Half Past Midnight

by Jeff Brackett

  Embarrassed, the young man nodded. “Yes, sir. I see what you mean.”

  “And you’re really going to have to learn to stand on your own two feet if you plan on marrying a headstrong woman like my daughter. It’s one thing to love her; it’s another to let her walk all over you. She’ll never respect you if you do that.”

  “Yes, sir. It’s just that it’s a little different talking to you, sir.”

  I grinned. “Why don’t you drop all the ’sir’ stuff?” I stuck out my hand. “Just call me Leeland. If you’re planning to marry my daughter, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other.”

  Chapter 11

  August 14 / Year 3

  Lune obscurcie aux profondex tenebres,

  Son frere passe de couleur ferrugine:

  Le grand cache long temps soubs les tenebres,

  Tiendra fer dans la playe sanguine.

  The moon is obscured in deep gloom,

  his brother becomes bright red in color.

  The great one hidden for a long time in the shadows

  will hold the blade in the bloody wound.

  Nostradamus — Century 1, Quatrain 84

  Rejas was nudged onto the path to war on August fourteenth, though at the time, we were unaware of where we were headed. For me, it began as I lectured a group of my students on knife fighting and personal philosophy.

  “So what makes this stuff you teach any different than the old taekwondo I took when I was a kid?” Rene Herrera had started classes a year ago after her husband had been killed during a skirmish with a band of looters. A fierce, determined woman, her attitude sometimes bordered on belligerence. Her fighting style was aggressive, but effective. In Rene’s particular case, I was less concerned with her fighting techniques than with her mental and emotional self-control. So when she asked a seemingly insolent question, I usually chose to ignore the tone and address the question itself.

  In this instance, I had a ready answer since I had often been asked the same thing when I spoke with prospective students back in Houston. “It’s a different way of looking at things. Let me ask you something. If a rattlesnake attacks you, what do you do?”

  “Get out of the way”

  “And if you can’t? Say, if your back is to a wall, and there’s just no place to run. Then what would you do?”

  “I guess I’d try to kill the snake.”

  “All right. So what if you were back against that same wall, and you were being attacked by a mouse?”

  She chuckled. “What?”

  I repeated, “You’re in the same corner, nowhere to run, but this time it’s a mouse coming after you.”

  “I think I’d probably wet myself laughing!” Many of the others laughed, too. I smiled with them as I paced.

  “Why? What’s the difference? Why are you more worried about the snake than the mouse?” I turned back to Rene. “I know it seems silly, but there is a point to this.”

  The young woman looked at me like I was crazy. “’Cause the snake is poisonous?” Her uncertainty made it seem as if she was asking a question.

  “So what if I tell you that the snake isn’t poisonous, and the mouse is? Then which one are you more worried about?”

  “The mouse, of course.”

  “So it isn’t the snake you’re afraid of, it’s the bite, right?”

  “Okay,” Rene conceded cautiously, apparently wary of being caught in a trap.

  “Now, what if you’re being attacked by the same rattlesnake, but he hasn’t got any fangs? Are you still afraid of him?”

  Her answer was firmer this time. “No. If he can’t bite me, he’s just dinner.”

  “Exactly! If you take away his fangs, he’s no longer a danger. So if you and I are fighting, and everything about us is equally matched-skill, speed, weapons, reach, determination-are you afraid?”

  “Not if everything is equal. Sounds like a standoff.”

  “That’s it. But what if I lose my weapon? I’m just like that rattlesnake, right? No fangs. In Kali, we learn to de-fang snakes. The difference in this and what most martial arts teach is simple, but it’s important. If a man punches at you, and you’ve studied a traditional martial art, you’ll more than likely block or parry, then counterattack, usually by punching or kicking to the head, legs, or torso.

  “If the same man punches you, and you’ve studied Kali, your block is your counterattack, and it’s usually aimed at whatever he is attacking you with. If he’s punching, you try to injure his hand so he can’t punch you again. If he’s kicking, you injure his foot. If he’s using a weapon, you take away his ability to use it, either by injuring the hand that holds it, or by simply disarming him. No matter what he does, your goal is to take away his fangs. If he’s no longer a danger, the fight is over.”

  It was time to move on to the next part of my lecture. “There are very few things you can count on in life. The pre-D saying was that the only two things you could count on were death and taxes. But I haven’t seen the IRS in quite some time.”

  They laughed obligingly, and I continued, “That seems to indicate the only thing that’s inevitable is death. Now you may not be able to avoid Death, but with the right attitude, and proper preparation, you can usually convince Him that there are easier pickings elsewhere.”

  “Rule number one.” I pulled a throwing knife out of my belt. “Always carry at least two knives. Always. If you lose one…” I threw the blade, and they all watched as it stuck in the wooden target. When they turned back to face me, I had drawn two others from hidden arm sheathes. Image and attitude were everything in martial arts, so I continued unperturbed, as if I had done nothing in the least bit surprising. “You have a backup, and you’re never unprepared. Remember, it’s better to…”

  They all knew the saying by that time, and joined in, “… have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.”

