This is copyrighted to me, and plagiarizing this is against the CS rules, but also the law. Please don't hurt an author by stealing work that they care about.
Each footstep falls heavily on the ground. Each sound echoing around the square. Each stone faced soldier winces, but only another soldier would be able to tell. The flicker of emotion that darts in their eyes, and disappears seconds later, as if ice cold eyes always looked that way.
Adam remembered days when those eyes had shone with laughter and sparkled with amusement. Scattered decks of cards surrounding the blazing heat of the fire. Only minutes later, silent forms draped across the damp ground. Innocent looking faces laid against the earth, lips parted, eyes closed in a dreamy sleep. Such innocence lay in killing machines. And then, as his own world drifted black, a shadow of white flitted across his vision. A girl.
As he turned his head, scanning the crowd, he saw that same girl, dressed in her same white dress. The same specks of blood stained the collar, and the smudges of brown dirt decorated her back. Blonde hair curled expertly, eyes shining with an emotion he couldn't read.
The butt of a gun slammed into his spine, sending him sprawling forward, fingers grasping at rough stone.
"Get up" screamed a voice above him, his former commander's words fazed him no more. As he drew himself upright, brushing crumbling bits of stone from a crisp uniform, his gaze never broke that of Anna's.
He would have only learned her name later that night. After he had successfully smashed his fist into her nose, sending her sprawling into the earth. She was as dignified as him, using the same method to wipe the dirt from the front of her dress, and the blood from her face. She was not afraid of him. It was a first, and Adam had been impressed.
And as Adam felt the familiar round, cold barrel of the gun against his back, he continued forward. Watching her. Slung over her shoulder was a backpack of camo colors. Wincing, he turned away. It was the same backpack he had seen only a month before, disappearing into the woods on the back of a girl who only wanted food for her starving family.
That same backpack that had landed him in this square today. Glancing away from her small white form, he focused on the judge in red that stood before him, wrinkled peachy hands crossed before his stomach, large sleeves dripping away from frail arms.
"Adam Sintaro?" it was not a question, more of a statement.
As Adam ignored the judge, he nodded again and turned to face the crowd of soldiers, civilians, and the few rich citizens that attended these kind of events. As his eyes locked in on her again, he couldn't but help notice the crowd she stood in. Surrounded by woman dressed in silks, makeup coating every aspect of ugly faces, fingers glistening with rings of diamonds and pearls that would feed a family for years.
"Adam Sintaro, Soldier Number #33890, Quadrant 6" as he relayed the information Adam already knew, he stood straighter, raising his chin. He wasn't regal looking, not anymore. After a month of torture , Adam's pearly white skin had gone from soft, innocent white to patches of purple, yellow and sickening brown.
"Adam here has been charged for giving supplies to civilians, guns, ammunition, and food." gasps of horror drifted from the crowd, but the only one he cared about was the girl. Anna's mouth opened, her lips parted in disbelief, her eyes flashing. She was only just realizing what he was doing for her. He had not told them that he had pointed to the backpack, and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep as she stole what she needed for her family. He had not told them anything about the girl. He had wasted no time in confessing to a crime he had only half committed.
Dragging his feet up the stairs, he stood beside the judge, chin still held high. Though, if you looked into his eyes, you could see his true emotion of fear flickering like a fire. The ocean that was his eyes, had been set aflame.
"His punishment? Execution" the finality in the judges tone scared him. But as a trained soldier, Adam only moved an inch.
As the words passed the weathered lips of the old man, Anna collapsed to the ground. It was almost a domino effect. As Adam flinched, and the judge finished his sentence, a girl in a little white dress collapsed to the ground, no sound follow her except the slap of her knees colliding with the earth.
The butt of his commanders gun crashed into his shoulder, sending a torrent of pain up his arm. He felt numb, each second ticking by as he too fell to his knees, just like they wanted. His commander stepped behind him, leaning over his small frame, a sick grin twisted on his face. The cold circle pressed against his temple, reminding him of the fate that lay only seconds away.
The judge turned to him, no emotion in those cold, evil eyes. Except triumph, maybe there was a glimmer of triumph. Triumph in killing a man who had done no wrong. That sounded about right.
"Do you have any last words, Soldier Sintaro?" the question shocked Adam. But he nodded none the less. He knew these words by heart, and as he sought to find her in the crowd, she rose from the ground, tears bleeding down her cheeks.
As their eyes met, he smiled, and strangely enough, so did she. His last words were venom on his tongue. The last things he would ever say. It was a strange thought to him. The last things, ever. He would be able to say no more. See no more. Hear no more. This was his moment.
"Don't look" that was all he said, and he knew that she had heard, because her eyes dripped close and she hung her head.
Adam wanted to rush from the stage and envelope her in a warm hug, telling her everything would be all right. But that would never be.
As the bullet entered his skull, he dropped forward, his body bent at an odd angle as he hung off the stage.
Despite the frightened screams surrounding her, the smell of smoke, and the muffled sound of a gunshot, Anna did not look. Instead, she turned, pushing through the crowd of people, knocking women and men alike aside. It was only when her bare feet touched the familiar grassy plains she knew, did she open her eyes and allow herself to cry.