“My name is Sam. He takes care of me. I don’t have nobody else. Is he going to die?”
She didn’t know. Riley told her what happened, and that he couldn’t leave him there like that, still alive and bleeding, and he couldn’t kill him. She didn’t know if she could have either. The kid was still staring at her, eyes shining wetly, and she felt for this little boy. She crouched in front of him, wrapping her arms around the kid, and told him that Ella and the rest of the doctors here were really good, and about how they saved her friend’s father the way they did, so she was pretty sure they’ll be able to save Trevor too.
A small-boned woman came in and told Sam that he needed to go back now and that she’ll bring him again tomorrow. She helped him up and smiled at him, telling him that it’ll be okay, that she’ll watch Trevor for him while he was gone.
She finally made herself look at him. He was breathing on his own, but he had tubes in his arm, translucent liquid dripping into his veins. She saw blood seeping through the bandage around his head, staining it red, and she didn’t think it was supposed to do that, so she got the nurse to look at it, and she had to leave the room for a few minutes after that while the woman changed it.
She went downstairs to get some water and when she got back, Riley was standing in the hallway, leaning on the wall. He looked at her strangely, surprise or fear in his large eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
He seemed angry at her for some reason. She didn’t know exactly why she came, only she felt she had to after all that Riley told her. She’d been wanting this man dead for so long, but now, after he tried to do it himself like that, she felt bad for it.
She felt Riley’s hand on her shoulder, eyes still glued to hers.
“Were you going to finish him off?” he asked in a strangely cold voice.
She winced at the thought of it, at Riley thinking that of her. She tried to twist away from his grasp, but he wouldn’t let go.
“Please, let go of me, Riley,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
He did, and dropped his head, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I thought … I didn’t expect to see you here, is all. You don’t have to tell me,” and he walked away from her.
She stayed with Trevor for an hour each day, waiting for something to change, for him to open his eyes, only he never did. Riley told her after a few days of this that he spoke to him, and she knew then that Trevor was hiding from her, couldn’t talk to her or look at her, and she stopped going to see him after that.
He told Riley that he wanted them to convene the council; that he wanted them to do what they normally did as soon as he was well enough to stand it. The others still hadn’t come back, and it was putting everyone on edge. She could see the worry on all of them. Because it would only be the three of them on the council, and they all knew what happened already, she was okay with letting them do it their way. She just needed for it to be over.
She watched as Max, Lancer and Riley took their seats at the long table at the front of the small, almost round room that served as council chambers. They had her sit off to the side, so she could see everybody, she guessed, and a young man in a guard’s uniform stood next to Trevor, opposite the council. Riley told her earlier that she likely wouldn’t have to talk, not unless Trevor denied anything, and he didn’t think he would. She was there because it was customary for the accuser to be present, and because Trevor asked for her to be there, but she could leave at any time, if she needed to.
Trevor didn’t look at her once, just stood there, hands bound in front of him, looking at the men. The guard kept his hand on his arm, as if to keep him from running. Max stood up, cleared his throat, and said in a quiet, even voice that they were ready to proceed, then looked directly at Trevor and asked him if he required the presence of the guard or if they could trust him not to be any trouble.
“I won’t be any trouble,” Trevor said, and Max dismissed the guard.
Max did it for her, so that nobody else would know, and she smiled at him, thanking him silently for protecting her like that, but he wasn’t looking at her, his eyes trained on Trevor’s face.
“We’ve all been briefed on what you did. You’ve read the charges in front of you. Do you deny any of them?” Max asked.
“No, sir.”
“Do you have anything you’d like to add? Anything that would mitigate the heinous nature of your crime?”
“No.”
“You asked to convene this council, Trevor. Usually when people do that, they have something to say in their defense, something that would maybe mitigate their sentence. I suggest you take a moment to think about it.” Max sat down, leaning against the back of the chair, his face emotionless.
Riley stood up, his eyes on Trevor’s. “Tell them what you told me. You have to. We wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t think you’d at least try to defend yourself. We wouldn’t have needed you here for this. Bloody tell them! Nobody here is going to judge you for that.” He sounded angry when he said it.
Trevor shook his head at him and then said very quietly, his voice steady, “I can’t, Riley. She deserves some kind of justice. I asked for this council because I want to give it to her. There isn’t anything I can say that would lessen what I did to her. I know that. I’ve always known that. Please, don’t make it any harder on her by letting this drag on….” He glanced at her finally, one brief look, and averted his eyes.
Riley sat and whispered something to Lancer, something she couldn’t hear. Lancer nodded and they both looked at Max, and he nodded too, letting Lancer take over.
“If you were on this council, Trevor, what sentence would you pass on the accused?” Lancer asked, without getting up.
“I would have him executed, sir,” Trevor said calmly, not taking any time to think about it.
She dropped her eyes, not wanting to look at him, not wanting to look at any of them.
“How old are you?” Lancer’s voice again.
“Nineteen.”
“That would make you fifteen at the time. We don’t consider fifteen year olds adults, and we don’t execute kids, no matter the crime.”
“With respect, sir, I am an adult now. You won’t be executing a kid,” Trevor said, his voice rising.
