Shunning my minor obligation to close the gate, I followed the truck.
* * *
Seven hours.
Not that the surgery took that long, but it was seven hours before I knew anything about Sonny. I was so grateful that Javier was able to operate.
Beck’s explanation of ‘We ran into Sleepers’ wasn’t good enough for an explanation. It was vague. No shit, you ran into Sleepers. I hated the fact that those in charge hid the truth from us like we were fragile beings. Maybe Patty, Lenore and the other original women from Grace wanted to be sheltered, but I didn’t.
Bonnie had brought me some soup, because I wasn’t leaving the infirmary until I heard something.
The surgery was a success, but I wanted to know how Sonny was doing.
At about the seven hour mark, Beck returned and sat with me. Randy and Michael were taking care of the children.
“What happened, Beck, really? And don’t give me the ‘we ran into Sleepers’ crap.”
“Mera, that is what happened. What more can I tell you?”
“You can tell me how four men, three of whom have been handling Sleepers for two years, can be attacked like this. You aren’t amateurs. You are pros with guns.”
“And we were ambushed.”
“Ambushed, by Sleepers.”
“Mera, they were… we underestimated them. Eight of them stood in the road and instead of running them over, we decided to shoot. When we were doing that, God, I don’t know, another eight jumped the truck when we were focused on the ones in the road.”
“They planned an attack?”
“Yes, and I don’t understand. How? How can they plan an ambush?”
“Were you on a main road?”
“Does it matter? It was as if they knew we were coming. And no, we weren’t on a main road. We saw a group of them massing and went around.”
I saw it in his eyes, he was concerned. Was it the ambush? The large group of Sleepers? “Beck, maybe they were in the mountains and saw you coming?”
He turned his head toward me. “This is Ohio. I’d say they had radios, but they don’t talk. That’s what’s scaring me.”
‘You think they’re communicating somehow?”
“Yes.”
“How?” I asked. “If they don’t talk then how?”
It was then that Levi’s voice entered the room and answered that question. “With their minds.”
Both Beck and I looked at him.
“How’s Sonny?” I asked, standing up. “No one will tell us anything. Not even Alex.”
“Alex is playing recovery room nurse. Sonny is in recovery. He’ll be alright. I wasn’t sure when he came in, but Sonny is tough.”
“What exactly is Sonny’s condi—”
“You said they used their minds?” Beck cut in.
“In my time, in the future, yes,” Levi replied. “That is how advanced they were. Not only physically but mentally, and they could communicate telepathically.”
Telepathically. I hated the sound of that immediately and walked to the window. I wish they would stop, just stop talking about telepathic Sleepers.
“But these Sleepers, they are originally us. Not evolved,” Beck said.
“We don’t know when they acquired the ability. Who knows? Maybe it’s a byproduct of the virus. Maybe it’s only a few and that’s all they need to send messages. One Sleeper with the ability can call an army. It could even be the new generation.”
“Could it be a child?” Beck asked.
That caused me to turn in haste from staring out the window. “That’s ridiculous,” I said. “A child, even a Sleeper child, wouldn’t know to speak with his mind if he never heard anyone around him speak. Sleepers don’t speak and we know from Jessie their minds don’t process words.”
Beck stared at me. I mean he really stared at me, as if his eyes conveyed asking me, what I was doing. “Mera, you told me that Kel—”
“Mera’s right,” Levis interrupted. “A Sleeper offspring wouldn’t know words. But telepathy is more than words, it’s thoughts, visions.”
“A child? Really?” I snorted. “May I please see Sonny?”
“Yes, absolutely.” Levis said. “Beck?”
“No,” Beck said with a strong, serious tone and kept his eyes on me. “I’m going to go back and check on Phoenix… and Keller.”
We locked into some sort of stare down.
“Mera?” Levi called me. “Are you coming?”
