* * *
Outside the fence line, hundreds of National Guardsmen stood ready, waiting for the helicopters to do their work so that the next phase of the cleanup could start. Sergeant Polk sat among them, listening to the words that boomed from the speakers mounted outside the school. He smoked a cigarette, chain-lighting it from the last. Discarded butts lay in a puddle by his feet.
One of the men in his squad chortled. “Do you hear this bullcrap?”
Polk turned to him.
“What’s wrong, Sarge?”
Polk nodded toward the school. “I didn’t sign up for this shit. ”
“Geez, man, what’d that bitch cop do to you? You going all girlie on us?”
Polk drew in the smoke, held it in his lungs, and exhaled slowly. Then he abruptly got out of the vehicle and began walking toward the gate.
“Hey!” yelled the other soldier. “Polkie … what the shit are you doing?”
“Taking a goddamn stand. ”
“What for?”
Polk whirled. “There are people alive in there. Haven’t you fucking been listening?”
He turned and kept walking.
A lieutenant started to run after him. “Sergeant Polk, get your ass back to the line right goddamn now. ”
Polk turned again. “This is wrong! We’re supposed to be here to help. ”
“We can’t help these people,” growled the lieutenant.
“We didn’t even fucking try!”
He reached the row of parked Humvees and climbed into one.
“Sergeant, I am ordering you to stand down. ”
Polk started the engine and put the Humvee in gear.
The lieutenant drew his sidearm and pointed it at Polk. “Sergeant, stand down and step out of the vehicle or I will shoot. ”
Polk took his foot off the brake and let the Humvee roll forward. The lieutenant ran to stand between him and the gate, and a lot of the Guardsmen swarmed with him. All around them was the roar of the choppers, the thunder of the machine-gun fire, and the amplified sound of Billy Trout’s voice. Polk pressed lightly on the gas and the Humvee began moving toward the gate.
Other soldiers raised their weapons and pointed them at the vehicle, but the soldiers were cutting looks back and forth between Polk and the lieutenant.
By now the complete file of how this plague started, including a complete confession by Dr. Herman Volker, will have been sent to every major news service in the country. There are no more secrets to defend. You kill us now, it will be act of revenge … and everyone will know it …
* * *
Polk revved the engine, then leaned out of the window. “Either unlock the gate and stand back or watch your ass because I’ll roll right over it. ”
“Sergeant, you are buying yourself a world of hurt with this nonsense. Stand down before I put you down. ”
Polk revved again.
And a single soldier stepped away from the massed soldiers and began walking toward the Humvee. The lieutenant yelled at him, too, but the soldier held up one fist, forefinger extended. Then he turned and walked backward, his rifle in hand but the barrel pointed to the ground.
“He’s right, loot,” the man yelled. “This is bullshit. This is wrong. ”