Martyr

I give to you a story in eleventy-one words...

‘George, they’re coming.’

‘Let them come.’

‘You damn fool. They’ll kill you this time.’

‘What do I care?’

‘Others care!’

‘I’m a better martyr than a man.’

His words paralyzed her.

He smiled at her with his crooked yellow teeth. ‘It’s time for someone else to prove his mettle.’

‘And if there’s no one who does?’

‘Then we all deserve to die, the whole lot of us. ‘

‘Are you really not going to leave?’

‘No. I’m not.’

‘But you know they won’t let you be a martyr.’

‘Do you believe their rumors?’

‘Of course not.’

‘What if they’re true?’

‘What?’

A knock came at the door.

‘They’re here,’ George said.