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

by Jacqueline Druga

  “With pleasure.” Henry held up his hand. “The scene: It’s evening in a dark chapel lit only by candles. Reverend Bob is praying, saying those things to God he always does. The slow, steady footsteps draw Rev. Bob’s attention away from his heaven chat. He turns around and sees a solemn George . . .”

  “Reverend.” George’s voice was soft as he walked up to him.

  “What is it my child? You seem troubled?” Reverend Bob stood up.

  “I am. I have sinned. I have to confess.”

  “Step this way.” Reverend Bob pointed to the confessionals . . . .

  Robbie’s loud laughter interrupted Henry’s story. “Henry, we don’t have confessionals in the chapel.”

  “Oh.” Henry took on a thinking look.

  “And Reverend Bob is non-denominational,” Robbie said.

  “But George can still confess. O.K., that one’s out.” Henry shrugged. “But…” He held up his finger. “Try this.” Henry nodded. “The scene: The tunnels, say three years ago. Reverend Bob is walking, taking a stroll. He sees George standing there in the tunnel, holding a map and a flash light. He’s staring at the wall that the cryo . . .”

  “Stop!” Joe hollered out. “This is ridiculous, Henry. No one went in those tunnels back then except maintenance and security. No one still does with the exception of medical people. They hate them. So give me some dedication or sit down.”

  “I’m trying to Joe.”

  “But you’re not making any sense. You’re reaching.”

  “That’s because I’m trying to get to the good part of my story and the middle part is missing.”

  Joe halted Dean and Robbie’s moaning. “Henry, the good part?”

  “Yes. The part where Rev. Bob is in his living room and George has a gun to his head.”

  “What!” Joe, Robbie, and Dean shout it at the same time.

  Joe lifted some from his seat. “Where the hell is that coming from?”

  “My story.” Henry watched Joe sit down, looking so frustrated. “No, Joe, listen. Picture it. A frightened Reverend Bob. An angry George. A gun pressed tightly to the temple of the God fearing man.” Henry rambled on with his story . . .

  “George.” Rev. Bob spoke shaking. “No. Please. It’s not right.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “They’ll know you did this. Who else will they blame?”

  “I have my out and I will not chance you opening your mouth.”

  “I merely said . . .”

  “You merely said I should leave if I’m going to keep this up,” George spoke angrily. “I really think you may talk. You can’t talk. I can’t take that chance. I’ve worked too hard.”

  “I promised you years ago. I’ve kept it.” Rev. Bob swallowed harshly.

  “Yeah, but since the scientists left and Ellen and Frank told what happened, you’ve been nervous.”

  “It’s your imagination.”

  “Imagination or not, it’s a chance I won’t take.”

  Rev. Bob heard the clicking of the hammer. “No wait!” He shouted. “You can’t! I’ll do anything. I won’t say anything. I haven’t. Please, we go back a long way you and . . .”

  “Stop!” Joe held up his hand to Henry. “Very dramatic. Nice flare and facial expressions. But…they go back a long way?” Joe chuckled. “That’s reaching. Rev. Bob goes back as far as any other survivor would go, as far as the moment they walked in the gates.”

  “No Joe.” Henry shook his head. “Not at all. I can prove it.”

  “How?” Joe asked.

  “Remember yesterday when I took Reverend Bob’s radio apart? I went back this morning to put it all together again. Guilt maybe. He is a man of the cloth. I overheard a conversation coming from the chapel. I guess Rev Bob didn’t know I was there. The other voice I couldn’t quite make out. But Reverend Bob said, ‘With all that’s going on now, I can’t take a chance. Please do not say anything about it.’ So . . .” Henry smiled and walked toward the back of Joe’s office. “I was curious. I snuck around the back of the chapel to see who was coming out. I found this person and when I saw who it was, something clicked in me. That happens, Joe. I’m that type of guy.”

  Joe waved his hand to Henry to hurry him along. “Move it on, Henry.”

