Catie had actually experienced mixed feelings about that aspect. She had no idea how many of the elderly were part of this community’s makeup, but she did know that (for the most part) they would be nothing more than a draw on precious resources.
“Maybe we can start a bit of a daycare center,” Abagail had said, most likely reading Catie’s expression. “We may not be much good in the fields, farms, or security details, but we can help watch over the young’uns. Perhaps that service will justify our existence.”
Catie opened her mouth to try and deny her thoughts on the senior citizen population, but she closed it just as fast, deciding that the woman deserved better. Instead, she simply nodded. Backed by nine seniors all easily over age seventy, Catie and her small team had converged on the hotel that now housed most of the general population. Within an hour, they had every single able-bodied person in the community down in the street in front of the living quarters.
“If you want to stay here and are willing to take part in making this a safer place to live, then you will take one step forward,” Catie announced once she received a nod from Braden that this was everybody. There was a pause, and then people started stepping forward from the line.
This was the first time that she could really get a look at the people making up the so-called “general population” of this community. These numbers did not include the security teams that stood watches up on some of the rooftops that once made up the quaint skyline of Chattanooga. It also excluded the people who made up the patrolling security teams.
Catie was blown away at how many people simply existed here off the work, sweat, and blood of others. How was this possible? Well, that all changed. Right here. Right now.
Once she felt confident that everybody who was going to make the voluntary choice to be part of things had done so, she stepped up on a concrete barrier. At least twenty people had not budged, and now is when things would get tricky.
“Those of you who have made the choice not to help, you have six hours to be packed up and out of here.”
There was a moment of almost perfect silence and Catie braced herself for what was sure to come. It started with a couple of people gasping, but then came the protests. One in particular stood out as exactly what she was hoping and waiting to hear.
“Who are you to kick us out of our home?” a man snarled, shoving past the people who had made the choice to step forward.
“I’m the new person running this show,” Catie said coolly. “Elliott is gone and now it is me making the rules and the decisions. We are a community of immune citizens. We are looked upon as a threat to those who don’t know their condition. Considering the fact that there are only two possible outcomes to being infected, I can’t blame the unknown. However, due to how some of our brethren have chosen to use their status as a weapon, we are not exactly welcome in many communities.”
“That still doesn’t tell us why you are suddenly telling us we have to either fight in a fight of your choosing or be cast out,” the man shot back. “We were doing just fine before and had a system in place that has allowed us to survive for years.”
“Yes…survive.” Catie let that word hang in the air for several seconds before she stepped up to the man, her nose just an inch or so away from his. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just survive. I want to
live
. I want my child to be able to live free and not hide in fear.”
“So you come here…execute the man who has held us together and stood against Dean and his tyranny and prejudice, and then tell us that we will be going to war?” the man continued to press, not backing down or showing the slightest degree of being intimidated by Catie.
“That is one way of looking at it,” Catie replied with a shrug.
“What is to stop one of us from simply killing you and cancelling your war?”
“That would be us.” Marty suddenly seemed to appear at the man’s left and Melvin on the right.
She had no idea how they did it, but the two monstrous men had been all but invisible until that very moment. Their sudden appearance at this man’s side made everybody step back and form a halo of empty space around the four individuals. Catie put a finger on the man’s chest and tapped him twice.
“There is no welfare system anymore. You either do your part with and for the better of the community, or you are out. It is that simple and it is not up for negotiation. If you would like to change your mind…” She paused, stepping back far enough so that she could let her gaze sweep over all who had yet to step forward. “This will be your last opportunity.”
That seemed to do the trick. Catie was not all that surprised. Nobody wanted to go out into the world alone and have to try and survive. Despite some of the romanticized fantasies of the old fiction, nobody survived out there on their own for too long. That had been the big reason that she had decided to try and make a go of living here.
Even in the many travels that she and Kevin had embarked on during their amazing trip across the country in that doomed attempt to see if perhaps his mother or sister had managed to survive, they had always fallen in with groups of people. Some had remained with them for months, others for just a few weeks or even a couple of days. The world was simply too dangerous for anybody to voluntarily go it alone. That was perhaps why most communities had one universal punishment when dealing with those who did not abide by the rules: banishment.
Being banished was the new form of capital punishment. Now that she had everybody on board, she was prepared to put her full plan into motion. The Beastie Boys would be leaving right away for their part in the mission. The only thing that she struggled with now was the fact that Kalisha and Caleb were still unaccounted for and people considered her a child killer. Now that she had dealt with the general population, Marty and Melvin would start for Montague Village and see if perhaps they could find any signs that the children had gone that way. She was doing her best to make it known that she considered them missing and not dead.
***
Catie stood about fifty yards from the main entry to Montague Village. She was flanked by the Wonder Twins. It had only been three days since she had assumed control, but it already felt like a lifetime ago. She was fairly certain that pretty much everybody that now marched under her command hated her and hoped that she would die a horrible death.
She could not say that she blamed them.
A student of history, she had pulled a page from the book of George Washington. She had held a public execution and announced that she would be hanging three individuals that had decided to go AWOL. When the sentence was about to be carried out, she granted clemency to one of the trio saying that she believed the person’s claim that the other two had been the instigators. After that, people seemed to jump any time she gave a command.
