Surviving the Fog (42 page)

Then Yuie said, "I do accept this deal, and I
do want to have your children."

Then she turned, and she kissed him,
accepting now that she was in love with this Army man.  She
had not expected this change in her life and in her attitudes, but
she realized that she was happy, even if this was a great
surprise.

On the grassy area below the Lodge, Mike,
John, and Desi watched the two lovers at the end of the meadow.
 Desi sighed when Yuie turned to kiss Lincoln.

"I always thought that Yuie would end up with
you, Mike," she said wistfully.  She was holding Michael in
her lap.

Mike laughed.  "I liked her at first,
but later she was kind of like my sister.  I never even kissed
her, even when we shared our sleeping bags."

"Oops.  Gotta change Michael.  Come
help me, John," Desi commanded as she rose.

John sighed.  "Yes, dear," he said, and
the two of them went into the Lodge.

As Mike looked out over the panorama of his
village, he felt intense satisfaction.  He took in the golden
fields, the running stream, the buildings of his village, and his
people.  He glanced again at Yuie and Lincoln who, were
walking again on the track.  He saw Hector and Kathy down by
the river, busy as usual, measuring a spot for the sawmill.
 He saw Howard and Jean talking with Eric and Cody.  He
saw Rasul holding Diego and escorting Imee into the dining hall,
where the fair was centered.  Some of his people were not
here.  Even on a holiday, the guard posts at Davis Brown Farm,
Logging Road junction, the hill, and upriver, had to be manned.
 Then Mike glanced sadly at the three graves, and he noticed
that someone had recently placed fresh flowers on them.

Suddenly, Mike felt a strong
urge to see Major Collins and Erin again.  
I could take a walk
, he thought.
 
I could go see the Army post and the
new post below Evil Hill.  The Fog is going down.  There
are all kinds of places I could explore.
 But he wouldn't tell that to Howard today.  He
would wait a few days.  Today was a time for fun.  Mike
walked down to the dining hall.

Two days after the fair ended, Howard sent
Nathan and Kevin to Davis Brown Farm.  With them went Paige
and Kylie, who had stayed behind when the wagon carrying the others
had left.  The four rode the bicycles.  Ralph had warned
them not to dawdle along the way.

Howard needed to send two of the bikes to
Major Collins, but he just wasn't sure how he was going to
accomplish that.  He wanted the other bikes to be available to
convey messages from David Brown Farm to Petersburg.  A strong
rider using a bicycle would take only one day to get a message from
place to place.  This would make the horses happy.

The days after the fair were dedicated to
cleaning the village.  Petersburg needed a good cleaning
before winter set in.  The villagers worked diligently with
few complaints, and when they were finished, the kitchen sparkled,
the Admin’s cabin was organized, and the Lodge smelled better.
 Tired from his part of the work, Mike was unpleasantly
surprised to be roused from his bunk before dawn.

“The Mayor wants to see you, Ch... uh, Mike,"
Tyler said.

Mike rubbed sleep from his eyes.  "Do
you know what it's about, Tyler?" he asked.

"Only that one of those guys from the Retreat
is in trouble," Tyler replied.

"Shit," Mike grumbled.

He used the Porta Potty and
then went down to the Village Office, which used to be Chief's
Headquarters.  Howard was there, along with John, Eric, Ahmad,
Rasul, and Jacob.  
The original
Spears,
thought Mike.
 
I don't like the looks of
this.
 The oldest teen from the
retreat was sitting on the bed, a sullen expression covering his
face.  Tyler was told to wait outside.

"This clown has been pressuring one of the
artists to have sex with him," Howard said.

Mike looked at the boy from the Retreat.
 "Is that true?" he asked mildly.

"It's none of your business," the boy said.
 "I’m over sixteen, so I have a right to get laid, even by
your stupid rules."

"He told the woman that if she didn't put out
for him, he would tell everyone in Petersburg what a whore she was.
 That she was every man's lay at the Retreat.  He told
her, she was a worthless bitch, and that no man in Petersburg but
him would ever want to touch a used up cunt like her," Jacob stated
flatly.  “Those were his words.”

