The Sun is just beginning to set over the volcano as I approach Ohm's compound. I carefully scan it through the trees to get a better idea of what I'm dealing with. It appears to be built into the side of the mountain. A large balcony jutting out from the rock face overlooks a huge courtyard filled with ground vehicles, hovercraft, ammunition crates, and shipping containers. A twenty-five foot tall concrete wall ringed with razor wire separates the compound from the rest of the jungle. Two guard towers with emplaced machine guns loom at the two corners of the wall.

"Damn, they have spotlights…" No doubt that will be scanning the forest closely as soon as the sun goes down. "Not that it would matter looking at those gates." The main gates are twenty-feet tall, made of solid steel and seem to be bolted firmly shut from the inside. It would take something massive to bring those things down. Ohm definitely didn't skimp on the budget when he built this little island getaway.

A single-lane dirt road leads from the gate out into the jungle. It winds and twists for a little over a mile before it reaches a hoverpad and dock complex located on the only beach visible on this side of the island. That road is how I found my way back to the main compound, and how I intend to get into Ohm's little fortress. The question is how to get inside?

Just as I'm about to decide to sneak back into the cover of the trees and wait for darkness, I receive a wonderful little present. It seems Ohm needs a little break from his control room. He steps out onto the balcony and gazes out over the jungle. One of his bodyguards stands directly next to him. I see them exchange a few words that I'm unable to make out at this range. From the way his arms are flailing, I can see that he's still upset about our exchange a few hours ago. I can only pray that he hasn't taken his rage out any further on Lizzy, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't let him use her against me again. That's what Lizzy was trying to tell me back there. If we're going to escape together, then I have to be focused. Whatever he has done, we'll live with consequences as one, even if it means I have to spend every waking moment for the rest of my life putting her back together again. It's what I owe her after what she's given me: freedom to fight.

I click to a higher magnification. I can now see his face, worn and weathered; it's pale appearance completely out of place here in the tropical sun. That is his mistake: he has failed to adapt. This place is no different to him than his labs in the Capitol or his factory in District 2. He hasn't learned what it can offer him besides the artificial terrors he himself has built here. Therefore, he hasn't learned what it can offer his enemies: or what it has offered me…

"Time for a quick lesson on arrogance, Ohm."

I reach down and click my radio to transmit.

"Evening, Rikard." I say trying to mask all fear and doubt from my voice. He has to understand that I am in control now. He jumps in surprise on the balcony, as if he never expected to hear my voice speaking directly to him again. He says something to the bodyguard next to him, who begins yelling something into a radio that I can't hear. Ohm then picks up his personal radio to answer back.

"Good Evening to you, Ares. I suppose we're on a first name basis now?"

"Well, with everything we've been through together, now it seems appropriate."

"Very well, so it seems you're still alive. Pity, I was hoping my little bombardment would have taken care of you once and for all. I was just about to order my men to start scouring the forest for what pieces were left of your corpse. Something for your wife to look at during her surgical transformation in a few hours."

"Surely, you think more of me than that, Rikard?

"Well, considering how stupid it is of you to go through all that trouble to deactivate your tracelet only to start broadcasting on an open radio frequency. You must realize that I'll be able to locate you in just a few short seconds from now?"

"Go ahead. As you once told me back in the Capitol, 'You may not like what you find.'"

"Don't try to intimidate me, Snow…"

"Ares, Rikard please. We're friends now, remember?"

"Very well, Ares, don't try to intimidate me. I've strung a fool-proof sensor net out around my fortress for three hundred meters. I know the location of every buzzing fly that's stupid enough to beat its wings as it gets too close to me. Don't be so stupid to assume that I wouldn't know when you're coming."

"A sensor-net, yes. Fool-proof, I wouldn't be so sure. You might want to hire another camouflage advisor for when you build your next fortress of doom."

"There's no way you could have spotted the sensor spheres…"

"You're right, because they're sensor cubes and they're hidden the trees. In fact, I think they're the same ones you showed me at Special Defense about a year ago. Seriously, why do you insist on making everything in that particular shape? I'd consult Lizzy to see if there's some psychological explanation for that…."

I see him mouth the word "dammit" but he keeps his voice on the radio calm.

"Speaking of Mrs. Snow, Ares, you might want to refrain from your pathetic attempts at taunting before I decide to have another corrective session broadcast to this entire island…"

"You won't hurt her again, Rikard."

"And why exactly are you so sure of that?"

"Because, she's the only thing keeping you alive right now."

"Excuse me?"

"Touch one more hair on her head, and I'll punish you for it. Kill her, and I won't stop. I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and ensure that the last thing the terrified look on your face sees is me pointing the knife to your throat…."

