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

Page Forty-Five

Katniss

There is commotion in the room as Coin slumps forward, arrow through her chest, blood blossoming on her shirt. It had to be done. I meet Gale's eyes, and they are stony and cold, but I know he agrees that I was right to do it. Killing someone is never easy, but when you are forced to kill for all the wrong reasons, you learn that there is a fine line in moral lessons, and that line can be severed and destroyed.

The whole room then goes quiet and everyone looks around, not startled by the death, because I think they all fear me anyway because of my reputation, but because they don't know what to do. Their leader is dead. They are hovering in the middle of a task that is now redundant. But maybe it's not.

"Carry on with what you were doing before this... happened," I say in a loud, clear voice, and everyone does so after a moments pause. I see one man look at the cup of coffee he was making and shrug, his face twisting into an expression of uncertainty. He had been making coffee for Coin. I guess she doesn't need it now. This makes me laugh in a really dark, insensitive way.

"Good thinking," Gale says to me, complimenting my quick thinking skills that have only ever caused him trouble. "I'm assuming you're still going ahead with the plan to attack the arriving Capitol members?"

"We were told all the existing members of the Capitol are on the hovercraft bringing the Tributes here."

Gale smiles maliciously at this, and it makes me shiver. I don't really know if it's a good sort of shiver, or a bad sort of shiver.

"Perfect," he almost growls. "I'll meet you on the battlefield then, Mockingjay?" He places his hand on my shoulder. And I'm taken back to a time when he probably said this to me before, and in my heart all I wanted to do was tell him he'd be fine, and then start looking around frantically for Peeta because Peeta wouldn't be fine without me. Now I wanted to kiss Gale. So I did. Quickly, beacuse Mockingjay's need to be professional. That's what the rulebook says - and I wrote the rulebook.

Gale nods, his face turning a funny colour, and dashes over to a man I recognise as Meld. Meld says something strange, like "he-too-oh-cap-fo-lil". No, "hetiueocapholyl". The word rings a bell, a bad sounding bell. Suddenly it hits me - how did Meld get here?

Before I can ponder too much on this matter, a worker taps me frantically on the shoulder and says, "Um, Miss Mockingjay, ma'am... we've confirmed the.. confirmed the arrival....."

"THEY'RE HERE!" someone shouts, frantically pointing at their computer monitor which acts as a window, showing aboveground. A large, grey hovercraft flies overhead and begins to slow down. If we're correct, it will stay suspended there throughout the Games, the motherboard of the Games. It contains all existing Capitol members, and most likely Peeta.

It contains the freedom of Panem.

I sling my bow over my shoulder, glance at Coin's lifeless body, look at Gale one more time, and then sprint frantically to the battlefield.