Azaleas Don't Bloom Here

by Frank Klus

  “He is that,” Chad said.

  “Can you ever forgive me for what I’ve done to all of you?”

  “You couldn’t help it, man,” Armstrong said. “They stuck the brain probe on you. It’s me who should be asking for forgiveness.”

  “Yeah,” Terry Foote said. “We failed. We searched and searched for you, but we couldn’t find you.”

  “We never gave up,” Jack Wrenn said. “At least until you resurfaced all fucked up and all.”

  “Thanks, guys, for sticking by me.”

  “Let me know where you left Ray and Cassandra,” Armstrong said.

  Dennis just indicated the car he drove up in. “They’re in there, along with Pamela Piper.”

  The car was still sitting outside the border fence. The Blues looked inside and saw the bodies.

  “I called Mayor Piper,” said the administrator. “He was waiting for you at another border crossing. He’s on his way now, along with about half the journalists in the country. You’re about all anyone has talked about for more than a week now.”

  Someone drove up the road from behind the office. “Maybe that’s the mayor now?”

  But it wasn’t the mayor. A somber-looking woman exited the vehicle and walked over to everyone. “I heard you guys were here. Is my husband still with you?” She looked around, frowning.

  “Who is your husband?” the administrator asked.

  “Senator Everson Moore.”

  “Oh, my God,” Sandra shouted, as she covered her mouth. Everyone just stared at her.

  “He twisted or broke his ankle running through the woods,” Eugene said. “We had to leave him behind.”

  Mrs. Moore began crying. “Oh, God. They’re going to stick him in that awful place again. I’ll lose him for good, now.”

  Chad came over. “We’ll look for him ma’am.”

  The three Blues started down the road. “Let me come with you,” Dennis said. “If you get caught I can pretend to have captured you. You’ll be safe.”

  “No,” said Chad. “Your place is with your wife and family now.”

  “What if there are more guys out there?” Eugene pleaded. “Let me go with you.”

  Armstrong smiled. “Thanks, Gene, but the woods are clear. Besides, you’ve got a new life now; not to mention someone who loves you,” motioning to Sandra, who was talking to Mrs. Moore. “The only thing from you I need is where you last saw the senator.”

  “We left him in the north woods when we were running toward the road.”

  “Hey, you guys,” said the administrator. “Use the scooter cart. It’ll be faster, and if you need to carry the Senator, this’ll come in handy.”

  Earlier That Night

  Senator Everson Moore fought the pain as he moved slowly to a large tree. He leaned up against it, still holding the Berretta he had with him. He could hear voices ahead and behind him, but no one was coming for him. In time they moved farther west, until he could hear them no more. All he could do was crawl, dragging his painful foot. He knew he had several miles to go, but reasoned that he could make it in ten or twelve hours.

  He would periodically take ten minute rests; then start again. Hour after hour passed. Where is everyone? It’s so quiet. Are they still ahead of me? What if they retreated back to the gate? What if I’ve been wandering in the wrong direction? Oh, I can’t bear it, but I won’t die out here.

  Moore was sure he was moving west. He could see the North Star to his right. He reasoned that once he heard voices he would stop. Hour after hour passed and still there was silence. Then he heard voices and froze. He looked around for a tree to hide behind, but the voices grew closer. He couldn’t move now. Any noise he made might be heard by the people he presumed would kill him or drag him back to Hell House.

  As Moore sat in a frozen state, he could hear more clearly what the men were saying. He recognized one of the voices. It’s Armstrong. But what if I’m wrong? I must listen, carefully.

  “Jack,” someone said.

  Could it be Jack Wrenn? Oh, I need to be sure.

  Then came the terrible realization that the voices were now moving away from him. If it was Armstrong he heard, this would be his chance for rescue. If he shouted after them, and he was wrong, it could cost him his life. What do I do?

  Dennis approached Eugene, but he was looking at Sandra. Eugene was nonplussed when Dennis called over to her. “Hello, Sandy. Do you remember me from the old neighborhood?” Sandy just stared at him without recognition.

