I jumped off the bed of my truck and told Miles we needed to explore, and as I took one more look outward, that was when I saw the man.
He stood on the pier, preparing to take a boat out.
Even though he was far away, I could tell if he wasn’t a Sleeper he was rather advanced. I lifted my binoculars and looked. He carried a fishing pole and gear. As he stepped into his boat he saw us. He also grabbed binoculars, looked our way, then waved as if seeing someone was an everyday occurrence, and got back into his boat.
“That’s the man,” Stacey said. “He goes out fishing every day, sometimes twice a day. He used to come over and get supplies. He said he was doing it before we got there. Nice man. Quiet though.”
Miles said, “I guess he’ll eventually be neighborly.”
“We need to check this place out,” I said. “Look for Sleepers, see what all is here.”
Stacey wasn’t a big help in knowing the base. She remembered very little because she stayed in one area. When I pulled out the radio to check in, Stacey mentioned the communications room where they used to listen to Alex.
“It was in a training place,” she said. “One like a boat. A simulation thing.”
While I was impressed she used a word like ‘simulation’ I was disappointed she didn’t know where it was.
We figured the best way to start was at the beginning. Go slow, drive by every building we could, look for Sleepers, and then go building by building.
At the security office right near the main gate we found a welcoming map. I put that on my clipboard. There was a stack of them and I joked about how cool it would be to pass them out. Mera would love it. I’d mark off each building as we checked it out.
It was a miracle. The Cain Hall building was like a dumbed down hotel, with microwaves and fridges. How excited everyone would be when I got the power back up and running. The place was perfect. There was a church near a small pond, a post exchange, a club with a bar…no more man cave, it was a real place. Bonnie and Renee were gonna love the dining hall, and our residential medical staff were going to drop over when they saw the clinic. It was a beautiful building that stood alone.
There was a lot of work to be done. We had to go through room by room and look for Sleepers. There were bodies on base, a lot, scattered here and there. Stacey’s people had cleaned out one small area and that was it.
We needed to go through and see what all was there, what was needed, and what had to be done.
I couldn’t wait to get ahold of Haven and tell them.
I was excited and ready to roll. We had more time than we did when we left Grace, but a lot bigger area to deal with.
We had weeks before everyone would be there. We could do it.
One thing was for sure though. Despite the work, I felt good and beyond a shadow of a doubt, I knew we had found…home.
25. Alex
Under Sonny’s direction, we sent the first truck out exactly one week after Sonny had left. The greenhouse truck containing not only our farming implements, but Jenson, Renee, and her love bunny Randy, left as well. They were meeting Sonny halfway and following him to our new home. He wasn’t telling us anything, like it was a big old Christmas surprise or something. All I knew was the radio signal was crystal clear.
Beck came up with a packing order, and though we probably could have been ready to leave in a couple of weeks, Mera wasn’t well. The bulk of the town voted to wait and take the trip as one big pilgrimage. Still, we needed to send supply trucks ahead.
Sonny came back at the three week mark and told us he located the place in Virginia. Some small old base. Those were his words. After some prodding we got out of him where we were headed. He was pretty excited. Actually, I started getting excited about it too.
“Don’t tell anyone anything about it,” Sonny said. “Me, Randy, Renee, and Miles have a plan for when everyone arrives. We want it to be a surprise. We’re working hard to have it ready.”
“You got the power up and running?”
“I will when I get back. I almost have everything back up at the power facility,” Sonny said.
Sonny stayed a few days and then he packed up our medical division, along with the Rod Stilton and his moonshine factory, and off they went.
With Levi and Noah gone we were on a skeleton medical crew, and we also had minimal supplies. Stilton assured us he left the Man Cave stocked.
Stilton was wrong.
After two weeks of packing and preparing, we were rationing.
As the days dwindled down to leaving day, we were on our last bits.
The night before we were to leave, everyone was busy. I didn’t believe I would sleep. We had packed what we were planning to take and we had a hell of a lot more than I thought. Once a hundred people got all their shit together, even with just clothes and personal effects, the trucks were jam packed.
Mera still hadn’t gotten her memory back. That was the least of my worries. She wasn’t well and tired easily. The day before we left she was in bed all day. Javier said she’d be fine to make the trip, but we’d have to stop halfway to rest for an hour.
All well and fine, but Javier was going out west with Beck. Eight hours isn’t a long time normally, but it is when you have a sick person and there are no doctors.
At least she warmed up to me.
It was the night before and I was running around like mad checking on things. I stopped by our medical facility and it was empty. Javier was packing up his cloaking serum. He only had a dozen doses and would need to make more.
I asked him how he planned to do that.
“Obviously I’m not making enough cloaking serum for thousands of soldiers. I can get another hundred doses out of what I have. Although Beck keeps insisting we start with an elite squad and see how long it lasts before hitting everyone.”
“Don’t want to instill a false sense of security?”
“Exactly. Can you imagine believing you are safe and the cloaking stops? Or as Ed put it, the Sleepers overcome it? Even if it is temporary we can take out a lot of Sleepers.”
“When will you need more blood to make a serum?” Hopefully I can get it from Phoenix. You should be able to produce it, Michael.”
“Whoa. Wait.” I held up my hand. “So you tested Sonny to make sure there’s no mutation?”
“Alex, he’s not the Incredible Hulk.”
“Have you checked?”
“No. I instructed Levi and Noah—”
“Swell. Just swell,” I interrupted. “They get it wrong in the future. Without you they’ll still get it wrong. Can’t use Michael’s blood until
we know.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Do you have to go to the ARC?”
