The next morning, Gale and Prim decided that they needed to explore more of the arena, to find out what was around them, and see if they could locate any of the other tributes' camping sites. They also needed to see who had weapons and supplies that they badly needed.
The areas of the arena that they had seen so far were heavily wooded, which in one way was good because it provided shade from the sun and the forest provided lots of hiding places, but that also meant that it made it easier for the others to hide and sneak up on them, too. It looked like northern terrain, with sandy soil, rocky ground, lots of hardwoods, birch and evergreen trees, and fortunately, seemed to have several small streams and ponds scattered throughout. At times it was somewhat disorienting, because so much of the landscape looked the same. Prim guessed that the similarity was probably all part of the game makers' plan, to get the tributes disoriented and walking in circles. It was certainly easy to get lost here. She felt that she and Gale together would be able to manage, though, because he had lots of experience finding his way in the woods, and Prim was good at recognizing the plants that grew wild, so if Gale would lead the way, she would collect plants that they might need for food and for medicine...or for poisoning.
Prim gathered plants along the way as they walked. They snacked on the edible greens and berries as they went, grateful to have something to put in their stomachs. Then, after a few hours of walking, Prim grabbed Gale by the sleeve.
"Look Gale!" she pointed into a thicket of bushes... They were Red Velvet Berry bushes.
"I'll collect a bunch of berries, and then when the time is right, I'll find a way to poison the other tributes. When they start hallucinating, you can kill them!" Prim said excitedly.
She filled one of her jacket pockets with as many of the plump, juicy berries as she could fit.
"Well," Gale said, "Now we have a 'weapon' of sorts, we just need to find some of the other tributes."
They kept walking through the woods. A while later, Gale asked her, "Can you smell that?"
Prim sniffed the air.
"Woodsmoke." she said. Someone had a fire going nearby, they just needed to find it.
They walked a little further, following the smell and watching the sky for signs of the smoke. Eventually they found it. Their camp was near a small pond. There were three sleeping bags laid out on the ground, but right now there was only one tribute there.
"That's Sula." Gale whispered. "District four. Fishing district. See?" He pointed to what Sula was doing.
She was stirring a small pot on the fire, and she had several fish at her feet that must have been caught in the pond. She was in the process of expertly gutting the fish and dumping them into the pot. They figured that the other two tributes must have gone to look for more food. They had precious supplies that Gale and Prim needed. Now would be the time to strike when she was alone.
They decided that Gale would cause a distraction so that the girl would leave the fire for a moment, and when she did, Prim would sneak in and poison their food. Once they started hallucinating, they would be easy for Gale to kill off.
Gale started by hiding in some thick brush and throwing stones into the pond.
Sula looked up, wondering what had just made the splash. Then Gale took a long stick and started rustling the leaves in a bush next to where he was hiding.
"Hello?" the girl called. She thought it might be her allies returning. "Is that you guys?"
No one answered her. Then she thought maybe the noise was an animal that she could catch. The guys would be happy about that, she thought.
Sula stood up, and moved away from the fire, crept slowly towards the bushes where Gale was creating the diversion. She had her small paring knife with her, held out in front in a defensive stance, but Gale's knife was much bigger. She approached the bushes that Gale had been shaking, and she bent over peering into the leaves, her back to Gale.
He sprung forth, grabbing her and covering her mouth so she couldn't scream. Then with his other hand, he stabbed her in the side. He only wanted to wound her for now, not kill her just yet. He didn't want the cannon to go off and give the other two tributes with her a warning that any danger was nearby.
While he had the girl, Prim snuck down to the campsite. She crushed several of the berries into the soup that Sula had been making. She quickly washed the juice off her hands in the pond, then ran back to find Gale in the bushes.
She saw that he had the girl on the ground, sitting on top of her to hold her still, and was still covering her mouth with his hand. She was bleeding pretty heavily from her side. Prim took one of the berries from her pocket. Gale moved aside his hand for just one quick moment, long enough for Prim to shove the berry into Sula's mouth, and squeezed her cheeks to burst the berry. It only took a minute before Prim saw the change starting to happen. Sula's eyes got all distant looking, and she was looking all around, seeing things in the air that weren't there. She wasn't fighting against Gale as much any more.
Meanwhile, the two male tributes were returning to the campsite. Gale noticed immediately that one of them carried a bow. He was pretty sure he remembered the boy's name being Mica...district 5, he thought.
Yes! Gale thought. I need that bow!
"Where the hell did she go?" Mica asked the other boy, as he set down his bow. "I specifically told her not to go anywhere, stupid girl can't listen I guess!"
"Well, she's got dinner cooking, so she can't have gone too far. Let's just eat so we can put this fire out, and she can eat hers when she gets back."
