Blink of an Eye: Beginnings Series Book 8

by Jacqueline Druga

  Quickly, Frank’s mind went immediately back to Dean. No longer was Frank outraged about Ellen and Dean, but Frank felt bad, because he almost hit Dean. He felt bad because Dean was important to the community’s health, and most of all, because he knew Dean so well. Dean was an Original. Like Dean or not, enemy or not, finding out what had happened to Dean was like Frank finding out something had happened to his own brother.

  Frank stared at the burning cigarette that was squeezed between his middle finger and thumb. He remembered the first time he had smoked in his life. How many years ago was that? Vividly, Frank recalled boot camp and how he smoked heavily up until he made the rank of Staff Sgt. and was tapped to be a drill sergeant, he then swore off it for life. Bound and determined to never smoke again, judgmental of all those who smoke, yet there he was, smoking. He justified it. It wasn’t like he smoked all the time like Joe, Jason, or Robbie. And it wasn’t like Frank wanted anyone to know he smoked. He didn’t.

  He thought about when he started smoking again, a few months earlier, one or two during the day to calm his nerves. When he realized that they worked, Frank began smoking more as time moved on, especially when he found himself wanting a drink and knew he couldn’t have one. The more Frank wanted a drink, the more Frank would smoke, replacing one evil for another. They helped but not as much as Frank wanted. They got him through the day. Frank wished, as he stared at the trail of smoke, he wished with everything he had, that they worked at night when he was at his worst. But they didn’t.

  Not wanting to think about it any further, he had more important things on his mind than his own problems. He had Cole and a small group of men outside the walls—that always weighed heavy on Frank. He had SUT troops out there. He had a band of Savages east of Beginnings about seventy-five miles, a camp large in numbers. A camp they would watch. The camp had moved two more miles east since they first appeared, seemingly coming from the north. Their moving east was in Beginnings’ favor, away from Beginnings and to the other side of the country that Beginnings rarely bothered with. Then Frank’s mind went back ... to Dean.

  Just as Frank replaced his cigarette in his mouth for that final hit, a single knock occurred at his door and Robbie walked in. With Robbie’s ‘hey, Frank’ Frank turned his chair to the right, opened his mouth wide and using his tongue, flipped that cigarette inside his mouth to hide it. With tightly closed lips, he faced his brother and pretended to be engrossed in paper work.

  “I wanted to stop by and tell you that I was doing the UD Perimeter. All is fine,” Robbie told him. “There was a problem, slight though, with the perimeter in the Industrial Division. I thought it was a problem, in fact I knew it was a problem. Are you listening to me?” Robbie waited for a nod from Frank. “Anyhow, it looked like wire was just hanging out of the beam’s box, just hanging there. So I called up Henry who I knew was there in that division at Clothing, fixing that fuckin cotton machine that ... Frank? You OK?”

  Frank nodded.

  “OK, so Henry comes up. Why was he working today Frank? I thought he was beat up. Obviously, big brother, you’re losing your touch. So Henry comes up and starts bitching at me because the wire isn’t hanging there. I told him it was. He yelled at me again. He said if I would do my rounds up there more often or pay more attention to how things work, I would know that the beam box I was looking at has that wire dangling as a trip. A trip. How the fuck would I know we rigged our boxes in case someone tried to cut the connection. How do you like ... Frank.”

  Frank held up his hand to Robbie and stood from behind his desk.

  “Frank?”

  One finger, one single finger was all Frank showed Robbie as he walked to his closet, opened it up and disappeared into it.

  “Frank, what the ...” Robbie stopped talking when he heard Frank cough loudly and long. “Frank?” He chuckled. “Are you all right?”

  Frank stepped from the closet, shutting the door. “Man, can you ramble like a woman. You fuckin knew those beam boxes were rigged. You helped make them.”

  “Was that the beam boxes? Shit, I thought we were just making explosives. Where the hell was my mind? So, Frank, how come you went into your closet to cough?”

  “What?”

