Once again thank you for the reviews! Also another thanks to my brother for being slow so I can start this chapter early! Read and review…this is the whipping.
Woke up late today and I still feel the sting of the pain. ~A Little Bit Stronger, Sara Evans
Denver's POV:
The next eight day's go be without any chaos. We eat, sleep, and work. Gale and I go back to walking to work together, even if it is a bit awkward since our fight. I still am paired with Lucas for mining, which I have to say is now annoying with all the talking he does, but I do eat lunch sitting across from Gale. Every day he gives me another drawing from Posy too, usually it's one of Gale and I together with pick axes, but they still always brighten my day. But today is Sunday, our off day, so I'm sitting in the Hob, Darius is playing with my hair again no matter how many times I tell him to fuck off.
I slide the bowl of wild dog soup back to Sae and hand her my coin.
"Here I need to get away from him" I growl, giving Darius a pointed look. He grins at me.
"You know you love me" he chuckles
"I know I'd rather leave a dent in your face" I say smugly as I hop off the counter and head for the door. I walk down towards the square, a smile on my face. I actually got to eat my full the other night, from what I get since District Twelve won the Games and I got my paycheck and I could afford bread last night. I stop when I see a crowd of people in the square. I walk over, but Lucas sees me and runs over.
"Go home Denver, go home, there's nothing you can do." He tells me as he starts to push me away from the square. I shove him back. Help who? I push my way over to my crew to the front. My eyes widen as I see Gale standing in the square, a dead turkey hanging from his belt. A peacekeeper, one I've never seen before, stands by him. He grabs the turkey from Gale's belt and holds it before his face.
"Did you kill this?" the peacekeeper demands, I notice he's wearing the head peacekeeper uniform. What? Where the hell is Cray!
"Yes sir, it got in through a hole in the fence, I killed it with a stick." Gale lies coldly, everyone who knows Gale knows he killed it in the woods.
"Is this his first offence?" The man looks to the other group of peacekeepers, I recognize all of them, they look at each other in confusion. I see Darius join them from the back.
"Yes" Another man in the huddle answers.
"This man is sentenced to a public whipping to be commenced immediately" My heart drops when the head peacekeeper, who I hear whispers that his name is Thread, announce. He then goes and ties Gale's hands to a post and strips him of his shirt. Gale looks up to the crowd and looks right at me, his eyes pleading. "Go" he mouths to me, I clench my jaw and shake my head. "No" I mouth back, he rolls his eyes at me. Then I see Thread unravel his whip and I shudder.
It's a long black piece of rope, bared at the end with a blunt metal handle. Pain. That's what it will cause. I'm not prepared when Thread takes it and expertly whips Gale's back with such force that Gale falls to his knees. I whine, my eyes filling with tears, as I see the streak of blood on his back, the gash that the barb caused. Gale only gets a seconds rest before he's whipped again. And again. And again. After ten whippings Gale's back is mutilated and bloody and scared, ripped open.
"Gale" I moan aloud, finding my voice, I feel two people take my arms.
"Don't do anything stupid Denver, he's strong, he can take it." I hear Gary whisper quickly into my ear. Gale looks up at me again, sees the silent tears that run down my face and mouths for me to go while the whip is raised again. It comes down with a whistle and then a loud snap as it hits Gale again. And again. And again. After fifteen whippings I see his body go limp as he passes out and I go crazy.
"GALE! GALE!" I start to scream uncontrollably as I break away from whoevers holding me and run in front of him. "You've done enough!" I scream in Thread's face, he grins and brings the whip back again. I stagger backwards as I feel the barb go into my face and tear off part of the flesh under my right eye.
"It's not your place to say" he sneers. I barely hear him though, because I'm knelt down besides Gale, his face in my hands.
"Gale, Gale, Gale please be okay." I whisper softly, but I fall to the stone floor as I feel the barb lodge in my back and be ripped out. Now it's my turn for whipping.
"You are being punished for interfering with Capital punishment. First offence. The boy is finished with." I hear Thread explain. He picks me up by my shirt and orders others to untie Gale. They do and he's laid face first into the stones and I'm tied to his post. Seconds later I hear the wind whistle and then unbearable pain shoots through my body. I can feel every piece of my skin that is ripped away. I look at Gale, unconscious still, and then to the crowd. I see his face appear on a crate, Peeta Mellark. I look away and to the ground as the whip comes down on my back. Thread is unforgiving with the whip. Strike. Strike. Strike. I feel every single beating I receive. I feel the rope first, then the barb lodge, then it coming out, then my skin ripping. I count along in my head to the whips rhythm. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. I count how many times I'm whipped. At four I fall to my knees, opening gashes in them and I feel the blood seeping out. At eleven, my world goes black as I pass out with the pain of the barb ripping out of me again. I can still feel it though, the whip. I can count that to twenty before I completely go unconscious.
