“I saw a white pickup full of teenagers racing down the street just before I saw the flames,” Mark offered.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cooper said, remembering the trouble he’d had with Woody and his ragtag band of teenage troublemakers in the first days of the outbreak. After they had broken into his home in the dead of night, two had left humiliated and forced, by Cooper, to carry their dead friend home. Apparently, they had not been chastened enough. Or, maybe just emboldened with the President calling me out by name.
At the edge of the crowd, having just walked up, Gus weighed in, “Yeah. Those teenagers coming back is a pretty dangerous thing for our neighborhood. And, it looks like they came for you.”
Cooper glared at him, but Mark responded, “Does it matter? We defend each other here. That was our agreement when all this started.”
Unrepentant, Gus continued, “It matters if things have changed so much that one man endangers us all.”
“What do you mean?” shouted an anonymous voice from the group.
“Didn’t you hear the President? Cooper here has told the world a tall tale that the plague was deliberately started by a man hell bent on crashing the world’s economy as a way to stop global warming. He’s also said the government knew about it and did nothing to stop it. Just an hour ago, the President declared Cooper a liar and asked for the nation’s help in bringing him in for questioning.”
Gasps and exclamations emanated from half the crowd who had not heard the news yet. Mark was one of them. “Is this true, Cooper?”
Cooper nodded gravely, “It is true, except it isn’t a tall tale. Everything I’ve said is true. You all know me. Tell me you’ve ever heard me say anything but.”
His challenge was greeted with silence.
“Nonetheless, others will be coming for you Cooper. You’ve put us all in grave danger!” Gus barreled onward in his attack.
Mark turned on him, “Maybe. But Cooper’s also the one that’s kept us alive so far!”
“Old news,” Gus’ words dripped with scorn. “This is a new reality now.”
“You know, maybe Gus is right.” Michelle’s voice was soft, but her words sounded to Cooper like they’d been shouted through a bullhorn.
“What?” Dranko’s response was flustered.
Michelle spread her feet, standing firmly, “It’s not just that Cooper has become a danger to us.”
“What do you mean,” Mark asked.
“Well, if the government knew Cooper was here in our neighborhood, I bet we’d all get attention and protection from them,” Michelle kept her tone flat, but her eyes betrayed a dark and sinister look that shook Cooper to his core.
Mark’s reaction shocked him in the other direction. He pulled his pistol and pointed it directly at Michelle, “And, if anyone turns Cooper and Jake in, it will be the last thing they do.”
Gus gasped. Michelle took a jagged step backward and fell to her knees.
A dark hand took Mark’s into his own and slowly lowered the pistol; the President of the Neighborhood Association and recently elected neighborhood’s Captain of Defense, spoke up, “Look. That is enough from both of you. I am the chief of security, so let me worry about that. Let us all either help Cooper clean up or go on home. And, no one, is turning anyone in. We clear?”
Gus and Michelle slowly nodded.
Cooper gave Calvin a look of appreciation and then turned toward the larger group. When Cooper surveyed the crowd, what he saw disturbed him. Up until that point, the group had looked at him; eyes laden with respect. Now, in at least half of those eyes, he saw fear. Gus and Michelle had poisoned the well and it was spreading outward. I’m a threat now. Worse, I’ve become an opportunity. It was glaring how few people stayed behind to help clean up. Cooper shook his head in disappointment as he went to find a shovel.
A few hours later, as they were almost done cleaning up the debris and salvaging what they could from the fire, Dranko put his hand on Cooper’s arm and motioned him away from the group. Cooper looked up in surprise, but followed.
“How bad is it?” he asked his friend.
“Well, I’m glad no one was hurt, but I lost most of my tools. Our bicycles and fishing gear, too. Stuff that will be hard to replace now,” Cooper responded, as he absentmindedly cleaned his soot-blackened hands with a rag.
Dranko shook his head, “Sorry, brother. This shouldn’t have happened.”
Cooper chuckled, “I couldn’t agree with you more.”
“I want to bring up a sore subject,” Dranko said, his eyes pleading with Cooper.
Cooper stared right back at him, “Yeah, I know. And, the answer is still no.”
Dranko’s eyes flashed, “Are you kidding me, Cooper? Your name has been on the wire for less than an hour and you’ve already been attacked! What do you think tomorrow is gonna bring? Or, the next day?”
Cooper spread his feet and straightened up defiantly, “I can handle some teenage punks. I did last time.”
Dranko’s eyes rolled, “Really? What about when the military finally has enough resources to come and get you? Yeah, we got lucky and took out those two HUMVEEs. What about when they send in a Bradley or a tank for God’s sakes!”
“I’ll figure it out,” Cooper glared.
“Haven’t you noticed that, already, half of the neighbors are now scared of you, too?”
Now, it was Cooper’s turn to roll his eyes, “Sure. But, the ones that count, their eyes haven’t changed.”
Dranko paused for a moment, thinking. Then, he grabbed Cooper harshly by both shoulders and only inches separated their faces, “What about him?”
“Who?” Cooper asked him, confused.
“Jake. You know, in your foolish, stubborn, quest to keep him in this house, you are going to get him killed. Just as sure as it rains all year round in Oregon, you’re going to get him dead!” Dranko shouted the last words and spittle flew onto Cooper’s face.
Cooper pushed Dranko back so hard that he stumbled backward and slammed into the fencepost behind him. “Now, you listen to me! I can handle it!” Cooper’s voice strained with desperate emotion and Dranko knew he was trying to convince himself as much as Dranko.
He pursed his lips, “You’re wrong, Cooper. I know you. You’re not thinking straight. You had to know the world was gonna come down all around you the moment you hit ‘send’ on that email! I just assumed you knew that you and Jake would have to go on the run!”
He gave him a blank look.
Dranko pounced, “You’ve got to be the silliest optimist in the…”
Cooper punched him in the shoulder, “Look, damn it! Yeah, I thought about it. I know it will be rough. But, I think those who can handle…or want…the truth can help me stay safe. Hell, I expect a CNN truck to roll up here any minute. You think the military can just come and get me with that kind of scrutiny?”
Dranko cocked his eyebrows, unimpressed, “Yeah. I do.”
“What?”
“Brother, don’t you remember Waco, Texas? The feds rolled in on those guys with the whole world watching.”
Cooper shrugged his shoulders, “Ah, hell. This is different. I ain’t holed up in some compound with a bunch of kids. I told the world about the biggest crime in the history of mankind.”
Dranko looked back, unconvinced, “We’ll see if your vaunted CNN truck shows up before the next attack does.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.”
“At least stay over at my house tonight. Just to be safe.”
Cooper eyed him for a moment, “Sure. That makes sense. Thanks.”