The two boys started eating the soup ravenously, shoveling in bite after bite. Prim and Gale watched and waited for the reaction to start.
"I feel weird," Mica said after a few minutes.
"Me too," said the other. "Dizzy..." He stood up, and stumbled a few steps. His vision was double, his head was spinning. He was seeing stars and weird shapes floating in his vision, but when he reached out, nothing was there. He stumbled again, stepping into the campfire with one foot. He screamed from the searing heat of his foot burning, but he felt like he was moving in slow motion. He staggered towards the water, desperately wanting to cool the burning in his foot. He reached the waters' edge and took a few clumsy steps, before losing his balance. He hit his head on a large rock in the shallow pond when he fell, landing face down in the water. He drowned in only ten inches of water, and the first cannon sounded.
Well, that was easy. Gale thought.
Mica was so confused. He saw the boy fall into the pond, but he couldn't figure out what was going on. Like the other boy had said, he felt dizzy and uncoordinated. The trees looked like they were bending, the sun creating colorful starbursts like fireworks across the sky. He tried to take a few steps, but stumbled and fell to his knees. Mica looked down at his body, and saw huge bugs trying to tunnel into his skin. They were all over him. He reached for the knife in his back pocket and started stabbing at the bugs, which were all a cruel trick of his mind. He cut deep gashes in his flesh, across his abdomen and down his thighs, screaming and bleeding profusely, trying desperately to scrape away the bugs that didn't really exist. Soon Mica lost consciousness from all the blood loss, and he fell forward onto his knife, impaling himself in the belly. The second cannon went off.
"Wow, Prim, you weren't kidding when you said that stuff messes with your head!" said Gale.
"Told you!" she said.
Now they just had the girl. She was in the midst of her own hallucinations, writhing around underneath Gale, who was still sitting on her. Gale moved her so that she was flat on her back beneath him, and he was sitting straddled on top of her. He wanted to just get this over with as fast as possible. He raised up his knife and stabbed Sula in the heart. Then he pulled out the knife, and watched the life fade from her eyes. The third cannon boomed.
He sighed loudly. He couldn't say he felt good about killing these three kids, but if it was them or him and Prim, he was glad it was them. At least he was three people closer to getting Prim home safe and sound.
"Come on Prim, let's go grab some of those supplies." he said.
While Gale gathered up the sleeping bags, the bow, Sula's knife, and some cooking utensils, Prim quickly roasted the fish that the girl had been preparing, and then wrapped it in some leaves to carry with them to eat later when they made camp for the night. As they were putting out the fire, they heard the cannon boom two more times. Somewhere in the arena, two more tributes had just met their end.
Gale gently squeezed Prim's shoulder. "That's two more tributes closer to getting you home, Prim."
"Home sounds good." she said wistfully.
They decided to head back towards the rocky outcrop where they had spent last night, because it was good shelter and it was near the stream, so they'd have water. They walked back in silence most of the way.
When they got back to their camp, Gale washed off his knife in the stream again, they ate their fish for dinner and then just sat quietly, watching the sun set.
Gale broke the silence between them.
"Prim, are you okay? You know, with everything that happened today?"
"Yeah, I think so. I mean, we had to do it, right? How about you, are you okay?" she said.
"Yeah, I guess." Gale answered. "Where did you get all your knowledge of poisonous plants, Prim?"
She told him all about her mom, and how she had books about plants and their properties.
"Does Katniss know all that stuff too?" he asked. If she did, she'd never mentioned it.
"Some of it." Prim replied. "That's how she knew about the nightlock last year, with Peeta. But I know a lot more than she does. Katniss has always been more of a hunter, and I'm the gatherer."
"Interesting." Gale said. "Well, I'm a hunter too, so I guess you and I make a good team."
"I think we do." she agreed.
Once it got dark, they settled into the rocky outcrop, thankful to have the sleeping bags now. Gale put her on the inside so he could guard the entrance. He let her snuggle against him again to sleep, and he was glad that tonight she didn't cry.
The next morning, Prim woke early, while it was still dark out. She told Gale to go to sleep now, and she would keep watch. He slept until it was late in the morning, and the sun was getting high in the sky.
After he woke and they packed up their sleeping bags, they decided to walk in a different direction than yesterday, to see what they could find. They managed to sneak up on one tribute who was by herself. They hid in the bushes, and Gale killed her with one arrow. The cannon boomed.
One more down, Gale thought.
She didn't have much on her for supplies, but she did have a box of matches in her jacket, which would be good to have, for when they needed a fire.
Several hours passed by while they walked, and they didn't see any more tributes near them.
They were getting very thirsty and needed to find some water soon. They headed towards a very thick area of forest, knowing that where there is abundant plant life, there is often water.
They managed to find a small spring flowing from the rocks deep in the forest. It satisfied their thirst for now, but they really needed to find something to carry water in. Hopefully the next tributes they killed would have something they could use.