  “We were just kids the last time I saw you.”

  “Dennis. Dennis O’Reilly. O’Reilly! I knew your name, but I never made the connection before.”

  Dennis smiled. “They didn’t take away my childhood memories,” he said. “I always remembered you. I knew you before Gene did. I guess I had a thing for you. When you moved to Springfield, I tracked you down. One day I saw you talking to some boy. You were laughing and he was smiling. I turned back and went home.” Eugene just stood there stoically while Sandy looked surprised.

  “I just figured that that was the end of that. I told a good friend of mine about it. I didn’t know it then, but he kept tabs on you. I think he liked you too. Anyway, one day he calls me up and tells me that you were in Joliet. I instantly saw the opportunity. This was when I knew Jaydan Casimir was seeing Catherine, but she was drinking heavily. She got real shit-faced and Casimir began souring on the relationship with her. So I got an appointment with the big guy—”

  “Wait!” Gene said. “Weren’t you supposed to be just a Squad leader at the time? Why would the commandant of the whole Lightning Squad want to see you?”

  “I talked my way in. I didn’t really need to, as I’ve come to understand. Anyway, I told him about Sandy, and he went to see her. You know the rest.”

  “Now I understand how I came to know Sandy again after all these years,” Eugene said. “It wasn’t any coincidence. You were responsible. You tipped her off to Casimir, and ruined her life.”

  “You have a right to hate me—both of you. I deserve your wrath. I ruined both your lives, and I killed my brother and his wife.”

  Sandy saddened while Gene just stared at him.

  “That’s right. I ruined a lot more lives. I wasn’t in my right mind, you might say. I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, Dennis,” Sandy said. “Once they change you, they can make you do anything they want.”

  “Is it really you, Dennis? I mean the Dennis I knew as a kid; the Dennis I thought I knew when I went to your house?”

  “There’s still a lot I don’t remember, but now I have accepted the fact of who I was and really am.”

  “That day of the barbeque last August, were you telling me the truth about why you were watching over me?”

  Dennis cast his eyes downward and then looked up at Eugene. His eyes looked saddened now. “No, I wasn’t. I just made up the excuse of your father’s run-in with the Squad. I needed an alibi. The truth is Casimir told me to keep an eye on you. I was supposed to keep you out of trouble; make sure you didn’t run off to New America or see Professor Zinney anymore.” Dennis hesitated and looked down.

  “What?” Gene asked. “Something more?”

  “I haven’t told you the worst of it yet.” Eugene just looked on and Dennis appeared reluctant to continue. Finally, he looked at Eugene with a pleading look.

  “I’m sorry, Gene. I was supposed to ruin your marriage. But then I didn’t have to when she…. When you described your feelings about Catherine I just couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t do it. You would have gotten angry if I did. I had to wait for you to mention it first, and then I would have eased into that discussion. But things quickly spun out of control when you met Cassandra.”

  Eugene looked down. “Why? Casimir could have her if he wanted. Why didn’t he do the same to her as he did to Sandy?”

  “I don’t know. I just think he got more desperate with Sandy. Anyway, Ray and Cassandra were my bigger problem. Teresa warned me Ra
y would contact you. She and Ray wanted you to go to New America and write about the two countries.”

  “I know. They wanted to start a revolution.”

  “Anyway, Cassandra killed an entire squad and Casimir thought you joined her in a revolution against the country.”

  “But why Dennis? I could never figure that out. Didn’t they know I was innocent?”

  “Of course they did. They also figured you were pissed off and would talk. That made you dangerous. Dead people don’t talk.”

  “Then why didn’t they kill me?”

  “Commandant Casimir told me of his grand plan. First, he called your parents, telling them he was the company lawyer. He spilled the beans about you being in Joliet. I couldn’t tell you that, of course, when I was taking you to your parents’ home. Casimir told me that I was to claim I talked him into dropping the charges on you, and then, by taking you to your parents’ home, I could win them over. All this was necessary for the grand part of the scheme.” He hesitated. “You were supposed to undergo treatment. End of problem.”

