Part 5: The Girl On Fire

Chapter 8

I walked through my town looking for Gale. I saw him coming out of the mines. I ran up to him.

"When did you...-" Gale started but I cut him off with a hug. I hugged him tightly.

"We need to talk." I said.

***

We went into the woods and I told Gale everything about the Tour. And about how the Hunger Games we're going to start again.

"Where are we gonna run away?" Gale asked.

"Into the woods. Like we always talked about. There's a safe haven that we can go to. If we leave now we can be far away from here by tonight." I said.

"Yeah, who's 'we'? You, me, and your finace?" Gale asked dryly.

"It's not just me and Peeta anymore. Snow threatened to have you killed." I said.

"Anyone else?" Gale sighed.

"Well he didn't exactly give me a copy of the list but a good guess it includes both of our families." I retorted.

"Unless what? You and Peeta get married?" Gale asked frustrated.

"Unless nothing now. Gale we can do it. You said yourself that we could do it the morning of the Reaping. What do you say now?" I said.

"Do you love me?" Gale asked. I sighed.

"Gale you know how I feel about you. But I can't think about anyone that way right now. The only thing I can think about every day, every waking moment since the Reaping is how afraid I am. There's no room for anything else. But maybe if we got away from here, if we went to the safe haven, it could be different. I could be different." I lied.

"You think maybe the President's bluffing?" Gale asked.

"He's not bluffing. Not with what's going on in the districts." I said.

"What do you mean?" Gale asked. I looked at him with fear.

"What did you see?" Gale pressed.

"There were people fighting in the streets, and fires, and Peacekeepers were gunning them down. But the people were...." I trailed off.

"What? The people were what?" Gale asked, desperate for answers.

"They were fighting back." I said. Gale looked away in realization.

"It's happening. It's finally happening." Gale breathed.

"I should've just eaten the berries in the arena and died like I was supposed to. Then everything would be back to normal and everyone would be safe." I said.

"Safe for what? To starve? Work like slaves? Send their kids to the Reaping? You haven't hurt people Maddie. You've given them an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it. There's already talk in the mines. People wanna fight." Gale said.

"We have to go Gale. Before they kill us. They will kill us." I said.

"What about the other families? Huh? The ones who stay. What happens to them? People are looking to you Maddie." Gale said.

"I don't want anyone looking to me. I can't help them." I said angrily. Suddenly I heard a vehicle engines. Gale pulled me down to the ground. Peacekeeper vehicles started driving into town. That can't be good.

"You do what you want. I'm staying here." Gale said. Suddenly a gunshot sounded. That came from the town square. Me and Gale jumped up and started running back to town. I heard people screaming now as we got closer. Me and Gale burst into town. People were running around. A woman ran up to me holding her eye.

"My eye." She wailed. It was bleeding pretty bad. I grabbed her as Gale ran ahead of me.

"Come on let's get you out of here." I said. We walked into an alleyway away from all the chaos. I sat her down and wet a rag. I pressed it against her eye.

"Here." I said softly. I heard people yelling in the distance.

"Hold that there." I said. I heard grunting in the distance. It sounded like a man crying out in pain. I got up and ran into the town square. I pushed past a crowd of people gathered. I reached the front. I gasped. Gale was tired to a post and was being whipped by a Peacekeeper. Blood streamed down Gale's back. Deep, open cuts engulfed his back.

"No! Stop!" I yelled. I ran up to the Peacekeeper and pushed him back. The Peacekeeper punched me to the ground. I groaned in pain. I felt blood trickle down my cheek.

"Maddie. It's ok go." Gale panted. I got up and stood in front of Gale. The Peacekeeper scoffed.

"Move." He demanded. I stood my ground.

"You want another?" He threatened.

"Go ahead." I teased. Suddenly the Peacekeeper was pointing a gun at me. Haymitch ran in front of me.

"Whoa whoa." Haymitch said.

"Get out of my way!" The commander demanded.

"No, you don't want to shoot her." Haymitch pleaded.

"How about I shot both of you." The Commander retorted.

"Look Commander you're new here. Trust me I'm trying to help you. I'm Haymitch. You recognize her? Maddie Everdeen. Darling of the Capitol." Haymitch said. The commander lowered his gun.

"She interfered with a Peacekeeper." He growled.

"I never said she was smart. Look you already got a couple of lashes in." Haymitch said.

"That's not good enough! She's an agitator!" He yelled pointing the gun at me again. Suddenly peeta was in front of the gun.

"Easy." peeta said. Haymitch pushed him back.

"Look, you're sure Snow wants three dead Victors here? Because that's what we're looking at. It's bad enough that you marked up her face on the eve of the big wedding. Let it go and we will too." Haymitch begged. The Commander clenched his jaw then lowered his gun again.

"Alright. Okay. But next time, it's the firing squad." He sneered.

"Excellent idea." Haymitch said.

"I don't care who she is." He growled. Then he looked around at everyone.

"Clear the square! You're all under curfew! Anyone out after dark will be shot on sight!" The Commander yelled. Me and peeta untied Gale. Gale groaned in pain. peeta and Haymitch started carrying him back to my house.