“What did I do?”
“Why is that happening?” He pointed at Michael.
“The baby was crying, maybe?” I guessed.
“No, the baby is content.”
“Okay.” I was lost.
“Alex, no one could touch that baby. It thrashed. Michael came in here and it didn’t react. Why?”
Shit! I inwardly freaked. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know why. Okay, maybe a genetic doctor couldn’t figure it out yet, but I knew the reason. A Sleeper baby is not going to attack a Sleeper. Sleepers don’t go after Michael.
“You know,” Levi said.
“Yeah, so do you.”
“No, I’m afraid I don’t. I want to test him to see if …”
I gasped loudly and dramatically. “You’ll be damned.”
“I’m sorry. What is that?”
“I can’t believe you don’t know. You of all people. I mean, you’re from the future. I can understand Noah, because he just started speaking our language, but you … the Doctrines.”
“What about them?”
I pointed to Michael. “He’s the Holy Man. The Chosen. He rose up unharmed.”
Levi’s eyes widened. “He is the one they call the Holy Man? Why was I not told?”
“He doesn’t want to be treated differently. And that’s why he can hold the baby. God loves all creatures, big, small, and evil.”
“I see.” Levi nodded. “The scripture also states that the Holy Man was attacked by Palers. Good thing I don’t buy into scripture. In any event, with how he is right now with that child, it’s going to make another person very upset when we put it to sleep.”
For some reason, some strange, odd reason, it caused an odd twitch in my gut. Seeing the child act like a child in Mike’s arms made the decision to ‘put it down’ sound and seem so inhumane.
“Do we still need to?” I asked.
“The Second Reckoning has been underway for four months. Keeping this child is against the rules, you know that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some blood to get.”
“That baby is going to run out.”
“Not the child, your Savior.”
I held in the wince until Levi had walked inside, and then I left the clinic. He’d brought me there to tell me something was up with Michael.
I wasn’t quite sure what the Second Reckoning was, another thing new to me. The Reckoning thing, my wife.
When I walked outside, I started getting worried. Bonnie was walking up the street with Jessie.
Bonnie had joined us a year ago. She had saved a bus full of kids, all that came here from the future for a better life. A better life. Weren’t they mistaken?
She also was the one who found Keller.
Over the course of time living in Grace, Bonnie didn’t really bother with us much. She hung out with Jessie, taught her things, including how to ride a horse.
I worried because what if Bonnie were my wife? I always did have a thing for older women. I could see it. She also had a maddening glare on her face. I had to find out. Bonnie was a Montana cattle chick, rough and tough, probably the only person in Grace older than me.
They headed my way and I stepped into their path. “Morning.”
Bonnie stopped cold and stared at me. “Why are you blocking our path? You said your piece yesterday.”
Yes, I thought. Bonnie was my wife.
“I’m… I’m sorry?”
“No. Don’t worry about it. I am well aware of my responsibilities around here. Make no bones about it, Alex Sans— once Sonny settles and finds a place, I’m going. And if Mera knows what’s good for this girl, she’ll join him. Come on, honey.” She grabbed Jessie’s hand.
“Are we married?”
“Are you insane? Why would you ask me that?”
I forced a laugh. “Trying to joke?”
“It’s not even remotely funny.” She started to walk, but Jessie didn’t. “Jessie, honey, come on.”
Jessie stared at the clinic. She slowly lifted her arm and pointed at the clinic. “Baby.”
“No, no baby there.” Bonnie tugged her. “The babies are at home.”
Jessie smiled. “No, new baby.”
“I’m sure, and you can see it later. Let’s go.” Bonnie pacified her then tugged harder, pulling Jessie along.
Me, I was floored. Could Jessie mean the Sleeper baby? If so, no one really knew about it, so how did Jessie?
19.
Sonny
Leaving Grace wasn’t easy; after all I had been there a year, but it was what needed to be done. I had been thinking about it for a while. The Sleeper baby was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
I hated to go since Beck just got back. If I stayed any longer, I would be party to the slaughter of the innocents.
