MOONSHOT

Execution by firing squad

    Shelly hesitated for just a second as she was led out of the old barn where she had just lost a trial for her life. Caught with a bomb she was tried at a field court marshal and convicted. Sentence death, carried out as soon as possible,  by firing squad. It was a lovely summer night. The moon was full, bright enough to drown out the stars. A warm breeze carried the sent of flowers. Ahead of her walked her friend and lover Marsha. She too was being led out to die. Each had a man on either side with more men following. The group behind were carrying rifles. Both women were naked. They had been stripped when captured and no one seemed to think it worthwhile to return their clothes. At least they had not been violated as so many were under like circumstances. Just handled roughly but not harshly and judged quickly. God it was a beautiful night.
    The place chosen to execute them was two trees set at the bottom of a small hill. Wild flowers grew nearby. A hole was already dug behind one tree. It looked like she and Marsha were going to share a grave. Somehow  that was comforting. Both were tied to a tree. Just a rope around the waist. Their hands were already tied behind their backs so the single rope was enough to ensure their staying in place. The four men that had led they here finished tying them in place and walked away joking. What the hell did they find so funny? The five men that had followed them too their places. Four in a line about fifty feet away while the fifth stood off to one side. They had very little time left. Marsha seemed in a daze, she had always been the sensitive one and the only reason she was here was because Shelly had needed help with the bomb. Marsha cared little for politics and nothing for violence. Now thanks to Shelly she was going to die. While the men prepared to kill them there was time for sorrys and I love you but not the hugs and kisses that were what they really wanted. The trees were too far apart to hold hands. Shelly did manage to ask for Marsha to be shot first if they were now going to be shot at the same time. At least her friend would be spared the sight of bullets ripping through her lovers body and having to wait for them to tear her flesh. 
    The four men were ready. The sounds of rifle bolts being worked and safeties being turned off mingled with the night sounds of crickets and tree frogs. The cam e the old commands- Ready, Take Aim,           Fire.  Four rifles fired in a ragged thunder. Shelly watched the body of her lover jump and slam backwards against the tree. Bark flew as the slugs ripped through her slender body. Her head and upper body fell forward until it was left in a parody of a deep bow. Held there by the rope. Shelly heard a few ghastly bubbling breaths before one last wet exhalation. The body of her dead friend were even limper and shelly knew her friend was dead. All that was left of a warm loving woman was a limp body dripping blood and other bodily fluids. She had just enough time to say “I’m sorry, forgive me.” before the commands came. Ready, Take Aim,     Fire. Shelly saw the four flashes of light from the muzzles. He reports and the bullets arrived together. It felt like being hit by clubs. The breath was driven from her body. She saw her blood and flesh spray. Her back was cut and dug by splinters blown from the tree. For a moment she blacked out into what she would have thought was death if she had the time to notice. It was not death. She awoke to find herself in the same position as Marsha. But she was still alive. Blood was dripping from her body and mouth. Her heart had now been hit but she was drowning in her own blood from lung damage. 
    She heard footsteps over be Marsha’s body. The fifth man walked to it and pulled out a pistol. Placing it behind the ear that Shelly had nibbled so often he pulled the trigger. Another loud boom sent the heavy slug through her friend’s skull and into her brain. It became too much to turn her head to watch. The footsteps neared and stopped. A double click as the weapon was cocked. Then the touch of cold metal behind her ear. A bright white flash and then nothing as the bullet pulped her brain. 
    Two lovers, in over their heads, now hanging dead surrounded by the smell of wildflowers. A bright moonlit night filled with warm breezes and the sounds of crickets. Two lovers destined to share an unmarked hole in the ground forever with only bullet scarred trees for headstones.