I run back into the factory with my rifle at the ready. I rapidly scan around the whole bay, unsure if Ohm has set another trap for me. The place seems deserted: the only sounds are the slow rattle of the chains that hang from the ceiling and the bubbling sizzle of the molten steel still in the furnace.

I dash across the bay toward the door marked, "Primary Agent Testing."

"Somehow, I really don't like the sound of that…"

Without warning, gunshots ring out from a catwalk overlooking the steel furnace. I'm barely able to dive behind another control panel as a rain of fire pours down onto me. I catch a quick glimpse around the edge of control panel to see ten TEC soldiers lined up like a firing squad with perfect position over me. If I try to move to my left or right: I'm dead. If I try to return fire, I'm dead.

"This is a great situation you've gotten yourself into, Ares. So what the hell are you going to do now?"

I look around me, hoping for some kind of inspiration. Glancing over to a glass window right next to the door that Ohm ran through, my reflection stares back at me. For a moment, I pause to see the panic and fear in my eyes: the last desperate gaze of the prey caught in a trap. But then, something else catches my attention. The TECs standing on the catwalk are still firing away, but behind them is a huge boom crane attached to the ceiling that must be used to add fresh metal into the top of the furnace. It's massive cable chain and hook dangle just behind the TECs. I keep looking at the reflection in the window to see the glowing control panel that I'm hiding behind is labeled with a single phrase: "Main Crane Control."

"Sorry guys, nothing personal…"

I spin around and slam my palm down onto a glowing button above my head. A booming alarm begins ringing across the whole bay and the TECs instantly cease their fire.

"GET OFF THIS THING NOW!" Their leader shouts, but it's too late. The boom crane comes to life and starts moving toward the center of the bay. The hook slams into the bottom of the catwalk, ripping it off the wall. The end of the gangway falls straight into the boiling cauldron of molten steel and the TECs plunge into the furnace to be instantly incinerated. Their screaming makes my skin crawl, but I know that I didn't have a choice. It was their life…or mine.

I jump to my feet and fly through the door of Ohm's escape only a few feet away. I find myself in a long white hallway and placing my rifle into my shoulder, I slowly move forward. There is a door to my left. I kick it open and run inside. It is a small laboratory, filled with dozens of different beakers and test tubes of chemicals.

Across the hall, another room awaits. Inside is row after row of sealed plastic boxes filled with white laboratory rats. A few of them are still alive, but most of them lie motionless on the floor of their cage. I turn back into the hallway and come to a corner. I kneel down on the ground and fling my crouching body around the edge, scanning for enemies. All I find is a large pair of steel doors. One is marked with the biohazard symbol and the other is printed with the words, "Human Subject Chamber: Authorized Personnel Only."

My legs tremble with fear. With every fiber of my being, I know that I don't want to find out what's on the other side of this barrier, but I also know I don't have a choice. I stumble forward, keeping my rifle held high. When I am only inches away, I reach out with my left hand and grab the handle.

"One…two….three!" I slam down the handle and push the doors open. I fly inside rapidly scanning all the corners. At first glance, the room appears to be empty. It is large, but still has the feeling of being very claustrophobic. A bank of control panels line the wall to my left while a raised platform to my right holds five computer workstations. Finally, jutting out from the far wall, is a large plastic chamber. I recognize it instantly from my childhood nightmares. It is the same as the one that killed Subject E…my great-aunt, Medea. This place is for testing the weapon that I prayed beyond all hope that I would never face again…Shiver.

The door to the chamber lies open. Inside is a steel chair with its back turned toward me…and a motionless prisoner sits still strapped to it.

"Hey," I shout out to the figure in the chair. "I'm here to help you. I'm from the UDP Defense Forces." There is no response. Slowly, I make my way toward the door of the chamber, hoping to see some sign of life from the chair, but there is none. "Can you hear me?" I say as I step inside the chamber. "Are you alright?" I reach forward, grab the edge of the chair, and spin it towards me. My heart freezes in my chest and I gasp for air as I see the mangled face of a man that stares back at me with the same agonizing expression that cursed Medea's young face so many years ago.

Gunshots ring out and slam into the plexiglass of the gas chamber wall behind me. I spin around to see Ohm standing behind the row of computer monitors holding a pistol. He fires again, attempting to shoot through the door of the gas chamber at me. Ironically enough, what saved my wife from drowning last year would have killed me. If this chamber had not been bullet-proof, I would be dead.

I whip around and duck down behind the plexiglass. Ohm continues to fire rounds that splatter harmlessly against the gas chamber wall. He runs out from behind the computers, trying to get a better shot, but just as he finds a clear path to my head, I hear exactly what I was hoping for:

"Click…Click…" Ohm is empty. I run out from the chamber and point my rifle directly at him.

