Chapter 8

I wake up to the smell of baked bread and cheese buns. I push the covers aside and get out of bed gingerly. I get up and head downstairs. Peeta is putting down a tray of fresh bakery bread and cheese buns. Cheese buns. My favourite. "Good morning, Katniss." he beams. "Good morning." I say and yawn. I go to him and kiss him on the lips. I kiss him until he's breathless. He laughs and says, "Wow. That was...great." It is my turn to laugh next.

We spent the next hour munching on soft cheese buns and of course, kissing. Clearly, yesterday's sleep has left me starving for bread and kisses. We don't realise that we have left the back door open until I hear a rough but straight voice saying, "Done knocking Peeta up?" I stop kissing Peeta, but my lips still touch his. Two sets of eyes turn to see Haymitch grinning. "Well, doesn't matter. Anyway, Paylor's called to say that there's urgent matters in the Capitol. And she needs your help. I mean, mine and yours, you two. But it's very urgent. Top secret. And you two have to go now!" he roars before dashing out of the house. That is when I notice that he is carrying a case behind him. "When are we leaving?" asks Peeta.

"Now!" he says as he disappears out of the Victor's Village.

A few minutes later, I and Peeta grab our bags and head to the train station. Haymitch is downing a bottle of beer. "The train's running late." he says in a distasteful voice. Just then, it comes along with a quite purr, as trains always do. We go inside and an attendant politely ushers us to our rooms. "Wait a minute...is this our old Tribute Train?" I ask. Some ornaments and compartments, they look quite similar with those of the train Peeta and I used to travel on to the Games. And then I see someone very familiar. Someone who used to talk, share, laugh and joke with me over bowls of hot soup at Greasy Sae's stall. Someone who used to serve me at the Quarter Quell. "Darius? It that you?" I jump to hug him tightly. "Katniss! You look great! You too, Peeta." Darius speaks out of the blue.

"You can speak!" Peeta says excitedly. Darius talks as if his tongue had never been severed before. "Yes. Dr. Aurilius used stem cells, which are some regenerative things found in the navel cord cut from babies when they are born, to regenerate the tongues of the Avoxes. Now we can talk again!" he says triumphantly. "I thought you didn't make it." I exclaim. "Lavinia and I were knocked out for a long time until the rebels captured the Capitol. Many other Avoxes survived too." "Where do you live now?" Peeta asks. "In District 11. I'm sure you know Johanna. She helped me and Lavinia to get new jobs and to start afresh. And Lavinia and I are getting married soon! You three will be my VIP guests!" he says, addressing us including Haymitch who is stumbling in at this moment. He looks pretty disillusioned. "Good night, everyone." he gets out before crashing onto a nearby couch. At least he starts snoring as soon his head hits the cushions and he's not puking, for once. "Just like Haymitch." I say.

When we arrive at the sparkling station of the Capitol, a convoy of Peacekeepers together with Plutarch Heavensbee awaits us. "Hey, Katniss. Good to have you here once more." "It's a long time." I say. Just then, a Capitol resident, a young woman with bright pink hair like Effie's takes one look at me and cries, "It's Katniss! The Mockingjay!" Plutarch rolls his eyes and groans, "Let's go. Now." We have only enough time to get into the car before a great crowd gathers, calling out my name. "Hey, I didn't know that I am so famous here. I thought I was the one that brought fire and brimstone to the Capitol." I say. Haymitch says, "The Mockingjay will always be the Mockingjay, wherever she goes in Panem. You are a legend, after all." He takes a swig from his case of whiskey and smirks.

Legend? You call a murderer of young kids a legend? I have failed too many people and slaughtered too many individuals who were desperate to survive like Marvel or Glimmer. You must be really drunk, Haymitch. But I don't voice it out aloud. I turn to Plutarch and ask, "Why Paylor needs us?" "Well, to be frank, she's giving you three the chance to do something different other than bake cakes, get drunk and fight bears. AND getting lovestruck." The reference to bears must have been derived from the time when he actually dropped in at my house when Peeta was around and I came in, wounded from a fight with another bear. It was over the rights for a clump of berries this time, not for a sticky bee hive, oozing with honey. As for the lovestruck issue, I suppose Haymitch's telling too much to the ex-Gamemaker.

We pull up at a tall white building where President Paylor is waiting, with two Peacekeepers armed to the teeth as her bodyguards. "Welcome back to the Capitol." she beams. I can't really agree I'm glad to, although Snow is gone. Anyway, Peeta asks, "What's the task?" "It's not much of a task, really. It's more of an observation." Observation? I frown.

Minutes later, we find ourselves in a dusty room with an open trapdoor. "Oh, this is what made you so curious about Panem's history!" I wonder aloud. Paylor looks at me in a strange way. "Gale told you? I'm not surprised." "What did he tell you?" Haymitch says, looking confused. Gale only told Peeta and I of his mission at the station. As far as I know, Haymitch was getting hooked on beer at the same time as far as I'm concerned. I briefly tell him everything, and he grins. "Lands before Panem's time, eh? Maybe if Gale arrives there, he'll find a whole cave or mountain of whiskey!" He starts laughing very hard. "That's not funny!" Paylor scolds. "Nukes were used back then. Maybe we will find whisky-in the form of ashes or mutts. Here's what that proves it." She opens the trapdoor and hauls out a whole bunch of mouldy dusty documents. "A cleaner found this. Goodness knows that chance came upon us. Locked with what used to be a prototype of our present electronic lock systems, but Bettee cracked it. It uses a small nuclear battery to power the lock. We've never seen anything like that before. Nuclear powering ordinary things? Absurd."

"It originates from a time before Panem, I guess. The time when encroaching seas threatened and people fought for what remaining resources. And the result was Panem, which was governed by the Capitol, encircled by thirteen districts." Panem says rather dreamily. "Yes. Take a look at these photos. Must be the collection of the first President of Panem. Yes, I see it is! Here's a name-President Johnson of Panem..." her voice trails off as she pulls out more dusty papers from the trapdoor.

We spent the next few hours being engrossed with papers, photos, documents and whatnot. Haymitch, drunk as usual, is whistling a funny tune that reminds me of a drinking song. Photos of ministers, names like George Bush, Bill Clinton and Abraham Lincoln and pictures of a green lady holding a torch, bearing the label 'the Statue of Liberty', a big White House with a flag in front of it and a memorabillia object, which is the picture of a clownish man in front of a bright looking eating place with the name 'McDonalds' on top of the door.

I realize that what I am looking at is what had been North America. It used to be a happy place, where people were satisfied, proud of their home and safe. I see many smiles on many photos, with the North American kids of old relishing ice cream in the sunshine. Sunshine. Boasting of Peeta's favorite orange color. Then the photos changed. I see rows of khaki-dressed troops with guns, looking unlike the stern placid uniform of the Peacekeepers, marching to battle. More pictures follow, what with military aircraft looking more beautiful and sleeker than our hovercrafts, in a way, and odd-looking bombs on metal carts. Then I see the horror of the destruction caused by North America's army-people burnt to the bone, lying all over the blood sodden ground.

Just then, Haymitch yawns. "I need to go to the restroom." he grunts and disappears out of the room. I continue looking at the photos, mesmerized by the gruesome story behind them.