The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  Ellen smacked Dean’s leg and smiled at Frank.

  “We had to make some preparations to Beginnings,” Frank explained. “Cover dates and so forth. I hope this trip doesn’t set you too far behind in your work.”

  Dean shook his head. “Nah. Not as much as the day we lost when the fluid level dropped in the bin of wombs,” he shrugged. “How that happened, I don’t know. Anyhow, we’re doing well. We’ve been here, what, four days? The wombs should be prepped enough to implant tomorrow.”

  “Sir.” Luke peered to the backseat. “We’re pulling up to the front gate.”

  Frank nodded and looked at Billy.

  Ellen grabbed her stomach. “Why am I nervous about seeing home?”

  “Because it’s not the home you remember,” Frank answered. “Not at all.”

  ^^^^

  “Listen.” Dean cupped Ellen’s chin and turned her to look at him. “Are you listening?”

  “I’m just looking around at . . .”

  “Look on your tour. Right now, I’m getting the embryos with Frank. I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes.” Dean saw Ellen’s eyes moving. “El?”

  “O.K., God, Dean, how hard is this to understand? Go.”

  “I’m going. Billy will be right over.” Kissing Ellen on the cheek, Dean looked at Luke who would stay with Ellen and he walked off in the direction of Frank and Billy.

  Pulling his hand from his mouth, lips closed tight, Frank nodded.

  “You O.K.?” Billy asked.

  “Fine,” Frank spoke muffled.

  “Are you sure. I can do this with . . .”

  “No, I’m good.”

  “All right. I have it on me.” With a slight rattling noise, Billy put a bottle back in his pocket and looked up when Lancing cleared his throat.

  Dean stood there. “What did he just take?” he asked.

  “Excuse me?” Billy played dumb.

  Extending his hand, Dean gave a pat to Billy’s pocket, heard the rattle, and then looked up at Frank. “Are you taking Nitro?”

  Frank quickly shifted his eyes to Billy.

  “I’m not a dumb man,” Dean said. “I watched you slip a pill under your tongue. Why are you taking Nitro, Frank?” Dean turned to Billy. “Is his heart that bad?”

  After getting approval from Lancing, Billy answered, “Not really. Sometimes we have to watch it. Dad’s had a stressful week with you and Mom coming back. He’s got some tightness.”

  Dean reached for Frank’s wrist.

  “Dean,” Frank said sternly, pulling his arm back. “I’m fine. I get like this when I come back here. When you reach my age, things get a little bit more emotional for you, that’s all. I’m fine. Don’t check on me like a doctor. The last thing I want is for El to see. All right?”

  “I understand.” Dean nodded. “Bill? Your mother’s waiting.”

  “I’m going.” Looking at Frank once more, Billy walked away.

  “Now the moment you’ve been waiting twenty-two years for,” Dean stated. “The embryos.”

  “Dean,” Frank spoke calmly. “For as much as I want to believe they are here, I have to tell you, they aren’t here.”

  Dean grinned.

  ^^^^

  It was something Dean hadn’t heard out of Frank since they arrived in the future, a hearty laugh, but Frank released one the second they walked into the Social Hall.

  “Dean, they aren’t here.”

  “They are.” Dean walked around the bar. He chuckled at Sam the mannequin that was still there. “Come here, Frank.”

  Shrugging, Frank followed. He saw Dean stand before the long cooler. “Dean.” He lifted the lid. “Empty. And . . .” Frank bent down. “There’s nothing underneath or behind. We checked.”

  “They’re in this cooler.”

  Frank peeked inside. “Where?” He reached inside and banged his hand around. “Nothing.”

  Dean smiled. “Excuse me.” He lowered the lid.

  “Maybe you’re wrong,” Frank said.

  “Doubtful. It’s only been a few days to me since I checked on them.” Dean ran his hand on the side of the freezer then extended it to the corner of the back. A clicking sound preluded the opening of the top side panel no wider than three inches. There was a hiss, then an emergence of steam. “Wow, it’s been awhile since this was opened. Look at the frost.”

  “Oh, my God.”

