by Roger Hayden
“You may kneel now, Rob, and kiss my ring.”
The ring shone in the gloomy light. It looked like something stolen from a jewelry shop, where Rob had no doubt it came from. He closed his eyes, emitting a heavy sigh and dropped to one knee. He opened them to find Arthur’s pale hand in his face, the ring right below his lips. His stomach turned as he pressed his lips against the ring and gave it a quick, light peck. Nonetheless, Arthur seemed satisfied.
“Please rise,” he said.
Rob stood up and stared at Arthur’s sunken eyes, his gray stubble and sagging cheeks. He saw a man without scruples. A man void of humanity.
“And you recognize me as your king and divine ruler?” he said loudly for the crowd to hear.
“Yes…” Rob said softly as the knot in his stomach tightened.
“Louder!” Arthur said.
“I said yes. I do!” Rob repeated.
Arthur gazed out into the crowd with his arms spread wide. “So there you have it. Your mayor is now divine king in the eyes of his enemies! They shall harm you no more!” He signaled two men to his side. “That’ll do. Bring out the captives.”
Rob felt a wave of relief rush over him. It seemed as though the worst was over. Mila, and Carlos looked as if all the tension had drained from their faces and bodies. Carlos unclenched his fists, and Mila held back tears as they waited in anticipation for the children, watching intently as the two men went into the building. A hushed silence came over the crowd. Trees swayed in the breeze along Main Street—absent their leaves but rustling as the wind shook the branches. It was the only sound resonating. A few moments passed, then two of Arthur’s gun-wielding men emerged from the building, followed by a group of children. Mila moaned. Their dirty faces were ghostlike. Their wrists were bound by zip ties.
As they appeared, one by one, Rob’s heart jumped. Josh and Kelly were in front. Mila cried out. Rob took a quick step forward, only to be rebuked by Arthur.
“Not so fast, loyal subject. We still have some things to work out.”
Rob turned sharply toward Arthur. His eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about? We have a deal.”
Arthur nodded. “Yes, of course. The deal still stands, with one exception.”
“What’s that?” Rob said. He tried to push past Arthur, but four armed men on both sides of him held him back. They clutched his shoulders on either side, pinned his arms, and hemmed him in. The men guarding the children formed what looked like a human wall to keep the children at bay. They were calling their parents’ names. Arthur spoke to the crowd once again, revealing the latest demand to be made of the outsiders.
“Rob here wants to know what else I ask of him. As if another request by your king is unreasonable.”
Arthur’s men chuckled, joined by some in the crowd below.
“This man should be honored!” Arthur said. “Because what I’m asking him now is to stay aboard as a productive member of Tartarus!”
The crowd cheered and applauded. Ashlee and Carlos looked frightened. Arthur was trying to turn the tables. They desperately tried to get a glimpse of their children, being kept under guard away from them. Mila knelt down and reached into her leather boots.
Rob, furious and betrayed, jerked and twisted as Arthur’s men held him in place. They grabbed both his arms and pulled them back as Rob shouted, “What is the game here, Arthur? We’ve given you what you want. Stop this madness and let us go! Keep your word.”
Arthur’s face folded into angry red creases as he stepped forward and punched Rob in the face with the gold ring. Rob’s head jerked back. The kids screamed out.
“Dad!” Josh shouted, sprinting forward. A large man grabbed him and threw him back as he skidded across the pavement. Kelly cried out for Rob. The other children stood frozen and petrified as Arthur’s men blocked them from moving.
“This is how it’s going to be, Rob,” Arthur said in an angered tone. “The art of compromise. We’ll reach an agreement when I say it’s time to reach an agreement. And you call me Arthur again, I’ll shoot you right here, and I don’t care how many gunmen you have positioned out there.”
“Rob, what’s going on?” Brad’s voice shouted through the radio in Rob’s pocket. Larry twisted Rob’s arm, pulled the radio out, and smashed it on the ground.
