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"Catnip," Gale whispered, his voice cutting into my thoughts and his warm breath scattering across

my face as he gingerly shook my shoulder, "Let's go. The sun is rising."

I blinked, momentarily forgetting where I wasI blinked my eyes in an effort to clear my vision

before peering at the horizon, traces of sun rays mixing into what was once the night sky andleaving it a mixture of contrasting colors. With a sharp breath, I urged my legs to swing themselves

over the branch, but my limbs seemed to be locked in place. Whether it was from the shock of

Marvel's actions, the cold morning air, or how close Gale was, I didn't know.

"Catnip," Gale pushed, raising his hand from my shoulder and to my cheek, his touch as light as a

feather against my skin.

Throughout the night, the cameras were probably struggling to get a good shot of us up in the

willow, competing against both the coverage of the leaves and the darkness. Gale and I were both

guaranteed a close-up as soon as we emerged from the tresses of the tree, especially after escaping

from that encounter with the Career pack. We'd better make it so that our appearance on the

television screens across the country gave the audience a reason to sponsor us.As soon as this thought left me, I felt Gale's sturdy hands slide themselves to the small of my back

and below the undersides of my knees before he swooped me into the security of his arms, bridal

style. Before I had the chance to react, he jumped from the tree with utmost grace and landed on his

feet with a muffled plop, an amused grin plastered to his features as he studied my aghast

expression.

He carefully set me back on my feet, and I realized with great clumsiness that I had grappled at

Gale's broad shoulders in the seconds that we were falling back to the ground, making it so that my

arms were wrapped securely around his neck. I unhinged myself immediately, only to stumble

backwards awkwardly from the sudden weight on my feet, making Gale have to gently grab my

hips to steady me. There was no doubt that the blush pooling in my cheeks was caught effortlesslyby the cameras situated around us, lit up by the dawn light.

Thatwas definitely not how I wanted my close-up to go. I felt the redness in my cheeks deepen as I

darted my gaze to the ground.

Gale snorted. "After you," he said, the corner of his mouth quirking as he gestured for me to walk in

front of him.

I frowned before hesitantly complying, which only made Gale's grin widen.

The forest was quiet. In fact, it was much too quiet for me to let my guard down. Apart from theoccasional rustle a rabbit made as it darted into the bushes, it seemed as if Gale and I were left alone

in the trees. This sense of solitude was only an illusion, though; the cameras were doubtlessly

following our every step, unless the death of a tribute was beckoning them elsewhere.

The sound of Gale hissing out a curse caught my ear, and I curiously craned my neck to give him a

quizzical glance.

"Another one got away," he mumbled, disappointment apparent in his tone as he twisted the small

throwing knife between his fingers. I instantly knew that he was talking about a rabbit, and felt the

corner of my mouth curl downwards into a pout.

"If I just hadsomethingto make into a snare, we'd be having a feast by now," Gale added

stubbornly before letting his gaze wander to the treetops.

I looked down into the empty silver sheath in my hands, the bow wrapped around my torso

seemingly increasing in weight as time went on. Not only did we have no food, but the dryness in

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my throat was a constant reminder that we had no source of water, either.

It wasn't rare that tributes went through the first few days in a haze of agonizing thirst and hunger.

In fact, the Capitol viewed it as the second most amusing thing to watch as we all fought

desperately for our lives; the first, of course, being bloody showdowns.

I swallowed hard in an attempt to moisten my gullet, but only felt the roughness of my tongue rub

against the back of my throat. The muscles in my stomach had begun to cramp, and the pulsatingpain in my head only became more apparent as the sun made its way to the center of its arch across

the sky, beaming through the canopy of the trees.

"Catnip!" Gale suddenly called out, the cheerfulness in his tone giving me a start. "I'm a genius!"

I arched an eyebrow at him before securing the sheath across my shoulder. "Oh, really?"

Gale nodded his head, the smile across his features unwavering. "I'm about to make you the best

wooden arrows you've ever had the pleasure of shooting."

My eyebrows flew up at this news before I raised my head to peer at the tall, aged pine trees

surrounding the clearing we were situated in, their straight branches perfect for fashioning arrows.

"You're a genius!" I chimed without thinking, throwing the sheath to the dirt and hinging my handsonto the trunk of a nearby pine. Its bark was rough against my palms as I hoisted myself upwards,

choosing my footing carefully and breaking off the slender branches as I went.

Gale let out a quick chuckle, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun as he watched me scurry up

the trunk. "I've always been suspicious of you being part squirrel, and this just settles it," he yelled

up at me in a teasing tone, a smile apparent in his voice.

