The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Robbie,” Joe cut him off. “Everything is gonna be fine. Don’t you worry about it.”

  “But he’s going into my brain. It may be a small section but I stand a chance of being one of those walking zombies from Planet of the Apes. I don’t mean to worry, but with Dean acting like he’s been acting . . . “

  Hal’s reaching hand stopped Robbie mid sentence. “Little brother, trust me. Everything is going to be fine, just fine.” With a shift of his eyes, Hal saw Dean walk in. “Right, Dean.”

  Dean said nothing. He reached for the chart as he looked at Hal.

  “Right, Dean?” Hal repeated the question.

  “Fuckin asshole,” Dean said with disgust, shook his head, and walked out.

  Frank chuckled.

  Hal sat back in shock.

  After seeing the even more nervous look on Robbie’s face, Joe assuredly laid his hand on his son’s and winked. “Ellen will be there.”

  ^^^^

  “Happy fuckin’ birthday . . .” Johnny leaned into the bathroom mirror and ran his hand over his just shaved face. “To me.” He took a long depressing stare at himself.

  ‘Twenty years old,’ Johnny thought, ‘and look at your life. Look at what you’ve done. You’re pathetic.’ A knock on the door, made Johnny turn from the mirror. “Yeah?”

  “John? You calling me?” Mike asked.

  “Um, no. Talking to myself.”

  “Oh. I just thought you said ‘Happy Birthday’. Sorry.”

  Johnny hurriedly opened the door. “I did.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s my birthday.”

  Half a smile hit Johnny’s face. “No shit? It’s my birthday, too.”

  “We’ll have to celebrate tonight.” Mike gave him a swat on the arm. “Happy Birthday.”

  “Thanks.” Johnny adjusted the towel he wore. “So how old are you, Mike?”

  Mike grumbled and walked away. “Breakfast is on the table. Cheer up. Life ain’t that bad.”

  “I’ll go get dressed. Thanks, Mike.”

  “Yeah and hurry up.” Mike paused before heading down the hall. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “My son.” Mike smiled. “He’s back from that supply run.”

  For some odd reason, it excited Johnny. Yes, Mike’s son was only sixteen, but it was someone close to his age, and like women, Johnny just didn’t see many young people either.

  “Where the hell he’d go?” Mike stopped the second he walked into the dining room. “Tigger.”

  “In the kitchen,” the young voice answered.

  “Oh. Hey, while you’re in there . . .” Mike paused when there was a knock on the front door. He backed up to the door as he spoke. “Can you grab me more coffee.” After getting a ‘sure’ from his son, Mike opened the door.

  “Happy birthday, Chief.” Lars leaned against the archway.

  “Thanks, Lars. Hey, it’s Johnny’s birthday too.”

  “Yes, I know. I read my medical records,” Lars said sarcastically.

  A small groan and Mike opened the door wider. “Want to come in?”

  “No, I have work. I just wanted to stop by to let you know. I busted my ass last night to get it all together. It was placed in a locked briefcase. Einstein’s birthday is the lock combination and the rider is en route.”

  Nodding, Mike looked pleased. “Then he should be there in two days.”

  “Weather withstanding and no problems, yes.”

  “Good. Good.” Mike smiled. “Well the package is on its way. Johnny’s not real happy about his birthday so perhaps he’ll get a present after all.”

  “Hmm. Yes,” Lars said with seriousness. “If he doesn’t, he won’t have a birthday to sulk about next year.”

  ^^^^

  Maybe it was weakness, Frank just didn’t know. People often questioned why someone as strong as him turned so easily to the bottle. In almost every physical aspect, Frank had to be strong. Emotionally, he was the first to admit he wasn’t.

  So he took that small drink just before nine a.m. It wasn’t enough to intoxicate him, not at all. But it was just enough to ease the pain that he was feeling that day.

  He should have been celebrating the fact that he was home with Ellen safe, that he would, in a short period of time, be with the love of his life and be number one, and his brother was getting back his arm. But Frank turned all that around.

