The Tracker Jackers

I barely make it home in time to walk Vick and Rory to school. They wait for me by the door as I run around grabbing my things. My mother is already gone, out collecting clothes to wash for the day with Posy strapped to her back, no doubt.

"You're late," mutters Rory accusingly.

"I know," I growl back. My body aches, it's tired and sore from running in the woods, running home, sleeplessly worrying about Katniss in a place where I can't help her. I'm done running.

When I get to my own class, it has already started. I ignore the chastising look my teacher gives me and I glance at the screen on the wall on my left. It is showing Caesar now, an interview with the Head Game Maker, Seneca Crane. The sound is off so we can't hear, but I know it's a good sign that nothing is going on in the arena. On my right is Rusk, taking notes with a vengeance, making no note of his brother's appearances on the screen as Caesar pulls up a few key moments from the Career's reaction to the fire last night.

My teacher, Mrs. Sparrow, continues talking about the unique properties of coal. I could have taken these notes in my sleep, that's how many times we have already learned about coal. Instead, I raised my hand. Mrs. Sparrow nodded at me, stopping mid-sentence, probably wondering what question anyone could come up with about coal.

"What would happen to the Capitol if something happened to District 12 like it did to District 13?"

A hush falls over the class and all heads turn to me. District 13 is still a touchy subject, despite it having been gone for 74 years. My teacher stares at me, clearly wracking her brain for some way to answer. "Well, we are not in a rebellion," she says at last, "So I wouldn't worry about what would happen to the Capitol."

She turns back to her piece of coal, but I interrupt her this time. "Right, but hypothetically? We are the last natural energy source in Panem. Sure Districts 3 and 5 might handle power and electricity, but the Capitol is reliant on us to fuel most of their things and to lower the prices of their power usage. I guess it's like the Capitol is nothing without the Districts, yet it is still punishing us for the rebellion."

Mrs. Sparrow takes a visibly deep breath. "Well, Gale," my name hisses through her lips. I'm speaking out, an opinion that could get me sent to the Peacekeepers and beaten or worse. I'm risking my family all with one statement, and that isn't right either. But she does continue to answer me. "Our relationship with the Capitol is symbiotic. They get what we provide them, and we receive their… protection and they provide us with means to live." It couldn't have been only me hearing the loathing in her voice. I'd struck a nerve with her, but her better sense does what mine can't: she defends the Capitol. "The Hunger Games are a reminder that we are… subjects of the Capitol. To win the Hunger Games is a tremendous honor. If Katniss or Peeta wins the games this year, it would be the first in 24 years, and we would be proud for either of them to win."

She turns again, but once more, I can't stop myself. Whispers echo around me. "You still didn't answer my—"

"Gale Hawthorne!" She slams her shaking hands down on her desk and eyes me before they dart to the door. "Enough." The word is a warning, not a punishment. I nod and take out my pencil, tapping it against my notes for the rest of class as I think of ways the Districts could strike against the Capitol. By lunch time, I convince myself that even that is too radical for me to accomplish. I need to start smaller.

"—so when we kill her, maybe she won't scream." My head whips to the screen that is playing in the lunch room. Peeta stands in the remnants of Katniss' forest, the charred and dead one that she herself nearly died in last night.

Cato laughs at him, "What's the point in that. I want to hear the Girl on Fire scream."

"I think waiting for her scream is a waste of time," mutters Peeta with a scowl.

I hear a snigger behind me. Spinning around, I see Rusk staring at the screen as well. When he sees me, the small smirk on his face vanishes, but the fact that he was smirking at all has me infuriated. I grab him by the shirt collar, every impulse in me wants to punish him for his brother.

"You think that's funny? That's my best friend your brother is talking about killing!"

"It's the Hunger Games!" he shouts back, pushing my shoulder. "They're all going to die anyway!"

"No faith in your own brother? Well, I wouldn't either. He must have lost quite a few sponsors with this stunt of his. First he claims he is in love with Katniss, now he's hunting her and plotting her murder? I can see where he gets his twisted little brain!"

"Hey!" he screams again, this time shoving me off of him with more force, "Lay off my brother! He's trying to stay alive!"

"Now you want to act like a concerned brother? He wouldn't have to be staying alive if you'd volunteered for him like Katniss did for Prim!"

He doesn't say anything else, but rears his fist back. He stayed like that for so long that when he actually swung I had plenty of time to move over.

"Gale Hawthorne!" comes a different voice. It's Mrs. Sparrow again, and she gives Rusk a look that warns him to find a seat far away. "I think you should go home for the day. I'll let your brother's teachers know. You need to clear your head and then use it." She looks around at everyone whose head is turned to us. "Watch what you say from now on, and no more fights. I can't be here all the time and I doubt you'll receive a warning next time."

