“But it’s…”
“I promise you,” Alex said.
I saw it in his eyes and I believed what he said. But then I looked beyond him to the mass of Sleepers. So many. Too many. I was frightened for my child and my heart ached. It felt like someone had plunged a fist into my chest and squeezed my heart. I wanted to die.
My daughter. My poor daughter. What she was going through, what she must have felt and was feeling.
Emotionally spent, my legs buckled and I dropped to my knees. Yes, they said they’d have a plan. Yes, Alex said he’d get my daughter. But as I looked out below to the throngs of Sleepers, I had only one question.
How?
30.
Sonny
A trip that should have taken four hours on a barren highway, no rules, no police, took six. Miles and I ran into a failed exodus just outside of Memphis. Cars were everywhere. It was a familiar sight in every city.
The exodus wasn’t to leave but to get help.
The day the children died, everyone sought assistance. Very few found it through the massive traffic jams; no one received the help needed.
There was none.
I was hoping to get a glimpse of the Great Divide, but that would take backtracking. We’d missed it by two hundred miles and headed northeast.
There were a lot of things we saw that first ten hours.
Cars, cities burned, small towns flattened by what looked like tornados. A world without technology took the world back in ecology. Trees didn’t just grow, they crowded the road. Food grew as well; corn fields were wild but fertile. We even stopped at a plum tree.
Four times on our journey we stopped for fresh vegetables. It was amazing.
We stopped for other things, too. We needed to stock up. I hoped the place we were going had items remaining.
Yes, we saw a lot of things, except … Sleepers.
Like Randy had said, in his time, east of the Great Divide, was a free zone.
Once we passed Memphis, we didn’t see a single Sleeper.
Had they left or did they simply die?
Not seeing the creatures that threatened our existence was only one odd thing. The other was a radio call. Crackling with static, the signal was weak. It was the last radio call. I knew it. The distance would grow too far and I didn’t have the means like the ARC did. I wished I would have known about the lack of Sleepers. I would have conveyed that.
I didn’t place the radio call, Danny did. He radioed to tell me and rattle about how he was having the bus all ready to go. Packed with supplies. He wanted to know if I knew my destination.
I did. Eastern Ohio, a piece of property not only surrounded by a fence, but by farm land. A facility I knew well, the Indian River Juvenile Correction facility. It was one of two places I spent time as a youth. The other was in Kentucky. Ironically, the Ohio one was only about twenty miles, maybe less from Alex’s survival haven.
How cool was that?
The fence would safeguard us, but it wasn’t a wall. It was far enough removed that we’d not run into the Sleepers. I envisioned Alex riding his motorcycle, feeling the freedom that he deserved, that all of us deserved. For those I loved; those who were no longer just my friends but now my family.
God gave us this earth and we failed it. Perhaps we could set it straight.
Danny asked directions, as if he were leaving soon. I found the urgency odd and asked why and he said… Keller told him.
Why something so ludicrous didn’t faze me, I don’t know. Actually, yes, I do. Because I was one of the very few who still believed that the whole thing was God’s doing.
It was too prophetic. All the children dying at the same time, the same day, the same way. Natural disasters swept across the land.
Those who claimed to be from the future were, I think, angels sent to lead us into a different way of thinking.
In any case, The Event led to faith with those who didn’t believe. Suddenly everyone turned to God. I bet there wasn’t a single parent out there, atheist or not, who didn’t pray to a higher power as they watched their child die.
My wife prayed, and she always claimed there was no God. Then again, she died.
Our child died.
Every child, born or unborn, died except those two babies.
One perfect and beautiful, the other marred and different, both with gifts. How can one even remotely not consider that a higher power didn’t have a hand in it?
So Keller telling Danny to go didn’t surprise me.
They were spared and had been spared for reason. To lead this world? To be the future? But if a higher power or God was the reason for it all, then like everything in the Bible, there was a balance. A yin and yang, a good and bad.
In a sense it was frightening. If the babies were saved by a higher power, I wondered if that balance applied to them.
Two babies. One perfect. One not. Yin. Yang.
Good …bad.
31.
Alex Sans
Physically, I was there. Mentally and emotionally I was a divided soul. I saw where Beck was coming from, calculating what he needed to do. All I kept thinking about was Jessie.
She had to be frightened. I know Jessie. She was crying. I could see her in my mind huddled in a corner somewhere, wondering why we had abandoned her.
“Alex,” Beck called. “Are you with us?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. A dozen men were in the room, planning a save and attack. I knew why Michael was there, not because he was security but because he was the only option. At least to Beck.
“Area spreads out seven, eight more blocks,” Beck explained. “We assume they cover that area as well. More seem to be arriving by the hour. Our ground Reckoning forces are still two days away. We can’t hit them by air, even though that would do.”
“We can’t hit them at all until we get Jessie out of there,” I said.
“And we will.”
“We’re wasting time.”
“Time has to work for us. Sleepers are most volatile at night and early morning. They seem to rest mid-day. That’s when we go in. We’re taking them out from within. Take them all out. After we get Jessie.”
“Every second we stand here is a second Jessie could die.”
