The day after: An apocalyptic morning (66 page)

              Christine nodded, not quite smiling. "It looks like we're co-owners of this man," she said, squeezing his hand. "God help us."

              Paula put her soup bowl down on a small table next to the bed. She sat up straighter. "Are you sure about this Christine? I know I tried to push it on you in the first place, but don't do this unless you think we might be able to make it work."

              "I'm as sure as I can be," she said. "Like I said before, it's not what I always dreamed of when I was growing up, but it'll have to do, won't it? I'll give it a shot, the best shot I can."

              "That's all I ask," Paula said with a grin. She held out her hand. "Friends?"

              "Friends," Christine said, ignoring the hand and leaning in for a hug. "Or maybe sisters would be a better term."

              Paul, who had been lingering nearby pretending that he wasn't listening to them, suddenly could hold his tongue no longer. "Are you three talking about what I think you're talking about?" he asked.

              Skip looked up at him. "Yes we are," he said. "Paul, you have the honor of witnessing the first polygamous grouping in Garden Hill."

              "May there be many more," Paula added.

              Paul just looked at them, stunned. "Oh my God," he said at last.

              While Christine remained in the hospital room with Paula (they had a lot to talk about), Skip went out in search of Jessica. It didn't take long to find her. He simply looked for a gathering of women and there she was right in the middle of it. In this case the gathering was outside the women's locker room, where, despite the tragedy that had occurred that day, women were still waiting their turn at the bathtub.

              "So you can see that allowing someone like him into this town was probably the worst mistake we ever made," Jessica was saying as he approached. "I mean, first he gets Paul to change his votes on everything and then we get invaded! Five people are dead because of..." she cut herself abruptly off as she suddenly saw him standing there.

              There was a murmur from the other women standing around, half embarrassed that they had been caught gossiping, half angry that the demon they had been discussing was standing there. Skip pretended not to have heard what was being discussed. "Jess," he said politely, "can I talk to you upstairs for a moment? There's some paperwork that I need to have changed around."

              "Paperwork?" she asked coldly. "I don't really have time to handle paperwork right now."

              "Okay," he said, as if it didn't really Micker. "I'll just grab it myself. I know where it's kept."

              That had the desired effect upon her. Jessica's files were sacred to her and the thought of someone, especially Skip, going through them, was enough to change her mind. "No," she said suddenly, "that's okay. I'll help you. What is it that you need to do?"

              "It's a private Micker," he said quietly, as if he knew that he could trust her to keep whatever it was a secret.

              "I see," she said.

              The crowd parted for her and she walked through them, passing in front of Skip and leading him through the community center towards the stairs. They did not talk. When they got to the office she sat down at her desk and looked up at him. "So what is it that you need done?"

              "I need you to change my address in the files," he said, keeping his voice level. "I'm going to be moving in with Paula tomorrow morning."

              "Moving in with Paula?" she asked, making no move to open her desk drawer.

              "That's right," he said. "We're somewhat of an item now as you might have heard."

              "I've heard a lot," she said shrewdly. "I've heard that you and that young girl you live with are somewhat of an item as well."

              Skip nodded. "Yep," he said, his voice no different than if he was confirming that they were having tuna casserole for dinner that night, "we are. She's going to be moving over there with us too. And since Jack has moved in with Stacy, that means the whole house will be empty."

              Jessica simply stared at him, certain that she was either not hearing correctly or that he was joking with her.

              "Oh, and by the way, Christine is pregnant," he said next. "At least we think she is. We'll probably sign out one of those home tests from the supply room and confirm it. Is that something you keep track of? Who's pregnant?"

              "I don't think you're very funny," Jessica spat.

              "I wasn't trying to be," he told her. "If she is pregnant, we'll sign out some of those over the counter vitamins for her. Isn't it a shame that the grocery store didn't have a pharmacy in it? Wouldn't that have..."

              "What are you doing?" Jessica interrupted, her voice low and bordering on dangerous.

              "I'm not doing anything," he said. "I'm just informing you of a change of address since you're in charge of keeping track of that sort of thing. As of tomorrow, Paula, Christine, and I will be living at Paula's house."

              "Are you admitting to me that you have sex with that young girl?"

              He nodded. "Yep. She's really good at it too. I can't wait until she starts to show. I've always had kind of a thing for pregnant women."

              Jessica's face was now starting to turn red. "And does Paula know about this?" she asked.

              "Uh huh," he said. "It was Paula that suggested we move in with her. Of course it took a while to convince Christine to go along with this. I mean, a man having two official women is kind of strange. But gradually she came around to seeing how much sense it makes."

              "Are you telling me that you think you're going to be allowed to continue to sleep with that child? And that you think you're going to be allowed to sleep with Paula as well?"

              "Allowed?" he asked. "I wasn't aware that I had to be allowed to do anything. What business is it of yours or anyone else's who I sleep with, or how many I sleep with?"

              "I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing here," she said, pointing her finger at him. "But I can assure you that it will not be tolerated. You are a sick, perverted, lecherous man and you will be out of this town by nightfall. I promise you that!" With that she stood up and headed for the door.

              "So does this mean you're not going to change the paperwork?" he asked as she stormed out.

              Jessica did exactly what Skip had known she would do. She stormed down and began telling the entire story to every person she encountered. By the time the dinner hour rolled around, the town's women were in a fury about it. The fact that they had been invaded that morning and that five of their number were dead was almost forgotten.