I grab my bag off the floor and storm out of the school. I go home and change into my hunting clothes, determined to actually bring home some meals today for the Everdeen's and for us. But I return with a rabbit and a sack of herbs. Rushing to the Hob, I make a few trades and manage to get a small meal for the Everdeen's and two for us to share. By now, the sun is setting and my mom waits for me at the door with her arms crossed.

"I brought food," I say, trying to lighten what I already know is coming: a lecture.

Her face is worn down, her eyes dark and baggy from sleepless nights and stress. I've added to her problems recently, I know, more than I have helped her. Ashamed, I look at the floor. "I'm sorry."

"How many times?" she asks, her head shaking. She closes the door behind her quietly and steps out to meet me. "How many times, Gale? You're not a stupid boy, you're bright so I don't know what part doesn't stay with you. They are dangerous. They hear you when you say the things you said today. You're my baby, my oldest baby, no matter how old you get, and I just want to protect you. But Gale, I can't protect you if you bring them here, if they hear some of the things you say or imply. Please, I can't lose you. The next time you get angry, think about your brothers, your sister… me. Please, Gale, don't speak against them, no matter what you feel."

"I know."

"I know you do, but you don't think outside of the moment. Think of the future. When Katniss comes back would you rather be here waiting for her, or somewhere else?"

I nod, my mother is always right. She opens the door behind her. "Kids, we're headed to the Everdeen's. Rory, grab Posey bring her to me please." She looks at me one more time. "The things you do will affect them. Remember that too."

After a few hours at the Everdeen's, I can see my mom is ready to head back home. Katniss has barely been featured, she's still in the spring. By now, it's late, the sun has almost entirely set; all but a sliver is left. But as I'm about to get off the chair, Katniss is on the screen again, and this time, so are the Careers.

"Mom!" I call out as Katniss springs to her feet, hearing the Career's approach. She splashes out of the water and straight for the sturdiest tree she sees. Her leg slows her down, her limp is bad, she barely puts any pressure on the leg. As she climbs the tree, it's all in her arms. The blisters across her hands are visibly painful as she uses the crook of her arms whenever she can. But she bites down and grips the tree limbs as she pulls herself from branch to branch while the weary Career's close in.

They too look like they were in the fire. Glitter, or whatever her name is, has smoky hair, covered in soot and ash. Cato coughs as he runs with his bulky sword in his hand. And Peeta. He looks worse, like he'd been hit with a branch or something because he was not looking well, his face is pale as they run after Katniss.

I hear Prim gasp as she and the Careers stare at each other. They have the advantage of weapons. Shimmer has the bow that I know Katniss desperately wants —needs—even. But Katniss has the advantage of being incredibly lightweight. She climbs trees back home like she was born to be a squirrel. If I ever try going up a tree, it usually results in a broken limb, and not just the trees.

"How's everything with you?" Katniss calls down. It's husky, the smoke from before seems like it still may have lingered in her lungs. But she smiles, confident. She must have realized that the Careers will never be able to climb up to her, and she knows how to be sarcastic.

This surprises them, but Cato answers her. "Well enough. Yourself?"

Katniss sniggers, but it's forced, I can see her fear. She knows this could be hit or miss. "It's been a bit warm for my taste. The air's better up here. Why don't you come up?"

I laugh, she is baiting him and he's arrogant enough not to notice. But Prim grabs my shoulder. "Why is she doing that, Gale? She'll get killed. He's stronger, he can climb right up."

The screen is zoomed out, showing them both among the branches. I turn. "See this branch here?" I point to one thin one that he will have to grab because of the distance between the others, and it will break, and he will fall. "Your sister is thin and she can pull her weight onto these branches and be okay. She also knows what she's doing. We do this all the time in the woods. He's going to break these branches and fall and hurt himself."

And he does.

After goading him some more, he climbs the tree and right where I pointed to, the branch broke, landing him square on his back. Glimmer tries to climb but backs back down and shoots an arrow so far away, I wonder if she even aimed for Katniss. But Katniss gets the arrow and waves it around tauntingly, but I can see her grip tighten. She wants the bow to go with it.

"Oh let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere. We'll take care of her in the morning." That traitor.

The screen splits between the Careers on the ground and Katniss in the tree, but I ignore the Careers. I don't care what they are saying. I watch Katniss treat her wounds as best she can in the tree. As she is ready to settle down, she hears, or senses, something and the screen splits a third time, showing little Rue gazing at Katniss. After a moment, she points up in the tree and her camera turns to show a nest of tracker jackers just above Katniss' head. When Katniss realizes what it is, she freezes against the tree, still and not breathing. Tracker jackers are more deadly than the worst tribute. They are not to be messed with. We have seen them in the woods before and it's best to just stay away.

