by Hannah Ross
Suppressing his anger, Ben kept his voice calm. "Not much. Mostly he's waiting for people to do things for him."
Raven frowned. "What do you mean?" Her expression changed from understanding to disgust as Ben told of their visit to the Fat Bears' camp. "This is beyond anything," she said. "I can't believe he's doing this. Bullying people worse than ever at a time like this. And everyone's actually putting up with it?"
"We aren't," Andy said, "but it looks like we're the only ones."
"Maybe not," Ben said. "We won't know until we ask."
Raven's head twitched. "Ask who?"
"Everyone. Listen, it's time to do something about Barry. We've tried to ignore and appease him for too long. He keeps terrorizing people because nobody will stand up to him. And people won't stand up to him because he makes each of them feel alone. But if we unite forces, maybe we can get rid of him for good."
Andy gave it a moment's thought. "It might work," he finally said, "but we'll have to go about it quietly."
The next day, they made the rounds of the others camps. They visited the Dirt Snakes, the Mad Monkeys, the Elephants, and many of the smaller camps. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, they went under the pretext of asking to borrow tools or equipment. They spoke in undertones, especially when they saw members of the Fat Bears camp nearby, and issued invitations for an evening conference at the Eagles' camp. Though the aftermath of the earthquake left everyone distraught and busy, by evenfall their camp saw twenty-six representatives from eleven camps.
Ben had never seen the place so packed. Still, the level of noise was unnaturally low as everyone discussed the possible reasons for the meeting. When he, Andy, and Raven stepped on a platform, all faces turned toward them. They were not unfriendly, but it was obvious everyone wanted to know why they received such an urgent invitation at such a time. When someone stifled a yawn, Ben knew they would have to get right to the point.
"Thank you all for coming," Ben said. "We've all gone through a lot in these past couple of days. I'd say we're lucky to be alive."
There was a murmur of assent. The Mad Monkeys, nodding their heads, looked especially sad and dejected. Three of their members – a young mother and her two children – had been crushed by a toppling building. The father was inconsolable.
"It will be a long time before any of us get back to normal. There's a lot of work to be done in every camp. But some expect others to do their work for them."
The vast room immediately grew tense and silent. People exchanged glances, as if wondering how much they dared to say. Finally, Carl of the Spotted Cats got up and spoke. "We better say this outright. Barry made his rounds telling people to repair his camp, or to give tools or food they can't spare. He spoke to us and I know he or his men spoke to everyone in the city. And now it's time to decide whether we continue to put up with him or tell him we won't take this crap any longer."
A cautious murmur rose among the guests. "What is it that you suggest, Carl?" said one of the Elephants. "We don't like Barry any more than you do. But we aren't strong enough to cope with him. He has four times more people than we do, and all those weapons too. Everybody knows that."
"If we join forces, we can put Barry in his proper place," Raven said in a loud, clear voice.
Someone looked at her askance and said, "You don't live around here anymore, Raven."
"That's true. I'd say it's better to leave than continue to take shit from Barry. Actually, everyone should do that. It isn't safe here any longer. All these buildings are damaged and just ripe and ready to topple down the next time the ground shakes."
"I think Raven's right," said Elisa. "I saw plenty of buildings that are already damaged and look like any little vibration might finish them off."
"So are you saying we'd better run from the city to avoid Barry?" Carl asked.
"No," Andy said. "Listen, I think it's probably time for me to leave anyway. Edeline and the children are on the farm already, and when I go there I'll tell her we're staying. I think it will make her happy. But before I do that…before I leave…I'd like to teach Barry a lesson."
"And leave the rest of us to deal with him later?" asked one of the Mad Monkeys.
"If we do this right," Ben said, "there won't be anything to deal with. Now, listen…"
He was interrupted by the door shaking as someone tried to open it.
"Who's that?" Raven asked. "I thought everyone's already here."
Again someone shook the barred door as a voice called, "Come on. Open up." Several people exchanged glances.
