“Yep, but I think he’s coming back. Probably won’t matter, because you won’t know anyhow.”
“Sonny, why are you saying this? Levi has that time trip, is he…?”
“No.” I shook my head. “He’s adamant about not letting me use it. I asked. He said no. That’s not what the time machine is for. And he’s right. But something happens, Beck. Alex wasn’t supposed to die. Randy told me, because in The Doctrines he brought with him, Alex lived.”
“Maybe he came through before Alex died.”
“According to Randy, he arrived one day before the bus grabbed him. Alex had already been gone and I just wrote that passage this afternoon. So something happens, and Alex comes back. I didn’t ask for that information, that wasn’t the information I needed from The Doctrines.”
“Alex isn’t coming back, Sonny. As much as I would love that, he’s not.”
“If you say so. I know what I believe. I know what Randy said.”
“Sonny, you of all people never bought into The Doctrines, or wanted to read them. Why now? That’s why you called back Randy?”
“Yep. The Doctrines. We have the power, Beck. The complete and utter power to set a good future in stone.”
“Correct me if I am wrong,” Beck said, “but didn’t you say you didn’t care about hundreds of years in the future?”
“I did say that and that was before I knew,” Sonny said. “Control. If in 1930, the Jews had the ability to see what would be done to them, not from a future source, but had an ability to see the future, would they have done things to change it? Absolutely. The Doctrines are our glimpse. I think we’re already on the right road, but I needed to see. I needed to know what Randy’s Doctrines say now.”
“And?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t read them yet. But…” I heard Beck groan, “in the original Doctrines, you died. You know that. But something happened and you didn’t. I believe that changed the Reckoning. Originally, the Reckoning was one event, and you made it an ongoing project. It was my opinion if the Reckoning worked, Randy would not have come through, because things were good. So now we have the ability to take a glimpse of the road we took.”
“No one should know that much about the future.”
“It hasn’t happened yet,” I argued. “We have people come from a thousand years to escape extinction in a world overrun with evolved Sleepers. In Randy’s time, a mere few hundred years from now, they evolved. What the hell? What did we do? Wait... what didn’t we do? Someway, somehow, what we do right now, at this phase of the war, will determine the long run outcome.”
“I agree,” Beck said. “So by looking at The Doctrines, we can strategically see what we didn’t do or did wrong?”
“Exactly.”
“Therefore, not just winning a phase or a battle, but winning the war. Ending it before it continues.”
I glanced at him. “You know, I was Mister Humanitarian before Alex showed up torn apart. I was all for Javier making that cure, dusting it among the Sleepers and curing them. But I think that’s what did it. I think we tried to help them. I don’t know. We’ll see, but I just don’t want to end and win the war. I want to render the Sleeper population extinct. Stop that future from even remotely being possible.”
“Kill them all?”
After a brief second, I answered without emotion or even the thought of it bothering me. “Kill them all.”
17. MERA
It was quieting down. I supposed a lot of people weren’t sleeping, but it seemed later than it was and I just rested on the bed, actually, two of them Beck and I had pushed together. I was sitting up, propped on pillows.
We were in what Sonny called a ‘low security risk’ dorm, twenty bunks in each room. The dorm itself was part of a bigger building. There was one dorm per wing. The rest were one and two person cells, surrounding a main area.
Nothing was set in stone and we really hadn’t begun to make it home yet.
We had a large group we called our family. Along with Danny, Jessie and the babies, I had taken on the caretaker duties of eight more children.
I didn’t do it alone, though. Sonny was a huge help, Michael, and mostly Alex when Beck wasn’t with us.
The children had settled. Phoenix and Keller shared a bed; they curled together like twins in a womb, never without each other once Phoenix arrived home. Jessie slept near them. Danny, like Sonny and Michael, had taken a ‘security’ cell.
Beck hadn’t returned, and I was waiting on him. His supper sat covered on the nightstand next to our bed. I wondered what was taking him so long. He told me that when he returned he would be in for the night, barring any problems.
I tried to make that corner of the dorm as homey as possible and as removed as I could from the rest of the kids. Small wall lights gave a nice ‘nightlight’ glow to the room and I had an old office lamp that had illuminated the book I started to read.
Two chapters in, a minor character named ‘Alex’ graced the pages of the novel and I stopped. Placing the book next to me, I pulled out that cigar box full of pictures that I had taken from Alex’s home. I slowly shuffled through the pictures of a life I had heard him talk about. Nothing was written on the pictures, so I could never identify who they were. Except Alex’s father; I guessed it by all the fishing pictures.
“Mom,” Danny whispered.
I looked up from the box. “Hey, Sweetie. You look tired.”
“I am. I came to say goodnight.”
“Coming to bed or just getting up?”
“Bed,” Danny sighed and walked to me. “I have first watch, so please make sure I’m up.”
“I’m sure Beck will.”
Danny peered down to the box. “Where did you get these?”
“When we went to Alex’s house.”
“I laughed when I first saw this one.” Danny lifted a picture of a skinny Alex, no hair or facial hair.
“When did you see it?”
“When we were at Alex’s Haven. When we first met him.”
