"Please, let me go, I've got lots of money, you can have it, please," he pleaded. "Shut up!" commanded Sue," or I'll hit you with this hammer" George Hedge looked up at the fierce face looking at him a foot away and closed his mouth. The Rapture by Heulwen

A small group of people stood, in the intense midday sun, around the large wooden cross that lay on the ground.

It was a very disparate mixture, some were in women's attire while others wore male clothes. No-one had an item of clothing that wasn't ripped in some way or another. Most appeared to have a more or less female body shape.

Lying on the cross, obviously in a semi conscious state, was a middle aged man, naked except for a threadbare towel around his groin.

"Pass the nails then Phylis," said a tall masculine looking woman.

"What size Sue? Six or seven?" asked Phylis in a deep male sounding voice.

"Size seven I think," replied Sue," I think this one deserves the best"

"Yes, I agree, the last of the Hedge's should enjoy the experience to the utmost. All the things that they have done for us over the decades," remarked Phylis, ironically.

Phylis took four foot long pieces of steel from her metal box and handed them to Sue who put them down on the tarmac before selecting one and placing it on the palm of the hand of George Hedge the fourth.

"Jennifer will you read the sentence before I start?" Sue asked a small, woman standing next to her.

"Yes, I have it here," Jennifer replied," he's lucky it's an individual proclamation, rather than the generic one we have been using for the last week"

She took out her palm phone and brought up the official declaration on the screen.

"George Walmart Hedge the fourth..." she began, speaking with a very officious tone.

"Wait Jennifer," interrupted Sue," he's still unconscious, he won't hear it"

"Why don't you give that nail a little tap," suggested Phylis.

Sue took the claw hammer and used it to give the nail, pressing against the prisoner's hand, a hard blow. There was a scream of pain and the crunch of snapping bone, as the piece of metal penetrated George Hedge's hand and went a little way into the four inch thick oak cross.

The condemned man opened his eyes and looked up at the execution party.

"Please, let me go, I've got lots of money, you can have it, please," he pleaded.

"Shut up!" commanded Sue," or I'll hit you with this hammer"

George Hedge looked up at the fierce face looking at him a foot away and closed his mouth. His lips began to tremble with his fear and a yellow stain slowly spread on the towel.

Jennifer coughed to clear her throat and resumed reading the sentence.

"George Walmart Hedge the fourth, by order of the joint Presidents of the United States of America, you have been sentenced to death by crucifixion, here in Austin. This punishment is deemed to be an appropriate one for your acts of treason, in leading the Texas Evangelical army in an attempt to overthrow the lawfully elected government and for your instigating the mass murder of thousands of LGBT people in your renegade state, signed on the first of May, two thousand and twenty by Janet and Elizabeth John James, joint Presidents," she read before pausing to look down at the hapless prisoner.

"Do you have anything to say before we raise your cross?"

"I want my mummy, I want my mummy," the convicted mass murderer whined.

"How pathetic!" sneered Phylis," Sue get on with it"

Quickly and efficiently Sue and Phylis hammered in the rest of the nails, ignoring Hedge's screams. Then the rest of the group helped them to raise the twelve foot high cross and slot it into the hole excavated out of the sidewalk.

Half an hour after reading the sentence Sue, Phylis, Jennifer and the rest of the group drank their refreshments as they stood back and looked at the line of twenty crosses, holding the leaders of the rebellion, on either side of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

"I'm glad that's over, my love," said Phylis as she put her arms around Sue and hugged her.

"Yes, my sweet," responded Sue as she kissed her partner gently and felt something, inside her trousers, beginning to harden in response to the erotic touch of her breasts against those of Phylis.

"There is one thing though, I think we’ve helped them a bit" said Phylis, glancing at the scene of execution.

"How come?" asked Sue.

“Well they’re all a bit nearer to heaven when the rapture comes,” she replied, laughing.

The End