As they walked through the dense forest, Prim's keen eye spotted something she wanted.
"Look Gale, over there!" she said, pointing to a nearby patch of leafy ground cover.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Fire Ivy!" she said excitedly. "The only problem is that we don't have a safe way to carry it right now, so we'll have to just remember where it is for when we need it. Or, we can make a new camp near here, so we will have it right here when we are ready to use it."
Setting up camp did sound like a pretty good idea, since it was getting late in the afternoon and the sun would be setting soon. They found a secluded spot where they would have fairly good cover behind a grouping of pine trees and tall grass, and they set out their sleeping bags there.
Just before dark, when they were settling in for the night, Gale and Prim heard voices. Someone was approaching their camp area. It sounded like there were two tributes walking together. Gale told Prim to get down low and be quiet. He carefully crouched forward, peering through the tall grass, with his bow ready. He watched as two boys walked by just a short distance away, without even realizing that they were there. It was Farro, a district 9 tribute, and Del, from district 11.
Del and Farro set up camp down the hill from where Gale and Prim were, in a flat area covered in fallen pine needles from the pine trees all around them. Gale set down his bow for now, and watched them closely in the fading light of dusk. They didn't seem to have much for supplies, but they did have a water bottle that they were sharing. He saw one of the boys set the bottle down in front of him as he lay down on the ground to sleep.
He weighed the options about how to kill these two tributes. It would be nearly impossible to kill them both at once. Even if he took one down with his bow, he couldn't rely on Prim to kill the other with just a knife. He didn't figure she would have the stomach to just stab someone like that, and besides, he didn't want her to have to get that close to them, just in case things went bad. He didn't want to put Prim in harm's way. So that left them with their other option, the Fire Ivy.
Gale had to admit that he very much wanted to see Prim do her Fire Ivy trick, and he figured that the audience probably wanted to see it too, but the only thing the boys had that she would be able to apply it to was their water bottle. But he and Prim could really use that water bottle, so he hated to contaminate it and make it unusable. He mulled it over for several minutes, then decided that she would just have to use the bottle. It was their best chance for certain death for the two boys, and he knew that the audience and the game makers would love it, seeing such a sweet girl use such a nasty poison on someone. Gale whispered his plan to Prim.
They watched and waited for the two boys to fall asleep. One of them was supposed to be staying up and keeping watch, but he only made it about two hours before his breathing became deep and rhythmic, and soon he started to snore.
At that point, Prim took out her first aid kit and put on the rubber gloves. She double gloved both of her hands, just to be sure that she didn't get any on herself, and handed Gale the last pair to put on, just to be on the safe side while he helped her. After this, they had no more gloves left, so this was their one shot to make this work.
She moved silently in the moonlight, collecting some Fire Ivy leaves and then crushing them into a mushy, light green gel between two small rocks. While she was working on that, she had Gale dig her a small hole in the dirt a safe distance away from their sleeping area that they would later use to bury the rocks and the gloves that were contaminated with Fire Ivy. When the leaves were finely crushed, she gathered up the small amount of light green gel-like extract and held it in her gloved hand. She had Gale go to the spring, cup his hand and bring her back a small amount of water, and then sprinkle a few drops into the gel in her hand. This was very dangerous work, especially to be doing in the dark, so they had to be careful.
Once it was all prepared, they decided to move in. They silently crept towards the two sleeping tributes. Prim had the dangerous job of having to get right in front of them to obtain and contaminate the bottle, but Gale felt a little better knowing that at least she had deadly poison all over her gloved hands in case one of them woke up and went after her. Gale stayed very close to her, with his knife at his waist and his bow drawn, just in case. Prim crouched down, grabbed the bottle, rubbed her hands all over the outside of it, then unscrewed the cap and rubbed her fingers all inside the mouth of the bottle, even dropped a few drops into the water and swirled it around. She screwed the cap back on, and placed it back down on the ground. Then they backed away and retreated to their hiding place. They buried the dirty gloves and the rocks she had used, so there was no chance that they would come in contact with the poison. She knew that the extract she'd rubbed on the bottle would dry and be invisible by morning, but would still be just as lethal. Just the moisture of the skin on their hands would be enough to activate the poison. All that was left for them to do was wait... and then watch.
Gale told Prim that she should sleep for now, and that he would keep watch and would wake her up if the tributes woke. Around sunrise, both tributes started stirring. Gale reached over and shook Prim's arm to wake her. They lay in the tall grass together, watching in eager anticipation, hoping that the gruesome show was about to begin.
Back in the capitol, Katniss and Peeta were watching this too. Katniss was nervously wringing her hands. She didn't want to miss Prim's shining moment. She knew the game makers would be hoping to see this as well. If this went as planned, it would make Prim hugely popular. The spectators in the capitol always loved when a tribute found a new and exciting way to kill off their competition.
