“You’re mine now, Sheriff.”
Rob swerved his truck to the side, slammed on the brakes, and called to the small group riding in the back.
“Those are Seventh Order people, take ‘em out!”
His passengers jumped out of the truck and fired at the intruders without hesitation. Paul caught up with Rob and Jordan’s group, clutching his shotgun. He wanted to do something. He wanted to end the madness and death but was only another person with a gun in the battlefield of a quaint neighborhood. Harold raised his rifle and aimed squarely at the Sheriff’s head.
“Nice knowing ya’, Sheriff, but it’s time for you to check out.”
“No!” Sister Bonnie’s voice shouted from behind Harold.
“Do not shoot him.”
Harold turned around as Sister Bonnie approached them. She walked casually to the ground near the Sheriff and picked up one of his pistols.
“Now, Sheriff, I’m not a malevolent person. We have plenty of blood spilled now on both of our sides. I really wish it hadn’t come to this. That’s why I want to give you one more chance, one more chance to join the Seventh Order and put this entire unpleasantness behind us.”
“Sister Bonnie,” the Sheriff said, gasping. “I wish you would kindly go to hell.”
Harold smiled and looked at Sister Bonnie with hope that she would finish the job.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said as she aimed the pistol at the Sheriff. She held it for what seemed like an eternity while the Sheriff closed his eyes and prepared for death.
“I—I can’t,” she said. “I just can’t do it.”
The Sheriff opened his eyes in surprise.
“Harold, I think you know what to do,” she continued.
Harold’s grin grew larger than imaginable. He nonchalantly brought his rifle back into the air and pointed it at the Sheriff.
Paul ran past the cars, past the barriers, looking for the end to it. He staggered haphazardly over several bodies in his path. Past the smoke and dense fog, he saw the Sheriff lying on the ground, five feet in front of him, with a gunshot wound to his leg. Standing over him was Harold, poised and ready to shoot.
“Hey, maniac,” Paul shouted, diverting Harold’s attention.
Paul raised his shotgun and fired. The spray of the blast sent Harold spiraling back through the air with a thud on the ground. Sister Bonnie screamed, raised the Sheriff’s pistol in the air, and fired at Paul. Paul jumped to the ground and rolled behind the barricade. His head smacked against the concrete and knocked him out. Sister Bonnie held the pistol and caressed its grip.
“I think there’s only one bullet in here. I can feel it.”
The Sheriff dug into the gravel around him and attempted to drag himself away. Blood from his leg smeared along his path as he moved. Sister Bonnie disregarded Paul and turned her attention to the Sheriff.
“All I wanted was for us to live together in harmony. What was so hard about that?”
The Sheriff continued to pull himself along the ground, grunting with every movement.
“There may be hope yet for some of your people, as long as you’re not around to lead them astray.”
The Sheriff rolled over onto his back to address Bonnie. “This town will never be yours, and your people will always be misled as long as they’re following a fraud like you.”
He spit at her. A small drop hit near her feet. Sister Bonnie held up the pistol and pointed it at him. Her hand shook, but she tried to remain calm.
“Damn you, Sheriff, for making me do this.” As she squeezed the trigger, her hand flew upward with the pistol. She hadn’t expected such kickback and force. An empty cartridge fell on the ground near her.
“Freeze!” Melvin shouted, coming out of nowhere.
Sister Bonnie held her hands up in the air and dropped the pistol. Melvin looked down and saw Paul lying against the barricade wall, unconscious.
“Sheriff, you okay?” he asked.
The Sheriff didn’t respond.
“Sheriff, what’s your status?” he asked again.
He took a closer look and saw that the Sheriff had an open bullet wound in his forehead. Sister Bonnie had struck him right between his eyes. Melvin collapsed on his knees in stunned disbelief. He lifted the Sheriff a few inches from the ground and shook him fervently. The Sheriff’s body was limp and unresponsive.
“Come on, Sheriff. Snap out of it,” Melvin said.
