The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  Frank bit his bottom lip. “Oh, you just think you know it all don’t you. Well let me tell you something, Dean. Get ready for a cold blast of fuckin’ reality here. Loving wife? Happy marriage? Fuck you and your fuckin’ happy marriage. You are nothing to her. If you meant anything to her, she wouldn’t come to me.” Frank’s hand fell heavy in a point to Dean. “And when this baby is born, you better use that so called scientific knowledge to perform a very basic paternity test because that baby that you think you created out of your happy little marriage is probably mine!” With the final screaming blast of his emotional voice, Frank spun around and stormed toward the door.

  Dean’s heart raced. It pounded so hard he literally lost his breath in rage. The site of Frank and the reverberating of Frank’s words in his head filled him with a wrath that made Dean want to strike out, and going on instincts he couldn’t control, he did. Without even realizing what he was about to entangle in, Dean raced across the lab, hurdled on to the island counter, and lunged forth at Frank.

  Frank heard the fast thumps and turned back around in the doorway only to be pummeled full force by Dean.

  Crash! Dean’s body slammed into Frank’s and both men careened out the lab door, past Ellen who shrieked.. Frank flew back hard, and with a stumbling spin of force, slammed into the wall. The back of his head hit it with a ‘crack’.

  Frank stammered as he took two steps, holding onto Dean. He could feel the blood pouring down the back of his neck and with his anger and strength, he tossed Dean from him only to lose his balance in the dizziness of his head injury.

  Dean sailed to the floor and he rolled himself out of the slide he was in. Seeing Frank stammer to a stand, Dean quickly picked himself up and in a charging run, he raced for Frank. Closed fisted, he nailed him with everything he had.

  Frank’s head flung to the side and he jolted it up as he stood firmly to his feet. Grabbing Dean, Frank delivered a powerful blow that spun Dean and smashed him face first into the wall, painting the spot he hit with the red of his blood.

  Outrage consumed Frank and, fist ready, he only made it one step to Dean when he felt heaviness on his back and the weight of Robbie holding him back.

  “Don’t, Frank!” Robbie held on to his big brother with all his might. “You’ll kill him.” Robbie released him and then rapidly threw his body in between both men. “Don’t.”

  Heavy, deep, and loud was the breath Frank drew through his nostrils. His was jaw twitching and his face was spewing with a deadly anger. In a swift motion, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and brought his hand out in a point at Dean. “If that baby is mine, say goodbye to your little happy life because I will kill you before I let you have my child, and Ellen. I’ll see you dead.” Frank glared one more time then, in a huffing spin, he barged from the Clinic hallway.

  Dean caught his breath. His hand was against the wall and his mind was spinning.

  “Dean.” Ellen rushed to him. “Are you all ... ?”

  “Don’t.” Dean swiped her arm away and backed up. “Don’t touch me.” He breathed in short heavy breaths as his eyes tossed daggers at her. “I swear to you if this baby is Frank’s, he won’t have to kill me. He can have you because I will never have anything to do with you again. I won’t even speak your name.”

  Ellen let out a whimper of emotion as Dean stormed by her and down the hall of the Clinic. She moved to follow but Robbie stopped her.

  “Don’t, El. Let him calm down, all right?”

  “Oh God.” Ellen spun into Robbie’s arms. “What have I done?”

  “It will be all right. Just give it time.”

  “Robbie, you have to help me.” Ellen moved back some, looking up at him. “This baby can’t be Frank’s. It can’t.”

  “There is nothing you can do if it is, El.”

  “He doesn’t want this baby. I swear it’s only the control. I know him. Please, Robbie.”

  “El, listen to me. I just said, there is nothing you can do if it is Frank’s.”

  “No there isn’t.” Ellen softened her voice. “But there’s a lot we can do. We talked about it to make sure it never looks like ...”

  “No.” Robbie stepped away from her with a whispering voice. “Listen to you. Do you hear what you’re suggesting?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “We can’t let this happen,” Ellen said with passion. “Not in a community this small. There is tension enough. This doesn’t need to happen. Help me.”

