Isolation (Book 3): Starting Anew, page 11
part #3 of Isolation Series
“You might indeed!” the bald man called mockingly, to jeers and harsh laughter from the thirty or so people behind him. “I'm Jay, your neighbor from Wensbrook. Seems you've been visiting there a lot lately.” He started forward leading the group, having them stop a safe thirty feet away from Stanberry's mayor and continuing forward on his own.
“That's far enough!” Darby called when Jay was about twenty feet away. “What's your purpose here?”
The bald man stopped obligingly enough. His expression looked like a mask of congeniality over an ocean of rage. “Well, we've got a problem,” he said amiably, although the undertone of quiet fury was in his voice as well. “We watched our loved ones die and our lives turn to ashes in the St. Joseph quarantine camp, and dreamed of the day when we could go home and try to move on from the nightmare of Zolos.” He abruptly raised his voice. “Isn't that right, guys?”
The crowd behind him rumbled their angry agreement, and Elle felt her heart sink. It was obvious where this was going, and that was nowhere good.
Jay turned back to Darby and the others. “All that suffering, and on the celebrated day when we finally got to go home, riding that bus to our town eager to see all the familiar sights we knew and loved, can you guess what we found?”
The Mayor opened his mouth, but before he could reply the leader of the Wensbrook group raised his voice to a furious shout. “We found our homes and businesses stripped bare, and on every door was a smug little confession by the good people of Stanberry that THEY were the ones who'd done it! Completely shameless!”
The Stanberry delegation shuffled guiltily, or at least uneasily.
Jay gave them a look of purest contempt and motioned curtly, and the bigger man who'd been in the lead truck with him came to his side lugging a heavy duffle bag. The bald man took the duffle and yanked the zipper open in one smooth motion, then upended the bag. A cascade of the notices Darby had given the scavengers to put on the places they searched poured out, a few fluttering away while the rest formed a sloppy pile.
“That's a lot of dead trees right there!” the Wensbrook spokesman said, falsely friendly tone gaining a hard edge. “And would you believe that every single one of those papers represents a house or business in our town that's been ransacked by the worthy people of your community?” He kicked at the pile, sending half of it fluttering towards Darby. “Way I see it, every single one of those is an IOU. We've come to collect.”
Darby danced back from the nearest notices and shot Nick an accusing glance, as if this was all his fault, and Ellie felt a surge of indignation on behalf of her ex-husband and the good people on his team. For a second she was afraid the Mayor was going to try to pin everything on them, deflect the ire of the Wensbrook crowd onto convenient scapegoats.
Thankfully Darby simply rubbed at his forehead wearily. “If you want redress, make a claim and we'll return your possessions.”
Jay grinned, or at least bared his teeth, as if he didn't believe that for a second. “Great, then give it all back.”
A dismayed rumble spread through the Stanberry delegation and the Mayor winced, hemming and hawing for a second. “I would urge you to be reasonable. After all, the resources we added to our stockpile from Wensbrook were the possessions of over a thousand people. Meanwhile there are, what, thirty of you?”
“You don't need to know how many of us there are!” a woman back in the crowd of newcomers shouted.
Darby ignored her, continuing resolutely. “We can't in good conscience give a few dozen people the supplies for a thousand people when we're struggling to support more than our town's numbers in refugees as well as our own citizens. I'm sorry, it's just impossible.”
“It sure as the blazes better not be impossible!” Jay snarled, taking a threatening step forward. He appeared unarmed, but something in his bearing made Ellie unconsciously step back as he continued. “That's our stuff, you have no right to decide what's done with it!”
Darrel stepped up beside the Mayor. “If each of you come with a personal tally of your own possessions, we'll make sure they're restored to you,” he said reasonably. “You have no claim on anyone else's things.”
“Counter offer,” the Wensbrook spokesman growled. “Give us back our stuff, or we're going to take it back!”
In spite of the man's deadly serious tone, Ellie wasn't the only one who arched a dubious eyebrow at that. Going on numbers, how well armed they were, or even the ability to stand for more than a few minutes at a time, the Wensbrook group didn't seem to have the ability to back up that threat. And yet it was hard not to believe that, if nothing else, Jay himself was confident they did.
That worried her, making her wonder what she was missing.
Darby stepped forward, hands raised placatingly. “There's no need for this, sir. There was no malice in our actions, and we want to resolve this with you fairly and peacefully. Just tell us what we can do to make it right, and we'll do it.”
“We've already told you,” the big man at Jay's side snapped. “We want every single scrap of loot you took out of Wensbrook, or a replacement for what you've already used.”
“You know that's impossible,” Darrel shouted back, looking at the end of his patience. “And honestly I don't see what position you're in to make demands. I can understand wanting fair compensation for any wrongs done to you, but don't be unreasonable.”
“Maybe we'll see how unreasonable we're being,” Jay said. In contrast to the other men's shouting, his voice had dropped to almost too quiet to hear. “You've got three days to send us everything we lost, in trucks with unarmed drivers and no one else, taking as many trips as necessary. Otherwise there's going to be trouble.”
