A Dead Man's Tale

Chapter 4 (Jessica)

The rumors of desperate riots had reached its final point when the gunshots started early one morning after a strange message was circulated on the intercom just as the guard shifts changed. Typically, the system wasn't used to save energy from the generators for the kitchens and other facilities within the school. The shooting started in the east wing of the school building and quickly spread from there to a majority of the school. Jessica stayed in her dorm. She wanted no part to play in whatever battle was going on in the halls. She also hoped that Dennis, who was bunked on the opposite side of the school wasn't caught in the middle.

Other people in the room with Jessica were just as curious about the events playing out. The prevailing theory was that it was a riot with the uneasy feeling growing throughout the survivors the past three months. Now it seemed that the fears of violence had just been realized. The shooting had been going on for hours now and although this wing of the school seemed to have settled down the rest of the school was still being fought over by whatever factions were involved.

Hours had passed when the final shots were fired and an eerie silence was blanketing everyone. For a time no one made a move for the door, too afraid of what they would find in the hallways. Jessica sat back waiting for something to happen, someone would come around to spread news of the conflict. It was only after another tense hour in the silent classroom did a messenger come to their room. The messenger, a woman with short hair, dressed in hunter's camouflage and with a red sash across her tank top didn't come to deliver news but orders. Everyone was being assembled in the gymnasium for a special announcement.

The hallways had become a battlefield with splattered blood on the walls and pools on the floor. Holes and chips had been dug into the walls from flying rounds sent between the fighters. In the main hallway that ran the length of the school there were men and women assisting with wounded and carrying off bodies. Many of them were wearing the same red sash that the messenger was wearing.

Jessica noticed the red sashes, seeing that these fighters wore them to identify their own faction members. She had heard nothing of any factions developing, Jessica's assumption was that the populace would simply revolt in a spontaneous action but the appearance of the sash indicated a group action that had planned out the attack.

In the gym that doubled as an auditorium and used by the members of the colony as a community area, Jessica was searching for familiar faces in the crowd of people. Seeing Dennis and Craig unscathed brought her some relief. She had few friends in the colony after all.

Everyone was waiting for the announcement to come, no one knew what it was going to be exactly but something was about to happen. A podium was placed in the center of the court of the gym for the speaker. Once everyone was seated and only nervous whispers could be heard in isolated parts of the crowd the spectacle begin. Seven people were dragged into the gym from the locker rooms. Their faces covered by sacks. From Jessica's seat she could guess that the prisoners had been treated rather poorly since their incarceration. The seven prisoners were escorted to the area behind the podium and forced to their knees. Each prisoner had one guard standing behind them.

Jessica's jaw dropped when she saw Commander Lee walk into the room and take position at the podium. Her outfit was a grubby plain white pantsuit, where she got it no one could say, and bright red sashes made an 'X' across her body. The crowd was hushed as she readied herself before the podium, somehow a microphone had been hooked up into the sound system and the generators tapped into the gym's circuits. Lee's message was projected to all people in the colony. She wanted all to hear it.

Her voice was booming with the aid of the speakers that hadn't been used since the final assembly when the colony was just an average school.

"People of the Ridge Mount High School Survivor Colony! Today I wish to inform all of you of recent events." Her hand swept the seven people behind her and her face held contempt for the prisoners. "As you are all aware, a conflict broke out today that has kept you all shut into your rooms. I am here to inform all of you as to what has happened here today."