  “You. You went into your closet to cough.”

  “When?” Frank asked.

  “Just now.”

  “What are you talking about, Robbie?”

  “Never mind,” Robbie grunted. “I need a jeep req. Dad’s out of them and he said you have some.”

  “I do.” Frank walked to his filing cabinet. “Who needs a jeep?”

  “Dean and Ellen need to get to their mobile lab. They let theirs run right out and it’s gonna take twenty-four hours to recharge it. Go figure. Hey, Frank?” Robbie watched Frank dig in the filing cabinet. “Have you seen Dad walk? Better yet, have you seen Dad sit?”

  Frank paused in his searching and looked very seriously at his brother. “Robbie, it isn’t ...” Frank started to laugh. “I’ve been avoiding him so I don’t make fun of him.”

  “It’s pretty funny. So was our scare tactic on you last night. Did you think you were getting ousted?”

  Frank slammed the drawer shut. “Robbie. Fuck. Can you not run at the mouth so much today? What is up with you?” Frank started to hand the requisition to Robbie and just as it hit his hand, Frank snatched it back up.

  “Ow, Frank, you paper cut me.” Robbie looked at his hand. “Give me the req.”

  “Are you taking this jeep to them?”

  “Yeah now.” Robbie shook his head. “And I’m bleeding. Here.” He wiped his hand on his brother’s arm. “Give me the req.”

  “I think I’ll take the jeep to them.” Frank rolled his eyes at the blood smear on him.

  “Why? You gonna beat Dean up today for sleeping with ...”

  “Robbie! Enough! I have to head into town anyhow.” Frank rolled up the requisition and placed it in his back pocket.

  “All right, but what am I supposed to do?”

  “Work maybe.” Frank opened his door and stood there. “Go to Mechanics early and help out Henry.”

  Robbie shuddered. “I’m not in Mechanics today. Today is Monday. On Mondays I’m at Containment. I suppose I could go to Containment and relieve Jason. I guess I can do that since Ellen isn’t in Containment today until two. How about ...”

  “Robbie.”

  “What?”

  “Can I leave?”

  “Oh yeah. Go on.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t forget to get Dean to sign that req. He always blows it off and Dad gets pissed.”

  Frank grunted and walked out.

  Snickering and knowing he irked his brother for the day, Robbie walked to Frank’s desk with full intentions of kicking back and falling asleep. But the moment he sat down, was the moment he saw all the investigation material on John Matoose just spread across Frank’s desk. Not a good thing. Smiling and thinking he had something he could bitch at his brother about, Robbie decided to hide it all and teach Frank a lesson. He began to gather the material when Frank’s door opened. Robbie looked up. Frank just walked in with his index finger to his lips in a shush manner to Robbie. He quickly went to his desk, pulled up the material into one pile, took it to the file cabinet, dropped it in the last drawer, locked the last drawer, and smiled right before he left again.

  “There goes that.” Robbie tossed his hands in the air, cupped them behind his head, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes.

  <><><><>

  Dean raised his head up from his work when he heard the oddness of the single click in the clinic lab. He heard shuffling and his hand froze above the petri dish. “Ellen? What are you doing?”

  “Um ... nothing.” Ellen quickly placed her hands in her lab coat, pulling the long garment closed as she walked to Dean. “So did I tell you that Robbie was over this morning helping me with the kids?”

  “I was there, Ellen, remember? I waited upstairs.”

  �
�Oh that’s right. Wasn’t that nice of him though?”

  “He’s a peach. What did he want?”

  “What do you mean,” Ellen asked.

  “He doesn’t just do that to be nice. He had to ask you something he was curious about.”

  “Oh, Dean, you are so perceptive since you’ve become blind. How did you know.”

  Dean closed his eyes briefly. “It’s Robbie, Ellen.”

  “He was just asking more details about the big fight last night. Speaking of the big fight ...”

  “Ellen, how is that new batch of anti-infection agents working?”