  “O.K.” Henry walked to the waiting room door in Joe’s office. “Now Joe, I promised him what he’s going to tell you guys won’t get beyond this room” Henry dropped his voice to a whisper. “I had to blackmail him and . . . Robbie, he has two of your dirty magazines in exchange.”

  “No!” Robbie stood up. “I only have ten.”

  “Eight now.” Henry opened the door and peeked his head out. “Come on out. Sorry it took so long but they were giving me a hard time.”

  Forrest Caceres walked from the back room. “That es ah rut An-ray. Quit ah rut.” Forrest cleared his throat in nervousness.

  Dean snickered. “You hid Forrest in the back?”

  Joe looked over. “Henry, what is going on? No one is to know what . . .”

  “He doesn’t.” Henry stated. “He’s only going to tell you one thing and then he will leave. Go on Forrest tell them what you told me. I will keep my word.”

  Forrest looked at Joe and the others. “I woos telling An-ray dat I remember de rev-run. He woos de officiating rev-run at de lust conference for de so-sigh-et-tee. De sum one dat senator Had-ley woos ut.”

  Total shock and silence took over. Henry smiled. He walked Forrest to the office door. “Thank you, Forrest. That will be all.”

  “Un you woo nut tell hum uh tud you.”

  “No.” Henry shook his head. “Thank you.” After Forrest had left Henry faced the room. “Dedication, maybe. Connection, definitely. Oh yes!” Henry clenched his fist and drew it into him with excitement. “George knew Rev. Bob, Rev Bob knew George. Rev Bob also knew that George was involved in the Society. Ha!”

  Joe looked pleased and then he looked at Dean and Robbie. “I say Rev. Bob stays. Any objections?” Joe received no answer. “I didn’t think so.”

  ^^^^

  For some reason, she didn’t know why, Ellen hummed a tune unfamiliar to her. She didn’t know where she had heard it before or even if she made it up. But it was peaceful and it slipped from her softly, barely heard as she sat in her chair staring out the window. She didn’t put much thought into why she hummed the song but she wouldn’t remember Andrea singing it to her just the day before. Ellen’s concentration was on the small grade that sat in the distance behind center town, a grade that could be seen on the east side of the clinic. A familiar site to Ellen, one she watched many times from the lab.

  The somber look changed from her face and her mouth opened. She could see the white tee shirt and green military pants walk over the small hill. The brown shoulder harness and the straight walk he had with his arms swaying caused Ellen to stand up. She moved to the window quickly, laying her hands on the glass. It was cool and her nose pressed near it, watching him walk closer and closer. She smiled. “Frank.” She gasped his name, “Frank.” Then she saw it was Robbie. He must have spotted her in the window because he waved. Ellen smiled, but it wasn’t genuine, more like disappointed. She returned the wave to him. She stepped back, slowly sat down, her face returned to being lost and Ellen resumed her window watching while she hummed the song again.

  ^^^^

  Binghamton, Alabama

  Kyle, Link, and Jeff, awaited their interrogations as they sat in the holding room The Society had placed them in. The door opened and Ted was harshly tossed in to the floor. They gathered around him to help their injured fellow UWA soldier. Lt. Merrick then stepped in.

  He looked at the men on the floor surrounding Ted. “Two words. Kingman, Arizona.” Suddenly he watched the three of them look in horror at Ted and back away. Lt. Merrick smiled arrogantly. “That’s what I thought. Thank you, gentlemen.” Lt. Merrick stepped from the room.

  When they saw the lieutenant was gone. Link, Kyle, and Jeff returned to Ted.

&
nbsp; Link helped him up. “Good job, but man, your face is messed up.”

  “Thanks.” Ted grabbed his face. He could barely speak through his swollen lips. “So you think he fell for it?”

  Link smiled. “Hook, line, and sinker…don’t look like none of us are getting beat for at least a day or two. Thanks, man.” Link gave a pat to Ted’s back causing a moan and Link laughed.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  “Do you remember, Ellen?” Jenny asked as she sat next to Ellen by the window.

  “No.”

  “Dean says the fresh air will do you good. I have the wheelchair outside. It’s a beautiful fall day. Perfect.”

  “No.” Ellen shook her head.

