The day after: An apocalyptic morning (171 page)

              "I heard that one as well," Madeline said. "But why are you telling me this? What is it that you want me to do about it? I'm in the Goddamn laundry detail."

              "We want you to do something," Kathy said. "And we want you to do it fast. And the reason that I'm here is to tell you that whatever it is that you do, you'll have the support of the ones like me."

              "The ones like you?"

              "The ones that don't ordinarily give a damn what happens. The ones that aren't in her little club. We make up most of the town you know and in this case, we do give a damn." She looked at Madeline firmly. "Get rid of her. You'll have our support. I haven't talked to all of them but I've talked to most of the leaders of the various little cliques we have among ourselves. We want to stay free and in control of our own destinies. We don't want things to go back to the way they were. With Jessica in charge and doing whatever she pleases, that's going to happen, either through the men or through her as she gets her hooks a little further into us. When push comes to shove, you'll have our vote for whatever action you see fit to take. Whatever action, do you understand?"

              Madeline smiled a little. "Yes," she said. "I believe I understand."

              Madeline wasted no time. She left the laundry room shortly after Kathy's departure, abandoning her tubful of towels and her lines. She made her way through the bowels of the high school building and quickly rounded up Darlene, who was working her way through the mound of breakfast dishes with the aid of several other women.

              "Darlene," she said, waving her over. "I need a word with you."

              Darlene excused herself and trotted over. Words were exchanged for nearly five minutes, during which Darlene's expression went from misery to shock to barely controlled restraint.

              "Are you in?" Madeline asked her when she was done.

              "I'm in," she said fearfully. "But are you sure this will work?"

              "It'll work," she assured her. "Will any of your dish detail help us?"

              "All of them will help us," she answered. "No doubt about it. All of them are here because they crossed Jessica in some way."

              "Bring them over here."

              Darlene brought them over. Ten minutes later they were all involved.

              A few minutes later Darlene, Madeline, and their new recruits slipped out through an unguarded side door and began fanning out into the town. They visited the firewood detail, the garbage detail, the hot water detail, and several other job sites that were full of women that had been assigned there because of their problems with Jessica. Many of the women they talked to were the former guards that had been removed from their positions and had no problems agreeing to what Madeline was proposing. All of them knew that it was time.

              Thirty minutes later, just as the guards inside of the administration building were discovering that a great many workers had wandered off, a group of thirty women led by Madeline herself came walking up the street through the rain. They approached in a loose formation, moving slowly, not a single one carrying any weapons of any kind. They came up the walkway and towards the main steps of the building. It is perhaps a testament to the ineffectiveness of the guard force that they were not noticed until they were less than fifty feet from the building.

              When they were noticed however, the two guards out front rushed out to meet them, calling for reinforcements on their portable radios. Within seconds two more teams of guards - one from inside the building, one from the outside back of the building - came running over, their automatic weapons clanking, their faces fearful. The two groups met at the bottom of the concrete steps, the guards all pointing weapons at the crowd, the crowd only standing impassively.

              "What is the meaning of this?" demanded Brandy Olsen, the twenty-eight year old leader of the perimeter guards. She was one of the original guards trained by Madeline after the revolution and one of Jessica's inner circle. She had used Jessica's influence several times in the past to keep from being assigned to night shift posts and to get days off for the parties. She had in fact been one of the women to drive a crowbar into Greg Rollins a few nights before. Her M-16 was pointed directly at Madeline's face, the barrel trembling a little with motion transmitted from her shaky hands. Her finger was curled tightly around the trigger, perhaps exerting about half of the pull necessary to make the weapon fire.

              Madeline didn't even look at the finger, didn't acknowledge the gun in any way. "This," she said strongly and firmly, "is a military takeover of the town."

              Brandy looked at her incredulously. Behind her, the other guards all tittered a little. "You have got to be kidding," she said.

              "I don't kid," Madeline told her. "We've come to take Jessica into custody. Stand aside and let us enter the building."

              "You are out of your damn mind," Brandy said. "How dare you leave your work station in the middle of the day. How dare you lead these other women up here and spout crap like that. This group will disband immediately and return to work or all of you will be locked up until Jessica deals with you."

              Everyone held firm, continuing to stare back at the guards.

              "Did you hear me?" Brandy demanded. "Disperse immediately. You're all already in a lot of trouble. Don't make it worse on yourself."

              "What are you going to do if we don't disperse?" Madeline asked her calmly. "Are you going to shoot us down like dogs? We're unarmed, Brandy."

              "If that's what it takes, I'll do it," she said. "Don't bring us to that point. Now disperse!"

              "There will be no dispersal," Madeline said. "We've come for Jessica and we will have her."

              "We will shoot you," Brandy warned. "Don't think that we won't!"

              "Oh, but that's exactly what I think," Madeline said. "I don't think that you will shoot anyone, Brandy and I know that most of those women behind you won't shoot either." She turned her gaze on the rest of the guards, looking each one in the eye in turn. "None of you have become so dehumanized that you're willing to gun down unarmed women, have you?"

              "Don't try us," Brandy said. "I'm warning you."

