Sleepers (Book 6)

by Jacqueline Druga

  “That’s what Michael looks like after he changed,” Ed said.

  “That’s impossible,” Javier argued. “The human body isn’t made that way. And you say, in the alternate ‘Alex is dead’ timeframe, I recognized the DNA as being from the future?”

  I answered that question. “You and Levi both. Don’t ask me how. Heck, we can’t even figure out how Michael is from the future.”

  Michael answered. “If it helps I was a doorstep baby. My father ran the church and I was left there.”

  Alex questioned. “So someone came and dropped you off from the future?”

  “Possible,” Levi said. “The Sleepers are quite advanced and psychic. Man supposedly evolved from chimp. Look at the Sleepers today as the chimp. Occasionally there is a kink in the genetic chain. Some Palers are born with feelings and don’t kill. That’s rare, and there are occasions when the babies are born like humans. A Paler impregnates a human or vice versa. That baby looks human yet has the Sleeper virus. In that instance, the baby is dropped off at a human camp if a Paler or Sleeper gave birth to it. Perhaps someone used the machine to take Michael to a place where he could live a normal life. Someone must have loved him enough to give him a chance.”

  Beck stood from the table and drew a single line on a white board. Then he made notations on what he was told. He pointed to the space between Ed’s time and Randy’s. “So, we can explain evolution from Randy on? We need to cut off what happens right now, up to the supposed pied piper project. That’s where the control was lost.”

  “I disagree,” Alex stated. “The control is lost the moment we give up and stop fighting to destroy them. AKA the Reckoning.”

  “You think it’s funny when you say that,” Beck said.

  “I do. And Sonny here is now gonna use that in the Doctrines.”

  “Don’t,” Beck told him.

  “It’s a good name,” Sonny said.

  “If I may,” Ed interjected. “In my time, the emergence of the Sandman was the turning point. He led them, taught them all telepathically. He controlled them.”

  Alex lifted his hand and pointed. “For clarification, the Sandman is Michael.”

  “I resent that,” Michael said defensively. “I don’t have it in me to do something like that.”

  “Maybe you’re subconsciously calling them,” Alex suggested.

  Michael leaned back as if in thought.

  “What?” Alex asked.

  “I noticed when I do pray hard that they won’t come … they do.”

  “There you have it, Padre. Maybe you need to stop praying.”

  “Alex,” Michael scolded.

  “If this is true,” I said, “and you are inadvertently calling them, I am working on something. Electronic waves block the transmission, we know this.”

  “We’re gonna test this, Michael,” Beck added. “We need to go get supplies, so we’re gonna have you try to call them. Should be, you know, fun.”

  “Especially since the padre can stand in the middle and not be seen,” Alex said. “Too bad we can’t bottle that.”

  Ed snapped his finger. “Oh my God, we do. I mean, we created a temporary pheromone spray that soldiers use. It works most of the time until it wears off.”

  “Perhaps you can be like Sonny,” Levi said. “Make a note in a letter to bury it somewhere and then poof it will appear.”

  Speaking almost in a whispering thought, Javier said. “What if we do one better? I invented a virus. Alex wanted to me to make one to cure or kill the Sleepers. What if I make an inoculation of sorts that works like a chicken pox vaccine? Infuse enough in the DNA to not only protect from the virus but make us invisible to the enemy? An invisible army can do a lot of damage.”

  “That was our theory,” Ed commented. “Unfortunately, what we had lasted an hour. I didn’t need it.”

  Javier looked at Michael. “If it is true, and you really are pure Sleeper, not made but born, then your blood could be not only the cure but the cloaking inoculation. If, of course, you are willing to help.”

  “Absolutely,” Michael replied. “I’ll do what I can.”

  The meeting went from a testosterone tension to productive. It was pretty exciting as it all came together. We were piecing together a plan. If all went well, if all went as we hoped, then the horrific events slated for March first will never happen.

  W would try to stop them. We had the information, so we were given a chance.

  THIRTEEN – ALEX SANS

  Thank God someone took my suggestion of starting our own version of a bar seriously. Randy started working on it and we convened there for a drink.

  Alcohol, unlike gasoline was something we had plenty of. Rad Stilton made some of the best moonshine around. Back in Grace we drank it like water.

  Apparently though, Levi and Javier didn’t drink it much. A couple drinks later they were slobbering fools and mushy too.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No I’m sorry.”

  ‘You’re my best friend.”

  It was kind of hysterical watching them drunkenly mend fences after the fight.

  Me, I was pretty good. Beck didn’t drink. He wanted first night watch on tower and Sonny and I were in charge of our block. I let Sonny enjoy the evening since he’d stopped vomiting. Although I didn’t get why he kept telling people to keep their distance because he had the flu.

  I wanted to work on my ‘call for survivors’ announcement. Sonny promised he’d have the radio system up and running soon.

  When I arrived back at the block that night it was quiet. I knew Danny would be sleeping; he was going on shift about midnight. I heard Mera with the kids. Doing that ‘bribe them into going to sleep’ thing she did. There was a plate of food on the table covered with a cloth and surrounding it were things made of Legos. I had forgotten about that bin of Legos Mera brought until I saw the building and my foot caught one and I slid, nearly falling over.