Arthur gripped Rob’s neck with both hands and began lifting him up, squeezing his throat. “Your family leaves. Your friends leave. Your little shooters leave. All of them. And they never come back. But you, you’re far too valuable. That’s my final offer. You don’t want anyone to die, this is the only way.”
Rob swallowed as Arthur gripped his neck tighter.
“Take it or leave it. What do you say?”
He released his grip just as Rob heard Mila running up the steps. “You son of a bitch!” she shouted.
“She’s got a gun!” Larry yelled.
She made it up halfway, when one of Arthur’s men clubbed her in the stomach with his buttstock. The force sent her tumbling backward and onto the ground in one hard fall. Her revolver flew into the air, smacked the ground, and slid toward the boot of one of Arthur’s men. He picked it up, waggled it at her derisively, and pocketed it.
“Mom!” Kelly cried out.
Josh tried to run toward them again but was pushed back by large, hairy arms.
“Five seconds, Rob. What’ll it be?” Arthur said.
Rob gagged and spit as he struggled to breathe. “Okay,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I’ll do it.”
Arthur spread his arms as if embracing the crowd, or even the world, and gave a knowing look to Pastor Phelps, who stood nervously to the side. Arthur turned back to the crowd. “He has agreed to my terms!”
The crowd cheered and whistled and stomped. Before Rob could say another word, he was thrown to the cold concrete and bound at his wrists by zip tie.
“Rob, no!” Mila called. She struggled to run to him but was held back.
Arthur turned to the guards behind them and signaled for them to move the children forward. “Get ’em out of there. The deal is made.” The men pushed the frantic children forward and down the steps, past Rob, and to where the others were standing. Arthur pressed his boot against the back of Rob’s head. “You’re the one I always wanted, Rob. None of this spectacle was necessary, but it’s been fun.” He waved his hand to the men grouped around Rob. “Take him away.” They pulled him to his feet and carried him off.
He then turned to the men surrounding Mila and her group. The children had just been released. Mark, Luke, Jeremiah, and Allison looked aimlessly around for their parents. Gabrielle rushed Carlos and cried into his arms as Kelly charged toward Mila. Josh tried, once again, to push his way through to Rob but was thrown back again.
“Try that again, and we’ll shoot you,” Larry said, aiming right between his eyes.
“See to it that they’re escorted out of town beyond the wall,” Arthur said to his men. “And if they come back in, you know what to do.”
“Let’s go!” the redheaded bulldog shouted with his rifle in Carlos’s face.
Mila gripped Kelly’s hand as they stumbled along at gunpoint with tears streaming down their faces.
Carlos moved as quickly as he could, with Gabrielle at his side. They were being pushed along so hastily he couldn’t see where Antonio was.
“Help us!” Mila shouted to the townspeople as they were herded away from Town Hall and down Main Strike. They looked at her with indifferent faces, only moving aside just enough to give them space to get through. “What is wrong with you people?”
“Antonio!” Carlos shouted with a look of worry that grew more frantic by the second. “Where’s my son, you bastards!”
“Shut up and move,” one of the gunman said.
“Antonio!” Carlos shouted. He turned to Gabrielle, wide-eyed and on the edge of panic. “Where’s your brother?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sobbing. “They tried to escape.”
“Who?” Carlos s
aid.
She pointed to Josh. Carlos grabbed Josh’s arm and pulled the boy over to him as they continued down the street, men with guns behind them and at their sides. “Where’s Antonio?” Carlos yelled.
Filled with terror, Josh couldn’t speak. Carlos grabbed his shoulder and violently shook him. “You tell me where he is!” Josh’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t get the words out. Carlos shook him again, but Mila, alarmed by Carlos, stepped in and pulled Josh away. “Stop it!” she said. “He’s just a child.”
Carlos swung around and looked behind and around them as tears streamed down his cheeks. “Antonio! Antonio, where are you?”
