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

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Which, there may not be.” Dean stated. “But if there is, Frank and George will know. Come on, it’s not like its heavily guarded anymore. All they have to do is get Ellen and Miguel out of there, head to the picnic area and wait for your return. A day or two maybe. They have supplies.”

  Frank interjected. “In those supplies will be four sleeping rolls. My main concern is getting Ellen out. Miguel and George can fend for themselves. If you return to the picnic area and we aren’t there. That means we ran into trouble and had to book. I’ll head north and stay as close to the highway as I can. But if we all don’t get out, I’ll leave something behind as a message.”

  “A sleeping roll or two?” Joe guessed and received his confirmation from Frank. “And, say everything is peachy. What then?”

  “I stay with my wife.” Frank lifted his hand. “A little honeymoon camping trip. That’s the story we’re giving everyone for why I’m leaving and the supplies. We don’t want this going any further than the three of us.”

  “Who’s gonna run security Frank?” Joe asked.

  “John Matoose. I already gave him the honeymoon scenario.”

  Joe nodded. “And what about Josh. Brian?”

  Frank took a breath. “Johnny can hang with Josh. And Brian, I really didn’t . . .”

  “I’ll watch Brian. I’ll take him.” Dean said. “Josh too. Doesn’t matter.”

  Joe’s head immediately swung toward Dean. “You’re gonna watch Frank’s baby.”

  “Why not.” Dean moved in to the desk. “This isn’t about me and Frank. This is about Ellen. We want her back. We both feel that something is wrong. And Joe, if there is, let’s face it. Frank’s the only one who can get her out of there. Give the O.K.”

  Joe’s hands slammed down to the desk as he stood. “Let’s do it. I’ll keep it between the three of us. We’ll leave in twenty-four hours.”

  “Wait.” Frank called out. “No, now. Dean and I can get the supplies together in a few hours. “Leave then.”

  “And what about rest?” Joe questioned. “Look at you.” He reached out and grabbed Frank’s face. “You haven’t slept. You’re pale. What good are you going to be to Ellen if you have to run with her? Use today to pack up. Use the night to sleep. I’ll use the time to get the trucks ready and come up with a reason to tell George and Greg why we’re leaving early. We’ll leave first light, twenty four hours from now. O.K.?” He looked at his watch. “O.K., Right now I’m gonna try to go back to sleep. So, I’ll meet up with you in a few hours.” Giving a firm squeeze to Frank’s shoulder as he passed him, Joe walked to the door and left.

  Frank ran his hand down his goatee and looked at Dean. “All right. Let’s get out of here. I’ll check with you a couple times during the day to see how things are going.” He moved to the door and opened it.

  “I’m glad we’re working together on this Frank.” Dean walked through the open door. “Instead of ripping apart each other.”

  “Yeah.” Frank shut off the light and pulled the door closed. “Me too.”

  ^^^^

  Miguel had always known himself to be a light sleeper. He had trained himself that way. Even before the plague, he had to be. Being a truck driver and pulling off the side of the road at times to snooze made him jump at every noise. Just as he jumped when he heard the clicking of the door handle. Miguel glanced quickly at his watch, it wasn’t quiet morning. He sprang to his feet but not before the door opened and two armed guards, along with Jeffrey Barnett stepped in. The guards held their rifles at Miguel.

  Jeffrey stepped closer when he knew it was safe. “A little assurance, Mr. Sanchez.” He walked behind him and immediately, without warning injected Miguel with a needle into the back of his neck. “That you won’t try anything again tomorrow when we come to get Ellen.”

  Miguel felt the warmth of the fluid that entered. He could feel it move through his bloodstream almost painfully. With a paralyzing feeling, Miguel’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground. He couldn’t move, and his eyes closed.

  Jeffrey dropped the syringe to the ground and stepped over him. “This should last for about eight hours. Throw him in bed. Mrs. Slagel will never know.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  August 15

  The shower did help some, but not much. Ellen’s head still hurt and she still felt sluggish. Of course she had to take the shower it quickly. She didn’t have any idea what time they would come back. And last she recalled her and Miguel had a plan.

