Saturday, April 2, 2011

Blow

We had an unfortunate thing happen here yesterday. A guy named Harry, one of the cooks who run our mess halls, did several lines of cocaine and beat the hell out of Will Price.

I don't know where he found the blow, but it isn't hard to imagine. We've rifled through more than half the houses in Franklin county, and almost every one of us has been on a trip to do it. I'd guess Harry found it somewhere and kept it for a rainy day. Yesterday was a hard one, as we lost a bunch of our crops just after we'd planted them. Maybe that was what made Harry want to get high, the thought of the constant hunger that goes with not having quite enough.

For the moment, I'm going to ignore the incredible stupidity of dulling your brain with a substance as powerful as coke. I'll also ignore the further idiocy of doing so when zombies could attack in force at any time. I'm not going to talk about how that would have made him a threat not only to himself, but to everyone else as well. It's been made clear what we do with threats.

No, I'm pissed about what he did to Will. Most people are, even a lot of the folks that wanted to see Will executed for handing the compound over to the Richmond soldiers. Will lives under a lot of punishment, which I've described before--the only food he eats has to be given to him by a citizen. The only way he sleeps indoors is if someone invites him, though for the sake of convenience he's been sleeping on the floor of Dodger's office while he works on defense projects. Will has to do any task he is asked to do, unless he's working on orders from the council, as he is right now.

Will was just walking by the house that Harry shares with several other cooks. Harry was out of his mind at that point, and his hate for Will overcame his already fuzzy judgment. He just attacked Will for no reason.

Will took every punch and kick. He curled up on the ground to protect himself, and though the beating only lasted long enough for people to reach them and stop Harry, Will took a lot of damage.

This is simply not acceptable. Will lives under constant punishment, and he is a criminal found guilty of treason, but we still have rules around here. His punishment is severe, but that doesn't give anyone the right to commit unprovoked violence against him. He's still a human being, and one whose life was spared because most of us still see value in it. In him.

Harry's in some serious shit, and I've got the feeling that the council is going to make an example of him. No one can be allowed to walk away from this thinking that this sort of chaotic behavior won't be severely punished. If we were to give Harry a slap on the wrist, people would start to think that it wasn't such a bad thing to do. Which could eventually lead to people thinking that it wasn't wrong at all. It's a slippery slope that leads to utter havok and to the land of do-as-you-please.

That's how marauders do things. Not us.

1 comment:

  1. Make him take Wills place (plus his own work) for as long as it takes for Will to heal.

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