The Last Tribe (44 page)

Antonio was in the front seat.  He
was smiling, but his hand was on his forehead.  He wore a baseball cap, and
shook his head back and forth.  Kelly was laughing in the driver’s seat, as was
the second row of Ahmed, Todd, and Emily.

The door slid open and Avery jumped
out.  “I have to get out of here before they start singing again.  They are
making up songs, ridiculous songs, and claiming they are real.”  She pleaded to
Bernie to make the singing stop.

“That’s not made up, that’s the
Monkees’ theme song.”  Bernie tried to explain.

“Oh my god, you’re in on it too. 
Oh my god.”  Avery walked away to find solace with Jamie and Peter.

The younger kids were laughing and
talking.  Wendy, Bridget, and Casey sang their new song “Hey, hey we’re
monkeys, and people say we’re monkeys so long, but we’re too busy singing, to
be monkeys.”  They laughed. 

“Avery!”   The children yelled
after singing.  “Can you play hopscotch?”  The girls ran to the chalk drawn
grid and started looking for rocks to use on the squares.

Jay walked to Peter and told him
about “the island where all the new Americans had to go, and how there was
luggage stacked up, and shoes all around, and signatures, and hospital rooms.” 
Peter nodded as the young boy told him of the day’s adventures. 

Before Jay could finish, Brian,
Jaclyn, Jacob, and Meredith pulled a soccer ball out of the RV and headed to
the grass for a quick game.  When Jay saw them he explained to Peter.  “Sorry
Mr. Peter, I, I, I gotta go!”  He stuttered in excitement, not wanting to be
rude to his older friend, but not wanting to be left out of the soccer fun
either. 

“You can tell me all about it on
our way up to New Hampshire tomorrow.  How’s that?”  Peter asked the boy. 

“Okay!”  Jay screamed over his
shoulder, running towards his brother and friends.

Brian paused as the group kept
walking.  He turned and yelled to Antonio.  “Hey, Tony!  Would you like to
play?  I know we’re little kids, but we’re good at soccer.”

Antonio, or Tony as the group
discovered he preferred, looked at the adults, shrugged his shoulders, and
walked towards the kids.  “Sure, little man, I’ll kick the ball around for a few.” 
He trotted towards the grassy area that was their soccer field.

Jamie, still sitting in her chair,
looked at Solange.  “If I had known a slap in the face was all that kid needed
to engage, I would have done it five months ago.”

Solange nodded, “I believe the five
months with your group had more to do with his new found life than my slap in
the face.  Your group has been sleep walking, and our arrival has woken you. 
He understands what life has in store for him.”  She paused.  “He is a good
person, but from what I can tell, he is not a good soccer player.”  She laughed
as she watched him try to dribble away from the little kids.  His size and
speed allowed him to score.  His skills were horrible. 

Melanie walked up to Peter.  “No
Sal?”

“Oh, he was here.”  Peter stood to
give Melanie a quick hug.  It was the most they had been apart for seven
months.  “I had the pleasure of meeting the man, but he was not interested in
talking to me or Jamie.  He wandered off to take a walk in the park.  That was
three, maybe four hours ago.”

The adults formed a circle around
Jamie, who stayed seated.  The good feelings from the fun day were gone.  Tension
settled over the group.

“Did Jamie tell you about the
apartment?”  Emily began.  She was upset, furious that a person would let young
children starve while they stayed fat.

“Yes, yes she did.”  Peter
replied.  “I can say, after meeting the man, I’m not all that shocked.  He
seemed angry from the second he got out of the car with Bernie.  He said two
words, and stormed off for his walk.”

Ahmed looked around the circle, “I
know it would be natural for you to think the New York people are going to
circle the wagons for one of our own, but that bastard is not with me.  We took
on whoever needed shelter, whoever wanted to be part of our group, whoever
would help us.  He fits none of those categories.  Maybe he did in the
beginning, maybe he will down the road, but for the last six months he’s been
nothing but a drag and scourge to me and the rest of us.  If this were a job? 
I’d have fired him long ago.  If he was living with us before the rapture, I
would have kicked him out.  Unfortunately, I don’t know what to do, but know
this, I’m not going to defend him or go against the will of the group just
because he was living in the same building as me for six months.  I’m done.” 
He took a sip from his water bottle.  “I hope I can be a good member of our
group, and please consider me part of whatever you call yourselves.  I’m not a
member of the New York clan any longer.”

