Jason Morrow - Anywhere but Here

“You people are absurd,” Gavin says, echoing my thoughts. “How can you be thinking of killing her?”

“Robert just explained it to us,” Lillian says. I wonder how she would be in a fight. I would love to see.

“So, what, you want to drag her out to the street and shoot her in front of everybody?” Avery asks. “You don’t want to do that, Paxton. These people have been through enough already. We don’t need death.”

“Then we need something as good as a death sentence,” Lillian says, “but not gruesome.”

“What do you suggest?” Paxton asks.

“Send her on her way,” Lillian says. “No weapons. No food. Just the clothes on her back. And make a spectacle of it, too. Let the whole town show how you deal out judgement to her. Let everyone know that if you are caught stealing, you must suffer the consequences — death by banishment.”

It would be better just to shoot me, I think to myself. The pit in my stomach is growing. I had truly thought they might think of something a bit more simple… hard labor for a few months… locked up for a year… something else. Something different than banishment, because Lillian is exactly right. To be banished from these walls is to declare the death penalty.

“Have any of you considered imprisonment?” Gavin asks, echoing my thoughts. “What about giving her a job that no one wants — like cleaning septic tanks or something like that?” Sniff.

“We don’t have the manpower for imprisonment,” Paxton says. “Once people start to see that they can get away with petty crimes, they’ll start testing the limits. They will not be afraid of being guarded. Soon we’ll have more prisoners than guards.”

“You lack faith in your own people,” Gavin says. I suddenly feel guilty for thinking less of the man. He seems to be the only one on my side.

“The point remains,” Paxton says, “the more heavy the punishment, the less likely we will have to deal with this again. I’m not running a prison here, it’s a community. A community stands together in mutual benefit. Once a person sees that there is no benefit in working toward the betterment of her neighbor, the community falls.” I hear a rap on the table in front of Paxton. “I’m not going to keep prisoners here. People can abide by the rules, or they can leave.”

“It would be better if they had a written set of rules to follow,” Avery says quietly.

“Fine!” Paxton belts out. His voice sounds furious. “If you steal, you’re banished. If you murder, you are banished. If you do anything to purposefully disrupt this community that I have created, you are banished. Write it down, pass it around.”

“No!” Gavin shouts. Sniff. “ This isn’t right! Let’s lock her up. Put her in jail until she has paid for what she has done.”

“I think I agree with Gavin on this one,” Avery says. “She hasn’t done enough to be banished.”

I don’t know how long the conversation goes back and forth like an unending tennis match. Finally, a chair scoots out from the table, and Paxton stands. “We all obviously disagree about all this.” He takes a deep breath and sighs. “But I’m afraid you all might be right, despite what I want to do. We’ll imprison her. We’ll discuss how long later tonight.”

I don’t want to hear any more. The pit in my stomach has grown so large that I feel like it has swallowed me from within. I can’t think about banishment, imprisonment, or any other possibilities. Regardless, I’ll be weaponless for all of it.

It’s an hour before Gabe comes to the room and unlocks the door. He’s here to tell me about the decision I already know. I want to wave him off before he comes in, but even now I don’t want him to know about my ability. I haven’t told anyone except one person in my life. He’s gone now, so I’m the only one that even knows and it’s going to stay that way.

“They’re going to imprison you,” Gabe says.

“I figured as much.” My eyes stay on the floor.

“Remi, I’m going to tell them it was my idea,” he says.

My eyes go from the floor to his. “No!” I say, teeth clenched. “All that will do is get you tossed in jail with me. There’s no point.”

“But I should have never said anything to you about Shadowface or anything. Now you’re being punished for it.”

“Better than both of us,” I say.

“I just can’t let it happen this way,” he says.

“If you say anything to Paxton about your involvement, once we’re both in jail, I’ll bash your head in with a chair.”

He looks at me with confused eyes.

“This is the best, safest place around,” I continue. “I’m not going to let you screw up your life for me. I don’t even know you. I don’t even like you.” I know the words sting him. He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes leave mine and he looks from one side of the room to the other.

“You care about me enough to make sure I don’t get involved in this,” he says. His voice sounds thick.

“I don’t want you around me,” I say. It’s a lie for the most part. I would welcome his company, but who is to say we would even see each other while imprisoned? “If you say anything to Paxton, I will deny it and tell him you are crazy-in-love with me and would say anything to keep me from punishment.”

“He wouldn’t believe you,” Gabe says.

“Just… don’t,” I say. “Let it be.”

“I’m going to figure something out,” Gabe says.

“Don’t.”

He starts to walk out of the room.

“If we both get in trouble, I swear I’ll kill you!”

The door shuts behind him and he locks it.

If I’m going to be locked up, I’d rather it be alone. No one else should have to face this.

Especially Gabe.

The herd was still roaming about Foley the next day, and by noon, Walter, Barry, and a few others decided it would be a good idea to go out into the city to distract the herd and attempt to move the greyskins out of the city.

“Oh, it’s a very dangerous operation,” Hank whispers as we walk the school halls. “They sneak out into the cars or trucks and drive out of the sensor area and make as much noise as possible. Usually it’s enough for most of the herd to follow it while the rest of us go out and kill the stragglers. The key is to be certain that none of the greyskins are attracted to the school.”

It is interesting to see how this group operates together and I can’t help but envy their sense of unity. With Walter and Barry outside, Hank is left to lead the other members of the community within the school. He sends men and women alike to patrol the halls, check all the exits to guarantee they are secure, and to keep everyone’s noise level down. He also instructs them to keep the volume low on their radios to avoid unwanted echoes through the halls.

Gilbert, Ethan, and I sit with Hank near the front lobby of the school listening to the radio reports coming in after the brief walk through the silent hallways. Most of them are from the school patrols, but the ones we wait for are the reports from the outside.

“The hardest part,” Hank tells us, “is making sure they don’t get surrounded or trapped when trying to draw in the greyskins. It has happened before.”

“Were you able to save them?” Ethan asks.

Hank lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. “Sadly, no. We have had very hard days here. Many losses. We started with over a hundred people and are now down to seventy-three. Most of the ones we lost were in a single incident.”

Gilbert shakes his head and is about to say something when Ethan gives him a sharp look that warns him not to mention anything about building a wall. Gilbert rolls his eyes and looks away instead. Ethan catches me looking at him and nods at me, and I give him a pleased smile.