The day after: An apocalyptic morning

by Jessy Cruise

  Brandy looked at the rifle barrels pointing at her. There were five of them, three aimed at her head, two at her body. She knew that if she pulled the trigger on her own weapon that she would be dead before Madeline's body even hit the ground. But would it be worth it? Would it be fitting for her to die defending her leader?

  She thought not. Her finger came off the trigger and the barrel slowly lowered so it was pointing at the ground. Another sigh of relief came through the crowd.

  "Cassie, Lynn," said Madeline. "Take her into custody. Hold her out here until we're done inside."

  "Right," agreed two of the women with her. They moved up and stripped Brandy of all of her weapons and her radio. She didn't protest.

  Madeline helped herself to Brandy's sidearm - a 9mm Glock. She checked to make sure a round was in the chamber and then held it in her right hand. "The rest of you," she said to her group, "follow me. We're going inside."

  As the crowd watched in anticipation, Madeline marched up the steps, her followers in tow. They entered the school building and moved across the lower office area, their feet squeaking over the tiled surface. Several workers - both of the Madeline and the Jessica clique (the former clique mopping and cleaning, the latter doing meaningless office tasks) stared at them fearfully as they went by, all cognizant that a historical event was taking place. They moved up the staircase to the luxury offices of the principal and vice-principal, where Barnes had once made his quarters, where Jessica now did. Alice sat at her desk in the outer office. She looked as if she was expecting them. She hardly even glanced at the gun in Madeline's hand.

  "Is she in the office or the bedroom?" Madeline asked Alice.

  "In the office," Alice told her without hesitation. "She's alone."

  "I see," Madeline said. "And whose side are you on, Alice? You've been her assistant since the revolution."

  "You know whose side I'm on," she told her.

  Madeline nodded, smiling a little. Yes, she did know whose side Alice was on. It had been Alice who had been providing her with information about Jessica's drinking and partying habits the entire time. It had been Alice who had described, in horrified disgust, the events involving Greg Rollins the other night. "I do," she said to her now. "I just wanted everyone else to hear it. Is the office locked?"

  "It's open," Alice said. "She's pretty drunk. She drank bloody Marys all morning. She just switched to screwdrivers about a half hour ago."

  "Thanks, Alice," Madeline said. She walked forward, heading for the office door. Her group tagged behind her, staying about five feet back. Keeping the gun down alongside her right hip, she put her left hand on the door and slowly opened it.

  The office was neat but smelled strongly of stale sweat and alcohol fumes. Jessica sat behind her desk, a pile of paperwork scattered before her. A bottle of Popov vodka sat on the corner of the desk next to a bucket of ice and a half-gallon pitcher of orange juice. On the opposite corner sat a clear cocktail glass. The mixture inside of it was very pale, almost transparent. Jessica looked up at the intrusion, her bloodshot eyes taking in her visitor. Alarm showed on her face and she began to reach for the walkie-talkie.

  "It won't do you any good," Madeline told her, stepping into the room. She kept the gun pointed downward, alongside her leg, in a non-threatening though clearly visible position. "The guards outside are mostly in favor of my presence here. Those that aren't have been removed or will be shortly."

  "Alice!" Jessica yelled, the alarm in her face growing deeper.

  "Alice is with us as well," Madeline said, stepping closer. Behind her, the other women entered the room, filing in one by one and forming up near the back wall.

  "What do you think you're doing?" Jessica said, the alarm changing to fury. Her words however, were quite slurred as she spoke.

  "We are removing you from power," Madeline said. "You will be taken into custody pending a community-wide assembly in which your fate will be discussed."

  "You can't do that," she said. "How dare you come in here and..."

  "I am doing this," Madeline said. "In the interests of town safety, I am removing you from office and resuming my duties as security chief. I will assume command of the town until such time as we can elect a more suitable leader than yourself."

  "Guards!" Jessica screamed. "Get in here! Get these bitches out of my office!"