  I saw some of the students glance over my shoulder, then back. I had repeatedly stressed to my classes that they should always be prepared for the unexpected, never underestimate their opponents, and never let themselves be taken by surprise.

  It had therefore become something of an ongoing challenge for them to try and catch me by surprise, and they all wanted to be on hand if it happened. I could tell by the way they studiously avoided looking toward me that someone was coming from the house. Searching their faces, I noted that Rene had an expression of intense loathing on her face.

  Remembering how her husband had died, I spoke without turning. “What is it, Billy?” Image again.

  I sensed his surprise as well as that of the gathered students as he paused before speaking. “Sensei, someone to see you.”

  I turned to face the young man who had come up beside me. Billy Worecski had changed quite a bit since Ken and I had carried him into the hospital two years back, not so much physically, as emotionally.

  At first insisting on his innocence in the attack on the ill-fated Robertsons, he had testified at his trial that he and his friends had come upon the scene after the couple was dead. They had simply taken advantage of the empty house full of food and liquor.

  When Megan, Ken, and I testified that his buddies were also “taking advantage” of Pat Robertson’s corpse, and that we had heard two of the thugs joking about how they had killed John Robertson, it became obvious to him that he was in a losing situation. At that point, he changed his story completely. He broke down, admitting he had been with the group when they had overrun the Robertson’s home, but still denying that he had actually killed anyone. He was a young kid who had been swept up with a group of killers and was too afraid to leave.

  Rejas’s forensic specialist supported this testimony, stating that none of the wounds sustained by John Robertson had been made by the rifle I had taken from Billy that day.

  The judge, however, found him guilty of felony murder since the Robertsons had both died during the commission of a felonious act in which Billy admitted involvement. He deliberated a long time before
passing a most unusual sentence.

  “I have never before been called upon to pass judgment on a case so terrible. It has, in the past, been my great fortune to preside in a peaceful town. I have always been a believer in the sanctity of life, and it infuriates me to hear of the brutal deaths of two of my townspeople. I am sorely tempted to pass a sentence of death as an example to any who might think to repeat such a heinous act.” He had paused dramatically, staring straight into Worecski’s eyes, making him shift nervously in his seat.

  “But since the insanity of the Doomsday War,” he continued, “it seems to me that every life is doubly precious, and I find I cannot bring myself to take another, even such a miserable life as that of Billy Worecski, as it won’t bring John or Patricia Robertson back to us.

  “So I am faced with the problem of finding a way to assure myself and my constituents of Mr. Worecski’s good behavior if I allow him to live. Life in prison would be the normal sentence, but the nearest prison is in Huntsville and, considering the condition of the country right now, it is probably full of radioactive fallout and dead prisoners.

  “I therefore have granted myself a bit of imaginative license. I rule that Billy Worecski shall be marked with a tattoo in the middle of his forehead for all to see and recognize. He shall be released into the custody of Kenneth Simms, as it is Mr. Simms who spared his life when he could easily have taken it. He shall be Mr. Simms’ charge for a period of ten years, at which time his record shall be reviewed. If he has shown himself to be a dependable asset during that time, the tattoo may be surgically removed, and Mr. Worecski shall be allowed to take his place in our society.”

  I think Ken was as shocked as Worecski. “Your Honor!” he sputtered. “You can’t… that is, I can’t take this kind of responsibility. You’re making him into a slave.”

  “The only alternative I have is to pass a sentence of death, Mr. Simms. Would you prefer that?”

  And so, Ken acquired a slave. Many would view it as a bit of poetic justice, a black man getting a white slave. Not Ken. Worecski was his on paper only.

  As soon as Billy got his tattoo and they delivered him to our door, Ken made his position clear. “I’m going to tell you this one time, and one time only. Leeland and I argued out there for some time about whether or not we should finish you off. Leeland won that argument, and that’s the only reason you’re standing here right now. I was ready to slit your throat.” He glared for a moment, making sure he was getting his point across. “So I’m going to give you the only order I’ll ever give you.”

  He pointed at me. “You do anything Leeland Dawcett tells you to do, when he says to do it, and better than he wants it done, or I’ll do what I should have done then.”

  Then he had stalked out of the room, leaving my slave and I equally dumbfounded.

  “Sensei?” Billy jarred me back from my reverie. My eyes were drawn to the large black encircled “7-34” on his forehead representing the month and year he would be eligible for freedom. If his review was not favorable, the date would be tattooed over leaving a solid black circle, and he would spend the rest of his life as a slave.

  In the time since Billy’s sentence, Rejas had had six more instances of marauder bands attacking some of the outlying homesteads and dozens of individual pilferers. The town had lost seven more people to the gangs, among them Rene’s unfortunate husband. But we had acquired thirty-eight more slaves. Two of them had been shot when they fought against the tattooist. The others had spread the word among themselves, and we hadn’t had any further trouble. Since the death of her husband, Rene hated them all.

  “Sorry, Billy. Who is it?”