“He showed this to you?”
“Uh, no.” Danny smiled. “Me and Bill were snooping in his things.”
“That’s so wrong.”
“I was seventeen.” Danny leaned down and kissed me. “’Night, Mom, I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Danny walked away, looked back over his shoulder one more time, before disappearing out of the dorm room. My God, how he had grown in a couple of years. Not just height, but facially.
Just as he left the doorway, I heard the unmistakable sound of heavy walking. Boots.
I closed the lid to the cigar box, slid it under the bed and lifted my book as Beck walked in.
He lifted his hand in a wave to me, then slowly walked by each and every bunk, pausing to check the covers on the kids, and whispering good night before kissing them on the forehead.
“This is nice,” he said as he walked to our makeshift bed. He sat down with a heavy exhale and began to undo his boots.
“Tired?” I asked.
“A little. I got you something. Well, two things.”
“What’s that?”
After the slam of his second boot, Beck reached into his jacket and pulled out a pint of good bourbon.
“Oh, wow.”
“That’s a sipping booze,” he instructed. “No shots.”
“No shots.” I smiled. “Thank you.”
He took off his jacket, hung it on the end of the bed, swung his legs up, then rolled on his side to face me. He darted a kiss and then handed me a folded paper.
“A note?”
He smiled. “No, do I look like Sonny?”
“That was good.”
Beck winked. “Open it.”
“I will. Eat.” I handed him his plate. He took off the napkin and started to eat the pasta. I unfolded the paper. “Oh, it’s a map of the facility.”
“Yeah, since I figured I don’t know how long it would take for you to get to the far side of the facility.”
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“Probably never.”
“I figured as much. So look at this,” he said, pointing to a spot on the map. “A greenhouse. Jensen was jumping up and down.”
“I bet. Thank you. I’ll learn my way around.”
“Think of this place like a cruise ship, everything you need in one place.”
Beck finished the small amount of food and handed me the empty plate. As I extended my arm to the table, I grabbed the pint, opened it, took a sip and lifted it to Beck.
“Nah, I’m good,” he said then inched to me, wrapping his arm round me. “Do you mind?”
“No. Cuddle away.” It was tough, putting that pint back on the table, retrained by his hold. Before I rested it for the night, I took one more sip.
He placed his hand on my cheek, stared at me for a second then kissed me. “I love you, Mera, you know that, right?”
“I do. I love you, too, Beck.”
He closed his eyes and took a comfortable position against me. “Were the babies good tonight?”
“Very.”
“Phoenix?”
“Angel, as always.”
“Good.” Beck’s voice trailed into a groggy mode as his body leaned more against me in his comfort.
“You didn’t ask about Keller.”
Even softer, Beck said, “Keller’s not the bad one.” He sniffed and held me tighter.
“Beck? Beck, what do you mean?”
He didn’t answer. His head rested on my shoulder and the stubbles from his buzzed hair tickled my cheek. Within seconds his breathing was heavy.
I reached for the blanket and pulled it up as best as I could.
Beck was pretty much out, and his head slid down some, just as he murmured, “This is nice.”
“Yeah.” I fixed the blanket and planted my lips to the top of his head. “This is nice. Goodnight.”
I didn’t turn off the light; I wasn’t tired, not yet. I reached for the book again and enjoyed the peaceful moment.
18. SONNY
Ring.
Eight days, and I had so much accomplished at the facility, now unanimously called Haven.
Electricity on; housing units all cleaned; charged set on fence; detonator switchboxes with a key code lock built.
I really wanted to deem myself ‘the man’, but with everything, aside from the electrical death fence, I had help.
Randy was a huge help.
Ring.
The sound of the telephone echoed to me in the lobby of the main building.
“Sonny!” Bonnie answered with a snap to her voice. “Of everything, why did you bring back the phone? I didn’t miss it.”
“It’s just in house, geeze. And it’ll be so much easier than radios.”
I believe she growled at me.
“What’s for lunch?” I asked.
“Ask Patty, she’s cooking today.”
“But I called the cafeteria.”
“I’m working with Jessie.”
“Okay, well, you’re extension four-two-eight …” she hung up, “seven. Man.” I wrote down the extension for my own records, someone would want to know at some point. Feet propped up on the old reception desk, I pressed another button. Across the digital display read a four digit code.
I could hear the phone ringing from somewhere in the main building.
“Sonny!” Bonnie yelled from the hall. “No one is answering that one. Can you stop?”
“No, Randy is searching.”
Ring.
“Oh my God!” Bonnie yelled.
“She’ll appreciate this one day,” I said to myself, and finally, the ringing stopped and out of breath, Randy answered.
“Looks like a counselor’s office,” he said heavily. “How about I sit at the desk and press buttons and you run around. I’ve been doing this all morning.”
“I guess I don’t want you to have a heart attack, you are at that age. That’s cool. Come on down.”
I depressed the receiver button, and just to be annoying I called the cafeteria again.
“Sonny, I swear to God,” Bonnie said when she answered. “One more phone ringing, and I am coming down there with a frying pan and hitting you.”
