When they’d all piled onto the truck to head back to the base, the major said, “I should’ve warned you about the birds.” “What are they, exactly?” asked Coriolanus. The major snorted. “A mistake, if you ask me.” “A muttation?” Coriolanus persisted. “Of a kind. Well, it’s them and their offspring,” the major said. “After the war, the Capitol let all the jabberjay mutts loose to die out, and they should’ve, too, all being male. But they had an eye for the local mockingbirds, and the birds seemed willing enough. Now we’ve got these mockingjay freaks to deal with. In a few years, all the
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