THE MAN IN THE HANGING TREE | Gale Hawthorne

THIRTY FIVE - Snow's Secret Weapon

YOUR POINT OF VIEW

I laughed in Snow's face when he told me I would have to kill people for him. I mean really? The biggest killer I knew wanted me to kill people for him, let alone his own people.

Snow wasn't amused, but told me with a cold smile that I would do what he said, or he'd send another team of bombers on the rebels.

I shut up, in fear of the safety of my friends, of Gale.

"I could poison him myself, Miss Abernathy." He chimed. "But you see, that would be far too obvious that it was me."

"Why do you care? You're the biggest killer in Panem." I snarled, he had taken so many from me alone, I could only imagine what he did to others.

Snow's smile only grew, into a mirror of the devil itself. "Indeed I am, but you see I want people to fear me, not distrust me." He started walking down the hall, I followed closely behind.

"That's a bit redundant, don't you think?" I scoffed. Aren't they the same thing?

His eyes darkened. "I am many things, (Y/n) but I am not a fool." He used my first name for te first time yet. "All of my actions are meticulously thought out, like I told you before."

"So, in this game of chess your best move is to use me to kill the people you don't like?" I asked. He was like a toddler really, if he didn't get his way he lased out.

"Trust me, if I wanted you to kill everyone I hated, you would be killing most of Panem." Snow placed a hand on my back, pushing me to meet his strides. "No, Miss Abernathy, I simply want the board to fear there is an assassin on the loose, that perhaps I am controlling. Then they would fear me."

I shuddered at his icy touch.

Snow waved his hand through the air. "They shall fear me, but still trust me as their leader you see, as they would seek me for protection a guidance in this trying time."

His logic was mad, but it sort of made sense.

"Besides." He smirked, a cold finger holding my chin up. "I find death by a woman's touch is generally overlooked, Antonius won't expect a thing as you lure him to his death. And as for the board, they'll have no idea the killer is you."

So that's why I am here, in the shortest dress I've ever worn, ready to seduce the Minister of defense so I can drag him into the shadows and kill him. So I can drag him, like a mouse in the clutches of a housecat, ready to end his life.

I've never killed before, nor did I ever intend to. But drastic measures have to be taken in war, and this is better than my family being killed for noncompliance. A random man apposed to the man I love.

Besides, Antonius is the defense minister, he would have been the one to organize the attack on Twelve, he controls the peacekeepers. If anything, this is a bit of justice for myself and everyone the military of Panem has ever hurt.

Snow let me leave his house for the task, with the promise I wouldn't try to escape. I have the rose pin on anyway, which is a tracker, and he told me so very kindly before I left that if his peacekeepers saw me anywhere near the exit-- they'd shoot me on sight without hesitation.

He did tell me where Antonius would be, which was helpful, for I have never been to the Capitol before. So at least I have that useful bit of information as I go to make a life altering action.

My heels click as I walk down the sidewalk of the Capitol's glittering streets. It's quite beautiful here, a mask of what really goes on in this country. Corrupt government, death games, bombings, and the slaughter of innocent people, all hidden behind a golden crown.