Redaction: The Meltdown Part II

by Andrews, Linda

  She glanced at the crowd. Some would stay. The decision etched their faces in lines and grooves. Ah, well, perhaps they would help others on their path to Colorado.

  Brother Bob steepled his fingers under his chin and pursed his lips. “I suppose I must trust you to keep your word.”

  She inclined her head. From his tone, he didn’t trust her as far as he could spit.

  “Shall we begin?” He clapped his hands and walked toward the center of the stage.

  Silence rippled over the crowd until it stifled the flow of air.

  Mavis waited in the wings behind the frayed red curtains. Gold tassels dripped from the edges in gossamer threads. The floor creaked behind her. She caught the whiff of spice above the damp and cold. David.

  His fingers skimmed her spine before he removed his touch. “You ready?”

  “No.” She shook her hands, hoping to break loose of the tension gripping her. “I don’t have a speech or anything prepared.”

  “You’ll be fine.”

  Maybe if she prepared for a week. Or a month.

  Brother Bob raised his hands, palms forward a gesture of nothing to hide and openness. “Brothers and sisters.”

  Mavis stopped her shaking. God, now they were his family and she was the invader at their barricade. “He’s good.”

  “You’re better.” David nudged her shoulder.

  Not even in her dreams.

  “We have stood together, with the Grace of God and faced down the Horseman called Pestilence.” Brother Bob raised his hands higher, catching a sunbeam that strayed in through the cutout windows over the door. “We have beaten his Horseman called Death by sharing our meager stores and taking care of our neighbors.”

  Oh, Lord. “He’s a preacher.”

  And not the evil Trent Powers kind. A true believer. It rang in the power of his voice and echoed off the ceiling. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She was the opening act to a superstar and the superstar had gone first.

  David rested his hand on the small of her back. “Must be why I’ve got the urge to say a few Hallelujahs.”

  “And now a new Horseman rides across our meadows and hills, marking the pines surrounding us. War has been brought to our shores and is carried on the wind, into our homes.” Brother Bob clasped his hands in prayer and bowed his head. “The herald of such bad news has joined us today.”

  Hostility bubbled from the crowd like lava in a volcanic vent.

  Great. Now she was going to be condemned for being the messenger. Divine messenger, true, but she didn’t plan on being a martyr today.

  Brother Bob shook his head. “Nay, brothers and sisters. We cannot condemn Doctor Spanner any more than Mary condemned Gabriel for bringing news of the savior growing within her womb.”

  Mavis blinked. What? Had she missed something? Was the preacher actually comparing her to an archangel?

  “Doctor Spanner warned us of the coming apocalypse. She delivered unto us medicine, food, supplies and other brothers and sisters in need.” He pointed a finger at her.

  Was it her imagination or was there an accusation in there? She stepped out from behind the curtain and faced the congregation. If any one of them picked up a stone or lit a torch, she was outta here. Fortunately only a few remained hostile. Of course, a few could quickly turn this gathering into a riot.

  “And now, Doctor Spanner has arrived with the world’s most powerful army at her back.” Mutters rippled through the crowd. Two men in the doorway dissolved in the falling snow. “And although she brings tidings of war, she walks in peace.”

  Well…shoot. She changed the swear word. Mental or not, Brother Bob’s sermon had turned this lowly auditorium into a church.

  “Brothers and sisters, open your heart and minds to Doctor Spanner’s message.” Backing away from center stage, Brother Bob opened his arms to her.

  Great. She’d been invited to be the guest speaker at a ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting.

  “I have faith in you.” With a little pressure, David pushed her toward center stage.

  Hundreds of eyes tracked her progress. She stepped to the right of where the Reverend stood and touched her hand to her chest. “Thank you Brother Bob, but I’m no archangel sent from God.”

  A few twittered among the stony silence.

  She splayed her fingers wide and opened her arms to the crowd. Nothing to hide here. “What I am is a scientist, well versed in how men kill each other en masse. I speak the language of war, hatred and intolerance.”

  In the front row, skepticism replaced set jaws and narrowed eyes. Here and there, crossed arms relaxed.