Sister Bonnie stood with her arms still in the air. She looked around for signs of her people. It was too dark to see past the smoke in the air. She had instructed the children to wait in the forest until the coast was clear. Her concern for them grew as she weighed her options for escape. Paul awoke and brought a hand to his swollen head. A bump had already formed, his vision was blurred, and he wasn’t sure what was happening in front of him. The shotgun was lying near him, and he vaguely remembered firing it. He rose, rubbing his head and moaning like he had just woke up with the world’s worst hangover. His eyes met Sister Bonnie’s as she stood nearby. He recognized her but couldn’t place a name. The minute they made eye contact, Sister Bonnie ran the other way.
“Hey, get back here!” Paul shouted.
He sprinted after her with his head throbbing all along the way. Melvin gently rested the Sheriff back on the ground and turned around to where Paul had been. He looked up and saw Sister Bonnie fleeing and Paul chasing her.
“Don’t let her get away!” Melvin shouted.
He looked back to the Sheriff, lifted his hat from the pavement, and placed it over the Sheriff’s face.
“Damn,” he said. “Damn it all to hell.”
Melvin got up and followed Paul. Sister Bonnie had made it to the ashes of New Haven’s walls while Paul lagged behind. He ran with a limp but didn’t plan on letting her get away. She looked back with worry, hoping that Paul was no longer behind. He was right upon her. He cried out and leaped, tackling her to the ground. They rolled onto the jagged ground of burnt wood and gravel. Sister Bonnie screamed as the heat from the wood ember singed her skin after burning through her dress.
“Get off of me, you freak!” she shouted.
Paul clutched onto her back, not giving in. He had never tackled a woman before, and Sister Bonnie had put up one hell of a fight. She nearly threw Paul off her before Melvin ran up with his gun drawn in the air.
“Get off her, Paul,” he said.
Paul looked up, confused, but complied and rolled off her. Sister Bonnie lifted herself off the ground and rapidly dusted the ashes off her dress.
“No one touches me, understand? This creep goon of yours has crossed the line,” she said.
“Shut up,” Melvin said. “I’m taking you in.”
Sister Bonnie looked around. “In?” she asked. “In where? Who the hell are you?”
“I’m making a citizen’s arrest. You’re going to pay for what you’ve done here today. All the lives lost, for what? For nothing,” Melvin said.
Sister Bonnie laughed. “We’re not going to stop until the town is ours.”
“Look around you, lady,” Melvin said, circling around her. “There’s no victory here. The town isn’t any more yours than it was before you came here. All you’ve managed to do was create death and destruction.”
Sister Bonnie wasn’t fazed.
“You’re wasting your breath,” Paul said to Melvin. “She got exactly what she wanted. Let’s just hand her over to the Sheriff.”
Melvin gripped his rifle and caressed the trigger. His aim was centered on Sister Bonnie.
“You have no authority to do anything with me,” she said. “I have children to attend to now, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“Take one step and I’ll shoot,” Melvin said.
“Enough of this,” Paul said. “Don’t do it, Melvin. Don’t let her become a martyr. We’re not like them. The Sheriff would say the same thing.”
“The Sheriff’s dead, Paul,” Melvin cried. “He’s dead and she shot him.”
Paul froze and stared at Melvin. “Are you sure? When did this happen?”
“When you hit the ground and knocked yourself out, she took one of the Sheriff’s pistols and shot him in the head. Stone cold.”
“Where is he?” Paul asked in disbelief.
Melvin signaled behind them. “His body is right over there. See for yourself.”
Paul ran off, leaving Melvin with Sister Bonnie. She looked back at him with utter defiance. “If you shoot me, those children will have no one to guide them.”
“The same children you used as human shields? The same ones who lost their parents today because of you?”
Sister Bonnie stormed off as Melvin spoke.
“Get back here!” he shouted as he fired his gun.
The bullet struck inches from her feet. She froze instantly.
