The Hunger Games: Book Four - How it Might Have Been ... Gale.

Page Thirty-Seven

This chapter is dedicated to TJoshifer (cool name!!) who gave me my 400th vote this week! Thanks to everyone and remember, every vote counts!!

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Pain.

I feel disorientated, unsure of where I am, or even who I am. My ears are ringing and my head is throbbing to a syncopated beat. I am leaning against something hard and cold. Everything is black, and I realise my eyes are closed. Slowly, they flutter open. My vision is but a slit, my lids hooded and heavy. Slowly, shapes start to form, and the wave of confusion begins to wash away.

I can see buildings, skyscrapers that seem so much smaller now the clouds are hanging so low. It's smog, from the city. Even though hovercrafts release no fumes, dust and chemicals from bombs swarming together, stuck in the atmosphere. My lungs suck in a huge, heavy breath, clogging with the thick air.

Then I realise the skyscrapers are not skyscrapers, but piles and piles of rubble. I am surrounded by a wasteland that seems familiar in some way, but simualtaneously like a foreign country. I have been here before, but a long, long time ago. The name of this place hints at the edge of my mind, but the pain in my temple is still distracting me, thumping away to it's own metronome.

I shift my bodyweight, the eager part of me never dying, my curiousity growing inside of me every second. The slightest movement makes me groan out loud. My vision wavers and then everything is black again - my eyes shut at their own will. But I'm still conscious - well, semi-conscious.

Suddenly, someone is by my side. Their hands are gentle as they cup my face, whispering a name I don't recognise. Then I realise that it's my name, and I suddenly feel stupid and feeble.

"Gale," they are whispering, hushed yet frantic. "Are you awake? Are you alive?"

"Of course I'm alive," I feel like muttering, but the person that's holding me is obviously concerned for me. Concern is a silly emotion. So if this person is concerned for me, I need to take it away. And fast. Using all my willpower, I open my eyes again and sit upright in one, swift, painless movement. Almost painless.

My eyes meet Katniss's. Now the wave of confusion completely dissolves as we hold each other's gaze. "I thought you were dead," she whispers, trying to hide her relief and failing a little. She's the strongest person I know. If only she knew how many times I had asked myself that same question about her all these years.

Everything returns to my mind - the hovercraft crashing, Peeta lunging at Katniss, Oenothera screaming, the rock. Rage bubbles inside of me. I could be dead, at the hands of the man I'm trying to save. For her. 

"It takes more then a little pebble to finish me," I smile weakly. Someone is approaching from behind me. Katniss glances at them quickly and before I realise it, she brushes her lips against mine. 

"Well then let's make sure a little pebble is the worst thing we're about to face," she whispers back, mirroring my smile. There is a moment between us, and then she gets up, swiftly, catching my arm and giving me some support and I get to my feet.

I turn to see Kuwai walking towards us, his little face determined and strong. He walks through the dusty air, picking his way over rubble and ruins. A figure, vaguely familiar, walks beside him.

"Katniss," I say, not taking my eyes off the approaching silhouettes. "Where are we?"

Katniss swallows and then extends her hand as Kuwai and the stranger finally join us. She shakes the stranger's hand - a young woman with pale blonde hair and piercing eyes I'd seen before, but not on her face.

"Miss Everdeen," she smiles, shaking Katniss's hand and then drawing back. "Or should I say, Mrs. Mellark?" she gestures towards Ku. "Welcome back. We always knew you would return to us."

"Us?" I ask, and suddenly figures begin to appear from the rubble. They appear, not from behind the rocks, but from under the rocks. That is all I need to confirm my suspicions.

"Us, the remaining members of District Thirteen," the stranger says. "I am President Coin - Alma Junior. I am aware my mother and yourself did not meet eye to eye, but believe me, we didn't either."

I almost rock back on my heels at this information. Katniss remains unmoved by the situation, her face blank. "And why would you and I get along so well, Miss Coin?"

"Because I am not the only descendant of the Coin family in power," Alma Junior says. "My brother is the President of the Capitol. He thinks he's President Snow reincarnated. And he is planning another Hunger Games."

Now I do rock back on my heels, sucking in a breath, silently.

"Well then, we need to stop him," Katniss says with determination in her tone. Kuwai steps forward then and he is holding a case, black, sleek. I know what is inside. Katniss takes it silently and my heart sinks. It is a black bow - the bow of the Rebellion. We can't do this again. There is no way we can survive another Rebellion.

"We need you, Girl on Fire," Coin says, her eyes piercing, like her mother's. "We need the Mockingjay back."

I'm not sure I can go through it all again. Just after getting Katniss back, and now I will most likely lose her and myself in the next few days. After all I've done over the past few years - moving away, the medication, the Nut, the investigation - trying to reconstruct my life on the ruins the Rebellion created. I look around at the remains of District Thirteen and wince. There is no way. 

Then it hits me.

"No," I say, and everyone looks at me. I swallow. "We don't need the Mockingjay."

A few gasps fill the air, but I smile. "There is a way."