Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 59

Once the squad has safely left in the dropship I quickly check on Cato before I head back to the transport machine. It's the early hours of the morning when I walk up to Cato's Mutt tube to find that my hunch might of been right. I smile to myself when I look at his wounds which have started to heal over, the skin still looks sore and brittle but it looks much better than it did a few hours ago.

"He seems to be recovering well" says Plutarch from behind me.

I do nothing but stare straight ahead, I can't even bring myself to reply to him.

"I heard your drop ship take off a short while ago, why aren't you on it?" he questions.

I turn to face him, my anger starting to swell in my veins "I have no idea, maybe Alek's gone for a midnight flight all by himself. And anyway, what do you care, Alek's not under my command anymore" I spit back at him.

He avoids eye contact with me and looks down at his feet which shuffle about nervously "I must apologise for everything thats taken place Katniss. We all know the sort of person you are, that you'll always do whatever you feel is right even if to us it doesn't make any sense. But what I wanted to tell you was how sorry I am about you losing command, believe me when I say that it wasn't my decision. There are much bigger players in the game now, much bigger than you and me"

"What do you mean, who are you talking about" I ask as I turn to face him.

"I can't say anything more Katniss, I must be careful and I've already said too much. But I wanted you back in 13 so you won't have to witness what's going to happen in the morning"

"Plutarch what are you talking about, tell me what you know"

He holds his hands up to me "I'm truly sorry for what I've put you through, I only ever wanted you to be used as a tool to help the rebellion, it was never meant to come to this, once again I'm sorry" he says as he turns away and hurries back through the rows of mutt tubes.

"Plutarch. tell me what you know!" I yell as he hurries off. He ignores me and continues on out the door and I look back at Cato and try to put all this new information in to some sort of order. With what Beetee told me and having Plutarch backing up some of that information has thrown me. 'Much bigger players' he said. He must mean Atticus, Remus and Darius?

The pieces are starting to fit together. If the military do keep this place and go against the deal we made with Scar then it could trigger a bloody war with the mutts. Capturing or killing Wolfe might not be enough, I need to somehow let the whole country know what's happening then Attticus and his friends will have to admit that it's over, I mean, how can they continue with the war when the country knows it's been won?

I turn away from Cato's mutt tube and make my way across the compound to the building which houses the transport machine.

When I walk in through the door I find Steph anxiously pacing up and down the room behind Beetee's seat. He's buried in the task of programming the machine to send us to Site 2.

"Hey guys, are we good?" I say nodding at the strange contraption in the centre of the room.

"Yep I'm almost there. I kinda used the last coordinates that Wolfe must of used to escape the mutt farm"

"But we don't want to arrive in an area where he might be, we want to be somewhere that's out of the way" says Steph.

"That's what I was about to explain. I've changed it slightly so you should materialise deep in the tunnels at the lower levels. I'm sure Katniss can remember her way out of there, she spent enough time in them in 13 after the quarter quell"

Steph looks at me in confusion and I just shrug my shoulders, not willing to talk about my mental issues when I came out of the quarter quell arena.

"Okay I think we're ready. If things work correctly you should travel to Site 2 instantly which will give you about 30 minutes before Alek and the others arrive in the dropship. Here, take these" he says as he hands us both a pair of dark glasses and what looks like a black wrist watch.

"What are these for?" asks Steph.

"The glasses are to protect your eyes from the bright light you'll travel through and the watch has a button on the side of it which will activate the machine from your end so you can return home"

Steph nods and starts to button it round her wrist but I stop her "we won't need them, we'll come back in the dropship with the others"

"As you wish Katniss. I just hope you find a way to reach the squad, otherwise you'll be trapped there"

"There's one last thing I need you to do for me" I say looking him straight in the eye.

He smiles back, already knowing what I'll ask him."You want me to destroy the machine don't you, so it can't fall into Atticus's hands.

"Exactly, once we're gone and safely through destroy it, all of it. I don't want any part of this building left standing"

"Okay, just don't get yourself cut off from the others, that dropship is your only way out of there"

"I know, we should get going" I say as put the glasses on and give Beetee a quick hug. "Thanks Beetee, for everything" he smiles and nods awkwardly

Beetle turns back to the control panel, flicks a few switches and then pulls down a large black handle which is attached to the end of the control panel. We turn to see bright lights emanating from the pillars which surround the machine. Then in the centre a sphere of white which starts as a pinprick slowly grows larger and larger. Even staring at it with the glasses makes it difficult not to be blinded. I turn to him and he picks up on my panicked stare.

"You've seen how this works Katniss, climb up to the platform and step into the light"

I smile at him at the thought of his prophetic words.

"Okay lets go" I say to Steph who's stood alongside me with that same look of worry etched on her face. I take her hand and lead her up the steps to the platform. I stand with her hand in hand just a few feet from the white sphere which when seeing it this close actually shimmers with blue and grey, it also appears to be spinning.

I look at Steph and nod and she smiles back nervously as we both take a deep breath and step into the sphere.