Damaged Wings

Chapter 8: Hunting & Hurting

Me, Peeta, & Johanna are all sitting around the table for lunch. It's surprisingly calm considering I had a break down this morning.

Johanna explained why she was here; she actually said she missed us, plus it was boring in District 7 all alone. I don't mind, I love having a friend around. I may have not liked her at first, but she grew on me.

"So what are we gonna do today?" Jo asks.
I shrug, "There's not much to do here, but you're the guest so you can decide."
She thinks for a while then says, well I should say yells,"I know! Let's go hunting!"

I look at Peeta. He was never good company in the woods when I was hunting. He's too loud.

I guess he remembers because he says,"You guys go ahead, I'll just stay back."
I walk over to him and sit on his lap.
"You sure?" I ask.
He smiles and says,"Yeah, it's fine. Go enjoy the woods for a few hours. I'll have dinner ready for all of us plus Haymitch when you two get back."
I thank him and give him a small peck on the lips.

I try to get up, but he pulls me back down. I look at him confused but he's just smirking.
"You're leaving for a few hours and that's the goodbye I get?"
I roll my eyes and lean in to kiss him again. He puts his hand behind my head and deepens the kiss. I forget everything and just focus on him, that is until Johanna interrupts us by saying,"Unless you want me to throw up the lunch you just made I suggest you stop with the kissing."

I laugh and get off Peeta.
"You jealous Jo?" I ask smirking.
She walks out of the room muttering "fuck you" under her breath. I giggle a bit then run upstairs to change into my hunting clothes. It turns out my head wasn't that bad. Just a little gash. Although the amount of blood I saw made me think otherwise. Unless I just imagined it. I wouldn't be surprised. I head downstairs and we leave.

We get to the woods and I go to retrieve my bow from its usual place. I know I don't have to hide it anymore, but it's a habit I guess. Johanna brought her axe with her and some throwing knives.

We've been hunting for about three hours and so far we have 8 squirrels, 4 turkeys, 2 rabbits, and one wild dog. It's a pretty good hunting day.

Johanna looks at her watch and says,"Maybe we should go now. We still have to fix the animals up and stop at the Hob which will probably take around an hour. It's 4 o'clock right now."
I nod my head at her and say,"Okay, you go ahead with half of them. I'll finish getting this" I gesture to the dead rabbit in front of me "out of this snare. I'll catch up."
"Alright brainless, but hurry, I don't feel like doing everything."
I smile and nod my head and she walks away.

I finally get the rabbit out and put it in my already full game bag. I pick up my bow and arrows and start walking. I get to the log that I hide my bow & arrows in and put them there. I get up and take a couple steps. I stop when I hear something.

"Hello? Is someone there?" I ask. No answer. I shrug it off and keep walking. But then all of a sudden I feel someone grab my arm. They cover my mouth before I have the chance to scream. The person turns me around and I look at them. Why am I not surprised?

It's Gale.

He uncovers my mouth and start to yell at him. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"I had to see you again."
I scoffed. "Well you left me so I don't really want to see you. Now if you would kindly fuck off that would be nice." I start to walk past him but he grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Ow! Gale what the hell do you think you're doing? Let go!"
I keep trying to get out of his grip but I can't. He's too strong.

When I look up at him he looks different, I can see it in his eyes: hate, love, obsession, and anger. And it scares the crap out of me.

He leans down and whispers in my ear,"You deserve this. You made the wrong choice choosing baker boy, Katnip."
The way he said it made shivers go down my spine. My heart is beating really fast. What is he gonna do?

The next thing I know he pushes me against a tree while pinning my hands to my sides. He smirks scarily before he leans down and kisses me. No matter how hard I try I can't get out of his grip. I can't even kick him because he's pressed up against me so tight. I only have one option.

I taste blood and he pulls away realizing I just bit his lip. Before I can smirk in satisfaction he slapped me. He fucking slapped me. I hold my hand to my check and say,"And you called Peeta dangerous. You're no better! At least he has hijacking as an excuse. You're the real mutt! I hate you-" before I can finish my rant he slaps me one more time then throws me to the ground. I think my head might of hit a rock, which is bad because I already hit my head once today.

My vision is kind of blurry and I can't think straight. Oh how I wish Johanna would come back for me. I can't do anything. He punches me twice, I guess to make sure I couldn't fight back. I feel really dizzy and weak.

I need to fight back but I can't and I hate it! All of a sudden I feel my pants getting pulled down. No! No he's not gonna do what I think he's gonna do, is he?
"Gale, don't. Please stop. Please." I managed to say weakly. He doesn't. I try with all the strength I have left to push him off and hit him but it's no use. I'm no use.

I'm struggling to keep my eyes open when I feel it. When I feel him. I say stop over and over again but he never does. I'm crying and trying to get away but it's not working. All I can do now is wait for this torture to end.

I don't know how long it's been, but it's finally over. He punches me one last time and I hear him say something like you deserved this and something else then he ran away. Coward.

I struggle to get my pants back on, but I eventually do. I'm trying to find my game bag but I'm so dizzy and everything is blurry. I trip and coincidentally land on my game bag. I pick it up and try to stand up again. I almost make it to the fence before I fall again. I crawl to the opening and pull myself up. I look around but can't really see anything.

I start to walk towards victors village hoping that I've got the right directions. Jo's probably mad at me right now, but I have other things to worry about at the moment. I just want to get out of these clothes and try to scrub every part of my body until I feel clean. I stumble through the gates of the village and stop to breath.

I get up again determined to make it home. But when I look up I see Peeta and Haymitch. They scared the crap out of me. I jump back, resulting in me tripping, hitting my head once again, and blacking out.

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Yeah I decided to make Gale the bad guy. I was running out of ideas so I thought 'why not?'.
Btw can you guys tell me if you like my story and comment and maybe suggest things? That'd be nice. I just wanna know who's reading it and if you like it.

-elyssa 💁