The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  Denny snorted and hunched his shoulders with an embarrassed wave. “Hi.”

  Standing, Ellen ran her hand over Denny’s hair. “Get to know each other. I’ll check back in a few minutes.” As she turned to walk away, she heard it.

  “El!” Frank’s voice vavoomed across the room along with his heavy tromps. Any peacefulness in the skills room was immediately lost when the survivors who were still adjusting, went flying for cover.

  “God.” Ellen cringed and closed off one ear. “Frank. Go away.”

  “El.” He stormed closer to her.

  “This is getting ridiculous.” She brushed by him to go back to her office. “Actually it’s getting old you coming in and scaring the survivors.”

  “Like I care if they get scared.” He followed her to her office. “This is important.”

  “When isn’t it.”

  “El.” He snapped, walked in her office behind her and slammed the door. “I’m pissed here. I need to talk to you.”

  “O.K.” Ellen tossed her hands up. “You have me trapped and you have my attention. Shoot. No don’t.” She ducked. “Kidding.”

  Frank bit his bottom lips and twitched his head. “Johnny . . . . did . . . did you know he’s leaving security to be a doctor?”

  Ellen’s eyes widened and she gasped loudly. “And this makes you mad?”

  “El, I . . .”

  “Oh!” She flung her hand at him. “And to think I gave you more credit. To think I thought you would want this to . . .”

  “El, I . . .”

  “. . . happen. We want the best for our kids. You want your son risking his life everyday instead of . . .”

  “El! Shut up!”

  “Don’t tell me to shut up.”

  Frank growled. “It has nothing to do with him being a doctor. Of course I want him to be better than me. It has everything to do . . . with Dean.”

  Ellen was shocked. “Dean?”

  “Yeah.” Frank tossed out his hand. “Dean.” He lowered his head and softened his voice. “I’m really serious here. He’s gonna be spending all kinds of time with him. I know this sounds stupid, but he has you. I don’t want him to have my son, too.” He peered down at her with his dark eyes.

  “You’re right. That’s stupid.”

  Frank inhaled in shock.

  “No, Frank, it’s stupid.” Ellen moved to her door. “Dean’s not taking Johnny from you. If you lose him, it would be because you pushed and pushed until you pushed him away.” Ellen opened the door.

  Frank reached out and stopped her. He held gently to her arm. “Is that why I don’t have you. Because I pushed you away.”

  From his fingers to his eyes, Ellen’s stare went. She removed his grip. “Yeah. It is.” She swallowed the after effects of her hard words and walked out.

  Frank just stared at the empty space in the doorway.

  ***

  “So, Henry tells me you were one of the top scientists in the country, pre-plague.” Robbie walked slowly around Dean’s lab taking everything in, while Dean worked assiduously at his work space.

  “So they say.”

  “Did you work on the plague? Did you try to cure it?”

  “Yes I did and I failed, obviously. It moved too fast. Within three days it was over. Of course you know that.” Dean kept working while he carried on his conversation with Robbie.

  “Then maybe one day you could try to figure out why we all survived.”

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  Dean looked up at him. “If you’re looking for a brief, one line answer, forget it.”

  “I’m curious, I want to know.” Robbie pulled a stool over toward Dean and sat. “Never mind, you’re probably so tired of explaining this over and over to people.”

  “You really want to know?”

  “I wouldn’t ask.”

  Dean grinned. Finally, someone took interest. His adrenaline pumped as he excitedly spewed into his explanation. “First of all it wasn’t a freakish thing that we survived the plague. All of us were predestined from birth, genetically, to live. We all have DNA, right? O.K., well in order for a virus to break you down and kill you, it settles into your DNA. There’s a strand, the fourth strand, that a lot of viruses settle into. All of us, who survived that is, have a mutated fourth strand of DNA. I’m not boring you am I? Cause this is just about the part that people began dozing off. That was after a few nameless people yelled ‘we’re mutants Dean, thanks a lot’ . . . they didn’t care.”

