by T A Williams
“You all have been collecting the livestock’s….fertilizer?” Alec couldn’t help but ask.
“Not exactly,” Jason said, laughing. “During one of our supply runs we secured nearly fifty bags of fertilizer pellets from an abandoned Midway Coop. Those should do the trick. But also, yes, we have been utilizing the livestock for free fertilizer. ”
They all sat there in silence until there was a knock at the door and they were informed that the shipments were loaded up in the trucks and ready to be delivered to Centralia. It always took three trucks to carry the goods to Centralia, where Noah’s people then loaded the food into their own transport truck. Alec, Freddie and Trevor drove their respective trucks to Centralia.
Alec drove his truck down the driveway and to the barrier, where one of their watchers used the pulley to pull up the handmade barrier hiding the road leading to their settlement. The young man nodded at Alec as he passed and Alec nodded back. The people were scared, as they should be. Their greatest defense had been that they were hidden and now that was gone. He continued down the overgrown gravel road and over the abandoned train tracks to the main road. The pavement was cracked and splitting in several places, which made for a rough ride, but it was better than driving on the grass. It didn’t take long before he pulled into the town of Centralia and found his way to the square, where he parked his truck. Freddie and Trevor parked theirs next to his. A few spaces down was the large box truck that Noah’s men used, but they were nowhere to be seen. Alec got out and looked around.
“Where the hell are they?” Freddie asked as he slammed his truck door closed.
“They ever done this before?” Trevor asked.
“No, and I’ve coordinated every pick-up with them,” Freddie said, looking around.
One of Whitford’s men came out of City Hall and when Alec caught the man’s expression, his stomach dropped. Alec’s cane was in his hand but he didn’t use it as he made his way quickly over to the man. The man was sweating and his hands were shaking.
“Whitford…we… took them prisoner,” the man said.
Alec stopped where he was. “You what?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Trevor said.
“We, uh, you should talk to Whitford.” The man turned and ran into City Hall. They followed.
Whitford sat at a large table at the side of the room. His head was down and his right leg was bouncing up and down. One of his men knocked on the table as they walked in and Whitford looked up, his expression grim. Alec and the others walked over and sat down next to him.
“What have you done?” Alec asked softly.
Whitford looked at him and his eyes were red. “What had to be done. They killed all those people…we can’t let that go unpunished.”
Alec thought back to where the box truck was parked. He hadn’t noticed any blood or signs of a struggle. “Are they hurt?”
Whitford shook his head. “They’re fine. We waited until they parked and got out, and they didn’t try anything.”
“What the hell do you think you are going to accomplish?” Trevor asked as he slammed a fist onto the table.
Whitford didn’t look at Trevor. He glanced around and fidgeted with a button on his jacket. “They have to know what they did is wrong. We will keep their men here until we come to an agreement.”
“What kind of an agreement? What can you possibly accomplish?” Trevor screamed back.
Whitford glanced at the men around him. They seemed just as uncertain as he was. The man looked to Alec. “You saw what he did there.”
“I did, but Whit…this is going to cause more harm than good.” Alec raised his hand to Trevor and gestured for him to calm down. Trevor turned and walked to the far side of the room. “Where are the men?”
Whitford waved toward the back of the room and Alec followed as one of his men took him to a large storage room, where Landon and four other men sat with their arms and legs tied up. Landon appeared bored and chuckled when he saw Alec approach.
“Landon,” Alec began but stopped himself. “You know this was a mistake.”
“Yes, it was.”
“I’ll get you released. You have to understand Whitford was, is, just trying to do what is right. After what he saw in Sturgeon-”
“I don’t have to understand anything,” Landon said, chuckling again. “Noah is the one you have to convince.”
“You deserve to die,” Whitford said, coming up behind Alec. The man got within a few feet of Landon and stood above him with clenched fists. “I watched you murder innocent women and children. You should be grateful you’re still breathing.”
“Whether I’m alive or dead doesn’t matter. Either way, Noah will send more men here when we don’t return. You’ve made a very big mistake.”
Whitford’s body tensed but he didn’t move. “I’ll trade you for peace.”
“Peace? There was peace; you’re the one that destroyed that. Noah won’t trade.”
Alec came up beside Whitford and laid his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Whit, back away.” Whitford stepped back a few steps and his eyes once again met Alec’s. “You’ve got to get your men in position but please tell them not to fire unless they have to. We have to try and salvage this situation.”
Whitford was quiet for a moment then he dropped his head and nodded. As the man walked out of the room Trevor came up beside Alec.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll meet with Noah and try to convince him this was just a mistake.”
They heard the rumblings of vehicle engines two hours after Alec arrived. With only the chirping of birds and blowing of the wind, the sounds traveled to them from miles away. The civilians took shelter in their homes while the militia took up positions around the city and near where Noah’s men usually arrived. A single road from Columbia came right into the center of town. Over a dozen large trucks pulled up just outside the city. The beds of the vehicles were filled with men, who all came pouring out as soon as they stopped. Alec stood in the city square where they would have to drive right up to him. He was alone and unarmed. The trucks stopped where they were, a little more than two hundred yards away from the nearest building. The men who got out of the trucks began to unload several things from the trucks but from where Alec was he couldn’t make it out. Alec waited for a few minutes then began to walk over to them.
