The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “A wolf?” Frank repeated. “As in werewolf?”

  Danny laughed. Hal grunted. Joe moaned and Jason snickered.

  “Ex . . . excuse me?” Elliott sought clarification.

  “Werewolf.” Frank stated seriously. “You know . . .” He howled.

  “Frank!” Joe yelled. “Enough.”

  “Dad, please.” Frank held up his hand. “This can be a serious situation. There is a werewolf in Beginnings and we haven’t a clue when the next full moon is.”

  Jason interjected. “Three days, Frank.”

  “Thank you,” Frank replied. “We have three days to prepare and I’m not even sure we have any silver . . .”

  “Frank.” Joe had all he could take. “There is no goddamn werewolf running around Beginnings, you moron!”

  “How do you know?” Frank asked. “I mean, in the day he wouldn’t look like a werewolf and . . .”

  A mere lift of Joe’s hand halted Frank. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right, Frank. We’ll keep an eye out for werewolves.”

  “There’s more than one?” Frank asked.

  With a whining, ‘why’ Joe dropped his head to his desk. “I don’t know, Frank,” he mumbled under his arms. “Figure it out while you’re making silver bullets.”

  Annoyed and looking it, Hal calmly spoke up. “Dad, do you really think this . . .”

  “No, Hal, I don’t think,” Joe snapped. “Stay out of it.”

  “If I may.” Warren raised his hand. “Is this the man who was shot in the chest and lay in a coma just over a week ago?”

  “I am.”

  “Amazing.”

  “I . . .” Frank was silenced by Hal’s hand.

  “Don’t say it. Please,” Hal beckoned. “Please don’t say it.”

  Emerging from the sanctity of his arms, in a state of normalcy, Joe, continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He figured that was best. “OK, next. Jason, since you’re the judge, what date did you come up with for Ellen’s ousting.”

  The opening of Jason’s mouth was not a release for his response, but rather a vain attempt to speak over the unison, argumentative voices, of Hal, Frank, Elliott, and Danny, screaming out all at once.

  An ear piercing whistle by Joe silenced them. He gave a ‘sorry’ look to Warren, then looked at the guilty four. “What the hell is the matter with you? Nope!” he stopped the singing of complaints. “Danny, you since you’ve been oddly quiet.”

  “Well.” Danny shifted in his seat. “It’s not right, Joe. Jason has openly stated that he would suspend Ellen’s sentence and you are her father and you’re insisting upon it.”

  “First off,” Joe stated, “I would love to have her sentence suspended. It’s not me. It’s Ellen, and gentlemen, like it or not, it’s the community. They decided the sentence. She committed murder. If we suspend her sentence, what message does that send to the next person that kills? I can guaran-goddamn-tee you, if this was the old world, she would pay, no matter who the victim was.”

  Danny spoke up again. “You’re using her as an example. The community needs her. You can’t kick her out for up to two months.”

  “How many times do I have to say it?” Joe asked hard. “It’s not me. It’s Ellen.”

  “Don’t give her a choice.” Elliott added. “I mean, what choice will she have if Jason suspends her sentence.”

  “If I may again.” Nervously, Warren raised his hand. “I see President Slagel’s point. If his daughter insists on serving her punishment, she should. And I see Sgt. Ryder’s point. If the sentence is suspended, she has no choice. However, if the community sentenced her, would it be fair to them for Jason to overturn their decision without putting it to a vote? Ask her home, ask her peers, but be fair about it. When getting their vote, make sure you state a crime was committed and ask them to judge their decision based on whether or not they believe the needs of the community and the short term loss of this woman outweighs the severity of the crime.”

  Silence.

  Joe looked back at Hal, Frank, Danny, and Elliott. “I’ll go with that and set up a vote. Anyone object?” He didn’t receive an objection. “Jason?”

  “I’m good with that, Joe,” Jason answered.

  “Ah,” Joe sighed out. “Feel the silence. OK, next. The Jess Boyens situation.”

  “Out,” Frank spoke up.

  “Out,” Jason reiterated.

  “Out,” Danny stated strongly. “There’s no question in my mind.”