  “I care. I’m finding this interesting. How long did you work on this?”

  “Years. I finished it about a year ago. I started right after the plague.”

  “This fourth strand, or whatever, you said it was mutated, did we catch something prior to this to cause that?”

  “No. It was genetically hereditary.”

  “Hereditary? Why didn’t more people survive?” Robbie asked.

  “Because it was hereditary, and male gender only. Before you get confused, let me explain to you that a father can carry the gene that causes the mutation, and pass it on to a daughter. He may not be immune, but the daughter is. She in turn can not pass it on to her children. The ability to be immune can be determined only by the male. If a father is immune, then the chances that him having a son or two immune is great.”

  “What about children being born now? How do they survive it?”

  “Chances are two immune parents will produce an immune child. But it is still conceivable that the child could be born without the mutated gene. Therefore, it wouldn’t have the immunities of its parents, and the child would die once exposed to the virus. But the chances of that happening are slim. The answer is in the sperm. In all of the sperm I tested, there is a mutation within the sperm. All the sperm from the surviving males have the same mutation.”

  “You mentioned that if a father survived, he could have more than one surviving son. Did you mention this to my father?”

  “Oh yeah.” Dean stood up and walked over to his book shelf. He pulled from it the book that contained all of that information. He took it over to Robbie and opened it up. “This is your family’s section. Now the Slagel DNA mutation was the strongest I had seen in any sample. Also, in the sperm sample from Joe, the mutation was also great. Unfortunately Johnny was too young at the time to ask for one, and Frank flat out refused to give a sample. He said, and his exact words were, ‘science or no science, no way am I jerkin’-off in any fuckin cup’. So I didn’t push it, it was strictly on a volunteer basis. Anyhow, I brought up the possibility to Joe, that perhaps one more of his sons may be alive, this was based on the strong mutation factor. But his response to that was that he had devised a contingency plan for his family, and if any of you had survived, you would have shown up in Ashtonville.”

  “I did show up in Ashtonville, a little too late.” Robbie turned away from the book. His voice dropped, and it was apparent he was upset. “He didn’t care Dean, did he? Why didn’t he want to check to see if anyone was alive? I did. I searched out my brother Jimmy until I saw proof of his death. You were with my father, why wasn’t he determined to find us? Why was he so convinced that we had died, that he moved on?”

  “You have to understand Robbie. When I approached Joe with this, my information was not conclusive. And, the biggest thing aside from the contingency plan, was the fact that Frank had survived. All of us, including me, believed Joe to have been blessed. What were the odds of him having another son who survived? They were slim. In defense of your Dad, if he believed, even only a tiny bit, that one more of you were alive, he would have found you. Guaranteed.”

  “But he didn’t even try.”

  “No he didn’t. But we were in Ashtonville for months. He firmly believed that if any of you were alive, you would have followed the plan he beat into your heads.”

  “I guess I’m thinking wrong.” Still upset, Robbie stood and resumed pacing around. “I shouldn’t blame my father.”

  “I won’t l
et you blame your father.” Dean closed the book, walked over to the shelf, and replaced it in its position. “I respect your father more than anyone. He took George’s Garfield plan, led us here and got it in motion. None of us would be where we are if it wasn’t for him. And now, you’re here. That’s what’s important. You made it.”

  Robbie just nodded, holding back his sarcastic comment of ‘yeah, after five years’. But he said nothing, no one could possible know how he felt. And Dean in one action so much as said it all to Robbie. In the midst of talking about his father, Dean closed that book, therefore signifying the questioning what and whys, was indeed a closed subject. A subject that would never be fully closed in Robbie’s mind.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  May 16th

  The social hall was jam-packed with everyone in the community. Children ran about in no particular fashion, screaming, yelling, sliding across the smooth floor. Robbie was the last one to enter. He was on time, yet no one seemed ready to start the meeting. He looked forward to the meeting, the first one he was attending in the two weeks he had been in Beginnings.

