One Year Short Story

ONE YEAR LATER
The day that changed my whole life started out peacefully. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the river was murmuring endlessly. A perfect, normal, usual day on Planet 21.
I gripped the smooth bow in my hands tightly, and pulled the arrow as far as I could. It was a perfect shot. The Beast I was stalking was peacefully nibbling grass, unaware that it was being hunted. It was a small Beast, but I had to kill it. Back at the Capitol, we were taught that humans were superior compared to Beasts. In the Twilight Days, before the Emperor came to power, Beasts frequently preyed upon people. Since then, we were taught to kill Beasts on sight. The

The arrow narrowly missed my chest. I picked up a sharp rock and threw it at him. It hit his forehead, leaving a deep gash. I was sick of being bossed around. He tackled me, grabbing me by my hair. I bit his arm and he yowled.
“You crazy little---”
SPLASH. I shoved A12 into the lake as hard as I could. I watched as he flailed, trying not to succumb to the deep icy water. His head went under, and he disappeared into the deep darkness.
All that remained of him was his dumb raccoon hat floating in the middle of the lake.
I actually enjoyed watching him die. It felt good. But amid all the satisfaction was a hint of guilt. I had killed someone, a living person. He deserved it, I told myself. I collected his bow and arrow and started making my way down a crooked path to the dark woods. Suddenly, I bumped into a tree. Or at least I thought it was a tree. It was a boy, A14, and he was scowling at me. One of the Conquerors. I gawked at him, hoping that he hadn’t seen me kill his leader.
“I found her!”
I decided that running away would be a good idea.

The Conquerors pursued me all the way to my part of the woods. I spotted a small