“She’ll be right there,” Beck said, his eyes never leaving me. “And Levi, I’d like to finish this conversation. Maybe have you tell me and the team about the future Sleepers.”
“I’m at your disposal.”
After Levi had left the room, Beck moved closer to me. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Mera, you heard what he said about telepathy.”
“I did.”
“So why didn’t you tell him about Keller?”
“Keller isn’t a Sleeper and I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you serious?” Beck glanced to the ceiling, took a breath and then looked back at me. “You ran around saying how Keller spoke. How a deaf mute boy spoke.”
“I was mistaken.”
“So you’re rescind that now? Alex didn’t hear him, Jessie didn’t hear him, you didn’t hear him?”
“Beck, that’s ridiculous. He’s deaf and he is mute. He can’t speak with his mind and I will honestly swear he hasn’t shown me any indication of it since we have been here. Plus, Keller is not a Sleeper. He was born of a Sleeper mother but he lives and feels and has no Sleeper virus in him.”
“Then what is the problem with me telling Levi or Javier about you believing this? Are you afraid they’ll think you’re nuts?”
“No. I just… I was mistaken, that’s all.” I pulled back, wanting to leave, to go see Sonny.
“Mera, I know you. Sweetheart… what are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of anything. Really I’m not. Just let this go.” I opened the door that would lead me to the recovery rooms, stepped through, and pulled the door closed me behind me.
I stayed there for a moment, my heart racing. Beck had asked what I was afraid of and I said I wasn’t afraid. That wasn’t true. I was. I just didn’t know why I felt this overwhelming sense of fear. I only know that before I sought out my visit with Sonny, I prayed that Keller never spoke again. At least not to anyone but me.
* * *
Somewhere during the course of the seven hour wait and playing nurse, Alex had managed to shower. He was covered with blood the last I saw him.
When I walked in, Sonny was sleeping and Alex was adjusting an intravenous drip.
“How is he?” I asked.
“Hey…” Alex smiled. “He’s resting. He’s gonna be fine.”
“He’s not gonna die?”
Alex laughed. “No. He did. But—”
“What?!” I gasped. “What happened?”
“Well, we were out—”
“No. Don’t go into the ‘we ran into Sleepers’ story. How did he get so bad?”
“I don’t know the how of it. It was a gnaw.”
“A gnaw? Not a bite?”
“Oh it was a bite,” Alex said. “From what Randy said, the Sleeper, bigger man, pulled Sonny back and bit into this area.” Alex indicted the nape of his neck. “Typically, it would have done damage, but I’m guessing with Sonny arched back, it made the surpaclavicular artery more vulnerable. By the time Randy smashed the Sleeper, which was quickly, he flew back with a chuck of Sonny.”
“He bit an artery?”
Alex nodded. “He could have bled out. Mera, it was Bill all over again. The same bite, the same bleeding.”
Bill Logan was my neighbor who left my tiny street with me and Danny in search of Jessie. He was good guy, young and smart. He discovered the truth about Randy before any of us did. Ironically, bill the atheist was attacked by Sleepers in a church.
Saving my life, no less.
He died on the grass outside of the church while Alex and Beck diligently tried to save him. Alex was doggedly determined to save Bill and was defeated beyond belief when he didn’t.
“Painful memory,” I said. “You saved Sonny, though.”
“Not by myself. I didn’t know how bad he was,” Alex stated. “After we cleared the Sleeper attack, Randy told me it was a gusher and pressure wasn’t working. We pulled over, I knew by the blood color. We did the best field care we could. Had Randy not applied so much pressure, we would have lost him there on the road. Then, Randy went up front to drive and I stayed with Sonny… and three miles from home he went into cardiac arrest.”
Hearing that made me stumble back. “Oh, Alex, no wonder you said it was like Bill.”
“Wait till he wakes up. I did a cardiac thump.” Alex shook his head. “And then Beck did. I think we broke something.”
Javier and Levi both entered into the room and Levi must have overheard.
