Brandon, who was always so sure of himself, looked down and mumbled a few words under his breath about how stupid he was for doing that.
“Go make the fire,” Sebastian ordered.
Both boys turned around and began to assemble the materials for the fire.
Sebastian turned to Annaliese, who said, “Is this where I say, I told you so?”
“Don’t start with me.”
Sebastian walked away from her and began to unload the sleeping bags.
She walked up behind him and rubbed his back. “Hey, I’m sorry to rub it in your face.”
He turned around and said, “I have a lot of responsibility here. I have to protect you and those boys. It’s just me.”
“I think I can handle myself.”
“I’m not saying that, but I feel it’s my responsibility. These boys are old enough to handle a gun.”
“Old enough… but not mature enough,” she remarked.
Sebastian looked at her, then toward the boys. She had a point. When he was Brandon’s age, he had been shooting for years and his father had taught Gordon and him how to handle and respect a firearm. These boys didn’t have that kind of upbringing. It wasn’t right or wrong, it just was what it was. These boys needed to mature. He knew Brandon had the will and desire to use it, but was not trustworthy because of his emotional state. Luke could be trusted not to abuse it, but the reality was that he might not use it at all because he feared it.
“Why don’t you start training them properly, if you feel like they need to be armed? Get them shooting starting tomorrow morning. Then when you feel that they’re ready, let them have the guns. Just take your time with it.”
Annaliese’s reasonable suggestion felt right to him.
He leaned in and embraced her tightly. “What did I do to deserve you?”
She answered him by whispering into his ear, “Have you seen how hot you are? I’m the lucky one.”
“Fire! I made fire!” Brandon bellowed.
They both turned and saw the fun-loving child who Brandon kept hidden. Deep down he still was a twelve-year-old boy, but the new world had perverted him. Sebastian didn’t know just what kind of man he’d become.
“Scott, just because they don’t have cars and other things doesn’t make them less of a threat. It actually makes them more of one!” Nelson said heatedly.
Nelson had called the community to a meeting to discuss Truman. He was getting a lot of pushback from the residents.
“This isn’t our problem. We’ve been living here for years! Now you show up, and we suddenly have a problem,” an older woman said. She was one of the original homeowners in the community.
“Nelson, I understand your concern, but I agree with Sadie. I don’t see how this affects us,” Barbara, Sadie’s neighbor said.
“It affects us all, because we have decided to come together as a group to survive this.” Nelson pleaded for their understanding.
“Nelson, I agree that we should be vigilant and watch out for anyone who could be an adversary, but attacking them for no reason out of an assumption that they’ll attack us soon doesn’t make sense,” Scott said.
“Scott, everybody, these men will come for us one day, trust me. They know what we have and now Truman has justification in his mind that it’s payback for his brother,” Eric said, impassioned.
“But we didn’t do anything to his brother!” Sadie asked.
Scott, Nelson, Samantha, and those directly involved with Raymond’s death and disposal were the only ones who knew about it. They never mentioned it to the others; this made it more difficult to convince them that Truman was probably making plans to come raid their community.
Nelson looked over at Samantha, then to Eric, and finally to Scott.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Sadie’s husband, Bob, blurted out, noticing the looks exchanged.
Scott had been in Eagle’s Nest the longest, so he felt it was his duty to finally tell the truth. “Yes, Truman’s brother Raymond was killed here. He broke into the old Gallants’ house and attacked Samantha. She killed him. We didn’t want to alarm everyone so we kept it quiet. I can assure you it was in self-defense.”
The room burst into conversation. “Just tell Truman the truth, I’m sure he’ll understand,” Barbara suggested.
Nelson and Eric had to stop themselves from laughing. They both knew that Truman wasn’t a man of reason.
“Yeah, he’ll understand that he now has justification to come after us,” Eric snapped back. Nelson shot him a look. That type of tone wouldn’t win anyone over. The chatter continued as homeowners debated the approach to take.
“Be quiet, please! We need to discuss this together,” Nelson begged.
“This isn’t our concern. You owe Truman an explanation. If you think that going in and killing them all will solve this, you’ve lost your humanity. That’s not how we do things!” Sadie barked at Eric and Nelson.
“Such old fools!” Eric shot back.
“So what happens if we attack him and kill them all, who’s next? When does it stop? Who do we not kill?” Barbara exclaimed.
“You’re an idiot! You really are!” Eric remarked disrespectfully.
“Eric, you’re not helping, stop it!” Nelson snapped. More comments were volleyed back and forth, civility and neighborly affection deteriorating.
Frustrated, Scott stood and whistled loud. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him expectantly.
“We’re not going to accomplish anything if we disrespect each other. Sadie, Bob, Barbara, what happens in Eagle’s Nest does affect us all, Nelson is right there. But…”
Sadie muttered something but Scott held up his index finger, signaling he needed another minute.
“But Nelson is wrong about attacking Truman. Sadie is right, we don’t do those things. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll stay vigilant, keep reinforcing our boundaries, and go about life. If something happens we will work together to fix it, but we must work together.”
Nelson leaned back in his chair, clearly frustrated. The meeting ended shortly thereafter. Nelson stayed at Scott’s to discuss how to enforce the border.
After the meeting, Samantha waited up for Nelson to come back. He walked in and saw her sitting at the bar in the kitchen, playing solitaire by the yellowish light of the kerosene lamp.
“I want to discuss something with you. I know it’s late but it needs to be said.”
“Okay. Is this how Gordon used to feel when he’d come home and hadn’t taken care of the honey do’s?” Nelson cracked, rekindling some of his trademark humor.
“There are two things that need to be done here. We either leave, or you take control of this place and keep us safe,” she stated bluntly. “We’ve already waited long enough. If you ask me, we’re lucky nothing worse has happened.”
His eyes widened with surprise at her forceful tone.
“I’m serious, Nelson. Scott’s plan is stupid. We can’t sit here and wait to be attacked. You need to do something!”
He didn’t know how to respond to her. She was right, he needed to do something. Taking charge wasn’t in his nature, though; he preferred not to have that type of responsibility.
Haley walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes, and said softly, “Mommy, I had a bad dream.” Samantha picked her up and held her. Kissing her on the top of her head, she walked out of the kitchen.
Watching them walk off, an intense feeling of protectiveness overcame him. He knew he had to do something. But if he was going to initiate direct action, he’d better do it right.
MARCH 14, 2015
• • •
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”