"That sounded awfully like Luc," someone said in a frightened whisper.
Ben's stomach churned. He was not afraid of Barry's cronies, but he knew most of the people in the room were not ready for a direct confrontation with the Fat Bears.
An insistent knock was followed by, "Open up, Ben Grey and Andy Steel. I know you're in there, and I'm not leaving."
"Let him in, Ben," Raven whispered into his ear. "We'll hold him captive so he doesn't run back to tell on us. We can release him after we've dealt with Barry."
Ben was unsure what to do as the knocking continued. Raven stepped down and whispered with the members of her camp until they all stood up, muscles flexed and ready. When they all looked toward Ben, he nodded and went to unbar the door.
Luc stood at the entrance and surveyed the packed room as a corner of his mouth curled in a little smile. "Just as I thought. You all thought you were so stealthy, but you should have known better. I know what you're up to…" His eyes swept the gathering. "…and I think you're damn right."
"Is this some sort of joke?" Andy asked as Luc walked in.
Luc shook his head and spread out his hands. "Look, I'm unarmed. I'm at your mercy." He sat down on a rickety three-legged stool next to the platform, his long legs stuck out at an uncomfortable angle. He surveyed them all with a keen, penetrating stare. "I know what you want to do. Overthrow Barry. About damn time, too. But I wonder why it hasn't occurred to you that some of us Bears might also want in on the action."
Seeing the surprised, wary glances, Luc shrugged apologetically. "I know we aren't exactly best pals, but I'd just like to point out that if you've been pushed around by Barry, we've had it worse, and for a longer time. And many of us are fed up with it. Yes, we have more food and warmer beds than most, but the price is too damn high. And you can't exactly walk away. Once Barry's man, always Barry's man."
"Enzo left," Ben said, "and he's still alive."
"Yup. Well…Enzo's a brave chap, but you'll notice he got out of the city. You don't defy Barry and stick around to brag about it. At least, that's how things have been until now. We're sick of it. If there's no freedom beyond the Boundary, where would we find any?"
Several people were nodding. Someone actually got up to shake Luc's hand. But Andy was still frowning. "This might be a trap," he said quietly in Ben's ear.
"Or it could be good news," Ben countered. "I see your point, though. Luc's been one of Barry's most faithful sidekicks for a long time. I'm not sure we can trust him, but what choice do we have? If we don't let him go, Barry will know something's wrong and send men looking for him. Let's listen to what he has to say."
On the morning of the third day after the earthquake, Ben, Andy, Ron, Tom, David and the rest of the Eagles approached the camp of the Fat Bears. The Ravens and Spotted Cats were with them. The Mad Monkeys, the Elephants, and dozens of others followed behind.
Barry, though obviously surprised to see so many people at once, looked pleased just the same. "You did see sense in the end, then," he said, nodding. "Well, as you can see, there's plenty of work to be done, so you might as well get started. As for you," he said to the Dirt Snakes and the Spotted Cats, "that delivery of food you were supposed to get to us is late. I trust you didn't forget about it."
"No, Barry," Carl said. "It's you who forgot."
"What's that?" Barry frowned.
"You forgot the Pact," Ben said. "Helping each other is our
only chance to function out here. But you don't care about anyone but yourself. As far as you're concerned, we can all starve or freeze to death, while you take all the food and supplies people need to survive."
Barry swelled with anger. "If you came to mess with me, Ben Grey, you'd better get out of this camp…and this city. You shouldn't have come back."
"It's you who shouldn't come back, Barry," Raven said, her voice carrying for all to hear.
"You're too sassy for your own good, Raven," Barry said. "You'd do well to remember I have one very good argument in my favor."
He made a step in the direction of the locked room where, according to Jen's report, the Mexican guns were probably kept. Unused to have anyone stand in his way, he nearly collided with Luc, who stood, feet planted firmly in the ground, in front of the door. "Move," Barry growled, but Luc stood firm. "Are you deaf? Move aside. Or wait…where's my key? Go and get it for me, Luc."
