She kissed me again. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end again. I looked into her eyes and said, “Okay, I’ll do my best”. And with that, I had lied to her again. I knew it as I was saying the words and I proved it roughly four and half hours later when Fred’s screams pulled me from my warm bed and my naked girlfriend to see what was going on.
Then when she questioned me about lying again, I went off and said that maybe we should just call it quits. No wonder she told Jane what she did. Was she being unreasonable? No more than I was. Now I had to figure out what I was going to say to her when we got back. Was I going to try to talk her into staying in a relationship that we both knew had no future or was I going to just let it end?
NOW
DAY 124 OF THE INFECTION
ONE
We merged to our left and entered Wal-Mart’s parking lot angling towards the alcove in the building where our lift was. It seemed as if everyone was out to greet us on our return home. As we reached where the lift should have been we found that it was not on ground level. This struck me as odd; after all they did watch us walk all the way across the parking lot, why hadn’t they lowered the lift for us?
I looked up into the faces staring back at me. “Hey guys, do you think you could lower the bridge. We’d kind of like to catch up on some sleep.”
“I’m sorry, but by our own laws we are not permitted to allow you access to our community anymore.” It was Jericho who had spoke. Why was I not surprised?
“Jericho, seriously, I am in no mood for you. Let us up. Now.” I said.
“As I said, I am sorry, but by our own laws, that is impossible.” He said.
“What are you talking about?” Amanda asked, and I watched as Jericho pulled out the notebook which housed the communities vote record and laws.
“As you know, our community has five very firm laws. The first of which is that no one is to leave the roof without council approval and planning. Each one of you broke that law yesterday morning when, on your own accord, you left the building sometime between three and four in the morning.”
“You’re seriously going to do this?” I asked.
“Nobody is above the law Charlie.” Jericho said. “Our second law is that a person is never to leave their group when on the ground. I watched you order members of your group to return to the roof and I am sure that you didn’t stay together when you made it to this hospital where our captive tells us he’s from, did you?”
Looking at Jericho I could feel my skin heating up.
“I take your silence as an admission of guilt. Our third law is that all major decisions must have a majority vote from the council for the action to take place.”
“We are the council.” I said. “You can’t nail us with that one.”
“Did you vote to leave the building?” Jericho asked.
“No, but we voted on whether to go after the kidnappers. The vote was carried unanimously.” I said.
“Really?” Jericho asked as he thumbed through the last few pages of the book. “You can imagine my confusion because I am looking at the voting record and I see nothing about any vote taking place yesterday.”
“That would be because we were trying to save a little girl so we didn’t stop to make a record of our vote.” I answered.
“I am sorry, but with no record of a vote I can’t take your word that a vote took place. That is why we keep a record. Accountability is very important to keeping order in any society.”
Amanda’s hand slid to her gun but I motioned for her to stop.
“I can drop him from here.” She said quietly.
“That won’t help matters at all.” I said.
“I’m sorry. Did Amanda have something that she wanted to add to the conversation?” Jericho asked.
“Yes, but it’s best to leave it unsaid.”
“Fine. That brings us to rule number four. Never leave the roof at night for any reason. There is no denying that you broke this rule.”
“Jericho we were trying to save a little girls life. We were attempting to catch a group of kidnappers. You can’t hold us to the laws under the circumstances we were under. Come on guys, I would expect something like this from Jericho, but not from the rest of you. You all know what was going on when we left. A little girls life was at stake. Would you have waited till sunrise?”
I could see some doubts creeping into people eyes but, Jericho pushed forward.
“I’m sorry, I don’t see any provisions in the rules for the rule becoming meaningless if it is a life or death situation. Maybe I’m not looking in the right place. Charlie, where would I find that provision written down?”
“It’s not written down, it’s common sense.” I said.
“Common sense when the council does it, but it would be an enforceable issue if somebody else was to try to use that story. Here on the roof there are two types of people. Council members and the normal guys. The council members think they can do anything they want and get away with it. I am telling you no. That is not how things work anymore. You will abide by the same laws as the rest of us. It clearly states no leaving for any reason. You left.”
“You’re insane.” Sass said. Jericho ignored him.
“That brings us to law number five. A topic that was still being debated this time last week, so you have no way of saying you forgot about this one.” I hadn’t said I had forgotten any of them. This was Jericho already twisting people’s observations of what was happening in front of them. Later he would have me saying that I forgot about one of the laws. He would then ask how well I could have been doing my job if I couldn’t even remember the laws I had passed.
“Rule five is that we are to never go into a hospital. Did your group go into a hospital Charlie? We know that is where their base is. The man Jane shot yesterday told us that much. Did you take our people into that hospital?”
“Not all of them.” I said, and Jericho beamed at me.
“By your words, you admit that you did leave the group again once you were at the medical center. I had suspected as much. No respect at all for the laws of our people.”
“Jericho, listen to me very carefully, if you do not end this farce now I will end you.” Amanda said. Jericho’s smile widened.