“One rib. Don’t know how you didn’t crack the sternum though.” Levi walked up to Sonny. “He’s doing well. Pressure is good. Heart doesn’t seem to have any damage. I’m thinking it was the shock of the blood loss. But he’s going to be fine. A couple days here, but I’ll put him in the clear after the eight hour test.”
“What do you mean eight hour test?”
Javier replied. “He was bitten pretty good. We tested for the virus, but there’s no trace. And last test it didn’t show either, so we’re thinking he has the same immunities like Beck. Pretty impervious to the infection.”
“Unlike Alex or Jessie,” I said. “Immune to the natural form but not to a bite infection.”
“Jessie should be immune too,” Alex stated. “Or would she still turn?” he looked at Javier.
“She is immune because she would be, given the virus is already in her system.”
“What about Michael?” I asked. “He has that super form.”
Javier stared at me. “How do you know about Michael’s blood? I never said anything.”
It dawned on me that I only found out Michael had some mutated form after they gave it to Alex. Time change. No missing Jessie, Alex never got the virus to go in and save her. Quickly, I covered. “I guessed because he scares them.”
“Michael can’t catch it from a Sleeper,” Javier explained. “The only Sleeper Virus Michael would catch or even Jessie could is if they caught some sort of souped up version. Fortunately for all of us that doesn’t exist.”
I saw it. I don’t think anyone else did. Some sort of faraway look in Alex’s eyes as he glanced elsewhere? What was he thinking about? I made a mental note to ask him.
Levi finished an assessment on Sonny and then he and Javier left for the evening. Noah, the quiet scientist, would take the night watch. Of course, somehow I knew Alex would be popping in all night.
Alex did ask if we could try to wake him and Javier stated he didn’t see a problem.
“Sonny,” I whispered. “Sonny?”
“It may not do any good to wake him.”
“Why?”
“He may not understand what’s going on.”
“Well, I need to make sure he’s not in a coma.”
“He’s not. He can’t hear you,” Alex said.
“So he is in a coma?”
“No, I think he is temporarily deaf.”
I glanced curiously at Alex, then figured he was making a bad joke. “That’s not funny.”
“Not mean to be. It’s true. I kinda shot a Sleeper close range.”
“Okay.”
“Close range to Sonny.”
“How close?” I asked.
“The gun was maybe an inch or two from Sonny.”
That didn’t sound like something Alex would do, and I was even more convinced it was a joke. I wasn’t buying into it and shouting like Alex probably wanted me to do. But just on the outside chance, I gently shook Sonny.
It took a few attempts and Sonny’s eyes fluttered right before they opened. He looked at Alex then me.
“Hey,” I said softly. “How are you?”
Then surprising even me, sending me back a few inches from the scare, Sonny blasted in an oddly loudly voice, which sounded even louder in the quiet room, “What happened! Where am I?”
I didn’t know how to react.
Alex, well, he just laughed, looked at me and said. “Told you. Deaf.”
32. MERA
Danny came and got me from the infirmary. He was finishing up a late shift on perimeter walk when he said he heard Sonny yell.
I actually believed that because I know how loud Sonny was talking.
Sonny was doing well. He didn’t feel any pain, but Alex said they had him pretty hopped up. Tomorrow would be a different story.
Danny seemed thrown by Sonny’s injury. We’re all a family. And I know Danny sees a little of his father in Sonny, like I do.
How Danny did it, I didn’t know. He operated on very little sleep for days on end. It was almost as if he trusted no one but himself on guard. I trusted my son and knew we were safe when he was on watch. Perhaps that was why I preferred him or Alex on the night watch, so I could sleep.
We arrived at our section, our own little commune. I honestly couldn’t wait to have my two ounces of wine. It was a long day, I barely saw any of the children, and I was going to make it a point to spend time with them after I woke up.
“I’m gonna go right to sleep,” Danny said. “I’ll stop and see Sonny in the morning. Maybe his hearing will come back by then.”