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Over the next few days I'm only aware of one thing. Pain. I drift in and out of consciousness at least fifty times a day. Waking brings pain; my face, my back, the bright blinding lights. But there is relief, a cold, soft drains the pain from body, then I go back into the darkness. I hear voices once and a while. I can place them too. Mrs. Everdeen. Katniss. Haymitch Abernathy. Lucas. Dalton. Peeta Mellark. Gary. I hear all of their voices at least once in my moments of consciousness. But I never hear Gale, and it terrifies me. One day I feel something being placed on my back. I fainted when I realized what it was, my skin. Then, after what seems like a lifetime, I can open my eyes again.
I open them slowly; the first thing I notice is its nighttime, so it takes a while for my eyes to adjust to the dark house. Then I see him just a few feet away on the kitchen table, in the same position I am.
"Gale" I croak out, my voice sounds haggard and hoarse. He doesn't respond and I move my hard to reach out to him, there's a ripping noise as pain shoots through my back. I've ripped my healing skin. The pain is so much that I pass out again, my hand on the table, reaching for Gale.
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Gale's POV:
When I open my eyes the first thing I see is Buttercup. Stupid cat.
"Fuck you" I grumble to the hideous cat, at my words I make more people in the room move. Soon I see Katniss, Prim, and her mother.
"You can sit up if you'd like Gale; your skin is healing nicely." I hear Mrs. Everdeen instruct me. With that I slowly sit up on the table. Katniss smiles at me.
"Hey Catnip" I grin, she laughs.
"Hey Gale, you scared us there, seeing you lying on the floor like that."
"Ya, we got a new head peacekeeper" I try to keep my back as still as possible. I see Prim's eyes keep flitting to something behind me though. I turn around slowly and see her on the table. Denver lays face down on the table, she doesn't have a shirt on, well she does, but only on her front, but that's not what I can't take my eyes off of. She was whipped too. I can count each lash, each gasp in her back. Twenty-five times she was whipped. Her back is mutilated, I can see Katniss's mom and Prim have been working on her too though; most of her back is healing, except for one spot by her right shoulder. I follow her arm and see her hand on the table I sit on; I take it in mine and rub it softly with my thumb. "What happened to her?" I demand without taking my eyes off of Denver.
"Relax Gale, she'll be fine, she's woken up a few times." I hear Peeta Mellark answer for me, I turn and glare at him.
"That wasn't my question Mellark." Peeta sighs, I notice Katniss looks sad.
"From what we've gathered, she went crazy when you passed out. She started screaming for you. Apparently she went in front of you and demanded Thread stop, he whipped her across the face, and then declared she would be punished for interfering and that your punishment was done. Thread whipped her twenty five times for it." Peeta tells me without looking up at me. In my head I see a picture of her watching me being whipped, silent tears running down her face, her refusing to leave me. She did this. For me. She went through all of that pain, that torture, for me. She did it so I wouldn't be hurt more. I shake my head in disbelief as I look back down at her, her face is towards us, I can see the gash on it, marring her features. "I think she loves you Gale." Peeta says slowly. I only nod, then I look up at Katniss.
"I'm happy for you Gale. She'll be okay; she should wake up in a few minutes. She sort of has a pattern." Katniss gives me a small smile.
Turns out Katniss was right, a few minutes later Denver's eyes slowly open and a groan escapes her lips. Right away I can tell she's still in pain. I can tell because of how her face contorts right away, of how she clenches her jaw, but her eyes lock on mine. "Hey Den" I smile at her. She doesn't say a word but squeezes my hand. "Thanks." Then I notice tears coming from her eyes as she deals with the pain. I watch in distress as she tenses to try and deal with it, but it rips open her back some and she moans again. I turn to Katniss's mom, "Can't you give her anything?" I ask rather harshly.
"Nothing we can spare, she's okay."
"No! No she's not!" My voice starts to rise and I stand. I'm glad my back has healed enough so I can walk around without it ripping.
"Gale. Calm down, she can deal with this much pain."
"No! Clearly she can't!" I motion to her, tears coming from her eyes silently, her back begins to bleed again, and Mrs. Everdeen goes to her. I grab her arm as she passes me. "Who are you to decide how much pain she can take!" I say harshly. I feel two pairs of arms go around me and pull me away.
"Get him outta here, Gale I'm doing all I can." Mrs. Everdeen instructs.
"Give her something!" I demand again while I'm being pulled out by Peeta and Haymitch.
"Gale, relax, we know it's hard to watch someone you love in pain." Haymitch slurs in my ear. I relax, because I know the words that the drunkard told me are true. It's hard to watch someone you love in pain.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and yes I know in the book he's whipped about forty times and passes out at around thirty, but I added the barb at the end of this whip, so it's worse. Please please review!