“We can’t execute you for a crime you committed when you were a child, is what I’m saying. We will recess for a few minutes to decide your sentence and you will then accept whatever punishment this Council finds fair and just. Is that understood?”
“It is,” Trevor said, quietly again, and Riley took him out of the room.
She watched him walk back in and approach Max from across the table.
“I know what he did was unforgivable, Max, I think we all do, but he isn’t that person anymore. You have to see that. He tried to take his own life for what he did to her. That should be enough to tell you that he isn’t a danger to anyone anymore, less himself maybe,” he said sharply.
Max just nodded and then asked Lancer to tell him what the harshest sentence they ever had to give someone before was. Lancer had a few screens in front of him and it took him a few minutes to find the information Max was asking for.
“Thirty lashes. The man beat his wife. We made it public for him. He is still here, only the woman left him, I think.”
Max looked at her then for the first time since this started. “Will you be satisfied if we give him sixty lashes? We’ll do it here, so this whole thing remains a closed proceeding, and then we will never speak of it again. That’s how it works. We won’t be able to banish him. Frankly, I’d rather do that, but he has this little boy who loves him, and it would hurt the kid.”
She didn’t know what it meant, never saw anybody lashed, but it sounded like a lot, and she wasn’t sure he could take it, that he was strong enough yet. She told him that, Riley agreeing with her, snapping at Max angrily that it was too many. That he, of all people, should know that. Max wouldn’t budge.
It was left to Lancer to decide, and they’d all have to live w
ith it. Lancer took a long time, chewing on his bottom lip, his thin fingers tapping on the table. “I’m okay with it, if he thinks he is strong enough. What I’m saying is, we should ask him if he thinks he can take it without dying on us. Otherwise we’ll be executing him just the same,” he finally said.
Riley pounded his fist on the table, making her jump. “He’ll tell you he is strong enough to take a thousand! He’ll let you hit him until he dies, and likely won’t make a sound while you are at it, so you won’t even know he is dying on you. How do you not see that? He bloody came in here today wanting you to execute him, and you’re going to rely on him not to lie to you about how much punishment he can take?” He sounded furious at them, and she thought that he was right about this man, so she got up and told Max she was with Riley on this, and they should come up with something else.
Max looked at her softly, and said very quietly that the council’s decisions were final. That it’s just the way it was, and all of them will have to live with it. But since Lancer was still too weak and Riley couldn’t do it, by the looks of it, it’ll have to be him, and he wouldn’t kill that boy. Riley stormed out to get Trevor, looking angrier than she’d ever seen him before, and then Trevor was back with the guard holding him by the arm.
Max rose and put his hands behind his back. “The Council decided on a sentence of sixty lashes to be carried out immediately. It is the harshest sentence we’ve ever given to anyone here, and it will be hard for you to take. Impossible maybe. I need you to tell us honestly if you are strong enough … if you think you’re recovered enough to stand it.”
Trevor didn’t move at all when Max was speaking, his face calm. “I am,” he said in that quiet way he had now, not at all like she remembered him from before, and she saw Riley wince at that, his head going down again.
“Do you have anything you wish to say before we do this?” Max asked, and there was a softness to his voice for the first time when addressing this man.
“Will it be done publicly, sir? I am only asking because if it is, I’d rather Sam wasn’t there for it, please. It wouldn’t be right for him to see it.”
And she could tell from the way he asked this of them that he really loved that little boy. That he would likely rather die than hurt that kid. It made her ache, remembering how he used to beat them, the kids at the warehouse. It didn’t add up for her that this was the same person who did all of that, and she never really believed that people changed all that much.
“No, Trevor. It’ll be done right here. Will you be needing the guard for this?” Max’s voice soft again, gentle.
“I won’t need the guard.”
“Set up a post and tie him up, Kramer, and I’ll need a bucket of iced water. You are free to go after that. Everything you’ve witnessed or heard here today needs to remain with you. Do I have your word on that?” Max asked the guard.
The man nodded, and took Trevor to the side of the room.
She didn’t want to watch what he was doing, didn’t want to watch any of it anymore, but he was doing it for her, and she couldn’t leave. Max came up to her and gently put his hand on her shoulder, telling her that she didn’t have to stay here for this, and she didn’t know how to explain it to him that she did, as much as she didn’t want to. She shook her head and then watched Max walk over to where Trevor was tied to a post, his wrists bound tightly to the wood above his head. His back was bare and she saw a multitude of scars on it, thin white lines criss-crossing his entire back. Max seemed as surprised by it as she was, standing there, staring at the boy’s back for a long time.
“Why didn’t you say something?” Max finally asked.
“They won’t open, sir. They’re from a long time ago, so it didn’t matter to tell you.”
Max looked over at Lancer and Riley, shook his head at them, and tucked the whip he was holding into his belt. “I can’t hit you, Trevor. You look like you’ve been hit your whole life. We’ll think of something else,” he said very quietly, and reached up to untie his hands, only Trevor stopped him, his voice rising for the second time when he spoke.
“You have to, sir. You have to carry out my sentence. I owe her, all of you, so please, do what you decided to do.”
