23: District 2

Gale POV

Light shines through the entrance of the cave. I stand tall, bow and arrow on my back, sword and knives at my belt. I rinsed my hair in the pool this morning, so it it quite clean and in decent shape. My body has lost the small amount of fat I had in 12, meaning that my body is now almost all muscle. According to Katniss, I look healthy even.

I feel like a career. Like I've trained my whole life for this moment and I have no intention of losing. I feel well-fed and strong- probably because I just ate half a rabbit and I won't let what happened last night happen again. I won't let another tribute come between Katniss and I.

I've decided that it is probably time to hunt down Cato and Clove. We are the last five tributes now. Three against two, we're probably not going to end up getting better odds than now. If the Capitol get bored then they'll end up sending mutts and fire and other horrible 'natural' disasters to us.

"Katniss, I think that we should hunt down Cato and Clove now," I say.

Katniss looks up at me in surprise. "I guess it is a good time," she admits. "Aravis, what do you think?"

Aravis shrugs. "I guess we aren't going to get a better time that now," she says. "None of us are really injured and we're all well-fed and have weapons. Now's a good time."

None of us mention that after we kill Cato and Clove- if we manage- then Aravis is going to get killed. Maybe she has a plan to betray us- I hope not. I've actually come to like and trust her, despite my wariness at the start of the alliance. She's been a good ally for us, and been fairly loyal.

For her it's a losing game though. There's the District 12 team- Katniss and I. We have the advantage on sponsors and long-ranged attacks. We're both smart and good with weapons and liked. And most advantageous of all- there are two of us. Then the District 2 team- some of the Capitolites like them. They are careers, strong, good with weapons. They have armour against our attacks and are smart enough.

Then there's her. I don't think the audiences like her that much. She's the only one from District 5. OK, she smart and decent at throwing knives, but not really victor material I don't think. Definitely not in the eyes of the Capitol anyway. The gamemakers probably won't allow her to win, even if she does deserve it. I think the only reason that they haven't killed her off yet is because she is our ally. And maybe to give us an advantage over Cato and Clove.

"Any ideas where they are?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Near the lake," Katniss says. "Maybe they haven't changed from where they were before because they think we're afraid of them and want to avoid them."

"We'll check," I decide, leading Katniss and Aravis down the now familiar route down from our cave into the forest. Katniss and I are the proper hunters in these games now, I think with satisfaction. The strongest alliance- the careers, I realise with a jolt. We have essentially become careers.

There wasn't much difference to start with, we were both volunteers, both trained in weapons before, high-scoring. We used to be a part of the career alliance and now we are going hunting willingly. I wonder what the people back in 12 think of us now. They hate the careers, in fact, every District other than 1,2 and 4 hate the careers. Maybe they understand why we did it, maybe they don't.

I doubt that there's much chance of going back to a normal life after this anyway. People look at you differently after having seen you kill a bunch of kids on live TV. And while it the Capitol or career Districts it may make you cool or admired, it District 12 it makes you an outcast. I only need look to Haymitch for example.

We walk purposefully through the forest to the lake, brushing aside any brambles or twigs. We reach the lake fairly quickly and check the old career camp spot. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing here. The only thing to show that tributes were once here is a small, blackened piece of ground where a fire once was and a bit of dried blood on the floor.

"What are we going to do now?" Aravis asks. "Do we go back to the cave and wait for them to show themselves if we can't find their camp?" She wants to wimp out of the attack now, I guess. I can't really blame her as she is the weakest one of us and this attack just brings her closer to her inevitable death.

"Katniss and I can track tributes," I respond quietly. "There are signs when they leave. Look for tracks on the ground and small patches of blood. I doubt they will have gone far." These are signs that I know from hunting larger animals, if I lose sight of them for a short amount of time there are generally signs to show where I should place the snare to catch them.

Katniss leads us down from the clearing along a place where the leaves have been kicked to the sides and flattened. Every now and then I see a small patch of something wet on the floor and I know that it isn't water. It hasn't rained in the arena for days, but luckily our pond didn't dry up completely.

After about ten minutes of walking, I gesture for them to stop. "Around here," I say, gesturing to a small patch of forest. "There'll be some clearings. Set snares with me- Aravis, can you manage?"

"I know how to set snares," she replies, a hint of impatience in her voice. "I spent time at the knot tying place."

"Good," I say.

"Don't we need rope?" she asks.

