Seventeen seconds.
“No, Dean, we have enough time, it’s almost done, we just need to see George’s name.”
The sixth page was half way finished. Eight seconds.
Dean’s hand held onto the paper.
“There’s his name.” Ellen yelled. “Rip it!”
Three seconds.
With a dramatic running rip, Dean tore the paper, grabbed Ellen’s hand and ran toward the door.
Time’s up.
A rumble, not very loud, then sudden vibration turned violent and the quiet chain of events began. As if an earthquake, the linoleum floor beneath them began to rock, so intense was it, that they couldn’t make it half way across the room. With diligence they stumbled as they tried to make it across the floor that swayed them as if they were on an amusement park ride.
“Dean!” Ellen grabbed for the table, trying to pull herself up. “I can’t walk.”
“Keep trying.” Dean shoved all the papers he had into his shirt and reached for her with both hands. Half standing himself, he grabbed hold of her tightly, hoping together they could make it the fifteen feet out.
They tried to move, unbalanced so much as they did, bits of the roof falling like snow upon their heads. Computers slid from the tables they sat on, crashing to the floor.
Dean turned his head to the loud crack he heard behind him. In horror he saw as the floor, in some sort of running motion, began to disappear and drop to some unknown origin below. Like a carpet of destruction it rolled right to them. “Jump!”
There wasn’t time. On his order, the quaking, yet solid ground they stood on--was gone. Smoke and air was all that laid under them. Dean dropped first. With desperate reaching hands and instinct, he reached out to anything that fell around him. In his favor the caving of the floor stopped. Dean’s hand slipped in the open space, clinging to the concrete. The moment his fall halted, over his head tumbled Ellen. Rolling down with her into the cavern below was a table and a computer.
Dean tried to reach her with his free hand but she slipped right from him. He wasn’t fast enough. He watched her fall in a roll to the ground below, tucking her body into a ball and moving quickly out of the way of a large piece of floor that came pummeling down.
With a loud metal bending sound, Dean’s safety, his sanctuary, gave way, and he too fell right along with it.
^^^^
“By now . . .” George looked down at his watch. “It should all be over with.” He stood before a sitting Joe in his usual taunting manner. “Last count, Ellen had twelve more words to get to it. I’m assuming she hit it as we speak.” George raised his eyebrows. “Then of course if the fall doesn’t get them, the second explosion will. Unless of course someone happens to go down there. But who would do that? Henry’s shot,” George tisked. “Frank, well, Frank is locked safely away. And no one really cares enough about those two to check on them. Two hours is nothing. However, when they don’t emerge for a while, I’ll suggest we look for them and then I’ll have to do that fake concern shit.” George rested his hand on Joe’s knee.
I felt that you son of a bitch, I felt that. It took everything in Joe’s power not to move his leg in disgust, giving himself away and setting himself up for another fall.
“Anyway, Frank will be gone tonight. And Henry, Henry will just have to suffer a really bad infection. We have that in those vials you know. Hey . . .” George snapped. “That would mean pretty much all of the originals will be biting it. Do you realize Miguel was the first original I took care of? I liked Miguel. It was a shame what had to . . .”
“We all liked Miguel.” Andrea walked in the room. “And what brought up my husband’s name?”
George tilted his head to Andrea, curious about what she heard. She couldn’t have heard anything, not her. She would have not even walked in the room if she did. “Am I sensing attitude, Andrea?”
“Absolutely.” Andrea answered without hesitation. “Release Frank Slagel.”
“No can do.” George turned and began to leave. “Sorry.”
“No George, you’ll be sorry. It’s a mistake. Frank is the steel wall that protects us. No one can do what he can do.”
George shrugged his shoulders. “It’s time they learn. Besides, we have a mini Frank in the community already. Have you seen Johnny?” George pointed as he walked out the door. “Another Frank.”
