Author's Note: In response to a review I got, Chapter 8 is in Gale's POV and then near the end of Chapter 8, it's in Katniss's POV.

GALE'S POV

I walked Katniss over to our bedroom, where our moms and siblings were already sleeping. We changed into our pajamas (me in my boxers and socks, and Katniss in her spaghetti strap shirt and cotton shorts), and slid into our beds.

"'Night, Gale," Katniss whispered.

"Goodnight, Katniss," I whisper back, a smile on my face.

TIME PASSES

The next morning, Katniss and I were back in the forest, hunting. We were just walking back to the cave when I heard the whistling again. I see a smoking meteorite crash into the bushes a couple yards ahead of us. Several other meteorites follow.

"Meteor shower!" I shout. I grab Katniss's hand and we start running for the cave, which is about 5 minutes away. All around us, meteorites are crashing down around us. Small ones hit our skin, and we flick the burning rock off our sensitive skin. But then a huge meteor crashes into the ground in front of us, and Katniss and I skid to a halt. Dirt and rocks from the inpact shoot into the sky and rain back down on our heads. We put an arm over our heads for protection, even if it isn't much. So Katniss and I drop our meat that we had hunted. We'll be able to catch more later. Still squeezing her hand, we run around the smoking meteor and continue on.

Minute by minute of dodging meteorites, the meteorites grow larger into meteors. And as the meteors grow, Katniss and I are able to hear the screams coming from town. Hopefully everybody's okay. A small meteorite hit's the back of my knee, causing me to buckle over and fall to the ground. Katniss stops, turns around, and tries to help me up. But then she looks up into the sky, screams, and shoves me into the bushes. Katniss jumps into the bushes after me. Another huge meteor crashes into the ground just where I was laying before.

"Hurry, get up!" Katniss screams through the whistling of the meteors. I do get up, and we run for the cave. The entrance is in sight when I see the biggest meteor of all sailing for the ground. I lift the rock covering the entrance up.

"Go, go, get down, get down!" I yell at Katniss, and she jumps into the cave. I jump in after her, and I had just barely laid the rock back over the entrance when we hear a huge "boom" from above. But we aren't safe yet.

"Katniss!" I shout, grabbing her and pulling her close to me. A stalactite fell from the ceiling right where she used to be standing. "Come on!" I drag her over to a dent-type-thing in the wall that my dad carved in for emergencies. Katniss and I crouch in the small hole, watching stalactites, rocks, dirt, and other debris fall from the ceiling as meteor after meteor crash into the ground above.

I scan the cave, looking for our mothers and siblings. There they are. I see Mom and Timmy in one emergency shelter, and Prim and Katniss's mom in another. Another loud "boom" from above causes Katniss to jump. I put my arms around her, and Katniss slumps against me. We huddle in the corner, and wait for the meteors to stop.

TIME PASSES

"Gale, wake up," my mom says, shaking my shoulder. I open my eyes and yawn. Katniss and I were huddled together, sleeping, and my cheek was resting on the top of her head. I quickly get up. I wonder what Mom is thinking about me and Katniss.

I hold my hand out to help Katniss up, and we assess the damage. There's nothing really damaged, except there is a lot of depris putting a thick coat over everything. So everybody spreads out and started sweeping the stalactites and stuff off to the edges of the cave.

"Do you want to go back in the woods and see if we can find the animals we shot?" I ask Katniss. She nods.

"I'm ready to get out of this cave," Katniss says enthusiastically. We walk up to the main entrance of the cave, and I climb up the tree root. I try to lift the rock off the entrance, but something from above is keeping the rock from budging.

"This one's stuck," I tell Katniss, and I drop back to the floor. "A meteor must be on top of it." So we walk over to the ledge where Katniss and I watched the stars. I blush at the memory, and peek at Katniss. She's blushing too.

I climb the rock wall and try to lift the other rock lid. It won't budge either. Crap. I try to lift it again, but it still won't move. I look down at Katniss. She looks up at me in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she calls up. I hesitate.

"Uh… this door won't open either," I say.

Katniss's face flushes paper-white.