Chapter Two, Spring a Trap

I sulked quietly planting traps. From the mask, I could tell that there were about twenty in the first wave.

"Spread out!"

That was a huge mistake. I had that voice recorded now. Within minutes I used it to spread them out again.

Within half an hour, the entire wave was dead.

I do not know when I became a ruthless killer. Maybe it was around the time that they killed the woman I love. But slaughtering the soldiers did little to relax me. The person who murdered her- he had to die. Of course, it was only a matter of time before they realized they were not alone.
I ditched the armor and surrendered.

My watch, one Dad gave me, counted down. I had six hours to spend figuring out whose pelt went on my wall, and then- boom. This whole place will be a smoldering wreck.

They locked me up. Good for them. Without these chains to keep me back, I would rip every one of their throats out.

Who am I becoming? And why am I speaking in monologue? Not so long ago, Katniss was alive, and we could have been together. Now? Now all I can think about is the way I will be rushing to the afterlife to see her, and all the people I am going to take with me.

Some part of me, some sweet, innocent part, wondered when I had become this way. Was it when I was sent into the arena? Was it on the Preserve? Perhaps the news of Katniss had knocked whatever remaining screws I had loose.

My guards are nervous. They should be. Something out there had slaughtered the first wave. They did not necessarily know it was me.

A man entered the camp. He was a little smaller than me, taller, but a great deal skinnier. His eyes were hungry, and he acknowledged my presence respectfully, "Peeta Mellark, welcome back to earth. My name is Herald."

He stared at me, as if he knew about all about what I had been through. Maybe he did. Maybe the Capital knew about the monsters, and did nothing to stop them. He went on about his accomplishments, listing how important this was to him, for him. Finally, he looked me dead in the eyes, and told me why I had to kill him.

"I'm the guy that raped Katniss."

He is dead. It will be bloody, it will be long.

Katniss-

I was 'part' of (forced to go to) an important briefing. Many important politicians were debating back and forth on strategy. Wars had broken out in several districts.

"The important question, President Coin, is to know where to fight this war!"

Many gray-haired men nodded their heads. I rolled my eyes. These were politicians; they did not understand, like me, how to plan a kill.

They let me have a bow. No arrows appeared yet, but it helped me concentrate. It was oiled, and tightened, but I have not been allowed to use it yet. It counted as my big important pointy stick. It was like being in a classroom of teachers who pointed to objects in the room, "Katniss," point, "Should go to each rebelling zone with a camera crew!" He pointed to the map of Panem. What a lame plan. Why would anyone want to watch me be followed by a camera crew? Boring.

Each person here had a stick they could use to point but me. Mine had been taken away for misbehavior. (These meetings were so boring! So what if someone had been poked in the eye?!)

The generals had come up with several plans; ridiculous, each one of them. Thousands dead, more dying, and the war had only begun.

"You're wrong," I growled. I grabbed the stick pointing at me and drew back my bow. The stick was implanted in the Capital, "Surgical strike. I'm the bait, and the snare. Once old President Snow finds out I'm alive and kicking, and in his city, he'll have to drop everything to find me. Their forces will be divided. I'll take Gale with me. The two of us will assassinate half of his inner-circle and you all will unite the rest of the districts. From there on, I don't care."
Gale regarded me with careful eyes. He knew enough of what had happened with Herald not to object. It was unfair, of course. I am the friend who woke up every night screaming and crying. And no one could do anything about it. The core of my problem was Peeta, another thing that was wildly unfair.

Herald had tortured me physically, which had almost no effect. I had been in the arena; that had been truly painful. He also tortured me emotionally, but with the loss of my father and the general direction of my life, that did almost nothing as well. I was confident that I could protect Primrose from whatever Herald intended.

Then he went after me psychologically, "You don't care what happened to Peeta!" The doubt, the possibilities, that is what weakened me enough to break. If Peeta was dead; that I could take. If he was alive, then I could rest peacefully because he would be by my side. He always came for me. Instead, that unanswerable question of 'what if…' hung over my head.

Then Herald broke me. I am not ashamed to say I lost the battle. I begged for him to stop and he just wouldn't. Every nightmare I went back in the cage watching as he destroyed someone who looked like Prim. And every morning Prim herself hugged me sister awake, alive and well.

Doing this; assassinating those closest to Snow, it was all just a bluff to try and overcome my fear. Gale agreed to the plan even though he knew what I was really doing.

It was stupid, dangerous, and the chances that it would succeed were so miniscule, there was almost no way they could win.

So that's what the council decided to do.