  “I tell you these things so you can understand how it was that I recognized the anthrax attack.”

  “And we thank you for that, Doctor Spanner,” Brother Bob shouted from the wings.

  A few heads nodded.

  She swallowed her apologies for failing to do so sooner. Now was not the time. “But I was remiss in my broadcast for not warning you of another threat. One greater than anthrax and the Redaction combined.”

  Her audience glanced at each other as if the answer was written on their neighbor’s face.

  “In 1945, brilliant men, with the best intentions, unleashed the power of the atom upon the face of this planet.”

  Their attention returned to her. Hostility fled in the wave of confusion and interest.

  “They brought a horrible war to an equally horrible end but from those ashes came the hope of something new. A peaceful atom, one that would provide us with clean energy.”

  “Nuclear power!” a man in the back shouted as if on a game show.

  “Yes. Nuclear power. The United States and many other nations embraced this new energy source. For more than sixty years, we have lived with these generating stations humming on our doorsteps. Palo Verde just outside of Phoenix has three such reactors.”

  “Don’t they power down in an emergency?” a voice on the left piped up.

  “Yes.” She nodded. Fear crackled in the air. “But the spent fuel rods are stored in pools of water. Water that will evaporate then boil off, leaving the rods to burn freely and pollute our atmosphere with radiation.”

  A woman in red fainted. Hands lifted her until a burly man carried her away.

  “But we’re safe here. Phoenix is nearly a hundred miles away.”

  Heads nodded.

  Mavis sighed. Now she had to shatter their illusions, destroy what for many of them had become a sanctuary. “These hills are filled with metal and might protect you a little. But we’re not looking at the meltdown of just Palo Verde, but the thousands around the globe. There is no one left to man the cooling pools, to keep the rods covered.”

  She waited for her words to blanket the crowd, to smother their hope.

  “It took seven days for the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl to circle the globe. Eleven days for the radiation to reach Los Angeles from Fukishima.” She hit them with the stuff of nightmares. “And we don’t know how long the Chinese reactors have been abandoned, but I can tell you that the Japanese have abandoned their homeland. Boats are heading for Australia, planes landed on the west coast hours ago and are now moving to safe havens in the mountains.”

  “Safe havens?” Men and women grabbed onto the lifeline.

  “Mines. We’re going to live underground for the next hundred years.”

  “A hundred years.” The crowd collapsed against each other, unable to bear the burden of truth.

  Brother Bob shuffled onto the stage. His skin resembled ash. “What if we stay.”

  “The rods will burn for years and eventually the plume will reach you.” Mavis faced him. This man, his followers would march with into Hell. If he believed her, then there was a chance they would join her and the soldiers. And, God help her, she’d love to rub Trent Powers’ nose in the cloth of a true preacher. “We’ve given you iodine pills to stop your thyroid from absorbing the iodine isotopes.”

  Brother Bob nodded. “We have taken them as directed.”<
br />
  “The trouble comes from the Strontium and Plutonium isotopes. Our bodies will confuse them with Calcium and iron. Some will settle in our bones, giving us and our children and our grandchildren leukemia. Others will accumulate in our lungs and liver, giving us cancer.”

  Sadness filled Brother Bob’s brown eyes. “Given the current state of our health care system, neither will be treatable.”

  Or survivable.

  “If we band together, like you have here, helping our neighbors, the strong taking care of the weak, sharing what we have, then we all can survive this.”

  Mavis stuffed the facts and figures she’d memorized inside her head. No one needed to know that Plutonium had a half life of twenty-four thousand years. None of them would live that long.

  “I’ve said my piece.” She held out her hand to Brother Bob. “We’ll wait for an hour. If you don’t show, then I wish you luck.”

  Brother Bob grasped her hand and squeezed lightly.

  “And if we don’t show, then I hope you’ll all pray we succeed.”

  Amens chorused around the room.

  She tugged her hand free, strode off the stage and out the side door.

  David caught up with her as she hit the main sidewalk. “You’ve got the makings of a fine preacher, Doctor Spanner.”

  “No thank you.”