Dark Days
The group waited on the side of the road of Route 9 West after having been escorted out of town at gunpoint. They were angry, confused, and in a state of shock. Carlos wanted to know the truth about Antonio, but no one was saying anything. Mila’s shock at losing Rob hadn’t fully sunk in yet. She was caught between the relief of getting Josh and Kelly back and the devastation of his capture.
The plan now was for Elliot to pick them up in his truck with Brad and Mayra. Mila knew as much from talking to them on her handheld. Elliot said they had slipped out of town undetected, but they were as stunned and confused as everyone else. There was no sign of them yet, and all the group could do was wait.
“What did they do to you?” she asked Josh. “You need to tell me everything.”
“Nothing,” he said. “They locked us in a room.”
She looked to the Atkins boys to fill her in.
“What kind of room? Where?”
“Just a dark, empty room with a bunch of dirty mattresses everywhere,” Mark said.
“And they didn’t hurt you?” she asked.
“They shouted and stuff at us,” Mark said. “But that was pretty much it.”
“We’re going to get you kids back to your parents. They’re both okay,” she said.
Carlos continued to probe Gabrielle. What he didn’t know, what no one knew, was that Josh hadn’t told anyone what happened to Antonio. He was still reeling from it himself and in a state of denial. To tell of Antonio’s death was to admit that his friend had in fact died. Josh wasn’t ready to accept that. It was, however, something that Carlos was determined to get to the bottom of.
“Please, Gabrielle,” he pleaded. “Tell me what happened to your brother. Where are they holding him?”
“I don’t know!” she said as her eyes welled with tears. “He tried to escape. Him and Josh!”
Carlos whipped around to where Josh stood next to Mila and Kelly. Josh looked away as Carlos advanced toward him like a bull.
“Give them time,” Mila said as he got closer. “They’ve been through hell, and we can’t push them. They’ll talk when they want to talk.”
Carlos looked at Josh. “He knows something.” He then dropped to his knees with his hands folded. “Please, Josh. I know it’s hard, but you have to tell me what you know. Is Antonio okay?”
Josh opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“Gabby told me that you both tried to escape,” Carlos said.
Josh nodded as Mila, standing behind him, placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed. “It’s okay, Josh,” she said. “You can tell us.”
“What did they do with Antonio?” Carlos asked, his voice calm as his body trembled in fear.
“We…” Josh began. “We told the guard that we had to talk with the mayor.”
Carlos didn’t say a word. He was frozen on one knee with wide, unblinking eyes. The faint sound of a truck engine could be heard in the distance.
“They’re coming!” Ashlee announced while squinting ahead into the low-lying sun, down the long, empty road. It was only afternoon but getting dark fast.
“Please. Go on,” Carlos urged.
Josh took a deep breath, replaying the moment in his head, as he had done over and over again, replaying it up until the moment everything became a blur. “I don’t know,” he said.
“Just start at the beginning,” Carlos said.
Elliot’s beat-up white pickup truck came into view, to the relief of most in the group.
For Josh, there was no avoiding the inevitable. Things were becoming clearer for him as Carlos’s insistence peeled away layers of suppressed trauma. “We tried to escape,” Josh said. “That was it. We didn’t want to hurt anyone. We just wanted to get out of our cell.”
“I understand,” Carlos said. “You were trying to escape. What happened after that?”
Josh took a deep breath. “I think. Umm.” He placed his head in his hands, holding back the emotions running through his body. Mila heard his sniffling and placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
“Josh, honey. What happened?”
Josh raised his eyes. “He shot Antonio. He shot Antonio, and then I ran. That’s what happened, okay? We failed!”
Carlos’s eyes were wild with shock and fury. The words tore him apart like an explosion. He grabbed Josh’s arm and pulled him close.
“Carlos!” Mila said.
“What are you talking about?” Carlos said, his voice shaking and tears welling in his eyes. “Who shot him, and why?”
The rest of the group turned away from the approaching pickup truck, their attention drawn to the intense scene unfolding before them.