“You’re not getting off that easy,” he said.
Chapter Fifteen
Aftermath
Rob, Carlie, Jordan, and a few other New Haven residents rounded up five men from the Seventh Order. The men surrendered without resistance and were quickly subdued. There were too many bodies lying around to make a full estimate of the loss. The fire had spread to the entire front half of New Haven’s walls until the residents eventually contained it and put it out. Paul ran up to the first barrier and noticed a man dead on the ground with a hole in his head. It was one of Sister Bonnie’s men, Terry. Five feet away, Paul recognized Harold’s corpse as steam rose from the crater in his chest. Everything started to come back to Paul. He had shot Harold, sending him backwards into the air. Then he remembered throwing himself to the ground to avoid getting shot himself. A vibrant flash came and everything went black. Then he woke. Two legs covered in blue jeans, wearing boots, lay before him. He scanned upward and saw a sheriff’s badge pinned to the man’s shirt. The man’s face was also covered by a hat. If it wasn’t the Sheriff, it was an uncanny resemblance. Paul knelt down and slowly lifted the hat off the man’s head. He was met by the empty stare of the Sheriff’s lifeless eyes. Blood had run out of his nose and down his face. He had a small hole in the middle of his forehead. Paul placed the hat back over the Sheriff’s face and stood up upon hearing commotion near the New Haven Park.
With their weapons in hand, Rob and Carlie circled their captives, taunting them.
”Looks like you’re the only ones left. That’s too bad,” Rob said.
The five middle-aged men were meek and unresponsive. Jordan stood to the side, not sure what to do. He looked out into the darkness, trying to find Paul.
“Hey, I’m going to check on everyone else,” Jordan said to Rob.
Rob nodded and turned back to the men.
“So… you call yourself the Seventh Order. I assume you’re probably waiting for that big spaceship in the sky to take you to heaven. Well, we’ll do you one better.”
Rob signaled to Carlie. She nodded back.
“We’ll send you there now,” Rob continued.
Rob and Carlie took a step back and unloaded their weapons into the men, mowing them down like leaves in the wind. The unexpected gunfire caused Jordan to jump. It scared the hell out of him. He turned around just in time to see Carlie fire her last shot into the already riddled bodies of the Seventh Order survivors. The other New Haven residents stood by, not saying a word.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jordan asked.
Rob and Carlie smiled at each other then turned to Jordan. “We’re doing what needs to be done. We’re not letting a single one of them leave. If you find any more, you better let us know.”
“It’s not right,” Jordan said. “We’re not executioners, and those men had surrendered.” Jordan looked around for someone to join his outrage. “Doesn’t anyone agree with me?”
“Maybe you need to get back out there on the road with your friend, Paul. Both of you have to be the most ungrateful pair I think I’ve ever met,” Rob said. He then looked at the New Haven men and women standing around them. “Let’s get all the Seventh Order bodies in one big pile here and burn them.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Paul said, walking out of the darkness.
“Speak of the devil,” Rob said.
“They gunned down a group of unarmed Seventh Order members,” Jordan said.
Paul narrowed his eyes toward Rob. “Are you kidding me? Those men did not deserve that.”
“Paul, I’ll tell you the same thing I told your friend here. You can take it or leave it. If our ways are a little too harsh for you, maybe you two need to hit the road.”
Jordan stepped in and pointed his finger at Rob and Carlie. “I don’t want to see either of you shoot another unarmed person again.”
“Or what?” Rob asked.
“Just don’t do it,” Jordan said.
“Maybe he’s right. Maybe we just need to go,” Paul said.
“No one is going anywhere,” Melvin said, approaching them with Sister Bonnie in tow with her hands tied behind her back with a small piece of rope.
“Holy shit,” Rob said as his eyes lit up. “We got her. We actually got her.”
Sister Bonnie looked at the mutilated bodies of the men Rob and Carlie had just shot.
“So who’s in the mood for a public execution?” Rob asked with a laugh.
