As the rest of the platoon and I push past the mountain of rubble that used to the apartment building, we see the canal that President Holmes described to me over the video-link. I motion for the others to follow me and we move carefully along the water's edge, keeping the warehouses to our right. We scan the rooftops with our weapons anticipating an attack, and unfortunately don't have to wait long. Only about a quarter mile from the square, we start taking machine gun and rocket fire from the rooftops.

I dive for cover behind a concrete retaining wall and order the rest of the platoon to do the same. Sergeant Denali runs over to me as a few of the others try to futilely return fire.

"Sir, what do we do? We're totally pinned down!"

"We do this, Sergeant," I say keying the radio in my helmet. "Hawk Flight, this is Slicer 6."

"Slicer 6, Hawk Flight. Go ahead."

"Roger, beaucoup bad guys on the rooftops of the warehouses to my northeast. You got eyes on?"

"Standby." My earpiece goes silent for a moment. I know that the pilots are repositioning their optics for a better view. The thermal scopes they have in their cockpit can see a fly land on piece of garbage from five miles away. "Slicer 6, Hawk Flight, roger we got eyes on about fifty bandits, broken up into fire teams along the five warehouse rooftops all the way to the Justice Building. Need a little help?" the pilot says with a cool assurance that guys on the ground like me love to hear.

"If you don't mind." I pull out a small box from my pocket that looks like a flashlight. "Night vision glasses up! Night vision glasses up!" I scream to the rest of the platoon. The command is echoed down the line and then I click the box to on. "Hawk Flight, Slicer 6, friendly positions marked by IR strobe."

"Roger, Hawk Flight, we are inbound. Standby." The box I pulled from my pocket is an infrared strobe light. Completely invisible to the naked eye, it sends out an intense pulse of infrared light visible in night vision glasses up to several thousand feet in the air. "Slicer 6, Hawk Flight," the pilot's voice crackles again in my earpiece, "I copy your strobe. We are wings level."

"Roger, Hawk Flight, you are cleared hot! Bring the rain!" I wave my hand over my head violently. "Everybody down! Everybody down!" The entire platoon dives into the ground, kissing mother earth as closely they can without digging a hole. I turn to Sergeant Denali. "You've ever seen a close-air support attack run in real life?"

"No Sir," he replies nervously. A grin creeps across my face.

"Well then, get ready for a religious experience." We hear the engines of the hovercraft in the distance. The quiet hum grows rapidly into a deafening roar as the ship screams in from the south at top speed only a few hundred feet above the ground. The TECs on the rooftops helplessly try to fire back as the hovercraft's four 25 millimeter cannons and heavy machine guns open up on them in a display that makes even the most spectacular Liberation Day Fireworks Show look like child's play in comparison. We see the blasts from the high-explosive shells rip the roofs of the warehouses to pieces in bright flashes of smoke and fire. The bodies of TEC soldiers are blown fifty feet into the air before they disappear into the darkness. As the hovercraft vanishes toward the north, the platoon and I are left to marvel at the sheer destructive force of what we just called in. I click the IR strobe off before scanning the rooftops with my night vision glasses. I see no movement among the flickering flames of the devastated rooftops: not a single thing up there is left alive. As the rest of the platoon begins to hoot and holler like a bunch of stupid school children, I scream for them to knock it off.

"Hawk Flight, Slicer 6, I'm not seeing any movement up there. You see any left intact?"

"Slicer 6, Hawk Flight, negative I don't copy any movement but…." His transmission abruptly cuts off.

"Hawk Flight, Slicer 6." Still nothing. "Hawk Flight, Slicer 6, I lost you there." Nothing.

"HAWK FLIGHT, SLICER 6!"

"Roger, Slicer 6…It's just we're not really sure what we're seeing at the Justice Building right now."

"What do you mean?"

"We've got TECs moving on the ground down there, and we've got three massive TEC transport hovercraft that are landed directly in front of the steps…"

"Can you engage?" I ask hopefully.

"Negative, Slicer 6. We've got probably about five hundred civilians down there." My heart drops.

"Are they being used as shields?"

"Negative 6, you really need to get over here…rapidly."

"Hawk flight, Slicer 6, moving now! Keep eyes on!" I scream for the rest of the platoon to follow me and we sprint the remaining ten blocks to the Justice Building. With the TEC fire teams destroyed by the airstrike, there's no point in being careful if it's as bad as the hovercraft is reporting.

We reach the edge of Justice Building Square and we are floored by what we see. Just as the pilots reported, three massive transport hovercraft, emblazoned with the TEC seal, are lined up side by side. Each of the ships is at least three hundred yards long and about fifty yards tall. Their massive outlines completely block out the sky. About a hundred TEC Soldiers guard a few hundred District 6 civilians. Men, women, and children, most still dressed in their pajamas, are being herded like cattle up the loading ramps.

The TECs are dressed in their trademark blue armor from head to toe. Each appears like a completely inhuman robot. Not even the smallest piece of skin is exposed to indicate otherwise. Even their faces are completely hidden behind black visors encased in blue ballistic plastic helmets. Wives scream as the soldiers rip them away from their husbands. Children bawl with hopeless tears as they are pulled out of their mother's and father's arms. The TECs understand and care nothing about family. Their family is their state and their state alone. Quite simply, it may be the most tragic thing that I have ever witnessed in my life.

One of the guards spots us standing at the edge of the square and opens fire. The platoon and I dive for cover behind some scattered debris. A few of my soldiers try to shoot back, but I order them to stop.