  “No. I can’t. He’s my brother, El.”

  Ellen’s head lowered.

  “I’m sorry.” Robbie backed up. “I’m sorry. If this is his child, he deserves to have it and to raise it. I won’t stop that. I won’t. Don’t ask that of me. Anything else, but don’t ask me to betray my brother.” He left the Clinic.

  <><><><>

  From the corner of Dean’s nose to the side of his mouth, a circular bruise formed, mixed with abrasions and blood from the punch Dean had taken from Frank. He was surprised he still had his teeth. They weren’t loose, but they hurt all the same.

  Dean came home that evening earlier than he was expected. He got that when he saw the look on his father’s face when he walked into the house. “Don’t say anything,” Dean said as he closed the door.

  “About?” William asked. Then Dean turned around and William saw the effects of the past few hours. “Oh. Ouch.” He cringed.

  “Thanks.”

  “Did you put ice on that?”

  “Yes, or I’d look like Quasimodo right now.”

  “You certainly can take a punch.” William whistled. “And from Frank too. He’s a big ...”

  “I know,” Dean quieted his father. “I asked you not to say anything. The last thing I need right now is to hear how stupid I was.”

  “Stupid? For what?

  “Going after Frank,” Dean answered.

  “That’s not stupid, Dean. You did what you had to do and you did well. Andrea had to put ten stitches in the back of his head.”

  “Really?” Dean turned to smile but cringed. “Thanks for not making fun of me.”

  “Not right now. I wouldn’t do that. Well, yeah, I would but I’m too impressed with you at this moment and that’s a rarity, so I figure I won’t ruin it.”

  “Thanks. I’m jumping in the shower.” Dean moved to the stairs. “By the way, what are you doing here?”

  “Watching the babies. They’re asleep.”

  “Is El at Containment?”

  “No. She’s upstairs.”

  Dean nodded and started walking up the steps.

  “She’s packing,” William stated.

  Dean stopped. “Packing?” He watched William nod and Dean flew up the stairs. He stopped in the bedroom doorway and watched as Ellen placed things into a bag. “El.”

  “Dean?” she said with surprise. “You’re home.”

  “I live here.” He moved closer to the bed. “What are you doing?”

  “I think it’s obvious,” Ellen said.

  “So uh ... are you leaving me for Frank?”

  “No.” Ellen placed another article of clothing in the bag. “I’m just leaving.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s for the best, Dean. You don’t deserve this. I would think, right now, all you would want is to get me out of your sight.”

  “You’re wrong.” Dean moved to her. “All I want is for this baby ... for this baby to be mine El. I want my family. You, the twins.” Dean swallowed. “This baby.”

  “This baby is yours, Dean. It is. It won’t be Frank’s. It will never be Frank’s baby.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I am.” Ellen reached to close the bag and Dean’s hand laid over hers.

  “Don’t go, all right? Don’t.” He stepped to her. “I’m not asking you to leave. I’m asking you to work this out with me. If you’re sure, so am I.”

  Ellen closed her eyes and stepped to Dean as she softly and c
arefully kissed him.

  Dean did his best to kiss Ellen, moving his lips slowly and with caution. He embraced her after the kiss and held her. He just held her.

  From the sidewalk, through the raised blind, Ellen and Dean could be seen embracing. Frank watched embracing with his eyes glaring up to the window.

  “You know, Leroy got ousted for that.” Robbie approached him from behind.

  “Hey.” Frank looked at Robbie quickly.

  “You doing Okay?”

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded.

  “So, uh, why the Peeping Tom act?” Robbie asked.

  “I didn’t mean to, really. I came to see El and didn’t realize he’d be here.”

  “He lives there.”

  “Yeah, but after today.” Frank shrugged. “I didn’t think he would anymore. I didn’t expect ...” He raised his hand in a point at the window. “I didn’t expect that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not over. I don’t think for as long as he and I live in Beginnings together ... no wait ... we are both alive, things will never be over.”