  "You can scream all you want, Jess," Madeline said. "But you will stand up right now and accompany me downstairs. We will meet tonight and discuss your fate and your future place in this town."

  "Get out of my office," she hissed, venom in her eyes. "I am the leader of this town and you can not just come in here and tell me you're taking over. I was elected to lead these people and I will lead them as I see fit!"

  "Consider this a recall vote then," Madeline said, taking a step closer. "Now stand up."

  "You can't do this!" she screamed. "You'll hang for this! Even worse, you'll burn for this! I'll do to you what we did to that asshole Barnes, do you understand me? Guards! Get in here!"

  Madeline said nothing, she just continued to stare. The women behind her did the same. No guards entered the room.

  "Guards!" Jessica screamed again.

  "Stand up, Jess," Madeline said. "It's time to go."

  "I won't go!" she yelled. "Do you hear me, you little bitch? This is my town! Mine! Nobody is going to take me away from it! NO ONE!"

  Madeline raised her gun up and pointed it at her. "Stand up," she repeated.

  Jessica actually trembled in place for a moment as she stared at the weapon being pointed at her. "This isn't over," she said. "I'll talk to them tonight. I'll convince them. I'll see you burn for this, you little cunt!"

  "You'll be given a chance to speak," Madeline assured her. "Now stand up. Don't make this go any harder than it has to."

  At last, Jessica stood up. Holstered to her right hip was a .40 caliber pistol. She made no move towards it.

  Madeline stood aside, continuing to point the gun at her. "Disarm her, search her, and take her downstairs," she said to the other women. "Keep her under guard until tonight."

  Jessica offered no physical resistance as she was disarmed and searched (a .25 caliber pistol was found in a small holster on her ankle). What she did do was threaten every single woman in the room by name, telling each of them that they would burn or hang or be exiled or be cast into a room alone and naked with the remaining men. The women exhibited remarkable restraint in the face of these threats. Not a single one struck her or handled her roughly or even spoke back to her. Finally, still ranting and raving (and stumbling - the vodka had made her unsteady on her feet), she was led away, down the staircase, past the other workers in the building, and into a locked storage room. Two armed guards from outside took up position outside the door.

  "What now?" asked Kathy, who had found her way inside at some point.

  "Now," said Madeline, who was still holding the Glock in her right hand, "I have to get control of the guard force."

  "The guard force?" she asked.

  "The guard force," she confirmed. "Remember that most of them are Jessica loyalists now. They may not be competent, but they have control of a good number of our automatic weapons. If they decide to fight for her, we could have problems."

  "Oh..." Kathy said slowly. She hadn't thought about that. "How are you going to do it?"

  "Quickly," she said. "Very quickly. Before the rumors have a chance to work their way out there."

  Madeline rapidly found all of the former guard members that had been removed from their positions by Jessica. Since most of them were part of the crowd that had gathered, it was not too daunting of a task. She led them to the armory and distributed weapons to them, giving each a pistol and an automatic rifle. She divided them into teams and gave each team leader a radio. As they loaded and checked their weapons she explained to them how they were going to do it. There were no questions.

  "Let's get it done then," she said, shouldering her own M-16.


  They fanned out in groups of two and three, each group heading for one of the guard posts. Madeline went to the nearest post - that of the bridge approach - driving there with her two teammates in a panel truck that was normally used for wood gathering. Jessica's replacement leader - who was in custody at the moment - was not in the habit of keeping accurate rosters of who was on duty at any given moment. As a result, Madeline had no idea who she was going to find out there or even how many. When she was in charge she had staffed the bridge approach with three women but it was entirely possible that someone had a hangover or was planning on attending a party tonight and had therefore no-showed.

  Madeline hung back until she was sure that all of her other teams were in position. She then told Annie Groton, the driver, to move across the bridge. It took them less than two minutes before they were parked below the hill that guarded this part of town.

