ʀᴇᴅ ᴅᴀᴡɴ (ɢ. ʜᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴᴇ)

ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ

I gasp and fall down. Gale throws his crossbow down and comes by my side. Katniss loads her bow and points it at Jackson with an angry and determined look. I noticed the look on Jackson's face; she is shocked, she didn't think she was going to shoot me but I guess I got on her nerves.
"What were you thinking?" Gale asks me, frustrated while taking a look at my thigh. He unintentionally touches the wound and I wince. This time, the pain was real.
"Katniss," Cressida says, putting her hand in front of Katniss, " let's not take it this far. Heather is already injured, we have to focus on helping her." Katniss looks at Cressida with a blank look and then looks back at Jackson. She slowly puts down her bow.
"I'll deal with you later." She hisses and bents down next to me. She puts a hand on my back and gives me a reassuring look. I have to take the bullet out, but for now, we have to get moving. I'm not going to die here nor am I going to slow my unit down. In the meantime, Cressida steps forward and has her eyes locked with Jackson's.
"She's telling the truth. Plutarch wants it televised. He thinks if we could film the Mockingjay assassinating Snow it'll make the Capitol surrender before the casualties get too high."
I decide I have to get up and I look at Gale before doing so. He looks back at me and I slowly start to get up, wincing quietly under my breath. He stands up next to me and holds me so that I won't fall.
"While we are arguing, there's 100 peacekeepers on their way here." I point out, my glance focused on Jackson.
Katniss gets up and takes a step forward. "Boggs promised me that when the time came you would help me but instead you shot my sister." I smile at the last word and Katniss and I share a quick smile. "So please, make it up to me. For Boggs's sake." Jackson hasn't put the gun down and now it's pointed at Katniss. I swear, I'm gonna shove that gun up her ass one day. There's a long moment of silence and finally she lowers her gun. I hear Gale sigh, relieved.
"All right soldier, holo's yours." Commander Jackson says. I feel Gale's look on me so I look up at him. He smiles briefly and exchanges a glance with Finnick who's standing  behind me. Not long after that, Gale gently lets go off me, heading to the stairs and I feel Finnick's hand on my back, coming next to me to help me stand. The injury wasn't that bad; Jackson had missed the center of my thigh. I look at Finnick and smile, thanking him with my eyes. He returns the smile.
"I don't think we are gonna leave any footprints." Gale says, stepping on the, now, dry black liquid. "We should move now. And those cameras outside should be covered up by the oil."
"Can you walk?" Finnick asks me.
"I can, don't worry about me. I'll be fine." I tell my unit, who's looking at me. I've been through worse.
"I'm glad we won't lose another member then." Castor tells us, referring to me. He is kneeling down beside the injured twin and her sister.
"What do you mean?" Gale asks.
'She can't move forward like this. Her leg is too bad. We have to evacuate her. I'm sorry." He informs us and says the last part looking at the casualty's sister.
"I'll stay with her." Her sister decides.
"As soon as we make contact we will and somebody back. I promise you." Jackson tells her. Deep inside me I knew this was a complete lie. And so did Katniss. "All right everybody, move out."
I give Finnick a look to tell him that I can move on my own now, and that he doesn't have to help me now. He nods and lets go off me, heading over to Peeta. I won't lie, my first step is painful but I have to get going. There are only two options: die or survive. Gale finds his place next to me and gives me his hand to hold, waiting for me to take it, his other one holds his bow. I give him my hand and we start walking down the stairs together. When we walk out of the place, I look up to confirm Gale's theory; the cameras are indeed covered up by the oil. As we move forward, I stare at the dead man covered in oil that fell earlier in that oil. My reflex is to put my hand in my pocket and take out my gun, holding it tight.
"Come on this way!" Gale shouts and starts jogging. I start jogging as well, still holding his hand. Normally I would have said that running after being shot is more painful that walking, but this time it was the contrary. Gale lets go off my hand, grabbed his bow with two hands and smashed a glass door. He's going in first and I wait for everyone to go in before me. I look behind me to see if someone is missing and then enter the building. I walk up the stairs, holding onto the wall and find my unit in a nobly decorated house.
"Get these curtains closed." Jackson orders and everyone does so. After a moment, we hear the sound of vehicles and I approach the window. I slowly move the curtain to see what is going on. The place we were walking on seconds ago is now invaded by armed peacekeepers. I'm instantly worried about the twins. Out of nowhere , the sane sister starts shooting at the peacekeepers. Eventually they start shooting back.
