politely with one another, pointing at blooming flowers and such.
We reach the mines and hastily walk in through the South entrance. Posy begins to whimper as we travel deeper into the dark and damp tunnel. We pick up our pace, and I lead everyone through a maze of twisted paths in case someone has been following. We reach a fork where I know the one exit leads out into the Northeast side of the district, into the forest. I look at Katniss and she gives me an affirming look. I pull out the explosives carefully from my bag; I had purchased these at the Hob a long time ago when I had a surplus of coins from a bountiful hunt just in case I ever needed them. I set them on the ground and grab my match box from my pocket. Katniss empties her bag of animal bones and scatters them around the floor. Just a precaution in case they some how are able to dig through the rubble. It would be suspicious if there was no evidence of human body parts, so we kept the bones of animals we shot that are similar to ours, even though bodies are almost never recovered from these type of accidents.
I tell our mothers and siblings to start running and they do so very quickly. We give them a full minute before we ready ourselves.
"Ready to start running?" I whisper to Katniss who stayed behind with me
"Ready" She answers followed by a big gulp. I light the explosives and we bolt. We sprint from the cavern faster than I've ever ran before, not wanting to be blow to bits.
BOOM!
The explosion pushes us forward and we fall on our stomachs. Behind us lots of dust starts to rise, making it hard for us to breath. Katniss holds her jacket up to her mouth and I do the same with mine as we gingerly peel ourselves up from the stone floor. We continue to run from the explosion and my legs are starting to give way. Katniss's must be too, she's starting to slow down considerably. I grab onto her collar and practically drag her to the exit. When we reach it she collapses onto the bed of grass just outside the mouth and is coughing furiously.
Our mothers come rushing up to us "Are you alright?" they ask as they bring us to our feet and guide us towards our siblings who are huddling under some trees. Vick is giggling and the others have smiles across their faces.
"What?" I don't understand what they're amused about
"Your face, clothes, you're disgusting!" Vick squirms with his tongue out. I look at Katniss, she covered in coal dust and looks horrendous. I must look the same. We burst into a bit of laughter, feeling relieved at our small victory.
"Are you two okay?" Prim asks sincerely. This makes us laugh even harder. It's been a long time since I last laughed, it feels good.