I am overcome with such a horrid combination of nausea and shock that I have to grab hold of the barricade to prevent from passing out. I blink a few times, and realize tears forming in my eyes. My helmet prevents anyone from seeing my crying, so long as I do not have to talk just yet.

Once I recover from my daze, I can see that I was not the only one bothered by what just happened. On the far left side of the barricade, a peacekeeper who might be Jacobine ducks beneath the barricades cover, partially takes off his helmet, and vomits several times onto the floor. The militiaman immediately to my right is shaking so much he drops his District 13 machine gun. One militiaman lets out a feral scream and has to be restrained to prevent him from sallying forth in a fit of rage. Commander Barca does not seem suprised, but is clenching his fists in a way that suggests he is nothing less than furious and horrified.

It is at least of some solace that peacekeeper snipers made quick work of the murderer. Following Commander Barca's order, the three surviving civilians reach the safety of the barricade. The medic peacekeepers, who are less shaken, proceed to check the refugees and move the bodies of the civilians behind our lines so their remains may be processed and returned to living relatives. Next, the bodies of the rebels are piled up behind our lines where the body collectors will strip them of weapons and valuables before dumping them in the ocean.

The two surviving woman, and one surviving man, are clearly to most traumatized. As soon as they reach safty, they collapse on the ground in unending sobbing.

"Why? Whyyy?"

I am standing close enough to Commander Barca that I can hear him whisper bitterly, "Hellfire if I know why ..."

Has something in his past made the commander immune to trauma, or did years of service simply erode his expectations of his fellow man. Will I also undergo this erosion by the time the war ends? Am I already undergoing it?

I can hear several repeated gun blasts behind me; the peacekeeper snipers are not going to let any rebel sharp shooters get away. I shake myself back to a point where I can function, and go back to position. I am a Peacekeeper Major, and my soldiers need me right now.

In one hour, well after all the Reb sharpshooters were snuffed out, the second wave of assault began. We infused all our trauma and anger into hate, mowing down Rebs while roaring viciously. We threw grenades at the Rebs regularly, the flamethrower peacekeepers shot their flaming liquid point blank into the rebel throng, and snipers rapidly picked off rebel commanders. But our anger paled in comparison to the enraged fury of the loyalist militiamen.

The loyalist militiamen attacked with rapidly growing fury, firing their weapons while looking the enemy strait in the eyes. Eventually, some of the charging Rebs turned around and began to flee. District 13 officers who tried to shoot down running Rebs get picked off by peacekeeper snipers, until most of the Rebs have fled. The few who do not flee, almost all of which are in District 13 uniforms, are sitting ducks that get gunned down to a man.

Some of the loyalist militiamen attempt to jump over the barricade and gave chase, and several peacekeepers look as though they want to. Before anyone can chase down the fleeing Rebs, Commander Barca holds up his hand.

In a clam voice, he says, "Stay in position."

We all obey his order, and not a single one of us chases after the retreating enemy. He pulls out his communicator and types in some orders. Not long after, an artillery shell flys through the air, landing on the other side of some buildings down the road. The buildings, and the rebel ambushers inside, collapse into a cloud of dust and debris.

Soon, a different peacekeeper unit came to take our places, signaling the end of our shift. We head towards the 'mess hall', which is just a stretch of the open street far behind our lines which has cafeteria tables sprawled around. People are lined outside the front door one of the former residential buildings, and a line of people carrying trays of food leaves through a door sized hole that was hammered into the wall.

My entire unit waits in line for food, including loyalist militiamen. The militiamen were distinguished from rebels by the white armband they wear that bears the national seal of District 4, but they would still be recognized as friendlies by how they interact with the peacekeepers.

Once I am at the front of the line, one of the cooks, an Avox, hands me a pre-prepared tray with all the food necessary for a balanced subsistence.

I smile at the man and lie blatantly, "Thank you for the food; it smells good."

He shrugs, and the overseer

After we get our pickled eggs, hardtacks, and cans of anchovies, we sit down at one of the tables. Each unit got it's own table, and the tables were long enough that there was enough room.