The surviving members of New Haven all gathered in the town park to observe what was going on. Their numbers totaled around twenty. No one had a clear idea yet of who had lived or survived. Melvin held Sister Bonnie at gunpoint in front of the crowd as Rob led the charge to have her executed, though Melvin hadn’t made up his mind yet. Paul and Jordan stood to the side, hoping they could influence the people otherwise. Maybe they hadn’t spent enough time with the townspeople to feel the real devastation of loss. They had fought alongside them to protect the town, which, they felt, entitled them to voice their opinion.
“Kill her!” a man shouted from their circle.
“Justice for New Haven!” a woman cheered.
Rob looked to Melvin. “You know what to do, man. And if you don’t do it, I will.”
Melvin held the barrel of his gun to the back of Sister Bonnie’s head. She closed her eyes as she felt its hot metal press against her skull. The cheers from the circle of residents grew louder. They salivated in anticipation. Melvin hesitated.
“Do it,” Rob commanded.
Melvin put his finger to the trigger.
“What in the fuck are you waiting for? Shoot her.”
A force within him drove Paul to intervene. He pushed past Jordan and the circle that had formed and walked up to Melvin.
“Don’t do it, Melvin. I’m warning you.”
Everyone went silent with bewilderment at Paul’s seemingly erratic behavior. Rob had heard enough. “You still here?” he asked. “I thought we told you to take a hike.”
Paul ignored Rob and continued. “You shoot this woman, and there’s no going back from it. This is not the way things work. And I don’t care what else is going on in the world, this type of mob rule is never the answer.”
Paul had Melvin’s attention. Others quieted and let Paul speak.
“Now, Melvin, you’re a decent person. Rob, you are too. Hell, you saved my life. None of us are perfect people, and we can’t make a perfect society, but the Sheriff, he wouldn’t have condoned this. He would have used the law as a guide. And you can’t have law and order co-exist with anarchy. You just can’t. I know that’s what he believed, and that’s what he would say now.”
“Where is the Sheriff anyway?” Rob asked. “Why not hear it from the horse’s mouth?”
Paul looked to Melvin. Melvin looked back at him. No one answered.
“Well?” Rob asked, annoyed.
“The Sheriff is gone. He died from a fatal gunshot wound,” Paul said.
A hushed shock went over the group. Anger flushed across the faces of Rob and Carlie. Jordan stood with the rest of New Haven, not believing his own ears.
“There’s no fucking way,” Rob
said to Paul. “You don’t just kill the Sheriff. That dude can survive anything.”
“It’s true, Rob,” Melvin said. “His body is lying by the first barricade.”
A tear streamed from Carlie’s eye. Rob scratched his head in confusion.
“Not the Sheriff,” Carlie said.
“If that’s the case, shoot her an extra time, right through her head,” Rob said.
“The Sheriff would not have wanted this!” Paul shouted.
“Ah, what the fuck do you know?” Rob replied.
“Shoot her,” Carlie added.
Calls for her death echoed throughout.
“Do it for the Sheriff,” a man shouted.
“Melvin, I have a bad feeling about this. This is not the answer,” Paul said.
Melvin shook with emotion. Paul put a hand on his shoulder.
“Just think about it,” Paul continued, releasing his grip. Sister Bonnie’s eyes remained closed the entire time. Her lips moved inaudibly as she prayed. Melvin closed his eyes and removed his finger from the trigger. He lowered the gun to the ground. Sister Bonnie felt the release of the barrel against her head and opened her eyes.
“What are you doing?” Rob asked. “Why is she still standing?”
Melvin turned his head to a visibly angered Rob.
“Paul’s right. The Sheriff would not have wanted this. We have a community here. A civil community. We shoot this woman here, without any kind of due process, and we’ll lose that part of us forever. We need to get the rest of the council together and figure out what to do with Sister Bonnie. But we’re not going to decide that ourselves, like you two did with the others.”
“The other council members are all dead,” Rob said.
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