by Joshua Gayou
The rest of the guys in the truck laughed along with me at the mental image; your average, working class Marine too amused by a horrible situation to have even the slightest concern over any possible repercussions that might have awaited him on landing, finger extended and screaming in glee.
“So did he get in trouble?” Wang asked.
“No,” I sighed, finally coming back under control. “I think the Doc must have realized how much of a douche he would have looked like if he’d followed through on his threat. I think he also knew that me and the guys would have spread the story far and wide in retaliation, too. We all liked that Crew Chief; he was a good guy.”
“So you kept it under wraps, then,” Davidson said.
“Oh, hell no, fuck that guy,” I said. “We told everyone who’d listen. It was too good to keep to ourselves.”
“Oh, geez…” Wang laughed. “Nice.”
“What?” I asked in my most aggrieved voice.
“Hey,” Greg interrupted. “Do you guys see that up there? On the side of the road?”
“Huh?” I grunted and focused my attention ahead. Maybe a half mile ahead was a person on the side of the road standing in front of the hulk of a burned out wreck. Whoever it was, he (or she) was waving frantically.
“What do you think that’s about?” asked Wang.
Biting my lip, I said nothing in response. I gazed far out into the distance, willing my old eyes to take in any kind of detail around the wreckage. There appeared to be some sort of debris around the person, knee high and nondescript; maybe boxes or bags.
“Looks pretty worked up,” Davidson said quietly from behind me.
I tore my eyes off the person in the distance and looked around in all directions, seeing only desert stretching on for miles with rolling hills in the distance behind us. There were no buildings for as far as I could see and the road was mostly clear, but for that one blemish ahead of us.
“What the hell?” I whispered.
It was a woman, jumping in place and flailing her hand around. She was dressed in clothes falling nearly to tatters; her other hand was clutched to her chest, holding a bundle. With her free hand, she reached down to the bundle at her chest, struggled with it a moment, and finally pulled a tiny, pink fist into view. She continued to jump and scream as she did so, then dropped the little hand back into the bundle and resumed waving her hand high in the air.
“Holy shit,” Wang whined. “Are we stopping for her? We’re gonna stop for her, right?”
I don’t care if it’s a woman screaming for help or anything else. You keep driving. Got me?
Amanda’s voice had come uninvited to my mind and I shook my head violently to knock it away. My hands clenched on the wheel as I tried to decide what the fuck I was going to do. A woman screaming for help, I thought. How the Christ had Amanda known to say that? Intuition? Goddamned Spider Sense?
“Gibs?” Wang prodded.
“Hey, Gibs, we need to stop, okay?” Greg insisted from the back.
The woman walked out into the road as we approached, screaming and waving like we were her last hope.
I thought of the people back home waiting for us; depending on us for their survival. Don’t stop driving. Work in shifts. Get back, no matter what. Keep…Driving!
“Gibs!” Wang cried.
“No,” I said calmly, and pulled the wheel to the right to veer around her.
The others shouted out in anger and dismay, slapping the dashboard, wanting to know what in the hell was wrong with me. I looked out the side view mirror (as the armor plating we’d installed over the back window rendered the rear view mirror totally useless) and said, “Shut up! What the fuck’s she doing back there?”
Everyone leaned forward and peered into the side view mirrors now. In the distance behind us, we saw the miniature image of the woman throw the bundle in her arms to the pavement, which bounced unnaturally and rolled away.
“No shit?” asked Greg. “It was a doll-“
From her waistband, she extracted what appeared to be a pistol, but instead of pointing it at us she elevated the barrel high into the air and pulled the trigger. A flare launched high up into the sky and exploded into a small, bright red flame that began to descend slowly back to the ground.
“What the fuck?” muttered Wang.
I knew what was coming next, of course. I put the gas down and started pulling on my vest and helmet with one hand even as the others squawked at my blatant disregard for fuel economy.
“Yo, Gibs, what’s the deal, man?” Davidson asked, sounding panicked.
Instead of answering him, I returned to scanning the horizon. There were no hills or mountains out ahead of us or to the side, but there were plenty behind, stretching forwards toward us from the rear as we drove. Looking in the side mirror, I saw a large dust cloud begin to emerge from behind a low stretch of foothills. My gut clenched involuntarily as I hissed, “Fu-uck…”
“What is that?” Wang asked in a flat voice.
Before I had the chance to answer, a black line of vehicles of all shapes and sizes spilled out from behind the hills, kicking up an ungodly dust cloud as they came. I couldn’t count their number at that distance but I could see several cars, trucks, and motorcycles coming from behind that hill; and they just kept coming, stretching out in a long, mechanized serpent. The tip of the convoy reached the 15 before the tail had come out from behind the hillside.
The mass of vehicles turned north up the highway to pursue us.
28 – The Trial
Amanda
Jake emerged from the cabin with Maria in tow some time later. All the rest of us loitered around outside, sitting around on the porch or leaning on the rails, silently. A few of us sat around Oscar, just trying to keep him sane by means of being physically close.