Then Katniss loses her brain cells. She grabs her knife and slides out of her sleeping bag.

"Oh no," I whisper. "No, no."

She climbs up slowly to the nest. I turn to my mom and look at Prim, Rory and Vick as they stare at the screens. I know that even one sting could kill her if it was in the wrong spot. Mrs. Everdeen sees my face first.

"Prim, I know you want to watch, but it's late and you have school tomorrow. If anything happens, we'll wake you. Go to sleep, okay?"

"No mom!"

"Rory, Vick," my mom starts, "You too. Come on, into the bed. Prim?"

My mom takes them away and Mrs. Everdeen sits in Prim's seat and buries her face. My mom finally returns and rests her hand on her friend's shoulder. There is no playing for the camera. Katniss saws through the branch with all her might, her fear and desperation clear on her face as she tries to beat the anthem. If she can cut it before it ends, no one would have heard her. But then it does end. She decides to wait to finish the job. She slinks back to her bag and finds a sponsor gift.

One screen changes to a close up of the little can. "Edmund's Burn Cream sponsors Katniss Everdeen. Has your Avox ever knocked into your Hairlifter and started a fire? Well, prepare to buy the cream that will soothe and remove the burn before you can say 'ouch!' Brought to you again by Edmund's Burn Cream. "

"We'll stay with you tonight, hon. Just in case anything happens before the morning. Okay?" My mom rubs small circles on Mrs. Everdeen's back. She nods.

"Thank you guys… for everything."

"It's not over yet," I say, as I watch Katniss sigh in relief from the expensive cream.

When I wake up at dawn, it's to a familiar sawing noise. My head falls off my shoulder and I watch the screen. Katniss is sawing at the branch again. My mom and hers are already watching in horrified silence. I cover my mouth and watch as the tracker jackers are more alive than last night, and they begin to fly all around Katniss. One lands on her knee and she hisses, pulling on the neck of her shirt and biting it before continuing to saw. One stung her. She pushes at the branch as she saws the last bit and the wood crackles and snaps as it falls to the ground and the nest bursts open.

There is no time to celebrate. Two more jackers sting her in the neck and the face. She wobbles while pulling out the embedded stingers. On the ground, Glimmer and Coi have been battered by stings, they can't stand, bodies swelling up like air pockets ready to burst. Glimmer's screams subside until she is nothing more than an inflated corpse. Katniss falls to the ground, landing hard on her feet before falling to her knees, not entirely there. Her eyes already look slightly glazed over as she runs her hand along her knee. But some sense of self-preservation clicks on and she staggers to the dead body of Glimmer. Katniss looks ready to throw up and pass out as she pries the bow from Glimmer's hands, though gross, I know Katniss has seen worse. I can see that she is freaked out by something else, something entirely in her mind. She rips at the quiver, barely breathing then breathing all too much. The Games are already taking the dead body of the District 4 girl away and they want the girl from 1.

Katniss finally acquires the quiver in time for a body to crash through the trees, spear in hand. She readies an arrow, if you want to call her fumbling around "readying" it. Peeta stares at her, confused and concerned. I don't understand. Until I do.

"What are you still doing here? Get up! Get up! Run!" He shoves her swaying body away. "Run!" I slam my head back against the chair. He has been playing both sides. He's not killing her. This is his perfect chance, why wouldn't he unless he was really on Katniss' side? Cato bursts through the bushes, grunting and swearing as Katniss takes off. Peeta stays behind with his spear.

"You traitor!" yells Cato as he swings at Peeta. "You lied to us!"

Peeta had been stung in the ear, clearly his head twitching had to be the venom. He twitches again and this time, Cato's sword swipes him across the knee, splattering blood everywhere. Peeta cries out and drops his spear, falling to the ground and clutching his leg. Cato smirks as he sees some tracker jackers return from the top of the tree. He jabs the spear into Peeta's leg one more time before taking a few cautious steps away.

"See if you can follow your girlfriend now."

A/N: Hey all! Sorry it was so long between chapters this time. I needed a little break from this story to refresh and regroup. So I wrote this one a little bit longer than the others to make up for that! I quickly proofread this chapter so I apologize for any typos or tense-changes but I don't think there is anything drastically wrong but if you see anything that makes you cringe, let me know too! But anywho, hope you enjoyed that chapter! Let me know what you think, as always! Thanks!