By the time I made it back to the ground, a handful of sticks clasped tightly in my free hand, Gale

had already went to work on the branches that I had dropped to the earth from the treetop. Pine

needles laid disarrayed around him, littering the grass-speckled dirt as he sliced them away from the

sticks with the serrated edge of the throwing knife.

I found myself gazing at his hands in wonder, his calloused fingertips working with both swiftness

and precision as he skillfully carved a sharp point onto the front of the arrow shaft. The tree flesh

that was revealed once he slashed at it was a fair white color, framed by a pale green that

surrounded the remaining bark.

"I hope you know that this means you're catching dinner tonight," Gale announced, raising his eyes

to look at me but not pausing his hand movements.

The corners of my mouth raised into a slight grin as I set the sticks I was holding at his feet. "I'm

not complaining."

Gale's eyes glinted before he gestured to the pile of finished arrows beside him. "Go on, try them

out," he encouraged, kicking one towards me, "They don't have feathers, so it'll be a little off, butyou can handle that."

A childish feeling of giddiness gripped my heart before I pulled the silver bow over my head and off

my torso, my mouth tightening into an unconscious grin as I bent down to retrieve the arrow. It felt

a little flimsy in my grip, but the point looked sharp enough to draw blood, and that's all that really

mattered.

Without a second thought, I strung the arrow onto the bow using the delicately carved notch it had

on its back end and held it straight out in front of me, the movement natural to my experienced

hands. I tugged the tightly wounded string back to my chin before aiming at a rustling bush, waiting

for a clear shot of whatever swift-footed animal it had cloaked in its foliage. A pink-tipped nose

poked out of the leaves, and my arrow went flying toward it before the animal even had a chance to

move two inches.

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The familiar sound of the pointed tip of an arrow connecting to flesh faintly sounded, and I raced

toward it feeling light on my toes. I kicked away the brush impatiently, only to see a rabbit folded in

on itself like a potato bug around the wooden shaft of the arrow.

"Good to see you," I chuckled, holding the rabbit out so Gale could see it from where he was

standing.

Evening was just beginning to fall once Gale was on his last branch, the dull part of the blademaking an indentation on his fingertip as he sliced away at the stick's bark. I silently noted the

redness in his fingers from overwork, and felt a pang of guilt in my ribcage as I shifted the now full

silver sheath in my lap.

The initial euphoria from finally being armed with a decent weapon had worn off hours ago, leaving

me to dwell on my parched throat and achy muscles again. The rabbit I had shot laid at my feet,

blood from the wound in its neck now drying into a maroon crust against its pale gray coat.

"And...done," Gale breathed, tossing the final wooden arrow into the sheath with newly arisen

triumph apparent in his movements, "Now to find some way to cook that rabbit."

I pursed my lips before eyeing the animal in front of us with hesitant eyes. "If we build a fire, the

smoke would lead the Careers directly to us."

"And we just so happen to have a brand-new batch of arrows and a skilled archer on our hands,"

Gale countered with a grin, shoving the throwing knife into his belt, "I think we'll be fine. Besides,

remember the last time we tried to eat raw rabbit?"

I inwardly grimaced as the memory made its way to the surface of my mind, leaving a faint trail of

recollected nausea in the pit of my stomach. "Rabbit fever," I said with a shiver, earning an amused

grin from Gale.

I had been given the throwing knife to skin and gut the rabbit while Gale set off to find fire wood

and tinder. A slight feeling of uneasiness welled in my chest as I pressed the blade of the knife to the

rabbit's stomach, staining the once shining metal with blood as I sliced into the animal's flesh. Theact of preparing game for eating had become so familiar to my hands that I could do it without

thinking, which only resulted in my mind lingering on other things.

It was very rare, especially this early in the games, to have almost an entire day without any

interruptions. Maybe the Gamemakers were feeling generous today.

I inwardly scoffed before dismissing that thought completely. There must be some other terrible

thing going on elsewhere to entertain the viewers so that traps weren't necessary to spur on killing,

but what?

My thoughts immediately directed themselves toward the Careers. I hadn't heard any cannons today,

and eleven was a startlingly low death rate for the second day. Were they waiting until the fear of

being captured by them became so unbearable that it drew some of the tributes to insanity? By the

looks of it, most of them were interested in giving the audience a good show.

I gritted my teeth before tearing away the last of the rabbit's pelt and leaving it abandoned under a

pile of leaves along with its feet, tail, head, and innards. Maybe the Careers were busy with their

own problems, as difficult as it was to believe. I silently remembered what Glimmer had said this

morning about Clove and Cato, and felt an unexplainable feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.

A faint snapping sound echoed from above, making my ears perk as I whirled my head upwards to

peer in the direction of it. The treetops were eerily still as the feeling of uneasiness in my chest rose

into my throat.