  Robbie let out a breath. “Frank, about the baby. Things will work out. You know that?”

  “Yeah I do,” Frank said with certainty. “If it’s my kid, I can’t let it not work out. and I will have Ellen in the process. She won’t be with him if I find out she’s having my child. I won’t walk away from that chance.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to. I’m on your side through this whole thing. Know that.”

  “I know you are.” Frank laid his hand on Robbie’s back, gave a pat, and slid it off. “I know you are.” He looked once more up to the window and started walking. “Have a drink with me?”

  “You bet.” Robbie walked with Frank. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “You can’t get mad.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Um ... Frank.” Robbie walked. “You have so much hostility toward Dean ...”

  “I hate him. I don’t think I ever hated another human being as much as I hate him. He burns at me, Robbie.”

  “That’s why I want to ask you this.” Robbie was apprehensive. “I just want to hear it from you what your drive is? Is it Ellen and the baby or is the fact that you just don’t want Dean to have her. What makes you move at this with so much anger and hostility?”

  Frank had a snicker to him. “Listen to you. You’ve been reading too many of those fuckin’ psychology books. I move with hostility and anger?”

  “Yeah,” Robbie said. “You do. I want to know what the reason is.”

  “I can’t believe you have to ask me that. You should know the answer.”

  “I’m sorry.” Robbie lifted his hand. “I guess I should.”

  Frank looked behind him at Dean’s house which faded from view. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get Ellen from him, because I don’t want him to have her.”

  Robbie stopped cold. The smile that had crept on his face when he heard Frank talk about getting Ellen fell when Frank finished his statement. Frank’s words were so cold and so hard. They said more than his feelings and intentions to Robbie. They said his reasons; reasons that were wrong and Robbie didn’t want to hear. If Frank’s motivation for getting Ellen was purely to spite Dean, then in Robbie’s mind and heart, Frank didn’t deserve to get Ellen, not for that. For love, yes, but out of resentment, no. Robbie knew right then and there, as he walked with his brother, where on the Frank-Dean-Ellen-baby issue his priorities had to lie. And for as wrong as it was, those priorities could not be with his brother.

  A Pause ...

  PRESENT DAY

  October 2 - Beginnings, Montana

  “All of you are ‘it’!” Henry blasted as he walked into Frank’s office. “I hate you.” He slammed the door and pouted his way through the laughter and plopped in a chair.

  “Sorry, Henry.” Frank stopped laughing. “But you have to admit that wee hid good.”

  “I had to use my radio, Frank. I had to call Tracking. They said no one was outside the gates.”

  Frank snickered. “Sorry, but you’re just in time to hear Hal’s story.”

  “Yes,” Hal said. “I’m finally allowed to talk. Two and a half hours with these three and it’s finally my turn to tell a story.”

  “Hal,” Frank interrupted. “Go ahead and tell it.”

  “No stopping me?” Hal asked.

  “No.” Frank shook his head.

  “You aren’t gonna play redundant word games.” Hal looked at the four as they shook their heads. “You aren’t going to ...”

  “Hal!” Frank yelled. “Tell the fuckin’ story.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about how I could get a huge chunk of this story into a nutshell. I’ll try to tell it with impact yet tell it without taking too long.”

  Frank leaned into his desk widening his eyes at his brother. “How about just telling it and getting it over with.”

