Return of the Mockingjay

Chapter 61

We all sit in silence on the flight back to District 1. Wolfe just sits quietly with his eyes closed and head leant back while his assistant sits next to him holding an ice pack to the large lump on his head that Steph dealt him. Peeta and I sit next to each other as usual but there's no conversation. After Wolfe had given us his idea of what was taking place it had all stunned us slightly. There was no question about him not telling the truth, if things developed how he said then he'd have no future in the new Panem and would most likely die anyway. And so we head back in silence, everyone completely stunned by the news.

Beetee was wrong. This isn't to do with Atticus drawing out the war, it's to do with him taking control as a dictator and to run Panem as he sees fit. No president, no government, just a group of old men running the country under the iron boot of the military.
Peeta's first move was to contact Haymitch back at 13 and with Alek's help he got my family out before Atticus made his move. Peeta figured that he'd most likely lock down District 13 and trap everyone inside while the transition of power settled in. Ellie, Haymitch, Rue, my mother and Megan all got out safe and are now flying in a hovercraft with a crew loyal to Alek.

Johanna arranged a safe house in District 7 for them to go to for the time being but both Peeta and I are worried. They can't stay there forever and what will become of us? Will Atticus just throw us in jail or will he just let us go peacefully? The last option seems completely unlikely.

"Scar"'says Peeta breaking me from my thoughts.

"What was that?" I say running my hand through his blond hair.

"Scar, he's the key to this, we need to tell him he's walking into a trap"

"But we need to turn in Wolfe, he's what we came for"

"Yes Kat but things have changed. Handing in Wolfe won't change anything, not if what Wolfe said does actually happen. What we need to do is save the mutt army"

"But why, how's that gonna help?"

"Because if Atticus is gonna take control then he'll need an army big enough to control Panem which at the moment he doesn't have. He needs to grow one using the mutt farm"

"And how does warning Scar help us?"

"Because we have that army, we need to save Scar and his mutts before Atticus wipes them out, we can use him to overpower Atticus now!"

"He's right" says Odin quietly from across the cabin. We look over to see him still sat with his eyes closed no doubt listening to our whole conversation. He opens his eyes and looks at us.

"If you want to change things then now is the time. Atticus may want to take Panem but right now he's weak without an army big enough to rule the country. The mutt army is the only thing that can stop him. But the problem you have is how do you get them close enough to destroy the farm without the mutts being wiped out from the air?"

"Yeah, that is a problem" says Peeta.

We all sit in silence trying to figure out some way to get round the problem.

"We need to stop Scar, try to convince him that he's walking into a trap" says Peeta as he gets to his feet and strides up the steps to see Alek on the flight deck.

*

Our original plan of heading to District 1 is abandoned as Peeta orders Alek to take us to 2 to try and find Scar. It's first light when Alek sets us down just outside the ruined town in District 2. When we make our way outside I can still sense that feeling of death that surrounds this place. The ruins of the mountain are shrouded in cloud but I can  remember seeing the bodies of the peacekeepers in the square and train station when we visited before.