“I’m finished calling for now. If the phone rings again around here, you’re welcome to do that.” I hung up.
Randy looked worse for wear, exhausted and sweaty when he arrived at the desk. He rolled up a chair and just dropped to it. “I’m too old for this.”
“You’re in great shape.”
He just peered at me.
“I’m sorry. I’m just in a really great mood.”
“And for good reason. Sonny, I need the exact coordinates. Have you spoken to Mera?”
“No. I want to wait until the very last moment, because her attitude will change, and I don’t want to draw attention. Plus, she’s not well. Twice this week I saw her going to see Javier.”
“She holds the key to where and when. You left two days earlier, and we can’t hold off doing this any longer. Tomorrow is one week since Alex passed away; any longer and we stand a chance of more ripples. Can we do it without her?”
“Probably. But she deserves to feel the dissolution of her pain when Alex comes back.”
A clearing of throat.
“Reverend.” Randy stood.
My head dropped. How long had Michael been there?
“Please don’t stand.” Michael said. “Missed you boys in services today. First service in the chapel and you didn’t show up.”
“Sorry,” I said.
“Reverend, we were getting the in house phone system running. Pretty tricky.”
“Tricky? Really?” Michael said snidely. “I’d think someone with the capabilities to… let’s say time travel, would find phones quite easy.”
“How much did you hear?” I asked.
“Enough. Why?” Michael questioned. “No, don’t answer that. I know why. How? Is Levi—”
“Randy.”
“The Doctrines state that I traveled with the means to cross time,” Randy said.
Michael whined. “Aw, Sonny. You have taken this Doctrine writing too far.”
“How?” I spun my chair to face him. “I am using the tools given to me. God gave us an edge and I am using it.”
“God didn’t give us the edge,” Michael argued.
“Oh, I beg to differ,” I told him. “Doesn’t matter, you won’t know.”
“If we succeed,” Randy added. “We may not.”
“You mean it may have been meant to be?” Michael asked.
Quickly, I corrected, “It wasn’t mean to be. Randy’s Doctrines speak of Alex being alive and I swear to you, Mike, I didn’t write that.”
Randy explained, “What would cause failure is the wrong event. See, we cannot go back and change the event that caused us to time travel in the first place. We can’t go back and change Alex’s death because his death is the reason we travel, so he would still be dead. We have to use Alex as the reason to travel to change a different event that inadvertently changes his death. Understand?”
Michael nodded. “And you can’t figure out what it is?”
“I left days earlier,” I told him. “So I don’t know. Do you? Do you know why Alex died?”
Michael folded his hands. “Sometimes, Sonny, God just has a plan.”
“Oh, stop. Don’t throw God at me.”
“Sonny,” Randy scolded. “Please, have respect.”
“That’s alright,” Michael said. “I don’t understand what you are looking for. He was attacked.”
“Other than that,” Randy said, “what would be perfect would be another person who did something that may have triggered events leading to his death. We change that, we may save Alex.”
“So can you think of anything?” I asked. “Other than God.”
There it was. That reverend look of scolding on his face. I was getting that a lot.
“Honestly?” Michael asked. “Yes. You, Sonny.”
“Me?” I c
huckled, then I realize he wasn’t joking. “How?”
“The baby.” Michael shifted his eyes. “The baby remember?”
I sat back. My hands shot to my face.
“Yeah,” Michael continued and then told the story to Randy. “Sleepers were massing. We learned this after Sonny left. They attacked at the wall and we went out and looked. There were so many, we started prepping buses and trucks. The only reason I went to that town was to blow them up, and Alex came because it was to rescue Jessie.”
“I’m lost,” Randy said. “Sonny was gone.”
“Maybe I’m to blame too, but Sonny was the catalyst.”
Defeated, I continued, the story. “Alex and I were attacked by Sleepers when we saw one giving birth. Alex wanted to kill the Sleeper child right there, but I stole it and brought it to the community.”
“The community voted to put the child to sleep,” Michael said. “I argued, but the attack on the back wall sealed it. Jessie stole the baby to return it to the Sleepers.”
“So the Sleepers were coming for the infant?” Randy asked.
“No.” Michael shook his head. “They didn’t want it. They crushed the child’s skull and took Jessie. They were coming for us anyhow. Jessie was our delay, not their starting bell. Had there been no infant, Jessie would have never left our walls to return the baby. Alex never would have gone after her and been attacked. So your catalyst is you, Sonny. Find yourself. Don’t let that baby in the walls. Tell yourself to…” his head dropped.
I folded my hands in prayer fashion, squeezing my own fingers until they were white. I brought my knuckles to my face and exhaled. “Let Alex kill the infant.”
I closed my eyes tightly. I had left Grace because of their lack of humanity and now I was going back to bring about the very inhumane act I had fought so diligently against.
19. MERA
The weather was warm and clear. I felt really good after Michael’s first service. He announced that we would have Alex’s memorial in a week, taking the bus to Alex’s home to do it graveside. I really liked that idea.
The constant ringing of telephone was like pleasant music to my ears. Keep ringing, I thought. Sonny had taken a break I suppose, but I waited for it to begin again.
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