Mike glanced at Jacob and
recognized the intense anger beneath his friend’s calm surface, and
then he looked back at the boy.  
He
doesn't know
, Mike thought.
 
This stupid shit doesn't even know
that he's lucky to still be alive.

"Calm down," he said quietly to Jacob.
 "We'll take care of it."  He waited until he saw Jacob
relax.

"You didn't ask Kennedy to be here," Mike
said to Howard.

"No, Chief.  I wanted Kennedy to be able
to say that he knew nothing about what we did to this dickhead,"
Howard replied.

“Good thinking.”

Mike nodded and faced the boy.  "Have
you been down to the Hanging Tree?" he asked.

The boy became agitated.  "I haven't
done anything wrong.  I didn't rape her.  I only talked
to her.  She's a lying bitch, if she says differently.”

Jacob stiffened and then relaxed again, at a
glance from Mike.

"How did we get the evidence?" Mike
asked.

"Lily and I overheard him, Chief," Jacob
explained.  "We've been sleeping out on the lawn in front of
the Lodge.  So we can be together, you know?  We heard
her go to the Porta Potty.  Then he came out of the Lodge.
 When she left the Porta Potty, he started talking to her.
 She started crying."  He gave the boy a contemptuous
look.  "He didn't realize we could hear him.  And he
didn't realize that I had my Spear."

Mike gave Jacob a wry smile.  "Thanks,
for not killing him, Jacob.”

Jacob nodded.  The boy’s face paled.
 At last, he began to understand the danger he had brought on
himself.  Mike turned to Howard.

"If we hang him, there’s no way the rest of
the tribe won't hear about it.  We'll probably have trouble
with his mother and brother.  We'll have trouble with Kennedy.
 And he didn't actually rape her.  At least, not
here.”

“True,” Howard said.  “But we have to do
something.”

“Yes.  Here is my advice.  Put him
in the storage room for the night.  Set a couple of guards on
him.  Call a Meeting tomorrow morning, first thing.  That
will let everyone know how serious we’re taking this.  Let
everyone who knows him have their say.  And if we decide he's
guilty, then banish him.  Let the guards know that if he shows
up here again, he’s to be killed on sight.  But that's just my
advice.  If you’re going to hang him, tell me now, and I’ll
get my spear.   Otherwise, I'm going back to bed."

Mike waited.  The others exchanged looks
and then nodded their acceptance of Mike’s advice.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan," Howard
said.  "Ahmad, you and Tyler stick this scumbag in the storage
room.  If he tries to leave, spear him."

Mike and the others went back to bed.
 The next morning, Howard let out the word that there would be
a Meeting immediately after breakfast.  Rumors were flying
when Meeting began.  Howard explained the charges against the
young man to the community.  Jean had carefully scripted the
order of the witnesses.  The strongest went first.
 Watching them gave confidence to the other victims.
 Lily spoke first, and then Diana was asked to tell what she
knew about the teenager.  Imee was asked to describe her
experiences with him.  Slowly, the vileness at the Retreat,
and the teenager’s part in it, became apparent to all of them.

The boy's mother interrupted at the beginning
of the interrogation.  Howard quickly kicked her out of the
Meeting.  She was taken under guard to the storage room.
 The boy's brother sat silently.

Jacob and Lily testified to what they had
heard the young man say to the woman.  Then the victim was
asked to testify.  It was difficult for her, but she gave a
halting account of what the boy had said to her during the
incident.  She described other times, at the Retreat, when he
had extorted sexual favors from her in return for food and
protection.  Finally she told them other things he had said to
her while they were in Petersburg.

Then the boy was allowed to give his side of
the story.  He said that he was forced to do those things to
her at the Retreat.  He said that she was always willing.
 He pointed out that he had not actually had sex with her in
Petersburg.

When the Meeting was over, Howard said that
the Council would meet, and that they would decide the fate of the
boy.  One hour later, the Council reappeared.  Howard
announced that the boy was banished from Petersburg as of the
following day.  He would be given food and water for three
days.  If he returned, he would be killed.

“This is a death sentence,” Lieutenant
Kennedy said grimly.  He forced himself not to object.

“Probably,” Mike sadly replied.

