The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 23.5: Time Paradox

Part 9/11

A half hour later, two familiar friends were being forced onto the plank. Ben and Sunny. They both wore fancy suits and dresses. Their hands were bound behind their back, and Ben’s left eye was swollen, as if someone had socked him right in the face.

“That’s them,” Samuel said, looking at the two.

“So what’s the plan?” Aurora asked.

“We need to prevent that plank from dropping at all costs,” Samuel revealed his master plan, “I see two levers on the sides there. Those are probably to release the planks they are standing upon. An armed individual at each lever. We can sneak up on them and take them out easily.”

Aurora’s eyes scanned the area, and she saw three other guards in the area, along with a man holding a giant axe.

“What about those ones? They’ll shoot us-”

“We’ll shoot them first,” Samuel said, “We can use the stages as cover. And besides I highly doubt they’d want to risk shooting their own men.”

“Okay, let’s do this then,” Aurora replied while clenching her fist. Samuel decided that he would take the left (where Ben was), and Aurora would take the right (where Sunny was).

The two snuck their way through the crowd, not wanting to be seen by any of the armed ones. As they did, the two guards who were manning the levers tied nooses around the two “criminals”. Sunny had a gloomy look on her face while Ben looked pretty… happy.

“Well do you two have any last words?” Michael asked with a grin, “I’ll let the boy go first.”

“Oh, me?” Ben asked with a raised eyebrow. He could feel his heart hammering against his chest. Out of all the places he wanted to die, he didn’t want to die here. He didn’t want to die to some creepazoid. What a humiliating way to go!

“Well, I guess this is it, huh?” Ben said, looking on at the crowd, “You probably don’t even know who I am or care about who I am… But whatever. At least I’ll die for a good cause, heh. I’m sure this will appease the… Executioner's bloodlust. I know he’s been aching for a kill for a while now. Hopefully that will prevent… some people’s deaths.”

The Executioner gasped.

“What?! How did he know?!” he asked in horror.

“And, of course, we can’t forget about that creepazoid Michael. Heh. You guys should’ve seen the look on that guy’s face when we pelted him with dirt! It was HILARIOUS! Ahh, what a twig.”

A snort echoed from the crowd, and Michael looked FURIOUS.

“I heard that!” Michael shouted, “You know what? Just kill him, NOW!”

The peacekeeper reached for the lever…