  “What was your original plan to get me to Hell House? I guessed I fucked up those plans when I didn’t come over.”

  “Yeah, you did. Had you come over I was going to take you to a friend’s house. I still hadn’t finalized the plan, but that so-called friend was Hell House.”

  “And you get promoted?”

  “It’s all making more sense to me now. I went through treatment and Casimir was assured I’d be of great help to him. That’s why I was a part of all this scheming. I just wanted what Teresa wanted. Casimir wanted an ex-Blue as his number two man. He wanted to transform the Lightning Squad from policemen to an army, and take over the country from NOGOV. He’s a billionaire too, and was a leader in NOGOV before adopting his own grandiose plans.”

  The administrator came over. “I don’t suppose you remember me, Mr. O’Reilly. I’m Stuart. I was the first person you met on this side of the border.”

  Dennis smiled softly as he shook his hand, but he didn’t remember him.

  “It’s okay, sir. I remember you, before they changed you. You escorted thousands of pilgrims over here. There are a lot more people you helped than you ever ruined.”

  Just then, Sandy spotted some people on the road. The administrator grabbed his binoculars. “It’s your friends. They look like they have someone. He appears to be in bad shape.”

  A few minutes later, Armstrong, Wrenn, and Foote emerged from the shadows, riding the cart with the Senator on it. Instantly, Mrs. Moore ran across the border to greet her husband.

  As Armstrong recrossed the border, Eugene went up to him. “Is he okay?”

  “Yeah. A bit dehydrated and sore, but he’ll be all right.”

  “Good.” Eugene appeared to be searching for something.

  “What is it, Eugene?”

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me that Dennis went through Hell House? I mean, I started to think about that, but I figured you, Ray, or Cassandra would have told me.”

  Armstrong put his hand on Eugene’s shoulder. “Ray didn’t want you to know. He didn’t know if he could ever get Dennis back, and he didn’t want you thinking that you could. Having been told of the close relationship with him….”

  As Armstrong searched for the words Dennis came over. “What he’s trying to say, Gene, is that I was way too dangerous. He’s right. If you had lowered your guard or decided not to flee, I would have killed you.”

  “But now you know the truth.”

  Dennis smiled and nodded up and down. “Yeah. Thanks to Ray, I know the truth.”

  “Hey, this is a time for celebration,” Armstrong said. “We need something for a toast.”

  One of the guards said, “How about some bottled water?”

  Armstrong guffawed. “Pass it around.” Everyone grabbed a bottle.

  “What should we drink to?” Everson Moore said.

  Everyone looked at each other, and then Chad said, “I know. Let’s drink to a new beginning.”

  Everyone seemed to agree, and so they all raised their bottles of water and shouted, “To a new beginning.”

  The administrator came over. “Henry Piper is on his way over. Pamela will be buried next to Redd Piper. Ray and Cassandra are heroes and will be buried in the Field of Honor, where men and women who died to make this country happen are laid to rest.”

  As the first wisp of light graced the landscape with the promise of a new day, Sandra turned to Eugene, with a loving smile. “We’re home now.” She was still smiling as she interlocked her arm in his. Then she took a deep breath. “Feel that air.”

  Eugene inhaled too. “It feels like the campground my father took me to when I was just a boy.”

  “It feels like the park we walked through on the way to school,” she said.

  Eugene smiled as he turned to her. “It feels like home.”

  “Look!” Sandra said. “The cars!” Dozens of reporters from all over New America descended on the little border area to greet the new pilgrims. They wanted to know who these brave people were, and gain news of what they were fleeing.

  The little group stared at the headlights coming around the bend. “God, I wish Pamela, Ray, and Cassandra could see this,” Armstrong said.

  “Maybe they do,” said Anna, arm and arm with Dennis now.

  “Hey, Eugene and Sandy! The welcome wagon’s here,” Wrenn yelled. But they didn’t hear him, as they were locked in a loving embrace. Freed from the dark forces that tormented them, the two found the love so savagely stolen away. Melting into each other’s arms, they found what they had lost all those terrible months ago.