"Ray Coleman, you have committed treason and your well deserved penalty is death sentence!"
Ray remained silence when General Richardson announced his fate. Sitting in front of General Richardson, surrounded by his army and with his hands cuffed, he still did not give up hope after what he had gone through for the last three days. He knew he just had to stay calm in order to keep his sanity.
"Do you have anything to say to defend yourself?" General Richardson gave Ray a mocking smile while posting this question.
Ray continued his silence. He knew very well there was meaningless to defend himself in front of General Richardson when he had set his mind on having him dead.
He was not guilty, for God's sake! He led his troops to rescue Senator Robertson who was caught by rebels while visiting this foreign land. It was supposed to be a secret mission known only by the top few. Somehow, the rebels had been alerted by god-knows-who and they were greeted by bullets and grenades once entering the rebels' hideout, a secret camp deep within Amazon Rain Forest.
It was a bloody war. He had led his troops in numerous battles and victory was always at their side. However, not this time. It was a trap! The undefeatable army of his met their fate. He had the best soldiers but none of them survived except him. The same for the enemies too. Twenty of them against eighty enemies. Ray single handedly took out no less than fourty cold blooded rebiels but he could not save his troops. They fought with bravery and brought their enemies together with them to hell.
Yup, hell. How could people like us go to heaven? Ray let out a bitter smile when thinking about this.
Anyway, even though he was alive, he was in living hell. The guilt of losing his brothers in arm and the anger of being accused for treason were keeping him in hell literally.
"Of course you have nothing to say! After all, you and the rebels set up a trap to kill our troops!" General Richardson continued his accusations, "Worse still, you got Senator Robertson killed as well! The rebels chopped his head off right after our troops shot down their leader during the gun fight! You then murdered all our troops and came back alone thinking we would believe all your bullshits!"
"That is not true! I was the one who shot down that asshole!" Ray finally burst out in anger after hearing all these nonsenses. "Someone leaked our attack to the rebels and we fought our way out! Regretfully, I was the only survivor."
"Let me tell you this : you are not the only survivor!" General Richardson suddenly burst out an arrogant laughter while giving order to his assistant, "Bring him out now!"
To Ray's surprise, the person they brought out was his aide-de-camp Officer Wilson. Ray thought that he had sacrificed in the battle but apparently he was alive and well.
"Hey buddy! It's great to see you!" Ray was indeed happy to see Wilson.
However, time his further surprise, Wilson responded hostilely, "Coleman, are you serious? Wouldn't you rather see my dead body instead?"
Ray was shocked initially but right away, he understood what was going to happen.
Wilson was here to testify that I am guilty! He let out a sigh. He never thought that Wilson would have betrayed him and their brothers.
"How much do they pay you?" He asked. He was indeed disappointed, not just by Wilson, but by human nature.
"Hey, shut your mouth! No one pays me anything! You led us into a trap and then slaughtered all our brothers! And now you are pretending that you are innocent!" As expected, Wilson spit out more venom than Ray would have imagined.
"Ahem..." General Richardson cleared his throat before saying out loud, "Now we presented you a witness who could prove your guilt! Your sentence will be executed immediately!"
"Don't I deserve a proper court hearing?" Ray asked sarcastically.
"Not for you. You are far too dangerous to be alive for another day! Who knows what you would do next if your life is spared? Will you murder me or the President?" General Richardson ordered his soldiers, "Bring him to the open and execute him right away!"
Ray suddenly stood up and pulled his hands apart, hence breaking the handcuffs. Standing at 1.9 metres, he was taller than all the soldiers surrounding him. Seeing his action, all of them pulled out their guns and pointed at him.
Ray took a good look at all of them and then sighed, "I could kill you all with my bare hands but I will never harm any of my brothers..." He paused for a second before carrying on, "…even though you guys think that I am a traitor, you are still my brothers regardless. And there are already too many brothers died in the last few days. I could not allow anymore deaths..."
He pulled open his shirt and exposed his muscular body, "So take my life instead if you would!"
All of General Richardson's soldiers dared not take any action and looked at each other helplessly.
"Bring him to the open now!" Finally, General Richardson gave his order.
"Sorry but we have orders to follow." A young female officer stepped up and pointed her gun at Ray's bare chest.
"It's okay, I understand." Ray did not resist and let the brave young soldier brought him out of General Richardson's tent.
He was led to stand in front of a wooden post by the young soldier. "Sir, I am Private Morrison and it's an honor to meet you. I'm sorry that I have to carry out your execution." She whispered softly into Ray's ear.
"It's okay. Just do as ordered. It's your duty." Ray nodded. "Just give me a clean kill if you will."
"That's the least I could do for you, sir." Morrison said to Ray while tying him up onto the wooden post.
With all things set, General Richardson stepped out from his tent and made an official announcement, "Ray Coleman, your death sentence will be executed at 15:00 13th December 2024. Do you have any last words?"
"See you soon." Ray did not lose his sense of humor after all.
"Very funny. Private Morrison, you may proceed."
Gunshot rang out right after General Richardson's command and blood burst out from Ray's chest. He collapsed right away. Morrison was indeed a good shooter and he did as promised : a clean kill.
Ray's body was carried to the deep forest around a mile away from General Richardson's tent and buried without a tombstone.
It rained heavily that night, as if heaven was weeping for him. Came next morning, a wild wolf passed by his burial ground and smelt blood. The hungry animal knew that there was flesh nearby and started digging the ground. Soon, the wolf found Ray's dead body and was delighted to meet its food for the day.
The wolf sniffed his body to confirm if he was truly dead. Out of a sudden, it sensed something not right and tried to retreat. But, it was too late. Ray had opened his eyes and grabbed the carnivore by its throat, preventing it from making any noise.