"I've got it," Luc said with a deadpan expression.
"Well then, hand it over." Barry's voice betrayed his impatience.
Luc shook his head. "No."
Barry frowned, perceiving for the first time that something might be wrong and roared, "What do you mean, no?"
Luc flinched, but met Barry's glare without looking aside. "I mean what I said, Barry. No. You will not use these weapons against other people."
The color of Barry's face slowly changed, from pale to bright red and, finally, to blotchy purple. "And who the hell are you to tell me what I can or can't do?"
"Your time is past, Barry," Andy said. "There's too many of us. You can't keep us all living in fear."
Barry glanced to where a tight knot of nearly half the Fat Bears camp stood, looking uncertain. He watched as several broke away and stood by Luc. The members of the other camps came and stood there as well, blocking the entrance to the forbidden room with their bodies.
"We know you're armed, Barry," Carl said, "but so are we. We don't want to fight. Turn around, and we'll let you go."
"You'll let me go?" Barry's nostrils flared. With a familiar gesture, he whipped around, ready to issue commands to his followers. But nobody was there. Those who came to stand by his side at first had slinked into the shadows once they realized they were outnumbered. For the first time, Barry was alone. A new expression appeared on his face, so uncharacteristic it took everyone a few seconds to recognize it for what it was – fear.
"You're making a mistake," he said, with a bad attempt at his former swagger. "This city needs somebody to run it, and no one will do it better than me."
Andy gave a derisive snort. "I think we'll survive your loss, Barry."
Luc went into one of the tents, retrieved a large backpack and threw it at Barry's feet. "Here's some food and supplies. Enough for a few days, so you can strike out in whatever direction you want to go, as long as it's far from here."
Barry glared at him for a moment. "You ungrateful son of a…" Then, realizing he could not win, he bent and picked up the backpack, surveyed the gathered people with a defiant, piercing stare, as if meaning to memorize each and every face, and said, "You'll regret this. All of you," but nobody seemed to pay him any heed. Some began to whoop and cheer. Barry, now eager to get out of the humiliating scene, slung the backpack over his shoulder and walked away.
Everyone watched for the minutes it took for him to turn a corner. When he did, Luc said, "Well, Barry's account is settled now."
"So it seems," Andy said with a bit of reluctance. It was clear to many that, as far as he was concerned, a bloodless escape was more than Barry deserved.
"You have to think about what you're going to do now, Luc," said Ben.
Luc looked uncertain. "Live on, I suppose. But…we've been with Barry for so long. When someone else always makes all the decisions, you get used to it. You get sick of it, too, but you don't know any different."
"You'll figure it out. You don't need Barry to run your camp and your whole lives for you. And if there's any trouble…well…we're here. We'll be glad to help if we can."
"That's nice of you, but you're not sticking around, are you? Any of you. You're all moving out of the city."
"Yes, but you can come and visit us. See the farm and how it works. It's getting to be a nice place now. Who knows, maybe you'll decide to start something like that as well and we'll be glad to help."
"And our camp too," Raven said. "We have plenty of sheep this year. We could lend you some for breeding."
Luc looked pleasantly surprised. "I think I'd like that. And the others might as well. The city is getting dangerous now." He frowned for a moment. "Where do you think Barry will go?"
"Why should we care?" Andy said. "As long as he stays well away from here."
"So you don't make much of his threats, then?"
"It's just Barry's way. There's nothing he can do to hurt us now."
Ben nodded, but something, some small, nagging doubt still clouded his mind. Andy's probably right. But the Bear doesn't forgive. If he can, he'll do whatever it takes to make us regret throwing him out. We can only hope he'll never have the chance.
"And there's something else," Luc said, then hesitated for a moment before he took a large, worn key out of his pocket and offered it to Ben. "That's the key to this room. The room with the weapons. I think you can be trusted with it, the way Barry could not."