  Sally dodged around her and opened the back door of the Humvee. “Do you think they’ll come?”

  David shifted the vehicle into gear and backed out of the parking lot.

  Mavis rested her forehead against the cold glass. Her breath fogged the view, blotting out the sight of children playing. “We’ll find out in an hour.”

  Chapter Thirty

  The shotgun barrel tapped Audra’s temple. She flinched as the pain skittered across her scalp. “You don’t have to do this. We’re cooperating.”

  At least two dozen men in various shades of black swarmed the buses. Rifles, shotguns and handguns directed the evacuation of the people. Ball caps covered their hair; dark blue and black handkerchiefs masked their noses and mouths. Mirrored sunglasses hid their eyes. A few wore gloves; most had bare, chapped hands.

  Someone behind her slammed a bat against the back of her knees.

  Audra’s legs folded. The pavement rose up to meet her and she dropped her hands to catch herself. She hit the drift of snow on the side of the road first. Then pebbles dug into her flesh through her jeans. She hissed at the assault.

  “Shut up.” The gun locked on her temple and a hand sunk into her hair and yanked.

  Tears blurred her vision as the burn lit fire to her head. She raised her hands, reaching for the person’s hold. Metal knocked her away.

  “Leave her alone!” Eddie pushed Stuart away from where he carried him and stalked toward her.

  Stepping forward, a bulky man with a camouflage handkerchief swung for home. His bat collided with Eddie’s stomach.

  Eddie doubled over with an oomf. Red flooded his face and he went down on his knees, catching himself with one hand.

  The man raised his bat again.

  “Don’t!” Audra begged. “He’ll behave.”

  Spittle dripped from his open mouth before Eddie dragged in a deep breath. His gaze locked with hers.

  Please, she mouthed. Please.

  Rage flared in his eyes. Nodding, he sucked down another lungful.

  The man with the bat lowered it to his muscular shoulder. Biceps and triceps played under the tight long sleeved teeshirt. “Don’t play hero again, boy.”

  Thank God. Audra sank onto her heels. Sleet pattered around her. The snow melted under her knees.

  The man with the bat hauled back his leg and kicked Eddie in the side. Bone crunched upon impact. “I can’t hear you, boy.”

  The attack pushed Eddie to his side. He coughed again and clutched his ribs.

  Oh God, Eddie! Audra’s nails burrowed into her palms.

  “Stop it!” She rose up on her knees. “You don’t have to hurt him. You don’t have to hurt anyone. We’re cooperating.”

  Despite the hand holding her, she jerked her chin toward the emptying buses. Her friends and family were at risk all because of her. She should have been paying better attention. She should have seen the spikes on the road.

  Stuart flattened his hand against his stomach and tried to straighten. “That’s right. We’re doing as you ask.”

  The thug with the bat raised it until it shoved up Stuart’s chin. “You gonna be a hero too?”

  Stuart swallowed hard then let loose of his bowels. The dark stain oozed down his slacks and crept out his shoes.

  The thug burst out laughing. “You’re smarter than your girlfriend there,” he pointed to Eddie, “to be scared shitless of me. Now sit on the bitch and shit again.”

  “W-what?” Stuart stumbled backward.

  The leader swept Stuart’s legs out from under him. Stuart landed half on Eddie, half on the ground. Eddie coughed again.

  Audra bit her lip. Why were they doing this? Hadn’t they done as they’d been ordered?

  “That’s it, pretty boy.” The leader goaded. “Now sit on your girlfriend.”

  Stuart squeezed his eyes closed and gripped his stomach.

  “Move your ass, or I’ll have my men shoot off your balls.”

  Stuart shifted until he sat on Eddie’s behind.

  The thug leader hefted the bat on his shoulder and swaggered forward. “Watch this.” He circled the pair once then shoved his face into Stuart’s. “Boo!”

  Stuart evacuated his bowels. Eddie’s lips thinned.

  The man’s party of thugs hooted. One clapped. In the distance, two children cried.

  When the grip on her hair loosened, Audra jerked her head free but didn’t crawl forward. She shoved aside the pain. So what if she got a few bald patches. She had to get her people out of this mess. “He’s sick, you idiots. He has anthrax. They all do.”