Not that the Sleepers were all that innocent, but they weren’t aware of what they did. That, of course, was the argument for the Reckoning. Yes, they weren’t aware, but eventually their offspring would be.
Their offspring was not my call. The future wasn’t really my concern. The here and now and the future of the kids concerned me which, according to Randy, wasn’t as bad as, let’s say the future where Levi lived.
I realize that Beck initiated and regrouped the military personnel remaining at the ARC. According to Javier he got the Secretary of State back on her horse as well. But all that... genocide of the infected wasn’t for me.
I was the man who lived in a basement bunker for months while his Sleeper-infected parents walked about the house above him.
Alex loved the idea of a Sleeper Reckoning, taking daily stats from Beck over the radio as if the death tallies were scores to sporting events.
Alex Sans. The time thing that Mera mentioned would explain his demeanor when I left. He genuinely didn’t want me to leave. He checked then double-checked that I would stay in contact. Then Alex gave me the address to his survivor haven store. Said he had a lot of things in there, and a lot of land.
He knew I was heading to Ohio. I knew Ohio, and there were places I wanted to check out. Alex asked what I planned to do if there were Sleepers at my destination.
A bridge I would cross when I got there.
Bonnie wanted to come along. “Hurry, Sonny. Find a place and hurry before winter. The Reckoning is in Oklahoma.”
I knew, however, they’d come to a stop or a delay when they hit the Great Divide.
Mera had told me about it. A huge cavern formed in the United States following all the natural disasters that occurred the fateful day of The Event. It spanned from Lake Michigan down a thousand miles south, hence why I decided to go east then north.
Two things happened as I left. One, Javier stopped me and told me, “I’m not giving up on a cure. Please keep that in mind.”
There other was a surprise passenger. I wasn’t to be traveling alone. Miles, a man I had never met and had only heard about joined me. He was waiting by the gate for a ride and said he’d explain when we got on the road.
Everyone knew him before we got to Grace. Everyone but me. All I knew of him was that he was the guy who ran the place they’d found Jessie.
He was silent in the car. A man who, despite being at the ARC, buzzed his hair. He never let his gun out of his sight and chomped on the end of an unlit cigarette, one he’d light in a little bit.
We pulled out of Grace down the dirt road and through that town nearby. A few Sleepers moved about the street, waving their hands as if they could get us when we rode by.
When we hit the highway, Miles finally told me why he decided to come.
“When The Event happened,” Miles told me, “I was working at the prison. I boarded us up in there. Then I went straight to the ARC. Locked in there. When I got here and saw that wall, I knew I couldn’t stay here long. We can’t be locked down in fear. We can’t. That ain’t no way to live. When I heard you were going, I figured why not? Plus, safety in numbers. And … I wanted to see what’s happened to the world.”
“What are your thoughts on the Reckoning?”
“I don’t know. Some ways I think it’s wrong, others, what choice do we have? They rule the world. Mindless as they are, they have control while we’re locked behind walls, scared of them. I just wanna find a place where I’m not hiding and they aren’t coming.”
“Javier told me he’s still looking for a cure. They dropped a biological weapon on Billings. If they can do that, what about a cure? Drop the cure.”
“Early stages can be fought,” Miles said. “I turned a few. Mera’s daughter for one. But here comes another problem - we cure them, and their mind is gone. They’re like babies and are gonna die anyhow. There aren’t enough of us to take care of them. So it’s a Catch-22 situation. I didn’t kill them at the prison. I kept them. I hoped a cure would be found, but I thought, honestly, that if a cure wasn’t found, they’d die. They weren’t eating, they were withering away. But they found a means to survive. Their instincts kicked in.”
I listened to what he said. Maybe my fight for life was in vain and it was a no-win situation. I myself had killed Sleepers in self-defense. However, I never went out looking to kill them.
