The bell had just sounded, signaling the end of recess, but before David had a chance to head off to his next class the loudspeaker crackled to life with an announcement. ”Attention all sixth graders. Please assemble in the school gymnasium immediately.” David looked up at the speaker and shrugged. Next class was math, he wasn’t sorry to miss that for whatever this was for. The 12 year old bear boy started to walk towards the gym. Few students were already milling in there when he arrived couple minutes later. He stood off to the side when Tom, an orange tabby cat friend of his came in. Tom spotted him and walked up. ”Hey, Tom! Do you know what this is about?” David asked him. Tom shook his head. ”No idea.” David shrugged his shoulders. They would find out soon enough. Everybody milled about as the gym filled up with their classmates, some 36 in total in the sixth grade. Everyone had splintered into loose groups of few people each with few popular kids having larger entourages around them. Everyone had already been present for about five minutes when finally the principal walked in along with the gym teacher and the janitor. While the principal and gym teacher walked towards the stage at the front of the class the hyena janitor stayed at the back and locked the doors behind him with his keys. The gym teacher stallion went behind the stage curtain while the the principal walked up the stairs to the stage. The large imposing tiger turned to address the class. ”May I have your attention, please.” His voice is loud even without a microphone. ”Thank you all for coming. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. Due to the on-going overpopulation crisis we have been ordered by the Population Bureau to reduce the size of your class by ten percent.” He held a short pause while there were gasps amongst the students. ”And so we will be drawing three names randomly to be [i]downsized[/i].” The gym coach came out from behind the curtain holding a transparent box with scraps of paper inside of it. David stared dumbfounded at the stallion on the stage. His friend Tom looked paniced. Everyone around were in various stages of shock. ”Oh my god… oh my god...” Tom mumbled. He looked at David with fear in his eyes. ”I heard rumours of something like this happening in other schools near here.” David turned to the cat. ”What do you mean? What do they mean downsized?” ”Like, you’ll be downsized by about a foot.” When his friend didn’t catch on, the cat mimed slicing his hand across his neck. He didn’t even want to say it out loud. Suddenly David understood and his eyes went wide. ”L-l-like… exe… execu...executed?” His friend’s frantic nodding was all the answer he needed, and his heart rate shot up as the tiger on stage stopped swirling his hand and pulled a slip of paper from the box. The principal read the first name: ”John Miller.” A bobcat on the other side of the room froze. The tiger pulled out next piece of paper: ”Alicia Williams.” A fox girl nearby shivered. The tiger pulled the last piece of paper. David felt like he was going to have a heart attack as the principal unfurled it. ”Thomas Reed.” David felt both relief and panic at the same time as the principal read his friend’s full name. ”Ohmygodohmygodohmygod” His friend mumbled almost incoherently. David turned to him. ”I–I’m so sorry Tom.” The principal continued. ”Everyone whose names were just read, please come to the stage.” Only the bobcat started gingerly moving. With trepidation in his step he walked over to the stage. The tiger prompted again, his voice stern and cold as ice. ”Alicia and Thomas, please come to the stage now.” ”Y–you have to go, Tom.” His friend had stopped mumbling and was just numb. After a moment he finally took a single step towards the stage. But then he stopped and turned back to face David. ”P-please tell mom, th-th-that you can have my games.” David was speechless. He could only nod. His friend seemed relived, just a little. He nodded back and then forlornly he turned around and started walking towards the stage. After what seemed like an eternity the two boys and Alicia were standing next to the principal. The gym teacher had gone back behind the curtains to put the box away and this time he had returned holding another box. This one opaque and rattling inside. The kids looked on apprehensively. The tiger ordered them, ”Turn around and put your hands behind your back.” Two of the kids were taken aback, while Tom’s shoulders fell as he resigned himself. But obidiently the trio turned around and held their hands behind their backs. The stallion pulled a pair of handcuffs from the box and handed them to the principal. The principal clasped them around the bobcat’s wrists. Then another pair, around the fox girl’s wrists. And final pair around Tom’s wrists. The principal nodded at the coach and the stallion put the box down on the floor. Then he stepped up to the curtains and started pulling them aside. The curtains draped away revealing a chopping block with a large axe resting against it. The whole audience gasped. The fox girl on stage fainted. The coach rushed to check her. He gently slapped her cheeks to try to wake her. The tiger thought for a second and then stepped over to the block. ”Lift her up and bring her here.” ”What?” The stallion looked at him. ”It’ll be easier for her if she’s out of it.” The coach quickly thought it over and nodded. He wrapped his arm around her and lifted her up, carrying her to the block. The tiger picked up the axe and held it out of the way while the coach laid her head on the block and then propped her body. ”Now hold her there.” The tiger lifted the axe and aligned it over her neck. Then he hefted the blade up over his head. The girl had just started to stir when the blade landed on the block with a great thunk. Her head stayed on the block for just a moment and then it rolled down into the basket next to