"Drop it, Rikard!" I shout. He simply gets a bored look on his face and throws his pistol nonchalantly to the ground.

"You know, Ares, this artificial arm I've developed for myself is wonderful….but sometimes it lacks the finesse to be able to perform fine motor skills such as shooting a handgun."

"You didn't seem to have a problem when you hit Hatchet in the leg…."

"As you once said to me before, My Dear Ares, I was aiming for you."

"Guess this wasn't your lucky day then?"

"Obviously." He motions to the corpse in the gas chamber. "I see you've met my newest friend," he says with a psychopathic grin. "He has just been sitting there like that since I conducted my latest experiment this afternoon. Not a great conversationalist I suppose…"

"What happened to using Shiver only on Snows?"

"Oh, Ares, I changed my mind. I mean, why limit myself to only the one I wish to revenge myself upon when I can use it against the whole country that stood idly by while I was enslaved!" He pauses for a second. "Plus, my new employer pays much better than Driva ever did. In fact, with the help of a few volunteers such as this fine, but quiet young gentlemen, I've actually improved the recipe. It now breaks down into harmless vapors twice as fast while still retaining full lethality."

"Volunteers? They were innocent people, you sick bastard! They were innocent people that you helped steal from their homes, forced into slavery, and then murdered for your twisted, perverted enjoyment…"

"No one in Panem is innocent!" Ohm shouts back at me. "No one…Oh yes, they were all willing to throw off the chains of our old oppressors but as soon their comfortable lives returned they were all too happy to sell themselves to a different master in exchange for a tiny amount of comfort and the illusion that they had any personal choice in the direction of their lives.

That's why my old associate was so pathetic. Money, money, money…that's all he ever thought about. It wasn't until I convinced him that his past crimes could be redeemed by joining in my little quest to eliminate the Sixteen that he was even willing to help me."

"What are you talking about, Rikard?" I ask angrily.

"Oh Ares, for such an intelligent man, you certainly are stupid. Did it ever occur to you once in the last year exactly how I was able to move an army of men and materiel to a remote island in the South Pacific without ever being noticed by the authorities? How I was able to move secretly across the entire nation of Panem and kidnap people who were being watched twenty-four hours a day without drawing any suspicion? I had an assistant who always made sure the books were properly cooked and certain itineraries were always doctored."

"Who was it, Rikard?"

"Don't you already know? I mean, he was number two at Ohm Defense Industries and now I believe he's even moved into my old job…"

"No…It's Gale Hawthorne"

"But worry not, My Dear Ares. I've found him far too stupid and conceited to continue to serve a purpose in my life. Besides, he'll be dead soon anyway…they all will."

"What do you mean?" I ask angrily.

"Questions, questions…Well, I'm afraid I'll have to wait for our next meeting to answer more things for you, Ares."

"They're won't be a next meeting, Rikard."

"Why, what do you mean?"

"I'm not going to make the same mistake again…"

"And what mistake was that?"

"Letting you live…"

"My Dear Ares, I…" He doesn't finish the sentence. I fire a single round straight into his forehead. It punches a hole clean through his skull and sends pink mist floating in the air behind his white hair like a halo. Ohm's eyes grow wide and he collapses face first to the ground.

I walk over to the corpse of the man who has tormented my friends and family for the past two years. The same man who has started a war that could cost millions of lives for his own petty revenge and greed. He might have been a valuable source of information alive, but the world is safer now that he's dead. Justice, at last, has been served. I roll the body over, reach down, and grab Ohm's new Reevox collar from around his neck.

"That's two…"

I run through the factory and back outside to meet the others. They are still waiting in front the barracks for help to arrive. Ratchet cradles an unconscious Hatchet gently in his arms as Doc and Tiller continue to keep order among the newly liberated prisoners. Many of them are starting to become restless that they are still in the camp.

"Where's Ohm?" Ratchet asks nervously as he sees me run up. I just hold up Ohm's Reevox collar.

"Let's just say he won't be a problem anymore."

"Hell yeah, Sir!"

"Let's not pop the corks yet," I say looking down at the sleeping Hatchet. "How's she doing?" Doc comes up from behind me. "She's stable and ready for transport. Stopped the bleeding but I don't want her moving around too much. Could cause the wound to open back up again."

"What about the Eagles? Have we heard anything from them?"

"Negative, Sir..." Tiller says very frustrated.

"Dammit, Angus! Where are your people at? If we don't move soon the TECs could regroup and…"

From down the road, comes the roar of dozens of trucks barreling toward us.

We're too late. The TECs have realized that our hovercraft's destruction was only a distraction. Now, they're streaming back toward the camp ready for a fight. Soon, we'll be totally outmanned, outgunned, and out of time.