The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  Killer Babies.

  How far he had come with them.

  He didn’t know why he thought about that day, but he did. Maybe because of the way Robbie laughed.

  Dean was so nervous that day, trying to explain everything.

  “See, the accelerator agent I used was a DNA based accelerator which consisted of certain strands of DNA taken from . . . . a jackrabbit and Killer Babies. This accelerator is pretty powerful and so . . . so seems to be the jackrabbit and LEP DNA.” Dean nodded. “It was more powerful than I ever anticipated. The accelerator not only sped up the healing process, it sped up the mutation process. The carrots, the scent finding, the increase in speed, and the recent occasional . . .” Dean bobbed his head. “Hopping that Frank does are all attributed to the fact that the jackrabbit and Killer Baby DNA pretty much mutated and meshed with Frank’s.”

  Frank didn’t understand what Dean was saying, although he tried... “So what exactly are you trying to tell me?”

  Hal lifted his hand. “Dean, are you saying our brother is . . . I don’t know, turning into a LEP rabbit?”

  “A LEP jackrabbit.” Dean replied. “Did. Is. Sort of.”

  A rattle, crash, bang, and thump rang out loudly when in his hysterical laughter, Robbie fell out of his chair.

  “Dear God.” Joe closed his eyes. “What the hell else can happen in the screwed up goddamn whacked out world of Beginnings?”

  Robbie was barely interpretable as he laughed his remark. “He could grow a bushy tail.”

  After a flutter of his lips, Hal snickered. “Can you see it, Robbie? Suddenly around April, Frank will get this urge to carry a big purple basket and hide colorful eggs about Beginnings.”

  “He’s gonna have to grow his hair longer to cover up those floppy ears,” Robbie commented.

  “Or perhaps.” Hal crossed his arm over his waist while he rubbed his chin. “He may have to lose the goatee. Lord knows the whiskers will clash.”

  “With the pink nose.” Robbie looked at Dean. “Dean, you better watch Ellen. You know what they say about rabbits and . . .”

  “All right,” Joe cringed. “All right. Enough. Dean, if you’re serious, he’s not . . . Frank’s not gonna grow fur is he?”

  Dean shook his head. “No more than he already has.”

  Frank shrieked for an instant, pulled out his tee-shirt and peered in. He let out a whew of relief.

  The memory caused him to laugh. Then immediately, he grew sad again.

  “You know,” Dean’s voice cut through the dark. “I was sitting at the Social Hall, waiting on you. Getting that Christmas morning feeling. You know?”

  “No.”

  “The one where you know you’re gonna get a gift, but you don’t know what it is?” Dean asked. “I was thinking about my souvenir you said you got me. I was hoping you’d come back.”

  “Things … things happened.”

  Dean nodded. “I know. That’s why I’m here. We all kind of went in different directions to look for you.”

  “And you came here?”

  “Well, Hal went back to the house. Jimmy was convinced you went to the training area or … the quantum lab.”

  Frank looked over and raised an eyebrow. “You thought of here?”

  “I did. Then, I asked Danny to find your phone.”

  Frank tossed his cigarette and chuckled.

  “I knew you’d go to your happy place.”

  “It is,” Frank said. “If you listen you can hear them singing.”

  “That’s sick, Frank.”

  “Since going to the future, I have a different outlook on them.”

  “You always had a different outlook on them.”

  “True.” Frank lowered his head. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Did I kill my brother?”

  Dean closed his eyes tightly. “No. I say this as a doctor and I say this as your friend.”

  “But my dad …”

  “Is hurting,” Dean said. “He’s grieving, Frank. He lost his son. He is looking for someone to blame and unfortunately, right now, that someone is you. As hard as this is to hear, you need to suck it up and let your father get it out of his system. He’ll get over it, feel bad, and try to make up for it. Just know, it’s not true.”

  “Dean, I swear, I swear with everything I am, the second we got your note, we wanted to send Robbie back. We were talking about it when the shit happened and the LEP came, that’s when Robbie got hurt.”

