The day after: An apocalyptic morning (167 page)

              Jessica popped them into her mouth and then washed them down with about half of the remaining drink. That would take care of the headache in about twenty minutes. In an hour, after two more bloody Marys and a little breakfast, she would feel almost normal again. She wondered if maybe she was drinking a little too much lately and then dismissed that thought as quickly as she'd dismissed her earlier one.

              "Is there anything else?" Alice asked her, still standing there obediently.

              "Another bloody Mary in about five minutes," she said, taking one more sip of her drink and then setting the glass down on the nightstand. She began unbuttoning her blouse. "And get someone in here to clean this place up. The bathroom needs a real going over."

              "Right away," Alice replied. "Will you be taking your bath soon?"

              "Yes," she said. "As soon as I get changed into my robe. Have them start running it now and then you can have breakfast up in the office for me when I get back."

              An hour later Madeline entered the main admin building, walking past the two guards out front with hardly a word. She was one of less than ten women in town who had unlimited access to the main building with its heat and power, who could get in to see Jessica without an appointment. She was the only one who could do this that didn't consider herself to be a friend of Jessica, who didn't regularly attend the barbarous gatherings that she referred to as parties. In fact, the relationship between the two of them was becoming increasingly antagonistic as Jessica's reign as Auburn leader rolled onward. So far they had avoided any really nasty confrontations with each other but Madeline knew that that was about to come to an end. Jessica was getting too strange, too unstable lately. She was prone to irrational outbursts that bordered on outright paranoia at times. And after what had happened last night, the time had finally come for some plain talk.

              "Hi, Alice," Madeline said with a sigh as she entered the outer reception for Jessica's office. "Is Jessica in?"

              "She's in," Alice said with a sigh. "She's just finishing up her breakfast."

              "Is she sober?" she asked next. She was really hoping to catch her before she too many morning drinks - something that was an exercise in timing.

              Alice seesawed her hand back and forth in the air. "She's working on the fourth bloody Mary right now," she said. "The last two haven't been as strong though. It's about another hour before she starts on the screwdrivers."

              "Well," Madeline said, "I guess that's about as good as it's going to get. Will you tell her that I need to have a word with her?"

              "Sure," she said, picking up the walkie-talkie. She keyed it up. "Ma'am?" she said into it. "Madeline is out here to see you. She says she needs to talk to you."

              "Tell her to come back later," Jessica's voice replied a little testily. "I'm busy right now."

              Alice looked up at her apologetically but Madeline was not going to be dissuaded that easily. She reached over and plucked the radio from Alice's hand. "Jess," she said into it. "This is really important. I need to talk to you now."

              Jessica refused to answer Madeline directly but this seemed to do the trick. "Alice," she said, "go ahead and send her in."

              "Thanks, Alice," Madeline told her, dropping the radio back onto the desk. She walked to the door and opened it. Jessica was sitting behind her large desk, a half eaten tray of food pushed off to the side. She was sipping out of a glass and going over some sort of paperwork - God knew what it was. Jessica enjoyed keeping lists and ledgers and notations on every little thing that occurred in the town.

              "What is it?" she said shortly, not even looking up at her security chief.

              Madeline closed the door behind her and walked over to the desk. She sat down in a chair across from it without being asked.

              "Well?" Jessica said, finally looking up, showing bloodshot eyes. "You were so anxious to get in here. What's the problem?"

              "Greg Rollins is the problem," Madeline told her.

              "Greg Rollins?" she said blankly, the name obviously meaning very little to her.

              "The man that you and your friends utilized for your little party last night," she reminded her.

              "Oh... of course," she said with a disinterested shrug. "What about him? Why would he be a problem?"

              "He's dead," Madeline said plainly. "He died about four this morning." She paused a little. "From internal bleeding."

              Jessica showed no particular emotion at this news. "What happened to him?"

              "What happened to him?" Madeline said, leaning forward. "Do you really not remember what you and your friends did to him last night? Did it slip your mind? Or were you just so drunk that you can't recall it?"

              Jessica face flushed with instant anger. "How dare you come in here and speak to me in that tone!" she said. "You are forgetting your place, little missy! I am the leader of this community. What makes you think that you can come marching in here..."

              "You don't remember the crowbar, do you?" Madeline asked softly. "You really don't."

              This startled Jessica a little, bringing back a blurb of a memory, which she quickly buried again. "Crowbar?" she said.

              "Jesus," Madeline said, somehow more bothered by the fact that Jessica didn't remember than by the act in the first place. "Let me refresh your memory a little for you, shall I? Apparently during your little gathering last night, after you finished raping him with that dildo you use, you decided that the dildo wasn't humiliating or painful enough and you ordered Alice to go find you a crowbar."

              "I wouldn't have been serious about that," Jessica said.

              "You were," Madeline said. "Alice brought you one and you and your friends took turns putting it up inside of him and twisting it. You ripped him open rather badly and it would seem that you managed to push the thing all the way up into his stomach cavity."

              "That's impossible!"

              "I was the one with the honor of getting rid of the crowbar after the party," she told her. "It had pieces of what I'm pretty sure were intestine stuck to it. Greg was brought to the medical office writhing in pain and vomiting blood. He suffered in agony for several hours before he finally died."

