Joshua Gayou - Commune - The Complete Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Box Set (Books 1-4)

Edgar had come out to his tent the night before, just towards the end of the evening when everyone had wound down; just as they were all heading off to bed, Warren judged. He’d been awake, himself, reading by the lantern light when he heard the tentative scratch at the canvas flap, the timid voice calling his name. Pulling back the flap had revealed the rail-thin man, round spectacles throwing a glare, and the wide, empty circle of chairs behind him dimly illuminated by the dying light of the fires.

Warren stood up straight and nodded. “Mr. Muller, good evening. Is everything okay?”

The man had nodded briefly, glanced over his shoulder (back towards the Connex homes, Warren was certain, as though he feared the wide windows pointing in their direction) and said, “Sir, would you mind if I came in and spoke with you a moment? It’s cold out here…”

Warren stood aside to let the man pass, mildly curious. He let the flap fall back into place, turned, and yanked out a heavy plastic bin from a corner. He set it down in the middle of the floor, gestured to it, and then sat down on his cot, back upright. Edgar lowered himself to the box, rubbed his hands together, and took a moment to collect his thoughts. Warren waited a moment before asking, “Is everything alright?”

Edgar sighed. “Well, Mr. Warren… uh, is it okay if I call you that? Would you prefer ‘Commander?’”

“Otter does fine.”

Edgar shook his head at this, slightly confused. “Otter, of course. Uh, well… everything is not alright, sadly. No, I’d say things might be a far cry from ‘alright,’ indeed.”

Warren raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

Edgar paused, appearing to wait for the Seal to say something, to prompt him to go on, maybe. He looked a little put out when it didn’t happen. It had the smell of a rehearsed speech.

“Erm… that is… well, I take it you must know that Jake is in charge around here. Uh… do you?”

“One gets the sense that people follow his lead, yes.”

“Good. Good. Well, I’ve come here to see you because—this is rather difficult—um… well you see, I’m not actually convinced he’s the best person to be in that position.”

“You’re not.”

Edgar shook his head, looking down at some spot over his knees. “No. In fact, I think I’d go so far as to characterize him as unstable.”

Warren’s brow furrowed over his close-set eyes, an expression either of confusion or annoyance; perhaps both. “Explain, please.”

Edgar sighed, spread his hands in a helpless gesture, and said, “Well, he’s a physical man. One might even say violent; he’s certainly used both violence and intimidation to get his way around here.”

“You’ve witnessed this?”

“First hand, yes.”

“Who has he been violent towards? Specifically?”

Edgar’s eyes widened as though he hadn’t expected this question. He paused for a beat before he said, “Well, our man Fred Moses, for one. Fred was in the middle of a disagreement with Wang. Jake put a stop to that, most directly.” Edgar had expelled Fred’s name forcefully as he spoke, as though it was a detail he was loath to give; a thing that had to be dislodged.

Warren had to think about that name a moment. “Fred’s the large one, isn’t he?”

Edgar nodded.

“What was the nature of their disagreement?”

Edgar’s gaze locked unwaveringly on Warren’s, and he said, “I wasn’t there to catch the start of it—”

“But you surely must have asked the others after the fact.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to speculate with secondhand information. What I can say for sure is that there was an argument and Jake beat Fred badly enough that the man had to spend the rest of the day in bed.”

“I see.”

“This is just one example, you understand. He’s intimidated me personally… not laying a hand on me, thank god… but coming very close to it. He backed me up into a wall, at least. I can tell you, it was very clear that I was either to cease speaking immediately or suffer a consequence similar to Fred’s. All because I was in the act of disagreeing. And then there was Jeff…”

“Yes,” Warren said. “The child predator, wasn’t he?”

Edgar was clearly shocked. “You knew about him?”

“I was briefed.”

“Well, then you know what happened.”

Warren leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I know he was about to be executed before Jake stopped everyone.”

Edgar scoffed. “And did you know he’d been tortured?”

Warren sat bolt upright at this. “I did not.”

Edgar nodded emphatically.

“Please explain the nature of his treatment,” Warren pressed.

“It was Amanda that did it—you should know that she and Jake are almost as good as a single person; you cannot separate the two.”

“Noted.”

“Well, she took him back into one of the campers, tied him down, and carved the word “pedophile” into his forehead. I mean, she just cut it into the skin in big, jagged lines and then packed the cuts with ink. You could hear him screaming all the way over from the garage. I swear it was the most ghastly thing I’ve ever seen; she dragged him out about a half hour later, and there was just a sheet of blood down his whole face. Just gruesome.”

“Did any of you protest this?” Warren asked.

“Oh, absolutely! We were ignored, of course. Shouted down.”

Warren squinted; scratched the back of his neck. “Edgar… you’re telling me all this for a reason. I have a fairly good idea what that reason is, but I need you to come out and say it, do you understand?”

Edgar nodded, examining the backs of his hands. “Not everyone is on the same page around here, Otter. I believe Jake is a good man; honestly, I do. But I’m not sure he’s the one that should be in charge here. I mean, how much barbarism should be accepted before people finally cry out against it? A person like you, though…”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” Edgar nodded. He crept forward on the box until he was sitting on the edge. “You’re adapted to command. You’re disciplined… trained in dealing with matters like these. An, ah, authoritative figure that could be trusted.”

“You’re asking me to take control here?”

“I’d characterize it as ‘unburdening’ Jake. I believe the man is stretched beyond his faculties. You have experience in these matters. You are, in all actuality, the last structure of authority that was in charge from our government, aren’t you? Who the hell is Jake? We don’t even know what he used to do for a living!”

Warren folded his hands together between his knees and thought quietly. Edgar shifted uncomfortably as he did so but remained silent, sensing somehow that something crucial was happening and that it was best left uninterrupted. Warren glanced up at the man and asked, “What was the nature of your disagreement?”

“I’m sorry?”

“You said that Jake intimidated you into silence and that you feared he would beat you as he did Fred. This was over some sort of disagreement. What was it?”

Edgar settled back onto the box lid, fidgeting unhappily. His gaze wandered over the tent’s interior.

“I’ll find out eventually, Edgar. You’ve started us on this path now. The time to back out was before you stepped into my tent and I won’t be letting this go. The best way you can help yourself right now is to be honest and direct with me.”

Edgar sighed, shoulders heaving. Shrugging, he said, “Look… don’t take this the wrong way, alright? When you first arrived here, none of us really knew what to make of you. We didn’t know what your intentions were or… or why you might have amassed your entire force to travel up here to see us. What we knew was there were a lot of really big trucks, lots of machine guns, and a collection of trained people that far outnumbered our own. You must understand that there were some, ah, disagreements as to what it all meant.”