  “Don’t know.” She shrugged. “Getting back to my story. Did you ...”

  “You don’t know?” Dean asked her. “I mixed up the new batch. Ellen, I’d like to know if they are working so I can start the two strep throat cases on them.”

  “OK,” Ellen said. “Anyhow, did you ...”

  “Ellen,” Dean interrupted her again. “Check them.”

  “In a second.”

  “Ellen.”

  “All right.” Ellen saw the disgruntled look on Dean’s face and she walked over to the computer. “Oh, I can’t do this,” she talked to herself, “I didn’t hook up the microscope. I’ll have to view it manually.” She walked to the counter by Dean. “So as I was saying, did you see Henry this morning when he left for work?”

  Dean merely turned his head her way.

  “Sorry. I mean, boy was he limping. I thought for sure he’d call off, you know, since Frank almost killed him. Dean, are you listening to me?”

  “I really don’t have a choice now do I, Ellen.” He placed down a petri dish. “How are those results?”

  “Um ...” Ellen peered into the microscope. “Working fine. Mix up more. Getting back, did you hear Henry come in last night after Holding. I know you can hear, Dean. Did you hear him?”

  “No, I was sleeping.”

  “He was actually in a good mood. We talked and talked. Not like that is much of a surprise.” Ellen moved closer to Dean. “Isn’t that a little shocking that he was in a good mood last night?” She reached her hand out to him.

  Sitting there listening to Ellen and concentrating on what his hands were doing, Dean felt the sudden touch to his hair. It startled him so much that he jumped back.

  “I’m sorry.” Ellen retracted her hand and lowered her voice when she realized she scared him. “I uh ... I was just touching you.”

  “Just let me know when you’re gonna do that. OK?”

  “OK,” Ellen sighed, “Dean?”

  “Yes.”

  “Henry!” Ellen called out his name with excitement. “Dean, Henry’s here.”

  “What?” Dean immediately stopped what he was doing when he felt his stomach drop, Ellen’s sudden switch was like jumping out at him and saying boo ...

  “Henry.” Ellen rushed to him, making a clicking sound as she moved. “I’m glad you stopped by.”

  “Hey, El.” Henry laid his hand on her shoulder. “I was on my way to the bakery. I wanted to see you guys. How are you doing?”

  “We’re fine.” Ellen kissed him. “Look at me, Henry. Look at my feet. I have flat shoes on.”

  “They’re ... they’re blue.” Henry looked down at her legs which protruded slightly from the long lab coat.

  “Everything new is blue for a while. Check this out, Henry.” Ellen flung open her coat. “What do you think?”

  “Turn around.” Henry snickered. “That is great. I love it.”

  “Thanks, Henry.”

  Dean listened to this, wondering what the hell they were doing.

  Ellen ran her hands from her shirt then across her hips. “I had this skirt in my box in Dean’s basement. When Jenny brought over the shoes this morning and I saw that she could wear a skirt, I figured I would. Ben from Fabrics said he would try to make a few for those of us who want to wear them? You like?”

  Dean blinked. A skirt? Ellen’s wearing a skirt? I’m missing this. Is it short? It has to be short. She wouldn’t wear anything that was long. Dean’s mind raced and he envisioned what he thought Ellen was wearing.

  Henry liked what he saw. He kept his views to just under the hemline of her skirt. Staring at her legs because for the first time ever, he was looking at feminine legs. There seemed to be a different shape to them. The tiny little heel on those so-called flat shoes was adding that look to Ellen’s legs that the women in Beginnings stopped showing the moment they started wearing only tennis shoes and combat boots. “I like, El.”

  Ellen giggled. “You should have seen me dancing in here just before you walked in. You know, twirling in my shoes. But Dean yelled at me.” She moved to the counter by Dean.

  Henry grinned “The skirt is really tight, Dean, and short.”

  Dean wanted slam his hand in frustration. I’m missing this? Why am I missing this?

