Andy was disappointed that the others had given in so easily. Disappointed, but not surprised. Everyone has a threshold. It all comes back to context and alternative. Clearly they had much more in their lives to protect and so the cost of their dissonance was that much higher. In contrast, whatever Andy cared about now was in that shelter.
“You need to move down the steps.” Andy recognized the prick talking to him. It was that soldier, Owens, from the perimeter.
Andy was too angry to speak in any way that wasn’t primal… in any manner that would make sense. He just shook his head.
“Now don’t make this a YouTube moment, kid,” Owens said. “Just move along like all the other idiots.”
Andy felt his reserve breaking. “Screw you.”
“What’d you say, freak?” Owens’s tone was all challenge as he grabbed Andy’s arm.
That was the line. “DON’T-TOUCH-ME!” Andy brought his fist up in a powerful uppercut under Owens’s chin.
Kendall caught Andy’s fist a millisecond before it connected.
“Get off me,” Andy protested. He struggled against Kendall, but the cop was too powerful. “You can’t let them take the dogs.”
“Stop it, Andy,” Kendall commanded. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”
“I don’t care,” Andy shot back.
“But I do,” Kendall answered.
The mayor reached them. “And so do I,” she said.
“They’re going to kill my dogs.” Andy tried to push Kendall away.
“Listen to me,” Kendall whispered in his ear. “Those dogs have only one shot out of here alive and you’re looking at her. Let her do this.”
“I’m not going to abandon them,” Andy snapped.
“No one said you had to, son,” the mayor said. “You can still make your voice heard and I hope you will. Just do it from over there where you’ll be safe. Don’t give them a reason.”
“But I—”
Kendall cut him off. “All martyrs are dead, Andy. These dogs need you alive. There’s no one else.”
Something in Kendall’s voice reached Andy. He studied the Guards surrounding them and knew Kendall was telling the truth. Andy moved down the stairs and away from the shelter entrance with the rest of the crowd.
Owens followed. “Hey, kid!” Andy spun to face him, bristling.
“Get back here now, Owens!” McGreary yelled.
Owens appeared torn between compliance and violence.
“Aww, listen, his master’s voice,” Andy taunted.
“Another time, OK? I’ll be waiting,” Owens said, and turned away.
Andy lost interest in Owens and focused on the mayor. She stood alone behind the barricades in front of the shelter door with the governor’s order in her hands. She eyed the crowd that filled the street and raised her hands for silence.
“What does the paper say?” Andy called out. The question was echoed by others standing near him.
“It says,” the mayor began in a surprisingly loud voice, “that by order of the governor, we must turn over the dogs in this city shelter.”
Instantly shouts, expletives, and general dissent ran through the crowd as cameras flashed.
The mayor waited for the crowd to quiet. “Yes, it reeks of politics, and yes, the governor will have to answer to you come November. But for now we must comply with his directive.”
“My dogs are in there!” a woman yelled in a panicked voice.
“Ours too,” a man shouted. “We brought him here to be safe! We were told he’d be safe!”
There were more shouts.
“I know how you feel,” the mayor said, looking directly at the line of video cameras. “Decisions being made for you with little or no explanation and without so much as an ounce of compassion about how we live in this city.” The mayor’s voice cracked with emotion. “But the reality is that this is now the best way to resolve this situation without loss of life and I ask for your continued patience and cooperation. We will get to the bottom of this very soon. Until that time, I ask you to trust me. I promise I will not betray that trust.”
The mayor turned from the crowd and knocked on the shelter door. She waited but got no answer. “This is the mayor of the City of New York. Please open the door,” she shouted.
Again no answer.
“If you open this door, I promise that no harm will come to you.”
Andy and the rest of the crowd waited in silent anticipation.