Character and plot owned by Suzanne Collins!

Recap:

Sneaking forward I peered out, hoping to find something that could help me. Not a living sole was awake though. Even the bare ground and the tall, mighty trees seemed to be absent in a way. The usual rustling was gone along with the signs of life and was replaced with an empty whistling. The wind shook some of the weaker houses threatening to tear parts of their roofs off. It carried smaller objects left outside with it. Life had been taken over by this hollowness.

Just as I had given up on finding the person or thing responsible for the unnatural humming a shadow sneaked past the large oak tree straight in front of our house. Seconds later a large fire was lit behind the tree. I could see the crackling flames and the large amount of smoke. I wouldn't have dared to make a fire like that! The peacekeepers would punish this person immediately if they found him.

In usual circumstances I would let this happen but this time my curiosity got the best of me.

I pulled on a jacket, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and headed out into the dark, spooky night.

Whoever was out there I would find them! Then they will be asking me for mercy.

Chapter 12- Part 2

 Slowly I sneaked out of the house and into the street, following the noises. Sadly the humming had stopped, but had been replaced with different sounds. My steps were almost inaudible while the other persons were careless and clumsy. With each of their steps twigs snapped, leaves crunched and thumps echoed as they bumped into things. It was also obvious that they had never done whatever they were doing before because I could often hear her cursing under her breath. Yes it was definitely a girl. She had a high pitched voice and was uneasy using those nasty words that were escaping from her lips.

Following the unknown girl for a while, I determined that I could always over power her. If I got close enough I could attack. Then I would just turn her in to the Peacekeepers, collect the reward money and send it in to support Katniss. It was the perfect idea.

The girl stopped with a halt, right in front of the gate that surrounded the woods. Pulling out a knife from her pocket she looked around nervously searching the area for anyone watching. I almost laughed when she looked straight at me and didn't notice I was right there, within her reach. After she had decided nobody was there she crouched down and one by one cut the wires away, creating a large hole that even two people could fit through. She may not be using it anymore after I catch her, but I was definitely going to make use of it. However inexperienced the girl was she did a good job on the fence. Even the tips of the wire were being rounded off so that they wouldn't cut anyone.

Finishing her cutting job she slid the knife back into her pocket, observing her work. A smug smile of pride crossed her face as she inspected it. Finding it flawless she pushed a bag through the hole and followed. On the other side she pulled a perfect, silver arrow and 12 sharp arrows out of the bag. It was just like the ones I had seen in Cornucopia during some of the past Hunger Games. I had dreamt of owning a weapon like that for years. Pictures of it filled the space under my bed as I had tried to work out the structure of it. How much I would love to hold that beauty in my hands.

I slowly followed her through the whole, hiding behind the massive, tall trees in the area.

Awkwardly clutching the bows and arrow in her hands the girl continued deeper into the forest, nearing our hide out with Katniss. She held the weapon like she was ready to swing it, or use one of the arrows to stab anyone or anything nearing at any second. It didn't look as if she was going to use it the proper way anytime soon.

A squirrel shot across the path a few inches away from her and she shot out a started scream. As a reply to this owls started hooting and the girl freaked out. The hoots echoed in a calming way, but the girl seemed to think otherwise. She hid behind a bush and waited, the same way I was doing behind the tree. The only difference was that I was watching her, and she was hiding.

Minutes later she came back out onto the path Katniss and I had broken in, just as a herd of dear ran by. She attempted to shoot a dear that was trudging along in the back not even running like the rest. It would have easily hit but the girl was hopeless. The arrow didn't fly further than the end of the bush. Quickly with the dear still in range she tried again, failing miserably. She was about to shoot and waist her third arrow, when I sent mine flying into the dear. It was a perfect hit, but the girl took no notice that the animal was lying on the ground dead or the fact that I had just revealed myself to her. She was collapsed on the ground crying and muttering to herself.

"It's no use! I'm not even good at this! Why am I trying? I should leave this job to the people who can do it... Maybe I should just stick to picking berries, like my father said."

Pulling herself off of the ground the girl hobbled over to a night-lock bush and started picking the berries. At the sight of this I burst out laughing even though I was trying my hardest to muffle the laughter. This girl was really helpless. She was never going to survive.

"Who's there?" She called out nervously.

I was caught. What should I say? Think Gale think! I could tell her who I am but then she might turn me in to the peacekeepers. If I said someone else I could get myself in lots of trouble later. Come on Gale! Think!

"Peacekeepers!" I shouted as a reply to her, praying that she would believe my answer.

 "Oh please don't hurt me! Don't turn me in! I truly didn't mean any harm!" She cried, as I sighed out from relief. I was safe. 

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't turn you in!" I told the girl, still not coming out from behind the tree. As soon as she saw who I was my cover was blown.

"I'm trying to help two families, one of which just had their oldest daughter chosen into the Hunger Games." The girl whispered just loud enough for me to hear. All I could do was stare in shock. Whoever was out there was trying to help Katniss' family and another one.