  “Damn it.”

  “You okay?” Mera called from the sleeping room.

  “Yeah. There’s Legos all over the floor. What did it do? Snow Legos? How we gonna get these? I have busted ribs and you have a belly.”

  “We’ll get them. That was Keller.”

  “Oh, sure, blame it on the blind kid.” I sat down at the table with my pen and paper.

  “Alex,” Mera called from the cell door, “quit bitching. We’ll clean them up. Eat.”

  I saw she pointed to the plate of food. “For me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow, thanks. You never save me food.”

  “That’s because you usually eat with us. I’ll be done in a minute, I want to talk to you about how that meeting went.”

  “Sounds good. I want to stay wake to get Danny up for shift. Plus, I’m working on my survivor call. I started writing it.”

  “We’re really calling out?”

  “We need more people to fight the Sleepers.”

  “Alex, do you think we should move Sonny to a far cell? Just in case he’s still contiguous. I don’t want the kids sick.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Sonny has the flu.”

  “Sonny doesn’t have the flu.”

  “Then how come Danny is sick?”

  “Danny’s throwing up?” “Well, no. He says he feels like he may. He said he thinks he caught it from Sonny.”

  “Sonny doesn’t have the flu. He ate bad salami,” I said. “Go deal with the kids. And I swear to God, if we do have another epidemic of stomach flu, I am not gonna be the one cleaning up all the vomit again.”

  I pulled the plate forward, eating as I reviewed what I wrote. I wanted a simple message, one I would repeat. Repetition was important. If they missed a part of the call they could hear it all another time.

  Every once and a while I’d shake my head at the thought of Sonny saying he had the flu. The man ate a pound of bad salami and half of a two year old rock hard Twinkie. He honestly had to question why he couldn’t stop throwing up
? The kids were starting to quiet down. Mera had resorted to reading the politically incorrect story about the little man again. Which of course made me wonder if any little people survived. If so, were any of them Sleepers? I didn’t recall ever seeing a little Sleeper.

  The sound of a broom swishing against the floor caught my attention and I saw Mera sweeping the Legos.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting them out of the way. That’s the way I did it when the boys were little.”

  “You just swept them up with the dirt so the kids could play with dirty Legos?”

  “Don’t be silly, you sweep them up, wash them off, and start again.” She set down the broom and sat next to me at the table. “Was your food good?”

  “What was it?”

  “Stir fried pumpkin and chicken.”

  “It was okay.”

  “So, what is the plan from the meeting?”

  “Well, as you know, we are starting to call survivors again. I don’t know if it will work or not. I am guessing they didn’t hear us on this side of the country. Second, we are gonna test the Michael calling the Sleeper thing.”

  “How?”

  “By taking him out and having him try to deliberately call them.”

  “To put yourself in a Sleeper attack.”

  “Yeah, it’ll be fine. We’ll be ready for them. Javier is going to work on Michael’s blood and see if not only can he make the cure, but a inoculation that masks us from Sleepers.”

  “That’s awesome.”

  “And we’re going on gas runs again. Plus, since ammunition is a problem, everyone starts learning to use a sword like Ed.”

  “Oh, I want to learn.”

  “I figured you would,” I said. “We’re gonna make our swords. Ed knows how. We’ll get the supplies when we call the Sleepers. Sword making and learning will crack boredom in the winter. “

  “Sounds like a productive meeting. How was Michael?”

  “Sad. Confused.”

  “We have to make sure we do all we can to stop whatever it is from happening to him. I love Michael. He doesn’t deserve that fate.”

  “You’re right. I think… I think I am going to tattoo him.”

  Mera laughed. “What? Why?”

  “Ed said he chopped off his hand, right? Well, if we put a little cross tat on both hands, won’t be a need for DNA testing in the future, will there? Or question if it’s Michael.”

  “Do you think Sonny will be able to make the electronic thing for his head?”

  “If anyone can, Sonny can.”

  Mera reached out and touched the notepad. “Is this your survivor call?”

  “Yeah. I wanted something effective. I think this will work. It came to me really easily.”

  “Let me hear it.” She leaned back.

  I lifted the notebook. “My name is Alex Sans. We are survivors living in a colony in Ohio. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. If you are out there... if anyone is out there... we can provide food, shelter, security, and medical care. If there's anybody out there... anybody... please. You are not alone.”

  Mera just stared.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Oh my God, you stole that.”

  “From who?”

  “Robert Neville, the movie I Am Legend.”

  “Not the Charlton Heston one?”

  “No, that was Omega Man. I Am Legend. Will Smith. You stole that. That is exactly what he says.”

  “Shit.” I looked down. “You’re right. No wonder it came so easily.”

  “No wonder.” She laughed. “You didn’t say anything about the Lego creations.”

  “This one…” I picked up what looked like a plane, “is pretty good.”

  “Keller did it.”

  “No.” I set it down.

  “Yep. And I have no idea how he knows these things.” She stood. “I’ll let you get back to rewriting your survivor call.”

  “I can’t use this one?”

  “Alex, be original.”

