Prim and Gale walked for what felt like a very long way, but still they could not find water. They were exhausted, and Prim was starting to get dizzy from hunger and blood loss from the cut on her ankle. They were traveling across an area of the arena full of tall oak trees, and the ground was covered with a thick carpet of fallen, dried brown leaves. Gale knew that Prim was having a hard time walking on the soft, uneven layers of foliage, and the rustling noise of her shuffled gait through the dry, crunchy leaves was loud and conspicuous. Anyone within earshot would hear them approaching for sure. Plus, he noticed that she was still dripping blood from her boot and he wanted to get her off her feet.

"Come here, Prim." Gale said. "Let me carry you until we get out of these oak leaves."

"No, I'm fine. I can walk." she protested.

"I wasn't giving you the option." he retorted. "I know you can't help it, but you are making too much noise. It will be quieter- and safer for both of us- if you just let me carry you until we get to where the oaks start to thin out over there." He pointed ahead several hundred feet, where there were less oak trees and more pine and hemlock trees.

Prim frowned, but stopped walking. She allowed Gale to scoop her up in his arms again. She saw him wince with pain as the wounds in his hands opened up again from lifting her. She hated that she was causing him pain.

"Gale-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"Shush!" he silenced her.

He carried her the rest of the distance through the oak leaves, and Prim had to admit, that even carrying her in his arms, Gale moved in almost perfect silence. It was definitely much quieter than when she'd been limping along next to him.

They finally reached an area where there were far fewer leaves on the ground. Here there were abundant pines and hemlocks, so all that was covering the ground was a layer of soft, dried pine needles. He carefully set her down, and then looked around. There was still no water anywhere in sight, and the sun was getting low in the sky.

Gale was bitterly disappointed.

"Prim, I think we are just going to have to stay here for the night. It's going to be dark soon, and we won't be able to see where we're going. At least here we can have some camouflage under the hemlocks. We won't have water to clean our injuries, so we'll have to just make do with the small bottle in your first aid kit. Hopefully it will be enough for your ankle, at least."

"We'll share it." she said.

"No, we won't." Gale told her. "Your ankle is injured much worse than my hands. I'll just use some of the antibiotic ointment and wrap them with a bandage, and that will be fine. We're almost to the end of our time in the arena anyway, so..." Gale let his voice trail off.

Prim got angry. "Don't you dare say that you'll be dead soon, anyway, Gale Hawthorne! Don't you dare give up on me now!"

He hugged his friend.

"Oh, Prim," he whispered. "Always the optimist."

Then he let her go, and said, "Come on, let's find a place to settle in and hide."

They found a huge hemlock tree nearby, with large, sweeping low branches that hung all the way to the ground. They would easily be able to both lay underneath the canopy of branches without being seen from outside. They pushed their sleeping bags and supplies under the branches, up against the trunk of the grand hemlock, then sat down just outside the tree with the first aid kit to fix themselves up as best they could before the sun set and they lost their light.

Gale gingerly removed her boot, and found that it was filled with blood. Her whole foot was wet with it. The cut was red and raw and inflamed. He looked at the small bottle of sterile water in the kit and then looked up at Prim. There wasn't going to be nearly enough water here to clean it all and keep the cut from getting infected.

He closed his eyes for a moment, as he hung his head, and pressed his fist to his forehead. He suddenly felt so hopeless. They had come all this way, and now he couldn't even do something so simple for her, like clean her wound.

He felt Prim's small hand reach up and pull his fist away from his forehead. She held his hand in both of hers. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. Her pretty eyes looked so much older than they had just a short time ago, when she had cried herself to sleep against him on their first night in the arena. Her childlike innocence had left her eyes, but now there was strength and maturity, and trust in her friend...so much like what he saw when he looked at her sister. Just the thought of Katniss made his heart ache.

Prim smiled tenderly at him.

"It's going to be okay, Gale. Whatever happens. If we both live, that would be the best. But if we both die here, well, I guess that will be okay too. At least we won't die alone. We'll have each other. We'll be together until the end."

He pulled her to him and they hugged each other tight.

Just then, something landed softly next to them. It was a silver parachute. They smiled broadly at each other. Gale reached for it to see what was inside. Whatever it was, it was heavy.