"Please reveal your name!" I called knowing I wouldn't turn her in now. I just wanted to know so I could thank her later.

"Madge Undersee!" The girl called on the verge of tears. Madge was the girl trying to help. It was Madge! I would have to revel myself now.

"Madge, don't worry I'm not going to turn you in!" I started, but she cut me off. 

"What kind of a peacekeeper are you if you aren't going to turn me in?" She asked.

"A fake one!" I replied. What else could I say?

"So who are you actually and why are you following me?" She questioned curiously keeping the bow and arrows held high in front of her as protection.

"I'm Gale Hawthorne and I'm following you because I heard noises from my house and wanted to know who or what was making them." I told her stepping out from behind of the tree.

 "Gale? Gale! I'm so happy to see you!" Madge cried.

"I will agree that its nice knowing you were the one lurking around, but why are you out here? And where did you get that?" It was my turn to ask her now pointing at her weapon.

"Like I said I was trying to help your family and Katniss' by getting some more food for you to trade. As for the bow and arrow, I got that from my dad. He said I could feel free to use it at any time." She replied calmly. "You can tell that I failed at my plan."

"It's great that you want to help, but please don't go putting yourself into danger for our families. Just a job at your house after school would already be a ton of help!" I told her shaking my head. I didn't want to be held responsible if we accidentally got caught and sent to a whipping, or to be killed. That was going to stay my problem whenever it happened, which was bound to be soon with the new security. I wasn't going to get Madge mixed up into it.

"You just want a job? I can easily get you that! We could split the work time half and half so you would still have time to hunt, and I would gladly give you this bow and arrow to use if you need it!" She cried getting excited.

"Thanks Madge! It would mean a lot! Let's go back to town now and get some sleep. We can discuss this tomorrow." I told her smiling. Everything was slowly falling into its place.

 "Alright!" Madge replied as we headed back into the boundaries of District 12.

*************

Side by side we made our way out of the woods along the familiar path. Well I could call it a familiar path, Madge couldn't. It was easy to notice she was nervous that we would get lost or caught on our way home. Her jittering, uneasy glances to the side and twitching fingers made it pretty obvious.

"Relax Madge! Nobody will catch us! Especially not at this time of day... What were you even doing up so late?" I asked her trying to calm her and start a conversation at the same time. I had a feeling talking would help her relax.

"Are you sure nobody will catch us?" She questioned me shivering at the thought of getting caught... again. I kept forgetting she was probably still worked up about the fact that I had found, and scared her so easily. I bet she's imagining the real peacekeepers five times worse. That would be a pretty understandable explanation of why anyone would act this way.

"I practically live here! I'm sure nobody will be out to harm us, and even if they are I'll just shoot them." I told her making a joke out of it.

"You'll what?" She almost screamed, a paralyzed look coming over her face. I chuckled, only Madge would be capable of believing that. Katniss would have immediately gotten the joke. Oh, how much I missed her.

"We'll hide if they come. I know this part of the woods like the back of my hand. Actually I know most of the woods like the back of my hand." I calmed her covering my joke.

"I thought you said you would shoot them." She whispered. I was about to reply when she cut me off. "Please don't though. I understand that you could tell Katniss things like that just for fun, just to earn a laugh, but I'm not as brave as the two of you. I can't handle thing like that. The second idea might not seem so appealing to you, but I like it better. Let's stick to that one if we get caught." She finished, lowering her gaze. I couldn't believe she thought I was serious about that.

"Madge, I would never shoot a human just so we wouldn't get caught. Nobody would even come out here. I was just joking! If somebody found us I would use the second idea too." I told her remembering the time Katniss and I were almost caught. Our lives were held together by the thin line of luck even then.

******Flashback*********

The boy and girl were running, panicking as the sound of the hovercraft neared. It rumbled so loud that the ground was shaking, whisking our bodies from side to side. Katniss and I watched the boy collapse dead and the red head girl bent down next to him crying. Katniss pressed her body into mine as we watched for protection.

The hovercraft was now directly above us and my instincts told me to hide. Spotting the only body that could protect us from the Capitol -a hollow log- a few feet ahead of us I pushed Katniss into it, following behind her. It was the perfect spot. We could watch was happening and hide at the same time. The only problem was that the helpless girl had spotted us.

"Help me!" She cried; fear overtaking her voice as she used the last amount of energy she had to call out to us, she last hopes. We could have run out to help her. She would have made it into the woods just in time, but we were too selfish. Our lives had meant too much to us back then. Instead of acting we just silently watched as a net dropped from the hovercraft onto the girl and boy. By then even the girl had realized we were not going to help. We hadn't been worth the effort. She stared at us in pure hatred as the net rose, taking her and the boy away from the real world. Forever.

********Flashback ends*******

"I trust you!" She whispered to me as we continued our way throughout the woods in silence. At the sound of this I sadly shook my head. I had a feeling Madge was going to end up like the girl Katniss and I had allowed the Capitol to take. ...Whisked from the real world forever because of the two of us.

"I'll do my best to protect you too. I owe you that much!" I replied to this. It was the least I could do.

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