Whispering and shaking her head Andrea knelt before Joe. “I’ll do everything I can Joe. I’m fighting him on this one. I do have good news.” Her hand grabbed Joe’s. “Josh is starting to stir.”
George stopped in his stride outside the door. Josh? To George that wasn’t good and a problem he had to take care of immediately.
^^^^
Their coughing from the smoke and dirt echoed in the empty room. It was dark, but their eyes soon adjusted.
Ellen heard Dean shuffle his feet near her. “Anything?”
“Nothing.” He dusted himself off. “Are you sure you’re all right.”
“I’m fine. You?”
“Fine. Let me see that hand.” He reached for it.
“It’s O.K., just a bad scratch.” Ellen held back her hair from her forehead. “There isn’t any way out?”
“None. I checked. It’s just another room. A tunnel with no way out.”
“A tomb.”
Dean took a deep breath. “To put it bluntly.”
“So it was rigged for this all along?”
“Appears so.” Dean looked around and then up the open hole of the floor that hung a good fourteen feet above their heads. “Shit.” He placed his hands on his hips and turned to her. “We have to get out. And fast.”
“Why? Someone will come down and find us. It’s just a matter of . . .”
“Ellen.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “That second timer, it means there another explosion. Here . . .” He took her hand and led her to the corner. “See these wires, they lead to that box. The explosion will take place down here. Right down here. In . . . well it was two hours and forty some minutes.”
“Can’t you pull the wires out?”
“No I can’t pull the wires out. I could cause it to explode prematurely.”
“But you’re a scientist.”
“A genetic scientist, not a rocket scientist. God.” Dean released her hand and looked at his watch. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?”
“My watch is broke. It must have cracked in the fall.” He tapped the face of it and brought it to his ear. “Gone. What time do you have?”
Ellen looked at her watch. “One o’clock.”
“It can’t be one o’clock. We came down here at seven.”
“My watch has been broken, Dean. It always says one o’clock.”
Trying to remain calm and not quite frustrated, Dean decided one more time to try to convey the serious of the situation. “El, this is bad. This situation is bad. We have to try to get out or this proof…” Dean pulled it from his tee shirt. “…will mean nothing. We have to try to climb out. Help me gather all this stuff lying around. Maybe we can stack it enough to get one of us up there for help.”
“Good idea.” Ellen began to look, nothing lay around big enough to make a difference. “Dean?” She held up a piece of the counter no bigger than a foot.
“I know.” He shook his head. “Let’s just try.” He moved over to her. “We have to try.”
^^^^
George opened the little black case he pulled from his dresser. He stared at the bottles of Salicain and the syringes with it. “Josh, just a small injection will put you out of it until you too can get an infection.” George closed the lid and placed the pouch--though it protruded--in his back pocket.
^^^^
Through the rubble, Ellen made her way to Dean and sat next to him on the ground. “Dean how long do you suppose we’ve been down here?”
“I don’t know.” Taking a deep breath, Dean read from the sheets they printed. “Salicain.”
“What?”
“Salicain. Listen to this.” He waited until Ellen scooted closer. “Used to replace anesthetic in surgeries, it will cause complete paralysis if given in correct doses. Will also give the effects of a stroke in larger amounts.”
“Joe.”
“Exactly.” Dean continued reading. “Aberal, in small doses will counteract Salicain. If patient has had prolonged exposure or numerous injections of Salicain, two CC’s of Aberal will cause an immediate recovery.”
“We have to find Aberal.” Ellen stated.
“Hopefully, it’s . . .” Dean slipped to the next page and breathed loudly in relief. “Vial seventeen.”
“We can help Joe?”
Dean smiled. “Yeah, we can and believe me, Joe can prove everything about George. Then Frank will be able to . . .”
“What’s wrong?”
The smile left Dean’s face and he looked up.
