We Go On (THE DELL) (19 page)

That got the attention of some as
I heard low murmuring in the gallery as the people discussed this issue. I let
them talk for a few moments then continued. "Therefore, it is my decision
that any executions that must be performed here in the Dell will be accomplished
by a firing squad made up of volunteers from the security detachment. No less
than six men will be used and a coup de grace will be accomplished by the
detachment commander to ensure the prisoner does not return as one of the
un-dead. The deceased will then be immediately buried in a place apart from the
place of internment for the law abiding population of the Dell."

This last comment received
positive comments from the gallery and I could tell the people approved. I
finished with, "I charge Dave Hoskins with finding six volunteers as the
firing squad and a detachment commander to ensure that the execution is carried
out properly. A location for the execution will be named after proper
consideration but I want one thing to be known. We will not conduct public
executions. This is an act of justice, not entertainment. I will ask one of our
Pastors to administer to the condemned and the victim in the crime will be
allowed to witness if she so chooses. I will attend as a witness for the
government and one witness for the people will be allowed. No other persons
will be allowed in the vicinity of the execution." I looked around the
room to see if there were any questions and there were none. "That's all.
Court is dismissed,” I said and stood.

The rest of trial day I spent in
meetings with Dave and Jim preparing for the execution. It had been during this
meeting that Jim made his famous remark about going down a road we can't return
from. I knew his meaning and I tried to remain detached but it's difficult when
you're discussing killing a man. It’s depressing and we were all feeling it. We
finally worked out the details and broke for the night.

The next morning, Dave started
work on the execution site. We had decided to use the remaining Hesco
containers and build a three sided U shaped redoubt so that the execution would
not be observable and the dirt filled Hesco would act as a bullet stop. It
wouldn't do to have a stray bullet injure an innocent by stander. I still had a
hard time coming to terms with the fact that we were really going to do this.
It’s just so far from anything I had ever expected to have to do. Well, I guess
that's life in our new world.

I spent the rest of the day
talking to all the people that were to be involved with the execution. I talked
to Reverend Ballard and he said he’d minister to Marvin and stay with him until
the end. I thanked him and as I left the Reverend asked if I was okay. I told
him I worried about what we were doing. George asked me to sit a moment and he
told me that to be a leader was to do things that others couldn't. I nodded and
told him that I understood that and had no problem making the hard decisions
but this was different. I told him that as a cop I had been involved in
shootings and since the Event I couldn't count the number of people I had
killed. I told him this was the first time that the thought of killing a man
had bothered me. He smiled and told me that was good and I asked how that could
be good? He said that the thought of killing Marvin should bother me and that
it was good because it showed that, after all we had been through, I hadn't
lost my humanity.

George told me that a man in my
position had to carry the moral responsibility for the entire group. I asked if
he thought we were doing the right thing and he turned serious. "Scott,
I'm not sure that killing another human being is ever the right thing. I was
not a fan of the death penalty before the Event and it’s a shame that when
there are so few of us left that we are planning to kill one of the few
survivors. The question you have to ask yourself, is there any other way to
deal with this problem?"

"I've thought about nothing
else for the last few weeks and I can't see an alternative," I said.

"Then you have your answer.
But Scott, I caution you, never take the easy way. The obvious answer is not
always the right answer."

I nodded and told him I understood
what he said. As I left I told him that I had been accused of a lot of things
but doing things the easy way had never been one of them, just ask my wife. He
laughed and told me he would be praying for me as well as Marvin. I thanked him
and left.

There were still several things I
needed to finish that day and I had to get to the next one. I stopped by the
EOC and talked to Dave. He informed me the site was nearly finished and that
the grave would be dug adjacent to one wall. I asked if he had any volunteers
for the firing squad and he said they were in the back room. I told him I
wanted to talk to them and he led me to a room in the back of the house. In the
room seven of Dave's security men were sitting relaxing. I knew all of them and
all sat up and acknowledged me as I entered. Dave explained that Barry Stone
would act as the detachment commander. I looked at Barry and he nodded.