Ohm begins to laugh.

"Well, My Dear Ares, it seems you have indeed lost your mind! Tracelet or not, I'm still here in an impregnable fortress and you are still trapped on a hostile deserted island where the only hope of escape is through me."

"You really underestimate me, Rikard."

"Why do you say that?"

I click the safety off on my weapon, pull the rifle tight into my shoulder, squeeze the trigger, and send a round flying straight towards Ohm on the balcony. As his bodyguard's head explodes next to him into million pieces and spatters him with brains, Ohm literally dives for cover back into his mountain refuge. After a few silent seconds, I finally receive a verbal answer.

"That was a very impressive shot, Ares!" he exasperatingly screams into his radio.

"Not really, Rikard, I was aiming for you. This new ammo of your design is shit for accuracy out past 300 meters. I'm afraid that after extensive testing, the United Districts of Panem Defense Forces will have to decline on our order…"

"How dare you…"

"How dare I? It seems you're forgetting which one of us decided to start the Seventy-Sixth Hunger Games, but what you failed to realize with all your so-called intelligence is which one of us is going to finish them…"

"You arrogant fool! And just what makes you think that you can possibly defeat me?"

"Because, since you've been so blinded by hate, you don't realize that I have the greatest weapon of all on my side."

"And what is that? Knives, guns, blind obedience to your pathetically impotent new order?"

"Not all, Rikard. Love…"

"How incredibly naïve! Soon, you will realize just what a liability love can be…just as I did. Don't you think for one second that I wouldn't end her pathetic existence right now if it suited me!"

"Uh, uh, uh, remember what I just said about me punishing you…"

"You're a dead man, Snow!"

"You have to catch me first, Rikard," I say as I slip on my night vision glasses and prepare to escape back to the jungle.

"I intend to. Since you are obviously so close, Ares, why don't you take a look at what's coming your way?"

The front gates fly open and a truck loaded with more hunters screams onto the road. It drives wildly toward my sniper position. They are all distracted, loading their weapons and yelling orders at one other, completely unaware that each and every one of them has about ten seconds to live.

Normally, I would be more concerned about having to face a force so large by myself, but luckily I left a little a surprise just outside Ohm's sensor net. When I noticed what kind of truck that Ohm's forces were using, I decided to make use of one of my precious two grenades. That particular model of vehicle has a very vulnerable spot in its armor. Though it's very well protected from side attacks, there is a weak spot just underneath the primary fuel tank.

As the truck drives around a bend in the road, it clips a wire that I have strung between two trees, detonating the grenade buried in the road. Burning hot shrapnel rips through the undercarriage directly into the main tank which then explodes in a brilliant fire ball. The driver is killed instantly, but the poor hunters in the back dive from the wreckage and run in screaming circle so that Ohm can hear every one of their tortured last gasps of life. Their flaming bodies have become human torches, lighting the newly fallen darkness of the jungle night.

"See that, Rikard? It seems I have a few 'presents' of my own now. Good luck, for it seems that the odds are indeed in my favor." I click off the transmit button.

Suddenly, the holoimage of Lizzy returns to the night sky. The water has now reached the bottom of her chest. She is conscious again, but becoming more and more nervous as she flails in the tube. All I can do is grit my teeth and run back into the forest, using the glasses to guide my path as the light from the burning truck fades behind me. Soon, I'm alone again the forest, disappearing like a ghost. I've done what I've needed to do for now. Next, comes the hardest part. Waiting for them to make a mistake.

Ohm's voice returns from the trees.

"Look at her, Colonel Snow!"

"Guess he doesn't believe that we're still friends…"

"Look into her terrified eyes as your mermaid gasps for the few final hours of her life! You claim to love her? You claim that she is the one who drives you forward? Well then, her image will not fade from the sky until this is all over. Only seven hours left! Seven hours and then you watch her die! You've done nothing tonight except prove me right! You are an animal, an unholy killer! Justice will be served tonight! I swear it!"

I can't tell if he's just trying to encourage his men to continue to press their futile offensive, or just bolster his own shattered ego. Either way, I'll let Ohm continue his pointless rant. After all, he's the one covered in blood this time.

He's lost this one and he knows it. It is crystal clear that the jungle is now mine. His hunters realize that they are now the prey and will be afraid to leave the compound, which I've made sure to show them is no longer a safe haven either. Instead of trying to track me down, they will now be busy with fortifying their positions and lying in wait for my next attack. They think I will come to them, and they are right. What they fail to realize is that no defense ever created is perfect. I will find a way in, and strike right at their hearts.

My first victory has achieved exactly what it was supposed to. Fear. Ohm knows he's lost the offensive to me, and I will never let him reclaim it.