The Renegades (Book 5): United (7 page)

A
rriving later
that afternoon at Ethan’s, I assumed it would be peaceful. We were wrong.

From the moment we entered people were yelling.

“Go ahead, let’s see what the other leaders have to say about it.”

As we came through the hallway that led towards the kitchen, Sebastian came barging out, his face red and bulbous. Furious, he barely looked at us as he pushed past and slammed the door behind him. The echo vibrated around the cathedral ceilings. From inside the kitchen I heard Ethan sigh. When we strolled in, he raised a hand.

“Really, guys, this is not a good time.”

“What are we not being told here?”

“Johnny, we have a meeting planned for this evening. Anything that needs to be addressed can be done there.”

“That’s not good enough. We all know how those meetings go.”

In the early days, by that I mean the first few months in the community, the meeting that now occurred every three months was more frequent. Those in charge of the districts were open to hear from anyone. Anyone having a question would be allowed to go up front and share it with the others using a megaphone. That soon got out of control and every jackass was coming up and wasting time with meaningless questions that made you just want to get up and slap them silly. Some of the shit that was brought up, well, I will spare you the details.

“It is what it is.” He poured himself two fingers of bourbon and downed it in one go.

“Did you know about the order for us to be sent out?”

“No.”

“Shouldn’t something as risky as that have been decided on by all seven?”

“It would have but Sebastian is taking matters into his own hands. He believes that I can no longer handle the responsibility of being a leader. He wants me removed from power.”

“So he can handle district one?” Baja asked.

Ethan didn’t even need to reply.

“How long have you been butting heads with him?” I asked.

“For as long as I have worked alongside him. You have to remember. This is not new. Before the apocalypse people were vying for position. Nothing has changed.”

“But he’s already ruling over his own district. Why the interest in yours?”

“Every district leader is assigned a task. As you know, mine is protecting the main access points and working alongside Annora studying the immunes.”

“Look, I don’t care what your disputes are over. What I care about was burned up today,” Baja said. “Someone has to pay for that.”

“And they will.”

“Like today. Sebastian.”

“Unfortunately we cannot make that decision as leaders. It falls on the people to decide.”

Baja went to leave. “Well that’s pretty simple. Most of the people who were killed today were someone’s brother, sister, friend, or parent.”

“Not exactly,” Ethan said pouring more liquid into his glass to calm his nerves. “You see, for the past six months, Sebastian has been making the rounds. Influencing the people’s views. Some of which have been making it clear that I’m not fit to protect this community.”

“But it’s not down to you.”

“No. But I oversee what needs to be done in order to keep people on the walls, and us safe from the outside.”

I snorted, shaking my head as I walked around the room. “He was behind the men starting that fire.”

“We can’t prove that and such an allegation is liable to land you in deep trouble.”

“While you mention trouble, no doubt Sebastian will make it known that he was attacked today by Ben, Elijah and Baja. So what is the punishment? Exile?”

“We don’t exile people, Johnny. But you are right. They will demand something. An attack on a leader will be taken seriously.”

“What about an attack on Izzy? At least he has his life,” Baja said.

“I understand your pain.”

“Do you? Cause all I see is you hiding behind these walls. Barking out orders while we do the grunt work.”

“Someone has to oversee.”

“And that someone is seven people who tell others to go place themselves at risk.”

“I know you lost someone today but...”

“Don’t you even dare…” Baja said.

“I’m not the enemy here, guys. I would have never given the order for you to go out there. It serves no purpose except to start a war that we don’t need.”

“Believe me, a war has already brewing.”

Ethan stared back, set his glass down and ran a hand over his tired face.

“I knew it would come to this eventually.”

“What?”

“Maybe Sebastian is right. Perhaps I do need to step aside and let him run things.”

“Are you out of your mind?” I said. “If. Just if, he is working alongside those men, you can be sure that this is just the first of many attacks.”

“Like I said, you will have a chance to voice your concerns this evening. Until then you need to be careful what you say. Do you understand?”

“I understand that what we are building here is unlike what you said in the beginning.”

Ethan rubbed the sides of his temples as though a headache was building.

“We aren’t doing anything different to what we said, Johnny. But things evolve. We find areas that aren’t working and so we improve them. That in turn means we may find areas which would be better governed by someone else.”

“So you are just going let him turn the people against you?”

“This is not a dictatorship. One man doesn’t get to call all the shots around here. That’s why there are seven of us. No matter what Sebastian has planned for this evening, the other five will need to agree before it will be accepted. I’m pretty certain Annora isn’t going to agree with him. She already has her issues with the way he is handling his district and the anomaly.”

“He has one in his?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you ever thought this is all about the cure? Has he ever spoken to you about that?”

“He’s mentioned it a few times. You know, brought it up in discussion briefly.”

I nodded and said, “Then this evening we’ll bring it up. I think it’s time we got some answers.”

* * *

M
eetings were held
on the green of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, an expansive area that could hold more than enough people. While the meetings occurred every three months, and one wasn’t due for another three, they had pushed this through due to the recent loss of lives.

More than usual turned out that evening. A sky of darkness enveloped us. Dotted around the green were tall fire torches. A platform had been created for the seven leaders. Everyone took a seat and looked on while they waited for it to begin.