I was about to dismiss the sound as my imagination when a blur of almost invisible blacknesscaught the corner of my eye, making me dart my gaze over to the now rustling foliage of two

nearby pine trees.

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My pulse quickened against my ribcage as every one of my instincts screamed at me to flee.

Instead, I planted my feet in the dirt and stared with wide eyes at the treetops, only to be met by

silence.

"Hey, Catnip"

I whirled myself around, the still bloody knife readied in my hand as I reflexively raised it in front

of me, only to see Gale, who now had a very perplexed look plastered to his features."Is everything okay?" he asked in a stern tone, immediately dropping the armful of dried tinder he

had collected onto the dirt and hurrying over to my side, gripping my shoulder with a secure hand.

I swallowed hard before lowering the knife and opening my mouth to respond, only to be

interrupted when another snapping noise sounded from the same trees.

"We have to go," I stated suddenly, my breaths uneven as I hastily collected the sheath and the bow

off the ground.

"Wh" Gale started, but I was already pushing him in the direction of the brush before he could

finish.

The snapping noise seemed to get closer, never leaving the tops of the trees and always beingfollowed by an inexplicable blur of movement.

"We needto go," I demanded harshly, grabbing Gale's forearm and feeling the muscles under his

smooth skin tense as we rushed through the thickets.

"Did you suddenly get the urge to go on a nice evening run?" Gale joked, but I could tell that his

heart wasn't completely in it.

I furrowed my eyebrows together before trying to find the correct words to describe what had

happened, only to become gradually more aware that he would think I was going insane. Instead, I

settled on letting out an elongated sigh and continuing to walk downhill, feeling the dirt gettingslightly more moist under my feet. Usually, I'd prefer to be on higher ground, but the lure of a

possible stream was too strong for me to resist.

Gale arched a puzzled eyebrow, keeping a steady pace beside me. "Was the tinder I got so

horrifically bad that we had to run away from it?"

My heart seemed to be doing somersaults inside my chest as I staggered forward, finally feeling the

exhaustion of today's events catch up with me. "No, it was... There was something in the trees," I

murmured halfheartedly, hoping that Gale wouldn't question me any further.

He responded by giving me a into a studious look as he ducked his head under tree branches, his

raven hair brushing lightly against his forehead and falling into his ashen eyes. I resisted the urge toreach up and stroke it away.

"This is the first time in years that I haven't been completely sure of what you're feeling," Gale

murmured, gazing at me through half-lidded eyes, "I don't like it."

I pushed my lips into a stern line before frowning at the ground in front of me. The trees seemed to

be swaying in my vision, and I seemed to be getting increasingly more lightheaded with each step I

forced myself to take. "Do you want me to tell you what I'm feeling, then?"

"That would be great," Gale responded immediately, his eyes lighting up like a child's on their

birthday.

I exhaled sharply, stealing a sideways glance at him before forcing the words out of my lips."Confusion. Panic. Mostly panic. Also, I'm starting to think that I'm getting delusional. That's

always fun."

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Gale's irises immediately filled with the same need to protect that I had seen earlier, making me

raise my eyebrows at him. My body seemed too weak to be surprised as I shuffled my feet forward

through the damp soil, my head becoming too heavy for my neck to support.

"Delusions," Gale echoed, the word sounding wrong in his perfect voice.Perfect? Where did that

come from?

It was almost startling when I realized that my hands were gripping at my temples wildly. Starburstsdotted my vision, making it so that the trees in front of me were covered with bright specks as I

seemingly blundered into them. The world around me began to mold into a gigantic spiral,

swallowing me into its depth as I abruptly felt the sensation of falling.

It seemed to last forever, the falling. I expected for it to stop with a painful collision to the ground,

but I was instead met by what felt like a pair of strong arms wrapping themselves around my torso.

My ears were filled with a buzzing sound as the inside of my skull was covered in what felt like a

thin layer of fire, burning my brain and sending my muscles into spasms. My stomach lurched as

everything in it clamped into a painful cramp, only to become unbearably agonizing until

everything finally went numb.

This is nice, I thought, blackness taking over my once dizzying vision.

I was only slightly aware of Gale calling out to me, the sound muffled against my eardrums, as if I

was encased in a pool of water.

"Katniss, honey. You don't hold it like that."

I peered at the wooden bow in my grip with stubborn eyes, gradually realizing that the world

around me had grown in size at least sevenfold. I only reached the knees of the man in front of me,

and he had to bend down to pat the top of my head with his gentle hands.

"Repeat after me. String, pull, aim, fire," he said in a voice that was soothing against my eardrums,a sort of musical edge to it. Mockingjays gathered around in the trees, attempting to copy the

simple yet hypnotizing sound of this man's tone.

