To Be A Killer

Chapter 32: Sin In My Heart

"This is-this is..." Sam stammers. "It's-it's total bullshit! No way did Jody kill twenty-three people."

"It does seem very unlikely, Mr. Travis," Kefilwe agrees. "Jody is one of our township's most reliable runners."

He doesn't even blink as he continues to drag Jody towards Abel's direction. "It's the truth."

"It can't be! I didn't do it!" Jody exclaims as she struggles against her restraints.

"Of course, you didn't," Owen says. "You wouldn't kill twenty-three people; You wouldn't kill a fly. I mean, literally. I've seen it, mate. When there's a bug in the room, she spends hours tryin' to trap it under a glass so she doesn't have to squash it."

"She didn't do it directly. De Luca and I have seen transmissions that show someone in Abel sold intelligence to the Exmoor Militia-those guys in the yellow jackets. Someone in Abel told them where a Ministry convoy would be.

"Militia intercepted the convoy, took the goods, took the vehicles, left the people. Whole bunch of refugees who'd been with the convoy-a group including children, the elderly, three disabled people, one blind-the Militia left them defenseless in the path of a huge zombie horde. They died bloody; They died terrified; They died alone." Travis's eyes burn with hatred. "They died because your friend here sold them out for candles and lunch meat."

I stare at him, confused and sad. These people were sold out, but not by Jody. That's not her way. She's not that kind of person. She's not a murderer.

I'm a murderer. Sarah was a murderer. Simon is a murderer. I'm sure Summer is one too. Those are runners that are killers. Jody is not one of those runners. Not even close.

"That's awful, but it has nothing to do with Jody," I say.

"Evidence says it is."

Jody cranes her neck to look back at him. "What evidence? What happened to innocent 'til proven guilty? What happened to the right to a fair trial?"

"The apocalypse happened." His voice is cold, hollow almost.

"You can't just execute her!" Sam exclaims, and Owen and I nod in agreement. "You just... You can't."

"Martial law says you're wrong."

Owen's jaw clenches. "Well, stuff you, and stuff your Martial law!"

He charges for Travis, tackling him, which causes him to let go of Jody. The Australian man punches the American in the face, hard. Travis's head hits the ground just as hard, and he goes still. I stare at Owen in shock.

"Where the hell did that come from?" I ask, eyebrows raised. I've never seen Owen ever do anything like that... ever.

"Oh my goodness!" Kefilwe asks. "Have you killed him?"

"No, I just knocked him out." He reaches down and grabs the keys to the handcuffs from Travis and tosses them to me. "Here. Get those handcuffs off her."

I do as told, and Jody rubs her wrists once she's freed. I grimace at the cold metal cuffs, then I shove them in my backpack.

"Okay, right," Sam sighs, and I can tell he's trying not to sound too panicky. "Okay. You need to come back to Abel-"

"There's quite enough of that, Samuel," A new voice chimes in, and I sneer as I recognize who the owner of said voice is.

Amelia.

"What are you-"

"I'm stopping you from aiding and abetting a condemned criminal," She interrupts.