it. Blood spurted from the neck stump and splashed onto the blade and onto the stump, coating it in red. The coach let go of her body and it slumped down on the floor, staining the front of the stump with her blood as well. Everyone in the gymnasium stared transfixed at the macabre spectacle happing in front of them. A thunk and just like that their classmate was dead. The coach pulled the girl’s corpse away from the stump by her feet. Then he bent over and picked her head from the basket. Her features were slack, her neck was stained with blood. You could see the crossection of muscle and sinew and spine across the cut in her neck. The stallion then laid the head down, carefully, next to her body. John and Tom also looked on… only barely cognizant that they were next. Until the tiger turned to face them. ”John, your turn.” David watched intently the bobcat’s turn on the stage. The bobcat took a step, and another… David’s heart started racing. He imagined what the bobcat must be feeling. The dread, the knowledge that your life was about to end… The bobcat stood next to the block. Then knelt down. His grey fur stained with red as he laid his neck against the block. David felt a tingle in his pants. His pants started to bulge a little as his prick stiffened. He watched the tiger lift the axe again, and carefully align it over the bobcat’s neck. David could almost feel the blade touching the back of his neck. Then the tiger hefted it up over his head again. David held his breath. A loud thunk echoed in the hall as the blade landed on the stump and David’s cock pulsed with excitement. The bobcat’s head rolled into the basket, his body slumped. More red stained the block. The bobcat’s body lay still on the ground, just like the fox girl’s had. David let his breath out. The coach pulled the bobcat’s body away and placed his head again on the floor next to it. David’s heart started racing again. His friend was next. Tom… ”Thomas, you’re up.” David looked at the cat. His friend was staring at the stump, his eyes wide, not moving. ”Thomas!” The tiger raised his voice, snapping the boy out of it. ”Kneel on the block.” The cat looked at the tiger with trepidation, but, slowly, he stepped over to the block. David watched the events unfold, watched his friend slowly kneeling down so his life could be ended. His cock throbbed. He felt the need in his loins. David glanced around, no one was looking at him. Carefully he placed his hand down against his crotch over his pants, just as the cat placed his head on the block. David rubbed himself discreetly. He couldn’t even imagine what his friend must be feeling. He didn’t want this… and yet… rubbing his cock through his pants felt so good. It hadn’t been long since he had learned how to stroke himself off, but this… this felt even better. He felt a twinge of guilt as his cock throbbed when the tiger laid the axe over his friend’s neck. He shivered at the electrifying touch as the tiger hefted the axe up. He didn’t want his friend to die… and yet… David’s heart jumped into his throat when the blade landed and he [i]felt[/i] it hit the back of [i]his[/i] neck. Then he stumbled forward as the janitor grabbed his collar from behind. He made an audible shreak and suddenly everyone was looking at him. ”Come on you little fucker.” The hyena forcibly pushed him to walk. He pushed and dragged David towards the stage at the front. He tried to struggle, but it was no use. The hyena dragged him up the stairs to the principal. David saw his friend’s corpse, his friend’s blood on the stump, his friend’s head in the basket as he was marched by them. The tiger looked at him and the janitor furiously. ”What is the meaning of this?” The hyena lifted David’s collar and forced him on his toes. ”I caught this fucker jacking off at the back.” The tiger glared at him and David felt like he was shrinking. All the way to the size of an atom as the tiger loomed over him. ”Is that so?” ”I… I… I...” David could only stammer. ”HAVE YOU NO SHAME?” The tiger bellowed. ”This is a solemn and regrettable event, not your fucking private snuff peep show!” ”I...” David shied away from the tiger and stared at the floor. ”I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again.” ”You’re damned right it won’t!” The tiger roared furiously. ”Kneel on the block!” David felt like he just had a heart attack. ”W...what?” ”I said: KNEEL. ON. THE. BLOCK.” The tiger grabbed him and turned him towards the block and gave him a push. David looked at the tiger in panic. ”Please, no! I don’t want to die!” ”Tough. They didn’t want to either.” The tiger wrenched David’s hands behind his back, holding his wrists with one hand. He extended his other hand towards the coach, who handed him another pair of handcuffs. With a click they ratcheted around David’s wrists. The tiger shoved him over to the stallion. ”Hold him down.” The stallion forced the bear boy down on his knees in front of the block. It was wet, glistening. David felt the stickiness on his shaggy fur as the coach forced him down against the block. His friend’s blood soaked into his fur. The principal lifted the axe. David’s heart raced a million beats per second. He didn’t want to die… He felt the edge kiss the back of his neck as the tiger lined the strike. He didn’t want to die… and yet… His cock throbbed, harder than it had ever been. He needed to touch it so badly. Just one more time… Please… just one more ti A thunk resonated all around him. In an instant he felt nothing of his body. Time seemed like it had stopped. Then the world around him tumbled. The basket rushed up to his head, and he landed with a thud against his friend’s head. For a second he felt nothing. Then every nerve in his neck stung at the same time. Shrieking white hot pain across his neck. But mercifully it didn’t last long and the world tumbled a second time as his eyes rolled up in his head. And there was only nothing.