“The guard. A big guy,” Josh said. “I ran away as soon as I heard the gunshots. I don’t know. I never saw Antonio again after that. They ran after me, tackled me to the ground, and threw me back in the cell. I don’t know!” His head dropped back down into his hands as he sobbed. Mila held him as he turned around and cried into her arms, leaving Carlos to speculate on the worst.
Carlos slowly rose from the ground and walked away as everyone watched. Josh didn’t know what else to say. Mila was in a state of disbelief. Gabrielle chased off after her father, calling his name. The pickup truck roared closer and slowed down. Elliot was driving, with Mayra in the passenger seat and Brad sitting in the back.
They slowed to a halt, their faces weary and disturbed. Brad jumped out and ran to his family, kicking up dirt behind his hurried steps. “Oh thank God!” he said, pulling them near. “I’m so thankful to see you guys.” They hugged him back as tears flowed from all their faces.
Mayra jumped out of the truck and ran off as Elliot waited patiently at the wheel.
Mila approached him looking dazed with Josh and Kelly at her side. “What was all that business that happened back there?” he asked her.
“They took Rob,” she answered, her voice strained and tired. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we have to get him back.”
Elliot bit his bottom lip and looked down with a grim expression. “I’m… I’m sorry to hear that. I wish there was something I could do, but…”
She placed her hand on his door. “Not here, Elliot. It’s all right. We’ll think of something. We need to get the children back to camp.”
She turned away, and led Josh and Kelly to the back of the truck. “Come on, kids. Let’s get in. We’re going home.”
“What about Dad?” Josh asked.
“We’ll get him later, I promise.”
Brad brought his four children to the back of the truck as well, helping them get in. In the distance, Mayra fell to her knees. Antonio’s absence had them in a panic. Carlos tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away. Gabrielle rushed to her mother and helped her stand up. It
“He’s dead,” Josh said to Mila as he climbed in the back. “I know it now.”
“What?” Kelly said, shocked. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“Just get in,” Mila said, trying to say focused.
“What was that?” Elliot asked with his head turned, eavesdropping.
Mila went to him and spoke quietly. “We could all be dead if we don’t get out of here.”
Back by the tree, Carlos, Mayra, and Gabrielle cried in each other’s arms as the group waited, not wanting to disturb them.
***
Arthur regrouped in the conference room with his roundtable of trusted confidants, including his wife, Teresa. She had watched the entire spectacle unfold from the second-story window as well as having played a large part in getting everything organized: from the reverend’s part in it, to the children, lined up in position and ready. It was a cold evening, and the temperature was expected to drop even more the next day.
Two kerosene lamps illuminated the room from both ends. Arthur sat at the head of the table, still wearing his beret. Larry, Jerome, Dwayne, and Nathan sat in their respective chairs as Teresa stood by the window. She never sat, no matter how many times Arthur insisted.
They were going over the day’s many significant series of events. Rob had been captured, and Arthur had been right in predicting it would take nothing less than capturing every child from their camp to get him. Arthur felt they had achieved two significant goals that day: depriving their enemies of a leader, and the invaluable propaganda of humiliating them in front of the townspeople.
It was a win-win as far as Arthur was concerned. But their brief victory wasn’t going to make everything better. With the coming winter and lack of supplies, they were going to face some real challenges in the coming weeks.
“It’s been quite a day,” Arthur said in a congratulatory tone. “But our work is only beginning. Wall construction is still ongoing, and it will only get harder once the snow comes. We’re low on food, water, and basic necessities. Prescription drugs and alcohol are in high demand but dwindling faster than sand through the glass.”
“Can I point out the obvious here?” Nathan said, raising his hand.
Arthur paused, narrowing his eyes. “Yes, Nathan. But first, let me make something clear. I’ll remind you that I’m willing to look past our skirmish earlier today as long as we’re on the same page about Jasper.”
Nathan stared ahead. His Adam’s apple moved as though he had just swallowed his pride. “Yes. We are, Mr. Mayor.”