              "No," Madeline said, "I'm warning you. Put your weapons down and stand aside. You all know as well as I do that Jessica is not fit to rule this town. Even you, Brandy, even you who goes to her little parties and helps her torture the men, even you know that we're in a world of trouble with her at the controls. She's a madwoman and she needs to be removed. You can shoot me if you want, you can kill all of us if you want, but that won't change the fact and it certainly won't keep Jessica from being removed from power. My companions and I are liberators and we have the opinion of the entire town on our side - the entire town minus Jessica and her small circle of cronies that is. If any of you shoot any of us, I can guarantee that you will stand trial for murder once Jessica is gone. And as you know, we have but one penalty for murder here - hanging."

              "Jessica is not going anywhere," Brandy said. "She is the leader of this town and she will continue to be the leader of this town. And I will shoot anyone who tries to enter that building without her permission and so will the other guards!"

              "No," said a voice from behind her. It belonged to Caroline Mickhews, one of the few women still friendly with Madeline that was left on the guard force. "We will not shoot." She lowered her weapon, allowing the barrel to point at the ground. "Maddie is right. Jessica needs to be removed. We all know it and I will not help stop them."

              Brandy took her eyes off of Madeline long enough to glare at Caroline. "I might've expected this out of you," she spat at her. "Unload your weapon and take it inside immediately. You are relieved of your duties as of this moment."

              "I won't shoot either," said another voice, this one belonging to Linda Weatherly, who was a recent replacement for one of Madeline's people. "Things have gone too far around here."

              "You fucking coward!" Brandy accused hotly. "You're relieved as well!"

              "Coward?" she returned, lowering her own weapon. "You call me a coward? I cut the throat of that raping asshole that lived in my house in the middle of the night. I cut his throat and then I helped take down the guards in front of the community center without a gun! Don't you call me a coward just because I won't shoot women who are only doing what needs to be done!"

              "Damn right," said another woman from behind her - yet another replacement for Madeline's people. She lowered her weapon as well. "Let Maddie in there. It needs to be done."

              This left two women besides Brandy herself who were still pointing guns. These final two were like Brandy, Madeline-trained but Jessica loyal, frequent recipients of her favors. They wavered uneasily as all eyes turned to them.

              "Well girls?" Maddie asked them. "It's time to make a choice now, isn't it? Who are you going to follow?"

              "Stand by me," Brandy told them in a threatening, nervous tone. "Remember who your leader is. Stand by me and we'll nip this little uprising right in the bud."

              At that point things might very well have held at an impasse if not for the appearance of the townspeople. Gathered and told to assemble by other members of Madeline's conspiracy, they came from every direction, walking in groups of ten and twenty, women of all shapes and sizes, many with small children in tow. They formed up just behind the two opposing groups, standing there silently, their eyes trained on the spectacle before them. In all more than four hundred of them showed up.

              "All of you!" Brandy yelled as she saw them. "Return to your homes immediately! This does not concern you!"

              "It does concern us!" A voice yelled out. It was the voice of Kathy, who was standing near the front of the crowd. "It concerns every last one of us. These women are acting in our name and they have our support for their actions. Let them pass!"

              "They are attempting to unseat the lawful leader of this town!" Brandy yelled back at them. "It will not be allowed."

              Madeline ignored the crowd behind her. Instead, she continued to stare at the two guards next to Brandy. "What's it going to be, girls?" she asked them almost quietly. "You can see what's happening here. Which side are you going to be on?"

              One by one they lowered their weapons down, seeming almost relieved to be doing it. A murmur of approval erupted in the crowd at their actions. "I'm on the right side," said one.

              "As am I," said the other.

              Brandy was actually trembling now as she found herself standing alone. She gave a murderous glare to Madeline. "This isn't over," she said. "You still have to get by me."

              "It is over," said Caroline. There was a clank as her weapon came back up to position. Only this time it was pointing at Brandy. "Lower that rifle, right now."

              "This is treason!" Brandy yelled.

              "Call it what you want," Linda Weatherly said, bringing her weapon to bear on her former supervisor as well. The three other guards quickly followed suit. "But put down the rifle. It's over, Brandy."

              Brandy looked at the rifle barrels pointing at her. There were five of them, three aimed at her head, two at her body. She knew that if she pulled the trigger on her own weapon that she would be dead before Madeline's body even hit the ground. But would it be worth it? Would it be fitting for her to die defending her leader?

              She thought not. Her finger came off the trigger and the barrel slowly lowered so it was pointing at the ground. Another sigh of relief came through the crowd.

              "Cassie, Lynn," said Madeline. "Take her into custody. Hold her out here until we're done inside."

              "Right," agreed two of the women with her. They moved up and stripped Brandy of all of her weapons and her radio. She didn't protest.

              Madeline helped herself to Brandy's sidearm - a 9mm Glock. She checked to make sure a round was in the chamber and then held it in her right hand. "The rest of you," she said to her group, "follow me. We're going inside."

              As the crowd watched in anticipation, Madeline marched up the steps, her followers in tow. They entered the school building and moved across the lower office area, their feet squeaking over the tiled surface. Several workers - both of the Madeline and the Jessica clique (the former clique mopping and cleaning, the latter doing meaningless office tasks) stared at them fearfully as they went by, all cognizant that a historical event was taking place. They moved up the staircase to the luxury offices of the principal and vice-principal, where Barnes had once made his quarters, where Jessica now did. Alice sat at her desk in the outer office. She looked as if she was expecting them. She hardly even glanced at the gun in Madeline's hand.

              "Is she in the office or the bedroom?" Madeline asked Alice.