I look around to see if there is anything else that I can use. Hanging from the tree branches are some thin, vine like things. They have leaves on them, but we can still use them. I wish I'd found out that there were these trees earlier, it would have made hunting- animals that is- so much easier.

"Katniss, do you think you could climb up and bring us some of those vines?" I ask, pointing. Katniss shrugs and climbs the tree easily, yanking of about a dozen vines. She comes back down to the ground and hands me and Aravis vines, five to me, four to her and three to Aravis. In order of how good we are with snares.

I turn a vine over in my hand. It is perfect, it bends easily, yet is sturdy enough to keep a tribute trapped and will be hard to see on the forest floor. I tie the vine in a simple snare, attaching it to a nearby tree. After a few minutes, the whole area is snared. We'll need to be careful not to step in our snares ourselves, but we know where they are. Cato and Clove don't.

I take out my bow and nock an arrow, pointing it at the place careers will probably be coming from. I hear a small rustling of leaves and I adjust the position of the bow, aiming exactly at the spot. Next to me, Katniss has done the same and Aravis has two knives out, one in each hand, ready to throw.

I release my arrow at the spot and hear a scream of elation. Cato's voice, I think. I remember the body armour and draw my sword, ready for him to come at me. It is only a second before he does. He looks even worse than before, his arms seem to have been mauled by animals and his eyes hold an insane glint.

His sword is out as well and he swings it at me powerfully. I remember what the Capitol instructor said and let instinct take over. I step back from the swing and push his sword down with mine. He just rains blows down on me. Surprisingly, I manage to dodge, block or parry all of them, but I know it's just a matter of time before he gets a hit.

I have quick reflexes and am a natural with the sword, but he has years of experience on his side, plus more strength and insanity. Soon I'll end up tiring and seeing as it's impossible for me to get a hit in, he'll kill me. Suddenly, I get a great idea. What if I let him drive me back and manipulate him into a snare? Then I can kill him easily.

"Gale!" Aravis shouts. "Behind you!"

I look over my shoulder for a split second and see a huge, dark shape behind me. That same moment, Cato takes advantage of my distraction and slices down my leg. I resist the urge to scream and carry on fighting as the dark shape sails over my head. Now I know what it is.

It's Thresh. Thresh in wolf mutt form.

I force myself to concentrate on the immediate threat- Cato. I take a step back and he drives forward with his sword, forcing me backwards. About a meter behind me is one of my snares. I need to jump over it at exactly the right time and make it look natural for this plan to work.

As I step back, I know that the next step needs to be a jump. Cato thrusts forward and I make the jump backwards, narrowly avoiding being skewered by Cato. His foot hits the middle of the snare and the next second, he is hoisted up in the air by his foot. His sword has dropped to the ground and I pick it up and throw it away from him.

His face contorts in rage and fear. I pick up my sword and stab him through the neck, watching as the blood flows fast and his pale blue eyes go cold and dead. The cannon goes off and I look around for Katniss and Aravis. Katniss is still fighting Clove, this time with knives.

Katniss has the upper hand as she is almost uninjured, whereas Clove has many gashes on her arms and legs. I run over to her and stab Clove in the head, watching in triumph as she collapses, just like Cato did. Another cannon, and now Katniss, Aravis and I are the last tributes left.

I look around for Aravis and see her grappling with the Thresh-mutt. It has its teeth embedded in her shoulder and rips down with force that makes me want to vomit just looking at it. Katniss is ahead of me, an arrow sails straight into the Thresh-mutt's head. It is dead immediately and I run over to Aravis.

She isn't dead yet, but her injury will almost certainly kill her. In a way, I'm almost pleased- this means that neither Katniss or I killed her. The Capitol killed her, not any of us. I kneel down next to her, Katniss at my side.

"I'm going to die," Aravis whispers. "Katniss, Gale- thank you for helping me in these games. I knew I wasn't going to win though. Be happy together. Mum, dad and especially you Tessa, I love you." Her head leans to the side and she closes her eyes to die. Katniss is singing a song to her, one that I remember that my dad used to sing. I join in with her.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow.

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow.

Lay down your head, close your sleepy eyes,

And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, here it's warm,

Here the daisies guard you from every harm.

Here, your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true.

Here is the place where I love you.

xXx-X-xXx

Just Gale and Katniss left now. What did you guys think of the chapter? Please leave a review telling me, and thanks to all the people who have already reviewed, followed or favourited this story. Only 3 more chapters left now..

-MoonOfPluto