And that was Miles’ philosophy. Don’t look for them, just kill them as they come, move on and do the best you can.
That’s what I guess I was planning on doing. Moving forward, finding a place where they wouldn’t find us, and just live.
Who knows? The eastern half of the country could be different now. No one knew, no one had been there. Miles and I would soon find out.
We moved down the highway without seeing a soul. No people, Sleepers, nothing.
Baby steps to Ohio. Put some miles behind us and then stop for the evening.
One step at a time.
20.
Mera Stevens
There are tiny moments in life that cause massive reflection. Mine came as I fought to squeeze a sponge into a tiny sippy cup. There I was, washing dishes, like I had done eighteen months earlier.
I lost everything that day. My entire being sunk to a depth that I never thought imaginable. Waking up and expecting normal only to face the biggest nightmare of my lifetime. Watching my child, my young son, convulse, then shrivel and die killed me. It killed me.
I was not the same person after that.
Any love inside of me was sectional. My love for Danny and Jessie were the same, but for Daniel, that brief moment in my grief, turning cold, it haunts me. I never imagined that Daniel, my husband and partner for decades, would no longer be with me.
Absorbed in my own loss, disregarding what Daniel felt, I wanted to be left alone.
Daniel slept and then Daniel... turned. Like most of the world.
I was grateful for my son Danny’s survival and for finding Jessie. But not only my world, but the entire world was different.
We as a race were at a loss.
For months, we lived off the land, running, sheltering, and hiding, every once in a while finding a safe place, becoming complacent, and then finding ourselves facing one wall of danger after another.
A year ago, I was still grieving. I hated the world and what it had left to offer.
It had nothing.
Sometimes the thought of death was welcoming.
A little over a year ago, I would never have imagined that I would be standing in front of a sink, washing a sippy cup, bathing daily, eating food that I prepared.
In some sort of life consolation prize, I got another shot.
Not a day goes by when I don’t think of my lost husband or precious little boy. Not a day. But now, a year later, those days of thinking of them are also filled with smiles. Filled with children that were delivered to me to protect. I savored each and every moment. Life is so precious.
I was a little saddened by Sonny’s departure. I knew I’d see him again, and I knew his quest was for the good of me and my family. But the boys, Phoenix and Keller, brought a huge amount of warmth to my heart after breakfast.
The other children were at school, and it was just the three of us.
Beck went to watch Jessie ride and spend time with her. Alex was doing whatever Alex did, and the boys were moving about the house, playing.
Yes, playing.
I had raised three children. Never in my entire life had I heard a toddler speak like Phoenix did.
He put words together to create sentences, and he comprehended more than a child his age should have. Beck attributed that to the fact that they talked and taught him constantly at the ARC, especially Miles.
They were sitting on the floor in the kitchen; Phoenix naturally taking the role of mentor. He was bringing toys to Keller’s hands, speaking to him, as if he had been prepared for a blind and deaf sibling.
Admittedly, it sent a chill up my spine.
Phoenix was a natural, as if he had never left Keller’s side. Many times as I cleaned the kitchen, I’d pause to smile at the one-sided conversation Phoenix had with Keller, wondering if it actually was all that one-sided. After all, I swore I too had heard Keller speak.
Maybe... just maybe... Phoenix heard him as well.
Just as I finished the dishes, I heard Phoenix say, “Let’s go.”
“Whoa. Wait,” I called out. “Where are you going?”
Phoenix had placed a couple toys to Keller’s chest and wrapped one of Keller’s arms around the truck and figures. He picked up his own toys. “Play.”
“Stay where I can see you. I’ll be right there.”
Phoenix nodded, and with his free hand grabbed Keller’s hand and walked into the adjacent room.
As soon as they left the kitchen, there was a single knock on the door, and Michael stepped in.
“Hey,” he said, smiling brightly.
“Hey, Michael. What brings you by? Aren’t you teaching?”