  Miguel was still sleeping when she walked back in the room. She reached in her open duffle bag and pulled out a rice cake. She broke it in two laying one half on the night stand. “Miguel.” She took a bite and called louder. “Miguel get up. Miguel?” Fear struck her. He wasn’t moving. With a trembling hand she reached for his pulse. She felt it beating strong. “Come on.” She started to shake him, as she did, she noticed the back of his neck. A small bruise was there, the size of a quarter. A tiny dot of dried blood center of it. Ellen was all too familiar with a bad injection site. “What did they give you . . .” Her head turned to the sound of heavy footsteps. The slow walking grew louder. Remembering the club Miguel had made for her, she reached under her pillow for it. “I have to try Miguel.” Ellen gripped it tightly and moved to the side of the door.

  She was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. The turning of the knob made her heart jump. She watched the thin guard step slowly inside. In that brief moment when he searched. Ellen slipped from the room, pulled the door close, and grabbed the keys that still dangled from the knob.

  As she ran down the hall as fast she could to the elevator, she realized alone, she couldn’t make it out. They would get her. So she wasn’t going down silently. She was going to take down with her as much as she could.

  Passing the elevator, she ran to the steps and charged down two flights to the embryo lab. She saw Dr. Rice in his lab as soon as she stepped on the floor. Again, he was alone. Quietly she opened his lab door, holding the club behind her. “Dr. Rice!”

  Startled, he faced her. As his body turned, he was greeted with a blow to the side of his face. Dr. Rice crashed into his computer and onto the floor.

  Ellen swung forth with her anger sending the monitor crashing down. She raced over to the first case and lifted the lid. With her weapon, she smashed down into the objects below her, crushing the test tubes. She did all the damage she could, and quickly moved to the next case. She paid no attention, nor looked up when the lab door burst open.

  They two guards grabbed Ellen. But she fought them, swinging about hitting blindly. One of them clutched her arm, stole her club, tossed it to the floor, then threw a hysterical Ellen as well.

  Ellen caught her fall as her knees slid across the linoleum, burning them. She lifted herself from the floor and bolted to the door. Jeffrey stood in her way. As she reached back to strike him, her fist was grasped. She felt a hand grasp the back of her head and slam her into the wall. Face pressed against the surface, Ellen’s eyes peered with anger at Jeffrey.

  “Take her across the hall to the empty room.” Jeffrey ordered.

  With her arms bent drastically behind her, the guard banged Ellen into the wall one more time before talking her out.

  Jeffrey stayed a moment in the lab, assessing the damage and becoming worse with it by the second. Ellen had destroyed so much of their work. Outraged at her, he charged across the hall to the room in which the two guards held on to her. He stood close to Ellen, reaching his hand out and wiping the blood from her temple. He showed it to her. “Does it need to go this far? Do you realize what you have done?”

  “Fuck you.” Her head jolted so hard with his hit, it smacked into the chest of the one guard who held her. “You don’t frighten me.”

  “You should be little lady.” He squeezed her face then pushed her back as he released her. “And you’ll pay for what you did. Trust me. When we finish with you. You’ll wish you were dead.”

  Ellen tired not to flinch. �
�When my father gets here. You will be dead. You don’t think when he gets here, he’s not gonna want to see me?” Ellen shouted as Jeffrey walked slowly away. “You’re one stupid asshole, Jeffrey! I pity you.”

  “No.” Jeffrey stopped at the door. He looked at the two guards that held tightly to the fighting, strong willed woman. She was so determined. So lacking of any fear in her eyes. “No Ellen. I pity you.” He opened the door and faced the guards. “Rape her.”

  ^^^^

  Frank didn’t know what caused him to drop what he was carrying. As he stepped to the long table in storage, to lay everything on. A chill, a deadly chill shot through him and everything he held in his arms crashed to the table. Frank’s hands started to shake. It was a warning, an inner warning and he was receiving it loud and clear. The sense of urgency to go and get Ellen grew by the second. Even though it was against his better judgment to wait, it wouldn’t be much longer and he knew she would be safe.