He opened the bottom, and found a large bottle of water, plenty to clean their wounds and still have water left to drink, and a package of bread and cheese to eat.

Somebody out there wanted them to live.

"Thank you!" Gale said as he looked around. He wasn't sure where the cameras were hidden, but he was sure that somewhere nearby there had to be cameras on them. He wanted to make sure that whoever sent this gift knew how grateful they were.

He immediately set to work cleaning and dressing Prim's ankle, and he put the antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit on it. Once it was all bandaged up, Prim took Gale's hands one at a time and did the same, cleaning out each cut, applying the ointment, and then wrapping gauze around his hands.

When they were all cleaned up, they gratefully tore into the bread and cheese that had been dropped to them. It tasted so good. It felt like they hadn't eaten bread in ages, and it was a welcome treat. The bread made Prim think of Peeta, and she hoped that he and her sister were holding up okay through all of this.

When they finished eating, they cleaned up their mess from the first aid kit and the packaging that the food had come in. They figured that even though it was still light out, they might as well crawl into their hiding place beneath the branches of the hemlock and get some much needed rest. They lay next to each other, close together, and Prim rested her head on Gale's shoulder. They closed their eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

About half an hour later, Gale woke suddenly with the feeling that someone was nearby. He listened closely. Sure enough, he could hear someone walking slowly in the distance, their footsteps softly crunching the sticks and dry leaves on the ground. He woke Prim and told her to be quiet and still. Gale crept towards the edge of the hemlock branches and looked out. There he was... it was Curran, walking through the oak leaves that Gale and Prim had passed through not long ago.

Gale could tell that Curran was tracking them. He had heard that Curran was an expert tracker. It hadn't been hard for him to follow them, since Prim had been leaving a trail of blood drops all day. Fortunately, whenever Gale carried her, it made it a little more difficult. Gale was glad that he had carried Prim through the oak leaves, because it had lessened her bleeding, and whatever blood drops there were, had been strewn all over the place whenever the wind blew, scattering the red-dotted leaves across the dry ground, effectively hiding their trail.

He saw Curran sit down several hundred feet away and decide to make camp for the night. He knew that Prim and Gale were somewhere nearby, he just needed to flush them out. Gale noticed another thing. Curran was wearing some type of body armor, a hard, shiny covering over his torso that would make it very hard to kill him.

"What are we going to do, Prim?" Gale whispered very quietly. "It's getting dark, and he is too close to us for my comfort. I can't use my bow because my hands are so torn up, and even if I could, he is wearing body armor, so it would be an exceptionally difficult shot to kill him. I'd have to hit him in the face or throat, in the dark, which ordinarily I might have the confidence to do, but with my hands so injured, there is no chance that I would be able to be that accurate. I can't send you in there, it's too dangerous. But we can't just wait here for him to kill us, either!" Gale sighed.

"It's do or die time, Gale." Prim whispered. "This is the end. We've come too far to just lie here in fear and wait to be slaughtered."

"Do you have an idea in mind?" he asked. "Because I've got nothing."

Prim reached into her pocket and pulled out her last few Red Velvet Berries, then brought her eyes up to meet Gale's.

"I'm going to poison him and then we kill him." she said.

"No." Gale said adamantly. "I'm not letting you get that close to him. He's a killer Prim! And you're injured!"

"They've all been killers, Gale. Yet here we still are. Curran will have to sleep sometime. I can creep down there on my hands and knees if I have to, and you can cover me. We just have to get him to consume the berries, and then he'll be easy to kill."

"And how do you propose to poison him, Prim? Hmm?"

Prim looked down at Curran and studied his surroundings.

"There." she said, pointing. "He's got a water canteen set out in front of him, I only need to squeeze a little juice into the canteen, and once he drinks it, we've got him!"

"That's easier said than done, Prim! That canteen is right in front of him! You can't get that close, it's too dangerous!"

"Have you got a better plan?" she asked.

"No." Gale admitted.

"Don't worry. There are two of us and only one of him. We have the advantage. This is our only shot, Gale. We have to take it. If we don't, the game makers will probably find some way to push us together anyway to get the action moving along, and I'd rather strike when we're ready than be forced into a situation we aren't prepared for."

Gale hadn't considered that possibility, that the game makers might force them into a confrontation just to keep the game exciting, but she was right. They were running out of time and options.