Beck shook his head. “I don’t believe that. They took her because she’s a Sleeper. She’s down there, probably lost within them. We just need to find her.”
Another man spoke up. “With all those Sleepers it could be like finding a needle in a haystack.”
I shook my head in disgust. “I’ll find her.”
“No,” Beck said. “Michael will.”
It took everything I had not to scream out loud. I wanted to go now, right now, and get her. I didn’t give a shit about Sleepers or the dangers.
Beck continued, "Michael will set the explosives that will take out the town. After he plants them, he’ll look for Jessie. He can slip in and out without notice.”
“He scares them. I saw it, you saw it,” I said. “No offense, Mike.”
Michael waved out his hand. “None taken.”
“Are you able to do this?” I asked Michael.
“I’m pretty sure I can,” Michael replied.
“How are you sure?” I questioned. “Are you positive, confident? This is Jessie. I need to know.”
“What do you want me to tell you, Alex?” Michael asked.
“Mera seems to think you’re special. That you’re chosen, some sort of prophet, son of God, savior. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. Maybe you are bound by some sort of heavenly law that you can’t say. But if you are any of those things, I beg you to tell me. I need to know.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Alex,” Michael slowly shook his head. “I’m just a man.”
“That’s not good enough. Just a man can’t do it alone. I want to go.”
“No.” Beck stepped in. “Alex, I know—”
“You know nothing.” I swung out my arm, stepping back, fueled with raging emotions. “Nothin
g, Beck. You haven’t been here. Yeah, you saved Jessie. Yes, you were there. But so was I, and I have been here. For a year. I was here when she was sick, read her stories every night, drew with her, nursed her through that broken arm when she took her first tumble from a horse. I have been here. She is my family. It is killing me that she’s out there. Michael can’t do this alone. He can’t. No one can.”
“Sending anyone else in there is taking a chance of losing that person. They outnumber us. They’ll tear a normal man apart, Beck said. “Getting Jessie out, destroying the town can be done. It can. It also has to be done by Michael. I’m sorry, it’s our only option.”
“I don’t believe that,” I said. “I don’t. I’m sorry. There’s always other options.” I turned. “Excuse me.” I wasn’t needed at the meeting. It was pretty much about what Michael was going to do.
Something Beck said struck a chord with me, a crazy, insane chord. I left the room and, late hour or not, I sought out Levi and Javier. Outlandish, stupid, possibly even suicidal. But I had an idea.
* * *
“Alex, my God,” Levi stumbled back.
“It’s insane,” Javier added. “Really it is.”
I knew that. They didn’t need to reiterate it, because nothing they said would change my mind. Insane? Insane was what I was feeling inside. I couldn’t even begin to verbally convey how twisted and emotional I felt. Guilt over the baby, sad and scared for Jessie. The inner turmoil was unreal, I was screaming inside with every beat of my heart, every breath I took. If what I felt was only a percentage of what Mera felt when she first was looking for Jessie, then I haven’t a clue how she did it.
“Can it be done? Or am I asking for something impossible?”
Javier looked at Levi before answering. “Yes. But I don’t know what the timeframe is. Hours perhaps.”
A single knock on the door brought Beck into the living room with us. I sighed. What was he doing there?
“Alex?” Beck walked in. “What’s going on?”
I didn’t want anyone to know. I suppose Beck had to know; I would ask him to keep it between us, though.
“I’m about to get an answer,” I told him then faced Javier again. “So will you do it? Will you turn me into a Sleeper?”
There was a pregnant pause, and another exchange of glances between Javier and Levi, and then, finally, Javier solemnly looked at me. “Yes.”
“What? No!” Beck blasted. “No. Alex, are you fucking insane?”
“Well, that’s the million dollar question tonight, isn’t it?” I smiled nervously. “I guess I am.”
Beck shook his head. “Are you getting the virus and then hope they turn you back?”
I replied. “No. I’m getting it in hopes of not being sensed by them and getting Jessie back. I can’t find that needle in the haystack if I’m a big pitchfork sticking out. I’ll be the hay as well. Michael can’t do this alone. He can’t. He scares them, Beck; what if they turn on him?”
“I won’t allow it,” Beck stated emphatically. “Alex, my God, you’re my friend. You’re Mera’s friend. A father to Keller. Come on …” He spoke from his soul and I felt it. “Please. Please. I can’t let you do this.”
“Beck, you don’t have a choice. I have to get her. I have to be the one.”
“Why?”
“Because we brought that baby here. It was my fault. I love Jessie, Beck, and this is crushing me. I’m doing this.”
“Then what?” Beck asked and looked at Javier. “It takes hold and he turns into one of them? Then what, Alex?” He stared deeply at me. “I’m supposed to put a bullet in my friend? No.”
“It may not happen like that,” Javier interjected. “Alex has a very low resistance to the infection. We saw that with the bite. It takes hold rapidly with him. This will take hold. He’ll probably start exuding the Sleeper pheromones four hours post infection. It will embed immediately in his DNA. Hours after that, it is complete.”
Beck tossed out his hands. “So for sure he’s turning.”