  Dean reached inside and lifted a small black case. “Here’s twenty-five. They layer all the way down. Five this side, five on the others.”

  “We checked this whole thing out.”

  “I told you, you missed them.”

  “How many times people were right on top of them, all those years?”

  “It was brilliancy on Henry’s part.” Dean replaced the case. “Let’s leave them in here until this tour is over. It’s pretty warm outside. What is it, July?”

  Still staring in awe, Frank shook his head. “January.”

  Dean snapped a view to Frank.

  Lancing grumbled.

  “Sorry.” Frank shrugged. “It slipped.”

  “January,” Dean said in surprise. “Wow, talk about another brilliant guess on Henry’s part. He predicted the weather would get like this.”

  “And we all made fun of him,” Frank said.

  “Not anymore.” Dean looked at Lancing who looked so perturbed. “Will you stop that? He made an error. Big deal. He told me what month it is. How in the world will that affect the future by letting me know that?”

  “Because you’ll treat this Henry with more respect in the meteorological field,” Lancing explained. “You’ll listen to his weather predictions more, therefore you could send him into another career.”

  Dean snickered and looked at Frank. “Respect Henry more? Listen to him.” He gave a motion of his head to Lancing. “He never met Henry, did he?”

  ^^^^

  Emptiness filled Ellen with each step she took through Beginnings. It was like a museum tour, only it hadn’t been that long to her since she was there. Not a soul on the streets. No faint industrial sounds, no children laughing, or gunshots from Security training in the distance. Nothing.

  The main street was nicely set up with signs of explanation what each building was for. There were a couple of warehouses missing. They were the empty ones from what she remembered. Ellen supposed since they were never used in the Beginnings she knew, they tore them down for room.

  The Clinic bred the coldest reality. A glass wall was placed over the open lab door. Everything looked set up as if she and Dean had just left it. Tourist could peek in. The tourist attraction was geared toward the very early life in Beginnings, even before numerous survivors were brought in. At least that was what Containment indicated.

  She felt lost, lost in a town where she had spent eight years of her life. It didn’t seem as much a nightmare until she stopped at the ‘Joe Park’ by herself. Suggested by Joe, built by Henry, the little square section became a haven for a lot of people in Beginnings, along with an obscure way to walk. Ellen could never figure that out. They’d stroll around and around the little winding path even though if they wanted exercise, they had a huge Beginnings to roam around. They also flocked there, fighting over the bench and the wall by the flagpole as lunch spots when the weather was nice.

  The bench was still there and so was the wall. The flag pole had been moved to the right, and perched into a smaller concrete stand because the huge three foot wall that mounted the flag before was deserving of something better. That was what caused Ellen to stop. That was what broke her heart.

  Dean’s whispering voice slipped to her, jolting her slightly but not much. “Oh my God.”

  Ellen swallowed. “He’s gone, Dean. He’s really gone.”

  “This is painful.” He placed his arms around Ellen and held her from behind. “More than anything else, this is painful.”

  Both of their heads had to tilt back to take in the full view of the statue mounted where the flag used to be. It was sh
iny, bronze and huge, perfectly sculptured into a realistic lifelikeness. Staring down, a pleased look on his face, hands in the front pockets of those brown pants, and still wearing a button down shirt, was Joe.

  For as warm as the air was around them, Ellen felt a chill and rested her hands on Dean’s. “They covered the dates so we wouldn’t see.”

  “I’m glad we got to view this alone. I think . . . I think you and I needed to see this alone.”

  “Look at the plaque,” Ellen whispered. “They didn’t cover that.”

  At the base of the front of the wall, tilted out for everyone to read, was a homage to Joe in gold lettering. --Founding Father Joseph Anthony Slagel--By your guidance, out of the ashes we were lead from a deadened world into a brighter future. A new beginning because of your doing. We will live on, and so shall you.

  Dean chuckled emotionally. “That’s great, but you know what I’m thinking.”

  “Joe would have a fit. He’d say, ‘Christ Almighty’.”

  Dean continued the sentiment doing his best ‘Joe’ imitation. “Do you know how hard it was to get that goddamn wall built? What a waste.”