              At dinner that night Skip sat with Christine at a table near the front of the room. He made sure that Jack, who wanted nothing more than to sleep the night away, was sitting there as well. Even Paula, who was not quite recovered from her pesticide exposure, dragged herself into the gym and had a seat. The four of them ate in silence, with no other people seated at their table. They ignored the stares and the pointed fingers that were directed their way.

              Though official community meetings usually were begun after everyone had finished eating, Jessica started this one early. It was obvious that the events of the day had wrecked havoc on everyone's appetite. Most of the food went untouched. She mounted the small podium that had been extricated from another part of the center and turned on the battery powered public address system that was used for such things. After tapping the microphone a few times, she began.

              "This meeting is hereby called to order," she said, pounding her gavel on the podium (Skip wondered for the hundredth time where she had even found a gavel. Had it come from some judge's house?) The murmur of conversation died down much faster than it normally did at such times. "I'd like to begin by explaining the events of this morning to you in as much detail as I've been able to gleam," she said. "By now I'm sure every last one of you knows that an armed force entered the town at eight this morning and caused the deaths of five people and the wounding of three. I will relate what I know as was told to me by our so-called security chief, Mr. Adams."

              There was somewhat of a titter at her words. Skip didn't mind. He had expected no less from her.

              "As best we can tell," Jessica went on, "a group of sixteen men climbed over the wall near guard positions 2 and 3 at some point early this morning, before sunrise. They moved into position near those posts and, at eight o'clock this morning, they attacked the two guard positions. At position 2, they managed to throw pesticide bombs in through the window. This caused the death of Missy Black, Jeff Hollister, and Lenny Long. At position 3, Paula Westover and Brenda Callahan were able to see the invaders before they managed to throw their bombs in. The bomb throwers were killed but the remaining team fired upon the position and killed Brenda. Paula was able to get the word out that an invasion was taking place and that is what prompted the response you saw this morning.

              "As you are aware, the invaders joined up and began moving towards the community center. Their goal, again this is according to Mr. Adams based upon a discussion he had with a captured invader, was to take over the community center and steal our food supply. At some point between the guard positions and the community center, the group broke up into two again, one approaching from the west and one approaching from the east. Now Mick Engle took charge of the group defending us from the east. His group suffered no casualties of any kind and managed to kill all of the invaders. On the west however, I'm sad to say that the group led by Mr. Adams suffered one dead and two wounded fighting a group of four people. Eventually these invaders were all killed as well."

              She paused for a moment while everyone discussed what she had said among themselves. When they finally piped down, she gave them a concerned and hurt look, one that seemed to be, to each individual watching, directed at them. "This is a very tragic event that has taken place here today," she said. "Words cannot even begin to describe how it feels to know that the town I am a part of was attacked and that friends of mine - Missy, Brenda, Jeff, Lenny, and Rick - are no longer with us because of it. Like you, I wanted to know how such a thing as this could have been allowed to happen in the first place. Who is responsible for it?" She let that linger in the air for a few moments. "I'll tell you," she went on, "we don't have to look terribly far to find the answer to this question. The party that needs to answer for this gross lack of security is the man that we, inadvisably it seems now, put in charge of that security in the first place. That person, as you all know, is Skip Adams."

              There was an angry babble of voices and all eyes turned to Skip, who simply sat there, looking up at Jessica with a blank expression on his face.

              "This is a man," Jessica went on, "that has brought considerable turmoil to this town since he came here. He snuck in here one night under the cover of darkness and managed to sweet talk and charm his way into your hearts. With the assistance of our so-called committee member Paul..." she shot an angry look at him, letting him know that she was going for his blood as well, "... he was voted into our town by popular decree, despite a committee vote barring him. Now I do not blame you good people for giving him your support in the beginning. Not at all. He was a handsome, virile looking man in a town where men are scarce. He seemed friendly and knowledgeable and he led us to believe that he would be a valuable asset. It is perfectly understandable that he led many of us in.

              "But now, after all that we know about him, especially after this fiasco that has resulted in the deaths... the deaths... of five of our friends, I think it is time to reevaluate Mr. Adams' welcome among us. Now had the criminal lack of security that he was responsible for been the only thing, I believe that we might have found it in our hearts to allow him to remain a citizen - although not a security chief. But this is not the only character flaw we have found about him, is it?"

              Another angry murmur went up. Skip again continued to look passively forward, not reacting to her words.

              "No," she said, answering her own question. "It is not. There have been charges of vote influence against him in the shameless way he gets Paul to vote his will each and every time. There have been charges of reckless use of supply room stocks such as ammunition and even alcohol and marijuana. There has even been some evidence of improper sexual behavior with that young boy he shared a house with."

              "I hadn't heard that one," Skip whispered to Paula, still keeping his face neutral.

              "And now," Jessica continued, her voice raising dramatically, "I have discovered even more despicable acts that he has committed. This very afternoon he admitted to me in person that he has been having sexual relations with Christine, the sixteen-year-old girl that has been living with him. He admitted this to me! And that is not all either. He also told me that the young girl is now pregnant, and that he thinks he should be allowed to continue to live with her. This man is a common rapist! He has usurped the morals of that poor young girl and now he wants to live with her!" She shook her head in bewilderment. "Well I for one am here to tell you that I am beyond shocked. I know that you, the good people of this town, have no intention of letting this menace stay here for another night.