They came through the front door without comment, Maria hiding just a little bit behind Jake’s leg. From his seated position on the front steps, Oscar had to look back over his shoulder to see them. He whimpered, “Maria? Baby?”
Jake leaned down to speak quietly into her ear, hand rested feather-light on her shoulder. She nodded and threw her arms around his waist in a fierce hug, which he slowly returned after appearing to recover from some amount of shock. She released him and ran into her father’s arms.
“Take her home, Oscar,” said Jake in a hollow, far away voice.
“What abou-“
“Let me worry about it for now,” Jake interrupted. “No decision will be made without you but, for right now, she needs you more than you need this.”
Holding onto his daughter, running his hands through her hair and kneading her back anxiously, Oscar swallowed hard before nodding silently. Tears had begun to roll down his cheeks unchecked. He looked down and said, “Come on, Mija. Let’s go,” before gently leading her away.
None of the rest of us said anything at all. The others watched them as they departed towards the container home; all of them watched except me. I watched Jake. He also kept his eyes on Oscar’s retreating back, waiting patiently immobile, until father and daughter disappeared around the corner of the building. As Oscar got further away, the worried concern melted slowly from Jake’s face to be replaced by…nothing at all. Not anger nor rage, disgust, dismay, or sadness. There was only the void; the Jake Persona I first met all those months ago in Utah, when he’d handed me a knife and told me he’d understand. It had been a while since he wore this face. Knowing what it meant, I wondered if our community would survive what would likely follow.
Without removing his eyes from Oscar’s little home, Jake said, “Bring me Jeff.”
Jake sat across from Jeff in the library of the cabin, both of them occupying the low-backed armchairs in the center of the floor. To Jake’s left was the large executive desk and, to his right, the leather couch on which I sat to serve as a witness to the discussion at Jake’s request. Jeff had his back to the door, which was closed. He held a wet washcloth against his swollen eye to soothe the pain.
Jeff shook his head, unwilling to look up to meet Jake’s gaze. Instead of accepting the lack of an answer, Jake snapped his fingers and pointed. “Tylenol at least!” He jumped up from his chair, calling out to us as he exited, “Just a moment, please. I know I have a bottle in the medicine cabinet…” The rapid creak-bang of a wall cabinet reached us from the hallway shortly before Jake bustled back into the room. Sitting back down in his chair, he opened the little container and shook a couple of capsules into his hand. He then glanced up at Jeff, who only looked on suspiciously with darting eyes; Jake shrugged and shook out two more pills. He put the bottle aside and reached out across the floor to offer the Tylenol to Jeff.
Jeff reached out timidly but pulled his hand back, now finally looking up to meet Jake’s eyes. Jake extended his hand further still and said, “Please. You must be in a lot of pain.”
The change that came over Jeff was sudden and would have been heartbreaking if not for the situation. His shoulders sagged as he reached out to take the offered medicine, all tension releasing from his body. Here, at least, was a friend, he must have thought.
Jake twisted in his chair to reach behind himself to a table that held an assortment of bottled waters. Grabbing one, he turned back and held it out to the other man.
“Here,” he said softly.
“Thank you,” Jeff murmured through a swollen lip, and used it to swallow his pills. He cringed silently as the rim of the bottle touched his mouth.
Jake waited patiently for Jeff to get the pills down, sitting in his chair with his legs crossed and hands folded over his knees as if he were conducting an interview, before continuing.
“Okay?” Jake asked. Jeff heaved a deep sigh and nodded. Jake continued: “This is such a horrible situation. I don’t even know what to say. I’m hoping you’ll be patient with me in providing your side of the story. I really want to put all of this behind us as quickly as possible but we have to make sure we proceed carefully. There can be no doubts once this is all settled, wouldn’t you agree?”
Jeff nodded, appearing more at ease in his situation the longer Jake talked.
“Excellent,” Jake said while leaning back and smiling. “Now, if you please…”
Jeff raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”
Spreading his hands, Jake said, “Please share your side of the story, Jeff.”
“Oh, right.” He shifted in his chair and took another painful sip of water. “Honestly, there isn’t all that much to say. Maria and I had become close friends over the last few weeks and she had begun to confide in me over the loss of her mother…I don’t think you know the details behind that, do you?”
“I don’t,” agreed Jake, “but let’s not discuss that now, if she told you in confidence. I’m content with this part of your explanation. Please go on.” He leaned his elbow on the armrest and cupped his chin, expression intent. His eyes were understanding and kind.
“Okay, that probably is best,” Jeff continued. “Well…I mean…that’s really all there is. She had some stuff she needed to get off her chest and I happened to be there for her.”
Jake nodded. His eyes flickered to me for an instant, so fast I don’t even think Jeff noticed. “Why do you think Rose would have told her mother that you were behaving inappropriately with Maria, Jeff?”
Jeff spread his arms wide and shook his head, face animated, and said, “I have no frigging idea, Jake. Honest to God. You’d have to ask her.”