  “Frank, that injury didn’t kill Robbie,” Dean said. “Now the autopsy will give a definite answer, but in my opinion, it was the catalyst. The moment he touched that flower he doomed himself. The pollen made it into his blood stream and DNA and was waiting. All he had to do was get a cold, a papercut, anything and it would have activated. When he grabbed that flower he became a ticking time bomb.”

  “But he died when he was laughing.”

  “He went into cardiac arrest,” Dean explained. “Again, the autopsy will tell it was the properties of the flower that effected his heart. Not you.”

  “I still feel guilty.”

  “I know you do. I do, too. But we tried, Frank, you and me, we tried everything. We couldn’t save him.”

  Slowly, Frank nodded. “My father hates me.”

  “He doesn’t hate you. He’s angry. I know you don’t want to hear this, but let it go. Don’t push, he’ll come to you. Continue what you’re doing. Planning the funeral, going with your brothers tomorrow to get a suit.”

  “You don’t think it’s silly?”

  “Not at all. In fact, I can see this funeral being the event to top all events. Robbie … Robbie was one of a kind. He was loved by everyone.” Dean paused. “Well, almost everyone.”

  “He and Henry had a love hate relationship.”

  “I blame that more on the fact that you, I and Henry remember the other Robbie. The one before we changed time.”

  Frank grabbed another cigarette and lit it. He pulled a flask from his pocket and took a drink. “I thought about it.”

  “About what?”

  “The time machine. Sneaking to Jason’s lab, figuring it out, going back …”

  “He was in the future when his fate was sealed,” Dean said.

  “Yeah, I know. But what if I went back, stopped him from going,” Frank paused. “I thought about it. I decided not to do that. His fate … was sealed long before he went to the future.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Great War,” Frank said. “According to Danny’s book, Robbie was the first casualty. The way is delayed, maybe even stopped, but Robbie’s death wasn’t. It was meant to be. Some things … some aren’t meant to be changed.”

  “I’m sorry, Frank.”

  “Me, too, Dean.” He passed Dean the flask. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Does Patrick have what Robbie had?”

  “Yeah. Whatever that flower was, it immediately embedded in the DNA and blood stream, and become viral. Patrick’s immune system was low so it hit him.”

  “How did Robbie infect him and not others?”

  Dean hesitated before answering. “I don’t know. And … to be honest, we don’t know if it affected anyone else. Your dad, Hal, Ellen, Andrea …. Me. I have to run tests. If it’s in the system dormant, I’ll see it.”

  “Making everyone a ticking time bomb. Is that why you need blood from me?”

  “Actually, the flower has a different effect on LEP. I’m curious as to what it does with you. Unfortunately. I have to find a way to beat this or we’re in trouble.”

  “No we’re not. It’s you, Dean. You’ll figure it out. You just didn’t have the time with Robbie.”

  “Thanks, Frank.”

  “No … thank you.” Frank faced him. “I have my brothers, my father, El … but honestly Dean, I’m glad I have you.”

  “I’m here for you. Whenever you need me.” Dean reached out to Frank, giving
him a firm and comforting squeeze to his arms. When he did, headlights and the sound of squealing brakes interrupted.

  “Frank.” Hal called out as he stepped from the jeep.

  “Frank are you okay?” asked Jimmy.

  Frank forced a closed mouth smile. “Yeah, I am now.”

  Dean squeezed his arm. “I’ll let you go have brother time.” He stepped back.

  “No.” Frank stopped him. “Stay, Dean. Please. I’d like you to hang with us. I … need you to.”

  “Then ... then I’ll stay.” Dean smiled.

  “So, like …” Jimmy exhaled. “What exactly is this place and why am I hearing what sounds like ‘Open Arms’ being sung out there?” he pointed.

  “My brother.” Hal swatted him on the back. “We have kept you out of the loop for too long. For that I apologize.”

