By some miracle, Gale and I make it back in time to walk Prim and his siblings to school. We run harder back home than we did on the way out, but we're careful to take the time to catch our breaths before we march into town. Whatever happened back in that forest, that valley, we don't want people to get the wrong idea.

Gale catches my glance every couple of steps, as the kids weave in and out between us. I find myself losing my breath every time. But, I meet Prim's glimpse just once, and she breaks into a fit of giggles before stifling them with a smile as she trails into school with the rest of the kids.

For the first time, Gale might be more nervous about something than I have. I've done this before — in the name of survival — that I hardly think of the idea twice. He doesn't usually ditch school to go off and hunt, even though he's only two years away from being locked up in the mines all day, which I think is excuse enough to live a little.

Nevertheless, when the last of 'our' kids make their way through the school doors, we're off. We slip into the shadows behind the school, first, tripping over the unfamiliar ground. We're absolutely across from the forest — and perhaps the valley — we're dying to get to, but Gale's too paranoid to cross it in daylight.

"Oh, come on, Hawthorne," I call as I break into a nervous jog ahead of him. "We need to get a move on."

"What's your rush?" He says with a mock scowl.

"We'll lose the good game if we don't get there early enough," I protest.

Gale rolls his eyes laughingly, and his whole face laughs with the expression. "We're far enough away. Go."

I crack a smile and quicken my pace until we're running, and I can feel the thud of his footsteps against the ground as I come off the ground. We're not running as hard as we were going down to the valley, but as the ground beneath us gradually slips into the forest we know, I find us trailing down that same path.

Gale comes up beside me, still at a run, as he rushes down the hill. He's got impeccable footing, even if he hasn't run down this hill so many times before. But, we're both hoping so fiercely to get down there, that despite the blood that I can feel crashing through my veins, I keep running.

We go further than last down. Gale's the first to stop, and I come flailing to a stop behind him.

"Don't know where the hell we are," he grins as he pants.

I'm the one to roll my eyes, and I'm grinning as well. "And that's a bad thing?"

His smile grows. "Hardly," he chuckles.

I drop down to my knees as I pull the air into my lungs. Gale joins me on the ground, and we stay like that for a little, him spread across the ground, hands strewn across his chest, but his eyes are darting and following every movement of the leaves above us.

Gale breathes a light sigh. "I wonder if people know."

I turn my head from where I'm stretched across the earth. "Know what?"

"About this," he continues. "I wonder if they know that it's out here. I mean, even the vegetation in 12 is dead. But, out here, everything's so much greener, so much more alive. It's like even the plants are starving in safety."

I smile at the mention of our slogan for 12. "I wonder if the Capitol people know," I add.

"Why would it matter to them?" Gale answers, flicking at a pine needle on the ground. "They're fine in their special, little Capitol."

"Would they be, if they knew about here? Think about it. How many of them do you think, know that this is just beyond the walls of their country?"

Gale heaves himself to his elbows. "Wait. Are you saying that we're not in Panem, right now?"

I flop to my stomach. "Yea, the fence is the border."

Gale's eyes light up. He brings himself further upright. "Are you kidding me? Do you know what this means?"

I turn my head, and press my lips together. "We're in the valley ….?" I trail off.

"We're out. We escaped," Gale's expression, in fact, his entire being, is glowing.

I crawl to my knees. "We're out," I repeat, feeling the words in my mouth. "We're not in Panem. We're not their pawns."

"We're not in their Game anymore," Gale grins. "We're not their property."

My eyes grow a little bit wider. "What if we took our families?"

Gale's eyes flicker, grow a little bit more solemn. "What if was just us?"

I rock back to my knees. "What are you saying? We leave them behind?"

Gale studies me for a moment before he speaks again. "We don't go now. Give it a year or so. Time enough to think it through, if we have to, and make sure they're going to be okay. We wouldn't be able to make it with all of them. They're too loud, and there's too many mouths to feed. And if we got caught, they'd all die."

"We just leave them behind?" I repeat.

He's not amused. "They'd be safer here. We don't know how, or what, it's like out there. And hell, maybe just us will get out there and we'll find a way to escape. Then, we find our way back, and we bring them with us. We're not good enough at escaping yet to get all of them out here."

"What about Prim? Or your siblings? Or your mother?" I continue, grasping at the rich layer of grass that covers the ground.

"We don't go now," he repeats for me. "Think about it."

His eyes cloud a little when my expression remains confused. I fall back on my back, staring at the cover of the trees. He follows.

"I don't know if I could do that. If I could just leave them. What if— what if any of them got reaped?"

Gale doesn't sigh in defeat like I expect him to. "What are you going to be able to do if she did? There's nothing you could do. There's nothing I could do. If there was, you know I would."

"They'd starve," I continue.

I can feel Gale shake his head, even though he's on his back, pressed against the dirt, like I am. "I'll teach Rory to hunt, and Prim already knows some herbs. Plus, she has Lady. We can see if we can get another goat for them in the next year. If we have to, we'll make a deal with whoever at the Hob."

I count how many times he says 'if'. "How long have you been planning this?

"Enough to know this is what I want," he says. It's as vague as ever.

"Why do you want this so bad?" I sit up.

He mimics me, which I notice he's been doing more and more. "I want to get out of here. With you. Maybe you don't realize this, but I'm scared as hell to go into the mines in two years. Every time I walk by the mouth of the mines, or I get a mark of charcoal on my fingers, I feel like I'm dying. I've got the nightmares, too, Katniss! I still have to watch both of our fathers blown to pieces every night!"

My eyes grow soft, but he's bringing in another breath to continue.

"I don't want to leave them, I don't. I don't want someone else to leave them. But, I can't take it anymore. I can't stay here, doing nothing, just surviving in a country that took my father. You can't tell me that you think we're actually living here! We're starving, we're all going to die if we don't do something. And I can't do anything about it! I can't do anything about my sister feeling so hungry and empty every day, or the fact that my brother will never have enough to eat so he'll grow big and strong. And why? Because this country, this hell hole, gives us no choice to be out here illegally. I swear, Katniss, I'm going to snap soon. I'm going to lose it when we're out trading, or when I have to bring nothing home on a bad hunting day and my family is disappointed with me. I can't make it much longer."