“Oh.” Ellen’s head dropped. “We have to get out first.” Ellen reached her arm through Dean’s and held on. She rested her head on his arm. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Dean brought his hand up and rested it on her cheek, he heard her softly giggle. “What? Why are you laughing?”
“I was thinking. Remember we went through that little phase of time and I was so mean to you.”
“Ellen, when exactly do you think you started to get nice to me?”
“Always.”
“Would this be before or after your continuous affair with Frank?”
Ellen gasped. “Moments from death and you’re rubbing it in.” She tried to lift her head but Dean held it there.
“No. A part of me always knew you guys were . . . well.” He cleared his throat. “And I knew I wasn’t that special person in your life.”
“You have that wrong, Dean. I was the one who didn’t know how special you were in my life.”
Dean lowered his head, turning her face to him. “I want to tell you something. I want to thank you for being a part of my life. You gave me a lot, Ellen. You gave me something I never thought I’d have in my life. A family.”
Ellen closed her eyes tightly. “The twins and Brian.” She swallowed. “What if . . .”
“No.” Dean pulled her head closer to his. “We can’t think like that.”
“Who’s gonna raise them? They won’t have anyone. No one Dean.”
“If something happens to us down here, they’ll be taken care of.” He softly kissed her cheek. “Someone will watch them. They’ll be fine.”
“It hurts to think they’ll be without us. Especially you. They are so much your life.”
“Yes, they are.” Dean pulled her closer. “Yours too.”
“Yeah.” Ellen smiled. “God, what I put you through. And making you help with Brian.”
“No making me.” Dean stated. “I’d do anything for you.”
“I know.”
Closing his eyes, Dean ran his hand down to her knee. He gripped it firmly then opened his eyes to look at her. He raised her head from his arm that she leaned on. “If something should happen, know that I’m glad that you were in my life.”
“Me too. And I know this is going to sound really morbid, but . . . I’m glad I’m not alone right now. I’m a little scared.” She raised her eyebrow giving a fake smile.
“So am I. It’s all right though.” Dean looked at her really hard. “I love you, El. I always have and I always will.”
Ellen felt it, that trembling in her throat, the emotions coming from within her. “I love you, too.”
After a brief, awe, stare, Dean leaned forward and kissed her. “Thank you for that.”
“Oh God.” Ellen closed her eyes. “This can’t be happening. We can’t talk like this. We’re gonna get out.”
“And when we do we’ll laugh about how silly we acted when we thought we were dying.”
“We can’t give up. There’s too much at stake.” Ellen said with hope.
“You’re right.” Dean stood up, helping Ellen to her feet. “I know we’ve tried. But let’s try again.”
“Let’s do it.” Ellen, with sad enthusiasm made her way with Dean to the small minuscule mountain they built.
^^^^
George heard the call of his name and it perturbed him that he was being interrupted in his walk to the clinic. George stopped as he reached the main street of town. “What John? I’m busy..”
“I’ve been looking for you. I need to talk to you.” John caught his breath. “Things are getting tense. The men, the men are angry. In fact they are downright outraged about Frank. You should know the vote is not going to go the way you want it to. Frank won’t be ousted.”
“Yes he will. And don’t try to ruin my day.”
“George, if the community votes to let him . . .”
“John! I’m busy. Go to your office or something. It’s yours no. Be happy.” George waved him off and headed back in his route to the clinic.
^^^^
Ellen tried, she really tried, as Dean clung to her legs lifting her, her tiny fingers tried to grip to the slippery surface of the floor above her. There was nothing. Nothing to grab on to. The tips of her fingers barely grazed across. “Just . . . Just a little more.” She grunted and with another futile reach, the pile that Dean stood on gave away and they both fell into a roll on the floor. “No.”
Dean tightly shut his eyes, lifting himself to one elbow as he lay next to Ellen. “You all right?”
Ellen crossed her arm over her eyes and nodded. “I’m fine.” Her words cracked.
“El?” He reached for her arm.
She shook her head.