  “Wait a second,” Hal’s voice raised. “You can’t oust the man.”

  From his paper, with pencil in hand, Joe looked up. “Why not, Hal. He’s a traitor.”

  “He is no such thing,” Hal argued. “He has been a valuable commodity to this community. He used the Society and their trust in him to get away from them. He told us that.”

  “Hal,” Joe seriously looked at him. “His job was to be one of us. How in God’s name can we trust he isn’t using another line? He goes.”

  “No,” Hal argued loudly. “If you oust him, I’ll take him in New Bowman! End of story.”

  Joe’s arm swung forward in a point. “You! Will do no such thing. Lest you not forget, New Bowman is a province of Beginnings and under Beginnings rule. If he leaves here, he leaves there. You even think about undermining my authority and, son or no son, I will remove you from your office.”

  Hal locked a stare with his father, his words cool, yet arrogant. “So I am to assume, Beginnings rules are final and the only one who is allowed to bend them is . . . you.”

  Hard went Joe’s hand on the desk as he rose up.

  “Oh, yeah.” Frank whispered. “Fight.”

  In the heat of the moment, timing and tension just right, the office door opened, Ellen and Robbie walked in.

  “Are we too late?” Ellen asked.

  Joe just wanted to scream. “What in God’s name are you two doing here! Out!”

  “Joe.” Ellen stepped in. “We came to argue Jess’s case.”

  “Dad,” Robbie said, “you can’t kick him out.”

  “There is no argument. He goes.” Joe stated strong. “Where is the confusion on this?” He turned around to a gazing out Frank. “And don’t say anything right now, Frank.”

  “Dad.” Hal stood. “Give me time to present a viable plan of argument to you.”

  “Hal, for what? What in God’s name is wrong with you?” Joe argued. “The man openly admitted working for the Society,”

  “No.” Hal shook his head. “He openly admitted to agreeing to work for the Society.” He ignored the moans. “Listen to me. I can smell a good person.”

  Frank let out a ‘ha’, “I can smell a smelly person.”

  Through his clenched teeth, Hal glared at Frank. “Quiet. Dad, we can use him.”

  “Use him?” Joe questioned.

  “Use him against the Society. We can test his allegiance to us if we must, but use him. He is our opportunity,” Hal argued passionately. “If he is faithful to us, let’s not send him back to the Society to work for them. Let’s set it up to send him back to work for us.”

  Joe looked in silence to his son, thinking about the words told to him. “I will give that thought, but thought only. Jess stays in Containment until I make my decision.”

  “Thank you.” Hal sat back down.

  “Robbie. Ellen. Out.” Joe pointed.

  Ellen smiled at Robbie. “We were victorious.”

  “We did good.” Robbie reached for the door. “Good thing for Jess we came.”

  “Wait.” Frank turned in his chair. “Robbie?”

  “Yeah, Frank?” Robbie hesitated in his leaving.

  “Did Dad ever lick you as a child?”

  “Oh, sure all the time. Let’s go, El.” Robbie opened the door and walked out with her.

  “Aw,” Frank whined as he turned back around in his chair. “I knew it.” He noticed the look Hal gave him. “What, Hal?”

  “What is the matter with you?” Hal asked. “Licked?
”

  Slowly, Joe walked around his desk. “Frank, I have had all I can take about this licking stuff.”

  “But, Dad,” Frank said. “You never licked me as a child. I was deprived. You were supposed . . .”

  Joe’s palms landed with a smack onto Frank’s cheeks and, leaning forward to his son, Joe delivered to Frank’s forehead the end to the licking discussion. “There. Happy? Now enough of the licking shit.”

  Hal’s mouth dropped open in disgust. “That . . . was foul.”

  Frank’s head bobbed side to side. “I don’t feel any different. Maybe it will sink in later.”

  “Maybe it will.” Joe returned to his desk. “All right. The next . . .”

  “What about the meteor?” Frank asked.

  Joe could barely speak. “What meteor, Frank?”

  “The deadly, earth shattering meteor Dean said is sailing to earth.”

  “Holy shit!” Danny Hoi exclaimed. “A meteor’s coming?”