  “Mayor Kelland. He’s waiting in the house.”

  “Thanks.” He nodded and turned back to the house. I turned the group over to Eric and went over to where Megan was sparring. “Megan, I’m going inside. Finish up out here.”

  I watched as she swept one opponent off of his feet and locked his arm over one knee, under the other as she knelt over him, evading a strike from the other opponent. She grabbed the second attacker’s arm and twisted her wrist in a way that Mother Nature never intended it to bend, bringing that opponent to the ground with an awkward thud. Then she held both in place for a moment to show that she was in full control of the situation before releasing them.

  She stood and turned to me. “No problem, Dad.”

  I grinned as I headed back to the house.

  The mayor looked up as I entered. “Somethin’ funny?”

  “I was just remembering how frustrating it can be to be beaten so soundly by someone half your size.”

  He shook his head, obviously having no idea what I was talking about, and just as obviously not caring. He paced the room with a worried look on his face.

  That bothered me. As I said before, my feelings for James Kelland had changed a lot since I’d first met him. He had gone from someone I couldn’t stand to a man whom I genuinely respected and trusted, liked even. “What’s the problem, Jim?”

  He stopped his pacing and sat on the sofa. Stress still lined his brow. “The trucking crew got in today-without the trucks.”

  That got my attention. The tanker trucks were part of the key to this town’s long-term survival. They were our only means of transporting the fuel we had staked out across the southern United States. Now Jim was telling me we had just lost half of them.

  He continued in a subdued voice, and his tone worried me as much as what he had to say. “They brought a bit o’ news back with them.”

  I took a seat in the easy chair across from him. To say that Jim had a talent for understatement was… well, an understatement. “I’ll bet they did. I take it that it wasn’t good news.”

  He shook his head. “You know, I ain’t exactly sure.” Mayor Kelland was just full of surprises this morning.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Todd Waitfield was the lead driver.”

  “I know him,” I said. “He’s one of our part-time students.”

  The mayor shrugged. “Who ain’t, nowadays?”

  That was true. Since we’d had so much trouble with freebooters in the more recent months, I had literally hundreds of students. On top of that, many of the senior students had begun teaching even more people at other locations around town.

  “Anyway, he said they came up on a roadblock just this side of San Marcos, a roadblock manned by the U.S. Army. They had a tank sittin’ smack dab in the middle of the road! Confiscated the fuel in the name of the U.S. Reconstruction and Distribution effort and questioned the hell out o’ the drivin’ crew. Wanted to know what kind of condition we were in. Waitfield said as far as he knew, all of the men stuck to the drill. The only difference was that they had to tell them where they were heading, since they were depending on them for a ride.”

  All of the drivers had been coached in what to say if questioned about where they were headed with the fuel if they ever ran across any organized groups. Part of the story was that they were members of a group based in Shreveport, Louisiana. They were to emphasize what a hard time their group was having, and how tough things were for them.

  Jim continued, “’Course he couldn’t be a hunnerd percent sure, since they were all questioned separately, but he talked to his team afterward, and they all told him they’d played down the town’s resources and played up the problems we’ve all had. He trusts his team completely. Said he was willing to stake his life on their word.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense, I guess. They’ve had to trust each other in some rough situations.”

  “Yeah, but now he’s staking our lives on their word.” Jim took a deep breath before continuing, “Anyway, the army boys took the trucks and sent the crew back in a personnel vehicle. Waitfield said they told him they’re gonna be out this way later this week to discuss our contribution to the ’Reconstruction Effort.’ You believe that shit?” He laughed wryly. “The hell of it is, I don’t know whether or not to be happy about it.”

  “How so?”r />
  “Well, it looks like the government’s startin’ to get back on its feet, which to my way of thinkin’ is a good thing. But the first thing they do is start confiscatin’ our goods.” He stood and resumed his pacing. “And that, to my way of thinkin’, ain’t such a good thing at all.”

  “Well, what do you expect, Jim? Compared to us, the rest of the country probably hasn’t got squat. We’ve got freshwater springs all over these parts. Crops are in. The closest hot spot is Houston, a hundred and eighty miles away. We haven’t had any hot winds in nearly six months. Hell, compared to what the majority of the country’s probably going through, we’re living in a freaking garden!”

  “And we worked damn hard to get here!” he exclaimed bitterly. “So why should we just up and give it away?” He forced himself back to a calmer state, the effort plainly visible. “I got a lot of people depending on me to make decisions right now. The right decisions, Leeland, and I’m not sure what to do.” I could see how much the admission hurt him, and I sympathized. I had once been forced to make some similar decisions. Ironically, it had been Jim who had forced them on me.

  I remembered the feeling well. He was torn by the necessity of the choices he had to make. He could turn the town’s hard-earned supplies over to the Army, or defy them and chance the retaliation of the military.

  He sat back down. “I need some advice, or at least someone to discuss this with. The bitch of it is that there aren’t very many people I can talk to about this.”

  “I’m flattered,” I replied, “but I don’t know if I’m the one you should be talking to.”