CHAPTER 26: PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
It was around 7:00 PM now, and we had to get the Greasers and the Townies to talk their problems out. After the rumble that happened in the parking lot, the Non-Clique students got worried that the Greasers or the Townies might take over the entire school and kick them out to fend for themselves. And as for the Bullies, they're talking about leaving if things get even more out of control. With the Bullies threatening to leave, we really need to make the two groups make amends.
Johnny, Edgar and I were in the Auditorium getting the tables ready for the Greasers and the Townies that were going to come in soon. "I really hope this works", Edgar says outloud. "It's got to work", I told him. "We got people scared now and if the Bullies leave, then we'll be in real trouble. Especially since the Savages are probably still out there". "You know, how do we know that they are still out there?" Johnny then asks. "I mean it's been two weeks since we last seen them. And there's also the fact that you said that there was a large horde heading their way. How do we know that the horde didn't take good care of them?" "Well we can't let our guard down though. There's a possibly that they may still be alive. And I want to be ready in case that they plan to attack", I told him. After I set the last chair down, that was when all the Greasers came into the Auditorium, escorted by Clayton.
"Go head and sit down on one side of the table", Clayton orders them. "Whatever", Ricky retorts as he walked by Clayton. Clayton then grabbed Ricky by the sleeve of his jacket and asked him, "You got something to say to me? You want to say to my face?" Ricky hesitated before replying, "Nothing at all". "Then sit the fuck down", Clayton says before letting go of his sleeve. Ricky then stomped over to one of the chairs and sat down with a angry expression on his face. "Now where's the Townies?" I asked Clayton. "Russell should be bringing them in", he tells me. "Good", I said. "And hey, I need to talk to you about something when we get through with this", he adds. "Okay then, just remind me when this meeting is over", I told him. Just then, the Townies arrived with Russell escorting them. "Please sit down at the table and we'll get this meeting started right away", I told them as they got onto the stage.
As the Townies sat down at the table, I came up to the table and began saying what I had to say. "What happened back at the parking lot, it cannot happen again. I mean firstly, someone could have died then. I know for a fact that both Greasers and Townies are always carrying a blade on them. What if someone were to lose control of themselves and stab someone else? Secondly, you're scaring everyone else here. The Non-Cliques are scared shitless and the Bullies are discussing about leaving. And above all that, what if the Savages were to attack any day from now. We're vulnerable now because of this stupid brawl".
"Why are you so worried about the Savages when we have a bigger threat within our walls?" Vance spats out. "Watch yourself, little boy", Gurney replies to him, "or you'll be sorry". "Is that a threat?" Vance argues, rising out of his chair and pounding his fists into the table. "Calm down, right now", I ordered them, but they continued arguing. "You bitches are going to pay for what you've done to Hal", Peanut then says to the Townies. "Try it, pretty boy", Leon tells him. Just when it seemed like that the argument was about to get out of hand again, Clayton grabbed his baseball bat and slammed it onto the table. "WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP? WE'RE HERE TO DISCUSS PEACE NEGOTIATIONS, NOT START A DAMN WAR", he says to the two opposing groups. "Thanks, Clayton", I told him. "And he's right", I told the two groups. "We need to work some kind of agreement out. We need to work it out and know what exactly happened. So, who would like to start us out?"
"I saw them push Hal into the horde with my very eyes", Peanut says. "Bullshit, we didn't do anything except try to help him", Omar says to Peanut. "Yeah, sure. Try to lie your way out of this", Peanut says back. After a while of more arguing, Clayton slammed the baseball bat down on the table and said, "Okay then, since that didn't go so well, we're going to work out an agreement". Before he could continue though, Peanut got up from his seat and says, "I'm done here". "Sit down, Peanut", Johnny says to him. Now long after that, the rest of the Greasers got up and left the Auditorium. "Well, that did not end well", Clayton says. He then turned to the Townies and told them, "You guys might as well leave too. There's no point for you guys to sit here now". They got up and left the Auditoruim with the exception of Omar. "You do believe us, do you?" he asks us. "Omar, we'll talk about it later", Edgar says to him. Omar left the room, leaving only Clayton, Russell, Johnny, Edgar and me.
"So what do we do now?" Russell asks. "I don't think there's anything we can do", Johnny tells him. "Well, that was a waste of time", Edgar says before kicking over a chair. He storms off the stage and out of the room followed by Johnny. "I'm going to keep talking to them", Johnny tells me as he leaves the room. "Russell needs to get back to crew", Russell says before leaving the room as well. Now it was only me and Clayton that was left in the room.
"Well, it's just you and me now", I told Clayton. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" I then ask him. "Well, it's about how you cope with all that's happening. How do you do it, man? How do you cope with all this?" he asks me. "Why does it matter?" I asked him. "Well, maybe you did something that you regret doing while you were out there", Clayton points out. "I'm guessing you're still bothered about the whole Ted Thompson thing?" I asked him. "Yeah, I'm still bothered about it. That hunt hours ago finally got me to clear my head, but I'm still kinda fuzzy about it", he says. "You wanna know how I cope with all this?" I asked him. "Yeah, I want to know how you do it", he says.
I took a deep breath and then I explained to him my answer as best as I could. "You know what, I don't know how I cope with it. I just do. I know I have to just to survive. I know I have to do it to protect others. I just know what I'm doing is what you could say. But there is one thing that I have done that I will regret for the rest of my life. You remember those Nerds back at the comic book store that I told you about?" "Yeah, I remember them", Clayton answers. "Well, I killed them. Or at least had a hand in their deaths", I told him. "You...killed an entire group?" he asks me. "They were cutting up Wade Martin's dad and I came across their science project. They said that they were checking him out and seeing how the infection turns people, but I just couldn't...grasp it. They came after me, wanting to cut me up after finding out about what they've done". I paused for a moment, not sure if I could retell the events that happened weeks ago.
"If you rather not explain what happened, then it's fine", Clayton tells me. "No, it's not fine", I told him before continuing. "We were outside, I was cornered and there was a small horde of zombies by the barricade. I shot up part of the barricade and before I could do anything else, they were all over the Nerds. I couldn't watch what was happening, so I just left. I felt really bad about it afterwards. How did I cope with it though? I kept it out of my mind. I don't think about it and I surely don't dream about it. I had to do it for my safety and I'm glad that I did it. I really do regret it and I hate to kill the creatures that formerly use to be people that I knew, but I have to do it. Will my life ever be the same again after all this? I doubt it. But I will continue to do so to make sure that everyone here survives and that everything we worked for doesn't fall apart".
"Well, that kinda makes sense", Clayton says. "That's really all I could say about what you're going through", I told him. "Thanks", he tells me before we shook hands. "Not a problem. I just wish that we could have made an agreement between the Greasers and the Townies. Am I the only one who wants this to completely work?" I told him. "Not necessarily. I want it to work. Zoe wants it to work. Pete, Russell, Johnny and Edgar too. Trust me, I think everybody else wants it to work too", he answers. "I wish I had another plan to get the two cliques to stop fighting", I said. "Well, maybe we have one more plan in store. Or I do I mean", Clayton says.
"You have a plan?" I asked him. "It's not much. We need to assemble everyone in here. I think it's time that I give them a wake-up call", Clayton explains. "And you think it might work?" I asked him. "If we make it mandatory", he says. "When?" I asked him. "We'll do it sometime tomorrow. Around noon", he says. "Well, let's hope it works", I told him.