Gale
Katniss walks ahead of me, shivering in the sharp wind that's picked up all of a sudden. It's not entirely uncommon for 12 to have the bitter autumns, but for some reason this year is an exception. I suddenly wonder if it's an artificial breeze, fabricated especially for Katniss's second, and most important, Victory Tour this year, now that they've got even more reasons to get rid of her.
Nobody's told me just how much danger we're in, but I can only guess. She already warned me a few months ago that my life was on the line if she couldn't pull off the whole star-crossed lover bit with baker boy, but now that he's gone are we still in such a risk? It's impossible to say, and even worse to ask. I know she won't give me an answer I can use, not in the fragile state of mind she's in. I don't even bother asking her disgusting mentor, Haymitch.
I jog a little to catch up to her, and inadvertently slip my hand in hers. It's more in a little sister/big brother sort of way, a protective hold…but my hand still tingles in the warm spot where her skin touches mine. She looks down sharply at my hand, and I almost let go, until her grip tightens around my fingers and she pulls me along.
We're headed to her house, since it's where we usually gather to eat. My shabby house is apparently not the best place for two families, eight in total, to eat lunch. Besides, it's where the mental doctors from the Capitol have confined Katniss until she shows progress.
I wonder what they'd say about our unauthorized trip to the Meadow.
On our way through the Seam, we pass a little boy carrying a bucket of water. Katniss gives him a tight-lipped smile, but otherwise ignores him as she walks past. My gaze lingers, and I'm not sure why, until I spot the Peacekeeper headed our way. He doesn't exactly look too happy—but then again, neither do any of the other Peacekeepers these days. I even miss Darius, the old insufferable redheaded flirt that would throw obstinate pickup lines at Katniss.
"Where do you think you're going?" this Peacekeeper demands. For a second I worry he's talking to us, until I see he's too busy glaring at the little boy to notice a mentally unstable victor and a renowned hunter. The little boy recoils in fear, and the Peacekeeper slaps him across the face, spilling the water and sending the boy right into the dirt. "I thought I asked you for that water an hour ago! Does it really take that long for a stupid Seam kid to fetch a pail of water?" He raises his hand to strike, and before I realize it I'm standing in between them. What would've been a fatal slap to a little Seam kid ends up as merely a playful swap to me.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" I yell, and Katniss notices the racket and stops dead in her tracks. She turns around slowly, her grip on my hand tightening as she approaches the scene. I hear her muttering softly under her breath, but I'm not in the mood to listen to her warning. I'm sick of the Peacekeepers mistreating us so often! They're even going as far as picking on our children.
Suddenly I panic when I think that this could've been Rory, or Vick…or even Posy. At the thought of my baby sister being treated so cruelly, I become angry all over again, and shove the Peacekeeper backwards. "Leave him alone!" I snarl, stepping up.
"You have no authority to interfere with—" the Peacekeeper begins, but I hear the kid whimper and that infuriates me all over again. The Peacekeeper stumbles backwards as I push him again. He looks me in the eyes, and I see the dark brown eyes that are a common trait in Peacekeepers from District 2. Suddenly, any pity I might've had drains away. "Hey! What makes you think you can—wait, I know you—" I punch him square in the face before he says anything else that might upset Katniss.
I grab him by the shirt and pull him up to me, making sure he gets a good look at my eyes. Of course he'd know me. All the Peacekeepers know me. And not just as the boy with the wild turkey anymore. "You listen to me carefully now. You ever, ever touch a Seam kid again, and you'll be sent to a Capitol hospital faster than you can say nightlock. Understood?"
The Peacekeeper gulps as I throw him onto the floor, and he scrambles to get away, muttering something about the outlying districts being packed to the edge with scum.
I toss a weary look over my shoulder at Katniss, who's looking pale and afraid. "I'm sorry," I mutter, embracing her. She nods but doesn't stop shivering as we walk the rest of the way home. "I didn't want to have to do that in front of you."
"How do they know you, Gale?" she asks quietly, afraid. "Is it because they…beat you?" Her voice is low, soft, as if she doesn't want anyone to hear, which she probably doesn't since she'll have the paparazzi following her everywhere for a while.
I shake my head, my arm tightening around her as we step on the artificially bright green grass that never seems to die all year round. "Let's just say the other districts weren't the only ones to struggle against the Peacekeepers," I reply just as quietly, placing my hand on the doorknob.