The Final Strawman

Year 72: Her death came suddenly, unexpectedly. He was standing next to her when she was shot. She saw the bullet flying at her and accepted its path, accepted her fate. She interrupted his intuitive thought to cover her before his body could enact it. A moment later, she was seeping blood and brains on the steps of the plaza. The shock was superseded by his immediate vengeance and mere heartbeats later he found out it was their own daughter who'd pulled the trigger. Public sentiment towards him wavered between pity for a widower and malice for his action. None of that seemed to affect him. He walked the streets of the capitol speaking to no one. The voice of his mother laughing as comprehension dawned was all he could hear. “Son, you do not deserve love. Look at what your love has done to any who received it.”