Aftermath_Beginnings Series Book 29

by Jacqueline Druga

  He was in that building a long time and Hal grew antsy as he watched Frank from the roof of a bank building.

  “He’s okay,” Jimmy said. “No gun shots. Frank’s strong. He won’t go down that easy.”

  “How long do we give it? I mean, when do we say it’s been too long.”

  “Give it a little more time.”

  “You really feel he’s alright.”

  “Absolutely,” Jimmy said with certainty. “Look, right there.”

  Hal looked down, Frank was leaving the building. He was alone, he had his bag, and in his hand he carried something. “Is he … is he eating?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “They’re letting him go.”

  “I told you. What do you suppose he’s easting?”

  “Who cares?” Hal grumbled. Frank moved carefree, waving to everyone as he left, some big bowl in his hand and he’d pause every few steps to take a bite. “Let’s go.” He backed up, in a crouching manner. “We’ll find out what’s going on when we meet up.” Hal checked once more to make sure Frank was actually leaving town. He was. Then Hal led the way from the roof.

  Jimmy didn’t say anything, nodded his agreement and followed Hal.

  The meeting place wasn’t that far, maybe a mile, it was just by the edge of a mall area and Frank made it there first. Once his brothers arrived they’d head back to the clothing warehouse, get the truck, and return to Beginnings.

  They were already two hours past the time they were supposed to get there. He’d have to radio in and let them know they were fine.

  He spotted Hal and Jimmy making their way to him.

  “Frank,” jimmy called out and hurried to him. “Glad you’re okay.”

  “Thanks.” Frank showed him the bowl. “I saved you guys some. It’s really good. I haven’t had Chinese food in forever and this was fucking awesome.”

  Hal peered into the bowl. “It looks like hash.”

  “Yeah.” Frank bobbed his head.

  “If it’s hash, Frank, why did you call it Chinese food.”

  “Who made it?” Frank asked. “Huh? There. No answer. It’s Chinese food. Try.”

  “No.”

  “I will.” Jimmy took the bowl and they started to walk.

  “Did you learn anything?” Hal asked.

  “Absolutely. Their fucking idiots. We need to call a meeting, ASAP.”

  “What did you see?” Jimmy questioned.

  “It wasn’t so much what I saw, I did see stuff. It was what I heard when they thought I couldn’t understand them.”

  “And you aren’t going to tell us?” Hal asked.

  “I will. When we get back to the truck, so you know what I’m going to say when I talk to Dad. But I will say this right now.” Frank paused in walking. “After Robbie’s funeral. We take them … out.”

  Hal grinned.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Jason Godrichson felt that he and Joe were the best of friends, and as a friend he reached out to Joe, wanting to be there for him in his time of need. His efforts were refuted and simply Joe didn’t want anyone to help him, to be there for him or to bother him.

  He didn’t have any children of his own, so he couldn’t even imagine the pain Joe was feeling. Plus, Jason was in cryo sleep and missed the outbreak that took mankind to the brink of extinction. He never saw what the world went through, he wasn’t there to watch the pain. After his residency he spent his life in a lab, only dealing with patients every Saturday when he volunteered at the free clinic.

  It wasn’t until he came to Beginnings when his medical skills were truly put to the test. It was in Beginnings where he honed in on them.

  The scientist in him tried to stay neutral while the doctor in him just wanted to fix things.

  Fix things.

  Everything that could change things, erase the heartache as if it never happened was there at his fingertips. His brainchild, life’s work. It had been used for good before, to change things, bring someone back, and unfortunately sometimes, out of his control, the machine was used for bad. Overall though, the intent of the time machine was to provide information that would result in a betterment of a situation.

  Robbie had just died. Though he was sick, his death was sudden, unexpected.

  Even not stopping Robbie’s death, it could be used to just give his family another moment with him, another chance to say goodbye, to say how they felt.

  Having the time machine and not using it was like having a cure that couldn’t be used.

  As soon as he had that thought, his phone rang.

  It was Dean.