“You think it will?”
Danny shrugged. “I knew a kid at school that couldn’t hear right for two weeks after a close shot near his head. But it came back. At least when Sonny bitches now, he’s not being the ‘Save the Sleeper’ guy. Man, he changed fast. Like overnight.”
“It was Boggle.”
“What?” Danny laughed. “Boggle?”
“Yeah, the night we played Boggle, he totally changed his tune after listening to Randy.”
“Randy knows. And I’m off to bed.” He kissed me on the cheek. “Get some sleep. And no more than two ounces.”
“I promise.”
“What’s wrong with Beck?”
The sudden change of topic, an out of the blue comment, made my head spin for a second, then I peered over my shoulder. Beck was sitting in a chair staring out a sliver of a window.
“I don’t know.” I said. “I’ll go find out.”
“Night, Mom.”
“Night, baby.” I kissed my son and after he headed toward the stairs, I walked over to Beck. “Is this a private window party?”
Beck looked over his shoulder. “No. Sit with me.”
I turned to reach for a chair and he grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, maneuvering me to his lap. “So we’re sharing the view.” Beck held my chin, moving my head. “If you tilt your head, you can catch the moon beyond the fence.”
“Can I ask why you’re sitting here watching the moon?”
He breathed out, wrapping his arms around me. “Ever have an instant change of heart? I mean, a really big switch? A ‘Sonny’ moment?”
“What do you mean by ‘Sonny’ moment?”
“Like Sonny did. Mid playing Boggle with you and Randy, all of a sudden, bam, he switched views on the Sleepers.”
“So you had that?”
“Yeah. Sort of.” He leaned his head against me. “I came back. Only a couple of the kids were still awake. We finished a game of Boggle and then I put them to bed. That’s when it happened. Before the event I was pretty into being a soldier. It was what defined me. I had this keen ability to shut down, shield up, survive and not show emotions. Always plan. Always backwards plan.”
“I know that about you.”
“Know,” he said. “Not knew. You just used present tense.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That’s the way I was before the event. Then after my children died, I shut down
completely, went into this mode … until I met you. Suddenly, none of that was important. I saw in your mission, a better mission than what I had. Your plight was my plight.”
I stroked his hand as he spoke. “It was the thing that drew me to you.”
“My determination to live through you and the children. Jessie, when we found her, to me it wasn’t the end of a mission; it was a beginning of a new life. That’s why I went into that pit and got her. I wasn’t giving up. I didn’t care about saving the world, I only cared about saving those I loved. And then…” He exhaled. “That changed.”
“The ARC.”
Beck nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, you and the kids are still my number one priority, but you are part of this world I want to save.”
“That’s not a bad thing.”
“You don’t think?” Beck asked. “I was retrained and deprogrammed all over again without realizing I was. Know how I know? I left the infirmary mad at you. Mad because you suddenly were denying what you said about Keller. I left the infirmary thinking of every person in our camp that carries the Sleeper virus and how every person could be responsible for the massing. For what happened at Grace. Even inadvertently.”
“Beck—”
“Let me finish. I thought that way. Because Levi, not even meaning it, put that in my mind. It dawned on me, the Beck I was before I went to the ARC wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Wouldn’t have looked at Michael, Jessie, Phoenix and Keller with any suspicion. That is who I was, not what I became after I met you. The ARC brought that back. Eighteen months of a cold, sterile environment. Going there to watch Phoenix then being drawn in by the planning, the Ops, being an officer, being in control.”
“Beck, it was like being deployed. You got that mentality, you just have to readjust.”
“I will. I promise. I’m different and I can get back to where I was, Phoenix, he doesn’t know.”
“Beck, there is nothing wrong with Phoenix,” I told him.
“He’s smart. But he was raised by a controlled person in a controlled environment. Fed six different languages while he slept and other shit to see if it would increase his intelligence, and I let them.”
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