3 | We Who Survive the Apocalypse | ✅

Chapter 34 - Trial

A crowd is gathered in the makeshift courtroom. It is nothing more than a conference room of sorts, but it serves its purpose. Ellie sits behind a desk, gavel in hand, waiting for the throng to sit down. They're speaking amongst themselves. 

 She watches as slowly they begin to settle down and take their seats in the folding chairs. Near the back of the room, she catches a glimpse of the teenagers she's become quite familiar with, through unfortunate circumstances. They sit, all together -- the crazy one, Izzy, looking ready to kill. Not that that is anything new.

Her patience wears thin, and she pounds the gavel on the desk, calling for order. The room falls silent. She speaks, explaining why they're all here. Not that they don't know why. They all know why. It's quite the spectacle.

She commands the guard beside her to bring the subject of this trial into the room, and he exits, returning a moment later with Rogan. The young man is handcuffed, but stands straight and makes his face a blank canvas. But Ellie knows from the look in his eyes that he is wary. If it were up to her, this whole trial would never take place. He would be free to go. No, she didn't agree with murder, but she didn't agree with what Matt and Hattie were doing, either. The people in this room...they don't know what she knows. They don't know the whole story.

In her eyes, what Matt and Hattie did was worse than Rogan's actions. It was torture. Rogan had been swift and effective in taking out his threats. He hadn't targeted helpless people. Or inflicted prolonged suffering. At least, not anymore than they deserved.

But perhaps she was too rough around the edges to make this decision. Hence, the trial. Though she knew herself to be right.

Rogan is placed in a chair near her. She stands, facing him. He meets her eyes evenly. She begins asking him questions, first ones that she already knows the answers to, and then she moves deeper, asking him to describe the day in question.

He shifts in his seat, clearing his throat before launching into his story. He explains that they had been keeping an eye on Matt since Seth went missing.

"My dog showed up shot, and Mara wasn't with him so I knew right then something was wrong. I went to look for her, wound up at Matt's place. That girl...Natalia, was there."

Izzy growls at the mention of Natalia.

"She wouldn't let me in, so I broke the door down. She kept at me, but I found the secret 'dungeon' in the basement. She came at me with a knife, so I knocked her out. She seemed stupid so I didn't kill her, figured she didn't realize the gravity of what was going down. Took her knife, in case she woke up. Opened the first door — there were three — the room was empty. So I went to the next one..."

He pauses here, his eyes flickering downward, toward his tightly folded hands. Clearing his throat, he lifts his eyes again, silver gaze traveling across the room.

"Matt was in there, and that woman. And...and Mara was there, too. I thought she was dead, so I snapped. They had her hooked up to all these tubes, machines...they'd beaten, her, too. And I thought she was dead. So I got ahold of Matt, tried to get something out of him...he spouted a bunch of nonsense about science and shit, said all the torture they'd done was necessary to the good of the world, so I killed him."

The occupants of the shift uncomfortably at this, and murmur amongst themselves.

With a deep breath, Rogan continues. "I threatened the woman with him, said I'd set him on her when he turned if she didn't get those tubes out of Mara. She just stood there. That's when I saw Mara was breathing, that she wasn't dead. But whatever they had those tubes doing...they were draining the life out of her by the second, so I shot the woman in the foot and she finally got those tubes of Mara. 

"I was taking Mara, going to leave, and the woman pulled a gun on me. Had to take her out, too. Got Mara back to the house, I was gonna leave town since I did so much...she wouldn't let me. So we all left together, because they —" he motioned to Izzy and the others "— were there, too, even though they didn't do anything."

Ellie asks a few more questions before telling the guard to take Rogan back, but before they can leave the room, the door opens, and Mara enters, with Hudson and Pirate at her heels. 

"Mara?" Rogan says, scarcely above a whisper.

She heads straight toward Ellie, who nods to her, past all of the people staring. Hudson follows her, his expression one of concern, looking as if he is ready to catch her if she wavers, Pirate trotting along after him.

"Ellie," Mara addresses her, voice quiet but uncharacteristically firm, "I believe some information has been withheld."

"And what is that?" Ellie asks, motioning for Mara to please, continue. Enlighten these people.

Mara turns to those gathered, the people calling for Rogan's death, and she begins. She explains how Rogan took her in after the apocalypse began. How he protected her. How they came to love each other.

"When Matt and Hattie took me," she says, hands tugging nervously on her shirt, "they had malicious intent. What you don't know is that..." her voice falters, and she takes a deep breath. Hudson grasps her shaking hand. Rogan looks at her with a heart wrenching longing in his eyes, and Ellie knows it's taking all of his strength not to rush to Mara's side.

"I was pregnant."

The silence that follows this statement is deafening. No one seems to know how to react. Ellie, however, is unfazed. She planned all of this with Mara. They both knew this was the only way for Rogan to be freed.

"They said they wanted to know what would happen if...if my baby died inside of me. Would he turn? Would I turn? They said it was for the good of science or something. But how could that be? Why would anyone need to know something like that?" Mara's blue eyes swim with tears that take so much strength to withhold. "Now that you have all of the story, now you may cast your judgement."

And, with a glance over her shoulder at Rogan, who seems near a breakdown, she allows Hudson to lead her from the room. The door closes behind them. Ellie motions for the guard to take Rogan from the room. They disappear.

Slowly, whispers weave their way through the room. They grow louder and louder until it's a constant roar of voices. And then, somewhere out of the chaos, a single voice rises above the rest, and says, "free him."

  Others join in. The few who disagree fall silent. And there it is. The end. 

And Rogan is free.

+++

Sorry for the long, long, longggggggg wait 😑

Anyway I know this chapter is written a bit differently than the others, but it was the only way I managed to finally get my idea out in a way that sort of worked.

I hope you enjoyed it.

The end (of this book) is near 😱