“I may, I may…if it comes to that. I don’t think it will, though, really.”
Jeff laughed softly, showing clear relief. He took another sip from a shaking hand.
“Had you had any problems with Rose in the past?”
Jeff’s head shook side to side.
“Was she having any trouble absorbing the material you were trying to teach her? Did you perhaps chastise her at some point for inattentiveness?”
“Hell no,” Jeff insisted.
“Your relationship with her was fine, then? There was no indication at all that she had any sort of problem with you?”
Jeff dropped his gaze towards the floor as his eyes narrowed, which I’m sure he intended to be a thoughtful expression but only looked sly and calculating to me.
“No, there was never any such indication…but…”
“Yes?”
He looked back up and glanced between us both. “Well, Rose enjoys attention. She’s easier to work with one on one than in groups because she ends up competing less with the other kids for face time. If she thinks she’s being ignored, she’s shown a tendency to act out.”
“I see,” said Jake. “And you suppose this could just be her acting out of a desire to bring attention to herself?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Jeff said, getting into the discussion (he leaned forward in his chair). “But things around here are always so hectic, with all the gathering and stuff. I think it’s fair to say that all the kids may be feeling ignored.”
Jake nodded again, expression thoughtful, and said, “This is a very good point.” He tapped a cheek with his index finger and looked at me. “This is just a lousy situation. The accusation has been levelled and cannot now be retracted. We have to discover some way to get beyond reasonable doubt or this little group of ours will remain fractured.”
I held my breath, not knowing where he was going with this, yet also knowing that there was indeed some hidden plan.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to put everyone at ease, Jake,” said Jeff, sitting on the edge of his chair. “Whatever it takes.”
Jake’s head rotated suddenly to lock onto Jeff and I saw a flicker behind his eyes as they settled into place; it reminded me of some small creature frozen under a spotlight.
“I’m glad,” Jake said quietly. “I’m glad. You may begin by unbuttoning your pants.”
“What!” Jeff barked. He leaned back in his chair, head whipping over to look at me with a horrified, unspoken question hanging on his lips.
“I’m terribly, terribly sorry for this,” Jake apologized. “It really is the only way to be sure.”
Unable to restrain myself, I finally asked, “What is this about, Jake?”
“Maria described a birthmark on Jeff’s person, close enough to his genitalia that she couldn’t possibly have seen it without also seeing his genitals. You see where this is going, of course…”
“You…you can’t be serious,” Jeff whispered. His face had gone white and sweat was breaking out over his forehead. “I’m not going to expose myself here…in front of her!”
He wrapped a shaking hand around his wrist and began to spin the silvery bracelet he wore, winding it around and around in nervous jerks. The bright metal flashed and shined in the light spilling through the windows as it darted under his fingers, then back out again. It fluttered and weaved under his hand, reminding me of noon sunlight flashing off the surface of running water. The reflection crossed the path of my eyes, so bright that it caused me to squint.
“You needn’t worry,” Jake said in gentle, calming tones. “Amanda won’t see anything; I’ll ask her to go stand behind you. But I must insist, I’m afraid. It’s really nothing, isn’t it? Just a quick peek and this is all over. I’ll be able to take this news back to the others and clear your name.”
I got up from the couch and positioned myself behind Jeff as Jake had suggested, balancing lightly on the balls of my feet in case things got aggressive.
“This…this is fucking crazy!” Jeff shouted. “You can’t do this to people! You can’t make them do this! What the hell happened to basic rights?”
Jake hung his head and sighed. “Jeff…look. I’m doing my level best to give you every opportunity to redeem yourself.” He looked up again. “I’m inclined to believe you. I want to believe you, don’t you understand that? But I have to be certain. You must understand.”
I saw the back of Jeff’s head jerking left and right silently as Jake rose ponderously from his seat to take a step forward. In response, Jeff sprung from his chair, knocking it backward into the wall with his legs, and attempted to step away from the other man.
Jake’s left hand shot out so fast that I didn’t even have time to flinch or anticipate the shot to Jeff’s face. It took me a moment to realize that he hadn’t actually struck Jeff at all; he’d only wrapped his hand around the man’s throat to hold him steady. Jeff squawked, wrapped both of his hands around Jake’s wrist, and began to struggle.
All of the warmth and understanding had washed completely from Jake’s face by now. He was that Thing again, that killer I’d seen stand over a half conscious woman to offer a simple, offhand remark before shooting her through the face; his own face now as smooth as a porcelain mask, as it had been then. Eyes wide and passively intent, muscles rippled and flapped briefly over the bones in his arm as his hand clamped down. The wide, square fingers buried into the sides of Jeff’s neck, plunging into the skin so deeply that I nearly expected them to puncture the surface and bury under the muscle. A horrified, strangled gagging sound began to pour from his mouth without end; I thought of a gazelle being eaten alive, throat torn out completely as it kicked wildly in a futile attempt to run away.