As she stood staring at the gates of Montague Village and waiting for Dean to show himself and decide whether or not there was going to be a fight, she had time to second guess every single decision that she had made up to this point. It all started with her order to execute Elliott. Had that really been necessary?
Yes
, she told herself,
the man wanted to have some of his people sneak in and contaminate the water or food or whatever and then give those who showed immunity the option of joining him
.
Despite her own actions these past few days, she did not believe that her sins equaled those of the deceased lunatic. Yet, did any despot truly believe that the acts they were committing to be evil? Her only true regret in regards to having Elliott assassinated was that the two children, Kalisha and Caleb had disappeared and that the people all believed she had something to do with it.
“Well, well, Missus Dreon,” a familiar voice called down, snapping her back to the business at hand.
“Dean, nice of you to come and speak with me,” Catie called up. She had to shield her eyes a bit from the sun; she also could not actually see the man’s face. That had to change. “How about you come on down and we can speak civil. I believe things can be handled in such a way that benefits us both.”
“I find that unlikely, Missus Dreon. However, I will come down and hear you out. I am bringing ten men with me. You are welcome to do the same.”
“And we meet inside the ruins of that old gas station,” Catie said, pointing to the collapsed and charred ruins a few hundred yards to her left.
“I don’t believe so. We can meet right where you stand or not at all.”
Catie considered his offer. It did make sense. If she was setting him up, then surely she would want to meet him someplace where she could ambush him. She did not like the fact that they were in range of the guards up in the guard towers and catwalks, but she knew this might be the best offer she would be given.
“Deal.”
There was a long wait. In that time, Catie had the Wonder Twins bring up eight more people they felt would put up a good fight if it came to that. She was actually a little surprised when Denise DeCarlo strolled up.
“I want to hear what he says with my own ears,” the woman said. Her tone was flat, and Catie told herself that she would keep an eye on the woman. Later, she would make it a point to confront Marty and Melvin. She would ask them what the hell they were thinking bringing this woman up as one of her ten, although she would have her suspicions. Denise had been just a bit off since this mission began.
At last, the gates opened and Dean Stockton emerged with his entourage. They were wearing a lot of protective gear and every one of them except for the administrator of Montague Village was bristling with a variety of weapons.
“You sure about this?” Marty said out of the corner of his mouth.
“I haven’t been sure of anything in a long time,” Catie answered.
“You do a lousy job of instilling confidence,” Melvin whispered.
“So, Missus Dreon, I see that you have jumped ship. I take it my man Clarence won’t be returning?” Dean stopped about five feet away, his security detail pulling up just a few feet behind him.
“Clarence went down like a soldier, but I had nothing to do with how that occurred.”
Dean studied her face; he was obviously looking for any signs of deception. Catie had no problem looking the man in the eye; after all, she was telling the truth. And this was actually the opening she was hoping for.
“Elliott is gone as well.” Catie let that hang in the air for a moment. Of course, if Marty and Melvin had come here, then it was probable that Dean already knew that much. “He was going to try and infect your entire community and then come in and scoop up all those who did not die. He wanted the immune to be free.”
“Free?” Dean scoffed. “Free is a myth. None of us are free.”
“That is easy to say when you are running the show,” Catie said. “You have made your community open to the immune, but they are not really welcome, are they? You keep them under your thumb and relegate them to a lower caste than the unknown.”
“I have done what needed to be done in order to keep the peace.”
“That’s bullshit. You put bands on people’s arms and have passed laws where they can’t own property.”
“We are the only community in the area that allows their kind to live within the protective walls—” Dean started, but Catie cut him off.
“Their kind?” She struggled to keep her voice under control. If she could do this without having to start her “reign” with a war, that was absolutely preferable. Still, she also knew the value of bargaining for a position. Right now, she was establishing her place in this man’s eyes. “Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?”
“The immune are a threat to anybody that they come into contact with,” Dean shot back. “They are walking biological weapons.”
“And I have no issue with making the public aware of who is and who is not immune, but to basically turn them into indentured servants, stripped of any position of authority—”
“You cannot put those people in control. If you met with Elliott, then you understand why.”
“I understand that he was the flip side of the coin to you. Both of you want to force the other side to take a lesser role. How can you not see that there does not need to be anything of the sort? The immune offer an advantage in this new world. But if they are going to be the ones put at risk, then is it not only fair that they be compensated?”
“I see you have been digging around in things from the past.” Dean stepped just a few inches closer, but the threat was obvious in the gesture. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I suggest you let those sorts of things be.”
“You were one of the names Sandy Bennett was going to reveal.”
Dean stared for several seconds before a smile spread across his face. His smile changed to a chuckle.
“Nothing quite so sinister, I’m afraid,” he finally said. “Although I do suspect a few people that might have been about to be exposed.”
“So you had nothing to do with her mysterious death?”
“I don’t think there is anything mysterious about it. She was going to rat a few people out and they shut her up before she could say their names and change their positions.”
“But that is part of the problem,” Catie insisted. “The fact that they had a status to lose…” Her voice trailed off when he raised his hand to interrupt once more.