  Robbie was under the knife. Too much could happen. However, the biggest trigger of it all came in the form of a picture frame that sat on Robbie’s dresser. A photo of all four brothers was inside. That picture cascaded through Frank. A family untied. A family missing.

  Jimmy.

  He was the second oldest and always thought of as the smartest of the brothers. How unfair it was that Jimmy didn’t survive. Jimmy was predominantly forefront because it was Jimmy’s birthday. A birthday he shared . . . with Johnny.

  Johnny.

  Frank’s heart broke.

  His child. His flesh and blood. A son that survived the odds, beat the plague, but failed to overcome temptation.

  Gone.

  More so than Jimmy being dead, it pained Frank to know his son was alive, well, and working for the enemy. There was no resolution. A bitter sweet parting of ways not only physically scarred Frank; it emotionally scarred him as well. Scars that no matter how high tech medicine was, they wouldn’t heal. Nothing would heal them. Frank dove into contemplation as he took a moment to sit down on Robbie’s bed.

  Would he, if he could, change it all and do something different? Would he take Johnny back or kill him the first second he saw him? The biggest question on Frank’s mind was, was it lack of resolution, or did Frank truly still love his son.

  He found the answer to be yes. Yes and unconditional. Despite it all that Johnny did, all that he stood for, he was Frank’s son and Frank loved him.

  It was a fact that Frank had to deal with and had to face. But more and more, he began to find himself unable to face it without once again turning to that bottle . . . more and more.

  ^^^^

  Anyone who knew about it probably would chuckle and ask, ‘how long has it been since you looked at that?’ The apparently logical answer would be ‘forever’, but, in all honesty, Elliott would say more than likely he last looked the day before. He looked every day.

  However, drawing deep thoughts about its origins and so forth hadn’t happened to Elliott Ryder in quite some time.

  It was an instant photograph, torn across the middle where Elliott had lifted it from the floor. The corner of it crinkled some, but not one bit of the damage affected the image of Ellen on that picture. Recalling how he came to find it made Elliott chuckle. It wasn’t the circumstances that surrounded the picture, but the events that left up to its discovery.

  A season’s worth of time had passed since he and the Captain set the UWA in motion and determined that it would be the freedom movement and the worst enemy of the Society until in their youth of progress, they discovered the Society already had an enemy.

  The Captain had stolen a log book that belonged to Stewart Lange, Hadley’s right hand man. Lange mentioned numerous times about the ‘Garfield Project’, how the President wanted it back, and how he failed to secure it, The long book talked so much about the Garfield Project, but never once did it mention the Garfield Project was a place.

  Through passages in the journal, Elliott and the Captain discovered that at one time, at a base in Colorado, the Society held two prisoners. Thinking on the lines that if the Society held two prisoners, surely the prisoners were from the camp that had the Garfield Project.

  So they went to Colorado in hopes of finding some information about the Garfield Project. They just assumed the Garfield Project was an ‘it’, and ‘it’ had to be pretty powerful if the Society felt so threatened.

  Of course, the dried up pink substance all over the place didn’t help. He recalled how he
and the Captain assumed the Garfield Project was a weapon that disintegrated people. They made comments about how it was no wonder the Society wanted the Garfield Project. It was a powerful weapon.

  It was in the search for clues about the prisoners that Elliott found the photograph and the note written by Ellen, a note to her children written out of fear that she wasn’t making it home. And if the picture of her didn’t make Elliott consumed with Ellen, the letter home, speaking out her emotions, certainly did.

  He was harassed, without a doubt, about the photograph that the Captain wouldn’t look at. Then again, Elliott did become obsessive about finding her. Hoping against all hope that somewhere in their survivor runs, someone would discover her. Little did Elliot realize, he would be the one. He did so through the lens of a pair of binoculars as he sat atop a hillside, spying on Beginnings.

  That was the first time.