He reluctantly agreed to let her try poisoning Curran's water. He didn't feel comfortable about it, but they really didn't have any other choice.

They waited a few hours until Curran was asleep, then began creeping their way silently over to where he lay. Gale brought his knife and his bow, too, even though he didn't think he'd be able to use it. He just felt more confident having it with him. He hid in the bushes nearby. Prim was going to have to go the rest of the way on her own. She crept silently in the pale moonlight towards the sleeping tribute, until she was right next to him. She moved so slowly, and didn't even dare take a breath. She reached down and put her fingers on his canteen. She started to lift it off the ground, carefully...carefully...

And then a strong hand grabbed her by the wrist.

She found herself staring into the cold, hard blue eyes of Curran.

"Well, well!" he hissed. "If it isn't Poison Prim herself! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist sneaking over here."

SHIT! Gale thought. He was in a panic. How was he going to save Prim?

Curran stood up quickly, pulling Prim up with him by the wrist.

"What have you got in your hands there, little girl?" he asked menacingly.

Curran grabbed Prim's hands and forced them open.

"Red Velvet berries? Now that's not very nice Prim. Maybe I should let you have a taste of your own medicine!"

He closed her fists over the berries and squeezed them, crushing the berries in her hands. Then he started forcing her hands towards her face...towards her mouth.

She fought against him, but he was much stronger than she was.

"Where's your boyfriend, now, Prim, hmmm? He's not going to come to your rescue?"

Gale had to do something. If he just ran over there, Curran might hurt Prim. He needed the element of surprise. He needed to use his bow.

He couldn't hold it right with the thick bandages on his hands, so he pulled all the gauze off in a swift movement, and the pain it elicited made him see stars. But he didn't care.

He grasped his bow, lined up his target, aiming for Curran's throat, and pulled back. The pain in his hands was killing him as the cuts started dripping blood down his arms again, and his eyes filled with tears from the agony of his torn flesh pulling on the bow.

He shot... and he missed.

"Fuck!" Gale cursed himself.

The arrow whizzed by, just inches from Curran's neck. But it was enough of a distraction that Curran whipped his head around to see what it was, and in that instant, Prim noticed that his body armor didn't extend all the way down his torso, just to his hips. She brought her knee up as hard as she could and nailed Curran with a swift kick to the groin.

The moment of surprise and intense pain caused Curran to let go of her as he doubled over. Prim ran away from him as fast as she could, towards the bushes where Gale was standing.

"Fucking little bitch!" Curran hissed at her, as he stood there hunched over, holding his abdomen.

"Come on! Come on!" Gale yelled, waving her over towards him. He reached out to take her hand, but then she noticed that his hands were bare and bleeding again.

"Don't touch my hands Gale! There's berry juice all over them! If you get it in your cuts, you'll hallucinate! Just run! I'll follow you!" she cried. "JUST GO! Get us out of here!"

Gale started running, but he didn't know where he was heading. He needed to find somewhere they could hide, but where? For now, the most important thing was to put some distance between themselves and Curran, while he was momentarily at a disadvantage.

He looked over his shoulder, making sure Prim was right behind him. Gale was scanning the woods around him as they ran, searching for safety. Fortunately there was a lot of moonlight tonight so at least he could see where he was going.

Gale's brain kicked into survival mode. He saw a rocky hill up ahead with thick forest above...they would be able to take cover in the trees. It was their best shot. He sprinted towards the rocky hill then reached back to grab Prim and help her up the hill.

But Prim wasn't there.

Oh shit, oh no! Gale thought to himself, and panicked. Where had he lost Prim? She had just been with him a moment ago... How long had it been since he'd looked back at her? Two minutes? Maybe three? Then it dawned on him, and he suddenly felt sick. In his adrenaline-fueled rush to find a place for them to run to and hide, he had forgotten that Prim's ankle was injured. She couldn't keep up with him.

He turned and started running back where they had just come from. He wanted to scream her name, but he didn't dare. Then Curran would know that she had become separated from him.

He frantically searched the woods for her. Where the hell was she?

Then he saw it up ahead...The glint of a silver blade being raised in the moonlight. He knew that Prim didn't have a knife. Curran did.

