ALIVE: The Aftermath Chronicles (Book 1)

Chapter 16 - JURY DUTY*

*THIS CHAPTER IS CURRENTLY BEING EDITED, PLEASE DO NOT READ FROM THIS POINT ON AS OF 10/5/2020. IT WILL BE EDITED IN A DAY OR TWO. THANK YOU.*

Russell briefly exchanged a silent nod with Kate as the last of the citizens took their seats. 

Everyone's accounted for, minus the arrested and the guards placed at their doors, or in the jail. Even the newest arrival, the taxidermist, had made his way here. Nick Miles: one of their newest members that showed promise, but now aligned himself in the saving of Hannah and guarding of Hannah. A new threat, one that resembled that of Doyle and the young man in Nick's company, Dalton—the boy with the silver tongue. 


Though he had his suspicions that they hid the Louviere girl with both of them here, Russell sent two after her anyway. Now, that they were here, Russell took every opportunity he could to snoop around that farmhouse with everyone distracted.


Having trouble holding back his own glare, Russell keeps the smile on his face that reads of anything other than his insidious agendas. The jury would be rigged for Hannah and the others, as it always was. Now, more than ever, he had to be careful. In the eyes of his people, he saw the distrust, the suspicion in his every movement and word, if their protests and overcrowded jails weren't enough to convince him.

Russell speaks when they've settled well enough, "Thank you all for your attendance and your concerns for our neighbors charged with offenses that have forever changed the face of our colony. For nearly three years now, all of us have dealt with the terrors, the evil that lurks outside our walls. However, it's in human nature that evil has reared it's ugly head again. I want to take this moment now, to thank all of you for your patience with me and your understanding for the decisions I've made as the leader of our little colony. I know I haven't been perfect, but I want you all to know I've tried my best, with the considerations for all of our safety, our future, always on the forefront of my mind. I continue to do so, and hope to do so in the future. This trial coming at noon tomorrow, is against not only a girl I consider to be like a daughter to me, but a friend to us all. Though she is undoubtedly guilty of shooting our Sheriff, it'll be up to a jury to decide if it was by cause of temporary madness, or if our poor Hannah is beyond saving," 

In the corner of Russell's eye opposing Kate's, Ana Maria sits. Injured, her shoulder bandaged, her fist clenching, shaking with the mentioning of Hannah. Informed and lectured fully to keep her cool, Russell continues on when his pause is the silent cue for her to control her image. 

"I'd also like to release now, the information in regard to my nephew, Ethan, having been killed by the dead in an attempt to help her escape persecution. My nephew paid the price for trying to help her escape this crime, but justice will find this girl. It won't be easy and I don't envy those of you who will be chosen. I ask you keep it fair, but most importantly, remember that the safety of our people, our children, our future must prioritize above all. Anarchy, is what exists outside these walls and our mission here is to protect the old way of life. Without laws, without justice, there is only anarchy, only chaos." 

Russell's aching eyes scanned the crowd of mixed faces. He finds softening under his words, a spell he had the ability to cast to blind others to his treacherous heart. They saw his point, which wasn't meant to be manipulative, but spoke his truth. Only, his own truth that fueled it perpetuated in his need for revenge, for control of this place he worked too damn hard to lose now.
He adds, "I will be excluding myself from this jury so to prove to you all that justice will prevail in this case concerning Hannah and so to save time and to get us back to work, we will be pushing forward the greater offenses into the same trial. Sergeant Doyle and the nurse, Sophie Grey, are awaiting trial as well. Their own offenses minor in comparison to Hannah's, but grievous nonetheless. Their crimes will be made public knowledge upon noon tomorrow. I will prove myself as overseer of this case to move it along, a lawyer of sorts for the prosecution. Though we are picking a jury, we will also pick for the defense. Before we pick the jury, I'd like to suggest a lawyer for the defense. One, who is new to us, but spoke publicly before a majority of you with a notable passion out against me and for the defense of Hannah in front of the hospital the other day..."
His eye lands with precision on Dalton and as he points his way, both Nick and his ally under the spotlight find trouble avoiding their own surprise.
"Dalton. Would you come to the stage please?" Russell calls to him and with one eventual hobble of a leg and a crutch, Dalton finds his way.
"All in favor?" Russell asks the crowd and through an overwhelming response of "Yay", Russell moves to the cardboard box that's seen better days. Handing it over to Kate, her painted red nails grip the sides as she pulls out a loose clump of paper in her hands.
Russell says, "This box is filled with the names of every adult member of this colony that is mentally fit by our doctor's standards to be on a jury. As you can see, there are quite a few names, so it's not just the officers under my command that will make the cut."
Unlikely, Nick thinks to himself in the crowd, as he watches the faces around him for the doctor he knew well. The odd woman with the thick glasses, that couldn't be seen in his immediate surroundings.
Eying the redhead picking the names on stage, Nick imagined this was the vampiric woman Hannah described earlier. When she fit the bill of her image, Nick's already suspicious as the first name is drawn. Obediently, she hands it over to Russell, which leaves little to be desired for the crowd in the reveal.
"Fisher!"
With his colony mentor and new friend called up, Nick searches reverently through the faces till he finds the apprehensive approach of the older male. The man was supposed to hide Hannah in one of the barns till they returned and him being back so quickly, gave Nick cause for concern.

Fisher's snakeskin cowboy hat pulled low, the older male looks anything but pleased to be up on that stage. His boots echo out on the high platform, the town hall rattles with the whispers of Fisher's place on this jury. The man who kept to himself, who scared children away from his gardens and didn't have a single friend but Nick among the people he'd lived alongside since before the arrival of Russell. Back when, the military still ran this colony, till they too, met Russell's merciless tactics. 

Nick, thinking they had this show in the bag, gulps down in knowing of Fisher's wanting to stay out of all this. Guilty, that he somehow got his friend here at the colony in trouble. And although Fisher was anything but weak, Nick knew the man would do anything to stay within the colony and on the good side of Russell. They'd already discussed Nick taking the full blame should he get caught.

If it weren't for the betrayal of Ana Maria, Nick would have stayed out of this drama too. Hell, he damn near opposed Isaac on every suggestion he made for them to come to this place. Yet, there was a girl pregnant, waiting on death's doorstep if they didn't get her somewhere safe for her to deliver and to find rest. 

The siren earlier, a mystery to everyone but him, as a note read a thousand times over folded in his trench coat pocket from CiCi. They were in their own, perilous situation. The clock, was ticking. 
***