The Horse Soldier: Beginnings Series Book 10

by Jacqueline Druga

  Henry sniffed. “Smells like Dean’s lab. Aw! I knew it. He is . . . flies?”

  “Exactly.” Robbie said. “Lots of them. Look.” He pointed to his left. “Could they be causing it?”

  “Holy shit.” Henry exclaimed when he saw what appeared to be a black cloud hovering just above the tips of the grass. “It could if they’re flying in a swarm. I haven’t seen that many flies since . . . shit.”

  Robbie looked at Henry. “The plague.” Immediately Robbie took off running toward the flies.

  “Robbie!” Henry called out. “Wait, you shouldn’t do this.” Grunting and figuring he didn’t want to be too far from Robbie, Henry took off after him.

  Robbie swatted the flies that pelted him in the face. He shut his eyes tightly and opened them again.

  “What . . .” Henry stopped, covered his mouth, turned his head, and gagged.

  “Something has been feeding up here . . . big time.” Robbie looked down to the grass. A large deer, eaten nearly to the bone, was only one reason for the flies. The other reasons scattered about the grassy field. They appeared to be remains of rabbits, but so little of the furry creatures were left, it was hard to tell. “Well Henry, if these are bunnies, there goes you killer rabbit theory.”

  “Unless their cannibals.”

  “Rabbits are not carnivorous.”

  “Yeah, but Dean’s rabbits may be.”

  Robbie swayed his head. “Is he really messing with their genes that bad?”

  “I’m telling you he is,” Henry warned. “Let’s head back.

  “Yeah, that might not be a bad idea seeing how we haven’t a clue what’s been dining up here.” Robbie turned from the carcasses and walked with Henry. “We’ll tell my Dad something is running around up here.”

  “It’s kind of scary,” Henry said. “Can whatever it is, get into Beginnings?”

  Robbie paused. “We’re gonna have to bring that up, but that is a scary thought.” Both Robbie and Henry stopped walking when they heard the ruffling of the high grass. Robbie turned his head slowly to look back. His eyes widened when he saw the grass moving and moving fast. It swayed in all different directions.

  “Robbie?”

  “Henry?”

  A pig like squeal echoed out. It sounded as if more than one. High and loud. The ruffling grew louder and closer, sounding like a mini stampede..

  “Robbie?”

  “Shit.”

  “Run?”

  “Run!” Robbie took off and Henry followed. The Jeep wasn’t far away and they raced through the grass, hearing the cries, hearing themselves being followed, and never looking back to see what it was until they made it safely to the Jeep.

  Robbie turned over the ignition and screeched the Jeep forward. Henry faced backwards, “I saw something.”

  “What was it?” Robbie drove.

  “Animals. Some sort of bald animals.”

  “Pigs?” Robbie asked.

  “It looked it,” Henry answered.

  “Shit what if Dean gave that stuff to the pigs.”

  “Oh my God. Pigs are carnivorous.”

  “And now fast too,” Robbie commented and shifted gears. “Henry, I think if we didn’t before, you and I are getting Neville points for this.”

  “Yeah.” Henry relaxed, leaned in the passenger’s seat, and grabbed his chest. He caught his breath. “And we should get a lot of points too. We almost could have been dinner for the killer pigs.”

  Robbie stopped the jeep. “Henry? Listen to us . . . killer pigs?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Binghamton, Alabama

  Frank could hear the eruption of laughter echoing in the darkness of the sector of base where only he used to live. The laughter drew closer as he rounded the bend to his home that evening. He saw them sitting in a group as he walked down the sidewalk. There were eight of them, all men. Frank gave a ‘hello’ glance only as he walked by the group gathered on the lawn.

  “Colonel Slagel.” Leonard Mason, a peace ambassador, stood from his lawn chair. “Would you care to join us in a drink this evening?”

  Frank stopped walking and turned back to the men. “Thank you very much for the invitation, but revelry is at zero five hundred and I’d like to get to bed. Some other time perhaps.”

  “Perhaps,” Leonard said. “I look forward to seeing how things run here tomorrow.”

