The Emerald Virus (60 page)

    
As Turner moved west towards the town, he angled south back towards the
entrance road. He and Dog ended up behind the snowplows and could see the
silhouette of an RV on the road. It looked like the last one in the line.

    
Just as he was ready to move to the RV a group of four or five men came running
from the direction of his vehicles. The first man in line fired a burst from
his assault rifle in the air.

    
The door to the RV opened and five people came out quickly.

    
Ted Green lowered his rifle and said, “They’ve escaped. We snuck up on their
vehicles in the snow and I decided to crawl underneath the rear one. I found a
hole cut in the floor and both vehicles were empty. There were still footprints
on the snow so they just left.

    
“We’ll be able to track them until the snow gets heavier. I’ll get groups out
right now. Don’t worry we’ll have them back in no time.”
     Turner realized he was right, unless he could stall them they would have
little trouble following his trail. Without another thought he emptied his
magazine towards the group. A two people were shot and fell, some of the others
simply turned to him and returned fire as they fell forward into a prone
position.

    
They were only ten yards away and Turner was amazed at the amount of noise both
from the rifles and pistols, but also from the bullets hitting all around him.

    
Dog simply disappeared backwards in a red haze as he was struck multiple times
in the face, neck and chest. Turner had fired from behind a tree and now had no
choice but to stay there.

    
He heard Ted Green say, “Cease fire, cease fire. Shelly take two men and move
west and five yards into the trees. Noah take the other two and move east and
five yards into the trees. I’m going to circle and come in from the north.
Shoot anything you see except me.

    
Turner realized that he had no choice but to surrender. He yelled, “I’m coming
out with my hands up. Here’s my gun. He tossed the handgun towards the RV and
stepped out. He actually thought they might shoot him.

    
Instead he heard Sam say, “Keep your hands where I can see them. Move slowly
towards us. When Turner was on the road she said, “Keep your hands up and drop
to your knees, and stay there without moving or talking.”

    
“Ted, get your patrols out to capture the others. There should be five more of
them.”

    
“I’ll do that Sam, but I’ll confirm the number. I believe there is at least one
dead right here and there might be more.”

    
Sam looked behind her and said, “Tell me about our casualties.”

    
Jack spoke up and said, “One of our militiamen is dead, shot in the head. One
has a minor wound, and Ben is wounded. It looks like he was shot in the left
side.”

    
“Has anyone called the medical team?”
     “Heather is on the radio now asking the doc to send help. They should be
here in minutes.”

    
Shelly had moved to try and help Jack stem the flow of blood from Ben. Sam
didn’t know what to do except wait for medical help.

    
Sam walked to the prisoner and grabbed his hat and pulled it off. When he
looked up Sam said, “Turner, I’ll be damned. You really are a loser aren’t
you?”

    
Turner looked up and smiled as he said, “I don’t think so, I’ve managed to kill
some of you haven’t I?”

    
“No. Actually the only death is this one poor man you just shot. We wiped out
your force at the exchange, we burned your town, we destroyed your camp and we
killed quite a few of your men here. And you traded all of that for a chance to
kill one of ours. You have to be the most stupid man I’ve ever met.”

    
“I don’t agree with that either. And there isn’t much you can do to me. First,
I believe we are in Wyoming, which I don’t think has the death penalty. So the
best you can do is lock me up, but sooner or later I’ll be back on the streets,
and you and I’ll meet again. And by the way, I didn’t kill anyone; it was that
idiot I was with that did the shooting.”

    
Ted had just walked out of the woods and he picked up the handgun Turner had
thrown out earlier. Ted said, “Sam, that isn’t true. There is one body in the
woods and his gun is still in the holster. I checked and it hasn’t been fired.
On the other hand, the magazine in Turner’s gun is empty and this gun has been
fired, quite recently.”

    
Sam looked at Turner and said, “You still don’t get it do you? There is no
Wyoming any more. The only law now is the law that we make. It’s kind of ironic
that living without the benefit of laws is what you wanted, and it’s going to
do you in as well.”

    
Turner looked worried now and said, “But you have to give me a trial and an
attorney at least.”

    
Sam replied, “I think there is only one thing I have to give you and that’s a
pass out of here.”

    
She pulled her handgun and shot Turner in the chest. What went through her mind
was her father telling her that sometimes she had to make a decision and act on
it, even if it meant taking a life. The irony was, that at the time she wasn’t
sure she could do it.

    
As she stood looking at Turner and thought about shooting him again, Noah
walked up and shot him, and a second later Jack did the same thing, and then
Shelly, and then Ted, and then Heather who had joined them.

    
Noah looked at the group and said, “If there’s going to be a trial over this
it’s going to be a big one isn’t it?”

    
An hour later the doc told them that Ben and Danny were both still critical. He
agreed to move the medical RV to the lodge but only if the snow plows did their
best to level the road ahead of him, and they drove at no more than ten miles
per hour. He was afraid that any movement would be harmful to his patients, but
he believed Sam when she told him that if he didn’t come now he could be snowed
out of the camp for the rest of the winter.

    
They tied the forty four prisoners in the back of the snow plows and everyone
headed back to the lodge. Each snow plow had two armed guards assigned but as
far as Sam was concerned, anyone who wanted to escape into this blizzard was
welcome to do so.

    
When they reached the lodge the prisoners were locked into one of the out
buildings with an armed guard at the only door. The guard changed every twenty
minutes.

    
In the lodge Noah was saying to Christian, “I think you need to have a trial to
preserve order since Sam and I did kill Turner. I think you can forget the ones
who came after us though, I’m sure it was my bullet that killed him.