“I’d like to see how the hell he’s going to squirm his way out of this. To think he has the nerve to say that Ethan shouldn’t lead. We have seen more people die under his hand than Ethan’s.”

I stood quietly by one of the many trees taking in the sight of people talking among themselves. Jess and Rowan showed up. She still didn’t look herself. People would always wonder how we could manage to focus on anything after losing someone but the truth was, it was out of necessity. There were only so many tears that could fall.

“Keep it down,” someone said from up the front as the seven leaders took their seats like kings and queens. A megaphone was handed to Ethan. He thanked the person and stepped up to the podium.

“Thank you for coming out this evening. As you are aware we have suffered another loss and this evening we are here to discuss how we move forward from that. There will be things that you disagree with, we realize that, but we would ask that you show respect for the decisions that will be made this evening. No matter if they support your beliefs. What we aim to do is for the good of everyone.”

He handed over the megaphone to Sebastian who stepped up looking around and soaking in the view as if assessing his kingdom. Everything about him was wrong. The way he dressed, spoke and acted around others. It was if he thought he was destined to become the next president. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had such a way with words, and would follow through with any promise he made, people wouldn’t have liked him.

“Good evening. I know that many of you are worried about the safety of Paradise in light of the recent tragedy. But I’m here to reassure you that things are going to change. That what has occurred will not be repeated. As you know, you are the ones that choose your leaders. We are not involved in the decision process, except in the need to agree on changes to be made. This is not a dictatorship run by one man, and nor will it ever be that way. You are the ones that decide the fate and future of Paradise. So I would ask you to carefully consider what must be done here this evening.” He moved around the stage eyeing the other six leaders. “There must be consequences for what occurred in section A. It is my belief and from what I have learned from others that the majority of people believe it is time Ethan stepped down from leadership. It’s unfortunate that it has come to this but the fact is, over sixty people have died under your hand.”

“And what about under yours?” Baja yelled out.

“Who said that?”

People’s heads turned towards us.

“I did.” Baja stepped out from the darkness with zero fear. “People of Paradise. Sebastian would have you believe that Ethan cannot do his job. But if we are going to discuss a lack of oversight then let’s not forget today’s loss of lives. Or has that even been made known?”

“Silence. You will get your time to speak after we have dealt with the most pressing matter. The security of Paradise.”

“Oh don’t mind me,” Baja said slipping through the crowd. “If security is what you are concerned about, let’s look at that, shall we. You, Sebastian gave the command for a team of people to go after those responsible for the deaths in section A. You knowingly sent us and others into hostile territory for what? For what reason?”

“I won’t tell you again.”

“Oh settle down, you stuck-up prick.”

Sebastian’s nostrils flared and his eyed widened. He turned to the other leaders but they were keen to hear what Baja had to say.

“It has come to our attention that most of you don’t know what happened in the city today. Sebastian will say that news travels slowly inside the walls but that’s not the case. You all know that there are runners who distribute news to the seven districts. Anything related to the loss of life receives priority. But according to those of you who we have spoken to this evening, that wasn’t the case.”

“I will not be spoken to in this manner. Guards, arrest this man.”

“Arrest?” Baja pulled out two Glocks from the front of his pants. “The only one who should be arrested is you.”

Even I wasn’t aware that he had shown up at the meeting with handguns. It wasn’t permitted. All weapons had to remain at the gates. It was just precautionary due to the number of heated discussions that the community had got into, that and to prevent anyone from taking out a leader.

“Come on. For what reason did you send us out there?”

Ethan didn’t try to prevent Baja from speaking. He already knew his neck was on the chopping board. At least Baja’s outburst might delay whatever Sebastian had in mind.

“People of Paradise. Your brothers, sisters, family members were slaughtered today because of this man’s need to bring to justice those who set off the explosion in section A. Now he will have you believe that it was necessary. That he didn’t know about the ambush we walked into but he did. Of that I’m sure. The message they sent us back with was strange. Concede or suffer, they said. Now I have to ask myself. Why would this group start a fire and then leave unless their actions were guided by someone else? Someone who is behind the curtain pulling the strings and trying to make Ethan look incompetent.”

“Arrest this man now,” Sebastian yelled pointing at Baja.

Three security guards muscled their way forward towards Baja. He raised the Glocks at them. “I wouldn’t do that if I was you. Believe me, I don’t want to kill you but after what I’ve just been through, I won’t think twice.”

I rushed up close to Baja. I leaned into him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Raising a little hell, brother. Raising a little hell.”

Sebastian could see this was getting away from him. He raised the megaphone to his mouth. “It does not change the fact that over sixty people died under Ethan’s leadership. What we are calling for is for him to step down.”

Annora walked up to the podium. “We?”

“All those in favor?” Sebastian bellowed.

Hands went up all over the place. Hundreds, that then turned to thousands. He turned back to her. “The people are calling for this.”

“Without the vote of the other leaders it doesn’t matter how many you get,” she said.

“Then let’s see, shall we. Who is in favor?”

One by one their hands went up. The only two who didn’t agree were Annora and Alexander from district four.

“Four votes against three. I’m sorry, Annora, but it is what it is.”

Baja pushed through the crowd until he was near the stage area. I stayed with him casting my eyes over the guards who were military personnel. Good people who just followed orders.

“This is a mistake. If you allow this man to rule over you, you will see this place fall.”