There was a pause before Solange
broke the silence.  “That is the most you have said in two days.  Where did
that come from?”

Laughter erupted.  Ahmed was
reserved and quiet for the last two days, speaking here and there, but not
opening up.  During the outing today, he stayed with Cameron and the two young
girls, making sure they felt comfortable and had fun.  He answered questions
when asked, but did not offer long opinions like the one he just gave about
Sal.

“Well, I just…”  Ahmed began.

“I get it.”  Todd cut him off.  “We
get it.  You want to make sure we don’t put Sal in a category with the rest of
you.”

Emily was fuming, despite the joke
by Solange.  “It’s time we decide.  We know where he is.  He’s getting high in
his apartment.  Tony can show us which one.  Do we go there now, talk to him
about his options?  Do we see if he comes back before we leave, talk to him then? 
Do we leave if he isn’t here tomorrow?” 

She left the questions in the air.

“That would be killing him.” 
Bernie said quietly.  “I’m not sure I can kill him, despite his bad behavior. 
He’s still a person, a human being.”

“How is it killing him?”  Melanie
asked her.  “He knows our plan, he knows we’re here.  If he wants to brave the
world on his own, or wait for the next group of survivors to arrive to see if
he likes them better, those are his choices.”

“I don’t know, Mel, I don’t know if
I can leave him.  Have we really come to a place where we make decisions like
that?  It’s like Ahmed said, if this were work or before the rapture there
would be options.  Now?  I don’t know what our options are.”  Emily stood next
to her husband.  She reached for his hand.  “I’m enraged right now, but I don’t
want to be a savage just because the world is up for grabs.  As my husband has
said for months now, this isn’t The Road Warrior.  We don’t have to act like
it.”

Melanie replied directly to Emily. 
“What are you going to do when he steals food from your children in six
months?  What happens when he decides he does not want to take his turn in the
fields, and we do not get part of our crops in the ground, or some of our crops
die because he refuses to help, yet we have to feed him?  If he becomes a drag
on the group and is taking food from the mouths of the children, what will your
options be then, Emily?  He has shown he has no regard for other people.  He
has shown he does not want to be part of the group.  If he wants to stay alone
is New York, I do not think we should go knock on his door and bring him with
us.  He is making his bed.” 

“So we let him kill himself when we
know that is what he is doing?  We offer no help?  If he was drowning, even
though he went into deep water not knowing how to swim, you’d rescue him,
wouldn’t you?  How is this different?”  Bernie interjected. 

Melanie answered easily.  “If the
water he went into had sharks and alligators and endangered my life?  I’d let
him drown.  There are bad people, Bernie, and it is not my job to help them at
the expense of my own well being and the well being of all the other people in
my group.  A year ago, I would have helped Sal, but his behavior would not have
directly affected me or my children.  Now, his bad behavior has a direct
negative impact on my ability to survive.”  Melanie looked around the group. 
“Leaving him is not a popular or easy decision, I know, but it is the easiest
way to fix the problem.  If we make an effort to bring him with us, I am
convinced we will have to make a much more difficult decision down the road.”

“You mean kill him ourselves.” 
Todd said.  “You are saying we can walk away, never knowing how he ends up, or
take him with us and probably have to kill him ourselves in a year.  That’s
what you think?  That we would do some sort of public execution or something? 
That we would hang him in the village square as a message?”

Solange answered.  “We would not
use him as an example, or scare our children, but yes, I am sure we will have
to kill him.  We might try to throw him out of the tribe, make him leave, but a
man like Sal?  He will not leave without hurting our chances for survival down
the road, and/or stealing food and necessary tools.  Granted, I have not met
him, but I know the type of person they have described.  He cannot change who
he is, and we cannot change who he is either.” 

“You nailed him.  Don’t worry about
not having met him, you’ve nailed his personality, and you’re probably right.” 
Ahmed backed Solange’s assessment.  “I say we leave him.  If he shows up, wants
to come, fine, but I’m not groveling over to 71
^st
to beg him to join
us.  No way.  And you know what?  If he wants to come?  He walks onto the RV
with empty pockets and no bags.  He leaves his drugs here.  No more drugs.”