“Alec, what are you doing?” Trevor yelled out somewhere behind him, but Alec didn’t stop.
When he got within a hundred yards he heard a loud thunk come from behind one of the trucks. He stopped in place and didn’t move.
“Get down, they’re firing,” Freddie yelled from behind him.
Alec didn’t move. He knew the sound of a gun and that wasn’t it. He stood there for a moment, waiting for the men to say something, when he heard the sound of a faraway scream. The scream got louder and louder until he looked up in the sky and realized what was about to happen. On the far side of the city square was an old brick building that used to be a bank. The entire front of the building exploded in a ball of flame. The explosion knocked Alec off his feet just as he heard two more thunks come from behind the line of trucks.
Alec turned around toward the others. “Run!” he screamed just as the two mortar shells came screaming down, exploding in the middle of the city square.
Dirt and debris flew everywhere and the militia men who were in position in the city square scrambled for cover as Noah’s men continued firing the mortars from behind the safety of the trucks. Alec used his cane to get to his feet and ran toward City Hall. The large gazebo in the middle of the city square exploded, causing splinters of wood to fly in all directions, while another explosion on the east side of the square shot bricks and glass in all directions. The concussions from the blasts hit Alec from all sides and he felt the world slipping away in all directions. Alec fell to the ground and held on as it seemed to sway all around him. He could hear guns firing from the militia in the buildings closest to where Noa
h’s men were firing. A few seconds later he heard an explosion and the firing stopped just as quickly as it began. A set of hands grabbed Alec and pulled him to his feet. Alec leaned into Trevor as the man put his head under Alec’s right shoulder and helped carry him from the middle of the city square. They ducked inside City Hall and began to make their way down into the small tornado shelter that they had been using to store food.
“Alec, are you hurt?” Alec heard Trevor ask, though it was hard to make out through the ringing in his ears.
“I’m good.”
It was dark and there were dozens of people crammed inside a room, that with all the food and supplies stored in there, could barely hold seven or eight. There was crying, there was screaming and then there was the continued sound of the explosions coming from outside. The explosions continued. Some came only as sounds; others shook the building above them. Minutes that felt like hours passed until finally it went quiet.
“Is it over?” Trevor asked.
Alec used his cane to stand up and pushed past the other bodies toward the door. Trevor grabbed his shoulder but he brushed it off. “I’ve got to stop this before it’s too late.”
Alec made his way up the stairs to the main floor of City Hall and was met by Noah’s men. Their guns were pointed at him and he watched as they searched through the rooms until they found Landon and the rest of the men. Landon walked out rubbing his wrists and brushing debris out of his hair. He stopped when he saw Alec and shook his head.
“Landon,” Alec said, taking a step forward before one of the men shoved the barrel of a gun in his face. “Let me talk to him. I can explain this.”
“You’ll have your chance,” Landon said and then walked outside.
The men pulled the rest of the civilians out of the tornado shelter and tied their hands behind their backs. They were led outside, where the destruction took Alec’s breath away. Nearly every building surrounding the city square was in ruins: windows shattered, walls blown out, smoke pouring out from holes and roofs. The debris littered the ground all around them and Alec caught the sight of twisted bodies throughout the middle of the city square.
Centralia was destroyed.
Alec
There had been nearly two hundred souls in Centralia before the battle. As Alec looked around at the men, women and children that were tied up in the city square he could tell there were now considerably fewer than that. He sat on a collection of brick debris next to Whitford and Trevor. Freddie sat several rows behind them. Whitford had a streak of dried blood running down his face but seemed fine, and the rest of them were unharmed. For a moment Alec’s mind drifted back to Xu’s camp and the world jilted about until he managed to claw his way back to the present.
The sun was mere minutes from setting when Noah’s convoy arrived. The collection of trucks pulled into the city square past the debris and dead and parked on the side of the main highway. Nearly three dozen men causally got out, fully armed, and spread out as they approached. Alec recognized Noah as he stepped out of the lead truck and dusted himself off.
“I have to talk with him,” Alec said under his breath.
“I…I’m sorry Alec,” Whitford said as a tear ran down his cheek. “We had to do something. I didn’t know it would come to this.”
“I understand,” Alec lied. “Now just pray and let me try and get us out of this.”
“What are we going to do? They destroyed everything we’ve built.”
Alec didn’t say anything.
Noah stood at the edge of the city square and looked out amongst the prisoners. Landon walked over and shook his hand and they talked for several minutes before Noah nodded his head. Landon walked through the huddled masses straight to Alec and lifted him up by his shoulder.
“Good luck,” the man said as he pushed him toward Noah.
Without his cane Alec walked slowly through the collection of people. He was tired and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was scared. Centralia was little more than rubble and it had taken Noah’s men less than an hour to accomplish this. What chance did New Hope have? He reached deep inside himself for strength and focused on putting one foot in front of the other until he was finally in front of Noah. Despite everything the man greeted him with a smile.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to meet you under these conditions,” Noah said.