  "Remember the plan," Maddie told her people as they exited the panel truck and began climbing up the hill towards the overlook.

  They were challenged before they could make it more than a hundred feet. A group of people packing automatic weapons tended to alarm those on guard duty, competent or not. Madeline, listening in on the guard frequency with a portable radio, heard Lorene Morgan - one of Jessica's appointees - trying to call in for assistance.

  "Base, are you there?" she cried, her voice scared. "There are a group of women led by Maddie coming up the hill right now. They have guns! Did you send them out here? What's going on?"

  "Base, position three here," said another voice on the frequency. "I have a group of four women with guns approaching my position. What's going on?"

  Two other positions quickly radioed in as well, in both cases the voices belonging to Jessica loyalists.

  "This is Maddie," Madeline said into the radio as she and her team continued to walk upward. "I'm addressing all guard positions, all guards, so listen up. Jessica Blakely has been forcibly removed as leader of this community. The charges are gross incompetence, dereliction of duty, and abuse of power. There will be a community meeting tonight in the high school football stadium, at which point her fate will be decided by a popular vote of all town women. She will be given the opportunity to defend herself before you all.

  "In the meantime, I'm assuming command of the guard force. Now you can debate my actions tonight at the community meeting and I will follow whatever the popular opinion is. For the time being however, I'm in charge of you all and I expect you to follow my orders. And here they are: All guards currently on duty who have not - I repeat not been through the training course that I gave after the revolution - put down your firearms right now and go back to town. You will be replaced by other guards that were removed from the detail by Jessica for reasons other than incompetence of duty. If you do as I say without resistance, you will not be persecuted or punished in any way for your actions. If you do not do as I say, then I will order your removal by force if necessary.

  "As for the rest of you, those that have gone through my training course - I will ask you to make a choice at this time. If you are willing to follow my orders until such time as I am officially removed from the position of guard leader, than you may stay at your posts. If you feel that you are unwilling to work under my rules - and all of you have experienced my rules before - then I ask you to do as the untrained guards and surrender your weapons right now. As with them, if you do this, you will not be punished or persecuted.

  "Now, I imagine many of you out there that are friends of Jessica are asking yourselves why you should do as I command. Jessica removed me from my position a few days ago and I have no authority under her rule to command any of you. What I will say in response to this is that while I am not acting with Jessica's consent, I am acting with the consent of the majority of the town. I'm talking about the common women, those that never had a chance to talk to Jessica, that sat in the background while she reigned, that were not within her circle of friends as many of you are. I will say that this group I represent makes up the majority of this town and that they applaud my actions. Resistance to them would not be a good way of remaining in their graces. Coming up to your positions right now are armed women that are loyal to me. They will take over the duties and take possession of the weapons of those of you that no longer wish to remain on the detail. They will assume these positions by force if necessary. Let's try not to make it necessary."

  Madeline took a deep breath, keeping the radio keyed up. "Ladies, whether you were close to Jessica or not, you have to know that she is not fit to lead this town. You also have to know that the guard force, in it's current condition, does not have a hope in hell of defeating the men when they return. And those men will be here any time now - they could be marching towards the last hill right now. Let's not fight among ourselves and lose this town to them. Those of you who do not belong on the detail, do us a favor and drop your weapons peacefully. Those of you who were Jessica's patrons, either do the same or remain at your posts. Let the town decide what to do with me and what to do with Jessica.

  "That's all I have to say. My people are heading to your posts. If you shoot at them or try to stop them, they will shoot back."

  With that, Madeline put the radio back on her belt. No transmission came over it, either in support of her or against her. She and her team continued walking up the hill to the guard bunker. They could have been picked off at any time, but they weren't. When they got up there they found Lorene Morgan standing next to Hope Chadwick. Their hands were empty and their rifles were resting at the bottom of the trench.

  "I'm glad you chose the right path," Madeline told them, holding out her hand for their sidearms.