At sunrise, Eric, Ahmad, Nathan, and Tyler
marched the young man out of Petersburg.  The teenager's angry
mother and his silent brooding brother went with him.  The
three were given three days of food and water.  At sunset,
they came to the Logging Road junction guard post.  They spent
the night there.

"Why are you doing this?" the older boy asked
Eric that night.  "Don't you understand that the world has
changed?  It's all about survival.  Men are in charge
again.  It's like in the ancient times.  Men are the
strong ones.  Men are the smart ones.  Women are the weak
ones.  Women are the stupid ones.  We have to take care
of them or they'll die, right?  So we get to have them.
 It's our right.  You can't punish me for doing what's
natural."

Eric looked at him with contempt.

"You don't get it do you?” Eric said. “Your
crowd hasn’t survived.  Almost all of you are dead.
 We're kicking you out of our village, because we want to
survive, and we can’t survive with dumb asses like you around.
 Our way is not just one way to live.  It's the only way
to keep living.  The girls in our community aren't weak.
 They aren't stupid.  Every one of them has contributed
something to our survival.  They protect us as much as we
protect them."

Before dawn, they marched again.  At
noon, the guards from Petersburg stopped, and they told the trio to
continue until they were out of sight.  Then the guards went
back to Petersburg.

A week later, the younger brother, starving
and haggard, stumbled into the Logging Road junction guard post,
begging to be allowed back into Petersburg.

“My Mom went crazy,” he said.

One night, she decided that the three of them
would go through the fog the next day, and his older brother
agreed.

“I waited until my brother and Mom were
asleep, then I sneaked away.”

From deep in the trees, he watched them walk
into the fog.  When they started screaming, he covered his
eyes and ran away.

Howard was asked by Kennedy to consult Diana,
who agreed that the boy should be allowed back into Petersburg.
 By that time, Mike was gone.

Chapter Sixteen Mike

Mike had wanted to leave Petersburg quietly,
but that was not to be.  As he was explaining his plan to
Howard, Gabby's startled face appeared over the edge of the
loft.

"You're leaving, Petersburg, Ch... uh, Mike?"
she asked.

Howard winced.  "Sorry, Mike.  I
forgot she was up there.  She's been feeling a little ill, and
Diana didn't want her to give something to the whole village."
 He looked up at Gabby.  "You keep this to yourself,
young lady.”

"Of course," she replied solemnly,
innocently.

By nightfall, the whole village knew of
Mike’s plan.  Howard confirmed it at Meeting, which Mike did
not attend.

"He’s leaving in the morning.  He's
going for a visit to the Army post.  He's going to see Erin.
 If he wants to say goodbye to you, he will.  Otherwise,
leave him alone."

Mike wanted to make this trip alone, but
Howard had no intention of letting Mike do that.  He made his
own plans.  He did let Mike sleep in the cabin loft that
night, so Mike wasn't pestered all night with questions.  When
morning came, Mike went to see Desi.  She was in her room
alone with Michael.   Mike was used to the sight of Desi
breast feeding, by now.  He hardly noticed it.

"So you're off," she said.

"Yeah."

"Mike, thanks, for everything," she said,
which discomforted the young man.

"Everybody helped," he protested. "It took
all of us to make Petersburg."

"I don't mean that," she said.  "I mean
thanks for John and me.  And for Michael.  You could have
kept me for yourself, you know."

Mike couldn’t help himself, he started
laughing.  "No, Desi," he said.  "No way, I could have
kept you."  She laughed, too, as she threw a pillow at
him.

"See you, Chief."

"See you, Desi."

Mike gathered his gear, left the Lodge, and
walked out to the graveyard.  Someone had recently changed the
flowers on the three graves.  Hector found him there.

"So," Hector said.

"Yes.”

Hector wrapped his arms around the boy and
squeezed him tightly, and Mike felt tear drops on the top of his
head.

"Vaya con Dios, mi amigo," he heard Hector
whisper.

"See ya, Hector.”

Mike went to the dining hall and ate
breakfast.  Some of the villagers just waved at him, others
said “good-bye, Chief.”  Tyler came in and sat down at the
table and waited, while Mike finished eating.  Gabby passed
by, and Mike noticed that she was wearing the earrings and pendant
Tyler had given her.