  “Hey, Jason,” Dean said. “You busy?”

  “Just watching the machine for arrivals. What’s up?”

  “I’m trying to get all the doctors together at the clinic to discuss this bacteria, maybe brainstorm what we can do.”

  “Dean? You’re asking for help?”

  “You can say that.”

  “Absolutely, I’ll be there. I’ll shut down and be on my way. I think it should be fine. How’s Patrick?”

  “Stable,” Dean said. “No change, which is better than him getting worse.”

  “True. I take it you have no more information on that flower?”

  “I’m stalled. Unfortunately, I really need Chaka in hopes that he knows something about it. He’s not come through yet?”

  “Nope, that’s pretty much why I’m here all the time. In case he comes through. We don’t need him wandering to Beginnings alone.”

  “No, we don’t. Would you rather we have a phone meeting?” Dean asked.

  “No, it’s fine. I’ll leave a note on the door for him to stay put. I highly doubt he’ll come through if he hasn’t yet.”

  “Hopefully, it won’t be too long. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Jason hung up the phone, then lifted a piece of paper. As he began to write the note, he stopped and laughed at himself. He was being very ‘Frank’. Yes, Chaka could understand language while wearing the translator, but he didn’t know how to read English.

  With those thoughts, Jason stopped writing the note. He wasn’t worried about it, in fact, he doubted at all that Chaka would be back. After all, he was in his own time.

  Grabbing his phone and keys, Jason left the lab and pulled the door closed behind him.

  No sooner had he stepped out of the door when the lab lit up bright with the hum and surge of the regressionator.

  Chaka stepped through.

  <><><><>

  Dean was setting up for his meeting when his phone rang. He was surprised to see the call was from Frank.

  “Frank.” Dean said as he answered the phone.

  “Hey, Dean.”

  “Where are you?” Dean asked. “You guys were gone a while.”

  “Yeah, well, remember those twenty-four hundred that were north of us?”

  “Yeah,”

  Hal’s voice then cut through. “Why are you telling him that?”

  “Am I on speaker phone?” Dean asked.

  “Yeah, you are,” Frank answered. “And I’m telling him because he asked what took so long. And we need him.”

  “What’s up?” Dean questioned.

  “They’re close, Dean, we found them. The reason we took so long was I let me self be captured.”

  “It couldn’t have been very hostile, you weren’t captured long.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “Was it worth it?”

  “Yeah, I got some good Intel and they gave me some really good Chinese food.”

  “Man, it’s been a while since I had Chinese food.”

  “It wasn’t Chinese,” Hal argued. “It was hash, you idiot.”

  “It was made by Chinese, so it’s Chinese!” Frank blasted. “Anyhow … we’re pulling in. We have a strategy meeting then I need to speak to you about some things. Specifically Dean-Ami 102.”

  “You got it.”

  “I saw you called,” Frank said.

  “Yeah … I uh… I have the autop
sy results, Frank. You of all people need to know them.”

  “Did he see autopsy results?” Hal asked.

  “What did they say, Dean?” Jimmy spoke up.

  “I’d rather tell you guys in person,” Dean said.

  “Can you come up to my office?” Frank asked.

  “Frank, you don’t have an office, it blew up,” Hal said.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right. Oh shit I put all my stuff in Dad’s office,” Frank said. “Habit. Okay. Anyhow. We’ll meet there, Dean... Then we can kill two birds. Tell us the results and I’ll tell you why and what I need.”

  “Sure thing,” Dean looked at his watch. “I’ll see you in a few.” He hung up the call, placed his phone in his pocket and grabbed the folder with the results. Hurriedly, he raced toward the door.

  Ellen was walking in. “Whoa, wait. I thought there was a big meeting of minds for this plant?”

  “Yeah, there is.” Dean kept walking. “I’ll be right back, you can start it.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, I will only be a few minutes, thanks.” He continued walking. It wasn’t until he was almost out of the clinic when he realized he was headed to a Slagel meeting, and knowing how they went, he was going to be a lot longer than a few minutes.

