The Hunted

Sentencing

I stood next to Derek at the front of the courtroom. My hand itched in the handcuffs to reach out and take his own hand, but our arms were secured in front of us and we were separated by a monster of a guard. I watched Derek out of the corner of my eye instead, waiting to see what his reaction would be to what we both knew was coming.

When the judge's gavel hit the table to call the room back to order, I flinched. The sound was like a gunshot being fired. Derek's eyes slid over to mine briefly, the corner of his mouth twitching into a sad smile before he turned away, nodding gently for me to do the same.

I forced myself to look away from him and towards the beefy man sitting safely behind the bars that separated him from us. He shuffled through his papers as though he needed to make certain that he knew what our sentence was, but we all knew that our fate had been decided before we'd even stepped foot into the courtroom.

Behind us, I heard a sniffle. Most likely my mother. She cried every time she saw me after I had been arrested. I bit the inside of my mouth to prevent myself from turning around. It would only make matters worse for the both of us. I couldn't let her see my face when my sentence was delivered nor could I bear to see her face.

"The jury and myself believe that we have come to an appropriate sentence for Derek Knuff and Isabelle Linscott given the severity of the crime committed," the judge croaked. "Commander of Order Frei will repeat the crimes that have been committed before we proceed with the sentencing."

I watched as Frei, a man in his forties, stepped forward. He had been our law instructor in school. He cleared his throat, his eyes darting between Derek and I before he glanced at the judge. The old man narrowed his eyes at the younger and Frei turned away, clearing his throat once more before he spoke.

"The crimes committed by Derek Knuff," he said in a shaky voice, "are as follows. Conspiracy against the government. Refusal to execute an accused criminal. False imprisonment and execution of an innocent man." I glanced at Derek out of the corner of my eye. His jaw was clenched as he forced himself to look forward. None of those accusations were true. He had been told to do those things. No. He had been ordered to do those things.

"Isabelle Linscott is guilty of the following crimes. Conspiracy against the government. Refusal to arrest an accused criminal. Tampering with witnesses."

"Considering the circumstances of the arrests of these two," the judge continued after the commander of order finished speaking, "we, the jury and myself, believe that we have chosen the sentence that is most fitting. The first Ki'i will commence at daybreak tomorrow."

I squeezed my eyes shut as the camera's flashed around the room. I refused to cry, though. I dug my nails into the palm of my hand and swallowed the lump in my throat before I opened my eyes again, my eyes staring at the old man behind the bars.

"There can only be one winner," he reminded us, "and if you can't decide which one of you is to survive, the Guardians will make the choice for you and your families will suffer. You will have a month after you have been dropped at the Recreation Zone. If you do not complete the task by then, we will decide the result for you. You're dismissed." His gavel came down on the desk. Another gunshot.

I turned towards Derek as the female Guardian entered to take me back to my cell. He met my eyes. His face was the perfect image of composure, but his eyes were filled with fear.

"It's going to be okay," he said. I shook my head.

"No it's not," I replied as the Guardian jerked on my arm. "It's never been okay."

He didn't respond. The bear Guardian took his arm and pulled him out a door on the opposite side of the courtroom.

I allowed the Guardian to lead me down a short concrete hallway to a set of stairs. Instead of taking me to my cell, she took me to a small room that was similar to the interrogation room I had sat in just days before. She shoved me down into the chair, securing my cuffs to the chair and the bar on the table before she left, locking the door behind her.