Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 30

My mouth hangs agape at what the mutt just said to Peeta. Could it really think that Peeta is somehow its master, that it could possibly take orders from him. Come to think of it all the man mutts are built around Peeta's DNA and Beetee had been running tests to see if there could be some sort of connection between them. But today, when I honestly thought that our lives would be taken from us this mutt has given us a small glimmer of hope.

"Scar, return to your post!" yells Desh, getting up and striding toward the Peeta-mutt.

"Is that your name?" asks Peeta softly, looking up into the black eyes of the mutt. Scar nods slowly.

Desh reaches us and pushes Peeta aside so he can stand face to face with Scar.

"I'm warning you Scar, return to your post in the trees immediately" yells Desh, drawing his pistol and aiming it at Scar's head. Scar's head drops in defeat and he starts to turn away from Desh and head toward the nearest tree, but at the last moment he swings around flailing his arm at Desh knocking his pistol away before griping him round the throat, lifting him off his feet with one hand. The other soldiers react a what's happening and pull out their weapons but the mutts are too fast, rushing forward and overwhelming the relatively small group of soldiers. Some manage to flee into the woods but most die at the hands of the mutts, either by being throttled or having their bodies rammed into trees or the drill machine itself. When the chaos and screaming is over I look around in shock at the devastation but I'm more struck by the mutts who seem to of all gathered round us. There's hundreds of them and they've all got their eyes fixed on Peeta and Scar, who still has Desh in a death grip, his face turning ever paler as he struggles for air. Scar turns to look at Peeta before an angry grimace crosses his face and in an effortless motion he crushes Desh's windpipe, ending his life. Scar releases the body and it falls to the ground unceremoniously, as he turns to face Peeta.

"Orders....master?" He says almost robotically. To begin with Peeta hesitates, obviously not sure how to answer. He's just seen Scar for the first time, the mutt that's almost entirely based on himself and he still seems shocked by it all. But then he smiles at Scar, his mind putting things in order.

"You're free Scar, all of you" he says turning to the other mutts. "You don't have to kill anymore"

"But we fight, we fight for you master?" Scar says, bowing his head.

Peeta places his hand under Scar's chin and lifts his head to look him in the eye. "I want you to be free Scar, all of you. Leave this place and go in peace"

"But there will be no peace master, we want to rescue our others, destroy the farms"

Peeta glances at me with a confused look.

"Rescue our others, what does he mean Kat?"

I look at Scar's face, and see the inner torment and understand exactly what he's saying.

"He wants to rescue the other mutts at the farms, then destroy it so they'll be no more. Tell me Scar, how many have died, mutts I mean?"

Scar's head drops in sorrow. "Many" is all he says.

Peeta puts his hand on Scar's shoulder in a silent gesture of support.

"We can help you" I say from nowhere. Peeta looks at me and frowns.

"What do you mean Kat?"

"What if we helped Scar and his friends take back the farms, then we'd have a massive army that we could use to take the Capitol back from Wolfe"

"Wolfe!" Scar spits out with real hatred in his voice.
My eyes widen at the utter loathing that Scar shows towards Wolfe, I realise now that the mutts have somehow been used in this war, the same as me really but at least I knew what I was getting myself into. Scar and the others were grown and given no choice other than to fight.