  “But I thought you would love to see all the men in the community that I know are gay but never tell.”

  “I would, just not today,” Ellen said sadly, staring. “Not yet. Can I do it another day?”

  “Sure.” Jenny laid her hand on Ellen’s. “Can I watch the window with you?”

  “I’d like that.”

  Joe stood shaking his head as he looked into Ellen’s room. He stepped back away from the door and turned to Dean. “She’s been in the same place since early this morning.”

  “Yep,” Dean told him. “She only got up to take a shower and a short walk around the room then she seemed restless and wanted to sit down again.”

  “Has she eaten?” Joe asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “I can’t believe she’s passing up a chance to see all the closet gay men in this community. That is such an Ellen thing to do.”

  “I know. Henry tried to get her to go out. If she wasn’t sitting by that window, I would push it. But she keeps staring out and…and she says she’s afraid to leave the room.”

  “Well I’m not gonna push her,” Joe stated. “She’ll know when she’s ready and something is telling her she’s not ready.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “I am.” Joe nodded. “I think I’ll go in there and talk to her, see what she says to me.”

  Dean stopped Joe as he moved to the door. “Don’t ask her too much, Joe.”

  “I won’t.” Joe shook his head. “I’m gonna talk to her, that’s all.” He walked into Ellen’s room and stopped by the bed, just behind the chairs. “Jenny, can I uh, see Ellen alone?”

  “Sure, Joe.” Jenny stood up. “Ellen, I’ll be by tomorrow. Maybe you’ll feel up to it then.”

  “Maybe.” Ellen only shifted her eyes to Jenny briefly.

  “O.K.” Jenny stayed chipper and walked by Joe.

  Joe grabbed her arm and whispered. “Shut the door.”

  Jenny nodded and left, closing the door like Joe requested.

  With his breaths precluding his approach, Joe walked up to Ellen. He moved the chair right next to her and sat down. He watched as she kept staring out the window. “Sweetheart, we have to talk.”

  “Did you know this is almost the same view as from the lab? Did you?”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ellen . . .”

  “I used to…I used watch out that window too. When Frank was done making his rounds and he would head into town, I could see him coming over that grade. See?”

  “Yes.” Joe got up and shut the blind.

  “Joe!” Ellen shrieked. “No.” She sprang from her chair, reaching for the blind. Joe stopped her. “No Joe.”

  “Ellen.” Joe grabbed her hand.

  “No Joe, I have to see or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  “Or else I’ll miss seeing him coming over the grade. Let me open the blind.”

  “Ellen.” Joe grabbed her shoulders and turned her from the window. “Frank is not coming over that grade.”

  “He is. He will. He’ll be back over that grade in time.” Ellen spoke emotionally, “because nothing stops Frank. Nothing.”

  “Ellen, did The Society stop my son?” Joe asked in a low voice. Ellen’s eyes moved to him. “What happened to Frank out there?”

  Ellen didn’t answer. Her lip quivered.

  “Ellen, I shouldn’t ask you but I need to know and you’re the only one who has any answers. What happened to my son?” Joe asked with passion.

  Ellen’s mouth opened no words came out. “He’ll get away.”

  “Do you think they have him?”

  “They have to Joe and he’ll get away from them.”

  “So you saw them take him?” Joe questioned.

  Ellen just stepped back and sat down.

  “Ellen, you saw them take him, right? This is why you know he’s coming back.”

  “When they had captured us both,” Ellen spoke sadly, “he tried every means to get us away. He was,” Ellen smiled, “he was such a Frank.”

  Joe sat down next to her.

  “But I held him back,” Ellen said. “I think I did. He thinks so quickly and I move slowly. Now that he’s alone, I’m sure he’ll get away. I’m sure of it.”

  “How did they take him? Did you see? Was he gone maybe when you woke up?”

  Ellen shook her head.

  Joe watched her eyes water up. “There’s something you aren’t telling me, but I have to tell you something. I know he was hurt.”

  Ellen quickly looked at him.

  “Did you know that?”

  Ellen looked back at the window even though the blind was down.