  They both handed them over while the two real guards picked up their rifles. "I don't like this, Maddie," Lorene said. "I don't like this at all. I'm going to vote for the harshest penalty for you tonight."

  "Me too," Hope said. "I only dropped my gun because I didn't want to get in a gunfight."

  "Vote any way you like," Madeline told them. "That's what democracy is all about, isn't it? But why don't you ask yourselves a question before you cast that vote? Why don't you ask yourself if you're mad about me removing Jessica because you think she's a great leader or because you know that you're going to lose your special privileges and be treated just like everyone else?"

  "Fuck you," Hope said, turning away. She started down the hill.

  "I'm voting to hang you," Lorene told her. She started after her companion.

  Madeline watched them go, not even pretending to have hurt feelings from their words, not even pretending to worry. "It's a bummer when your friend in high places goes to jail, isn't it?" she said. She turned to her guards. "You two have the watch until you're relieved. Thank you for standing with me."

  "There was never any question," she was told.

  Of the Jessica loyalists that had been trained by Madeline, six of them chose to remain at post under Madeline's rules and three elected to drop their weapons and leave the security detail. None of them tried to fight her forces, perhaps more out of the realization that they would eventually be tried and convicted of treason then out of fear of losing the battle. Of the untrained replacements, twelve of them surrendered their weapons peacefully but the remaining two, both at the same guard position - position five, which overlooked the main approach to the town and was staffed by six people - vowed that they would fight. A struggle ensued with the other four guards on duty there long before Madeline's people came up the hill. One of them - Kelly Cordova, a closet lesbian who was secretly in love with Jessica - was shot and killed. The other - Diana Scott, Kelly's best friend - was wrestled to the ground and taken into custody.

  An hour after Jessica was seized in the high school building, Madeline was firmly in control of the town and all of its automatic weapons. By two hours after, the entire town had been informed that a mass meeting would take place that night at the high school stadium.

  As Madeline had known it would be, the official vote removing
Jessica from power was so overwhelming that it did not even require a count, not even with the two-thirds majority rule in effect. Jessica herself was given the opportunity to speak on her own behalf but, if anything, she only worsened her own position with her rants and accusations, with her frequent tirades about Auburn being her town.

  Having removed her from power, the town was left with the decision of what to do with her next. Should they exile her? Should they imprison her? Should they execute her? Should they reassign her to some unpleasant job and keep a close eye on her? And what of her close companions? Those that had stood beside her even after Madeline took steps to rectify the situation? What of them?

  It was Kathy, the unofficial leader of the town's silent majority, who was able to convince most of the women where their best interests lie. She nervously took the podium after the debate had raged without agreement for more than an hour. "A lot of you out there," she told the women, "seem to be hung up on the fact that Jessica was the driving force behind the revolution that freed us from the slavery we had under the men. This is true. She did do that and for that we will be eternally grateful to her. She was able to organize us and empower us to strike out when the odds favored us the most. It is entirely possible that, without her influence upon us, we would, at this moment, still be living as we were: playthings, slaves, human beings without rights.

  "However, Jessica's actions prior to the revolution should not be considered now as we judge her actions after the revolution. Nor should we base our decision wholly on the crimes she has committed to date. What we must do is consider whether this person is dangerous to this community and may be dangerous to us again in the future if allowed to walk among us.

  "Jessica is a very charming, very persuasive person - her speech earlier tonight not withstanding. She has a gift for pulling others to her side, for enlisting the aid of the weaker among us, for riling up sensitivities. This gift was a blessing in our darkest hour. It is a loaded weapon now that that hour has passed.

  "If she were allowed to stay here, I have no doubt that she would eventually amass another following. I have no doubt that she would constantly strive to place herself back in power. I do have doubts about this community's ability to indefinitely resist her poisonous charms. For this reason she is a danger to us and will always be a danger to us. You have seen what happens when someone such as her is able to empower themselves.