บท 49: Decision Making
Tanya hesitated then decided upon the most obvious option among those available that she could have chosen from.
She turned to Brick and said. "Lock him in one of the rooms with no contact from others for now. Brick, I want to talk to you alone for now. Buffy, please watch the door for me so that he does not leave."
The young master of the Barnes family tried to resist as Brick pulled him up towards one of the rooms. "Stop.. argh. My father will not let you get away with this. Ouch! Let go!"
Brick shoved him inside then closed the door. 'Thank you for being some perfect teaching material.'
A cold smile appeared on his face for a moment then he walked to the room where Tanya was using.
Tanya had a conflicted look on her face as she asked. "Did you provoke him on purpose or was this just a coincidence?"
Brick shrugged as he said. "That was hardly a provocation but he reacted to it in such a way which proves that it is unsafe to keep him around. If he behaved as everyone else then everything may have progressed smoothly but there could always be similar accidents happening."
Tanya nodded. "I understand that part but what are the options available now?"
Brick went on to explain further. "There is a lethal option available that will be something not within our capabilities but that would be the best way to prevent future problems for him.
I am sure that your father may come to that decision if I know him well enough but I am sure that he would not be so willing to dirty his own hands to remove a problem. I believe you are not that kind of person so how about we discuss the other options available."
Brick had been very correct in his assessment of Shane who had removed any troubling elements early but was unwilling to dirty his own hands.
He gave the option of death or exile but they were both death sentences unless those that had been exiled could be lucky enough to get to a safe place.
There was always a chance of them coming back so he had removed the tools they would use to survive so that they would have less of a chance to survive.
If they chose death then he would have had his men do the deed for him and his daughter had not yet considered those options on how to deal with those problems.
Tanya still needed to understand what options were available to her and Brick began to give her those options along with what could be possible.
Brick started to use his novel reader insights and said. "The most obvious options are to leave him, give him another chance, kill him, make him a prisoner or keep him unconscious so we can achieve what your father has asked of me. Killing him is something that both you and me are not ready to do or so I believe.
Leaving him behind could cause problems later if he survives and he could hinder our escape plan if he is really that resentful and petty."
From his perspective of a reader, there were many characters that were left behind that came back later with a powerful backer then used that backer to cause problems.
There was a family connected to him and they were believed to be powerful so he could always come back to cause problems later.
If he was given too much freedom as everyone was escaping then he could disrupt the plan of escape by sabotaging something that was set up or using something to draw the zombies attention to them.
If he was still close to others then he could manipulate them to do something for him or he could just as easily get his own hands dirty by attacking someone or pushing them into a group of zombies.
The villains or minor antagonists always seemed to find a way to cause problems and when everyone was not in the best frame of mind, they could not make the best decisions.
Everyone had been having reduced rations of food and water, they had been cut off from their loved ones, they did not know a lot of what was happening in the world and they each had their own issues to deal with so it made a very bad combination which resulted in bad decisions and actions being made based on their emotions.
The young master was one of them that was easily triggered by a couple of words which resulted in him trying to attack Brick with a knife that was coated in zombie blood so how could Brick possibly forgive him or trust him to be brought along when the danger was higher when they would be leaving.
Brick continued. "There are risks of sabotage or a repeat of what happened earlier so if you give him more freedom or forgiveness then he could either do it himself or he could use those around him.
If we leave him or take him with us like your father wants then his actions need to be restricted to avoid further harm to others. It is your decision to make… there may be times when forgiveness and understanding can be good but there are risks involved."
There were humans that could learn from their mistakes and would try to improve themselves but in the apocalypse, every repeat of past actions could lead to more deaths.
Once trust had been broken and people had turned a blade on another, it was far more difficult for the other side to trust them again or forgive them.
Brick was already being generous enough that he left the final decision to Tanya and the young master of the Barnes family could have been thrown to the zombies by Brick if he felt like getting his own form of revenge.
Tanya pondered to herself then came to a decision. "Then we must restrict his contact with others and must lock him in his room when we are escaping. We can leave him with enough food and drink to last him a long time."
Brick thought to himself. 'It would be a good option to choose from but it has some areas where it can not work out as we imagine it to play out.'
Depending on the motivation of the person that was confined, they could still find a way to escape and they could still cause problems later.
They were unwilling to put an end to him so the problem would not just go away.
If they chose to knock him out and bring him with them so that Shane could be satisfied, the young master would still cause problems on the way back even if he woke up mid way and his body would be difficult to move around.
He could just as easily tell Shane things that would affect Brick's position and how close he could get to Tanya in the future unless Tanya was willing to go against her father.
From the point of view of Brick, it was better to leave the young master of the Barnes family behind and risk disappointing the expectations of Shane so that future complications to be avoided.
It would be unknown if he would survive if he was left behind and if he did turn up again much later then there was enough time to prepare for that day.
Brick came to accept the decision made by Tanya and said. "We will leave in a little while but I need to make some preparations. It will be your task to prepare everyone for what is coming. It will not be pretty."
He wrote a list of requirements on how they would be moving and what would be needed to cover their scents. "Anything that covers the body will work. It may be a rain coat, a bed sheet, overalls or just ordinary clothes but you need to cover each of them in the zombies scent to mask your own.
No talking is allowed and slow movements are necessary so I will bring more up so you can study their movements to mimic them. You need to decide who can still be trusted and who is capable enough to come along with us."
Tanya nodded and sat there silently while she watched Brick leave the room.
He went down to a lower floor and started to put more efforts into clearing out a floor further down from what he had cleared before.
Brick did not mention anything but when he had defended himself against the young master of the Barnes family, he had a strange feeling within him that was a little similar to what he felt when he was immersed in fighting the zombies which had not shown up for some time.
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