“Everyone see? When they are made to be held accountable to their own laws, all they can do is threaten us with physical harm. This is not the leadership the people here want or need.”
“Everybody, listen to me. Jericho is an idiot. If you throw in with him, he will run this place into the ground, just like he did the last place he was in charge of. If not for Sass and myself saving them after his building had been overrun, they would have all died.”
“You were just a tool of salvation being wielded by a much greater hand.” Jericho said.
“Listen to this man you are throwing in with. When he screws up and somebody you love gets killed or infected, all he is going to tell you is that if they had been a righteous person then god would have protected them. This is not who you want as your leader. I am sorry we had to break the rules, but I am thinking that the life of a child has to out rank these laws we have voted in.”
“And tell me Charlie, where is Samantha? I don’t see her or several of our friends.” Jericho said.
There is a settlement half way down State of Franklin road. After we saved Samantha and her mother from the med center, they helped us defeat the bad guys behind the whole affair. Fred and his family opted to stay with this new group. Marky Mark stayed there as well because his sister was already there.”
“You saved them and still they refused to come back to live under your thumb?” Jericho asked.
“That’s not it at all Jericho. Quit putting words in my mouth.”
“I would never do such a thing…my king. But perhaps you can explain why you had to save the child’s mother when she was the one behind the kidnapping. Remember we have a man here who has told us everything.”
“Tabitha was not Sam’s mother. She was
just acting like it to try to lure us into a fight with her group, so they could kill us and take our supplies. Tabitha was holding Samantha’s real mother hostage to force her and Fred into working with her.”
Jericho was nodding his head. He looked around at the others standing beside him.
“Wow.” He said. “That’s all I can think to say, wow. You really expect us to believe that?”
“It’s the truth Jericho.” Sass said.
“Really? Sounds very movie of the weekish to me.” Two of Jericho’s hardcore followers laughed at that.
Jericho made a show of looking around to all of the survivors on the roof as he said what came next.
“Do you have an easier time believing what Charlie just said or my assertion that he behaved recklessly, as he usually does, and he got the others killed. He then grabbed his friends and made it back home before any of them could be injured. He killed those people! Charlie Collins killed that little girl, her father, and the yankee.”
People were actually agreeing with him. I could see some heads nodding and could hear some people saying “yes”, “he did it”. I couldn’t believe what was happening.
“Where is Jack?” I asked.
“Ah, the last council member. He disappeared some time yesterday. In his absence we had no council members in case an emergency arose, so we voted in an interim council to handle the duties until the real council members returned. However once at our post we took a look at the laws and realized that your group of council members had broken them all. Every single one. It was like you were trying to get yourself in trouble.” Jericho looked behind him and nodded his head. Shawn walked up pushing a cart that had four duffle bags on it. He placed each bag on the lift and once he was done he stepped back, giving Jericho the floor again. Shawn looked down to me and tried to pass a message to me through just eye contact, but I had no clue what it may have been, at least not then.
“Charlie Collins. Amanda Asare. John Caldwell. James Bradshaw. You four have been charged with five counts of breaking the unbreakable laws of our community. It was assumed you would plea not guilty when the council met to discuss your case. The interim council has found you guilty and has sentenced you to exile. You may never again set foot in, or be a part of, our community. You must leave this land and never return. May god watch over you as you search for solace elsewhere.”
Jericho pressed the button and the lift descended to the parking lot. As the others took their bags I looked up at the man who had played out this coo so successfully.
“This isn’t over Jericho. I will be seeing you…soon.” I said through gritted teeth.
“No, I don’t think you will, Mister Collins.” Jericho said. Veronica had been missing for the whole affair, but now she made an appearance. She walked up and slid an arm around Jericho’s waist. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek saying loud enough for me to hear. “Come back home honey. That tent is so big and lonely when you’re gone.”
I know it had been done to try and twist the blade deeper into me. Taking my home and position from me wasn’t enough. They wanted to hurt me every way they thought they could. However, this didn’t hurt me at all. It was so transparent that it was sad. I felt the desire to laugh building in my chest and didn’t try to stop it. When the laugh came out it belted across the parking lot and building. Jericho and Veronica both went wide eyed for just a spit second as I laughed so hard I was having to wipe tears from my eyes. I picked up my bag and set it on my shoulder.
“If this is how you all want it then, by all means, you can have it. Just keep one thing in mind, especially in this new world, you get what you paid for. That man you just bought as your new leader is damaged goods, and every one of you know it.” I turned and started walking out of the parking lot. I smacked my hip twice to signal Big Lou that I wanted him with me. He fell into stride beside me and the others fell in behind me. We turned left out of the parking lot and headed up Browns Mill Road. We cut back across the field that led to the interstate and passed through the fence where Amanda had cut it on our first night in Johnson City. We crossed the interstate and headed for Sams club, our site B. Our back up plan had been ready for a long time and it was just as well stocked at Wal-Mart had been. It was as good a place as any to regroup, get some sleep, and figure out what we were to do next.
