We found him; we located Campion. He crash-landed on a one-stoplight town in East Texas.
LGLieutenant General William "Billy" Starkey
He made it halfway across the country. How'd he do that?
I don't know. But the important thing is, right now, we got a shot at containing this.
LSLTG Starkey
Is he dead or alive?
LSLTG Starkey
Denninger says this thing has a communicability rate of over 99%. You understand what that means? Any chance of containing this went by the window when Campion bought his first takeout burger.
We can't think that way, Billy.
LSLTG Starkey
Yeah, you're right. Of course you are. What about the rest of his family?
They're dead, sir. Contact with the townspeople was minimal.
LSLTG Starkey
That doesn't matter. We're gonna have to shut that town down, lock it up, dig a moat around it.
That operation's already on the launching pad, sir.
LSLTG Starkey
What kinda coverage you come up with?
LSLTG Starkey
[Laughs grimly] Yeah, it's a new one, all right! It's real new! It's very good at its job, too! Too good.
Well, it's bad, General, but it could be worse.
LSLTG Starkey
Ha! How's that? What's the name of this town?
We have a rather large problem in Wyoming, sir.
LSLTG Starkey
What large problem is that, Len?
News team got out of Pine Bluff with some potentially damaging video tapes, sir.
LSLTG Starkey
Flu victims, body dumps?
Little of both. And our ops, I'm told.
LSLTG Starkey
Well, we can't have that. Showing footage like that would not be in the national interest!
LSLTG Starkey
Well, do we know where these news people, these rabble rousers are now?
LSLTG Starkey
Get that video tape, Len. By any means necessary. Make it a priority.
LSLTG Starkey
"Things fall apart. The center does not hold." [A] man named Yeats said that. I didn't understand that poem in college, Len. But I… must be getting smarter in my old age, because I understand it now. And one other line from that poem: "What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" I think that beast might be on its way, Len.
[Later, with all Army operations and the United States overall falling apart, Major Carsleigh hears a gunshot while working outside Starkey's office. The General has shot himself, pinning a paper to his uniform that says "GUILTY".]
You were right, Billy... the center didn't hold. It didn't...
The Stand · 57 quotes
