“Ian, I’m so nervous. Mr. Johnson has been looking at me strangely all week. What if he knows?”

“Mr. Johnson, the butcher? How could he possible know?!? We haven’t made any mistakes Adrian, we’re fine. Nobody knows, and a week from know you and I will be laughing about this.” Ian nuzzles my neck, his sweet warm breath tickling my collar. “We will be fine, I promise you.”
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It is the day, the day we find out. My heart is pounding in my chest, and I can’t eat. I have to; if we were discovered there will be no chance. Mother places a bowl of oatmeal in front of me, and despite my constricted stomach I wolf it down before she can see my shaking hands. I run back to my room to get dressed in the traditional outfit for today, the Day of Realization. Today the Leaders have sent representatives to each part of the world. Those representatives will announce the names of the areas Undesirables; any who has been found to be irreversibly crippled, radicals, homosexuals, and any other people the Leaders found disruptive to daily life. Once the names are called the town is required to perform the strictest punishment.

Mother leads me to the town square. The entire town, about 200 people, has filled the square. Madame Nouvel, the representative sent to our town from France waits on stage, her hair in its usual tight bun and wearing her usual perfectly pressed grey pantsuit.

“He-lloooo!!!! Welcome to this year’s Day of Realization. Today we will all take care of the Undesirables in the world. So let’s get started shall we?” She says this last part cheerily, as if she is about to hand out ice cream instead of death to those unfortunates.

“This year’s Undesirables are. . . Jonathan Malks and Diana Malks for political indiscretion, Mia Cora for being radical, and Ian Deera and Adrian Karsack for homosexuality.” There is a collective gasp from the crowd; there are usually only one or two Undesirables in Town #145.

“Adrian!?! Please tell me they’re mistaken, please Adrian, you can’t be a . . . a homosexual!” My mother shrieks next to me. I catch Ian’s eye, and he bites his lip. I can see so much fear in his eyes, he must be terrified.

“Oh my God! It is true!” Ian’s Mother screams, seeing how we look to each other. She shoves her son away from her, as if afraid that his homosexuality will rub off on her. I run. I run as fast as I can, shoving people out of my way to get to him. One woman grabs my shoulder and punches me in the nose. I stagger forward, but keep running; I have to get to him. The people around him have formed a ring, pushing and shoving him; and he keeps falling into them as if he cannot stand on his own. The shock of being called out must have been too much for him, so I keep running. I have to get him out of this crowd; the other three Undesirables have already made it to the forest just outside of town, running for their lives, and I have to get him there. I have to give him that chance, even if it means getting myself killed.

“Ian move!” I scream, my voice unrecognizable. I finally reach the circle around him and I smash into a huge man, pushing past him. Ian is standing in front of me, blood running down his face, his knees shaking in fear. His mind is screaming through his eyes, as if he cannot believe that we were caught. I grab his arm, pulling him forward and finally his mind seems to catch onto the fact that we are going to run. We push past people, all of which are trying to grab us or punch us. Ian screams and falls to the ground, a woman tripped him. I grab him by the waist and pull him along. We finally get past the hoard, and his legs start kicking again. I set him down and we dart for the trees, me pulling him along. I can hear him sobbing behind me, but I can’t stop to comfort him. I try to squeeze his hand reassuringly as we run. I can hear the footsteps of the crowd following us.

“Oh God, no please! Please, I’ll just go, PLEASE!?!” I can hear one of the women scream as she dies. We have to keep running, or that will be our fate too, and I will not let them hurt Ian. He deserves better.
We run, as far as we can, as long as we can, just as long as we keep moving. I can feel Ian slowing down, exhaustion overtaking him. We keep moving, even though it’s been hours since we heard any people.

“Adrian, I . . . I can’t keep going. We. . . .We have to take a break.” Ian is panting behind me, we’ve been running for hours and the sun is setting behind us. I slow down, but continue walking.

“Adrian . . . where are we going?” He nervously asks me. I think for a minute before answering him. “We’ll just avoid the towns. I can hunt some, and we can eat whatever we find. For now let’s find a place to hide and sleep. We can’t keep going like this.” We find a bush with enough branches hanging low to hide us. And just to be safe, we gather some more branches from the bush next to it to stack against us.

“Here baby,” I ball up my shirt and put my jacket back on, “rest your head here.” I pull him close to me. We both very quickly fall asleep.
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I wake up to screaming. Ian has been pulled out of our hiding spot. There are a few men chuckling, and someone pulls me out of the shrub. The light blinds me a moment, and when I finally can see again I puke.

Ian is being held up by his left hand, and his forearm is hanging backwards. He is screaming bloody murder, and the man holding him up is chuckling. Ian looks at me, tears streaming down his eyes, and I cannot take it. My basic instincts take over and I attack the man holding me. I hear a snap behind me, and he falls to the floor. I slam into the man holding Ian, and I start clawing at him. I don’t think, my body just wants him dead, I am so furious that I claw until my nails tear off, my blood mixes with his and trails down his unmoving face. I scream a primitive, guttural noise. I will exact my revenge against the creatures that harmed my mate. I will f*ing kill this asshole!

Ian crawls toward me, placing a hand gently on my shoulder and I immediately stop. I would know that touch anywhere.

“Adrian, Adrian please stop. I think . . . I think he’s dead.” I turn toward him, grabbing his shoulders and pressing my lips to his. Footsteps pound against the ground, getting closer to us.

“Time to die fa**ot.” A scratchy female voice pulls us away from each other. I recognize her. Is that. . . “Mom?” Ian cries. Tear run down his face and I want to kill her. I step forward; I am going to fight her. Until Ian grabs my shoulder. I look toward him, his shakes his head.

“I don’t want to run anymore Adrian.” I choke. I want to pull him away anyway. Grab him and run, sling him over my shoulder if need be. I want to keep him alive, I can’t let him die! But . . . But I can’t. I can’t keep him alive forever. And I know this woman; she doesn’t want to draw it out. She wants it over with.

Blinded by tears I manage to choke out, “I love you Boo,” as I reach him.

“I love you too Tigger.” He whispers against my lips. We kiss, our hands joined at our waists. His mother cocks her gun.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.” I whisper against his lips, and the bullet leaves the barrel.