The leader of Stanberry's patrol laughed mockingly. “You want to threaten us, friendo? You and your little army of women and children who can barely stand? If you tried anything we could mow you down with just the people I've got here.”
“Darrel, enough!” Darby snapped, showing real anger at his cousin for the first time Ellie had ever seen. And this would certainly be the moment for it; she couldn't believe even Darrel had said something so awful. Especially not while they were trying to talk down a group of angry people.
Darrel sullenly stomped back into the Stanberry delegation, thankfully without another word, but the damage was done. The Wensbrook survivors had erupted into angry rumbling and more than a few shouted insults.
In sharp contrast, Jay's face had become a blank mask, eyes empty. “Your town has lost nothing,” he said, quiet voice somehow cutting through the noise of the crowd behind him. “We've lost everything. Don't test our resolve.” He turned and strode away, his people falling in behind him. They climbed into their vehicles and drove away without so much as a look back.
A slightly uncomfortable silence fell as the Stanberry delegation watched them leave. “Well that could've gone better,” Bruce finally said.
Nick nodded. “I for one am completely shocked that a bunch of normal people would be pissed off at coming home from a desperate struggle to survive a deadly disease, only to find their homes and livelihoods plundered.”
Ellie fought the urge to slap her forehead. At her side Hal snorted in grim amusement.
Darby shot her ex-husband a disgusted look. “That's rich coming from you, considering you're the one who did most of it.”
“Under protest,” he shot back. “I wanted to ask for supplies from a emergency relief stockpile.” He hardened his voice. “The actual legitimate course of action, rather than just casually issuing an official declaration that says we have the right to go loot other towns.”
“Screw you, Statton!” Darrel growled. “You may not have liked it, but that didn't stop you from doing it. You're as much a part of this as we are.”
Ellie cut in hastily, before the argument could heat up any further. “Even with how bad that went, I still think they might settle down.”
Everyone turned to her. “Settle down, Ms. Feldman?” Darby asked with forced politeness.
She nodded. “Think about it. They'd just barely come home and found their houses ransacked, and they came straight here. Actually, way sooner than any of us had expected, probably as soon as they were able to get their hands on working vehicles and make the drive. That means their blood's really up, or at least their leader's is and they went along with him.”
Bruce nodded thoughtfully. “That sort of anger tends to flash hot then burn out fast.”
“Right,” Ellie agreed. “This Jay fellow himself is giving us three days. Enough time for him and his people to calm down and approach this more rationally. As long as we can decide on how to make things right with them at that time, things should be fine.”
“As long as they didn't take it personally when our town's brave defender threatened to gun them all down if they try anything,” Nick muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
That nearly made the discussion devolve into an argument again, but before Darrel could respond the sound of an engine drew their attention back down the road.
Ellie turned in time to see the truck Jay had been driving come into view, creeping forward until it was pretty much directly in front of the roadblock. While everyone watched in silence, bemused and unsure what was going on, the bald leader of the Wensbrook survivors and his big friend in the passenger's seat both got out.
“What do they want now?” Darby murmured.
Jay leaned back into the truck, rooting around in the driver's foot space. Then he leapt backwards at the same time the truck's engine roared and the vehicle leapt forward.
Darrel cursed and raised his voice to a bellow. “Everyone get away from the roadblock!”
Ellie was off on the east side of the road, well out of the way, and Nick and his scavengers were in a similar position on the west side. But as for the Stanberry delegation and Darrel's patrol volunteers, they all yelled in a combination of shock and fear and scattered, abandoning the barricade.
The truck swiftly closed the distance, engine screaming as it went over the red line in first or maybe second gear, presumably from a brick or other weight planted on the gas pedal. Low gear or not, it was moving at a good clip by the time it slammed into the barricade.
The collection of construction obstacles exploded with a thunderous crash, but thankfully the roadblock had been built well enough to stop a speeding truck. The front of the vehicle crumpled, the entire thing skidded sideways, and then the roar of the engine settled to idle as whatever had been on the gas pedal was jolted loose.
Shaken, Ellie turned her eyes from the destruction in time to see Jay and the bigger man with him both flip double birds at her and the other Stanberry residents. “Just so you know we're serious!” the bald man shouted as another car from his group skidded to a halt behind him. He and his friend jumped into the back, and the vehicle flipped a U-turn in a screech of tires and disappeared out of view again.
The town's delegation cautiously approached the roadblock, although Darby kept yelling for everyone to not get too close in case the truck was contaminated with Zolos. “Mr. Statton, can your people take care of it?” he called.
Nick nodded, looking shaken, and motioned the McCleese brothers to join him in cautiously approaching the crashed vehicle. He reached in to turn off the engine, then the three men began looking it over for further threats.
As they were doing that Darrel cautiously circled the roadblock, stopping somewhat close to where Ellie and Hal stood, and glared after the vanished Wensbrook survivors. “Still think they'll settle down in a few days?” he asked Ellie sarcastically.
✽✽✽
Maybe curiosity mingled with boredom had finally overcome fear of Zolos, or maybe the noise had drawn people out of the safety of their houses before they could think of the danger. Either way, a small crowd had formed on the townward side of the roadblock, watching as the scavengers moved Jay's crashed truck out of the way and got to work repairing the barricade.
