Lazar wasn't surprised when the woman took the file from his hands without hesitation.
Usually, he wouldn't gamble when a factor as random as another human being was involved in the equation, but in this case, he was so confident that she would take the opportunity to take control over this situation, that he agreed to take the risk.
'No way a person like her would agree to leave her survival in the hands of someone who just told her that she could do things better than him.' He thought with contentment as he watched her read the file.
"I'll let you handle it then." He declared in a neutral tone before turning around and walking towards Francis and Amandla to see how the latter was doing.
"Hm." She answered him without even taking her eyes off the file, making him understand with the disinterested voice she had used that she had barely paid any attention to what he had told her since she was totally focused on what she was reading.
When he turned around, Lazar was relieved...
Not only because he could see that Amandla seemed to have regained some strength, but also because she wasn't wasting it strangling Francis, which wouldn't be impossible as he could often be quite irritating based on the personal experience of Lazar.
"How are you?" He asked her calmly when he found himself just a few meters in front of her.
"My body's still a little numb, but other than that I'm operational." She answered dynamically to reassure him while making reels with her arms to get rid of the numbness she had alluded to.
"Hey." Francis called out Lazar in a trembling voice, "Why did they do that?" He asked with a frightened expression, obviously referring to the lynching that had just taken place.
'From where he was he wasn't able to hear.' Deduced Lazar from the apparent ignorance of Francis on the things which were reproached against the people who had just been beaten to death.
"Him and the other two?" He answered nonchalantly, pointing with his thumb at the direction behind him towards which Trevor's bloodied body was lying abandoned on the ground to rot next to the Draugur and his accomplices.
"Those 3 morons apparently claimed that they had killed all the monsters, and since I was actually the one who did it... I didn't need to say much for everyone to understand that they had told them a bunch of nonsense." Lazar explained without showing the slightest sign of compassion for the fate of the people he had mentioned.
The first feeling Francis experienced when he learned the truth was anger; Trevor, George and Caroline had fooled him with their lie like everyone else, and although they hardly ever spoke to each other, he felt personally betrayed since just yesterday they were still waiting death together in the gymnasium.
However, his compassion took over when he looked again at their corpses spread out on the grass like dog shit that had been stepped on by passersby...
He couldn't bring himself to believe that their deaths were acceptable, especially since he considered that they hadn't really done anything that had a direct negative impact, "Nothing can justify this." He said, looking with some judgement at the people he recognized as having participated in the lynching.
Amandla, who wasn't at all of the same opinion as Francis was going to allow herself to express hers as she suspected that Lazar wouldn't hold it against her because of the way he was staring at Francis with a very disapproving gaze.
"If my best friends had been killed and 3 assholes took credit for getting rid of the people who killed them to take advantage of it in one way or another, I would take it very... very... badly if I found out it was actually a lie." She said to Francis, looking at him reproachfully, "But I suppose the reason you can't put yourself in their shoes is that you haven't been through nearly as much as they have in the last few days."
"..." Francis opened his mouth to contradict Amandla, but no sound came out because at the moment he didn't have a strong enough argument to counterbalance what she had just said.
"Francis, if you're not going to use it, you'd better shut it. If you had the balls that went with your principles you would have tried to prevent people who were beating them up from going to the point of killing them without asking yourself why they were doing it, because as you said... nothing can justify this." Lazar said bluntly before turning back to the crowd to see how the woman to whom he had given the file was doing.
'You fucking heartless bastard.' Francis cursed inwardly with an upset face.
"Nolan Farrell?"
'She seems to be doing well...' Lazar thought as he heard her call out the names of the people in the file.
"Why did you give her the file?" Amandla asked him as she saw what the woman he had spoken to had in her hands.
"Who better to convince everyone to cooperate than the person who seemed to be the least willing to do so in the eyes of everyone at the beginning." He replied without going into details.
...
15 minutes later
...
Amandla was walking towards the barrier with the still unconscious Katelyn on her shoulder.
Lazar hadn't mind knocking her out again when he saw that she was waking up a few minutes ago.
She was followed by Francis and 19 other people and they were all going to wait for Lazar in the truck until he had finished talking away from the rest of the crowd to the woman to whom he had entrusted the evacuation.
"Of the 19, 12 of them are people whose names are in the file." The woman repported to Lazar.
"I will let the army sort it out, anyway I think it's better than what they are expecting." He replied without showing his satisfaction.
"By the way..." He whispered, as he discreetly took a half sheet of paper folded in four out of his jacket before giving it to her, "Read this later when you are away from prying eyes." He added before leaving in the direction of the barrier at his turn.
"Okay, thank you." She thanked him sincerely, totally unaware that what was written on the paper would make her want to slaughter him.