It was a plea, the way he said it, and it made her wish she never told Telan about him, never mentioned what happened to her to anybody. This suddenly felt very wrong. She ran to the table where Riley and Lancer sat, but they wouldn’t even let her speak. Lancer just raised his hand to her, and said very quietly that it’s how it was. She could leave, if she needed to, but that the trial was over, and she had to accept whatever happened, same as the rest of them. She went back to her seat and put her head down for a beat and then looked at Max again. He had the whip out, but his face was tense and he didn’t move to strike him.
Trevor turned his head toward him as much as he could and said, “It doesn’t matter about those scars. Please, sir, carry out my sentence.”
And he did.
She saw a faint pink mark on his back and looked away. Max was counting, and when he got to five, Trevor’s voice stopped him mid-swing, “With respect, if you are too much of a coward to do this, you need to get someone else. You owe her better than this. Please, sir, whatever you may think of me, do not mock me,” he said sharply, his voice breaking.
She looked at Lancer and Riley, but they both had their heads down.
“All right,” Max said in a whisper, and then he was hitting him again, counting from the beginning, only she could hear every strike on Trevor’s back, could hear the whip swishing through the air.
She looked up when Max got to twenty and she could see thin streams of blood on Trevor’s back. It made her stomach clench. Max’s voice was shaky as he counted, but he kept on hitting him hard. Trevor didn’t make any noise at all, his eyes trained on the wall in front of him. She heard him gasp at forty six and Max stopped, asking him in a strained voice if he needed a break. Trevor shook his head, and told him to please finish it. She got up then, couldn’t help herself, and screamed at Max that it was enough, to please stop, but Max ignored her and kept going, counting in a whisper, and she could tell he wasn’t taking any mercy on him even now. Trevor didn’t make a sound after that, but his whole back was raw and bloody when it was over.
Max untied him. Trevor swayed on his feet just once, but Max catching him by the shoulders, steadying him. Trevor was breathing hard, not turning around, his head down. Max poured all the iced water from the bucket the guard brought on his back, turning the trails pink, and told him that they’ll take him to the med floor now, so Ella could minister to him and give him pain meds, only Trevor shook his head, asking him to please not do that, and for somebody to just give him his shirt if he was free to go.
Riley ran to him then, screaming at him, telling him that he didn’t have any kind of choice about it. That he was sufficiently punished and they weren’t going to let him kill himself by bleeding to death, and that he had about as much pain as he could take. Trevor wouldn’t budge, just kept shaking his head at them.
“All right,” Trevor said finally, “you can have someone stitch me up if I need it, but I won’t take anything for the pain. Please, don’t ask me to. I can’t.” His voice was so strained, it made her flinch.
She walked over to him and went around the post, facing him. He wouldn’t look at her, eyes down, the muscles in tight knots in his jaw. Max and Riley walked away, giving her space. She noted that the front of him was all scarred too, as if he was relentlessly whipped his whole life. Everything but his face and arms was marked with those thin lines.
“Please, look at me, Trevor,” she asked as softly as she could.
He lifted his eyes to her quickly dropped them, blanching, embarrassed. She didn’t want to do that to him again.
“I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for what you did, but I don’t hate you for it anymore. I hate the boy you were back then, will always hate him … but you are not that person now. I can see that, we all c
an, I think. Please, just let them help you, let them do what they need to do. Do it for Sam, if you can’t do it for you,” she said quietly, just for him.
He looked at her again, muscles jumping in his jaw. “All right,” he whispered, and dropped his eyes. She let him be then, and nobody else moved or said anything.
Trevor finally faced the men. “Do what you need to do,” he said simply, quietly, and put his hands behind his mangled, still bleeding back.
She left the room after that, wanting to be alone, running through all that happened in her head, and thinking about this strange man with all the scars on him, and how he was. Thinking, too, how she didn’t know anything about him from before, just that she was afraid of him, they all were. But she remembered how skinny he was and how he never seemed to touch much of the food they got. Remembered him pacing around the warehouse whenever one of the little kids got sick, and how one time, when they didn’t have enough food, he hit the wall with his fist so hard, she saw bones sticking out where his knuckles were, and there was blood on that wall for a long time after that.
And suddenly, she felt guilty for all of it, for this man being so broken because of what he did, and because of how he was. Somewhere deep down she knew that what he did wasn’t bad enough to where he should die for it or where he should want to, and she knew with absolute certainty that he’d never slapped another kid after that night, or touched a girl in any way, as likely as not. That what happened that night hurt him in ways she never thought about, and that it would keep hurting him.
She turned toward the Med building, wanting to check on him, needing to know that he was okay. Ella met her at the door to a small room, smiling softly at her. It still surprised her how much she looked like Riley, only she never said much to anybody. She didn’t say anything to her now, just pointed to the door and left. Trevor was lying on his stomach, something dripping into his arm, and she could see bandages all over his back. He closed his eyes when he saw her, but she didn’t mind him doing it anymore. She knew it hurt him to look at her, would likely hurt him for a long time.
Alliance: The Complete Series (A Dystopian YA Box Set Books 1-5): Dystopian Sci Fi Thriller Page 64
