The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Chapter 17

For the remainder of the flight I completely withdraw into myself. I sit with my children, Kyler clutching at my waist with Rue resting her head in my lap while she holds my hand in hers.
After the realisation had hit me of what I'd put the kids through Peeta took me to one side and explained things to me, described what it looked like from the kids perspective. The sight of their mother running out into the darkness and the gunshots from the snipers, all aimed at me. I feel physically sick at what I've put them through and quite honestly, I don't know how I can possibly forgive myself.
And Peeta? Well since our little chat he's become distant with me, I know in time he'll forgive me for my actions but there's only one thing that Peeta loves just as much as me and that's our kids. The fact that I've frightened them has annoyed him and I know I'm going to have to rebuild some bridges.
The kids stir and wake up as the dropship hits some turbulence and the engines start to wind down slightly as we start to descend, we're landing, and if what I've been told is true this is our final destination.

"Katniss" calls Gale from the top of the steps to the flight deck, the kids and I get up and join him. Inside the flight deck is Alek, who's at the controls, Peeta and Plutarch who are sat in the only free seats in the cramped flight-deck. Gale takes his seat as copilot and points out the window.
"That's our destination"

I look out to see us circling round a huge building. In the distance I can see the sea and white sandy beaches and the building itself is surrounded by palm trees. The building looks like an enormous grey rectangle.

"What is it?" I ask no one in particular.

"That's the arena Katniss, it's where we'll make our last stand against the Brotherhood" Plutarch replies

His statement starts a wave of apprehension and dread spread through me. My mouth becomes dry and I struggle to compute everything that's going on. He can't possibly mean that I'll be going in with Peeta?

We touch down on a sandy landing pad at the far end of the building and Alek winds down the engines and lowers the drop ramp. We all follow Plutarch out into the bright sunshine with Kyler and Rue at my side

"Where are we?" I ask looking at Plutarch

"We're in 4 Katniss, just up the coast from Paylor's cabin"

We all follow Plutarch like lost sheep to a huge door which must be almost 30 feet across and at least 20 feet high.
Plutarch turns to face the group "None of you have ever seen this, through this door are the inner workings of the arena. You'll see things you don't fully understand but I'll answer your questions later, right now our time is limited"
Plutarch turns to face a keypad to the left hand side of the door, he punches in a code then holds his hand against a DNA fingerprint reader. There's a loud creak and a large bang as the door slowly starts to creep open. We follow Plutarch inside into what appears to be some sort of abandoned warehouse, at the other end is another huge door identical to the one we just came through. Forklifts sit parked against the right hand wall while dotted around are old pallets and crates, some are empty but others are full of dead dried out plants, building materials and electrical equipment. I look around in confusion while following the others. Plutarch reaches a large metal door and once again taps in an access code, there's a loud beep and a series of clicks as the door locks release allowing us into a long grey corridor. It appears that this hall or corridor is unfinished, dried out buckets of paint are placed to one side with ladders leant against one of the walls which are only partially painted. Plutarch checks his watch, curses to himself and rushes on down the corridor while the rest of us try to keep up. We reach an elevator, the doors open to what appears to be a cargo lift of some sort which is useful considering just how many there are of us. We ride up in the elevator in silence, all of us no doubt bursting with questions but as requested we'll wait. The doors open into a small sparse room which has a clinical smell to it. The walls ceiling and floor all have a white plastic coating adding to the sterile feel of the room. Plutarch goes to the far end and stands in front of what appears to be just a wall but a holographic touchpad appears next to him. Once again he inputs a complicated multi digit code and from nowhere an opening appears in front of him. "We're nearly there" he says over his shoulder. We follow on into what can only be described as a huge lounge room, plush chairs are dotted around on a thick white carpet with a multi screen tv island in the centre. On one wall are a row of food and drink consoles.