No, no, no, please no! Gale thought as he sprinted towards the movement.

Curran had Prim on her back on the ground, straddling her, with his knees pinning her arms to the ground.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me now, Prim." Curran said, taunting her. He ran his hand down the side of her face and rested it on her cheek. His touch gave her the chills. It was like being touched by a venomous snake.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you? I bet Gale fucks you senseless every night! I would if I were him." he whispered in her ear.

"Shut up!" Prim said sharply. "Don't you talk about Gale like that!"

"Why not?" Curran asked, amused by her anger. "Oh, that's right, he's your cousin, isn't he? Well, I'm sure a minor detail like that doesn't even matter back in district 12, does it?" Curran had his face just inches from hers.

Prim spit right in his face. That really pissed him off.

Curran lifted his knife and thrust it into Prim's chest. Her eyes opened wide with the pain. He pulled out the blade, and then thrust it in again.

At that moment, Gale arrived and saw what was happening. He was overcome with dread and nausea and anger... burning, seething, hateful anger.

If Gale had been thinking clearly, he would have just slowly walked over and made himself an easy target. He would have let himself be sliced open by Curran, and he could have just lay there and bled to death with Prim, because it would be less painful than the alternative of returning to the capitol and having to face Katniss and telling her that he'd failed her.

But Gale wasn't thinking clearly, as he watched helplessly while Curran laughed at Prim's suffering.

All he was thinking was revenge... that he was going to kill this motherfucker for hurting her.

Gale flew into a blind fury, fueled by his rage and despair. He ran at Curran and tackled him off of Prim's still body. Curran still held the large knife in his hand. They rolled around on the ground, both wanting to kill the other. Gale finally managed to get himself on top of Curran and he grabbed onto his arm that held the knife. He held Curran's wrist and slammed it down into the rocky ground beneath them over and over, until he felt both of his wrist bones snap, and his hand went limp and dropped the knife.

Then Gale rolled Curran over and lifted him up in front of him, getting his head in a headlock in the crook of his elbow, choking the life out of him. Curran fought against him in vain, his broken wrist flopping as he tried to peel Gale's arm from around his throat so he could breathe. But Gale was strong, and he was not letting go. After a few minutes, Curran started to go limp in Gale's arms as he succumbed to asphyxiation. At that moment, Gale leaned down, and reached for the knife that Curran had used on Prim. And with the speed and strength borne of years of hunting and slaughtering animals for survival, Gale stood up in the moonlight, taking Curran with him, lifted his elbow that was holding up Curran's head, and with his other hand, sunk in the knife and slit Curran's throat from ear to ear.

A huge gush of blood burst forth from Curran's throat, and the cannon boomed. Gale dropped the tributes body like it was a piece of trash, letting it fall to the ground. He dropped the knife down next to him as well.

Then it dawned on Gale... there had been no cannon for Prim. She was still alive! Maybe he could still save her!

He rushed over to her side and knelt down next to her. Though she lay still and felt cold, he could see that her eyes were still tracking his movements.

He lifted her body across his lap and cradled her so she was resting against his chest. He was covered in his own blood, Curran's blood, and now Prim's blood, but he didn't care.

"How bad did he hurt you Prim?" he asked.

"Bad." she whispered, almost inaudible.

Gale unzipped her jacket, and saw the stab wounds in her shirt. She was bleeding profusely. She was right, it was very bad. His eyes filled with tears. He wasn't going to be able to fix this.

She looked up at him, and tried to lift her hand to reach for his. Gale took her hand, and they laced their fingers together.

"You... won..." she whispered to him. He saw a smile start to form at the corners of her mouth, but then a moment later, it faded away. The last remaining blush of color in her cheeks drained away, and her eyes became a glassy stare.

The cannon boomed, and Prim was dead.

"NOOOOOOO!" Gale screamed into the night. He hugged her lifeless body against his chest, not wanting to let her go. It all seemed surreal, like it was just a nightmare, but it wasn't. It was real. Gale held onto her desperately, bawling his eyes out. He didn't even care if everyone in Panem saw his raw emotion.

The announcer came over the loudspeaker and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, your winner of this year's Hunger Games, District 12's Gale Hawthorne!"

But for Gale, being the sole survivor and getting to return to district 12 was not a win.

It was a life sentence.