Times What They Are

by D. L. Barnhart

  “You want to live here, but not by our rules.”

  “I don’t know your rules, but it’s a safe bet I won’t like them.”

  “Do you think everyone should live by their own rules?”

  “I think we got by fine with very few.”

  “But they didn’t apply to you, did they?”

  “I didn’t violate them.”

  “You always did what you wanted. But if you said dig, we dug. You decided everything.”

  “I started this community.”

  “You don’t want it taken away, do you?”

  “You can have the four other buildings. I’ll keep mine.”

  “Will you describe your quarters?”

  “Why, Lamar?”

  “I’m curious. I’ve never seen the inside.”

  “It has two bedrooms and bathrooms, and a common room.”

  “A kitchen?”

  “There is a stove and refrigerator in the common room.”

  Lamar raised his eyebrows at the jury. “And storage?

  “Yes, there is storage.”

  “Do you need all that space?”

  “I built it on my land. I see only one person here who lent a hand. If anyone wants to claim rights by labor speak up.”

  “Would you permit us to inspect the building and see what is stored there?”

  “No.”

  “Do you have food there?”

  “Probably in some condition.”

  “And weapons?”

  “Yes.”

  “Lots of weapons.”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you turn over all your weapons and food as a condition of retaining your space?”

  “Lamar, I have been shot at more times than I can count. The country is not safe. I will not go without protection.”

  “We have security.”

  “You think they’re up to the task?”

  “I think we are at peace. Partially thanks to you.” Lamar stared at the ceiling for a few seconds then continued. “Who do you think should be leading this community?”

  “Not you.”

  Lamar chuckled. “Who, then?”

  “The most qualified individual.”

  “That would be you?”

  “My results speak for themselves.”

  “Did you strike Jeffrey Collins and take his rifle?” The security boy stood.

  “He threatened me with it. I disarmed him.”

  “Who killed Blake Ardner?”

  “He died in battle.”

  “Friendly fire?”

  “Ray was there. Ask him what happened.”

  “He said Blake was shot by a sniper. Aren’t you possibly the best marksman here?”

  “I believe we were attacked by eighty some men that day. I’m sure a few of them knew how to use the rifles they carried.”

  “But you were the best, here.”

  “Ray is better. Is that your idea of evidence?”

  “Did you want Blake dead?”

  “It hadn’t risen to that level. I wanted him gone.”

  “But you were out there, somewhere, doing your thing.”

  “Fighting to the death dozens of armed men with heavy weapons. Being struck multiple times by enemy bullets. Witnessing the violent deaths of friends. All in defense of you and the community. Yes. I was doing my thing.”

  “Very commendable. But it doesn’t explain why you and your cohabitant alone returned alive.”

  “Is it a crime to survive?”

  “It is if you killed Blake.”

  “Are you going to charge me with starting the plague, too?”

  “Did you kill Blake Ardner?”

  “Did you?”

  “I was inside.”

  “So you were. Hiding under a bed, no doubt.”

  Lamar shook his head. “In the event of another attack, will you take orders?”

  “Only from someone I respect.”

  “As head of the committee, if I assigned you a task, you would refuse?”

  “I’ve seen you under fire. I prefer more spirited leadership in battle.”

  “You would refuse.”

  “Most likely I’d offer a better plan.”

  “Even if that’s not your role.”

  “Defending my home will always be my role.”

  “Is the democratic community a threat to you?”

  “I don’t know. Is it?”

  “If it were, what would you do?”

  “Try to coexist.”

  “And if you couldn’t?”

  “I won’t be run off my own land.”

  “By anyone?”

  “What do you want me to say, Lamar? This was my home long before I offered you shelter here.”

  “How many people have you killed in defense of your life and property?”

  “I don’t know, Lamar.”

  “Would fifty or a hundred be an approximation? More?”

  Karla shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I fought back when people attacked. I’m still alive. And so are you.”

  “I think we get the picture.” Lamar turned to his jury.

  “So do I, Lamar. Do you have the cage already prepared? Like the one I found you in? Is that what you plan for me?”

  Lamar stood. “I don’t see that benefitting either of us.” He and his jury left through the back door.

  * * *

  A quiet fell over the room as Lamar and the others returned to their former positions. Lamar held a scrap of paper. He pretended to study it, then looked up.

  “Karla, you are a violent individual. You disrespect authority. You believe your views are paramount and your actions above reproach. You hoard food and supplies and keep a weapons cache beyond the needs of any individual. Then there is Jeffrey and Blake—assault and murder without provocation. You are a threat to this community and to everyone in it.”

  “Lamar . . .”

  He stabbed an angry finger at her. “We have discussed at length the possibilities. We can’t cut your rations or put you to the work of our choosing. A public beating would not humble you. The cage you mentioned serves no purpose here. As you so well put it in your day, everyone must work for all to eat.

  “Putting you out would be the best choice. But it won’t work either, will it? You would return and bloodshed would follow. I believe if it came to it, you could kill us all.”

  Karla remained stone-faced.

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “I have done nothing wrong.”

