The Hunger Games: Death of the Mockingjay

Chapter 37

I can smell that familiar odour of clean linen, ether and hear that weird echo of long halls of a hospital somewhere. I slowly open my eyes and find myself in a gloomy room, monitoring equipment stands unused in the far corner while to the other side is a window which looks out across the Capital. The only door is partially open with the lights from the corridor outside giving my room an odd orange glow to it.

I can see from the sparse lights of the city that it's the middle of the night. I struggle to a sitting position but under my hospital gown a bandage wrapped around my waste restricts my movement. I sit on the edge of the bed and let my head get used to the strange sensation of sitting up. My body feels heavy and slow as if I've been drugged and my hands feel weak and tired, how long have I been here? My lower leg is heavily bandaged from where Draven's sword struck me. Things which happened in those lasts moments of the arena come back to me. The pain of the dagger, Draven's sneer of victory the appearance of Cato and the spider which ended the Games. I wonder where Peeta is, he must be looking after the kids somewhere, but what if he didn't make it out of the arena alive, maybe he's dead!
A shadow of a man blocks out the light of the corridor and I look up half expecting it to be Peeta or Haymitch but the man just stands there, his features hidden by the light of the corridor behind him.

I'm about to speak when he steps into the room and I see the golden mask with the pointed nose of a Brotherhood follower. I'm about to scream when he calmly holds up his finger to his mouth to silence me. I clutch around me for anything to protect myself, anything that I might be able to use as a weapon but there's nothing.

"Relax Mockingjay, I'm not here to harm you" he says softly.

"Who are you, are you the Chairman?" I ask shakily.

"No, I'm one of the Director's, Aquarian is my name in the Brotherhood but you can call me Michael"

"What do you want?"

"I'm here to bring you a message Katniss, a great day is approaching, a day that will be written in the history of Panem"

"What do you mean, what are you talking about?"

"I'm here to offer you an invitation"

I look at him in confusion. "to what, the Games are over, we beat you"

"Yes Katniss, the Games are over but you're the spark that has reignited a tradition, a new way of life for the country to get behind, something to fight for"

"I don't understand"

"You'll see soon enough. I'm here to tell you that the Brotherhood is no more, our mission is complete and the fighting is over. You, Peeta, and your friends are in no danger"

The man turns to walk back out the door.

"Wait, what about the Chairman, he must answer for what he's done"

"He will Katniss"

"When, who is he, where can we find him?"

The man walks off down the corridor "don't worry Katniss, he wants to meet you and when the time is right he'll find you"

*

The morning comes with a massive reunion with Peeta and the children. It turns out I'd been kept unconscious for a few weeks while my wounds healed. There was a lot of damage from Draven's knife including a punctured lung but fortunately Plutarch got me out of the arena before I'd lost too much blood. Kyler seems to know very little about what went on in the arena and I'm pleased that Jess and Effie managed to shield him away from the horrors of what happened.

However Rue saw everything. I can see how things have changed her attitude to both me and Peeta. There'll always be that love and affection from a child to her parents but there's also a sense of hero worship from her now. Now that she's seen Peeta and I fight in the arena her perception of the Games has changed.
That afternoon Plutarch and Cato come to visit, I want to talk to Plutarch about his mis-information about the arena and how it cost us so many lives but I know we need to talk about lasts nights Brotherhood visit to my hospital room.
Haymitch and Peeta stand either side of my bed while Plutarch rests in a chair by the door, his walking stick stood between his legs with his hands resting on it. I tell the whole story of Aquarian's visit explaining every detail that I could remember.

"What do you think?" asks Haymitch looking directly at Plutarch.

"I'm not sure, it certainly sounds genuine when you bear in mind that they could of killed Katniss while she was in her bed. She had no way of defending herself"

"But it could be a trick, to lead us into a false sense of security" says Peeta.

"I don't think so"

"What do you think he meant? he said that we'd won the games but that their mission was complete, that doesn't make sense" I say

The three of them all exchange nervous glances before Haymitch looks at me.

"Katniss I don't need to tell you how this country feels about you, they adore you, you're their icon of freedom. But when the Games ended after the war a void was left in the very fabric of Panem, the country had lost something to preoccupy their minds. They'd lost the Games and there was nothing to take its place"

Peeta takes my hand and continues "the thing is, on a couple of occasions in the arena you spoke about a possible replacement for the Hunger Games. Your conversation in the tunnel with Steph about a new Games keeps getting replayed day and night by all the TV channels. The country is more excited now than its ever been and it's all down to you"

"But that's not what I meant, I was just trying to cheer Steph up" I say

Plutarch continues "Yes but you've accidentally triggered a sense of excitement across the country. Admittedly it's strongest in the Capital and in District 1 but the whole country are wrapped up in it in someway"

I sigh in disappointment. This wasn't what I was expecting, to be the saviour of the Brotherhood, to give them exactly what they'd been fighting for.

"Katniss no one saw this coming" says Haymitch

"Yeah all except the Brotherhood" I say looking up at him.

Cato finally breaks his silence "Katniss what happened in the Games has changed everyone's perception of entertainment. We were there, we witnessed it" he says looking at Haymitch and Peeta. "What was achieved in this false arena has triggered something new. Something that could lead to a new Games that people could follow and support"

"Kat, I don't believe that this was part of their plan. There's no way they could've figured this out" says Peeta resting his hand in my arm.

I nod sadly "so now what?"

"For now we wait and see what happens, Scorpio said that the Chairman would find you so all we can do is wait" says Plutarch.

Haymitch, Plutarch and Peeta leave the room leaving me alone with Cato.

"So what happened to you, I heard you were dead?"

Cato chuckles "Nah, well I was injured but I just needed time to heal like before in the Central Park arena"

I smile at him remembering what happened in Wolfe's games. Cato was bitten by a plague of mutt locusts and for a while he was completely unconscious while his mutt body recovered.

"So how come the Brotherhood saw your name in the sky, they said you were dead"

"I think that was Plutarch using my supposed death as an ace in the pack if you like, with the Brotherhood thinking I was dead it gave me an advantage for hunting them down"

"So what happened, how many did you get?"

"A few" says Cato, winking as he leaves the room.