  ^^^^

  Joanna saw Jeffrey standing in front of the room. He looked frazzled, then again, she knew he was dealing with Ellen. “Jeffrey, what’s going on?”

  Jeffrey straightened his hair. “Ellen destroyed two cases. One sperm, one ovum. She destroyed a lab Joanna. Our guards are taking care of her now.” He took a few deep breaths and composed himself.

  “Explain taking care of.”

  “Extreme measures. Like you and I discussed.”

  “I run this project, Jeffrey. Not you. I had plans for Mrs. Slagel today. We were going to try the serum again.”

  “It didn’t work Joanna and . . .” He stopped when a loud Ellen ‘no’ emerged from the other room. “ . . . and it was time to take those measures.”

  “We will take my measures.” Joanna opened up the door, as she did she watched a guard strike Ellen so fiercely it sent her across the room. The other guard grabbed a hold of her, pulling at what clothes she had on left, as Ellen fought with everything she had against them. “Stop!”

  The one guard released Ellen and she dropped to the floor.

  “What is going on?” She stepped inside. She looked down to a beaten Ellen. “Jeffrey?” She returned to Jeffrey’s side. “Did you tell these men to do this, or are they doing this on their own?”

  “You agreed to extreme measures.”

  “I agreed to extreme measures yes. My extreme measures.” Joanna faced the guards. “Pick her up, grab her clothes and take her to her room.” She stormed past Jeffrey stopping to scold at him just once more. “Thank you very much Jeffrey. Now she’s no use at all to us today.”

  Ellen had fought her last bit of energy from her. She felt her clothes toss down to her face and her body being picked up, not dragged this time, and carried away.

  ^^^^

  “Frank?” Dean called out as he stepped into the storage building where he was to meet Frank.

  “Back here.”

  Dean could hear the banging around as he approached. “How’s it going?”

  “Good. I did the rolls. Two together. Yeah, nice and tight. And I twined them.” Frank tossed one to him.

  Dean caught it, the heaviness of it nearly knocked him over. “Thanks. O.K. What else do you got together?”

  “I have . . .” Frank lifted a knapsack. “Ammo, grenades, three revolvers, flares, two hunting knives, trip wire and all that shit. I figured I’ll bring a rifle, but I’ll hide it at the hill site. Um . . . I have my gun.” He patted his shoulder harness. “You don’t think it’s too much do you?”

  “No.” Dean laughed then laid down a black pouch. “Here. This is an emergency care kit. Just in case Ellen forgets, I labeled the bottles in laymen terms and what they can be used for.”

  “Thanks.” Frank took it and placed it in the duffel bag which had its awaited contents next to it. “Take a look at what I have. See anything I’m missing?”

  Dean looked over it. “I see you brought Ellen stuff.”

  “You know it.” Frank lifted a pair of pants and a shirt and placed it in the bag. “No matter what the situation is, you know she’s going to get trivial. We could be running for our lives and she’ll complain if I don’t have toiletries.”

  “Oh . . .” Dean indicated to a small plastic jar on the table. “I left that. Water will boggle you down. Two or three canteens worth tops. So I made that. It’s a filtering system. Trust me it will work.”

  Frank held it up. “Good job.”

  “And what about food? Did you give any thought to that. Or are you gonna try to hunt.”

  With a huge smile Frank lifted two seven inch long, brown pouches, he held them in each hand. “Remember these?”

  “Oh no. M.R.E.’s .” Dean cringed at the memory of the highly concentrated, military food packs. “But . . . Good thinking.”

  “I’m the man. I figure I’ll take out the useless shit and pack up only what we need from them.”

  “Like we had to do for field maneuvers.”

  Frank smiled. “Exactly.” He rested his hand on one of the packs. “Let’s hope I don’t need any of this stuff.”

  “Let’s hope.” Dean turned very serious. “Bring her home safe, Frank. You can do that.”

  “I will do that.” Frank stood in silence with Dean. “You know I want to tell you something. I uh . . . I appreciate all your help. I do.”