  “That is a matter of opinion. When yours clashes with the community’s, whose should prevail? If not to us, to whom do you answer?”

  “I’ll leave voluntarily.”

  Lamar shook his head. “We have already covered the pitfall in that action.” He turned from Karla to the jury and back. A bead of sweat sprouted on his forehead.

  “Karla Becker. It is the sentence of this court that tomorrow morning you be taken to the appointed place; then and there, you will be shot by rifle until you are dead.”

  “Lamar! For arguing with you?”

  “It is the unanimous judgment.”

  Karla thrashed in the chair and tried to rise. A security man restrained her.

  “It is just that anger that settled your fate.”

  “Your turn will come, Lamar.”

  “Possibly. But not in your lifetime.”

  Security men held her and lashed her feet together.

  “I need three volunteers,” Lamar said.

  A dozen men put up their hands. Rainy raised hers. Gail and two other women followed. Lamar scanned the group and picked the security boy, Claire Daniels, and Gail.

  Chapter 126

  Two men carried Karla to the empty basement suite that had once been Ray’s. Danny Vallen knocked holes in the drywall, ran a chain around a two by six stud, and attached it to the bonds on Karla’s hands. She sa
t on the tiled floor with six inches of movement. An armed guard stood across the room and another outside the open door.

  “Do I get a last meal?” Karla asked.

  “No.” The guard was a young man, Noel. He had come in from a farm near Tama.

  “Is that Lamar’s choice or the committee’s?”

  “Same thing.”

  “Can I at least have a glass of water?”

  “Maybe later.”

  She heard voices arguing, Rainy’s, then she appeared at the door with Lamar.

  “You can have one visitor, but she cannot enter the room. I’ll do that much for you.” Lamar gave instructions to the guards and left.

  Rainy sat in the doorway, eye level with Karla. Noel watched them, now from a chair a few feet away.

  “How long have things been like this?” Karla asked.

  “This is the first time, except for a man they caught in our garden.”

  “What happened to Ray?”

  “He had an argument with Lamar. He agreed to leave with Brittany.”

  “How long?”

  “In the fall.”

  “Have you seen him, anywhere?”

  “He might be to the west of the city. I hear shots that direction from time to time.”

  “I need to give him a message.”

  “Rainy rolled her eyes at Noel.

  “If he comes back, tell him I’m sorry about the rain check.”

  Rainy raised her eyebrows.

  “He’ll understand. Just tell him that and give him a kiss for me.”

  “I’m going to talk to Lamar, the whole committee. Get this straightened out.”

  “He won’t change his mind. I know him. He wants me gone.”

  “I’ll still try.”

  “Jessie’s in the car. Will you see that we’re buried together?”

  “Rainy nodded. “If it comes to it.” She saw the sadness in Karla’s eyes. “What was she like, Jessie?”

  “A joy. No other way to put it. Pretty, tough, smart. She saved my life once. Ten years old. Hooked up with Ray in Tennessee. She was alone, ran away from her father who’d taken her. Did I ever tell you? I don’t think anything scared her.”

  “Wonder where she got that from.”

  “That was how I met Ray. He brought her home. I’ll always owe him that. Then I killed his girlfriend. That’s what we have between us.”

  “He loves you. Anyone can see that.”

  Karla shook her head. “We’ve been through a lot. We need each other. But I crave him more when bullets fly than in the darkness.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I really don’t either. “I’ve hated him as much as I wanted him. But if he were here, he’d put a stop to this.”

  * * *

  Noel checked the watch Lamar had given him. “Time’s up.”

  Rainy gave Noel a cold eye stare, then turned back to Karla. “Is there anything I can get you?”

  “A blanket and something to eat if you can.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Rainy stood. She stared carefully at Karla from the new angle. “Are you . . .”

  “C’mon,” Noel said. “I don’t want trouble with Lamar.”

  Rainy spun. “Chill, Noel. You think he’s standing outside checking on you?”

  “Clear my debt with Ray. Please. No guilt.”

  Rainy again rolled her eyes toward Noel. “I’m going straight to Lamar. Then I’ll be back with a blanket.”

  “I never should have let him go.”

  * * *

  Rainy sat again in the doorway. She handed a blanket to Noel who would do no more than drape it over Karla’s legs.

  “I told Lamar you’d give him your quarters and move. Down the road and build again. You’ve done it so many times. What’s one more? I said you wouldn’t interfere with anything here. That you would help with common defense if it was needed.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He would sleep on it and talk it over with the committee in the morning.”

  “He won’t do it.”

  “I will be at his door, first thing.”

  “Thank you, Rainy, for trying. I’d give you a big hug if I could.”

  * * *

  Lamar stepped into the room. He waved Noel out and shut the door. Then he dragged Noel’s chair across the room and sat facing Karla.

  “I’ve been considering your proposal. You won’t believe me, but I like you. I admire you after a fashion. There’s no one I would rather have present when real trouble is at hand. But you honestly scare me just as much.”

  “Why, Lamar. What have I ever done to you?”

