Guilty

“Guilty as charged, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice I here by sentence the four defendants to death to be carried out Sunrise tomorrow.” And with a bang of the gavel, the major had sealed the fate of the Quickie-Mart Four. The room burst with chatter as the members of the official press corps started talking into their microphones, cell phones and recorders. The young Lieutenant shrugged and told them she would try and file an appeal but it didn’t look good.

Allen was dumbfounded. How could this have happened? They had not done anything wrong. The guards nudged them up and herded them out of a side door into a small passageway that lead to a loading doc in the back. They climbed into their woodland patterned camouflaged Hummer. The press was around the front of the building along with a large crowd of protestors. The engine caught and roared to life. The driver slipped it into drive and pulled out of the loading dock slowly, easing onto the street.

“Well” Gregg offered. “At least today can’t get any worse.” He was wrong.