The Hunted

Twisted World

They took Caleb just moments after and led me back to my cell. I stood in the middle of the cell as the metal door slammed shut, the bolt screeching as it slid into place. The one bonus to solitary confinement was not having to worry that your cellmate would murder you when you turned your back on them. The downfall was it gave you too much time to think.

I walked over to the door and put my hands on either side of the doorframe, letting my head fall to stare at the crack in the floor.

In less than twelve hours I would be taken to the Recreation Zone, a large woodland area of about four hundred acres with a lake that was often used for water sport events during the summer. My father used to take us there to watch the boat races. Now I would be going to try to kill my best friend.

What a twisted world we lived in.

The Recreation Zone was fenced off because there were people going in there after curfew to illegally kill the animals that made their home there. And there was also the issue of when the two boys drowned themselves in the lake to avoid the service requirement once they turned sixteen. That was not acceptable.

I pushed off the doorframe and took a few steps back, staring at the door and wishing that somehow I could open it and be free from all of this.

It wouldn't happen, though. We weren't that advanced of a species.

I curled up in a ball on the hard floor, instead. I wasn't going to be able to sleep, but I needed to try. It may be the last time that I got the chance to. This time tomorrow I could very well be dead.

I stared at the wall across from me, trying to block off the emotions running through my body. I couldn't be a sobbing mess tomorrow. If I wanted to escape Derek in the first few minutes after we are dropped, I need to be able to look at him as a threat and not as a friend. I can't be crying while trying to survive. He most certainly wouldn't be.

When we were selected for our jobs, his as the Executioner and mine as Officer of Justice, it was because we both had what it took to complete the tasks given to us. He was able to kill without flinching. I was able to arrest people and take them to their deaths without becoming emotionally involved. No matter how much they begged or pleaded or cried or cursed at us, we were able to do what we had to do. We could mostly do it because it was what we were trained to do all through school, our jobs being chosen for us before we were even able to tie our shoes.

Mostly we did it because of the fear of what would happen if we didn't.

Derek had been proud of his assignment. It was an honor to be the executioner. To rid society of evil was one of the greatest honors a person could have. To bring the evils of society to justice was another high honor.

Life was all about honor.

If you lost your honor, you might as well find a place to die because you would never get it back. You would be the outcast of society, the one that everyone looked down upon.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach, trying to push the thought out of my mind. Derek and I had both lost our honor. We had cost our families' their honor. Even if I were to live, my life would not be the same. I would no longer be a well-respected officer. I'd be the person that people whispered about on the streets and the person that people grew quiet around.

What a life to live.

x.x.x

I drifted in and out of sleep, tormented by the nightmares that had been plaguing me since I was arrested. When the door to my cell slid open, I almost let out a sigh of relief. The female guard from the previous morning shoved a bowl of cold oatmeal at me and a warm carton of milk, ordering me to eat and change into the pants, long sleeved shirt, and shoes I was being given.