"Katniss, go ahead and try it. I know you have it in you," the man murmured.

I raised my hands, only to see that they were as tiny as a child's. They awkwardly fit around the

handmade bow I was attempting to maneuver, and my aim was incredibly off as I fired an arrow

that was meant to hit a nearby tree trunk, but only succeeded in landing a couple feet in front of me.

The man laughed, the sound instantly causing a smile to conjure onto my features, despite my

failure. The mockingjays bursted into a wave of song, the man's tone still too complex for them to

capture.

I watched with curious eyes as the man got onto his knees in front of me, revealing his olive-toned

face and sleek black hair. My silver eyes were reflected in his glassy ones, framed with both laugh

and worry wrinkles.

I inwardly gasped, my limbs locking in place as the man stroked a loving hand against my cheek,

his fingertips coarse against my skin. "That's my daughter," he murmured, his tone filled with

affection as he tore the arrow out of the dirt and handed it back to me.

The world around us, once so peaceful and absent of worries, began to crumble under our feet. The

smile plastered to my father's features didn't even falter as clouds of smoke began to erupt around

us, a wall of flames closing in around him.

The stinging scent of smoke suddenly filled my nostrils as my skin was covered in a thick layer of

coal dust. "N-No!" I choked out, the word grating against my raw throat as I tried to squint through

the smoke with tear-filled eyes. "Don't leave me!"

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Don't leave me!

Don't leave me!

Don't leave me!

"Don't..." I began to stir back to reality, my heart beating like a drum against my chest and the

hollow of my collarbone collecting cold sweat, "...leave me."

"Wasn't planning to," Gale responded almost immediately, giving me a start and making me whirl

my head in his direction. His face was contorted into a mask of concern as he gripped what looked

like a bottle of water in his strained fingers. "Nightmare?"

"W-What?" I asked, still not completely aware of my surroundings. I silently registered the sound of

flowing water beside me and the feeling of a damp piece of cloth on my forehead, cooling my

scorching temperature.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Gale repeated, pushing the bottle of water towards me. I peered at the

bottom of his shirt, only to see where he had ripped a sizable piece of cloth off of it. As if on cue, he

reached for the piece of material on my forehead and gently raised it off before dipping it back into

the stream we were next to. "You were sleeping, after all.""What?" I echoed, raising myself off of the tree trunk I was positioned against. My head felt heavy,

but I was relieved to realize that there were no cramps in my stomach.

Gale chuckled before squeezing the excess water from the ripped cloth of his shirt and setting it

back of my forehead. "Cramps, spasms, dizziness, delusions," he started, gazing at me with

contemplative eyes, "All symptoms of severe dehydration. You fainted, Catnip."

I arched my eyebrows at him, feeling my pulse gradually slow as my anxiety lifted away. "What

happened after that?"

Gale let out an elongated sigh before gesturing toward the stream beside us. "What should have

happened a long time ago. I found you some water. Thank God we weren't that far away from it," hemuttered, raking an uneasy hand through his raven locks, "Then, the weirdest thing happened. I was

deciding whether or not I should let you drink this without purifying it. Then, I heard a snap from

the trees, and out came this." Gale grabbed a bright orange backpack from his side, a hole apparent

in the strap from where Cato had pinned it to a tree trunk. "It just...fell from the trees."

The snapping. I silently remembered when I had heard it coming from above when I was busy

skinning a rabbit. I was about to dismiss it as a symptom of the dehydration, but now I wasn't so

sure. "Maybe it was a gift from the sponsors," I suggested hesitantly, already knowing the answer

before Gale had given it to me.

"No, they only send parachutes, and this was on the Cornucopia during the bloodbath. You picked it

up, remember?" Gale insisted, opening the backpack and revealing its contents. "Look, we have asleeping bag, matches, sunglasses, dried beef strips, crackers, wire, iodine, and that," he said

cheerfully, gesturing towards the water bottle in my hand, "Not to mention the stuff we had before.

I'd say we're well-supplied now."

"And it just...came from the trees?" I asked hesitantly, letting my gaze wander to the treetops above

us.

"Yeah, as hard as that is to believe," Gale countered, biting the inside of his cheek and crinkling his

eyebrows together, "It was hell waiting for that water to purify while you were unconscious in front

of me, but I'm glad I did it. You looked so peaceful once you had something clean to drink. You

even...said something to me."

I darted my gaze to Gale, perplexed by the grin he was now sporting across his features. I tried to

remember saying anything to him through the thick haze the nightmare casted across my memory,

but all I got was blankness. "What did I say?"

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Gale's smile deepened. "I think I'll just keep that to myself," he murmured.

And if I wasn't mistaken, his voice was a little unsteady.