  “I uh . . . look forward to showing you. Goodnight.” Frank nodded once and moved on. He wanted to look back, He felt their stares as he walked away. He knew they watched him because they had stopped talking. The eight new arrivals had spent so much of their time getting situated that what was happening on base was secondary. But Frank knew it wouldn’t be that way for long. For as much as they probably wanted to learn about him, that was how much Frank wanted to find out about them, especially the abundance of lab equipment he saw them move into the one building and the six scientist team that unloaded it. Something was up with that. They were moving too much in too fast for something big not to be happening soon.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  Joe gasped in that after-swig of his moonshine and set down the glass, shifting his eyes to Dean. “You got to be shitting me. You believe this shit about killer pigs.”

  “Yes.” Dean nodded. “Only they aren’t anything new. Maybe it’s a pack of wild boars. They’re carnivorous. They’re predators and they move fast.”

  Joe lofted his hand and looked to Robbie. “There you have it. You guys were semi -right. Now, what’s the chances of them coming in?”

  “Down the cliff?” Dean fluttered his lips in sarcasm. “Slim to none. The fall will kill them.”

  “Good.” Joe grabbed the bottle and poured another glass. “Can you get me some tranquilizers, Dean?”

  “For the gun?” Dean asked. “Sure. I can have it ready in the morning. Are you going after them? They make a good meal.”

  “What is it with you and the meat product around here?” Joe questioned. “No. I just want to arm security when they start making rounds up there. I don’t want to kill them. Christ, if we have meat running around up there, we might as well capture it if we see it, right.”

  Robbie made a loud buzzing sound. “Wrong. My men won’t go up there.”

  “Sure they will,” Joe said. “To be on the safe side, I want morning, noon, and night rounds up there. They can take a Jeep, look at the field, turn around, and come back. They can also shoot a boar if they see one.”

  “They’ll never do it,” Robbie disagreed.

  “They’ll do it,” Joe said with certainty. “I talked to the Neville committee. You’re gonna end up with volunteers. It’s a ten Neville point bonus for each round made up there.”

  “Fuck. I’ll do it myself,” Robbie said.

  “See what I mean?” Joe held out his hand. “Volunteers.” He turned his wrist over and checked out his watch. “Where in the hell is Henry?”

  Robbie answered, “Getting ready. Tell Dean about Rev. Bob. I uh . . . I see Jess and I want to talk to him.”

  Joe snickered. “You go on.”

  Dean watched Robbie stop at the end of the bar to get his drink. “What’s going on with Rev. Bob? What did Maura find out.”

  “A lot.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah, but she isn’t talking. She said the Book of Matthew preaches trust and she can’t break Rev. Bob’s trust.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Nope.” Joe sipped his drink. “She did tell me that Rev. Bob changed his name. He even showed her a legal document.”

  “Did he tell her why?” Dean asked.

  “Oh sure he did” Joe answered.

  “But she’s not talking,” Dean stated.

  “Nope. And . . .” Joe watched Robbie move to Jess. “I’m uh gonna go get entertained and eavesdrop. I’ll be right back.”

  Dean was confused by Joe’s remark and especially by Joe grabbing his drink, getting up, and walking across the social hall.
He quietly and unnoticed sat at the table behind Robbie and Jess. Before Dean could figure out what was up with Joe, through the corner of his eye, Henry walk into the social hall. At first Dean thought the immediate feeling of tension that came in with Henry was his imagination, but he soon realized it wasn’t when he smiled and waved to Henry and Henry just glared, set down the knapsack he carried, and took a seat at a table.

  “Hey Jess.” Robbie set down his drink, straddled a chair, and joined Jess, who sat alone.

  “Hey, what’s . . .” Jess leaned to his side and peered behind Robbie. “Why is your father sitting alone. Joe!” Jess called him. “Did you wanna join us?”

  Joe lifted his hand slightly. “No, no. I’m fine. You boys talk.”

  Robbie inched the chair closer to the table. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  “About?” Jess asked.

  “I spoke to Trish this afternoon. She explained the whole entire thing to me.”