As we made our way into the parking lot Jane said, “This time let’s not take in any strays.” I believe it well worth mentioning that Sass didn’t say a word to disagree with him.
TWO
Once on the roof I found the note in my bag. It was from Shawn. It was short, but it shed some light on a few questions I had. I read it to my other exiles.
“Charlie. I don’t know what’s going on up here. Everybody seems to have lost their mind today. You all left, and Jericho went nuclear. Jack told him to shut up or find himself a new home. I’m giving you the nice version of what Jack said.” Of that I had no doubt. I am very sure whatever Jack said included the words “head” and “ass” quite a few times.
“Then sometime between twelve and one Jack disappeared. Nobody saw him leave and nobody knows where he went. Jericho went off on another tangent about the council members doing whatever they want whenever they want. Jack disappearing hurt you guys bad. I don’t think Jericho did anything to him, but if he were to ever make a move like that, today would have been the day. By the time the sun set and none of you were back Jericho put on the full court press for electing an interim council to handle the day to day affairs while the actual council was away. That was the last piece he needed. Once everybody relented and voted him and his friends in as the interim council you all were exiled before the end of the hour. I packed your bags last night while everyone else slept. I hope I got everybody’s stuff. I am still loyal to the council. So is Bill North and a few others, but we dare not say anything or they will find a reason to exile us as well. Where ever you end up just know that I am sorry for not standing up for you. I just can’t go back down there again. I can’t shake the feeling that if I do, I will die. Love you all. Shawn.”
“The kid did a knockout job packing my stuff. All my weapons and ammo are here.” Jane said.
“Mine as well. He really did take care of us.” Amanda said.
“We need to get him a message. See if we can get him and the others still loyal to us off that roof and over here.” I said.
“North will never leave his family.” Jane said.
“That’s true.” I said.
“Why is nobody asking the important question here? What do we do now? How do we take back our home?” Sass said.
“Isn’t this our home now?” I asked.
“He will get them killed. Even if it isn’t by infection, he will mismanage his supplies. They will have to leave the roof because they will run out of food and water. Once that happens they are as good as gone. We are the only thing that can save them.” Jane said.
“I don’t argue that point.” Said Amanda. “But ask yourself, should we bother? They threw us out. They chose him over us. Is it even our business what happens to them now?”
“Amanda does have a point.” I said. “They wanted him. Out with the old, in with the new. Isn’t our responsibility now to take care of ourselves?”
“You could just walk away and leave them all in danger?” Sass asked.
“It’s a danger they happily put themselves in. Is it worth risking our lives to save the lives of people who are no longer our responsibility?” I asked.
“No. It’s not.” Jane said. “But some of those people are friends. Can you turn your back on them?”
We all looked at each other. None of us had the answers. None of us spoke.
“This is not a question we have to answer today.” I said. “We are all mad and tired and that isn’t going to help us keep objective about this issue. What do you say we get some sleep, get something to eat, and talk about this tomorrow? I don’t think Jericho could kill them all in just one day.”
“You have a point Charlie.” Sass said as he let out a huge yawn.
“I know Amanda and I didn’t sleep last night. Did you or Jane get any rest?”
“No.” Sass and Jane said at the same time.
“Amanda if you will walk the perimeter with me I’ll take the first watch.”
“Not going to fight you for it.” Jane said as he and Sass went to get the interior lift working. At site B there were no tents on the roof. We didn’t want anyone knowing we were here. We had staged all of the provisions inside the store and pushed all the shelves together making a place to build our tents that was still above the ground but was also inside out of the weather. We could have set up on the floor and been safe. We had the luxury of being able to take our time when preparing Sam’s club. We had marked off every point of entry or glass structure and had built a cinderblock wall on both the inside and outside of these areas. The good thing about where Sam’s Club set was, unless you were looking for it, you would never notice the walls we had built. We had also parked a semi truck in front of the wall we had built at the entrance. The only way into Site B was through the roof. And the only way onto the roof was by using a modified version of Jack’s lift. We were safer here than we had been at Wal-Mart. I kept telling myself that as I tried to deal with the sting of getting kicked out of my own home. The home I had helped build.
“It all looks secure to me.” Amanda said as we headed back towards the lift. “Are you sure you are good to take first watch?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t sleep anyway you know.”
“Yes, I do know. We cannot ignore that problem any longer. We need to find a way for you to rest. The strain not sleeping puts on your body could easily account for your panic attack, your poor judgment calls and unfocused behavior early on in our rescue mission.”
I knew she was right.
“It can also lead to hallucinations.” She said. She had stopped walking and had turned to face me. “Hallucinations like whatever it was that you saw in that store. You do realize that if it wasn't for Jane, you would have walked right into that store and into the arms of the dead.”
A Good Distance From Dying (Book 2): Samantha's Song Page 35