  Robbie glanced around. Joe stood behind his podium, a drink in his hand and looked to be rambling on and on to George. Then he spotted Ellen. She sat ready in a folded chair for the meeting. Frank was nowhere to be seen. Ellen alone? It was an oddity. Hoping she could fill him in on the way the meetings went, Robbie snuck up behind her and whispered in her ear. “Hey El.”

  Ellen jolted, then turned her head around to him. “It’s a family thing, scaring people. Hi Robbie.”

  “Can I sit with you?”

  “Sure.” She patted the chair to her right.

  “Thanks.” Robbie sat next to her. “I take it I didn’t miss much.”

  “No, nothing at all.”

  “I heard about your new job.”

  “Sign up starts tomorrow. The doctor will be in.” Ellen knew that once the survivor runs stopped that she would be assigned somewhere else. Never, did she imagine that they would give her the title they did. Community Counselor. “Won’t I just be great at that job?”

  “Yes you will.”

  Ellen shook her head. “Look at Joe and George. I know they’re over there talking about me. Look at them laughing.”

  “No they’re not.” Robbie did notice them looking over continuously, but he didn’t want to tell Ellen that.

  Joe laughed and looked at Ellen again. “She’s gonna know we’re talking about her.”

  “Oh so what. How did she take the news of her job?” George asked.

  “Fine. Shocked I think. I told her, with very few survivors in containment, and the ones from the clinic getting in and out of there fast, she’ll have nothing to do. But you know what George, none of the ‘originals’ may ever go to her, but the survivors love her. Why, I don’t know. They trust her. So we did make a good choice.”

  “Yeah.” George observed Ellen and Robbie. “Robbie’s certainly latched on to her. Survivor syndrome?”

  “I don’t see that. Robbie’s always latched on to her. Since he was eleven. I’d be more apt to say ‘Brother envy’ syndrome?”

  So impressed, George’s face showed it as he pointed at Joe. “Good one. I like that.”

  “Was good, huh?” Joe looked down at his watch. “Shit, look at the time. We better get started. Get their attention and I’ll find Dean.”

  Dean wasn’t too hard to find. He walked into the hall, and sat down immediately on the other side of Ellen. He was reviewing his notes on what he was going to say at the meeting, when Joe snatched him up and pulled him away.

  Joe took his position before the podium. “Let’s get this thing started.” He waded through the ruffling of papers, shuffling of feet and squealing of chairs until he had the attention of everyone. “First thing before I hand it over to Dean for the delicate portion of the meeting. I just wanted to make the announcement for those of you who haven’t heard, Ellen will now be community counselor.” Joe said trying to hide the smile on his face. “For those of you with problems, any problems, you can see her. This is a new job in Beginnings and it’s her position. So Ellen will be there to help you solve . . .” Joe stopped speaking. He heard laughing. Laughing that was trying to be muffled. He looked up to see who was causing the disturbance. It was Frank. Frank was making his way into the meeting, finding his seat next to Ellen.

  “Sorry.” Frank held up his hand as he sat down. “Sorry.”

  “Are you finished?” Joe directed his comment to Frank. “Thank you. Now I’m going to hand this meeting over to Dean. He will explain why we are here. And he’s gonna try to do it in laymen terms. Dean.”

  Dean stammered his way to the podium to replace Joe. He did an aggravated double take look to Frank who tossed his head back in disgust. “Thanks.” Dean fiddled with his notes. “Joe wanted me to discuss with you today about . . . conception. Meaning having babies.” He winced at the loud sarcastic moans that emanated from the crowd. “O.K., well, this may be directed more to the women we have. We . . . we know there’s only sixteen of you, and it’s a lot to ask. But, the only increase Beginnings has had in population is the bringing in of survivors. We have one baby on the way. This uh, this community was built to grow. We aren’t . . . so . . .” Nervously, Dean ran his hand through his hair. “We want to ask the women think about conceiving. The world died out, but not completely. We can help out . . . in the clinic, if conventional means aren’t wanted to be taken for conception. We, I, we, understand the apprehensiveness some of you women have toward men. I’m boring you aren’t I?”

