Primrose Mellark

Chapter Twenty- Nine

   I knock hard on the door. "Gale! I need to talk. We need to."

   There's a pause, before the door creakily opens, revealing Gale with freshly-killed rabbits hanging from his belt. "What is it?"

   I look over at Evan, then back at Gale. "We. . . we sort of have an idea for a plan for getting rid of the guards. We talked it over, and Evan thought it was a decent enough plan. We were wondering if you could help us with it, maybe."

   Gale studies us for a minute, before opening his door to let us inside. I quietly follow Evan as we walk into his strangely quiet cabin. He shuts the door and turns to us. "What do you have planned?"

   I glance at Evan, and he waves me on. I sigh and tell him my story about setting fire to the machines, ruining them, and how it could work. Gale studies us, a hand on his short stubble-beard, listening intently. I finish, and he sits there. First I think that he's going to reject us, and say that it's a horrible idea, but then he shrugs.

   "It could," he says. "If only I had a stronger weapon. . ." He trails off into his own thoughts, not bothering to complete his sentence. He turns to the table and puts the animals on the counter. I walk over and keep my eyes on him.

   "So?" I demand. "Are you going to help us or what?"

   "Sure I'll help you," he says distantly. "It's a good plan. Did you come up with it?" I nod, and he gives me an approved look. "When will you be doing this?"

   "I was thinking tomorrow." I say.

   Gale snaps his attention to me. "Tomorrow? Why so urgent?"

   I shrug, and watch him as he starts to skin the animals. "Why not? We don't need to waste time by sitting around another day. The sooner they're gone the sooner I can get back to my life. Okay?" I look up at Gale again, to make sure he's even listening to me. "Okay?" I repeat.

   A faint smile crosses his lips as he looks down at me. "Okay, commander. I mean, alright, sir!" He does salute.

   "Ha, ha." I say sarcastically. "But we need to do this soon."

   "Prim," Evan speaks up. "Do we need any weapons, just in case one of them tries to get us or tie us up?"

    Gale looks at me. "Tie you up? What does that mean?"

   I realize he doesn't know about the poachers that had chains on their wrists, and how they beat them. I quickly tell him about the time I heard, and saw, them beating the poachers with them chained up. Gale's eyes become pained again, as if some memory was building up inside his brain. He quickly looks away from my gaze.

   "So, you'll do it?" I ask, my heart lifting in hope.

   There's a pause. "Sure. I could hold back the guards while you set fire to the engine." I narrow my eyes. Why did he suddenly pick a part in this, and why the guard of me and Evan, to fend off the guards? I am about to speak, before Evan beats me to it.

   "I'll set the fire," Evan volunteers. 

   "But-" I start to say.

   "I will." he says a bit more fiercely. "You aren't going to be handling that, Prim. Anyways, I know where to put the fire so it doesn't blow up before I can get away." There wasn't a mean tone about what he said, but a fierce love. I realize he doesn't want me to get hurt.

   "Fine." I say. "I will be the distraction." I smile. He can't get me out of that. He opens his mouth, then clearly realizing that I had to be apart in this somehow, dangerous or not. He shuts it and looks at me longingly.

   I continue. "What should I do to distract them? Scream, and fire an arrow?"

   "Where?" Gale asks.

   "In the woods. But, I will hide in my cave!" I say, happy that I figured something out for myself. "I will go out into the clearing, scream, and run back into my cave. Oh, and one other thing. Bear has to be here, tied up. Okay?"

   "You mean the lynx?" Gale asked.

   I nod. "He will follow me, and will probably either get hurt or give us away."

   After a brief moment, Gale nods. "In the woods. Not in my cabin." I cock my head.

   "Why not?"

   He looks away. "I might not be able to come back." He says no more, than why he can't come back, or won't. I don't question him, although I'm a bit suspicious. I nod and turn back to Evan. I'll just tie Bear up in the woods near my cave. A ways away from my cave, though, so they don't find him and know that we're near.

   "This will all be going down tomorrow?" Evan asks. I nod. "So we better eat something." Gale thinks that he means his food, and narrows his eyes. "I don't mean your rabbits."

   "I can hunt!" I offer. "I can catch something for you and me, Evan. Gale too, if he doesn't want to cook his rabbits." I remember that he's taking it home to his family. I wonder who even is his family, but this isn't the right time to ask.

   Evan says, "Quick enough? It's nearly 4 o' clock."

   " I can." I repeat. "I'm going right now. And stay here, so you don't scare the food off."

   He smiles. "I managed to sneak up on you multiple times. I'll be quiet. It's you who should worry." I punch him in the arm, but he still smiles. I guess he was right, though. Not the I'm-a-big-oaf part, though.

   "Whatever," I say. "Let's go then."

   It takes us fifteen minutes to even find some animals, and Evan accidentally fell and scared the only rabbit away. After I teased him about how he's supposed to be quiet, we went on the search again. All the noise and digging has scared away all the animals and even most of the birds. The large birds, anyways. We walk silently through the forest, loaded arrow in my bow, and I keep watch for any silent moves of a bush, or the sound of a calling goose or duck. 

    A sudden flash and a loud sound erupts from the clearing we're in, with tall grass covering the ground. I raise my bow and point at the bird flying and I quickly release the arrow without even checking what the bird is.

   "Reflexes," Evan says, and we walk over to the bird. It's a male pheasant, its wonderful colors shining, and a white feathered ring around it's neck makes it all the more beautiful.

   "That's huge!" I say, picking up the dead bird off the grass. It's probably the largest pheasant I've ever seen, even with my mother hunting them. I can't believe I took it down with only one arrow. It looks like it should have at least three to bring it down. I smile over at Evan, and he smiles back. He reaches for it, and I hand it to him. He also weighs it in his hands. He has to hold it with two hands or else I'll be too heavy.

   "I'm not much of a hunter," Evan says. "But I am guessing this is pretty big for a bird, by your face." He smiles and looks over a me. My mouth is spread into a wide grin that I didn't know I was doing. I quickly make my face straight.

   Before he could react, I quickly lean in and kiss him lightly on his lips. I pull back, and I watch his face. It's surprised as he looks over at me. 

   "Gotcha back," I laugh, taking the bird from his hands. I walk along our thin trail back to Gale's cabin.

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aww i like this chapter :) haha  "gotcha back!" lol

-katniss_on_fire13