How It Could Have Went

Katniss POV

I don't remember falling asleep but when I wake up, my head is on Gale’s shoulder and his head is resting on top of mine. The sun is almost fully above the horizon. It must be at least 6:30 by now. I sit listening to Gale breath until the sun is fully risen. He'd kill me if I let him sleep away such a good hunting day. “Gale. Gale!” I whisper. I feel his head lift of mine as he stretches and sits up. “Alright Catnip. Ready to go?” he yawns. “Sure but first I brought breakfast.” I dig through my hunting bag for the rolls and cheese I packed. After we eat, we rise in silence and head of towards the pond on the edge of the forest line. There's a hollow log right by the edge of the pond where we store our bows because only God knows the kind of trouble we would get into if we were caught with weapons like that in town. We hike through the woods for about an 2 hours with little luck. Gale had shot 2 rabbits and a squirrel and I shot 5 squirrel's. It's wasn't a terrible haul but there wouldn't be much meat leftover to sell once we took what we needed for our families that night.

“Damn it's hot.” Gale  huffed as we climbed over a decent sized tree that must have fell during last week's storm. “Do you wanna head back? You're sweating through your shirt. I think the smell is what's scaring off the game.” I teased as I heaved my legs over the fallen trunk. “Oh very funny Katniss. Thanks.” Gale shot, rolling his eyes. “If we get a good kill within the next hour, we can have enough for us to sell some of the squirrels. After that how bout we call it quits and go swimming in the pond?” I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. The temperature had risen drastically since this morning and even though I wasn't sweating as bad as Gale, my shirt still stuck to my back and my hair was damp. “Sounds like a plan.” Gale gave me a lopsided grin as he continued pushing through the branches blocking our path.

I turned to my right to see how far from our hill we had trekked when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. I reached out and grabbed Gale by the collar, mildly choking him. “Ow! What the fu-” “Sh! Shut up Gale! Look” He turned and looked towards where I was pointing. There in the clearing was handsome buck grazing on the tall grass. “How did I miss a stag like that?” He whispered in disbelief. We sat for a while watching the buck wander around the clearing. “Do you wanna do the honors?” Gale asked after a while. “Sure.” I answered trying to hide my excitement. It’s been months since we’ve seen deer out here.  I pulled an arrow from my quiver and took aim. “Ugh.” I lowered my bow. “I don't have a good shot. Get him to look up.” “Kay. Get ready.” Gale whispered glancing my way. I raised my bow and got into position. He whistled a long, low note just loud enough for the buck to hear without spooking it. The deer paused, raising his head to determine whether the noise was worth fleeing. Right then, my arrow flew straight through his eye and into his brain. Quick and painless. Not to mention that a shot through the eye left the pelt fully intact.

“Good shot.” Gale said with a grin, throwing his arm over my shoulders. That was new. I’ve made shots 10 time more difficult than that and Gale has never offered more that a smile. Whatever. It was a good kill. This buck probably had enough meat on him that they could sell all the rabbits and squirrel's they’d caught earlier. “Let’s go clean him up” Gale said making no effort to conceal his joy about them bringing down a deer. He had already pulled out his hunting knife and started off towards our kill. “We should carry him back closer to the pond. It’ll be easier to clean up after.” I called after him. Gale stopped dead in his tracks and put his knife back in his belt. “Good point.”