  “Yes.” Frank barked out and looked to Ellen when she smacked him “What? He is.”

  Dean cringed. “I think I made my point. I’m just gonna step back now.”

  George walked sideways through the awkward dead silence and stood next to the podium. “Thanks Dean.” He cleared his throat then spoke upbeat to wake everyone. “O.K., well! To recap what some of you probably didn’t grasp in Dean’s typical ‘lack of luster’ medicinal speech is . . . We need to repopulate. We have to give this serious thought. You have to. What it boils down to is it’s out of the men’s hands. It’s in the women’s. This is what we have to do if we want the world to continue on. If we don’t, there will be no generations to come. It has to start now.”

  With George’s words, Joe concluded the meeting. After informing everyone that if they had concerns or questions, please feel free to ask, Joe walked over to the bar and fixed himself a stiff drink.

  Robbie was pleasantly surprised at the length of the meeting. He expected, knowing his father, that he would be subjected to a one or two hour lecture. He wasn’t. “So Ellen, this is it? This is the big monthly meeting?”

  “Yep. Very short and sweet. Every once in awhile Joe gets really long winded. But then we start coughing and shuffling around and he gets the message.”

  “That’s good.” Robbie took notice of his brother on the other side of Ellen. Frank leaned back in his chair, feet extended, and looked miserable. “Frank, why did you come at all? You were here for like five minutes.”

  “To see Ellen and keep her company. But you were here so she didn’t need me.”

  Before Robbie could inquire about Frank’s smart remark, Dean walked up and stood before Ellen. That caught Frank’s attention.

  “El, I’m rounding up the kids. Are you gonna be long?” Dean asked.

  “No. Not at all. I’m right behind you.”

  “Good, cause I wanted to talk to you for a little before we started working on our project.”

  “No problem. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Dean turned from them. He looked frantic as he tried to gather up the two four year olds who ran in different directions when he approached them.

  Ellen brought her hands down to her knees with a slap. “Well, I’m outta’ here. See you guys tomorrow.”

  “Wait.” Frank stopped her as she began to rise from her seat. “Tomorrow?”

  “Yes Frank, tomorrow. You know the thing
that happens after the sun rises?”

  “You said you’d stop by tonight.”

  “Oh that’s right. All right, I’ll be by after I finish up with Dean.”

  “What exactly do you have to do with Dean?” Frank questioned.

  Before she answered, Ellen turned her head to Robbie, winked, then faced Frank. “I didn’t want to say anything to you, but, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what Joe is trying to tell everyone. You know, reproduce. I figured I could pump one more out to help the cause. So, I asked Dean to hook me up.”

  Frank abruptly stood and walked away from her.

  Robbie watched Frank leave the social hall. “El, I don’t think he knows you were kidding.”

  “I don’t think so either. Tell Dean I’ll meet him at home. Excuse me.” Ellen, annoyed and focused to find Frank, made her way across the social hall and outside. Frank was nowhere to be seen and as she walked to the living section, she could hear in the distance, a door slamming. An angry ‘slam’ that told her it had to be Frank. Growing more frustrated with the thought of Frank’s unwarranted reaction, Ellen went to his home.

  Without knocking, she walked in. Johnny was seated on the couch reading. “Did your dad just come in here?” She asked as she closed the door.

  “Upstairs.”

  “Thanks.” Ellen moved to the stairs. “Frank?” she yelled up and received no answer. Figuring, ‘the hell with it’, she stormed up the stairs and into Frank’s room. He sat on the edge of his bed and only stared up at her. “What is your problem?” she asked strongly. “I was kidding about having a baby. Why . . . why did you get so mad?”

  “Because that comment pissed me off.” Frank stood up, walked over to the bedroom door and shut it. He extended his arm and leaned against the closed door. A look of disgust on his face.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think that would bother you,” Ellen said.

  “It did.”

  “Why?”

  Frank waved his finger at her, he opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out. Frustrated, he looked the other way.