Barry is a former soldier and,
despite his young age, was one of the guy's that Dave counted on. His six-foot-two
inch frame and lean physique leant him a perpetual military air. He was only
twenty-seven years old but was mature beyond his years. Dave had promoted him
to the platoon sergeant position for first platoon soon after he joined our
group. I wasn't surprised he had volunteered. Not because he wanted to be
involved with something like this but because he’s a good soldier and always
ready to do whatever needed doing. I knew he would do his duty.

I looked around the room making
eye contact with each of the volunteers. After making sure I had everyone’s
attention, I spoke. "Thank you for volunteering for this duty. This is not
like anything you have ever been asked to do. I want all of you to know that
you carry no responsibility for what you will do tomorrow. The responsibility
is mine and mine alone. You’re following the order of the officers appointed
above you and should never feel guilty. This isn’t something I ever thought we
would have to do but here it is and we have to deal with it. I know that each
of you will perform in a professional and compassionate manner tomorrow. Once
again I thank you." I looked at each of them again and could see a quiet
determination on each face. I asked if they had any questions and, after they
said no, I left. Dave walked out with me and he asked how I was holding up. I
told him that I wasn't great but I would be okay. He asked what I intended to
do now and I said I wanted to see Judy and Albert Davis. Dave wished me luck
and went back in the EOC. I headed up the street to the Davis house.

The Davis household was quiet and
I wasn't sure if anyone was at home. I stepped up onto the wide southern style
porch and knocked on the door. I prepared to knock again when Judy opened the
door. When she saw it was me, she opened the door so I could enter. Dressed for
the cold weather in jeans and sweater, her clothes also helped to hide the
bruises that were still healing. Where she normally wore her long brown hair
up, it was down and flowed over her shoulders. Her hair helped to hide the
marks on her neck where Marvin had tried to choke the life out of her. She was
still depressed from the ordeal but was in much better shape than her husband. Albert
spent most of his day shuffling through his assigned tasks and the evenings
were spent sitting at the kitchen table starring at the wall. Judy told me that
she and Albert hadn't talked much since the attack. I told her this was an all
too common occurrence. Albert felt he had let her down by not protecting her
and was embarrassed each time he looked at her because it reminded him of his
failure. She nodded her understanding. "I know but it doesn't help me
much. I think he’s trying to give me space when what I need is to know he still
wants me. That he doesn't consider me to be dirty or spoiled." 

I tried to reassure her that her
husband would never feel that way about her. I'm not sure I succeeded but she
smiled and that let me off the hook. I wasn’t comfortable talking to her about
their relationship. No matter how many times I had this conversation with a
victim it was always the same. The woman’s damaged and the only thing I could
do to help was to catch the piece of shit that had hurt her and see that he was
punished. What she needed was the support of her family and that’s all too
often the one thing missing.

I asked her if she had considered
whether she wanted to attend the execution and she said she would be there. I
asked if Albert would be with her and she shook her head no. I told her I would
pick her up at 6 a.m. and she could go with me. She told me that would be fine
and showed me to the door. I told her that I was sorry for what she’d had to
endure and she smiled a sad smile as she told me she appreciated my concern but
she would be okay. I hoped that seeing her attacker punished would give her a
sense of closure.

I had one more stop before I could
go back to the cottage and spend the evening preparing myself for tomorrow. I
went by the old Post Office that now served as the Village Office. Jim sat in
his office staring out the window. This seemed to be the norm for today.
Everyone I had come in contact with seemed distracted, weighed down with
thoughts of what came next. The case against Marvin, the attack, and trial. Now
the execution and how the act of killing another human in the cold, calculated
manner would affect us all. The siege by the Stinkies only added to the stress
and it’s a problem we were going to have to deal with sooner rather than later.

It took a half a minute for Jim to
recognize my presence after I entered his office. When he finally turned from
the window, he jumped, startled that he was no longer alone. "How long
have you been here?" he asked.

"Just got here. Didn't want
to disturb you. You looked deep in thought."

He nodded. "Yeah, I can't
seem to concentrate today."