  The second was when he and his men rescued her and Frank from the Society. When he saw her, Elliott wanted to shriek, grab Ellen as if she were an old long lost friend, tell her ‘it’s you’, and share the picture story.

  But Elliott didn’t. The only words he found the courage to speak were words that spoke officially about the UWA. A part of him knew he would see her again. When he did and came to know her, then he would share the picture story.

  Elliott never did. It was his secret and too much time had passed. Too much friendship had developed for him to ever bring it up.

  “Dear God,” Hal spoke as he entered the office.

  Elliott snapped from his thoughts. “Captain.”

  “When was the last time I saw that?” Hal walked to Elliott and took the picture. “Oh my God.” He smiled. “You realize I wanted no mention of this picture once we discovered that she and Ellen were one in the same.”

  “Yes, and you could have known your family was alive how long ago?”

  With a ‘hmm’ Hal handed the picture back. “Remember when we thought the Garfield Project was a weapon.”

  “Yes, I was just thinking about that.”

  Hal laughed. “How silly we would have sounded to someone from Beginnings had they overheard us speaking. Then again, we were very excited but not as excited as that photo made you.”

  “I liked it.”

  “You used that as bathroom art, did you not?”

  “Captain!” Elliott gasped.

  “I’m joking, Elliott.” Hal gave a swat to Elliott’s arm. “You were obsessed with her.”

  Elliott spoke as he stared at the picture. “I remember when I first saw her, the real her, not this. I remember hoping she belonged to no one. I saw a future that was impossible, a white picket fence future.”

  “White picket fence.” Hal rubbed his chin and looked up. “Yes, I can see it. The most common of fantasies in a woman-less post apocalypse world.”

  Elliott gave Hal a stare.

  “Kidding. So, I never asked. What was Ellen’s reaction to the picture story?”

  “I never told her.”

  “I bet she . . .” Hal froze. “You never told her? Why? Elliott she would love to hear something like that.”

  Elliott shrugged. “Then again, she may think I was a stalker or something mental.”

  “True.”

  Grunting, Elliott placed the picture in his chest pocket. “So . . . Captain, how is your brother?”

  Hal smiled.

  “Ah, I take it all went well.”

  “So far.” Hal walked over to his desk. “I had to get out of there. I know I have a ton of work to catch up on.”

  “I’ve been trying to sort through the reports.”

  “Together we should make progress.” Hal’s hand smoothed over the stacks of papers. “Besides, I need something to take my mind off of Robbie and the surgery. After nine hours, I had to leave. Dean says another three hours and the attachment should be complete. Robbie will sleep until tomorrow afternoon and the only thing we need to worry about is his immune system rejecting the arm.”

  “I pray it won’t, but I am certain all will be fine.”

  “Me too.”

  “The chip placement went well?” Elliott asked.

  “Yes. They don’t believe there’s any brain damage . . .” Hal snapped his fingers as he sat down. “Speaking of brain damage, I didn’t get to fill you in on the latest about Dean.”

  “The latest?”

  “Yes. Have you heard?”

  “I’m not sure. Heard what?”

  Hal seemed to take pleasure in telling Elliott. “One of two things is occurring. One, Dean’s having a serious mental breakdown. Or two, like an anonymous note said to my father, his chip was zapped to allow for a short window of opportunity where this person made a suggestion, a sort of post hypnotic suggestion.”

  “Do you buy that?”

  “I would like to believe he’s had a nervous breakdown.”

  “What has he done?”

  “Aside from pining over Josephine, finding new love with Misha, it seems Dean has divorced my sister.” Hal looked up. “Quit smiling Elliott.”

  “I’m not. How’s Frank with this all?”

  “He’s smiling as well. He’s all moved into Dean’s house.”

  “Already?”

  “Already?” Hal chuckled as he rocked back and forth in his chair. “Dean moved Frank in while we were all out and about.”

  “What was the suggestion?”

  “Excuse me?” Hal asked.

  “The suggestion the anonymous letter said.”

