Everthorne - short story collection

I shot a man

Katniss mother pov
We have been out in the woods for weeks. We made a run for it. We couldn't live like that anymore.
Katniss and Gale, along with Vick and Rory, posy, me and hazelle are all gathered around the fire. We hear a snap. Crack. Pop. It's twigs. Somethings breaking in the woods. I sounds like.....footprints...
Katniss and Gale instinctively grab their bows and slowly walk towards the woods, where the sound was coming from. Katniss spotted something. "Gale...." She whispered. Suddenly the figure jumped out and grabbed Gale, pinning him to the floor. He couldn't get up. Katniss rose her bow. Don't do it Katniss. I think. She is already scared from killing people in the games. She can't go through it again. The man on top of Gale slowly takes out a knife, and makes a cut on gales head. "NO STOP!" Katniss screams. "NO!" I can tell she just can't bring herself to shoot this man, even if he is threatening gales life. I was wrong. In slow motion, the arrow flies from her bow to the mans heart. Cold and dead.
Gale is now the least of our problems. Katniss is crumpled up in a ball on the ground, heaving big breaths, like she's having some kind of panic attack. Gale sprints over to her, and picks her up. We all gather closer to try to help. "I did it again. I killed him. I killed him.." Katniss strained. She held Gale close to her like dear life. They still sat on the ground. "Yeah, but catnip, he would have killed me if you hadn't shot him. You saved me, and the rest of us." He says gently, while rubbing her back. She sobs one last time. "But I still killed him. He's still gone because of me." "Katniss but you saved us." Little posy pipes in. Katniss ceases crying enough to let Gale carry her over to her little makeshift bed that we created when we first ran for it. Gale knelt next to her and brushed through her hair with his fingers. "Goodnight Katniss." I say to my daughter.
I climb into my pile of cloth as a bed and try to sleep. Katniss isn't. She's wide awake and I can tell. Gale wakes up a second later, looking at her. He brushes the tears away from her eyes. "I'm sorry I woke you. It's just a nightmare. I'm sorry" she whispered almost inaudiblly. "It's ok catnip" he says. He brings her closer and wraps her in his arms. I can see the releif drain into Katniss's pale face. Gale kisses her forehead. They finally just lie down together. Gale gently brings the blankets around them, and wraps his arms back around Katniss. "Thank you." She whispers. "I love you" she says. "I love you too catnip." He says without hesitation. Their eyes grow droopy, and they fall asleep, inoccently in eachothers arms. I'm glad, I think. Because Katniss can feel protected like she never has. She can finally feel safe.