  “Oh.” Jess stared down at his drink. “You’re mad.”

  “Yeah I’m mad,” Robbie said. “We live together. You should have come to me with this. I assumed that’s the way things would be. I asked you to share my house with me right?”

  “Yes, but . . .” Jess’ hand played with the rim of his glass.

  “No buts. I’m all for it.” Robbie told him, turned around when he heard his father snicker then refaced Jess.

  “Really?” Jess asked. “Well that is . . . that’s great. We’ll even ease our way into it.”

  “No need. We’re half way there already. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “Good.” Robbie picked up his drink and stared into it. “I shouldn’t drink this. Take this from me.” He handed it to Jess.

  “Why.”

  “I have to fly.”

  “Emergency?” Jess asked.

  “You could say that.” Robbie looked back at Henry. Dean was pulling a chair out at Henry’s table.

  “I wanna talk to you.” Dean sat down across from Henry.

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “You seem mad.” Dean asked. “Are you? Are you mad at me?”

  Henry contained himself. “Dean, come on. What do you think? You would be mad too.”

  “I guess you’re right. But I want you to know something Henry. I will never forget what you did for me when I needed Ellen. I won’t.”

  “But you did.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “I can say that because you have an outlook on a situation that just isn’t right. This afternoon you were wrong.. You were very wrong.”

  “Why am I wrong for not wanting to share my wife?” Dean asked.

  “Because it’s wrong in this day in age. I did it. I didn’t want to. We all do it. It is all a fact of life.” Henry tried to explain.

  “I’m sorry Henry. I don’t want it to be my fact of life.”

  “Yeah but it was not a problem when she was with me. Sharing her was not a problem when she was with Frank. No. I’m sorry Dean. I was patient. Things are settled now. I need her back in my life.

  “I’m not saying you can’t be her friend.”

  “But you are saying if it moves towards more than that, then it would be wrong?” Henry stated nearly in question.

  “It . . .it would be cheating.” Dean spoke soft. “And also an impossible dream for you. Think … think back. Ellen ended the friendship with you over something. Something so big that she couldn’t get passed it. Do you think for a second she’d get by it now. Has that much time passed? I don’t think so. Let it go before you get hurt in more ways than one.”

  Henry closed his eyes painfully, and stood up.

  Robbie poked his head in between the two men “Henry, ready?”

  “Yes.” Henry answered.

  “Good. It’s getting late. Let me grab Jess, I’m getting him to go.”

  “I’ll meet you at the hanger.” Henry reached down for his knapsack and looked once more at Dean and headed to the door.

  “Henry.” Dean stopped him. “Where are you going?”

  “Danny ran into difficulties. He needs me.” Henry raised his eyebrows. “I’m going to Bowman.”

  “Tonight?” Dean quizzed him with edge. “It’s dark out. Danny can’t wait until morning for you?”

  “Oh yeah he can.”

  “So why are you going to . . .” Dean nodded. “Ellen.”

  “Yep.” Henry tossed his bag over his shoulder, looked once more at Dean and walked from the social hall.

  “Henry!” Dean ran out after him. “Stop.”

  Henry stopped but didn’t turn around.

  Dean moved to him. “This isn’t right.” He walked around Henry to face him. “This is wrong. You can not be going after my wife.”

  “See!” Henry’s voice raised and though he brought the volume down, the tone remained.. “This is where the problem lies Dean. Right here. Your thinking. I am not going after your wife! I just . . . I just want to be with my friend. And prove to you, we have moved beyond our problem.”

  After a moment of silence between them, Henry moved on.

  ^^^^

  “571-8776.” Danny yelled down to Hal, who stood with a clipboard at the foot of the telephone pole.

  “Got it.” Hal wrote it down. “Continue.”

  Danny waited until he heard no noise. He placed the pen light back in his mouth, looked down at the phone book he held, and dialed the phone.

