Роберт Уилсон - Days Since... - Jenny - Day 986

Matt released a guttural roar of frustration into the air, then yelled, “I’m not asking!” He tried to pull her away from the vehicle, but she refused. Instead of protesting longer, he took to the other end of the vehicle, throwing his rifle over the trunk. “Damn you, Jenny!”

She blocked his anger and focused her attention deeper into the lot. Just need another one of them to slip up. That’s all I need. Just one and I’ll go.

Crack! Crack! The Depot fired again. At what, Jenny couldn’t tell, but someone else out there was becoming restless besides her.

Sharpening her glare, she spotted another Guard sliding between a couple vehicles. Again, she leaned into the rifle and expelled every last breath in her lungs. Smooth. Keep it smooth. Her rifle tracked his movements. Crack! Another shot from the Depot, but a miss. The Guard stopped in his tracks, burying himself against the wrong side of a car, exposed to Jenny’s rifle. She pulled. Crack! The Guard doubled over, clutching his gut. Another shot hit his shoulder, then another ripped through his skull. Finished, he slumped from a seated position and onto his side.

“Is that enough for you?” Matt took hold of her arm, bringing her eyes from the rifle. “It’s time to go.”’

“Wait!” Jenny smiled.

In the distance, a small band of Second Alliance Guards retreated, their black uniforms slipping in and out of view. A few shots from the Depot’s roof chased them further into the woodline.

Cheering broke loose.

Jenny leaned in toward Grant—“You think they’ll listen?”—her words fighting against the sporadic outbursts of celebration.

“Won’t know for sure until we try.”

“Yeah…” She studied the crowd. Everyone in the Depot, minus Matt, Xavier, and a few guards minding the perimeter, had gathered in the Garden Center outside. People shuffled along the tables of the soup line, bowls being poured full of stew. Those who’d already been served stood around several burn barrels, chatting between bites while they waited for the explanation they’d been promised.

“They’re pretty worked up over the win,” Grant said, “but you gotta couple of people in there who prolly realize this ain’t over. Those the folks you need to help you out. Tell them your story, and I don’t mean just talkin’, but touch them, you know, reach out to them, and then they’ll help bring in the others.”

“Got ya.” Jenny spotted a few who appeared worried, out of place like black and white figures drowning in a sea of color and jubilance. She understood what Grant meant but doubted those people’s ability to fire up the crowd. No energy existed in them. They barely stood on their own two feet, disconnected, not participating with the others. Jenny could only assume they wished to be alone in their tents to mourn Danny and Griffin, to consider the future of the Depot. At least they get it. They understand loss and that none of this is ever completely over. Everyone else, though… “How many you think know about Danny and Griffin?”

“Gotta be all of them. No way that news didn’t spread ‘round here like wildfire. People can’t keep they damn mouths shut.”

“True… I guess everyone being so happy threw me off. I figured maybe they didn’t know. Just seems kind of wrong.”

“You ain’t bein’ fair to them if that’s what you’re thinkin’.” Grant took on his familiar fatherly tone. “Think about it, girlie. Through all that shit you just went through with Danny and Griffin, with finding us, with finding Xavier, with the battle, all that, you think of Danny the whole time? Or you focus on other stuff too?”

“Other stuff too, but—”

“Yeah, other stuff too. The ‘too’ is important. All of them feel that loss.” He began pointing his finger at the crowd. “All of them knew Danny, knew Griffin. Hell, some of them may have loved them just like you did. So, for you to think they don’t care is wrong. You want them on your side, you better get that outta your head.

“Remember, we just won a battle with no deaths, no injuries. They’re pumped up. Most of them tryin’ to think happy thoughts, tryin’ to block out the bad. You gotta remember people deal with shit differently. You gotta respect that.”

Jenny’s shoulders sank, her eyes followed.

“Hey, don’t be doin’ that.” Grant dropped his arm around her shoulder. “I ain’t tryin’ to get you down. Those just some facts you gotta understand. I know these things ‘cause I’m older than you, and that means I’m smarter,” he joked. “Seriously though, everythin’ I said about you before still stands. Don’t get it messed up. You’re brave and able to do stuff I ain’t ever dreamt of doin’. Someday, you’re gonna be a great leader. In some ways you already are. We just need to work on your people skills.”

She cracked a smile.

“There we go. Now, you think you ready for this?”

“I…” Unnoticed by Jenny, the line for soup had worked its way through—every set of eyes in the crowd were now focused on the two of them. She felt a tremble in her hand, slight, but there. Just tell your story, Jenny. Let them know the truth about where you came from. What you’ve been through.

A few groans slipped through the crowd because of Jenny’s hesitation.

You know what to say and what not to say.

“Alright, let’s quiet down now,” one of the women shouted in an effort to squash the restlessness and last remaining bits of whispers.

Let’s—let’s do this. She took a deep breath, looking over the crowd. Each person in front of her wanted an answer, wanted to know what the hell had happened over the last 24 hours.

When Jenny finally spoke, her words were shaky at first, but tightened with every truth put forth, with every head that nodded along with her. She told them everything about River’s Edge. Their life there. All they had accomplished together since Almawt. Then, their downfall at the hands of the Second Alliance, explaining how the enemy had managed to do it through a plan of deception and false camaraderie. The same way they planned it with the Depot.

“I told you they were trouble,” a woman said.

“Yeah, you did call that one.”

“You think I missed anything?” Jenny asked Grant.

He shook his head.

“That’s all well and good, but what about Griffin and Danny?” a man with a large scar across his forehead demanded. “What the fuck happened to them? The Second… whatever they’re called, they did this? Is that what you think?”

“That’s what I know.” And there it was—the lie Jenny knew she’d have to tell. It was the tricky part, but the most important. If she was to convince the Depot to mobilize against the Second Alliance, the lie had to be told.

Briefly, she brought it together in her head so as not to fumble through it when it mattered.

The S.A. came here to strike up the deal with the Depot. When the S.A. took Matt and Grant prisoner, the discussions fell apart. A fight broke out, but none of us saw it. I was outside, then later in my tent cleaning up. Grant and Matt had been put in a secured room. Unfortunately, the only people who saw everything were the S.A., Griffin and Danny. After the gunshots, I found the bodies and took Sherman and tracked the S.A. I rescued Matt and Grant. Simple. Keep it simple…

If anyone asks why they took Matt and Grant, it’s because they knew the truth about the S.A. And, the reason I wasn’t taken is simple. They didn’t find me. Hopefully, not many people know how Griffin died, but if anyone brings that up… Again, you weren’t there. You have no idea. Stick with that.