Dean could hear the heavy breathing, the muffled sniffling. Soon the soft whimpers that emanated from Ellen became full blown sobs. “Ellen?”
“I can’t believe this. I can’t.”
“Come on.” He grabbed for her arm again.
“No. I’m never going to see my children again. They’re never going to see me or you. It’s over. It’s really over.”
“El, please don’t cry.” He pulled down her arm. “Please.”
Her eyes were closed so tight and tears ran down her dirty face. Her body shook as she let out her every emotions.
“Stop.” He wiped his hand over her face. “This is not you. This is not the Ellen I love. The Ellen I love is strong. Be strong with me.” He caressed her face. “We’re together.”
“I’m so scared, Dean. I’m so scared.”
“I know.” He moved closer to her, brushing his lips against hers. “I’m here.”
“I always thought I’d never mind dying.” She ran her hand over her eyes and took a shivering breath. “I don’t want to die.”
Dean didn’t know what to tell her. He himself didn’t know what to feel.
“I just wished it would happen, just get it over with. We don’t know when or how much time is left. This is worse than death. Worse, this waiting. Why won’t it happen?” Ellen shook her head trying to control herself. She opened her eyes and stared at Dean. “I’m so scared.”
“I wish there was something I could do. Just know I’m right here with you.”
Ellen brought her hand up slowly to his face, touching it. “You aren’t scared?”
“Not anymore.”
Her hand slipped behind his head. She brought him closer to her, and her lips up to his, she brushed them against his then parted them more. She could feel the hesitation on his mouth as their lips met. She arched her back up to meet him, needing to feel him, needing to feel safe.
Dean didn’t want to give in. He was afraid of that moment…an emotional one. Feeling her move more toward him, he couldn’t hold back any more. Releasing the tension that held his head back from hers, he grabbed her face and began to kiss her.
Ellen felt the security of his chest when it met hers. His heart beat so strong she could feel it. The thickness grew in her throat as her tearful emotions tried to come through in their kiss. Her eyes felt the heaviness and another single tear made its
escape as she pulled at Dean. She pulled at him with all her emotions.
He slipped his arm under her back, clutching her so tightly into him, moving with her and kissing her with much more intensity than he had ever done in his life. Dean didn’t just kiss her with his lips. His kissed Ellen with his heart and he kissed her as if it was the last time he would ever do that. Because Dean felt for sure . . . it was.
^^^^
“Hello, young man.” George spoke softly in Josh’s room opening the black case that sat on the bed. “Uncle George has a surprise for you.” He held up a filled syringe. “Now this won’t hurt. It’s the same thing I gave Joe. Sort of gonna be like Pap for a while. It has to be done, Josh. You know too much.” He reached for the boy’s head. “And with Dean and Ellen dead in the lab, you are much too much of a threat.” He lowered the needle.
“NO!” His loud voice called into the room and before George knew it, the tiny body of Oscar came pummeling in. He knocked George over into the heating unit and sent the needle to the floor. Oscar, ignoring the grip that George had placed on his hair, snatched up the needle. With a swift elbow back into George, Oscar lifted himself from the floor, grabbed the case and flew out. He ran as fast as he could from the clinic.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dean cleared his throat as he walked up behind Ellen who just sat on the floor. Her knees bent up, her chin resting on her arm. He slipped behind her sitting down, pulling her in between his legs, letting her rest back on his chest. “I guess you and I have proved that we can’t be put alone in extreme situations.”
Ellen chuckled through her emotions. “We’ve already proven that.”
Dean put his arms around her tight, closing his eyes as her head pressed back harder against him. “Please don’t tell me you’re regretting it.”
“Aside from the fact that there isn’t any time for regrets . . . no.”
Dean swallowed. “I’m glad. I didn’t want to hear that right now.”
“I wouldn’t want to hear you say it either.” She ran her hand back and forth over his forearm. “How much longer, Dean?”
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 153