“I’m with Ahmed and Solange.”  Kelly
nodded. 

Jamie stood up from her chair. 
“I’m with them too.  If he shows up, we bring him along, naked as a jay bird,
but we don’t go after him, and we don’t let him follow us with a car full of
drugs.  Solange, I wish I was as strong as you, but I can’t leave a man behind
if he wants to come.  I think that’s where you’re headed, leaving Sal no matter
what.  Okay, I get it, but I have too much of the old way left in me.  He’s a
son of a bitch, that’s for sure, but as Bernie said, he’s a person.  If he
comes, put him in the RV, away from the children.  No pills, no booze, just Sal
on his own to detox.  That’s my opinion.  If we bring him and it goes wrong? 
I’ll take him out back and kill him.  I’m old.  I won’t have to carry the
burden as long as the rest of you would.”  She looked at Solange, “will that
satisfy you?”

“It is not a matter of me being
satisfied,” Solange began before Jamie cut her off.

“I know, dear, I know.  You are
thinking like we all should.  What I’m asking is, do you believe this is a good
compromise?  If Sal wants to come, we give him parameters, let him make his
choice.  If it goes bad down the road, I’ll take care of him.”

“No, we have a decision to make
now, and then one we’ll address if needed later.  You are not going to assume
responsibility for Sal.”  Emily shook her head.  “This conversation is about
whether we pick him up or we leave without him.  I don’t want to talk about the
future.  We can’t control the future.”

“I agree.” Melanie said.  “But I
also agree that we should consider the future.  Regardless, we have to make a
decision for right now.  Do we pick him up, do we wait for him, or do we leave
him.”

“I never said anything about
waiting for him.”  Emily replied.  “We either get him or we leave him, we
aren’t delaying our trip to Hanover.  We leave tomorrow.  The third option is,
do we leave a note for Sal telling him where we are going?  That would put the
ball entirely in his court.  He would be making his own decision to stay alone
or join our group.”

“But won’t that invite a drug
addict to follow us with a car full of pills and the same bad attitude?”  Ahmed
did not like Sal, and wanted him left behind. 

“Again, I can’t control the
future.  Sal will eventually run out of drugs, even if he brings a car full of
them.  Whether he detox’s here or six months from now, if we can gain strength
from him, I say it’s worth the risk.”  Emily’s mind was set. 

“You know my position.”  Solange
said firmly, “but I accept the decision of the group.  I will state my case in
simple terms.  I do not see us gaining strength from Sal.  I see us becoming
weaker because of him.  I believe the odds are in favor of him hurting the
group down the road.  If he shows up, I will not throw him out in the cold.  I
vote for leaving him with his fate in his own hands and decided by his own
actions.”

“Okay.”  Todd said after Solange
finished.  “Let’s decide on the first thing.  Does anyone believe we should go
get Sal if he doesn’t show up tomorrow?” 

Bernie raised her hand.  She looked
around the group.  “My life is about rescuing people, about redemption.  I
cannot stop because the world died.”

“Are you okay with us not getting
Sal?  You can leave with us?”  Todd asked her.

“I may be in the judgment business,
but I am not judging any of you today.  This is the right decision for the
group.  I know that.  Sometimes, even though you understand it is the best
thing to do, you cannot vote the way you should.  I cannot vote to leave Sal
behind.  I hope you do not judge me as a coward, unwilling to make the hard
decision.  I am certainly not judging you.  You are kind and generous people. 
These are hard times, unusual times, don’t be ashamed of what we are doing.” 
She waited for a second.  “I do, however, plead with you to leave the man a
note.”

 “Well.”  Todd continued.  “That is
our second decision.  We are pulling out of here tomorrow.  If Sal is not here
at 11, he’s going to be left behind, that is decided.”  Todd looked around the
group for any expressions of dissent.  There were none. 

Kelly nodded.  She gave a weak
smile towards Bernie.  Kelly often thought back on that day, the day she voted
to leave Sal behind.  She wondered if her personal hatred and opinion that Sal
was “creepy” influenced her vote.  Kelly was young, in her twenties, and not
used to making grand decisions like the one they made that day.  What she would
later come to realize, no one, except Solange, was comfortable with the
decisions they were making.