Suddenly the house we were in exploded, with the twins in it. I fall on my knees and so did everyone. I hold my gun tight and hope they will leave soon, thinking that we were dead. I search for Gale with my eyes and find him. We lock our eyes and kept them locked until the tv was turned on. It read 'Mandatory viewing. ATTENTION ALL PANEM RESIDENTS'. Caesar Flickerman appears on the screen.
"Good afternoon. I'm Caesar Flickerman, here with our continuing coverage of the defense of the Capitol. Today, as our peacekeepers valiantly hold off the rebels, our story takes a surprising twist." A footage is shown of our unit running in order to escape the oil. "Katniss Everdeen, our once favorite daughter, has infiltrated the city with some of the Victors, whose names are all too familiar. Finnick Odair and Peeta Mellark.Hmm. Clearly some alliances don't last forever. Take a look at what happened just a moment ago, when our peacekeepers cornered Katniss Everdeen and her band of foolish rebels. Whatever arrogance brought thus treacherous girl back to us, you are about to witness a great victory, not only for the Capitol but for Panem." I sadly close my eyes as the previous explosion is shown. "So there you have it. Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, a girl who inspired so much violence, seems to have met a violent end herself. Stay tuned for more information. Caesar Flickerman. Thank you." And the screen goes dark.
"So now that we're dead what are we gonna do?" Gale asks
"Isn't it obvious?" Peeta replies causing everyone to look at him. "The next move is to kill me. I murdered one of our squad members. Katniss is right. I'm a mutt. An it's only a matter of time before I snap again. I'm not in control. I need a nightlock pill, so I can die when I need to." He finishes.
"If it gets to that point, I'll kill you myself." Gale says after getting up and leaving and I have to say, it sounded like a promise to me. Everyone starts to get up and explore the house while I went after Gale. I find him in one of the many bedrooms, looking in cupboards for something. I clear my throat. He looks at me and goes back to what he was doing. "Great, you are here. Let's get your wound treated." He states as he takes what he needs from a drawer. I slowly walk to the bed and sit down. I feel the mat shift next to me and I turn my head to look at Gale. He  carefully puts my injured leg on his lap. He uses scissors to cut my leggings on the spot that I was shot. He throws the fabric on the ground and grabs the scalpel. "I'm not gonna lie Heather, this is going to hurt." He says, looking back at me, concerned. I nod my head to tell him to go on and he puts the scalpel in the wound and tries to take the bullet out. I wince and close my eyes tight, biting my lower lip. He takes out the bullet after what seemed like forever and now I can feel the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. He continues to treat the wound and once he's over he leaves the stuff on the bed and looks at me with, is that affection I see in his eye?
"It's okay, we're done now. You're ready to go." He smiles wiping a tear I didn't even notice was shed with his thumb. He rests his hand on my cheek. I look him in the eyes and something melted inside me, there was complete silence. He looks down at my lips and without a warning, he kisses me. I kiss him back and my hands find their way to the back of his head. The kiss was so gentle and perfect but we had to stop. I pull off,my forehead still on his and he gives me an understanding look.
"I know. We need to talk, honestly this time." He says
"Can I go first?" I ask and see the confirmation in his eye. " Gale, I-I care about you and I know that you already know that but you haven't come clear to me about what you want. Back at my old house, when we kissed you pulled off because you still had Katniss on your mind. I wanna know now, Gale, honestly, what do you feel for me?" There you have it. I let it all out. Everything I needed to say.
"Heather I care about you too. And I will always care about Katniss as well. You were both like sisters to me. But these feelings evolved. Listen Heather, the thing is, back then, when you told me about the day I was whipped, the jealousy, you also told me that you loved me and I never got to say it back. I just needed time to figure things out. I know now that I want you. I love you, Heather Winters. I always did." He confesses and I can't hold the bliss inside me anymore so I smash my lips to his. He kisses back and that kiss was the most passionate one we've ever had. One of my hands is on his cheek and the other one on the back of his neck. His is also on my cheek and the other one on my lower back. I push everything out of my way and sit on his lap. We never stopped kissing and we never would have but the mighty Finnick Odair had to interrupt.
"Lunch's ready lovebi-oh." Finnick said when he came in. We stop kissing instantly and he earns a death stare from both of us. "Okay, I got it, I'm out." He apologizes and soon after we follow him.

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A/N: I know I said I was gonna update this on Monday but you guys have been so nice, so here you have it! Please don't forget to comment and tell me what you think; feedback is highly appreciated:)