I told him I understood and that
it seemed to be going around. I asked if he had the name of the citizen
observer for the execution and he shook his head. He told me that he had talked
to a few people but hadn't picked anybody yet. I asked if there had been any
volunteers and he said no. No one acted interested in watching. I understood. I
wasn't too interested in watching either. He told me then that he would attend
as the citizen observer and I told him I appreciated him taking the
responsibility. He nodded and went back to staring out the window. As I left I
told him that this wasn't on him. It was all my responsibility and he looked
from the window. "Scott, it's all our responsibility. We all allowed
Marvin in and we all allowed him to attack Judy. Now we’re all going to kill
him. This is a nightmare." With that he turned back to the window.

I left Jim and walked back to the
cottage I shared with Kat. The folks I came in contact with during my walk
through The Dell were as depressed as I felt. I found Kat in the kitchen fixing
our meager dinner as I came through the door. I stepped behind her and put my
arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder. She reached back with one
hand and stroked the side of my face. After a few moments she turned in my arms
so that we were face to face. After putting her arms around me she asked if I
was okay. I told her about the conversations I'd had and how everyone’s distracted
by the upcoming execution. She told me to sit and we'd eat. Throughout dinner
she tried to keep my mind off Marvin. We talked about The Dell and what we were
going to do about the Stinkies surrounding us. Trying to be normal in an
abnormal world.

As I lay in bed with her that
night, staring at the ceiling, I knew sleep would be a long time coming. I kept
checking my watch counting down the hours wondering how Marvin would spend his
last few hours. I could only imagine how difficult this must be for him.

Alanis Dumont was quickly losing
her grip on reality. She was aware of the loss and it frustrated her. Her
sanity wasn’t the only thing she had lost. She had lost the Egyptian, she had
lost her greatest discovery, and now she was losing her mind. She hated to lose
and the losing caused the uncontrollable rage.

She was the daughter of French
immigrants and had lived in the U.S. since age four. Her parents had both been
professors at Institut National Des Sciences Appliquéees De Lyon
in
Lyon, France. Her father Xavier was a biology professor and a drunk. He drank
himself to death when Alanis was twelve years old. Her mother, Justine, was a
chemistry professor and was referred to by friends as high strung. She was
subject to the same uncontrollable rage that her daughter suffered from. She
also suffered lunatic happiness and debilitating depression. In fact, she was
an undiagnosed schizophrenic with manic tendencies. She was also the only adult
contact her daughter, Alanis, had outside of school.

School was the only place Alanis
felt comfortable. Her IQ was genius level and her mother pushed her
relentlessly to excel. At sixteen, she entered MIT to study chemistry where she
graduated Magna Cum Laude two months before her twentieth birthday. From there,
she accepted a scholarship to Johns Hopkins and completed medical school in
record time. Her specialty was virology and she was soon offered a fellowship
at Harvard Medical School
to continue her research. She was still in her
twenties when she came to the attention of the Department of Defense and was
recruited to work at USAMRIID, the United States Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, the military’s
headquarters for the study of deadly viruses.

She excelled at her work and soon
was a lead researcher trying to develop vaccines for some of the worst bugs
known to man. For two years prior to the Event, Alanis had worked on a vaccine
for a nasty mutation of the Ebola virus that was first located in Egypt. A very
odd place to find Ebola. It had been believed by the United States government
that Egyptian scientists were mutating the virus to be used as a biological
weapon. Intelligence was developed through signal intercepts by the National
Security Agency at Ft. Meade, Maryland. NSA identified one of the Egyptian
scientists as Doctor Mohammad Hanif Feroz at the University of Cairo. Dr. Feroz
was snatched in a CIA operation and spirited to the Complex where Dr. Dumont
could verify his work.

Dr. Dumont was intrigued by Dr.
Feroz's work and through their shared research was able to develop vaccine
EV703S1. Experimental Virus 703 Series 1 was supposed to have been a vaccine
for the Egyptian mutated strain of Ebola but it had the strange side effect of regenerating
dead cells, especially dead brain cells. Dr. Dumont had verified her findings
and was preparing a report to DOD when Dr. Feroz escaped from the Complex. This
was a complete disaster because he carried the last sample of EV703S1 out with
him. Alanis still hadn't figured out how Dr. Feroz got out of the Complex and
now she was beyond caring. Her one burning desire was to get out of this tomb.
It had been nearly six years since she had been up top and she needed to see
the sun.

