17: A New Rule

Katniss POV:

I wake up and yawn, looking around me. I feel Gale's warm arms around my body and smile slightly. I gradually untangle myself from him, trying not to wake him. I fail in my attempt and he wriggles slightly. "Katniss?" he asks groggily. I nod and stand up. I wait for a few moments for him to wake before prodding him with my foot.

"Gale, get up," I order impatiently. "We have no food, we need to go hunting."

"I'm up," he says standing to prove his point. "And yes, hunting. Can you get our bows, and also, do you have any rope for snares?"

I get up and hand him the bow and his belt of knives, strapping mine over my back. "No, no rope. I think we need something to carry things in as well, like water and your bandages and my burn ointment."

"Think there's anything left after the career camp explosion?" he asks.

"We're not stealing from the careers," I insist. "It was too close last time and besides they've probably changed location by now if Cato and Clove are still allies even." He nods, agreeing with me. "I don't want to nearly lose you again Gale. If that knife had been a few inches to the left you would have been killed."

"I wonder if our sponsors might give us a backpack and water bottle. That couldn't be too expensive, could it?" he asks me.

"It's late in the Games Gale. I'm not sure how expensive it would be, but it's probably best not to waste money on something that we don't absolutely need."

"You're right. Shall we go hunting then?" he suggests.

"Come on," I call, exiting our cave. The fresh air feels nice after a night in an enclosed space and a gentle breeze caresses my face, blowing strands of hair out of my plait. I quickly undo my hair and plait it again, much tidier this time. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gale emerge from the cave. The Games have treated him fairly well. He has a bit more muscle than before now and all of the food he ate with the careers has given him a much healthier look.

The wind sweeps his hair backwards, away from his grey eyes as he rushes forwards to join me. "Shall we split up or hunt together?" he asks me.

"Hunt together," I insist without hesitation. It would probably be one of the most horrible things right now if Gale needed help and I wasn't there. And I know his feelings for me and I don't want to put him through that. "I want to be with you for any danger. And we hunt better as a team."

We head deeper into the forest, keeping our ears open, footsteps nearly silent and eyes darting from side to side looking for prey. I can almost forget that I'm in the Hunger Games now: it just feels like a regular weekend. I see a squirrel in a tree and instinctively shoot it. The arrow goes right through the eye- as usual- and the squirrel falls from the tree. If the Capitolites don't already know how well I can shoot then this hunting session should show them.

I run over to pick up the squirrel when Gale emerges from the bushes a few meters away from me. "Got a rabbit," he says proudly, holding up the carcass. It has a knife through the neck and blood dripping out- I know the the Capitol citizens are probably disgusted by it. I've long learnt to squash my disgust for things like this and I even feel slightly tempted by it. Rabbits taste much better than squirrels, even though they don't look particularly appetising raw with a knife through the neck.

"Well done," I mutter, holding up the squirrel by its tail. My kill is much cleaner than his. "I only got a squirrel." Out of the corner of my eyes, a sudden movement catches my attention. "Bet you can't hit that bird," I challenge him. A second later a knife whirls towards the bird- I'm not sure what it's called but it moves quickly. The knife nicks it's wing and my arrow pierces its eye now that it's flying slower. A team kill, I doubt I could have shot it cleanly with an arrow at the speed it moved.

We wander back to the cave, whisper-shouting Aravis name as we go. It's not loud enough so we will be heard across the arena, but if she's nearby she should hear us. But if she's nearby she can probably see us as well, so it's a bit pointless. The first real ally I had is already lost. Why couldn't she just have followed us across the arena instead of running off the other way? Why couldn't we have found her yesterday? Now she could be anywhere across the arena and unless she's staying in one place- which I highly doubt- then it will be almost impossible to find her.

I sigh in frustration at our situation and Gale takes my hand in his. "We'll find her," he whispers to me. "Don't worry, she can take care of herself for a bit. So can we." Gale seems a lot less bothered about this than me. He was the one who became allies with Foxface in the first place, it's me who should be unwilling to spend a lot of time looking for her. But to Gale, I realise, it's all about my survival. He doesn't care about morality or how I survive as long as I do.

For me it's more difficult. I love Gale, of course I do. I would risk my life for him- the fire attack proved that. But if it came to us being the last tributes standing, I'm not sure that I can make the sacrifice to let him live. I like life, I want to come home. To Prim, to mum. If it's a risk of death then I can take it without a second thought. If it's killing myself for him- difficult. And then there's his feelings to take into account. If he wants to die for me- if he'd rather die than live without me- is it right that I should take my life and make him live a life he'd rather die than live?

No, my conscience tells me. It's not right. But it's also wrong to take his sacrifice. I feel a familiar, hot fire of rage burn through my body at the Capitol. I haven't felt it for a while, more panic and confusion, but these thoughts are bringing it back. My cheeks have probably gone slightly red and but I don't care. I pull back an arrow and loose it wildly on a moving object. Another rabbit, killed by my hatred. I stalk up to it and grab the arrow from it. It's just as clean a kill as usual so I put the arrow back in my quiver.