  <><><><>

  Hal gathered the suits and placed them over the file cabinet in Joe’s office. “We’ll take these to Ben, he said he’d launder everything after he sizes us. So make sure you go see him today.”

  Frank sat down behind Joe’s desk. “I think mine fits fine. I don’t need it fitted, but if he wants to wash it, I’m all for it.”

  Jimmy pulled up chairs for him, Hal and the others that would arrive. “I need mine hemmed. Although I probably could do it.”

  “Yeah, Sergeant Pletcher taught us all those things,” Hal said. “God bless that woman.”

  As Hal sat down, the door opened and Dean walked in. “hey,” Dean said on his entrance. “Sorry. I hurried as fast as I could. What’s up with the clothes, Frank?”

  “It’s my new look,” Frank said proudly. “My infiltration outfit.”

  “It’s cool. It works for you.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Hal said. “Don’t encourage. I’m glad you could get up here. We’re all anxious to hear what you have to say. Obviously it’s something we aren’t expecting.”

  Dean nodded. “You’re right. I was just as shocked as …”

  The door opened, Joe walked in. “Why is everyone here?”

  Hal cleared his throat. “We’re here to meet Dean first, we thought we’d do that before the meeting.”

  Frank stood from Joe’s chair.

  “What the hell are you wearing, Frank?” Joe asked.

  Frank didn’t answer. He stepped to his right.

  “Frank.”

  Frank moved again to this left.

  Joe turned his head. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Staying out of your sight.”

  “Are you being a smart ass?” Joe snapped.

  “No, I’m being serious. I don’t want you being mean to me again. You said to get out of your sight …”

  “Frank.”

  “I’m trying to do that,” Frank moved again.

  “Frank …”

  “But you keep looking at me no matter where I go.”

  “Frank!”

  “Dad! The office isn’t that big!”

  “Frank, goddamn it, knock it off. What the hell are you wearing?”

  “Clothes.”

  “No shit. Why are you meeting Dean?” Joe asked.

  “Wait.” Frank held up his hand. “To clarify, I can be in your sight.”

  Joe grumbled.

  Dean answered. “Yes, Frank, because he knows about the autopsy results.”

  “That’s why you’re here? You don’t trust me to tell them?” Joe asked.

  “Well, that didn’t cross my mind,” Dean said. “But now that you ask … probably not, Joe no. Sorry.”

  “You’re not really speaking much to us,” Jimmy said.

  “Yeah, well, forgive me for not being social,” Joe barked. “I lost my son.”

  “We lost our brother,” Jimmy said. “It’s not being social, it’s being family.”

  Again, Hal cleared his throat. “Dean, why don’t you tell us what it says?”

  Dean looked over to Joe who motioned his hand in a ‘go on’ manner.

  “The flower definitely has properties that are highly contagious and potentially fatal,” Dean explained. “However, while the flower contributed to Robbie’s passing, it wasn’t the culprit, his heart was.”

  “We knew he went into cardiac arrest,” Hal said.

  “It’s more than that.” Dean held up his hand. “The infection caused pericarditis, which was fatal because Robbie had a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.”

  “Speak English,” Hal said.

  “His heart was bad. Remember back in the day when you’d hear about healthy athletes just dropping over and dying on the field. This is the same thing. It’s a silent killer, unnoticed, undetected until the heart exerts itself one too many times or in Robbie’s case, became enlarged and enflamed. I believe it was either caused by the rheumatic fever or it was congenital.”

  “How did he get into the service?” Hal asked.

  “Under normal examination it wouldn’t be detected. They had no reason to look for it,” Dean said.

  “Does this mean Robbie would have passed anyhow?” Jimmy asked.

  Dean nodded. “Within the next couple months, yes.”

  “Wow.” Frank said the word with an exhale. “So basically, all of us brothers could have it.”

  “Huh?” Dean asked. “I mean, I guess, but chances are slim. Why would you say that?”

  “You said it,” Frank said.

