Rude Shock (America Falls Book 4) by Scott Medbury

Author:Scott Medbury [Medbury, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-05-10T18:30:00+00:00

19

Indigo persuaded me to have a nap upon our return to the house. It took me a long time to fall asleep, but I eventually did and woke two hours later, fuzzy headed and hungry. I had a late breakfast and called a council meeting to decide what we would do in light of the attack.

Our first decision was quick and easy. Both Brock and Joe had a passion for motorcycles and had kept the four bikes we had obtained over the years well maintained. We sent a team of three on the motorcycles, led by Joe, to monitor the road from Ashland. They were given enough supplies for two days. The bikes were our fastest and least obtrusive form of transport and, if the Marauders did decide to return, I wanted plenty of warning. They were under strict orders not to engage the enemy and to return at speed if they spotted them heading our way.

Next came the question of the four prisoners. It was decided unanimously the four would be tried for murder the following day. The only issue to debate was what punishment would be imposed when ... if we found them guilty.

The worst crimes we’d had to deal with prior to the invasion had been stealing and assault. We hadn’t been afraid to make hard decisions and had actually exiled several people from the Valley. That particular punishment seemed to be enough of a deterrent to most of our citizens. We had only debated execution in ‘what if’ terms.

As I expected, most of the girls were dead set against the idea, all except Brooke.

“We can’t just banish them,” argued Luke. “What kind of punishment is that? They’ll just go straight back to their people and try to kill more of us as soon as they get the chance.”

“Luke’s right. They’ve all got blood on their hands. Execution is the only thing that makes sense,” said Paul.

“I don’t have the answers,” said Indigo. “But how can you even think of doing that? Who is going to shoot them? Are you going to pull the trigger, Paul? Luke?”

Paul reddened.

“If I have to, yes,” said Luke, resolutely.

“Why are we having a trial at all?” asked Allie. “It seems we’ve already decided they’re guilty.”

“But they are!” said Danny. “Isaac, what do you think?”

I looked around the room, my gaze falling on them one by one, until finally coming to rest on Indigo.

“We can’t let them go,” I said. “And we can’t lock them up. Executing them is the only way.”

I saw tears in Indigo’s eyes. Brooke put her hand on hers, even though she was of the same opinion as me. I felt like the world’s biggest bastard, but we had to do what was right by all of us.

“We know they’re all guilty, but we’ll have a trial anyway. Our people need to see that we’re not just thoughtless killers. We have to talk about what they did and then we have to sentence them to death. Not guns though.

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