    
Jack spoke up and said, “Noah, I’m sorry to argue with you, but he was still moving
when I shot him.”

    
Ted started to speak and Christian said, “Okay that’s enough. I’ll tell you
exactly what’s going to happen. We’re going to write a history of our first
winter and in that history Turner will be noted as a casualty in the battle of
Yellowstone.

    
“That will be the end of this nonsense about trying anyone for a death that
occurred while we defended ourselves against current and future evils.”

    
Jack called Charlotte to let her know that everything was over and that a
militiaman killed had been from her group.

   
He told her about everything that had happened with both he and Heather and explained
what they were going to do with the prisoners. When she asked why they were
going to release them he said, “It’s really because we don’t want to establish
a prison facility, maintain guards for a long period of time, and feed them for
as long as we hold them captive.”

    
Charlotte said, “I agree with that, we wouldn’t want to do that either. How is
Heather holding up, that was quite an ordeal for that young lady.”

    
“Heather is devastated. She hasn’t left Ben’s side since he was shot. I think
the doc is going to have her arrested or something, just so he can have some
peace.”

    
“How bad is Ben?”

    
“It’s better than we had hoped. The bullet didn’t hit any internal organs, and
the entry and exit wounds are clean, although he has two broken ribs. One of
them might be splintered but the doc isn’t sure yet.”

    
“When are you coming home?”

    
“I’m not sure yet. I don’t believe I can get Heather out of here until Ben is
back on his feet and I’m afraid that will really mean it will be spring time.

    
“Are you and Jane doing okay without me?”

    
Charlotte told him about their efforts to establish clans and about Jane’s idea
of calling the clans in the traditional Scottish sense.

    
Jack said, “You wouldn’t be planning on doing that first on the 17
^th
of January and the again on the 16
^th
of April would you?”

    
Charlotte was stunned and asked, “Jack, how in the world could you know that?”

    
Jack laughed and said, “Jane’s maiden name is ‘Campbell’, one of the great
names in the history of the Scottish Highlands, and of course that’s my
heritage as well.

    
“The first date commemorates the battle of Falkirk, and the second the battle
of Culloden. I’m not sure how excited your non Scottish families will be to use
those dates but I think they’re great.”

    
“That won’t be a problem.  I don’t think we’re going to use much Scottish
except for the calling of the clans, which all of us like. We told the group
the clans would announce themselves in turn, based on the age of the leader.

    
“As it turns out the oldest leader is a third generation American named Norman
Kenshin, from a group in Oregon who will announce his clan while he and they
are dressed in the traditional robes of a Samurai warrior, using the colors of Daimyo
Kenshin. The next in turn will be Johnny Cupero, from the Kansas group, whose
clan will wear peasant style dress from Sicily, and the colors will be the red
and yellow of the flag of Sicily. I can’t wait to see what the other clans will
decide, even mine.”

    
Jack felt good about Charlotte and he signed off and went to tell Heather the news
of home.       

    
The next day the group started working with the prisoners. They took pictures
of each prisoner from every angle, both with hats on and off. They then had
those with beards shave them, and took those pictures. Lastly, those without
beards put on a fake beard and had that picture taken.

    
All of the prisoners and all of the residents were crammed into the lodge when
Sam addressed the prisoners later that day, “We’re decided to set you free.
When we do so we are going to send your pictures with descriptions of scars and
tattoos to every group, and we’re going to post them on the survivor web page.

    
“While you can go anywhere you want, we are recommending that you not be
allowed in any group of civilized people. You aren’t the kind of people we want
to help create a new world.

    
“I suggest you go east and north. That part of the world will be without
people, except for you. If you come back here, or anywhere else we might be,
you’ll be shot on sight. You’ve caused a great deal of pain and misery for us
and we’ll not tolerate you in the future.

    
“As soon as the snow stops and we get the road open, we’ll take you to the
other side of West Yellowstone and set you free. We’ll wait for one hour. At
the end of the hour you will be shot on sight.

    
“A day later we will start sending out patrols to look for you in surrounding
farms and towns. Our intent will be to find you and kill you. Your only hope to
survive is to walk until you find a vehicle and use it to get as far away from
here as possible.”

    
One of the men asked, “What about our women.”

    
Sam replied, “I’d guess by now they have all frozen to death. You left them to
fend for themselves and I think nature has won that battle.”

    
That quelled any other questions the group might have had. Sam had them taken
to the lock up.

    
Once the prisoners left Sam looked at her group and said, “The women don’t
deserve any help, but two of our men took a snow cat with a big sled and risked
their lives yesterday to drive to where we left the women. They were all still
with the pickups, and all still alive, although a couple of them may still die
from frost bite.

    
We took them into Butte and as with the men we took their cell phones. We told
them to find shelter, warmth and vehicles so they could leave this area. We
threatened them just as you heard me threaten the men. Our hope is that they
all leave the area.
     “I have no intention of sending out patrols, but we will all have to be
careful in the future. If these men and women do stay around they’ll be
dangerous, and finding new weapons won’t be a problem for them. From now on
anyone leaving the park will need to be both armed and attentive.”

    
Colleen asked, “Won’t the men freeze to death looking for vehicles?”

    
“I don’t think so. We’re releasing them on the road that goes past the airport.
I had two buses parked there awhile back because I thought we might need them. They’ll
be able to see them from the highway and the keys are still in them. All the
prisoners need to do is dig their way to the highway.”