  “I wish I could do more. I wish I could go too. But you’re the one.”

  “You’re doing a lot. See, I guess we really can pull together if we need to huh?” Frank asked.

  “More than I ever thought. We have a lot of bad history you and I. But we have a common interest right now. We know what’s important.”

  “Yeah.” Frank’s head dropped.

  “What?” Dean began to get a panicky feeling. “What’s wrong?”

  “As close as we are to going down there. I’m not feeling better.” Frank’s head swayed slowly. “I’m feeling worse. Something’s happened to her. I know it. I feel it.” Frank lifted his head. “And I can honestly say . . .” His eyes shifted to Dean. They were saddened and Frank spoke softly and with more sincerity than Dean has ever heard from him. “I can honestly say . . . I’m scared.”

  ^^^^

  The heaviness of her eyes seemed to bother her the most, because they weren’t allowing her to open them. Ellen tried to lift her head from the pillow that it laid upon. But with each slow movement, brought an aching shooting pain. She laid half on her stomach, her arm dangling from the left side of the bed. She felt the blood flow there, pulsating in her injuries. She tried to clench her fist, her knuckles cracking as she did. She slowly lifted her hand to blindly feel her face. As her fingers touched down she could feel the ruggedness of her cheek bones, the moisture there, the blood.

  Ellen heard the slow footsteps. Fighting desperately she lifted her eyelids only a crease. The blurred vision of him walking to her was all she could make out. She felt his hand stroke away her hair gently, that had fallen on her cheek and stuck there. She moistened her lips with her tongue. They felt bigger and sore. “Frank?” She called weakly.

  “No. It’s me.” Miguel reached under Ellen and lifted her up into his arms to carry her.

  “Where are we going?” Ellen’s voice was soft.

  “I want to get you cleaned up.” Miguel carried her into the bathroom where he had the bath tub already filled with warm water. He set her gently down to the commode to use it as a chair. He looked with sadness upon Ellen, her body slumping back, barely keeping its balance. He had to keep reaching for her to hold her up. It literally broke his heart. “I’m just going to help you undress. We need to get you into the tub so these cuts don’t get infected.” He knelt down before her and slipped off her shoes.

  Ellen used the toilet and Miguel’s shoulder to help stand. She let her shorts drop. They were still undone from being placed back on after her confrontation. There was no shirt to take off only her bra. “Not much clothing huh?”

  Miguel looked at her. “What did they do to you?”

  “Ask
what I did to them instead. O.K.?” Ellen’s eyes rolled and her legs weakened. Her stand began to drop.

  Miguel caught her and scooped her up. “What did you do to them.” He placed her in the tub.

  “I destroyed up their lab.” She went rigid as she felt the water hit her body. It burned her abrasions. She would have jumped ten feet from the water but she could barely move. “How’s my face. Frank will have a fit if they messed it up.”

  “Not like your body.” Miguel dipped the wash cloth into the water and wrung it out. “It’s dirty though.” He began to wipe gently across her face.

  “They had me on the ground.”

  Miguel handed her the wash cloth. His body dropped and he sat to the floor leaning against the commode. “I’m so sorry about this.” He brought his hand to his head.

  “It’s not your fault. It isn’t.” She reached her hand out to touch him.

  Miguel only moved his eyes to her. “We’ll get through this. Joe will be here soon.”

  “I know.” Ellen took a deep breath and slumped further into the tub. She brought the wash cloth to her eyes and the thought of her children, Frank, Beginnings, rushed to her mind. Her eyes grew heavier as they welled with tears. She fought them, she fought them with all that she had.

  “What is it?” Miguel asked.

  Ellen shook her head and brought her knees close to her. She buried her face against them. “I just want to go home. I want to go home.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  August 16

  Frank cradled little Brian tightly in his arms as he paced slowly around Dean’s living room. The sleeping infant never awoke, despite all the kisses that Frank plastered him with. “I won’t be gone long Bri.” Frank kissed him again. “Be good. I love you.” Frank lifted his eyes to Dean. “He’s crashed. I fed him about a half hour ago, so he should be good for a while.”