“Not yet. I wanted to see the boys. Plus I was at the clinic.” He held out his hand and showed me a bandage in the bend of his arm.
“Are you sick?”
“No, they took my blood. I held the baby and the baby … he didn’t react. He was good.”
I closed my eyes. “Michael, if they’re testing your blood …”
“I know. I don’t worry. I wanted to see Phoenix.”
“He and Keller are amazing. Wait until you see them together.” I tossed down the dishrag. “They just walked in here.” I led the way calling for the boys, but froze when I entered the empty room. Where were they?
Ten, twenty seconds, and they were gone.
“Where did they go?” Michael asked.
I shook my head and called out. “Phoenix.” I didn’t think much of it; they were two toddlers together, they probably were hiding or in another room.
“Oh my God,” Michael whispered and flew by me when he saw the front door at the end of the hall was open.
It was Grace. There were no cars to hit them, the animals were pretty far away, and they weren’t getting out of the gate.
Unless …
The back of the living section was indeed protected by the wall, but a small section was left open during the day for ease of access to the farming area.
But there was no way they could make it there.
I had forgotten how fast toddlers moved.
We looked left and right. I didn’t see them.
“Michael, go ask neighbors to help, I’m gonna run around back to see if they went to the farm area.”
“That’s a jaunt.”
“Yeah, I should be able to get them before they make it through.” I hurried around the house. They weren’t in the backyard.
I worried more about the creek that ran the edge of the property, because I didn’t see them anywhere. At that point, I started calling Phoenix’s name with every step I took. Within moments, everyone around was calling out for the babies.
I ran, headed straight to that open gate. My head was saying no way that they made it that far, but my heart and parental gut instinct said otherwise.
Racing as fast as my legs would
carry me, heart beating rapidly and breathing difficult, I had almost made it to the open section when indeed I saw them.
There they were, holding hands and happily racing across the field.
“Phoenix! Stop!” I screamed, pausing to catch my breath. Half bent over I saw that they stopped and turned to face me.
Both of them.
Grateful, I heaved in some air, hands on my knees half bent over, I lowered my head for a second, and when I lifted it not only did I see my two small boys standing with their backs to me, but a wall of Sleepers lined up on the edge of the field where it met the woods.
“Don’t move. Don’t move,” I implored them. I ran toward them and when I made my charge, so did the Sleepers. “Phoenix, run to me!” I screamed.
Neither he nor Keller moved.
I had the shorter distance, but the huge number of Sleepers were closing in. The boys were still a good fifteen feet from me. My arms extended, blood filled my ears. I wanted to cry, to scream, and then through the corner of my eye I saw a blur of a person shoot by me.
Michael passed me, charged to the boys, swept them into his arms, and shouted, “Go! Go!” He turned and ran back toward me.
It took me a second in my momentum to stop and turn, and by that point, Michael had caught me and was quickly beating me to the wall.
“Don’t look back!” he shouted. “Keep running!”
You can’t warn someone in a dangerous situation to not look down or look back, because instinctually they will. I did.
The Sleepers were catching up to me.
Michael was at the wall with the boys and crossing into the safety of Grace while I was still vulnerable. That was fine with me; he needed to get the boys safe and sound.
I can do this, I can do this.
All I saw was the opening in the wall, and I saw Michael put down the boys, holding the door, waiting on me. Sanctuary… I was close.
Just about there, a breath away from the gate, something jumped on my back. The weight and force brought me down to the ground face first. It knocked the wind from me and I could smell the horrendous sour-meets-fecal smell of the Sleeper.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, my face hitting the ground, my head bouncing back up, the force, the weight, the odor, and hands. One grabbed my hair and the other hand of the Sleeper locked on to my face. His or her fingers pulled at my mouth. The force was so fierce that I swore my skin was ripping. I tried with everything to lift, to move, and the weight of one suddenly became the weight of more. Not only was I feeling the pain of the pull, I was suffocating.
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