"We should open the room and divide the weapons between us," Carl said. "It will set us all up for good hunting."
"That's a good idea," Andy said. "Split them up, so nobody's tempted to get their hands on the whole bunch at once."
The division of the weapons, camp repair, and tending to the recovering wounded kept them so occupied for the rest of the day that it took Ben a couple of hours to realize Raven was gone.
"Have you seen Raven?" he asked Fred.
"Nope. Do you know where Raven got herself to, Dan?"
Dan Crow shrugged. "I saw her saddling Ink a while ago, but assumed she just wanted to check on some of the others. She should have been back by now, though."
It was nearly dark by the time they heard Ink's neigh outside. Raven was just dismounting as Ben went out to meet her, with Fred and Dan at his heels. She looked tired but satisfied.
"Where have you been?" Fred asked.
"I followed Barry," she said, patting Ink's neck. "That's a good girl. You want some rest and food, right? I could do with a bit of supper, too."
"You followed Barry?" echoed Ben. "What did you do that for?"
"Well…knowing Barry, I was a little doubtful that he'd really go nice and quiet. I had to check."
"And what did you find?"
"Luc told me about a private stash Barry had hidden at the southern border of the city, so I figured he'd check on it first, see if it's still there after the earthquake. And I was right. I kept my distance and was just able to see Barry digging it up."
"What did he have in there?" Ben asked.
"I wasn't close enough to see. I saw a glint of metal, though, probably another gun, not more than one. And there's probably some traveling food, perhaps a medical kit…nothing too heavy. I saw him cram it all into his backpack. Then he headed south."
"Alone?"
"Yep. Apparently, not one of his cronies wanted to join him when things turned sour. Serves him right."
"You shouldn't have gone after him alone. He might have noticed you. He hates us now and doesn't have anything to lose if he hurt you."
Raven shrugged. "I wasn't alone, I was with Ink, and the two of us are too quick for him. Besides, I don't think he saw me. If he did, he showed no sign of it. Anyway, I had a pair of binoculars with me and I watched him for a long time, until he disappeared in the distance."
"So we're definitely rid of Barry," Dan said. "That's good."
The warehouse door opened and Tanya's head poked out. "Is that finally you, Raven? I'll bet you're hungry. We've saved you a bit of supper."
"Thanks. I'm starving," Raven said. "And dead tired. It's be
en a long day. I think I'll just grab a quick bite to eat and go to sleep."
"Here, Raven, I'll take care of Ink," Dan said.
"Thanks, Dan," Raven handed him the reins of the horse. Then she playfully nudged Ben with her elbow. "No need to look so serious, Ben. I didn't do anything dangerous. And Barry is really gone. Isn't that a reason to celebrate?"
Ben smiled, but a tiny grain of doubt remained. Yes, Barry's left the city. But if I know him at all, The Bear will try to come back someday to get what he thinks is his.
22
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Rebecca did not feel very productive. Then again, she rarely felt productive of late. Natalie was extremely annoyed with her because of two missed deadlines, but she could not even bring herself to care. More often than ever before, she thought about retirement. It was becoming increasingly difficult to come up with riveting stories about issues she found uninteresting, and interviewing people took more mental energy than she was capable of summoning. At fifty-seven, she realized it was a little late for a change of career. But I do have a few book projects on the back burner. And Daniel still has a few years before retirement. With our savings and pensions, we'll do fine if we tighten our belts a little. Perhaps I ought to talk to him about this.
She was still pondering it when a sharp trill of the doorbell startled her out of her thoughts. Before she quite came to her senses, the doorbell rang again. That can't be Daniel or Kate.
She was right. It was Thelma Anderson.
"What are you doing here?" Rebecca hissed as she let her in.
Thelma looked terrified. Her face was ashen, and it seemed as though she might fall off her feet at any moment. As soon as Rebecca let her into the cramped living room, she collapsed on the sofa.