  “I didn’t.”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  “Ah.” Jimmy nodded. “I know why he thinks that. Dean said it was the rheumatic fever or it was congenital.”

  “Yeah,” Frank nodded.

  “I didn’t mean it in the way that it was heredity or through genetics,” Dean said.

  “Because I said congenital. It could be congenital.”

  “Dean, make up your mind. It is or it isn’t.”

  “Frank,” Joe snapped. “He’s trying to explain to you that it’s congenital.”

  “I hear him. But then he keeps saying it’s not.”

  “When?” Dean asked. “When did I say it wasn’t congenital?”

  “When you said that me, Hal and Jimmy couldn’t have it.”

  “Yes.” Dean nodded.

  “So we can’t get it.”

  “You can …. “

  Everyone groaned.

  “But, chances are you won’t,” Dean said. “It’s not hereditary or in the genes.”

  “So it’s not congenital?” Frank asked.

  “Yeah, Frank, it is, but …”

  “Dean! Before you confuse everyone is … it … congenital?”

  “Yes.”

  “So,” Frank continued to speak slowly. “So there is a….chance … that me, Hal … Jimmy, Johnny and any of my kids could have it in our genes.”

  “No.”

  Frank grunted. “I give up.”

  Jimmy tried to explain. “I know where you’re confused, Frank. Dean used the word congenital. You’re confusing that with genetics. Completely different. Congenital means you are born with it or it was born of a situation such as Rheumatic fever. Genetics mean genetically you are predisposed to it.”

  Frank just started.

  “You lost him after the first five words,” Hal said.

  “But he has to think we all have it. This can’t be a surprise,” Frank said.

  “Why, Frank, why?” Joe asked aggravated. “Why can’t this be a surprise?”

  “Because why else would he keep checking my heart.”

  Joe looked at Dean. “You keep checking his heart?’

  Dean opened his
mouth to answer.

  “You’re checking my brother’s heart?” Hal said. “Then it could be something hereditary.”

  “No.”

  “Then why are you checking my heart, like every month?”

  “Every month?” Hal squealed. “Dean.”

  “Stop.” Dean lifted his hand. “I am checking his heart to be proactive. In every time frame, no matter what the circumstances, Frank dies in his sleep at the age of sixty-three.”

  Frank folded his arms. “Okay?”

  “Okay? No.” Dean laughed. “It’s not okay. That’s too young.”

  “For?”

  “For death. That’s the age of your father.”

  “Okay.”

  “We can’t have that happen. I want to stay on top to stop it?”

  “Have you found anything?”

  “No.”

  “So it’s unseen, I must have what Robbie had. It went undetected.”

  “No.” Dean shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it. It’s something else.”

  “Then if it’s something else, why do you keep checking my heart?”

  Dean paused. “You know what? You’re right. Busted. Because you’re so generous Frank, I need to know why your heart is so big.”

  “Solid point. Thanks.”

  Hal looked at Dean. “You’re an asshole.”

  A knock at the door, brought George and Danny into the office.

  “Thank God,” Joe said. “Now we can start.”

  Dean walked to the corner of the room, grabbed a folding chair, opened it and sat down.

  “What are you doing?” Joe asked.

  “Oh I was invited, sort of,” Dean replied. “Frank mentioned twenty-hour hundred and Dean Ami. So I stay.”

  Danny asked. “What’s going on, Frank? And by the way, nice outfit.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You took a long time.” George said. “Hours longer.”

  Hal Indicated to Frank. “My brother allowed himself to be taken by this camp.”

  “That’s why I’m wearing the outfit,” Frank said. “I was posing as a normal, everyday, apocalypse survivor.”

  Joe nodded. “In cargo pants and Captain America tee shirt, with the price tag still on.”

  “Yeah and whoops.” Frank grabbed the tag and ripped it off. “And it worked. They led me to their camp. I met the big shot, the guy that runs things. They thought I was dumb, said a bunch of shit in front of me, fed me Chinese food and sent me on my way.”