  “Come to think of it . . . no. I’ll call my father about that. I guess we are assuming the suggestion is weird behavior. Danny said if it’s the chip, Dean will return to normal. However, he will still be divorced from Ellen.”

  “And he’ll still hate you.”

  Hal snapped forward. “What is up with that? Did I do something to him?”

  “Not that I know.”

  “He treats me badly. He hates me.”

  “I know.”

  “Did I tell you this?” Hal asked.

  “No.” Elliott shook his head. “Dean let it be known. I just intercepted.”

  “Excuse me.”

  “He called several times last night to inform me that should I want to keep my Captain, I should do the right thing as right hand man and keep you in line.”

  “He said that?”

  “Yes. Also, I believe he used the phrase ‘kick your ass’.”

  “Kick . . . my ass? Good God, why?”

  “He hates you.”

  “Did you ask him why?”

  “Yes. He rattled off a million things. Personality traits that we all have dealt with over . . .” Elliott cleared his throat. “Lame reasons.”

  “Kick ... my ass.” Hal sat baffled. “What should I do with this?”

  “Let him.”

  “What!” Hal blasted in shock. “Let him. Let him what?”

  “Go after you. Let him get it out of his system.”

  “Good God, Elliott. Physically, I’d kill him.”

  “Yes, yes you would. However you’d stop short of any permanent and detrimental damage, but he would learn.”

  “True, but . . . I couldn’t do that. Perhaps I’ll just wait until he finishes with his nervous breakdown or gets his chip fixed. It shouldn’t be that long. I can put up with it.” Hal began to sort through the papers. “After all.” He chuckled “It’s Dean. How bad can it be?”

  “He could give you a virus.”

  Hal paused. “That’s not funny. Pull up a chair, Elliott.” He began to divide up the work. “I want to get back when my brother wakes up, but we have work to do.” At that instant, Hal tossed himself into his work with Elliott. He may have been focused, working, and reviewing, but despite all that, Hal’s mind drifted to frightening thoughts Beginnings may not have had. A healthy Dean was deadly enough but how much more deadly would a mentally disturbed Dean be?

  ^^^^

  Former Quantico Marine Headquarters

  ‘Battery dying. Mes
sages may halt. All is fine. Will try to stay in touch. Jess.’

  Jess Boyens heaved in a breath of hope as he pressed the ‘send’ button on his hand held computer, a unit that seemed to be on its last leg. The day before it was fine but without notice, without fail, as many electronics often do, the unit just started to go. It took all morning and part of the afternoon for Jess to even connect to the satellite. When he finally did, he took full advantage and sent Beginnings the message that it may be a while before they hear from him again.

  He felt it as he sent his words. He felt sad and a bit alone. Jess was. Beginnings was his home, not the Society but Jess had to keep reminding himself that he had to earn the right to go back home and he was doing it by being the inside man for Beginnings in the Society. Information had to be gathered, statistics had to be gained, and minuscule sabotages that in the long run, would make a difference had to be done.

  He hadn’t been away from Beginnings for all that long but it seemed like an eternity. And as strange as it seemed, he felt even more alone after Johnny had left. He knew Johnny. Johnny was someone to talk to even though Jess tested him and hounded him.

  The thought of Johnny brought Jess back to what he was doing before he paused to send the message, paperwork in the ‘Search for Johnny Mission’.

  How it began to stack up. Report after report that came in from the units sent out to look for Johnny in designated southern areas of the Society. That’s where George Hadley thought Johnny went, taken against his will by a band of defectors. George thought that because that’s what Jess told him. Jess was fully aware of Johnny’s whereabouts.

  Jess assumed keeping up the charade would be difficult and would take some manipulation. However, units reporting their findings in certain regions that were empty and should have turned up blank, amazingly reported clues to Johnny’s whereabouts. How that happened, Jess didn’t know, but he was grateful he didn’t have to add or fudge any of the reports. There were a lot of reports and Jess knew he had to review them before George showed up and that was expected at any minute.