  Ring. Ring,

  Danny grinned as he listened to the phone ring in the dead silent town but no one answered. He scratched it out and put an ‘N A’ next to it. He dialed another number. Static. He marked that one out of service and then he dialed again. He listened to the ringing and then finally the call was answered. Danny dropped the pen light into his hand. “What’s your name? Good. Robert, your number is 571-9087. Got that. Good. Hal!” Danny called down. “Robert’s number is 571-9087.”

  Sgt. Ryder walked up to Hal. “It’s coming along nicely.”

  “Yes it is.” Hal showed Sgt. Ryder the clipboard. “The ones that are working are working fine so far. We just have to be quiet so we can . . .” Hal raised his head to the sky when he heard the helicopter approaching.

  “You were saying?” Sgt. Ryder asked.

  Hal shook his head with a smile. “Wait it out. That’s what I was saying. Isn’t this great, Elliott? Help is arriving for something so trivial as a phone.”

  “But to Beginnings, it’s not trivial,” Sgt. Ryder told him. “And we are now part of them. They only want us to have what they do.”

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” Hal asked.

  “And not just to have the help or the phones,” Sgt. Ryder said. “It feels good to be a part of Beginnings.”

  ^^^^

  Binghamton, Alabama

  Frank closed the file folder and it barely shut. It was stuffed with notes that he took, files that he found, and information he gathered. He rubbed his eyes and stood up from his kitchen table, bringing the folder with him. He stopped in the dining area and stared at the ‘farm’ picture on the wall. How he hated that picture. Setting the folder down, he removed the picture and placed it to the floor. When he did, a square foot piece of wood teetered in the wall. Frank removed that, exposing a hole and in the hole that he and Richie made, he hid his folder and rehung the picture.

  How long had he been working in his kitchen? An hour? Two? He made his way into the living room and reached for the lamp. When he did, he saw it on his coffee table. Frank had been so engrossed with his other work, he never saw it when he walked in.

  A square homemade envelope lay there, Richie’s handwriting on front. ‘Frank, found this in my stuff.’

  Frank missed spending the day with Richie but he knew it was for the best that they didn’t hang around much, or at least when anyone knew. He picked up the note and when he did, a picture fell from it. It landed face down on the coffee table.

  The second Frank lifted it and turned it over was the second his h
eart dropped. “Oh wow.” It was a face he longed to see. It was a picture of Ellen. “Look how blonde.” His long finger ran down her hair. The picture was old, but it was still Ellen. The face, to Frank, never changed or never aged. The smile upon Ellen’s face stared up at him and he smiled back. A warm feeling swept up Frank, lighting his whole face with a grin and causing his emotions to gloss over his eyes.

  His lips twitched some in his overwhelming of ‘missing and loving’ her at the moment and a lump formed in his throat. It was difficult, but Frank swallowed, held on to that picture, and never took his eyes off of it as he went upstairs to bed.

  Once in his bedroom, Frank laid on his bed, his legs extended, the picture held tightly in his fingers and not too far from his view. He loved the picture and was so grateful to Richie for giving it to him. He needed that picture. Filled with feelings and emotions for Ellen, so over powering, held on to that picture until he fell asleep.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  His hands brought up the blanket over a sleeping Alexandra’s shoulder. Dean bent down, kissing his daughter for what seemed like the hundredth time. He walked from her bedroom and looked at his watch in the hallway’s light. Shaking his head, he moved to the living room. Why hadn’t Ellen called yet? She was supposed to have called nearly an hour before.

  He sat down on the couch and picked up his phone. He checked to see if it was working. It was. Again, Dean looked at his watch. He thought about the fact that Danny had some problems. Maybe the phone lines went back down. So with that thought in his mind, he checked the radio. It was working as well. Surely Ellen would have radioed if she couldn’t call. The night before she had him on the radio forever, missing him, telling him how much she loved him, not wanting to hang up. She had radioed him so many times during the day that it hindered on driving Dean insane. But where was her call now?

  “No.” Dean spoke out loud, placed the radio down, and shook his head. He picked up one of the many work folders that spread on the couch and coffee table. He told himself that he was making too much out of it. Ellen had a long day. She was tired. She fell asleep. Her not calling didn’t mean that anything was wrong.