“Safe havens?” Men and women grabbed onto the lifeline.
“Mines. We’re going to live underground for the next hundred years.”
“A hundred years.” The crowd collapsed against each other, unable to bear the burden of truth.
Brother Bob shuffled onto the stage. His skin resembled ash. “What if we stay.”
“The rods will burn for years and eventually the plume will reach you.” Mavis faced him. This man, his followers would march with into Hell. If he believed her, then there was a chance they would join her and the soldiers. And, God help her, she’d love to rub Trent Powers’ nose in the cloth of a true preacher. “We’ve given you iodine pills to stop your thyroid from absorbing the iodine isotopes.”
Brother Bob nodded. “We have taken them as directed.”
“The trouble comes from the Strontium and Plutonium isotopes. Our bodies will confuse them with Calcium and iron. Some will settle in our bones, giving us and our children and our grandchildren leukemia. Others will accumulate in our lungs and liver, giving us cancer.”
Sadness filled Brother Bob’s brown eyes. “Given the current state of our health care system, neither will be treatable.”
Or survivable.
“If we band together, like you have here, helping our neighbors, the strong taking care of the weak, sharing what we have, then we all can survive this.”
Mavis stuffed the facts and figures she’d memorized inside her head. No one needed to know that Plutonium had a half life of twenty-four thousand years. None of them would live that long.
“I’ve said my piece.” She held out her hand to Brother Bob. “We’ll wait for an hour. If you don’t show, then I wish you luck.”
Brother Bob grasped her hand and squeezed lightly.
“And if we don’t show, then I hope you’ll all pray we succeed.”
Amens chorused around the room.
She tugged her hand free, strode off the stage and out the side door.
David caught up with her as she hit the main sidewalk. “You’ve got the makings of a fine preacher, Doctor Spanner.”
“No thank you.”
Sally dodged around her and opened the back door of the Humvee. “Do you think they’ll come?”
David shifted the vehicle into gear and backed out of the parking lot.
Mavis rested her forehead against the cold glass. Her breath fogged the view, blotting out the sight of children playing. “We’ll find out in an hour.”
Chapter Thirty
The shotgun barrel tapped Audra’s temple. She flinched as the pain skittered across her scalp. “You don’t have to do this. We’re cooperating.”
At least two dozen men in various shades of black swarmed the buses. Rifles, shotguns and handguns directed the evacuation of the people. Ball caps covered their hair; dark blue and black handkerchiefs masked their noses and mouths. Mirrored sunglasses hid their eyes. A few wore gloves; most had bare, chapped hands.
Someone behind her slammed a bat against the back of her knees.
Audra’s legs folded. The pavement rose up to meet her and she dropped her hands to catch herself. She hit the drift of snow on the side of the road first. Then pebbles dug into her flesh through her jeans. She hissed at the assault.
“Shut up.” The gun locked on her temple and a hand sunk into her hair and yanked.
Tears blurred her vision as the burn lit fire to her head. She raised her hands, reaching for the person’s hold. Metal knocked her away.
“Leave her alone!” Eddie pushed Stuart away from where he carried him and stalked toward her.
Stepping forward, a bulky man with a camouflage handkerchief swung for home. His bat collided with Eddie’s stomach.
Eddie doubled over with an oomf. Red flooded his face and he went down on his knees, catching himself with one hand.
The man raised his bat again.
“Don’t!” Audra begged. “He’ll behave.”
Spittle dripped from his open mouth before Eddie dragged in a deep breath. His gaze locked with hers.
Please, she mouthed. Please.
Rage flared in his eyes. Nodding, he sucked down another lungful.
The man with the bat lowered it to his muscular shoulder. Biceps and triceps played under the tight long sleeved tee-shirt. “Don’t play hero again, boy.”
Thank God. Audra sank onto her heels. Sleet pattered around her. The snow melted under her knees.
The man with the bat hauled back his leg and kicked Eddie in the side. Bone crunched upon impact. “I can’t hear you, boy.”
The attack pushed Eddie to his side. He coughed again and clutched his ribs.
Oh God, Eddie! Audra’s nails burrowed into her palms.
“Stop it!” She rose up on her knees. “You don’t have to hurt him. You don’t have to hurt anyone. We’re cooperating.”
Despite the hand holding her, she jerked her chin toward the emptying buses. Her friends and family were at risk all because of her. She should have been paying better attention. She should have seen the spikes on the road.
Stuart flattened his hand against his stomach and tried to straighten. “That’s right. We’re doing as you ask.”
The thug with the bat raised it until it shoved up Stuart’s chin. “You gonna be a hero too?”
Stuart swallowed hard then let loose of his bowels. The dark stain oozed down his slacks and crept out his shoes.
The thug burst out laughing. “You’re smarter than your girlfriend there,” he pointed to Eddie, “to be scared shitless of me. Now sit on the bitch and shit again.”
“W-what?” Stuart stumbled backward.
The leader swept Stuart’s legs out from under him. Stuart landed half on Eddie, half on the ground. Eddie coughed again.
Audra bit her lip. Why were they doing this? Hadn’t they done as they’d been ordered?
“That’s it, pretty boy.” The leader goaded. “Now sit on your girlfriend.”
Stuart squeezed his eyes closed and gripped his stomach.
“Move your ass, or I’ll have my men shoot off your balls.”
Stuart shifted until he sat on Eddie’s behind.
The thug leader hefted the bat on his shoulder and swaggered forward. “Watch this.” He circled the pair once then shoved his face into Stuart’s. “Boo!”
Stuart evacuated his bowels. Eddie’s lips thinned.
The man’s party of thugs hooted. One clapped. In the distance, two children cried.
When the grip on her hair loosened, Audra jerked her head free but didn’t crawl forward. She shoved aside the pain. So what if she got a few bald patches. She had to get her people out of this mess. “He’s sick, you idiots. He has anthrax. They all do.”
She pointed to the Flatulent Fifteen, each wrapped up in their own pain and humiliation of disobedient bowels. Mrs. Rodriquez knelt about ten feet away from them, unable to help.
The leader with the bat stomped closer. “I’m getting a little sick of hearing your mouth, girlie.”
Audra glared at him. “Do you want to be like them? Do you want to catch the anthrax?”
“We heard that woman’s warning.” He thumped the bat against his palm. Her image cowered in his mirrored lenses. “Anthrax isn’t contagious.”
“That’s the inhalation kind. This is the gastrointestinal kind. We started out with only one sick this morning and now we have fifteen.” She lied. Maybe if the jerk thought they were contagious they’d be able to go on their way.
The leader tapped the bat against the asphalt and squatted in front of her. His fingers dug into her cheek when he gripped her jaw. “I’m gonna enjoy showing you other things to do with your mouth.”