“Not really,” Javier answered. “I spent a good part of the day extracting a different virus sequence. It’s different, not like the baby or our infected. It’s an evolved form. Evolution got a hold of this one. I’m hoping to make it a cure. I’ll infect you with that. You’ll still be a Sleeper, but I’m hoping not the type that runs around out there. But I can’t guarantee it.”
I asked, “Where did you get this from?”
“Michael.”
I hurriedly looked at Beck then squinted my eyes in confusion. “Levi, you said he wasn’t a Sleeper.”
“He’s not… technically,” Levi answered. “He wasn’t infected. Like our baby, he was born with it. I recognized the genetic markers. It is the same as the evolved Palers of our time.”
Okay. I was confused even more. I couldn’t even speak. What was going on?
Thank God, Beck asked, “How is Michael carrying a thousand-year-old gene sequence? I saw his baby pictures in a scrapbook. I saw all kinds of pictures of him and newspaper clippings.”
Levi explained, “The Doctrines tell of a baby born that is the cure. The baby could be Michael. We know for a fact the Doctrines were misinterpreted. Time travel has been around a long time. It’s possible that he was a mutant. He was shunned at birth by Palers and taken by our kind. I know that happens. It’s possible he was sent back. Who knows? I’m guessing here. Only Michael would know. Or not.”
Javier continued, “Maybe that is why Michael is never touched by the Sleepers.”
“Well,” I exhaled. “At least that mystery is solved.”
“This is not a joke, Alex,” Beck scolded. “This is serious. We don’t know how it will react in you. This could be the end for you.”
“But it won’t be for Jessie. I’ll get her. This is our only chance. Besides… it’ll be fine. I feel it. I’m getting it from Michael.” I repeated the name with a confident smile. “Michael. The dude is amazing. So how can something bad come from someone so good?”
I saw it in Beck’s face. His eyes glossed over slightly. His jaw twitched. My big friend was overly emotional, and it moved me. He wasn’t convinced by what I said, but he knew he didn’t have a choice.
My mind was made up.
In a few short hours, I was going to be a Sleeper.
32.
Mera Stevens
Something was up. I felt it. I was hoping when I saw Beck and Alex walking toward the house in the still dark early morning hours that they didn’t have bad news about Jessie.
They had been gone a good while.
I had been crying so much that I was unable to sleep; no amount of drinking was even soothing the pain I felt over Jessie. What must have been going through her mind broke my heart. Was she hurt? I prayed she wasn’t. I know she was cold. All she had on was that flowery dress.
Watching through the window, I flung open the door as soon as I saw Beck and Alex step to the porch. I rushed to Beck, throwing my arms around him.
“I was worried,” I said. “You were gone a long time.”
“We had to get things ready. We’re going in to the town in a few hours. I needed to set up a watch, cover the wall… Just a lot of details.”
“I’m scared, Beck.”
“I know you are. Just remember, okay? Remember that woman I met a year and a half ago. Remember her and how determined and strong she was. I need you to be that woman, right now.”
I nodded.
“And… I’m going to let you two talk alone.”
That was odd. It was my confirmation that something indeed was going on.
Once Beck stepped inside the house, Alex sighed heavily.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
“I just need you to hear it from me. I’m going in with Michael tomorrow to get Jessie.”
Two emotions hit me at that second. Fear, because I knew Michael was immune from a Sleeper attack and Alex wasn’t. And relief, because I believed with all of my heart if anyone could get my d
aughter, Alex could.
“Alex, I can’t expect you to put your life on the line for Jessie.”
“She’s a part of my life, Mera.” He scratched his head as if messing up his dark hair would somehow give him the right words. “When I met you, you were looking for her. We found her. I got this connection with her because I believed I could help her. I’ve watch her progress so much this past year. I can’t sit by and put it in anyone’s hands. I have to go, because I have to know it will be done right.”
As he always did, Alex drummed up feelings in me, and that moment was no different. I threw my arms around him and held him.
“Forgive me for not trying to talk you out of this. Please forgive me,” I whispered in his ear. “I know you’ll do it. I honestly believe with all of my heart that you’ll do it.”
Alex pulled back from the embrace, his face close to mine. He placed his hand on my cheek and locked his eyes into mine, speaking with strong conviction. “I will get her back to you. I will. I promise you, if it’s the last thing I do…” his voice cracked. “I’ll bring her home.”
33.
Alex Sans
I didn’t want to go to sleep. I was scared to. Afraid that the Sleeper infection would kick in while I slept, just like it had to most of the world. Because of that I stayed awake. I spoke to Danny about staying behind during the rescue, just in case. I stopped in and saw every single one of the kids. Phoenix and Keller were last.
I prayed I could watch them grow up. While not related by blood, they acted like twins. Holding hands while the slept. Keller was precious to me; I couldn’t have loved him more if he were my own flesh and blood. Phoenix was special too, but I’d spent that year with Keller.
It had crossed my mind, with a lot of guilt, that Keller was the cause of everything that was happening. After all, he was communicating with me, Mera and Jessie. Phoenix told Jessie that Keller called the Sleepers. After some thought, I realized that was wrong. If Keller was the cause, then why now? Why a year later?
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