*Rain at Dawn

Intro: This is the third, and final story in my political trilogy. I hope you like it. This is an idea that I may expand in the future when/if I ever have any extra time.

Coughs wracked Georgia's body. She stiffed the noise by pressing the blanket over her mouth. The living death had been killing her for five years. No one knew. During the day she drugged herself and remained seated as much as possible so she wouldn't risk collapsing because her stick thin legs couldn't bear her weight for extended periods of time. At night she sent everyone away, claiming they kept her awake. There was a monitor in her room that was to alert her guards if something was wrong but she stuffed it under a decorative pillow in a drawer so they wouldn't hear how each breath brought her closer to death.

"You're late. You always were a step behind me. I thought it was only you showing respect." Another cough tore threw her and this time she had to dab the blood away from her mouth with a rag she had on hand. The blood settled it. She would die. The drugs wouldn't help anymore because if they got directly into her bloodstream through the tear in her esophagus it would kill her. Her successor had been trained for the past ten years, but no one realized that she had trained the man who would take her place twenty years earlier.

Joseph, once her head of security, was now the leader of the rebellion group Shadowalkers. For the past twenty years she had played a dangerous game baiting him just enough to keep them fighting but protecting her people from feeling the repercussions of two waring political factions. She brought organization to chaos. The anarchy was only defeated by bringing a dictatorship. After forty years she was tired and wanted to die.

The sound of rain pattered against her window. Rain always reminded her of the night she plotted her own destruction. She pushed herself up and staggered to the window. The glass was cool against her forehead and she stared out at the dark night. The lights from the city looked like stars.

"I can't hold on any longer. Joseph, don't fail me." For five years she'd waited. Tomorrow was the celebration of her One hundred and seventh birthday. Only a handful of people had lived longer. The door opened with a click. She straightened and turn but the reprimand died on her lips.

A figure dressed in black stood in the door. "Madam president."

"You're late." Georgia's legs buckled and she lay on the floor. "Save them. Do what I could not."

"I'm here to kill you." Joseph's voice was hard.

Georgia worried she'd pushed him too hard.

"Why? Why couldn't you be the leader we needed? You taught me everything I needed to know about governments. You taught me about democracy. You taught me about the republics." He moved forward and picked her up. He placed her in the bed and sat at the foot.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Georgia coughed, more blood coming up.

"I'll save them. No anarchy, no dictatorship. Freedom of choice."

Georgia closed her eyes as Joseph leaned forward and kissed her forehead.