  “Yep. It’s a big one too” Frank nodded. “I had a psychic vision and Dean confirmed it.”

  Hal exhaled loudly in annoyance. “Dad, can we not do anything about this man right . . .” Sharply, Hal turned his head to the high pitch, out of control, but low volume hyena style laughing. “Elliott, you find amusement in this.”

  Hurriedly, Elliott shut up. “No, Captain.”

  In a hand signal that all but said, ‘I have it under control’ Joe looked to Frank. “Frank, we’ll deal with the meteor later. We still have time, I don’t believe it’s arriving until, when Jason?”

  “February,” Jason answered.

  “February. See? Lots of time.” Joe winked. “OK, if we can move on to Farming. Since Mr. Baydee is here, I’d like to discuss winter workers and distributing.”

  In Frank’s mind, he sang the word ‘boring’. Sinking back into his chair, a bright idea hit him. Farming was something in which his intellectual input wasn’t needed. It was the perfect opportunity to practice mind reading. After all, there was a group of men in the same room and one of them was bound to think something really cool about him.

  Hoping to hear perhaps how strong he was or how bright he was, Frank sat back and concentrated.

  The voices of the men hit Frank’s mind. Farm. Lake. Deer. Massive chest. Why now? Dumb.

  “Huh?” Frank shook his head with a twitch when the voices all merged together. Maybe he wasn’t trying hard enough to single out a certain person. So trying again, only even harder, Frank closed his eyes.

  It barreled him like a wave, throwing his equilibrium off. and immediately making him dizzy. No longer was it just words but partial sentences, overlapping, fast, and strong.

  How much longer . . .massive chest . . . chicken sounds good . . . reversing the molecular . . .I wonder if Hal is gay . . . too much on my mind to . . .get me out . . . hard buttocks . . . chicken . . . blood . . . sequence progression . . . heart attack . . . I hope no one smelled that . . . attractive features . . . why am I here . . .Frank sucks . . . God, not right now . . .

  “UH!” Frank screamed loudly and stood up.

  “Frank!” Joe nearly startled from his chair then hurried and looked at his panicked son.

  “Uh.” Frank swung a point toward Warren “You. Uh. Hal. I don’t suck.” With another loud ‘Uh’, Frank bolted from the office.

  Joe stared for a second in the quiet of the just slammed door, then he shrugged. “OK, where were we?”

  ^^^^

  The squealing monitoring alarm on Dean’s vital signs beeper blared with a vengeance. Flapping open his lab coat, he peered down and silenced the noise. “Goddamn it, Frank. A hundred and twelve beats per minute. What the hell are you doing?” Dean turned to find Frank and stop him but he didn’t didn’t have to go too far.

  Frank flew in. “Dean!”

  “Frank, what the hell are you doing? Your heart rate is out of control.”

  “Sorry.” Frank caught his breath. “But I was running here.”

  “Why? Was someone chasing you?”

  Frank laughed. “Dean, please. Would I run from someone? No. I’m running from myself.”

  “What?” Dean checked out the beeper. “Your slowing down. Good.”

  “No, actually I ran real fast.”

  “Your heart, Frank. Your heart.”

  “What about it?”

  Dean grunted. “Forget it. What happened?”

  “Oh fuck, Dean. It was fucked up.” Frank pulled out a stool and sat down. “My fuckin head went . . . and I thought . . .” He tilted his head. “And then. Fuck.”

  Dean blinked several times. “I haven’t any idea what you said.”

  “All right. I was in the meeting and it got boring so I decided, you know just in case someone was thinking about me, to eavesdrop.”

  “You were mind reading.”

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded. “Dean, I couldn’t control it. It blasted me like ten fuckin radios all . . . well maybe not ten, more like four, or rather five. I don’t know. I’m confused but I couldn’t decipher any of it, just bits and pieces. I got dizzy. Man, what people think.”

  “Frank.” Calmly, Dean approached the counter. “What did I tell you last night? You have to learn how to use this new gift. You don’t know how. That’s why it hit you. Now think. This doesn’t happen all the time, right?”

  “No. Actually if my mind is occupied, I can’t fuckin hear what someone is thinking. Like if I’m listening to someone speak or I’m thinking or talking.”