That’s the driving force behind
her desire to possess the compound identified by “Keyhole.” She sat at the head
of the huge conference table and listened to a report given by Dick Whitaker.
Whitaker was the fifty-three years old head of the operation section and a GMOI
contractor. The former Army Ranger was five-foot-ten with close cropped hair
peppered with gray at the temples. He was handsome in a rugged way and had been
the subject of several late night fantasies for Dr. Dumont. Alanis would never
actually have sex with Whitaker. He was too far below her status but his rock
hard physique and rugged face did appeal to her. She attributed her distraction
this morning, in part, to her desire. It had been weeks since she had pleasured
herself; maybe it was time.

She considered going to her
quarters after the meeting then noticed that Whitaker had stopped talking. As
she glanced around the table she became aware that everyone stared at her. Dr.
Dumont turned back to Whitaker. "You were saying?"

Whitaker shook his head almost
imperceptibly. "As I was saying, we were completely successful in luring
the infected personnel to the compound and the population inside are currently
cut off from the outside world. The inhabitants have been unsuccessful in
breaking the siege so far and it is our belief based on our observations, that
two more months will be sufficient to drive them out."

"Two months? What leads you
to this conclusion?" asked Alanis.

Whitaker flipped a page in his
briefing book and read from the report. "It is believed that the food
reserves of the inhabitants of the compound will be expired by the middle of
March." He closed the briefing book and looked directly at Dr. Dumont.
"Desperation will cause them to try to evacuate. Desperation and
starvation." Whitaker looked around the table, and then back to Alanis,
"Starvation is an ugly, slow way to die. Once the food runs out they will
be desperate to find a new source. That means they will have to come out from
behind that wall of theirs. We will be waiting."

"What is your plan once they
do come out?" asked the Doctor.

Whitaker placed both hands on the
table top. "That depends on how forceful you want us to be. I believe they
will attempt to fight their way out through the infected personnel. They will
of course sustain high casualties. We can have blocking positions set up to
intercept any inhabitants that succeed in breaking out. Or we can allow them to
leave. Then after a little mopping up of the infected, occupy the compound with
no risk to any of our personnel." He opened his hands in a gesture that it
was up to her. "It only depends on how forceful you want us to be."

Alanis considered this for a
moment. "I don't want any survivors. If any of them are able to escape,
they may re-organize and come back. It will be better for all of us if there
are no survivors."

Whitaker nodded his understanding.
"We have the firepower to ensure that is the outcome. It will present
slightly more risk to us but it is within our capabilities."

Alanis smiled for the first time
since the meeting started. "Good. Then it's decided. As soon as they come
out, we will be there waiting, and you will ensure there will be nobody to
reclaim this property. I do not want any more delays and the middle of March is
the target. I want the compound clear of all the infected and ready for me to
move into by the end of March. Is that clear? The end of March I want to be out
of this hole and moving into that compound." She looked around the table
holding eye contact with each of the attendees. Whitaker’s the only one that
held her stare without looking away. Alanis smiled at Whitaker as they
continued to hold the look. Whitaker smiled back and considered what it would
be like to take the doctor to bed. Alanis made plans also. Hers were seeing
Whitaker tied to a post while he was slowly devoured by the infected variety.

She finally broke eye contact and
glanced at the rest of the group. "If that's it then we will conclude the
meeting until there is some new information." With that, she stood and
left the room. She felt better than she had in months as she walked back to her
quarters. Dr. Dumont had plans, both long term and short. The short term plan
was what brought the smile to her lips. As soon as she returned to her quarters
she would go shower and then enjoy a nice glass of wine. After the wine she
would climb into her king size bed naked and relieve her sexual frustration and
she knew exactly what fantasy to use. She could already picture Dick Whitaker
and those big strong arms of his. Those big strong arms being eaten by the
infected. Her smile spread even further across her face and a slight shiver of
pleasure ran down her spine. Yes, she thought this would be fun.