Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 25

Alek's POV

I wake to the sound of my communicuff beeping from my bedside table, I reach across and silence the alarm and turn to face Steph. But just as like everyday this week she's already left and her side of the bed is empty and cold. I shuffle  across and rest my head on her pillow and smell her sweet perfume. I love this girl so much but this last week something's happened, since the bombing of the training ground she's become distant, almost preoccupied with something.
Since that day she's stayed here with me in my quarters, each night suffering from terrible nightmares but she'll never talk to me about them. I can only imagine what it must of been like, seeing all those people running around, human torches trying to escape the agony. I must talk with her, make her explain to me what it is that's haunting her these days. The fact that she asked to share my bed makes me think that maybe she needed me to be close, to help her through the night and all I ever do is hold her as she slowly falls asleep. Then when I wake she's already gone and she'll avoid me until she returns to my quarters late that night. My communicuff beeps again and I take in one more smell of her scent before I rise and take a shower.

I head down to the hanger to brief the pilots that'll be carrying out the air-cover over 13 today. It's pretty simple to be honest. "Keep a sharp Look out, watch each other's back and don't get killed" is all I'll say to them. With the militants so close these days the attacks on 13 have become more frequent and they're just gonna get worse. The most dangerous duty is for the sole pilot who has to fly out to district 9 and 10 to check on the militants progress. As we have no contact with the districts anymore the only way to check is to send a fighter out and check visually. Ideally I'd send two but I can't afford to lose any aircraft this close to the final Battle for 11. Today my youngest pilot Zach has drawn the overfly duty and I make a point to give him some last minute advice before he leaves.

I step into flight control, a large room filled with air traffic controllers sat at desks wearing headsets staring at touch screens showing the location of the fleet. All along one side of the room is a large glass window that looks out across the entire hanger. Stood in the centre of the window wearing a headset is Marcus Travis, the man who's responsible for all aircraft movements to and from the hanger doors. I look out across the hanger and see the pilots I just briefed walking out to their fighters to begin their defence of the district. The whole back wall of the hanger is taken up with our stock of missiles and bombs while on the left hand wall the drop ships all sit lined up neatly, at the end of the row sits the black Mockingjay.

This is Katniss' drop ship that only ever gets used when the squad is on a mission. In the centre being manoeuvred onto a lift is Zach's fighter and I can see his engines are already running ready for departure.

"Travis, can I borrow your headset a sec?"

"Sure thing boss" he says as he hands it over.
I place it over my head and select a closed channel direct to Zach.

"Come in Zach, this is Cohen, over"

"Go ahead squadron leader" answers Zach.

"Zach, I don't want you taking any chances today, do you understand. I want you and that fighter back in 13"

"You've got it boss, if it gets too hot I'll turn and run for home"

"Sounds good, we've already lost too many friends to this war and I don't want you added to that list, good luck Zach, Cohen out"

I hand the headset back to Tenant.

"Everything okay boss?" he says as he places the headset back on his head.

"Yeah, everything's fine" I say as I watch Zach's fighter rising on the lift to the hanger doors and on up to the landing pad above.

I walk out into the hanger just as the last fighter leaves. I cover my ears at the shrill sound of the engines and make my way to the hatch in the corner of the hanger. It's the hatch that me and Steph use when we wanna go top side, to spend time alone in the woods. I think this is where I'll find her.