  “Look, Dean.” Ellen smiled and pointed. “They have his cigarettes in his front pocket.” She let out a sad breath. “How empty this world has to be without Joe. I can’t imagine it.”

  “I wonder when.”

  “I’m glad they covered the dates because I don’t want to know when I lose my father.”

  Dean felt Ellen step from him and peer closer. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh, my God.” She pointed to the foot of the statue. “Look at the signature of the artist.” She faced Dean with a grin. “Look who made this.”

  Dean looked with wide proud eyes. “Alexandra.”

  Lancing’s stock, grumbling whine was heard. “You weren’t supposed to see that. Only you two would look at the artist’s signature.”

  Cocky, Ellen looked at Lancing. “We saw. Now you have to tell us about our daughter.”

  Lancing huffed. “You’ve developed some sort of obscure rules of your own about what you can know and not know.”

  Ellen tossed her hands up. “They way I figure it, if we half know, we could go back and change time according to what we half know, then how screwy will everything be.”

  Rubbing his eyes, Lancing shook his head. “I just know, after this detail, I’m going to be one of those guys in a security uniform scooping up monkey poop at the zoo.”

  After laughing at his word choice, Dean quickly looked to Ellen. “They have a zoo.”

  Lancing moaned.

  ^^^^

  Frank looked over his shoulder in peculiarity at Lancing following the bump they hit on the road. “What was that?”

  Lancing shrugged as he drove. “I guess something was there.”

  “Odd.” Frank shook his head and resumed his talking to Dean, Ellen, and Billy. “Anyhow, Alexandra is fine. Actually, she’s very fine. She lives in one of the three sheltered areas and is happily married to David. They have four children, two boys and two girls.”

  Ellen turned to Billy. “Do you see your sister much?”

  “As much as I can,” Billy answered. “We fight a lot. She’s really jealous right now about this, but she can’t leave the seclusion.”

  Frank smiled. “They’re normal brother and sister.”

  “What about Nick?” Ellen asked. “Josh . . .”

  “Dr. Hayes.” Lancing called from his driver’s position. “Enough information was given to you already. Please don’t ask.”

  Ellen gave a fling of her hand at him.

  “Frank?” Dean leaned forward. “What’s this David like?”

  “Very good man. I didn’t like him at first.” Frank gave a twitch of his head. “He’s older than Alex by fifteen years, but they’ve been married nine years so I guess I was wrong.”

  Dean sat back and dropped his voice in a whisper to Ellen. “Make a mental note. We start paying attention to all men named David who are right now twenty-three.”

  “Here’s something,” Ellen spoke up. “When I was on my tour de Beginnings, I noticed the case in the cryo-lab where we held Brian was empty.” She raised her eyebrows. “Now, knowing you assured Dean nothing was taken from Beginnings, I am going to assume Brian and Caroline were. Is that true?”

  Luke answered. “Ma’am, if you didn’t see them.”

  “O.K.” Ellen nodded. “Can I at least know if the process worked?”

  Billy, with such a pleading look, gazed up to Luke for an affirmation. “Something went wrong while they were coming out of stasis. They never revived.”

  Dean’s heart sunk. “Shit. We screwed up.” He dropped his voice to Ellen. “The process for bringing them out is etched in stone. That is the one we’re taking. I say when we go back we review that process heavily.”

  “Dean, but what if we were right and went to the future, went back to Beginnings and changed it, therefore erasing the correct procedure.”

  “No, El. We established we were never on a future trip, remember. If we were, we certainly wouldn’t be here now. We would have changed things”

  “True. But I’ll make a mental note.”

  “We’ll write all this . . .” Dean stopped talking when the limousine came to an abrupt screeching halt.

  Frank turned around to the window separating front from back. “Lancing? What’s wrong?”

  Lancing breathed heavily, gripping the steering wheel. “It’s them.”

  “How many?” Frank asked.

  “Three, four. Hard to tell. They move too fast.” Lancing reached his hand up to the roof. “We’ll take care of it.”

  “Hold it,” Frank ordered. “What is your L.E.P. training level?”

  “Two,” Lancing answered.

  “Luke?” Frank asked.

