It was a cold, blustery day. The trees were swaying back and forth in the breeze and nothing but clouds were to be seen in the sky. The atmosphere was bleak and depressing. Perfect for a hanging.

Since the new regime took charge after the war, public executions were commonplace. Anyone with any connection whatsoever to the old government was rounded up and sentenced to death without trial. The new laws in place allowed for no freedom of speech or political thought and even petty crimes resulted more often than not with a date with the executioner. Today's execution was of three young journalists for the "People's Herald" daily newspaper who were accused of criticising the regime. The three young women were arrested by the brutal armed troopers under the control of Colonel Freeman, the nation's new leader. The journalists were quickly sentenced to hang and were thrown in the county jail awaiting their immanent deaths.

"It's time!" shouted the guard through the door. The girls quickly rose to their feet in shock. " But I thought the hanging was scheduled for next Tuesday!" cried Cassidy, the youngest of the condemned. "Governor's orders"  replied the guard "We have to make room for the mob who were caught protesting outside the train station so we're moving some executions forward." He and the other guards cuffed the girls and led them out of the jail into the van waiting outside. Once inside the van quickly left for the town square where the gallows was set up. "I just can't believe this is happening" said Sarah , clearly on the edge of tears.  Megan, the oldest and strongest of the three comforted her. "At least we won't have to live under the rule of these bastards anymore, no more torture and no more regime." Sarah seemed somewhat calmer hearing this and held back her tears. "Will it be painful?" asked Cassidy. "Best not to think about that now." answered Megan hoping the answer wasn't yes. Megan was 32 and was one of the top journalists at the newspaper. Sarah and Cassidy were her two young interns who were more like little sisters to her. One day while investigating a story about a raid on a local brothel, they stumbled upon information that an important general was a frequent visitor there, unknown of course by his wife of twenty years. The girls published the story and within the next day they were arrested . Megan felt awful for having put the two other girls in danger and blamed herself fully for publishing the story. She even pleaded to have the other Sarah and Cassidy freed and that it was entirely her fault but her pleas were pushed away. Now here they were in a van on a one way trip to the gallows. "We're here!" shouted the driver with glee.

Quite a crowd had showed up to see the girls hang. The gallows were fairly simple, just a wooden beam with three nooses hanging off it with a long bench underneath. The girls were walked through the crowd by the guards, taunts raining down on them. Sarah burst into tears as they approached the gallows. It was really happening. As were led up the stairs they caught their first glimpse of their executioner. Cassidy was showing signs of tears as well but took strength from how well Megan was dealing with all this. Once they were on the scaffold, they were blindfolded had their hands tied behind their backs with a rope instead of the handcuffs they were wearing up until now. They were made to stand on the short bench which would be the last thing their feet would ever touch while alive. While the hangman was fitting the nooses, Megan could be heard whispering "Stay strong girls." under her breath. Once the nooses were fitted, the regime official read out their sentence. " Megan Hughes, Cassidy Jenkins and Sarah Holmes, I hereby find you guilty of slandering the good name of the regime and I have no option but to sentence you to hang by the neck until you are dead. Praise be upon the regime." The official have the hangman a quick nod and the bench was kicked quickly from under the girls feet. Sarah's cries were cut short as the rope throttled her. The girls started to kick in agony. Cassidy's face went red quickly as she struggled against the noose, her shapely body arched as she jerked about helplessly. Sarah's legs went wild and kicked madly, sort of as if riding an invisible bicycle. The crowd went wild at the struggles of the poor girls , cheering as three figures danced in front of them. Megan's struggles were mild at first compared to her counterparts but panic soon set in. She clawed at her hand ropes and she kicked with her long, fantastic legs. The girls had started to slow down a bit. Cassidy was beginning to fade. Her face was turning a darker red, matching her hair and her arms were flailing about behind her back. Sarah's invisible bicycle seemed to have a puncture  and her legs stopped kicking and began merely twitching. Drool started to come out of her mouth as her tongue protruded slightly between her teeth. Soon her twitching stopped as she was the first to go. Cassidy followed shortly after as she lifelessly hung on the end of the rope, a wet patch showing on the crotch of her jail uniforms. Megan twitched a final few times as she thought of the two girls either side of her whose lives she had cut short by her carelessness while reporting. A single tear rolled down her cheek as her twitching stopped.