"Cease Fire! Cease Fire, dammit! There's too many innocent people over there!" So, as we are pinned down, we watch helplessly as the last of the District 6 civilians are loaded onto the ships. The massive engines roar to life, shaking the very ground like an earthquake before the transports climb slowly straight into the sky and disappear to the east.

"Fire! Fire now!" the rest of the platoon begins shooting. TEC soldiers begin to fall left and right.

I key my radio again.

"Hawk Flight, Slicer 6!"

"Go ahead 6!"

"Can you see the hovercraft that just lifted off from the Justice Building?"

"Roger, we got a clear shot. Do you want us to take them down?"

"Negative, negative! They're loaded with about a thousand innocent civilians. Where they headed?"

"Northeast, straight toward, "The Canada." We can try to pursue, but we don't have the fuel to tail them for long and those things can fly clear around the world and back."

"Negative, Hawk Flight, do not pursue." I realize that it's hopeless. Any realistic attempt to stop the hovercraft would just result in the deaths we are trying so hard to prevent. Those people are at the mercy of the TEC now…and it sickens me to know that I'm too late. I click my radio to an emergency broadcast channel. "This is Colonel Ares Snow to all UDP air defense batteries around District 6. Do not engage three TEC transports that are currently exiting District 6. I say again, do not engage three TEC transports that are currently exiting District 6. Those ships are loaded with UDP civilians." I receive an acknowledgement from Air Defense Command in my headset before my attention turns back to the remaining TECs in the square. I feel the anger and rage rising inside me now.

"Let's go get some payback!" I scream as I order the platoon forward. The TECs left behind are obviously poorly trained compared to my soldiers. In a few minutes, we've forced them back inside the Justice Building.

With Sergeant Denali right behind me, I lead an entrance team to the front doors. A quick check reveals they have bolted it shut from the inside: a last stand. These enemies realized that there was no going home for them, and probably don't care as long as it means dying for their Supreme Lawgiver.

I motion for a breach man to come up. He pulls a small explosive charge from his vest and straps it to the heavy wooden doors. He nods when he's ready. I raise my rifle to my shoulder and give a single nod back. His finger presses the detonator and the charge blows the doors off their hinges with a tremendous boom. Before the TECs inside have a chance to recover from the shock, I surge forward with my team behind me.

There is no electricity and the inside is black as pitch, but my trusty night vision glasses don't fail. I pull the trigger on a TEC standing stunned directly in the doorway and he collapses to the ground. I whip to my left, spot another enemy hiding in the corner, and make quick work of him as well. Sergeant Denali blasts another one in the far right of the room who was moving his weapon up to engage me. The third soldier inside scores a kill on an enemy crouched at the top of the main staircase.

"Room Clear?" I shout to my team.

"Room clear," they reply as they scan their corners.

I give a hand signal to get back into a stack and we move up the staircase. More of my soldiers run into the building to clear the remaining rooms on the ground floor while we clear the top floor. As we move, scanning the top of the staircase, the sound of UDP rifles firing away lets us know they're doing their job well.

The rest of the rooms above are empty. Finally, we reach what must be the mayor's office because the elaborate mahogany door is emblazoned with the Seal of District 6. I look to Sergeant Denali who gives me a nod of readiness. I rear back and kick the door with all my might. It flies open revealing a single TEC soldier standing behind a huge desk in the darkness. His blue armor has gold stripes up the arms and he pulls out a pistol from a holster on his side.

"An officer….like me."

Unlike me, however, my counterpart never has a chance to fire his weapon. I let loose a burst right into his chest. He collapses backward onto the ground as we pour in to clear the rest of the space.

"Room Clear?"

"Room Clear."

We relax a little and I motion for Sergeant Denali to come with me. The two of us walk over to the officer. He is lying on his back in a pool of blood, but we can see he's still breathing. I kneel down next to him as Sergeant Denali raises his weapon to cover me.

I carefully reach down and yank the officer's helmet off his head. He's young…very young like me. A little trickle of blood dribbles down his ghostly pale cheek and the stubbly remains of his blond hair are drenched in sweat, but what strikes me the most are his piercing blue eyes that stare at me with a hatred so deep that it chills me to the core. If Ohm was a psychotic genius, then this man is a wild animal who knows that he has been trapped by the hunter.

For a few seconds, we just stare at each other in silence. Finally, I muster the courage to ask a single question:

"Why are you here?" Suddenly, he opens his mouth and flicks one of his canine teeth with his tongue. It dislodges and he bites down on hard it.

"No!" I shout as I realize what it is….cyanide.

The officer raises his arms above his head in his nation's traditional victory sign because for him, dying for the Supreme Lawgiver is a victory.

"Unus Europa…." A disgusting white foam begins to pour from his mouth. "Sub…unus…rector…" his lifeless head falls to the ground.

I walk back out into the square. Even though we have successfully driven the TEC out of District 6, it doesn't feel like a victory. So many innocents were abducted, and since we have no prisoners, we have no idea why. I have the hovercraft send me the latest reports from around Panem.

The story is the same in all three other districts. The TECs abducted the people, fled, and left the remainder of their forces to die. I'm confused and furious at the same time.

"What are you doing, Rikard? What is your plan this time?"

Suddenly, my communicuff beeps. It's President Holmes.

"Uh oh…she's probably not too happy at me for hanging up on her earlier."

"Ma'am, it's Colonel Snow. I am very sorry for what happened earlier with the apartment building, but I felt it was the only way…" She cuts me off with a deep sadness in her voice that I have never heard from her before.
"Colonel….General Sturm is dead."