I sit down next to Aric on his left, whom Helena sits down next to on his right. Jacobine sits down next to me on my left, and Harod sits down across from me. Sitting on his right is the old loyalist militiaman, across from whom sat Montgomery.

He introduces himself, "In case I forgot to tell you yesterday, my name is Crispin Armitage. Militiaman of the District 4 Loyalist Volunteers."

I smile back as I respond, "My name is Lysander Hardley. Peacekeeper Major."

All the peacekeepers have their helmets off, and days of sweat in an enclosed helmet makes every day a bad hair day.

As Commander Barca walks peaks us, he stops behind Jacobine. In a stern voice that brings up the image of a teacher reprimanding a tardy student, he asks, "Peacekeeper Jacobine Dalton, claims have surfaced that during last nights leisure hour, you had sexual relations with three local women. Is this true?"

The Commanders tone of voice made all of us stiffen a little. While Jacobine did not break the law, unless he was too far from the designated area, it is not exactly encouraged. Jacobine responded in a professional voice, with a slight undertone of dread over the inevitable reprimand. "Yes sir."

Commander Barca's voice suddenly loses its sternness as he says, "Just wanted to give congratulations, that is all."

He walked to the head of the table to sit down, and placed a pile of papers down next to his tray. He was still within earshot, but he busied himself with his work and did not pay attention to us.

Aric was the first one to comment after the initial sighs of relief. "Three woman? I'm afraid I'll have to issue a citation for bullshit, there is no way you were able to seduce three women."

Montgomery chuckled, "I don't even know if that's physically possible."

Jacobine's cheeks were now bright red, "It wasn't at the same time."

I join in teasing, "You mean they took turns? I didn't know you had that much energy in you."

Jacobine understands that we do not mean jar, in having fun at his expense, "I didn't know either? I guess there is a first for everything."

Helena asks in a mockingly stern voice, obviously an imitation of Commander Barca, "Shouldn't you have been in bed?"

Jacobine replays, "I technically was ..."

This makes all of us laugh in an uproar. Commander Barca, without looking up, says causally, "Peacekeeper Helena Josephine, We both know I do not sound like that."

Aric whispers into her ear, "He sounds exactly like that."

Our merriment is cut short when the mobile screens turn on for an announcement. It is clearly not live, yet it can not possible be older than an hour.

A Capitol news reporter speaks solemnly, his voice drained of all energy. "Good evening. Unfortunately Caesar Flickerman could not join us this evening. He is currently in hospital being treated for serious injuries. The doctors say that he is in critical condition, our hopes go out to his recovery. I will tell you in advance that what you are about to see may disturb some members of the audience."

The announcement cuts to footage of what looks like a Capitol Shopping Mall. While at first it shows a crowd of Capitol folk milling around the luxurious inside of the structure, something happens. One Capitolite in his late twenties pulls something remarkably crude out of his pocket, and presses the button. The sounds of explosions can be heard in the floors above and below the shopping mall; people are knocked over by the blast, screaming frantically or knocked unconscious.

The man with the button then unzips his silver jacket and throws it on the ground, revealing a vest of strange explosives beneth. He pulls a similar device the the first one, screams "Long live the Mockingjay!", and presses the second button. The mans vest explodes into a ball of fire, engulfing the others and breaking the security camera.

It cuts back to the newsman as he continues, "Caesar Flickerman was just one of hundreds who were injured in this assault. The death toll of the hidden explosives, as well as the resulting fire, is said to exceed three thousand. Peacekeeper indicate that the assaulter was a collage student, the campus he attended will not yet be disclosed. He was identified as one Gennaro Rubin, and evidence was obtained that he was a secret rebel sympathizer.

It is not yet unknown if he was supplied by the rebellion directly, or from a terrorist cell. Around the same time of this massacre, the rebels released a propaganda video. In this video the well-known traitor, Finnick Odair, leveled baseless and outright falsehoods against the Capitol.