  “Original?” I laughed. “It’s a radio call out.” When I saw her stare, I said, “Fine. I’ll rewrite it. Where are you going?”

  “Bed.”

  “It’s not even midnight.”

  “I know. I’m tired and …I think I’m coming down with the Sonny flu. I feel kind of funny.” She leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Good night.”

  “’Night.”

  She feels kind of funny. I shook my head. Feels kind of neurotic was more like it.

  Knowing people in the community the way I did, I hoped the highly contagious ‘Sonny flu’ stayed contained to our little block. I didn’t feel like dealing with a psychosomatic illness running rampant. It would, too. Hopefully people were smarter than that.

  We had a big week ahead of us, heading out on fuel runs, calling the Sleepers, seeking survivors, making swords.

  I was ready. I loved being busy.

  Taking advantage of the quiet block, I went back to work on the simple radio call.

  FOURTEEN – MERA STEVENS

  Alex looked like the kid no one asked to the dance. He sulked. Javier argued with him and told Beck that Alex should not go anywhere. His body was far from healed. Alex of course argued that Sonny was up and about after not only being bitten, but also suffering a heart attack.

  Still, it didn’t wash, and after some whining and foot stomping, Alex agreed to stay back, though he didn’t buy the pleas of “we need you to protect the community”. It had been three days since we returned, a bad case of the psychosomatic flu hit the community and while no one produced actual vomit, everyone swore they felt like they would.

  Both Javier and Levi gave up trying to convince everyone there wasn’t a flu epidemic and put those claiming illness on house quarantine. How I got blamed for it, I didn’t know. I merely was telling people that Sonny told me he was contagious.

  After three days, things returned to normal. That gave Sonny time to work on the new radios and design the interference headband for Michael.

  Just after lunch, four of them, with Michael, packed up and left. Beck, Ed, Danny, and Sonny. The day before, unknown to anyone until they returned, Sonny and Miles had scouted a home improvement store.

  “Best place to test,” Sonny said. “We didn’t see a Sleeper at all.”

  I took the kids back to school.

  The kids.

  How did I even for a moment, contemplate leaving them behind?

  Bonnie had found them, we labeled them the ‘bus’ kids at first, then the ‘future’ kids. Alex still didn’t know all their names but he knew them by number. One through six.

  They thought it was funny, I didn’t.

  For two years we’d been raising six of them; the others were taken in by people in Grace.

  The Stilton Family lived in Grace when we got there and they took one of the girls.

  Mrs. Stilton was teaching for the day and I was glad, because little Linc in all his eight year old glory hated school, but he liked her.

  Alex had the babies back on the block and I returned there. He was seated at the main table when I walked in, looking at a map.

  “Where are the babies?” I asked.

  He pointed under the table to where Phoenix and Keller were building Legos. That was the best thing I could have brought back. “What are you working on?”

  “Routes to Vermont. Just trying to figure out if a place exists, where it would be. Also, I am looking at areas that may be Sleeper free.”

  “Where survivors may be?”

  “We can hope.”

  “Do you really think people are left?”

  “We’re here, right?”

  “Are you all right?” I asked as I sat down.

  “Yes.” Alex lifted his eyes. “And don’t ask me if I am sick. I don’t have the flu. You ran around here asking everyone if they were sick, then proceeded to tell them they looked pale.”

  “I was concerned. Sonny was so sick and in my defense, explain w
hy Danny got sick.”

  “Your son ate the salami, too.”

  “No, he did not.”

  “Yeah, Mera, he did. Asshole Sonny was so convinced he had the flu that he asked Danny to eat a piece to help prove it. He did and it hit his stomach after we got back.”

  I gasped. “Oh my God, Danny left that little bit of information out. I’ll kill him.”

  “Blame Danny? Why not kill Sonny?”

  “Oh, that’s terrible. Everyone picks on him.”

  Eyebrow cocked, Alex glanced at me. “A little defensive are we? Wait. Preparing for when you marry him, I guess.”

  “That’s silly, Ed was joking. Why would I marry Sonny?”

  “He looks and acts like Daniel.”

  “True.”

  Alex glanced at me he then peeked under the table to look at the babies.

  “Alex, can I ask you something? Obviously, Beck and I aren’t together in the future. Why do you think that is?”

  “Maybe because you guys have seen each other like eight times in two years.”

  “Hmm...”

  “I’m joking.”

  “Oh, I know, but it makes sense. Although he is serving our country.”

  Alex set down his pen and faced me. “What country?”

  “True. But I know me. I committed, so I wouldn’t easily back out.”

  “Okay, I’m seeing that my working on a map is going nowhere.” He folded the map. “Maybe it isn’t you, maybe it’s Beck that backs away. Maybe he gets tired of you starting epidemic rumors. Or better yet, maybe he finds love with Patty.”

  “Oh, that’s so wrong.”

  “Or maybe…” Alex stood, “maybe Beck just saw that you’re only with him out of some rooftop obligation and because of that, he lets you go so you can be with the one you’re supposed to be with.”

  It certainly went from being an Alex sarcastic comment to something that felt real. “Alex?”

  “What?”