James November (Lexicon)

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Partial transcript Quarantine Exit Processing interview with Darien Cooper, owner/mechanic with Masey auto repair in Barrville.

TAPE START

<Interviewer 1> OK, it’s recording so we can get started again. Just start where you left off.

<Darien Cooper> You mean with the barricades or the hospital?

<I1> No, start with when you met the man that you were talking about?

<DC> November, His name was James November, but we just called him James.

<I1> Go on.

<DC> Well, I was at the shop when my wife's boss had called and said that there was some kind of riot over in Ridleybank and the whole place was being locked down. He wondered if I knew anything about it. I told him it was news to me. He never put it together that I worked in Barrville, not Ridleybank. He asked if I was going to go home. I joked with him and told him that it was 4:30 in the afternoon and with Kim home ill, someone had to make some money. He told me to be careful because the reports sounded like the riots were pretty bad. I really didn’t even think about what he said until I saw the mob in front of me. You see Kim and I lived in Ashford Arms in Shore Hills and I had to stop by Coombes Auto to pick up a rebuilt transmission that was on order. It was way out of the way and with the football game at Floydes about 2 blocks away from the loading dock, I knew it was going to be murder getting down there and then home. Well anyway I almost there when this bloke started hammering on my window. His eyes weren’t really focused, his shirt was covered with blood and...

<I1> Actually we have this part, can you tell us more about James November?

<DC> Yeah, James. Well, my truck was totaled. The soldiers had shot it right through the block. When you have worked on engines all your life, you know when something is totalled. These soldiers looked to be about 19 or 20 years old tops...Real kids if you know what I mean. It was pretty clear that they were really scared and in over their heads. I knew their Lieutenant wasn’t going to make it...He wasn’t even bleeding anymore. Wrecking the one working truck on the streets sure wasn’t going to help him! Really, they were just looking for someone to shoot. James just stepped out of the cab and told them to stand down. Seriously, he just said "That’s enough" and they lowered their guns like God had told them to. When he spoke, it was in this commanding voice that was totally out of sync with his looks. That's it really, his voice and his eyes.

You see, here was this guy who looked like he had never left the office in his life. He had taken off this jacket, but other than that, he looked like he should have a cup of coffee in his hand, not the shotgun he was carrying. Jim had flagged us down right after those monsters started pouring out of Floyde Stadium. He walked up to the passenger door, climbed in and told the family to move to the back of my truck and to keep their kids away from the gate. If we hadn’t come across him, we would all have been killed hours before! He just took charge. He said he worked for some company called Defense Research Corp, but he sure didn't look like a researcher. All I know is that as soon as he joined us, he was just in charge. I guess you had to be there to understand, but something about the guy just said “Leader�? and thank god we listened to him! He told us what streets to turn on, what corners had Police Barricades up and what the story was with the rest of the city. If those boys hadn't shot our truck, I'm sure Jim would have gotten all of us out of the city in no time. Jim did laugh at one point. He told me that for some reason, a citywide quarantine had been declared at a school board meeting in Dunell Hills. He just thought that was funny.

After the truck was wrecked, these 2 MPD officers came running around the corner and told everyone to follow them to the Gerrish Police station about a block east. James looked at his cell phone for a couple of seconds and said going that way was suicide. At this point, with all the stuff that Jim just seemed to know about, we didn’t follow them. No one else could get a signal with their phone and as far as we could tell the whole MalTel network was down, but Jim didn’t seem to have a problem. He didn’t tell us how he was able to get through but said knew a little bit about the telephones and the information was keeping us alive, so no one asked any questions. As soon as the police left, Jim told everyone to stick together and follow him to the Reginaldus Plaza fire station. It was pretty lucky that we did because I don't think any of those police offers made it out of Gerrish.

We got to the doors and they were locked. Jim said a few words to the captain through a grate in the window, and the firefighters opened the doors and let us in. Jim and the Captain, I remember his name was Ritter.

<I1> Who?

<DC> The Captians name was Ritter.

<I1> Got it. Please go on.

<DC> Jim and the Captain spoke for a few moments and Jim turned to everyone and said "let’s get ready" and they started giving people jobs to do. Because I knew how to weld, a firefighter named “Big D�? and I started welding a couple of the steel doors shut. After that, we moved the fire engines against the bay doors. I heard the helicopter hovering overhead and we all looked at each other and wondered how they were going to fit all of us in the chopper. Jim said something into his phone and then sent the family and me up to the roof to get on the 'copter. I remember the looks on the 19 faces that we left behind. The 7 firefighters looked sort of resigned, and the 10 civilians look scared, but Jim and the Captain looked like they were getting ready to sit down and play chess! I told James I wanted to stay and help, and I swear he winked at me when he said they were just going to hang around and make some chips before the next helicopter came for them.

Of course, you know that they waited and fought for a month and no 'copter ever came for them...a month and no one came to get them out of there...17 of them against all those monsters. As the helicopter started to rise, I could see them pouring down the street towards the fire station. The fire from the Gerrish police station was lighting up the whole area and you could see them heading for the fire station in waves. I remember seeing those people running from them, trying to get to the fire house..but they didn't see the monsters that were ahead of them. I kept shouting and shouting, but I was in a helicopter flying over head and they never had a chance to hear me...

<I1> Mr. Cooper?

<DC> Just turn off that thing..I need a minute. Half of those people were just kids....

TAPE END

-- Nicks 14:21, 8 May 2006 (BST)

References: Authorities Struggle (Lexicon), Barrville, Defense Research Corp, DHPD, MalTel, MPD, Police Barricades, Ridleybank