Alec stopped in front of him and focused on not wobbling. “This was a mistake. Whitford didn’t mean to do this.”
Noah frowned briefly and then glanced about. “Of that I have no doubt. I’m sure the last thing he wanted was for his little settlement to be thoroughly destroyed, yet he chose that road.”
“He made a mistake and he is paying for it. All of his people are paying for it. A lot of people have died and they are left with this.” Alec gestured around with his head. “He has learned his lesson.”
“You know it’s not that easy,” Noah said, giving him a sad smile. “Order is such a fragile thing. It’s like building a house of cards. All it takes is one little gust of wind and the whole thing comes crashing down. I can’t show weakness.”
“What you showed here isn’t weakness. In a minute you destroyed something that has taken them years to build.”
Noah let out a long sigh and straightened the sleeves on his plaid shirt. “I was being honest when I said I respected you, Alec. You and I have a lot in common when it comes to wanting to protect our people. I know you believe that my methods are…extreme but we don’t have the luxury of pretending the world is black and white. If you don’t make hard choices then people will die. This is about our legacy.”
Alec bit back his words, afraid of what he was about to say.
“I understand what you’re trying to do. You’re afraid that we’re going to do to these people what we did to Sturgeon.” Noah was quiet for a moment then shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t considering it. We trade with you; Centralia gives us nothing and thus is of no worth to me.”
“It’s not that simple,” Alec argued.
“It actually is. My agreement is with you. Whitford is a hothead. His first instinct is to lash out instead of sitting back and thinking, and that’s why he is in this position. Everyone knows this, yet these people still follow him.”
“You can’t kill them because they follow a man who has a flaw. None of us are perfect. Despite his flaws, Whitford has provided and sacrificed for these people.”
“And because of him they are on the verge of being executed.” Noah put his hands in his pockets. “Look, if I let them live then I leave the chance that Whitford will act out again and try to retaliate or take some other kind of small-minded action. I can’t have that kind of threat hanging out there.”
“These people won’t do that.”
“They’ve followed him before; they will follow him again.”
Alec’s peripheral vision wobbled slightly. He couldn’t let Noah kill all these people. There were innocent women and children in the group. His mind raced and he grabbed hold of an idea that made him feel like he was going to throw up. “And if he’s not in the picture?”
Noah pulled his hands out of his pockets and smiled. “Now you’re beginning to think like someone who is willing to do what needs to be done to protect his people.”
“These are innocent people. We can send Whitford away and-”
“You know that’s not possible. If anything that just increases the chance he will strike back. It has to be more final than that.”
Alec stumbled back a few steps and dropped to one knee as the world jolted violently.
“You know that. You knew that when you proposed the idea. What you’re doing now is trying to lessen your guilt. You don’t need to do that, Alec. You have nothing to feel guilty about. This was Whitford’s choice.”
Alec kept his head down and closed his eyes. He could still feel the world jostling about and for a moment it felt as if he was going to be sick, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of the worl
d moving or because of what was about to happen. “He’s a good man,” he said through gritted teeth.
Noah’s voice darkened. “There isn’t a place in this world for good men. We will make it public but we will make it quick. After that the rest of these people are free to go back to their normal lives. Deal?”
Alec opened his eyes and focused on the burnt grass beneath him. “Deal.”
Alec
The clouds seemed to stop overhead, casting everyone and everything in shadow. They all knew what was coming, but no one tried to stop it. There was a large tree in the city square. One side was blackened from the fires caused by the attack, but the other side was still viable and had a large, thick limb jutting out over the square. That was where it was going to be done.
Noah’s men ordered everyone to remain in the square, not that there were many places that were untouched from the mortar attack. The wounded lay on the ground, either resting or being attended to, while the rest sat or stood with their heads facing down. Noah and his men stood near the tree and Whitford stood next to them, tied up and saying nothing. The streak of blood on his face had dried and was now a crusty red mark stretching down the side of his face. He knew what was about to happen and he said nothing.
As Noah’s men threw a rope over the tree limb and began to prepare, Noah took a step out toward the crowd.
“The world that we knew was changed in an instant and crumbled before our eyes in a matter of months, yet we remain. The people of this country were thrown out in the wild to fend for themselves and millions, if not more, starved or were killed. You were not. You learned to adapt, you learned to fend for yourselves, you learned how to survive.” Noah paused and watched as his men fastened the rope around Whitford’s neck. When they were done they stopped and looked to him. Noah turned back to the crowd and ran his eyes over all of them.
“What you experience now is no different. The world has once again changed. You’re no longer by yourself; you are part of something greater. The rules changed before and you changed to survive. Well, now the rules are changing once again. The only question is if you want to survive enough to change with it. This man,” Noah pointed at Whitford, “this man refused to change. Whether through pride or refusal to give up power, he destroyed everything you all worked to build. Every loss you’ve had is because of this. I’m not a man who frequently gives second chances, but you all have been given one. This is what will happen if you refuse to accept the new world again.”