              Jessica paled during the story but finally recovered herself. She shook off the image and then turned on Madeline for providing it to her. "So what if we did do that?" she asked. "What the hell is the difference? He's one of the men that used to rape us. Why should anyone care what happens to those scum? Do they deserve any better?"

              "Yes," Madeline said, "they do. For God's sake, Jessica, what you did was barbaric. It was beyond an atrocity. And it's not the first time either. We've had a total of three deaths now because of the abuses that you and your friends do during your little parties."

              "You listen to me, little missy," Jessica said, glaring at her. "How dare you come in here and talk to me like this. I am the leader of this community and I will do whatever I see fit. If a few scum-sucking pieces of shit that call themselves men are hurt being punished for the way that they treated us, what the hell business is it of yours? You're just the head security guard! And didn't you kill the man that was raping you when this all started? As I recall, you cut his throat open while he was sleeping, didn't you?"

              "And that was a tactical act of warfare," Madeline told her. "Granted, I enjoyed it a great deal, but I did not torture him, nor did I do it as party entertainment. Do you really not see a difference?"

              "There is no difference," Jessica hissed. "I'm sorry that my parties offend your little sensibilities. I didn't realize you cared so much for those animals."

              "Those animals are human beings," she said, "despite their crimes. And animals are not even treated the way you're treating them. They didn't treat us the way you're treating them, not even Stu's men."

              "I've had about enough out of you for today," Jessica said dismissively, not wanting to discuss this any further. "You may leave now."

              "I have some other things that I need to talk about as well," Madeline told her.

              "What other things?"

              "The guards," she told her. "You've been encouraging my guards to go over my head directly to you for reassignment to day and night shift. And then you've been granting the changes without consulting me."

              "It is my prerogative as leader," Jessica said. "If you treat them unfairly, I have the right and the obligation to make things right."

              "Unfair?" Madeline said, her eyes widening. "You call assigning people that just happen to be your cronies to night shift unfair? That's bullshit, Jess, absolute bullshit. I treat every one of my people the same. Everyone works the day shift for a week and then everyone works the night shift for a week. But just because certain people have your ear and they've been to your parties, they're going to you and asking to be taken off their night shift obligations and you're granting it. And then nobody is telling me this until someone shows up for a shift I'm not expecting them on and telling the woman who is not one of your cronies that she is now working the night shift again. Or, I have to force people to work double shifts because someone wanted the night off to go to one of your parties, or they're too hung over to work their day shift. I can't maintain discipline this way. Our guard force is becoming a joke."

              "I do not engage in favoritism," she said. "I simply reassign where you have been displaying it for your friends. Don't try to twist this around on me. And remember who is in charge of this town."

              Madeline trembled a little in frustration, grappling with control. How she wanted to slap this idiotic woman and try to drive some sense into her. How she just wanted to slap her for the sheer pleasure of it. But she didn't. That was not the answer, would not accomplish anything. Instead, she tried reasoning. "Jess," she said, "the militia will be back soon, any day now. That means that four hundred men with guns are going to be showing up expecting to come back into town and resume their lives."

              "I know what it means," Jessica said. "So shouldn't you be out there preparing for them and watching for them instead of being in here bothering me?"

              "If we don't have discipline in the ranks," Madeline said, "then we're going to lose. You have got to stop interfering with my scheduling and my training. You have got to stop showing favoritism for certain women."

              "I don't have to do anything," Jessica said. "That is what being in charge is all about. It is me who makes the decisions here and it is me who decides what kind of discipline is needed or expected. You are nothing but a scheduling person and you're not even very good about that. Now I suggest you leave this office right now before you end up on the kitchen detail or the laundry detail instead. It is well within my power to put you there you know."

              "Jess," Madeline tried again.

              "Go now," she said. "Not another word or you'll be in the laundry room so fast it'll make your head swim."

              "You need to listen to me, Goddammit!" Madeline yelled, finally reaching the breaking point. "For the love of God, what are you doing? You're risking our entire revolution, our entire town because you just have to have your little fingers in everything. Is your little power trip that important to you? So important that you'll risk it all before you admit you're being a fucking idiot?"

              Jessica's hands clenched into fists and her face turned beet red. "You're relieved of your duties," she hissed. "As of this moment, you're on laundry detail."

              "You can't remove me from the security detail," Madeline shot back at her. "I'm the only one in this town with the training and experience to lead a battle against the men!"

              "I have relieved you," she yelled, slamming her fist down hard enough to knock over her drink. Tomato juice and vodka spilled over the surface and onto the floor. "I want you down there washing laundry right now." She picked up her walkie-talkie. "Alice, get in here."

              "Jessica," Madeline said again, calming herself. "You..."

              "Shut up," Jessica barked at her. The outside door opened and Alice put her head in. She looked at her. "Have the guards escort Madeline down to the laundry room," she told her. "As of this moment she is relieved of her former duties."

              Alice looked very doubtful. "Ma'am?" she said. "Are you sure that's a good..."

              "Don't you question me!" Jessica screamed at her. "You are little more than a secretary and I did not ask you for your opinion! I gave you an order and I expect you to carry it out!"

              "Yes, Ma'am," Alice said, withdrawing from the room and leaving the door open. She looked very frightened as she went.