Under the cover of these two events, three dangerous individuals escaped captivity. The first of these three include Annie Crestia; suspected of aiding in an attempt to bomb the District 4 justice building. The second is Peeta Mellark; infamous rebel collaborator and instigator. The third is the deranged serial killer and rebel traitor Johanna Masen; who brutally murdered several people in District 8, starting with her own family."

This is bad news indeed. Despite his pleas for armistice, Peeta is a dangerous and manipulative rebel. He and Katniss are essentially the human embodiments of demagogy and chaos mongering, and now he escaped the Capitol's justice.

I remember executing the zealot that conspired to blow up the justice building, I remember his unkempt hair and shifty wild eyes and his fanatical call to exterminate the Capitol. He was clearly not sane, so there is no doubt that Annie could have helped him. Maybe her insane hysteria was merely a ruse to play off our pity long enough to draw attention away from her extremist tendencies. Now I think back to how Mags volunteered to take her place, and grow sick to think that Annie's sobbing was false.

I remember hearing that there was reason to believe that Johanna was guilty of brutally murdering her family and several others via disembowelment. It is said that she even mailed the Headpeacekeeper of that district the liver of one of her victims with a taunting letter, signed 'Catch me if you can Mr, Lusk'. She is opportunistic in joining the rebels; as they are willing to overlook her sadistic traits. She too won the games with cheap deception and trickery, feigning weakness until necessary to strike.

The newsman counties, "We will now go to President Snow to see what he has to say about this. The announcement then cuts to the presidents response to the bombing, he is dressed his traditional presidential outfit, his voice sounds strained and exausted. It is clear that despite all the best medical science of the Capitol, the stress of leading an entire civilization through its darkest moments is taking its toll on the old president.

Behind him, all the large screens show different pictures of the various Capitol children killed, along with their names and ages. Some of the dead were less than a year old.

"People of Panem, I regret to to inform you that at around 3:30 A.M., a person affiliated with the rebellion detonated a bomb at shopping mall 32, ending the lives of over three thousand men, woman, and children. Many others were injured and facing a long road until they recover. This does not even count the unseen loss; the orphans, the widows, the childless mothers.

With less than an hour of the assault, while the blood was still warm, Finnick Odair had the audacity the charge the Capitol with accusations which lack a single shred if truth. These traitors attack a civilian location, one that held no military value, and they have the hypocrisy to call us criminal. Acts of terror like this show us the true color of the Mockingjays rebellion; they intend to murder every man, woman, child, and newborn in the Capitol.

They may think that they can get away with these monstrous acts of unprovoked cruelty and escape justice, but they can not and will not. I assure everyone here, but none more than the survivors of this atrocity, that the rebels WILL be brought to justice for their sins against the Capitol and the human race. I promise that before the sun sets on this conflict, the banner of the Capitol shall once again and forever after be a symbol of civilization, progress, and order on one hand, and an overwhelmingly powerful force on the other."

Now, looking directly at the camera, or at us, he said, "And I call upon those in the field, remember our sacred cause. To traitors never yield!"

The video ended with a clip of the Capitol flag outside the presidents mansion flying at half mast, to the sound of the national anthem.

When I look around at the reactions of the others, I can see that disapproval of the rebel cause is not unique to myself. The others look angry, but very few of us are truly shocked; seeing a child being murdered makes one immune to shock. Commander Barca's reaction appeared more along the lines of angst overload, as though he wondered when the bloodshed would end.

The person who took it worst was Montgomery; he was bawling his eyes out and curled into a ball. He did not look like he felt their hurt, he looked like he shares in it personally. It is almost like the attack was personal. Maybe it is.

I can not help but think of how I would react in the event that something similar happened in District 2, I would without a doubt be sobbing myself blind if a suicide bomber killed Annona. She would defiantly react the same way if I died in battle. Do the rebels not care how many innocents die for their cause, or does Katniss simply want the world to burn?

Whatever happens, I must oppose the rebels long enough for the true people of District 4 to be rescued from the jaws of destruction. Even if their safety is not assured in District 2, they will be infinitely safer than in the merciless hands of the enemy. But one thing that can not be doubted is this; there is still worse to come.