It wouldn't be a small job, from what Ellie could tell from the damage.
“What do we know about this Jay fellow?” Mayor Darby was asking a short distance away, watching the work beside the other town leaders as the crowd formed behind them.
Darrel shrugged. “I asked around with anyone who has close ties with Wensbrook. Nobody knows him personally, but Bert Wilkins told me his cousin goes hunting with him sometimes.”
“So what have we got?” Bruce demanded impatiently, glowering at the trashed roadblock.
The patrol volunteers' leader shrugged again. “His name's Jay Corey. Married, a few kids, worked as a mechanic before Zolos hit. Apparently he's really into hunting, does rifle, shotgun, even bow. Also a bit of a gun nut, spends a lot of time on the range.”
“Any military or law enforcement experience?” Darby asked.
“Not that I know of,” his cousin replied.
The Mayor shook his head. “Hopefully not, if he really plans to cause trouble. Anyone with any sort of combat or tactical training could be a threat, numbers or not.”
“In that case why are we treating this like such a disaster?” a man in the crowd shouted. “There's only a few dozen of them and they're all just normal people, right? If they try something our patrols will just stomp them flat.”
Ellie cleared her throat, speaking loudly and firmly. “It doesn't matter how many of them there are. It could just be this Jay character on his own, and he'd still have access to a weapon that could destroy the whole town.”
It took a few seconds for people to understand, especially with several calling for an explanation instead of taking a moment to figure out the obvious. But finally realization began to sink in, and the crowd fell into horrified silence.
“Zolos,” a woman out there said, quiet voice carrying across the distance.
Darby nodded grimly. “They're all survivors, immune. They could use the virus against us without any risk to themselves.”
“But they wouldn't deliberately bring a horrible death to thousands of innocent people, children, just over a disagreement, would they?” Winn Norson demanded. “They've just suffered through that hell themselves, they wouldn't inflict it on someone else.”
“You can never tell what angry people nursing a grievance would do,” Ellie said. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
“So what do we do?” Darrel asked, fear making him angry. “Clear all the approaches to town and establish an armed perimeter, shoot anyone who comes close?”
“After giving them sufficient warning, of course,” the Mayor clarified. “If you think about it, this is no different from the threat we've already been defending against since the beginning, just on a larger scale.”
“And against people who might deliberately want to infect us!” the woman from before called out.
Another uncomfortable silence settled. “Why don't we just give them what they want?” Winn asked. “I mean, it is their stuff.”
Darby shook his head with a sigh. “We'll flat out be unable to support the quarantine camp without what we've scavenged from Wensbrook. We can't spare enough to give them back everything, and it sounds like they refuse to accept everything less.”
“Shouldn't we at least try?” Ellie asked. “Jay might bluster and shout, but when offered a truck full of necessities and a chance to end this peacefully, maybe he'll see reason. Especially after three days to calm down.”
The Mayor looked over the growing crowd, then straightened his shoulders and raised his voice. “All right, everyone! I need to confer with the city council and decide what to do here. Rest assured in the meantime that our patrols are vigilant for any threats. Please return to your homes to reduce the risk of exposure to Zolos.”
The crowd reluctantly drifted off in the direction of town, talking amongst themselves. Once they were gone Darby turned to Ellie and Hal. “Can I leave it to you to tell everyone in the quarantine camp what just happened? Make sure they know to stay calm, and maybe ask Mr. Hardy, Mr. Starr, and Ms. Griegs to take whatever measures they need to ensure that the camp is protected.”
“Of course,” Ellie said.
The Mayor turned to Nick next. “As for your team, I'd say you've earned the rest of the day off while we figure out where you're going next.”
Her ex-husband nodded, looking relieved. “Sounds good. We could all do with a break.”
That seemed to be that. Everyone started drifting off to their various duties, while Ellie walked with Hal back towards the quarantine camp. “I'd like to check on Tallie before we deal with the quarantine camp residents,” she said after a few steps. He nodded, expression troubled, and she paused to take his hand and squeeze it. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He stared towards where Jay and his group had disappeared, brow furrowed with worry. “I was just thinking that after that confrontation with those Wensbrook survivors, I feel like I should be doing something.”
Ellie frowned, confused. “What do you mean? You are doing something . . . you work as hard at the quarantine camp as I do.”
Her boyfriend shook his head. “I mean doing more to defend you and the kids. Like maybe I should talk to Darrel about joining the patrols. With pissed off people promising vengeance lurking out there, it feels like we're awfully exposed at the Norsons' house. I'd like to be between you and them.”
That was a good point. Handy as it had been to not be turned away as possible Zolos carriers because the Norsons' property wasn't inside the patrol area, now it was a serious detriment if Jay decided to cause trouble.
“You'd really be okay working for Darrel?” she asked.
Her boyfriend made a sour face. “I'd be okay protecting you.”
Ellie didn't like the idea of him putting himself in danger, but that wasn't why she shook her head. “If the worry is us being in danger where we are, the solution isn't to go join the people who already aren't defending us well enough. Assuming they'd even accept your help before you've gone through the 21 days.”