  “You guys need to bring him into the fold,” Dean said. “You need that right now. Robbie would want that.”

  “He would,” Hal said. “He probably would call for an initiation. Have you had that?”

  “No.” Jimmy shook his head. “Initiation to what? I’m game.”

  “Oh, yeah. Excellent.” Frank grinned. “Welcome to the original Killer Baby region.”

  “I heard of Killer Babies, or toddlers as you called them once,” Jimmy said. “But what would be the initiation?”

  Frank looked at Hal, Dean, then Jimmy and he lifted the radio. “Security. Down perimeter thirty two.”

  Jimmy’s eyes widened. “Fuck.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  It wasn’t exactly a ‘seal of approval’ look that Jimmy had received from his father, more like a gleam of disapproval given over a steaming cup of coffee. He had stopped by to see his dad before him, Frank and Hal left to go find suits.

  He hoped to get Joe to go with them.

  “No,’ Joe said. “And what happened to your head.”

  Jimmy reached up and touched the abrasion just above his left eyebrow. “We were goofing around last night.”

  “Goofing around? You really think that’s appropriate with all that happened with Robbie?”

  “Personally, I think anything Robbie would have done in the same situation is appropriate. I think Robbie would have gone to the Killer Baby region.”

  “Frank had you goofing around in the Killer Baby region?”

  “He called it my initiation.”

  “Yeah, well, Frank’s an asshole. He’s already responsible for the death of one brother, is he not gonna be satisfied until he goes and kills the other two.”

  “Dad, come on, that’s not fair.”

  “Life isn’t fair.” He sipped his coffee. “And now Frank has you both running outside the perimeters.”

  “Actually, going for the suits was my idea.”

  “For a funeral that’s Frank’s idea.”

  “Oh my God, I’m out of here.” Jimmy stood and kissed his father on the forehead. “Try to rest today.”

  “Be careful out there.”

  “We will.” He kissed his father again and walked out. It was still early. He thought about going over to Ellen’s, getting Johnny, but the lights were out. He had asked his nephew the night before, but Johnny wanted to stay back.

  Jimmy would have preferred to drive to Bowman, but Frank and Hal had already taken the truck to get there early. He supposed Hal had work to do, so Jimmy caught the early bird Dan Tram. It wasn’t a bad ride.

  When he arrived, the truck was parked outside of Hal’s office and Hal was out front talking to George.

  “Don’t worry about it,” George said. “I got this. Ryder is taking over Frank’s beat with Johnny. Danny is handling Beginnings. I want to head there anyhow. We have all been so engrossed with Joe’s return, the attempts on Frank’s life, no one really has been focusing on the impending war.”

  “We have the scan system monitored twenty-four seven,” Hal replied.

  “Yeah, well, I’m going to humor myself and check on it again,” George said. “Plus, where you’re headed you’ll be out of cell range and I want someone on the radios.”

  Jimmy interjected into the conversation. “Danny mapped the route, he takes them all the time for supplies. Says they’re clear.”

  “Things can turn on a dime,” George said. “So just be careful.”

  “What exactly does that mean?” Frank’s voice entered.

  Jimmy looked over his shoulder, Frank approached. “What does what mean?”

  “Things can turn on a dime,” Frank said.

  “It means it can turn quickly,” Hal explained. “I would assume you would know what the phrase means.”

  “Oh, I do. I just don’t know what a dime has to do with anything.”

  “Oh, I see what you mean,” George said. “Dime is used as a reference because it’s the smallest US coin.”

  “Okay,” Frank nodded. “And?”

  “And … it’s thin.”

  “And?”

  “It wouldn’t take much to go from one edge of a dime to the other.”

  “And?”

  “And since it wouldn’t take much to go from one edge of a dime to another people use that as a saying to demonstrate how quickly things and life can go over the edge.”

  “And …”

  Hal swung out and swatted Frank in the gut. “And what is this? Third grade? Enough. Thank you George for clarifying”

  “No problem, I’m going to head to the mess hall now. Good luck out there.