  “This is a start,” Dean said. “We have direction. We can do this.”

  “We?” Frank asked.

  “We,” Dean stated. “I mean, I am the scientist. If you want to be Frank Slagel Master Mind Manipulator, you have to work up to it.”

  “But how can you help me? Do you read minds?”

  “Oh, yeah, sure,” Dean lied. “I’ve been doing it for years. How do you think I got so smart?”

  “Whoa. Did you steal it from people?”

  “You can say that.”

  “Like a vampire.” Frank snapped his finger. “Oh, man, an intellectual vampire.”

  “Frank.”

  Very seriously, Frank slowly shook his head. “Can it get any more weirder in Beginnings, Dean? Ice age. Meteor. Werewolves. Vampires.”

  “Possibly. We could . . .” Dean stopped himself. Instead of blurting out another unnatural phenomenon, or disaster scenario, Dean didn’t. The last thing he wanted to do was add another item on to the Frank laundry list of things to worry about. “Back to the mind reading. I think we should devise some sort of exercises. Would you be up for that?”

  “Sure,” Frank agreed, “as long as it doesn’t get out of control.”

  “Hopefully working with you, it won’t. You’ll be able to pick and choose the minds you hear.”

  “On a serious note, Dean.”

  Dean’s attention was caught. Even Frank’s wording was off. “What’s wrong?”

  Frank swallowed. “I did hear someone’s thoughts pretty clearly today. And I have to tell you . . . despite what my father says, it’s bothering him, Dean. It’s really on his mind.”

  The solace of the subject hit Dean hard. “I figured it would. You know Frank, time is so important right now. I think, since you confirmed it’s worrying Joe, I think you and I should both go confront him with this. Right now and get him to take some action about his health. Do something.”

  “Can something be done?” Frank asked and cleared his throat. “I mean, my mother told me my father is dying.”

  “As painful as this is going to sound . . .” Dean’s voice dropped. “He is Frank.”

  Frank’s eyes closed.

  “But not if I have anything to do with it. If he lets me try. We have to get him to let me try.”

  “Do you think it will work?”

  “We can hope,” Dean replied. He exhaled. “I think it’s time to slam your father with a little hope.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, when
I tried to talk to your dad before, he threw mind over matter in my face. He tossed Elliott Ryder at me. Now, for my argument . . .” Dean smiled. “I’m tossing Elliott Ryder right back at him.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Ellen had never seen bowel movements quite so large come from a rabbit. Usually in her cage cleaning, she just swept up those little fecal pellets, but she needed a shovel when it came to Majestic’s waste.

  It was a dirty job but someone had to do it. Knowing where Majestic had been, Ellen rather it be her instead of Dean, just in case something that would give away her escape would poke through.

  And it did.

  Ellen’s face was covered with a scented mask and she moved the waste product from the cage’s bottom. In her scraping, it rolled through a smear and became visible.

  “What the hell?” Ellen peered closer. “That can’t be what I think it is.” She needed to take a better look so she took a new pair of gloves and reached into the substance. “It is.” Her eyes widened when she lifted up what clearly was half of a little finger. “Oh, Majestic. What did you do?” Just as panic was about to hit her, it dawned on Ellen. Surely if Majestic took a bite out of someone’s hand in Beginnings, she would have heard about it at the clinic. Smiling at that, Ellen then noticed the nail on the partially digested pinky. It was long and filed almost to a weapon’s point. “Shit. Oh my God.” Holding the little finger that seemingly belonged to a man, Ellen spun left to right in a panic. “Oh, shit. Oh my God. I have to show this to . . .” Walking with the body part in her hand, she stopped when she saw, in the rabbit’s defecation remains, the semi shininess of it. Reaching quickly for a Petri dish, Ellen laid the finger in there then went to retrieve the shining object.

  Lifting it from the feces, she wiped it clean enough to see what it actually was. An arrowhead. Holding it in her hand only confirmed her guess where the finger came from. After initially wondering how Majestic caused herself no internal damage, Ellen tossed the arrowhead in the Petri dish with the finger, took off her gloves, and raced from the cryo-lab.