  “You do.”

  “How . . . how do you know?” Ellen asked.

  “The clothes you were wearing and the sheet you came back in were covered in Frank’s blood. Dean told . . .” Joe stopped because at that moment Ellen broke down and cried. “What happened to my son, Ellen? Please?”

  With her face streaked with the tears that fell so fast, Ellen sniffled and looked at Joe. “He was sick, Joe. I’ve never seen Frank so sick, so we couldn’t move any further. We were sitting outside hoping you guys would spot us and when he stood up . . . it happened so fast. When he stood up,” Ellen’s eyes closed, “they shot him.” Her words transformed into emotional ones. “And they kept on shooting him until he went down.”

  Joe’s hand slid down his face slowly, his eyes raised above his fingers. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too Joe.”

  “I thought…I thought for sure he was alive. I felt like he was alive. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.” Joe’s breath left him, his mouth dropped open, and his eyes closed. “Dear God, Frank is dead.”

  “No!” Ellen said so strongly. “No, he’s not.”

  “Ellen, you just said. Sweetheart, you said he was shot. You said you didn’t see them take him.”

  “Yes, I know what I said but I also know Frank. I know how much he can take and he can take more than they gave him.”

  “You said they gunned him down.”

  “But I know, Frank,” Ellen murmured. “I know him. I know him. I feel him.” She quickly looked at Joe. “And you’d feel it too if he were gone. He’s alive.”

  “Ellen, maybe we just . . .”

  “No Joe!” Ellen shouted. “If there’s a person on the face of this earth that Frank shares his soul with, that person is me. If he were dead, I’d be dead. We are not meant to live on this earth without each other. Like closely connected twins, like the old people that die within days of each other, like the Andersons, that is me and Frank. The moment he dies, I will die. There is no doubt in my mind about that. I’m still alive, so is he.” Ellen spoke calmly. “He just might need our help and we are sitting here, but he won’t wait forever for us. You know Frank.” Ellen stood up and opened the blind. “He’ll say fuck us and find his own way home and for that I am waiting.” She sat back down. “Everyone is so damn certain Frank is dead. If everyone wants me to believe that then someone better bring me his body, because until they do, I will never be convinced and I will spent the rest of my life…”

  “Looking out the window for him?”

  “Yes.”

  �
�Oh that’s ridiculous,” Joe snapped. “Do you hear how ridiculous you sound?”

  Ellen’s eyes widened. She looked insulted that Joe took that tone with her. “Joe, I . . .”

  “You were hurt, for that I am sorry. You saw the love of your life get shot down. I’m also sorry for that. You hid from the pain until you were able to come out, until you started to heal. If you were depressed over what happened to you, or distraught over Frank’s death, or still sick, I would give you all the compassion in the world. You have my compassion for what you’ve gone through. My heart breaks for you but I will not let you sit here staring out a goddamn window looking for my son.” Joe’s tone rose as he paced in front of her. “It’s stupid and it sounds like something from a bad plotted chick flick.”

  Ellen gasped. “Joe . . .”

  “Here I was thinking you only were staring out the window in thought over what had happened. Mental patients are drawn to the light.”

  “Mental patients?”

  “Yes, so I thought you couldn’t help yourself but you can.” Joe was near yelling. “You’re waiting for Frank. Did it ever occur to you that he wouldn’t come over that stupid grade anyhow? When my son comes back, it’s gonna be because I brought him back or he came to the gate. Either way you are gonna know about it long before he comes over that hill and you’ll be waiting.”

  “You just said ‘when’.”

  “Damn right I said when, not if. I thought from the moment you came back that he was taken. I guess…” Joe calmed down and sat next to her. “I guess I had to get a confirmation through your adamancy, that’s all. We’ll find him. We just don’t know where to look. And who in the hell are the Andersons?”

  “They were this old couple who both survived the plague. From what I could see through the pictures, they were married a lot of years. They died close to each other.”

  Joe blinked. “O.K. What brought them up?”

  “We stayed at their farm so Frank could get some rest. It was so beautiful, Joe. A big front porch that . . .”