  Henry walked up to Dean and Ellen, and stood between them. “Hey, Dean, how are you feeling? I wanted to talk to you last night when I came by but you were sleeping,” Henry said. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  Dean swallowed. “Henry. There’s something I need to talk to you about too.”

  “Sure, Dean. What is it?”

  “I’m sorry that Frank … I’m sorry you took the brunt of Frank’s anger.”

  “I appreciate that, Dean, I do. Thank you. And that’s what I want to talk to you about.”

  “Frank?” Dean asked. “I’d rather not.”

  “It’s important,” Henry said. “Frank and I were discussing you in Holding last night.”

  “Oh no.” Dean’s head dropped.

  “Shh.” Henry smiled. “We were seriously discussing you. We talked about what has happened to you. We also talked about how each of us would feel if we found ourselves in your shoes. Dean, we’d feel just as badly as you do. Everything you’re feeling and going through is understandable. But you see, the thing is, for as understandable as it is, you being down and lost can’t happen for long. You are too vital to this community. Just because you can’t see what’s in front of you doesn’t mean you can’t see what’s up here.” Henry pointed to his own temple as if Dean could see him. He noticed Ellen shaking her head. “Whoops sorry, Dean, I was pointing to myself. Getting back to what I was saying. Like you and Ellen are doing, you have to learn to do things all over again differently. In order to fully do that, your spirit has to heal.”

  “Henry,” Dean had an edge of disbelief, “all of this you’re talking about, you and Frank discussed. My spirit? Healing? Come on, what does that mean? I really can’t picture Frank sitting back and talking about healing my spirit.”

  “Actually,” Henry continued, “the spirit part was my line. Frank talked about you learning to do everything again, learning how not to depend on Ellen for anything but what you absolutely need her for. Example, her eyes to tell you what she sees in that microscope. Other than that, there should be no reason why you can’t feel confident enough to take care of your children. No reason why you can’t get from here to there, fix things, part your hair on the left side, shave, and so forth.”

  “That’s all well and fine, I want to do these things. I will do these things. It’s just gonna take time.”

  “We know,” Henry said, “and ... Frank and I are going to help you.”

  Dean nearly choked. “Frank? Frank and you? How? By aggravating me into doing things? Henry, Frank drives me nuts.”

  “True but then you’ll learn much faster so you can get away from him.” Henry smiled. “Dean, we’re serious. Frank wants to help you.”

  “Help me? Henry, Frank isn’t going to help me now that he knows about me and Ellen. He’s going to do nothing but interfere and that’s a hinder.”

  “No, Dean, look. He was mad last night, he really was. But he knows you have to feel better in order to start doing things on your own.”

  “But why does Frank want to help me? I would think he wouldn’t.”

  Henry shrugged. “Don�
�t know for sure. Maybe it has to do with this virus. I know for a fact, Frank wants you full force when and if this virus hits. So do you, Dean. A part of me thinks it has to do with Ellen. If he gets you on your feet, you won’t need Ellen as much.” Henry watched Dean nod so in agreement to that one. “But whatever the reason, be forewarned, no matter what Frank says, he hates the idea of you two together. He won’t interfere now, make lots of comments maybe, but not get in the way. Mark my words, Dean, the second, the second he sees you being self-sufficient and not so dependent, that will be the second Frank will interfere. And big time. That’s just Frank.”

  “I would expect no less,” Dean commented and tossed his hands up. “So, when does this help from you two start?”

  “I think tonight. I don’t know. Frank has a plan.”

  Hearing Dean’s ‘oh boy’ Ellen giggled. “This is great.”

  A typical, ‘I am’ and a high, squealing, squeak of his boot introduced Frank’s entrance into the room, and then, so did his mouth. “Oh ... my ... God.” Just as he saw Dean, Henry and Ellen got ready to turn around, he held his hand out. “No! El! Don’t move. Stay like that.” He walked closer. “Oh my God.” A wide grin hit his face as he stared at her. “Henry, did you see this skirt.”

  “It’s great isn’t it, Frank?”