  Hal smiled politely and when George walked away he hit Frank again. “What is wrong with you?”

  “What. I don’t get it. He didn’t explain.” Frank scratched his head.

  “Who cares?”

  “I care.”

  “Why?” Hal asked.

  “I don’t know. I just was curious.”

  “Your whole life that phrase was used and you picked now, right now to want to know the meaning.”

  Frank nodded. “I can’t help the way my mind works. Maybe I was just looking for something else to think about. So I asked George to explain.”

  “He couldn’t,” Jimmy said. “For as good of an explanation as that was, there is no rational explanation for the saying. It’s derived from the original saying which was ‘stops on a dime’ or rather nickel. Back in the 1800’s when they did carriage driving tests, if a person could stop on a nickel they were said to exhibit carriage driver excellence...”

  “I would think so. A nickel is small...”

  “Yep.” Jimmy gave a pat to Frank’s arm. “We ready to go?” He opened the truck door.

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded and got in.

  Hal walked behind him, whispering. “Carriage driver excellence. Please.”

  Jimmy answered in the same low voice. “It made him stop, didn’t it? You would have gone on and on with him,”

  “That’s because, and you’ll learn this, sometimes it becomes less important to get him to stop and more important to get him to see your point.”

  “What I have learned is sometimes, Frank will never see your point and it’s not worth the headache.”

  Hal grumbled and got in the truck.

  Jimmy smiled and got in the back. Besides weapons, there was coffee and those Josephine muffins back there on the seat. Jimmy looked forward to the day.

  It was going to be good. Because they, as brothers, were doing something under the saddest of circumstances, they were doing it together … as brothers.

  <><><><>

  Danny was sure that the surprised expression on Joe’s face matched his own when he opened the door to Joe’s office and saw him sitting there.

  “Don’t you knock?” Joe asked.

  “Normally, I would have.” Danny shut the door. “Had I known you’d be here.”

  “It’s my office.”

  “Yeah, Joe it is. What are you doing here?”

  “Working.”

  “Joe …”

  “Danny.” He held up his hand. “I need to keep my mind busy.”

 
; “I see, well, we’ll keep you busy today.”

  “We’ll?” Joe asked.

  “George is coming into town. He’s handling Bowman.”

  “Why not Ryder?”

  “He’s handling Frank’s stuff. We have a meeting.”

  Joe grumbled. “If George is filling in, why do you have a meeting?”

  “Joe…” Danny stayed calm. “A lot of things have been neglected since you …. Rose from the grave.”

  “I’m sorry, is that a dig toward me as a leader.”

  “That came out that way and it wasn’t my intention,” Danny said. “I meant, when you got back, there was a lot of focus put on the attempts on Frank’s life, going to the future, and we have been ignoring the simple fact that the Great War can still happen.”

  “I never said it wouldn’t. We meet about it. We talk about it. What else can we do? We’re training people.”

  “George said there’s something that’s been bothering him and he wants to check.”

  “Fine.”

  “There’s a chance it was diverted,” Danny said.

  “How? We did nothing except decide that Frank will make military decisions.”

  “Robbie.”

  Joe stared at him for a second.

  “Robbie stole that book I supposedly wrote in the future.”

  “The one Roy had that he was going to use to prove his point. Why the hell would they steal it?”

  “For a glimpse in the future, LEP World, that was it. But they did learn that Robbie was the first causality of that war. From what they could figure, in the future, Robbie died at the end of June. It’s the end of June, Joe.”

  “So stopping the war didn’t stop the death.” Joe rubbed his face. “It was his time.”

  Danny nodded. “But we, you know, can’t take a chance and assume that just because in the book the war had started, that somehow it isn’t delayed. George just wants to try something, he wasn’t specific and he’s only trying to help.”

  “I understand.” Joe exhaled. “I’m interested in what he wants to do. Like I said, I need something to occupy my time.”