  “I’m a writer, Frank. Please.” Hal got a twinkle in his eye and looked around at Robbie, Henry, and Dean who patiently waited, then at Frank who looked annoyed. Hal began to tell his story. “Our town was raided. We had farmed there, lived there, and set up a community. There was a huge raid by these soldiers you now call SUTs. The women were taken and the men, if they fought, they were killed. I found myself shot and pretended to be dead until it was quiet and I passed out from the loss of blood. I don’t know how I made it. I had lost a lot of blood. So, I found myself wandering around in a burning town. Who were these people? Why did they attack? Why did they take our eight women? I got the medical supplies I needed and took what I could and moved on. But where was there to go? I headed out to the wilderness. I got an infection and nearly died. I used the herbs of the earth and prayer to get through it, but I still had to survive. Knowing these soldiers were around, I stayed deep in the woods. I had to hunt my food and eat it raw ...” He paused when he heard the cringing. “Yes, raw. I couldn’t light a fire for fear I would signal the soldiers. I knew winter was coming soon. Then one day I heard voices, smelled fire, food, and I perked up. I emerged from the trees to find a group of people, not soldiers. I asked if I could join them and they humbly accepted me. That was my error.” Hal’s voice dropped. “That night, while I was sleeping, they beat me. They attacked and beat me so badly I couldn’t move. I found myself drifting in and out of consciousness while they took their turns, but was it a saving grace?” Hal shrugged. “I don’t know because just when I thought I was dead, just when my body couldn’t take any more, the soldiers came and raided the camp. Once again, I laid there motionless and overlooked in the attack as some sort victim. When I awoke the next time, I awoke to voices and the smell of gasoline. I opened my eyes to find myself in a pile of bodies, my skinned burned from being doused with fuel, my clothes covered, and my injuries infected. Through the corner of my eye, I spotted the fire of the torch. I got one, just one, whimper out and heard the call of the word ‘stop’. That was the last I remember. Bill, that was his name, said I was out for four days. He was one of those soldiers. He saved me. We became friends and I joined their Society. We were close.” Hal crossed his legs. “We became lovers.” Hal’s eyebrow rose when he watched Frank’s mouth drop open. “He was my being, my soul and we planned on having a private marriage until the Society found out about us. He was taken from our bed, hung out in the center of camp, and skinned. That was when I fled. I ran into ...”

  “Hold it.” Robbie stopped him. “Where does Sgt. Ryder come into this? ”

  “What do you mean?” Hal asked.

  “Elliott. Your buddy,” Robbie quizzed. “I was told that you saw a raid on a camp and you met back up with him during the time you were in the Society. You took off and left the Society with him.”

  “Yes,” Hal said.

  “But you just said you fled because they killed your homosexual lover.”

  “Um ... yes, with Elliott.” Hal nodded.

  “Why didn’t you mention Elliott ea
rlier?” Robbie kept asking.

  “Because it wasn’t important.”

  Robbie laughed. “Wasn’t important. This man helps you start a very powerful movement and he doesn’t rank as high as your homosexual soul mate.”

  “Robbie,” Henry spoke up. “Love is always important. You know. You and Jessie have that bond.”

  “Shut up, Henry.”

  “No, you.”

  “You.”

  “Robbie,” Hal stopped him. “Why are you badgering me about this?”

  “Because you’re lying,” Robbie said. “You’re making up the story to fuck with us because we fucked with you this entire day, aren’t you?”

  “Well.”

  “See.” Robbie tossed out his hand. “You had me going for a second.”

  Henry gasped. “It was a lie? Oh that wasn’t nice, Hal. I was feeling bad for you.”

  “Sorry. The truth was too boring. After the raid on my town, I moved on until the Society found me and offered me what I thought I needed. When I found out what it was all about, I left them.” Hal shrugged. “I didn’t tell it to pay you back. I told it for that.” He pointed to a still staring Frank. “To see the look on my big brothers face and I got it.”

  Dean, who had been in a thinking mode, barely listened because he was concerned with how much longer he’d be able to hide, looked up. “Frank? You still have that look.”

  Frank slowly blinked and sat back in his chair. “Wow.”

  Hal smiled. “Had you going, didn’t I, Frank?”

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded. “You did.”

  Looking a little confused, Hal swayed his head. “I told you I was lying so why do you still have that look on your face?”

  Henry knew the answer to that. “You made it get stuck. You shocked him so much he’ll never look the same. Huh, Frank?”