  “Two.”

  “They’ll kill you. Bill, let’s go.” Reaching his hand up, Frank pulled what looked like a hatch down from the inside roof of the car.

  Dean was confused. “What’s going on?”

  “Stay put,” Frank told him. “Just stay inside.” He pulled two long tubes from the hatch and handed one to Billy and exchanged it for a shot gun. “Ready.”

  Shotgun armed, and with the long metal pole, Billy nodded and reached for the other car door. “Ready.”

  The moment Frank and Billy stepped from the car, and knowing they couldn’t see through the dark tinted windows, Ellen and Dean ejected themselves forward to see through the front.

  “What’s happening?” Dean asked.

  Lancing and Luke only shook their heads as Frank and Billy walked around the front of the limousine.

  Frank gave a twirl to the metal rod he had and tucked it under his arm. He lifted his shot gun. “They’ll smell us in a second. Be ready. Listen for the direction. Watch your neck.”

  Billy nodded and held both the rod and the shotgun forward.

  Frank’s foot dug into a firm stance when he heard the rustle. Not long following was the deep chesty cry out. He pivoted to his left, pumped his shot gun and no sooner did he raise it, out from the side of the road it leaped at him.

  Flesh in color, its toothy mouth lunged open inches from Frank’s face only to have the barrel of the shotgun shoved inside. Frank didn’t hesitate. He fired.

  Another rustling and a quick turn to his right. “Billy.”

  A cry out. Lunging.

  Billy, with a spin, dodged out of the way, causing it to crash hard into the limousine. He daggered the metal rod in toward it, zapped it like a cattle prod, swung around his shotgun, and fired at its head.

  Frank held up three fingers. “I smell one more.”

  Billy sniffed. “Behind me?”

  “You got it.”

  Inside the limousine, Ellen and Dean watched nothing but rains of red blood and motions of movement. They could see Frank on one side of the car and Billy on the other. Both stood looking in the same direction.

  It was like watching a movie and the wind
shield was the screen. Both Frank and Billy turned counter clock wise when something rapidly zip across the road to the other side. A moment of stillness, then they watched Frank duck quickly and in his stand, he caught it. He catapulted the beastly thing over his shoulder onto the hood of the car. In the same motion, he turned, lifted, then jammed it with the electric rod. Sparks of blue current flew out and the thing shook violently. It stopped moving only for a moment then it jumped.

  Bang.

  Ellen screamed when, in the flip of a turn, the distorted face of the creature smashed into the windshield of the car. Bits of its head smeared along with the blood on the glass surface.

  The car door opened.

  Frank popped his head. “We’re good. We’re gonna clear a path.”

  Dean wanted answers but he obviously wasn’t getting any. Knowing that Frank gave an ‘all clear’ he held his hand up to Ellen to wait then Dean slipped from the car.

  “Dean, get back in,” Frank told him.

  Dean’s eyes were transfixed on the creature. It was huge and grotesque in appearance.

  “Dr. Hayes.” Lancing stepped out from the driver’s door. “Get back in the car, sir.”

  “Frank?” Dean ignored Lancing. “What . . . what the hell is this?”

  ^^^^

  “Leps,” Frank explained in the lab. “Or rather, L. E. P. S.”

  Dean rolled his eyes. “Another Frank acronym? You mean like SUT? What’s this one stand for? Lurking Enemy Provoking Slime?

  Frank chuckled. “No, but that’s good. Leps is really almost a double acronym, if that’s possible. Leps - short for leopard because these things move fast, and the name, Laboratory Enhanced Predator Species.”

  Dean stopped cold.

  Ellen lifted her hand from bandaging Billy’s shoulder. “What was that?”

  “Laboratory Enhanced Predator Species,” Frank repeated.

  Ellen shook her head. “Talk about sci-fi.” She finished with Billy’s shoulder. “Why were you out fighting them?”

  “Me?” Billy stood and grabbed his shirt. “Dad’s worked and trained me. There are only six that have a rating of LEP Level Five. Dad and I are two of them. Uncle Hal, Joey . . .” Billy’s mouth closed and he looked at Lancing. “Sorry.”