  She pointed to the Flatulent Fifteen, each wrapped up in their own pain and humiliation of disobedient bowels. Mrs. Rodriquez knelt about ten feet away from them, unable to help.

  The leader with the bat stomped closer. “I’m getting a little sick of hearing your mouth, girlie.”

  Audra glared at him. “Do you want to be like them? Do you want to catch the anthrax?”

  “We heard that woman’s warning.” He thumped the bat against his palm. Her image cowered in his mirrored lenses. “Anthrax isn’t contagious.”

  “That’s the inhalation kind. This is the gastrointestinal kind. We started out with only one sick this morning and now we have fifteen.” She lied. Maybe if the jerk thought they were contagious they’d be able to go on their way.

  The leader tapped the bat against the asphalt and squatted in front of her. His fingers dug into her cheek when he gripped her jaw. “I’m gonna enjoy showing you other things to do with your mouth.”

  “You most certainly—” She ended in a whimper of pain.

  He clamped down pushing soft tissue against jagged teeth, cutting off her words. “Shut up, bitch.”

  Over the thug leader’s shoulder, she watched Eddie half rise from the road. Stay still. Please. She pleaded with her eyes.

  “That’s better.” He threw off his grip.

  The quick jerk to the side heated her neck and base of her skull. She worked her jaw to check for any permanent damage. Thank God he hadn’t dislocated it. She swallowed the metallic taste of blood.

  Eddie focused on her.

  “I’ve found my bitch.” The thug smacked her cheek then fisted her jacket front and pulled her to her feet.

  She gasped for air as her toes brushed the ground and his knuckles pressed against her throat.

  “Pick your women, men.” Metal jingled then cold steel encircled her wrist.

  Her stomach emptied into her throat as the handcuffs joined both hands. She swallowed the dregs of her breakfast. The jerk deserved to be vomited on, but somehow she knew Eddie would suffer for it.

  “Missus S!�
�� Oscar called out in a reedy voice.

  Audra step forward. Her arms were pulled back and aches radiated from her sockets. “It’s okay Oscar. I’m okay.”

  Jerking her hard against his wide chest, the head thug turned toward the boy. “My you have a lot of friends.”

  Oscar skidded on the snow but caught himself before he fell. “Don’t take her.”

  Faye Eichmann jogged behind Oscar. Ropes of pearls and chunks of diamonds glistened in her hand. “We can pay. Take it. All of it. Just let us pass in peace. All of us.”

  The head thug shoved Audra’s shoulders.

  Her knee twisted from the torque. Joints popped and her leg collapsed. She tried to catch herself, but the handcuffs hampered her movement. Rocks scraped her palms as they rolled out from under her. She landed on her elbow then her shoulder. The impact rattled out her head. She closed her eyes least they popped out.

  “I don’t want your jewelry, you stupid bitch.”

  Something hit the ground near her head. The jewelry most likely. God bless Faye for trying.

  “Now get back or I’ll kill you.”

  “Take me instead of her.”

  Audra’s eyes popped open. Mom! “No!”

  Jacqueline Silvestre planted herself in front of Oscar and Faye.

  “I don’t want an old, worn out hag.” The man reached down and grabbed Audra by the hair. “I want someone young enough to train but old enough to have a couple of bad habits I can enjoy breaking.”

  Her neck arched, crackled down her vertebrae. Bitterness coated her tongue. “It’s alright.” Audra caught her mother’s pale eyes. “I’ll go with them.”

  He bent down and shoved his face in hers. “You think you have a choice?”

  No. She knew the status quo. But eventually it would change and she would take advantage of it. Instead of answering she raised her chin.

  “I’m gonna have a lot of fun with you.” Without releasing her hair, he glanced up. “Men take your women and line ‘em up. As soon as we take care of this, the sooner we can party.”

  Feminine cries rippled through the group. Tina the Teacher’s Assistant was shoved to the ground next to her. Becky the high school student joined her. Two more girls that Audra didn’t know followed. Fear widened their eyes. They all looked to her, begged her to do something. Anything.