At the gate, we stopped as Sharon stepped in front of us with both hands on her hips. Pops just laughed and threw his door open. She jumped into the back seat with him and tried her best to look angry.
“You’re not going anywhere without your attending physician, mister.”
I made the sound of a whip snapping with my mouth, ignoring Pops’ glare and put the truck back into gear. We traveled the distance from the castle to Academy Avenue, making a wide circle around the destroyed portion of the driveway by going off-road. Upon our arrival at the gate, we saw just the one man. He was leaning against a sagging fence post wearing an army uniform and a pair of sunglasses. He heard us approach and stood straight. I noted he had no visible weapons, but I racked the action on my rifle before stepping out anyway.
I stood to the side where I could keep an eye on the man and still be close enough to hear what was said. Pops, Sharon and the Major approached him.
“I think I recognize you, soldier,” the Major said. “Aren’t you the crazy non-com that put his body between his own soldiers and a herd of attacking Ragers that day?”
The soldier smiled and shrugged. “It was the only thing I could think to do at the time.” He held out his hand. “My name is Barrett. I offer you my hand, but I will understand if you don’t want to shake it.”
Pops and the Major shared a look; then the Major took the man’s hand. “I’ll shake it as one soldier to another.” He paused and took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before expelling it. “You must have known that we monitor this location so I assume you have something to discuss?”
“I do.” He slid the cap from his head and scratched at his scalp. “I don’t know how I could ever explain to you people how I became a part of what we were doing. I won’t even try right now, but we might have an occasion to get together later on under better circumstances. For now, just suffice it to say that the man who used to lead us is dead. I’m ramrodding the soldiers now, and another man is heading up what remains of the Mojado gang.” He put the hat back on and continued. “As for us soldiers, we violated our oaths to protect the people of this country. We recognize that. From here on, we are setting out to resurrect what is left of our pride and our honor. The new leader of the Mojados says he’s doing the same thing. No more senseless killing, no rapes no lawlessness. You have my word on that.”
I snorted. “Your word? Maybe I can take your word back to the graves of our dead friends. That should make everything okay.”
Barrett hung his head for a brief moment then looked me squarely in the eye. “Son, you’re right to hate me. I could have stopped this whole thing before it went too far. Thing is, a soldier has to think long and hard before killing a person he has followed for so long. I don’t expect you to understand this, but we didn’t start out this way. We fought our way back from the Middle East, and we did our duty to help the survivors. The whole slide into being outlaws happened so gradually that I, for one, didn’t really notice it until it was too late.” He sighed loudly and folded his arms over his chest, still holding my gaze.
“So, what now? Pops asked. “Your people are still out there. Are you telling us that they’ll all follow you into doing the right thing? Just like that, they change from marauders to civil servants?” He snapped his fingers.
Barrett shifted his eyes to Pops. “Well, sir…We weeded out the ones we couldn’t trust and sent them on their way. They’ve been told what will happen to them if they ever come back this way.” Barrett smiled slightly. “The rest of us, well, we’re going to do our best. We like the idea of being back on the right side of things in this new world. The infected in the town have mostly died off now. That has left us with a lot of work to do if we want to have a life that even approaches what we had before. We’re willing to pitch in and do our part. We’re also willing to protect citizens from the criminal element which we all know is still out there.”
I started to offer him a stinging reply, but the Major stopped me with a look. He turned back to the soldier and nodded. “I’ll be blunt; you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you to make up for what you’ve done. We’ll be watching you. We hope to see you living up to the new standards you’ve set for yourselves.”
The sergeant cocked his head slightly as he studied the Major’s face. “You’re the one who called the shots up there, aren’t you?”
The Major only nodded.
Barrett smiled. “You outmaneuvered us at every turn, sir. I’m guessing you’re at least a Captain?”
“Major Robert Morrison, U.S. Army,” was his reply.
Barrett nodded. “Well Major, I’m just a non-com. Me and my people are trying to turn things around under difficult circumstances. We’re doing the best we can, but we could use an honest-to-goodness officer to help us out along the way. You might want to give that some consideration over the next few months.”
The two men regarded each other evenly for a long moment. Finally, the Major nodded. “I’ll think it over.”
Barrett smiled again. “Well…got a lot of work waiting on me. I hope to meet you all again under better circumstances.” He turned to the Major and came to attention. “Sir.” The sergeant executed a salute.
The Major didn’t hesitate to return it.
The soldier then turned and started walking down Academy Avenue.
Back in the truck, I started driving us up the hill, but I had to ask the question. “Major, are you really thinking about helping those people out? Actually working with them?”
“I think so,” he replied. “If they demonstrate that they are sincere about reforming themselves then…yeah, I think I would do that. If they don’t have some solid direction, they might slide back into their old ways.”
I just shook my head. Pops saw it and leaned forward from the back seat to speak to me.
“Everything is different now, Virgil. The old rules no longer apply. Revenge and retribution are useless to us. The overriding responsibility we have right now is to re-establish civilization. There’s much work to be done, and if old enemies turn out to be new allies, then we must accept that and welcome their help.”
Chapter 32
Back at the mansion, I looked around for Pepper but couldn’t find her. I finally caught sight of Dwayne working on one of the helo drones and asked him.
“She’s out behind the compound,” he said while pointing in the direction of the rear gate.
We had set up a cemetery about three hundred yards from the gate. I walked through the grass and dirt until I found Pepper and her mother, Toni, standing in front of a simple wooden cross stuck in the ground. Fresh-turned earth was evidence of a new grave. I walked up as silently as I could, not wanting to intrude on their sorrow. Pepper heard me and gestured with her head for me to join them, so I stepped forward and took her hand. It was trembling.
We all stayed silent for several minutes. I noticed Toni was holding a small bunch of blue and pink flowers she had picked from the surrounding landscape. Her eyes were shut, and her lips moved as she prayed a silent prayer. Pepper’s shoulders shook as she quietly sobbed.
Next to the grave with the big cross were several more. I knew one held the remains of sad little Mona because I was the one who dug the hole and laid her inside. My mind went to the manner in which she had come into our lives and how quickly she had left us. I prayed we had given the little girl a bit of happiness and friendship, things she had never had much of in her life.
There were many other graves laid out in two lines. So many people sacrificed for nothing more than the desire by some to dominate and victimize others. As I stood there silently beside Pepper and tried to make sense of it all, I concluded that it had always been that way and would ever be so. Human history is little more than a written legacy of one war after another stretching back even into biblical times.
As Toni bent forward and lovingly placed her flowers on Dr. Johnson’s grave, it occurred to me that this whole thing, our fight for survival, wasn’t over yet. Our old enemies
might very well become our allies, but there were others out there. Groups and gangs that would feel emboldened at the crash of civilization and allow their true natures to emerge. The strong would again prey on the weak. It was our nature.
I wondered if we would be ready.
Virgil's War- The Diseased World Page 51