"Katniss?" Gale asks curiously, a look of concern on his face. "Is there something wrong?" He doesn't need to ask the question, he knows, I am sure. Not what is wrong though.

"Just don't want to lose you," I mutter. That's probably the best act for the Capitol I could put on now. Technically I guess it could be seen as rebellion, but even the Capitolites must be able to understand the concept of love. And I didn't really address the comment to anyone, it was just a comment.

"It's OK, Katniss. I'll be okay. I'm fine now, see?" He isn't making this act easy for for me. I actually gave a fairly good reason for my anger that is unlikely to be seen as rebellion. He just points out a hole in my act in front of the whole of Panem.

"I've just been worried," I respond. "Ever since.." I trail off and touch his arm wound gently. "You could have been killed so easily."

"I know," Gale murmurs back. "But I wasn't killed Catnip. I'm safe."

I don't really know how to reply to this or end the conversation, so I give a noise of acknowledgement and we walk on in silence. We reach the cave fairly quickly, covering the ground in fast, light footsteps. Gale gives me a leg up to the cave entrance before climbing up himself.

It's only once we put our game down that a thought strikes me. How on Earth are we going to cook it? We don't have any matches or a way to start a fire and even so it would probably be a bad idea. We can't eat it raw, I know. We tried once, the results were not pleasant, as in we got rabbit fever. Not something on my list to do again. As if he heard my thoughts, a small silver parachute from Haymitch falls from the sky.

A black backpack. A note is taped to the front of it. I read it out to Gale quietly. "Keep with the romantic scenes- they love it. Use the sheet to stop smoke escaping." I open the flap of the backpack. Inside is a thin sheet with small holes over it, which I assume is the sheet he meant. A magnifying glass- we can light many fires with that. Some empty water bottles- we can fill those in the ponds.

"Everything we need," I say gratefully. "Thank you to everyone who sponsored."

"Yes, thank you," Gale agrees.

We light a fire just outside the cave focusing the sun's rays onto a pile of twigs. As soon as it catches we prop the sheet up above it and hold a speared rabbit in at the side. It cooks quickly, the flesh turning brown before our eyes. After a few minutes it is fully cooked and I pull of a leg. Gale takes one too and we out them into our mouths at the same time. It feels like forever since I've eaten rabbit. The strong flavours course through my mouth, juices seeping into my taste buds. It reminds me of home and from the expression Gale wears he feels the same. It also brings up memories of eating in the forest with Gale, on one of the rare days the fence around twelve was electrified.

We finish the whole rabbit quickly, ravenous from over a day of hardly eating. I drink some water from one of the bottles we filled on the way here and relax with Gale, my head on his shoulder, leaning against a solid wide oak tree. Relaxed and happy, feeling Gale's breathing and slight body movements is so peaceful. A sudden noise jars me out of the my relaxation.

"Attention! Attention tributes!" a Capitolite male accent calls out over a microphone. Probably announcing a feast or something alike, they often do that when there are only a few tributes left. Only me, Gale, Aravis, Cato, Clove and Thresh now. Six tributes left. Only four more- I don't want to kill Gale.

"We would like to announce a change in the rules." This has my interest, these rules have stayed the same for the past seventy four years- ever since the first Hunger Games. There are no real rules, just last one standing is alive. Perhaps the thing about stepping off platforms at the cornucopia as well. And the unwritten rule that forbids us from eating each other. A boy named Titus from 6 broke it once- the game makers killed him in an avalanche.

"From now on, two tributes may win if they are from the same District." I feel like jumping for joy. No longer do I have to kill Gale. The dark idea that I've been pushing to the back of my mind for weeks is gone. We can win together. It feels like the rule was made for us- which it probably was.

Gale takes my hands in his. Euphoria is dancing in his eyes and I can feel that a giant smile has come on my face. "Do you understand what this means Katniss? We can both win!" he exclaims. "We can both return to 12."

"I understand what it means Gale. Thank you," I say for the second time to the Capitol viewers- even to the game makers for changing the rules. "Thank you everyone." Gale says nothing, but his smile is enough to show what he feels. I don't know when my love for Gale became this strong, but it has and I know that it always will be.

And it seems that the Capitol know this as well. Perhaps I was wrong before. Perhaps the Capitol does understand the idea of love. Or maybe they just want a TV show with a happy ending, I think with a hint of bitterness. Calm down, I tell myself. If you become reckless then Cato and Clove might win. And I don't want to allow that to happen.

xXx-X-xXx

So the new rule has finally come. If you guys have anything to say about the chapter, please leave a review and tell me. Follows and favourites are always appreciated as well. Thanks if you've already done this. By the way, Ringmybella- thanks for the CC. I noticed that as well with the declaration of love conversations, I find them hard to write. They either sound a bit forced or ridiculous to me.

-MoonOfPluto