The Hanging Tree (Zianourry)

Chapter Thirteen

"That's a total count of thirty eight." Niall whispered to me as this new guy was dragged away, kicking in screaming, his body thrashing around like a wild animal as he tried to get away from his capture. I stared at the scene, trying to keep a straight face as Liam and Zayn had to help subdue the poor lad. They both wore these stern expressions as they carried out their duties.

"It's sick." I whispered.

"Yeah, but better them than us right?" Harry whispered. It was always like this. We were always relieved when someone else got taken away to their deaths. I wasn't sure if that could even be considered human anymore, yet I felt the same as Harry and Niall. I didn't want to get caught and taken to my death. I didn't want to leave these four ever. We were careful, they were not. We could've invited more to join our little group but the five of us alone was already to risky.

"I can't believe this is the world we live in." I told myself. They nodded solemnly and we cringed as the boy's screams still reached our ears even though he was no longer in the room. Yet, we were the only ones who seemed to notice. 

Later on at the tree I was busy picking at the grass on the ground once Liam and Zayn came trudging towards us. I looked back at their hard faces and looked back down, whispering, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you two didn't even care about what you just did." 

"Didn't care?!" Liam bellowed. "You think I don't care about the fact that I just had to sentence a guy to his death?! He was young Louis! Fifteen! What life did he had and just like that it was snuffed out! And the way they did it." Liam's voice trailed off.

That caused me to look up as I always wondered how they killed the boys. It was Niall who asked what I was thinking however. "How did they do it?"

Harry and I were listening patiently while Niall was using those big blue eyes to pressure Liam into telling us. Zayn's jaw was clenched as he stared at us, no he stared through us, a haunting look on his face.

"Did you know this school has different chambers?" Zayn mumbled, not letting Liam answer. Our heads immediately snapped in his direction, signaling him to continue as we each shook our heads. "There's an incineration chamber, a torture chamber, and...a gas chamber."

"Gas chamber, like what the Nazis used?" Harry asked, his usually hefty deep voice coming out like a squeak. Zayn nodded. "Don't tell me-" 

"Do you know they make us watch! They force us to drag the kid into whichever chamber and then they make us watch through that fucking glass wall as they exterminated him with hydrogen cyanide." Liam screamed, as he broke down, finally allowing the tears to rain down his face.

Zayn took over for him as he kneeled down and held him closer. "He became delusional. He was crying and screaming for his mother, then clawing at the walls. He was tripping everywhere then he started to throw up. We had to watch him while he crawled and gasped for air, while he convulsed, when he just laid there, not moving at all. It was the worst thing anyone could ever witness and it's embedded into our memories for as long as we live. I've never even seen a body turn blue that rapidly."

Harry was crying now at the mere imagery of it. "You guys have to go through this!?" Harry cried, biting his lip to try to distract himself from the tears.

"This is the first time I've seen that. I've seen the incineration room, and that was horrifying enough. It's like a big oven. The whole room itself is flame resistant doesn't burn, though the whole floor is covered with this  flammable substance. Once you're in there you're trapped. The whole floor ignites and you can't run, there's no place to go. It's not even a quick death, no they don't give people that mercy. There's just them screaming in pain and thrashing about, the pungent odor of burnt flesh flaring through your nostrils. It took me a week to get that smell out of my nose because everything smelled like that kid. He looked dead at us while he screamed and burnt. I knew him and he was screaming my name to come help him but I couldn't because I put him there. I had to help them take him to that fucking room and had to sit there like this was some fucking sick game."

"The torture room is the worst though." Liam whispered. His body was shaking badly. "I've seen two guys go in there. That's where they put you if they suspect you're in a relationship. You're tortured by them until you tell them who the other person is. It doesn't matter though because you're killed anyways. You're treated like cattle at the end. They place the captive bolt gun to the back of your head and bang, you're dead in a second. At least they don't feel their deaths, but most die from the shock of all the torture, or so I heard."

"This is so vile." I whispered, finally learning the full truth of this school and our predicament. I thought it was something slightly humane, like a needle that'll kill you. No they took delight from this extermination, from this purge. "How are we going to keep this up?" I asked.

"We can do it." Niall whispered.

"Can we?" I asked. "All it takes is one accusation and hell, Zayn and I slipped up with our hickies. If anyone had saw which of the three rooms do you think we would've been in? You three would be left and alone and scared and I can't  take this anymore." I started to cry, the sobs wrecking my entire body. I looked up at the four boys that each held a chamber of my heart. "I don't want to die and I don't want to see any of you die." I said through the tears.

"Don't cry Lou, we won't die." Niall said.

"Promise?" Harry asked for me.

Everyone nodded, a sad look in their eyes because nobody said the words aloud. Nobody actually made a promise that they knew they couldn't keep.