In the arena, the two boys were stretching and yawning in the early morning light.
Gale and Prim watched them, and they were dying in anticipation of how this would all go. Prim had learned a lot about Fire Ivy in books, and she had seen it used on other plants, like she did with the mushroom cap for her demonstration, but she had never actually seen a person be poisoned with it right in front of her. She was morbidly curious about how bad it would really be.
Del finally sat up, and reached for the water bottle. He removed the cap and took a long drink from it.
"Hey, don't hog all the water! Gimme some before you drink it all!" Farro said, reaching out for the bottle. He finished off the rest of the water, and then put the cap back on and set down the empty bottle.
Just a few seconds later, both boys started rubbing their hands on their shirts.
"It's starting!" Prim whispered to Gale.
"Ow, my hands are stinging so bad!" whined Del.
"Me too!" Farro said, sounding panicky. "Both my hands are burning! What did you touch?"
"I didn't touch anything!" he cried, now feeling rather panicky himself at the searing heat that was building in the palms of his hands. "You saw me, I just woke up!"
Farro now screamed as he looked down at his outstretched palms. They were both developing huge blisters that were filling with blood right before his eyes. Del looked at his own hands and saw the same thing. His eyes were as big as saucers.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" he screeched.
"I don't know, but I feel like my throat is on fire too! I can't breathe!" Farro squeaked out.
Just then, the blisters on both boys' hands burst with gushes of blood, and their palms now had raw, gaping wounds burning deep into the flesh. Before long, they started to see holes where all the tissue between their finger bones had liquified and was running down their arms in thick, grotesque rivers of burgundy.
Their screams were agonizing, but they didn't last long, because now their throats were burning from drinking the poisoned water.
Gale watched what was taking place before him, his hand held to his mouth in shock and awe.
He couldn't believe that Prim had done this... sweet, innocent, and apparently deadly Prim.
The boys were on their hands and knees... well, what was left of their hands anyway, which wasn't much. Now their lips were blistering, rupturing and disintegrating. They started gagging and retching, then vomiting blood, lots of thick, dark blood with clots and strips of their internal flesh mixed in it. The skin on their necks started to sag and fall apart as the Fire Ivy ate through the delicate tissue of their throats. Soon, the only noise was of choking, suffocating, and then finally silence as both boys slumped to the ground and died in puddles of their own liquified flesh and blood.
The cannon fired twice.
"Holy shit, Prim!" Gale said. "That stuff is scary!"
"Mmm-hmm." Prim nodded knowingly, with an "I told you so" smirk on her face.
Gale turned and looked at the young girl, absolutely astounded by what he had just witnessed. He was way more than impressed. He was so proud of this girl whom he had come to think of as his "adopted" little sister. Turns out she wasn't squeamish at all like he thought she would be.
He grabbed Prim in a bear hug, lifted her up and spun her in circles, causing her to shriek and giggle.
"You did it Prim! You did it! I'm so proud of you!" Gale exclaimed.
He set her down on the ground, and they stood there looking at each other, both beaming.
He reached out, gently grasped her chin with his thumb and index finger and lifted her face up to look him in the eyes.
"You know Prim, I think there just may be a hunter hiding somewhere inside of you after all!" Gale declared.
Gale's thoughts were going a million miles a minute.
I have GOT to teach this girl how to hunt! He thought to himself, excitedly. How awesome would it be to hunt with her AND Katniss together when we get back-
Suddenly Gale's thoughts came to a screeching halt. The smile disappeared from his face, and his eyes clouded over, as he realized, he would never be going back. Only Prim. He would never be able to hunt with the two sisters, would never get to watch Prim grow up.
Prim saw the change in his face, and it worried her.
"What's wrong Gale? What is it?" she asked.
Gale shook off the sadness that had just crashed onto him, and forced a faked smile onto his lips.
"Nothing you need to worry about, kiddo. Come on, help me get our stuff packed up. Let's get out of here. We've got more tributes to knock off so you can go home!"
Katniss had watched this whole scene on the huge television screens back in the capitol, and was totally overwhelmed by the spectrum of emotions it had brought on. She was so proud of Prim. People all around her were talking about what had just happened. Suddenly Prim was a star. But Katniss had also seen Gale, and it made her feel overcome with sadness. She had seen his face go from elation to sorrow, and it was like she could read his mind. Gale was getting attached to Prim, and he had suddenly remembered in that moment, that one of them was going to have to end up dead.
And if she knew her best friend, he would volunteer to be the one to die, so that young Prim could live.
Katniss wanted so badly to cry, but she had no tears left, so she just buried her face in Peeta's shoulder and clung to him for dear life.