AN: Wow, okay, sorry for this really bad, really short chapter. Churning out 4 chapters over tonight and this morning kind of killed my muse. Sorry, sorry, sorry!

I pass the pantry as I'm off to bed that night. It's not much of a pantry, really, but with the game Gale and I take down, we needed somewhere to shelter it from the elements while we cured it. The small room, which can't be more than a couple feet by a couple feet, actually has a working door. I lean against it, and I'm immediately swarmed by the smell of meat and salt.

I stand by the closed door for a while, taking in all of the stock. We're low on just about everything. Not only is the drought killing off the animals before we can get to them, it's making the ground so hard that the animals that are lucky enough to still be living hear our loud footsteps.

I'm not sure how much longer the couple squirrels and piece of deer will hold us for. Especially since it's nearly fall. District 12 isn't known for a beautiful, color explosive fall like some of the other districts I've heard. It's only the prequel to a long and dark winter.

Either way, the week hasn't rolled over to Sunday yet. Gale and I decided long enough — wordlessly — that we meet every Sunday to hunt and trade. As the year slips into the drier and colder months, we end up going out on solo trips and taking more time after school to go out together. Trading is a bit harder, since our normal customers expect us on Sunday. But, it's a good enough way to keep everyone alive.

Staring at the food in front of me, I'm not sure I'll make it to Sunday if I don't take another trip. I gave Prim the goose, my mother the squirrel, and I finished off the last squirrel when the hunger pangs in my stomach became too unbearable. I don't completely deprive myself from eating, though the meals are much better on Prim or even my mother. But, if I don't eat, I'm not strong enough to hunt. Which means we'll all die anyway.

It's only Tuesday tomorrow. Sunday's a long way away. Making time after school is difficult, when the good game is out early in the mornings, just about the time that school starts. My best option would be to take school off and take a day out in the woods. Better yet, get Gale to come with me.

I've done it before, when food has gotten really pressed. I march Prim off to school, but I'll hesitate by the doorway and bolt off once she's inside. Once I get behind the fence, I make sure to hunt further away from town than normal, just in case the Peacekeepers aren't feeling as friendly as normal.

Taking Gale with me would also be preferable. No matter how many times I track into the forest alone, there's always game I just can't see or hear.

I can't hunt now. It's dark already, I notice, as I peer out the one, small window of the house. I don't know if it'd be completely out of line to trot over to Gale's house right now and ask him to go with me.

I step away from the window and take a glance towards the bedroom. Prim is likely curled up with my mother, and she'll be asleep fast enough for me to get there and back without her realizing. Not that Prim's teasing really matters, but she doesn't need to know that her older sister was sneaking out. To see her best friend.

I grab my father's coat from the chair it was slung across. I pull it across my shoulders as I break into a run down the well worn path between our houses. We're the only ones who travel it, but we take it too often to count.

I make good time. But, when I reach the steps, climbing up the hastily thrown together wooden steps, dodging the nails that stick out on either side (I've been here enough, even if it's dark I know where they are). I hesitate when it comes to knocking. How exactly would I explain to Hazelle that I need to ask Gale something at midnight?

But, my knuckles hit against the wooden door anyways. It creaks open, relying on the old hinges on the side, that aren't completely rusted out yet. Gale is on the other side.

"Catnip?" he asks quietly, tilting his head. "What— why are you here?"

When I look back at him, he registers something across his face, and pulls the door shut as he steps out. "It's midnight, you did know that, right?" he asks.

"Shut up," I reply. "But, yea, I did."

"And?" he continues, folding his arms.

"How low is your pantry?"

Gale shoots a glance back at the house. "Too low."

"Mine too. I'm ditching school to hunt tomorrow."

He raises an eyebrow. "You're not going to go?"

"I do it all the time," I remark, swatting my hand. "I walk Prim to school, than run back to the fence. It's not like you really ever miss anything in school."

"You could get caught," Gale says. "What if the Peacekeepers get you?"

"They won't," I answer assuredly. "And if they do, I'll trade them something. We know them well."

Gale shakes his head. "Don't talk like that. Both of what you want to do is illegal, what if they suddenly hire a new Peacekeeper tomorrow? One that might actually kill us for what we're doing?"

"Since when have you cared about the law?" I shoot back.

One of the candle lit windows of the Hawthornes' house flickers out. Gale follows my gaze, then gestures his head to follow him. He leads me back a ways from the house, where we can't even see the dying street lights in town. "I don't want to get caught."

I try to examine his gaze, but it's a new moon, and took dark for me to make out his features. "You've never worried about it before."

"No, I haven't," he agrees, but he bows his head down and I can see the top of his eyebrow as he knits it together. "You want me to go with you?"

I nod. "Please."

"Fine. I'll go."

"Why are you so uptight about this?" I ask, gazing at him.

Gale sighs. "Like I said, I don't want to get caught. What— what if one us gets caught?"

"What if both of us get caught?" I answer.

Gale digs his teeth into his lip and looks away for a moment. But, when he turns back to me, he parts his lips to speak. "I haven't hunted without you. I can't."

"What?" I throw my hands up. "What do you mean? How come you haven't starved yet?"

"I'm damn close," Gale admits.

I step closer to him. "Why would you do that?! Why would you do that to Hazelle and Vick and Rory and Posy?!"

"It was an excuse to see you."

"So you had to almost kill yourself in the process?!" I cry. "That's stupid, Gale! That was a stupid thing to do!"

"So you're going to yell at me for caring about you?" Gale drops his gaze. "You're going to punish me for loving you?"

My eyes grow wide. "What? Gale, what? Wh—" I pause.

He slowly raises each hand and bows his head. "I'm sorry. My mistake," is all he says before he walks off.