  “You shot the man beside me in Craig on nothing more than a look from a scared girl. You were half a second from shooting me. In the end, you left me with a captor—to die, I’d suppose.”

  “Would you rather I’d left you in the cage?”

  “The point is you are a violent hothead. You have killed and ordered people killed for vengeance and for self preservation. If I pardoned you today and gave you everything you wanted, you would not forget what happened yesterday. It would fester, and as with Blake, somewhere, sometime, you would kill me.”

  Lamar, all I want is to be left alone. I’d rather it was here, but you can have the place. What is half a mile?”

  Lamar smiled. “Exactly. It is no barrier whatsoever.”

  “Then fine. I’ll go and never set foot here again.”

  “Karla, you are misunderstanding. Ten miles or a thousand would not stop you coming back for me. You are simply too dangerous for anywhere but the ground.”

  Lamar stood and opened the door. Danny Vallen and Noel walked in.

  “I need to use the bathroom, first,” Karla said.

  Lamar stared at her then the guards. “Take down her jeans. Sit her on the toilet. Don’t leave the room.” Karla glared at Lamar, then nodded.

  When she finished, the men lifted her at the shoulders and dragged her from the room.

  “Are you going to leave me any dignity?”

  “It’s not about your dignity.” Lamar answered. “It’s about covering all contingencies. You taught me the value in that.”

  “You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?”

  “Matter of perspective. I could easily say the same.”

  They stopped in the hall below the exit. Danny looked at the stairs then at Karla. He waved off Noel, scooped Karla in his arms, and started up. Noel and Lamar followed.

  A security man held the outside door. Danny stepped through, still with Karla. The morning was cool and clear, dew on the grass and on the irises beside the drive, just ready to bloom. Danny rounded the second addition. Lindsay sat on a wooden picnic bench; her hands bound in front, her back pressed against a piece of plywood secured to the concrete wall. Danny placed Karla on the bench, a foot between the women. Karla thought to thank him, then swallowed the urge.

  They faced three executioners holding scoped rifles. Lamar took a position to the right. Security men stood off to each side, midway between shooters and target, their rifles held casually. The rest of the community formed a semi-circle, safely behind the shooters and Lamar.

  Cameron stepped to the bench. She held a desert size paper plate with a smaller red circle and a dot in the center. She pinned it over Lindsay’s heart, patted the plate once, and shifted to Karla. She fumbled briefly with a safety pin, then pierced a second plate, and secured it to Karla’s top.

  “You’re too low,” Karla said. “I’d like this over in a hurry.”

  Cameron looked to Lamar.

  “Place it where she says.”

  Cameron shifted the plate slightly higher.

  “I like the three.” Lamar faced Karla. “Shared responsibility. I always thought using an execution as training a little cruel.”

  Cameron tapped the plate’s center dot and moved away.

  “Okay.” Lamar add
ressed the shooters. “No need to drag this out. First target. Three inside the circle earns the team a day off. On my mark.” His eyes turned to the condemned. Lindsay trembled and wet herself.

  “Ready.” Three hands worked the bolts.

  “Aim.” The rifles came up.

  “Fire.” Three rifles cracked in obedience.

  Bullets slapped the plate and smacked the wall. Lindsay’s hands jerked upward then relaxed. Her blood drained to the bench and overflowed to the ground. She leaned to the right, her head resting against the wall. She drew labored breath for what seemed an eternity. Then she stopped.

  Lamar touched Cameron’s shoulder. She returned carefully to Lindsay.

  “I want to be buried with Jessie,” Karla said. “Tell him.”

  Cameron offered a weak smile. She unpinned the bloody plate from Lindsay and brought it to Lamar. He held it to the sun and shook his head.

  “Two.” Lamar paused and studied the shooters. “One of you did Lindsay no favor. Nor your teammates. We expect better.” He glanced at Karla. “There will be two days off and extra rations for three holes in the next circle.”

  Karla stared at Lamar. Lindsay’s blood flecked her jeans and top. She felt wetness on her cheek, where a chip of concrete had struck her, and on her leg, where blood had crossed the bench.

  “I’d prefer to stand. You can at least give me that.” Karla eyed Lindsay. “I’m choosy whose blood mixes with mine.”

  Lamar grinned as he nodded.

  Karla planted her feet and slid forward. She rose—her legs crossed and strapped, her hands bound behind her. She lost balance and fell.

  “Hey Rainy,” the boy executioner called out. “This the superwoman you told us about?” Karla tried to stand and reached only her knees. “She doesn’t look so super, now.”

  Karla leaned against the bench, strained, gained a few inches, and fell back. Rainy strode across the open ground, ignoring threats from a security man. She helped Karla to her feet and held her steady. She put an arm around Karla’s waist and faced the rifles.

  “If you want to be number three, it can be arranged,” Lamar said. “But you’ll have to wait your turn. Now move away.”

  Rainy hesitated then let go. Karla wobbled. Rainy dropped to her knees and cut the leg restraints with a pocket knife. She rose, hugged Karla, and kissed her. Karla felt the briefest touch as Rainy’s hand brushed hers.