“Unless you feel like taking me to Georgia, or a facility somewhere out east, then yes. ARC has what I need. I don’t want to go, I really don’t. I want to see this great new place. I’m missing the big surprise. Hopefully, once the Reckoning is underway and in full swing I can leave.”
“So the only reason you’re going is for the facility?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll work on getting you to us,” I assured him.
“We all should be together. All of us. No more separation.”
“Are you talking about Beck?” I asked.
“I am.”
“He has to do the Beckoning. Ed says him not doing it is the reason the Sleepers are still around.”
“Maybe it’s not for us to decide, or to fight.”
“You getting all religious on me, Doc?”
“No, I just believe we can change the course, but the outcome will still be the same. According to Ed, Beck stopped the Reckoning. Correct me if I’m wrong, but since Ed’s arrival, Beck has already been fighting and keeping the Reckoning going.”
“We don’t know
, and I’ll leave you to finish up.”
“I’m ready. I just need to load the final stuff in the trucks.”
I left Javier and continued my rounds. Michael was outside the small chapel. In our short time at Haven we had buried a few of those we loved and Michael stood before Jessie’s grave.
“Hey, Padre.”
“Alex.”
“Paying your last respects?” I asked.
“I am. This makes me sad to leave them behind.”
“They’ll always be with us.”
“A very spiritual observation coming from you, Alex,” Michael said.
“Hey, I can be a God-like guy.”
Michael looked at me with disbelief.
“Just checking on you,” I said. “I’m ready. Sonny told me this new place has an amazing chapel.”
“Yeah, I heard this place is perfect.”
“Then what?” Michael asked.
“Then you do your thing and pray that the Beckoning works and our men of science stop whatever it is that kills you in your sleep and makes your morph.”
“Gee, thanks. Do you think we are done with the Sleepers?”
“I don’t think so. Let’s just hope they don’t follow us. According to Ed, there are areas Sleeper free. We just never seem to find them. We’re cloaked right? We’re good for now.” I swung out a hand to his arm. “I gotta go check on everyone. See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning. ‘Night, Alex.”
Before I stepped away, I looked at Jessie’s grave, saying my own private goodbye.
The sound of horses’ hooves caught my attention, and oddly enough it happened as I was walking away from Jessie’s grave. Jessie loved horses. A little further in my walk I saw Bonnie wrestling with the stallion. Not on the ground, chokehold wrestling, but clearly the usually mild mannered horse was giving her a hard time.
“You doing okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, she knows she’s leaving and doesn’t like it,” Bonnie said.
“You need a horse whisperer.”
“I had one.” She produced a sad smile. “Jessie.”
“Javier said you never got the cloaking serum. Wish you would have before we leave.”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “There are several of us who didn’t. Mera for one. I don’t plan on getting it.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know what it does, how long it lasts, or long term effects, and no one is gonna convince me otherwise that it didn’t do something to Sonny.”
Feeling the waters, I asked. “Mentally?”
“Physically. Now don’t think I’m—”
I uttered a sigh of relief and hugged her. “Thank God someone else thought of it.”
“You too?”
I nodded. “Yep. Everyone is saying Sonny just worked out.”
Bonnie laughed. “Sonny is a busy man around here, but he does everything with minimal movement and all while he eats. The man should weigh four hundred pounds.”
“Did you say anything to anyone, like Javier?”
“Are you kidding? I mentioned it to Randy, Jensen, and Renee, and they all thought I was insane. No way was I mentioning it to our egotistical science squad.”
“I hear you. I made that mistake.”
She cringed.
“Yeah, but at least I got Javier to the point he will test Sonny. Eventually.”
“You don’t think he’ll change even more do you? I mean, this occurred over a couple weeks.”
“Let’s hope this was the big and only change.”
It was good to know Bonnie was on my side of the ‘Sonny is a mutant’ theory. Beck listened, but he wasn’t completely sold. After helping Bonnie with the horses I needed a drink and headed to the Man Cave.
Grayson, a man a few years older than me who was a mailman in the pre-Sleeper world, was there sitting at the pretend bar, sipping on moonshine. “Done packing?” I asked as I walked to the booze shelf. “Where the hell is all the booze?”
“Stilton packed it. Took most of it. There’s a jug left, I think.”
I bent down looking for it, when I found it I shook it. It was nearly empty. “Are you kidding me?”
“Sorry. I think I took too much. Ashley was in one of those hate everything pregnancy moods.”
“Oh, yeah, Ashley, your child’s baby mama.”
“That’s not nice. She’s my child bride.” He laughed. “Is that wrong? She’s twenty. Maybe I should have set my sights on Bonnie?”
“No, Ashley’s legal. Bonnie, however, would be a wrong choice if you want a kid.” I was able to get a half of shot out of the jug. “She’s like way into the menopause phase, I think.” I downed the little bit of booze.
“You’re such an asshole,” Bonnie blasted as she entered. “To think here for a minute, I liked you.” She walked up to the bar and lifted the jug. “Are you kidding me? What the hell, Alex?”
“Not me.” I pointed to Grayson.
Bonnie took his drink.
I laughed, and while I probably would enjoy the fallout between those two, I needed a drink and I knew the one place I could get one.
Considering her physical state, I gave Mera the task of packing up her memorabilia that she brought back from her home after Ed kidnapped her. I was surprised when I walked in our block and saw the enormous amount of boxes.
“You have been busy. Too busy, Mera. You aren’t supposed to be working this hard.”
“I had help.” She pointed in the other room to Danny, who was sleeping. “And…” she sighed heavily, “Ed.”
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s leaving. I’m sad.”
“Hell, Mera, you see him every day.”
“As a child.”
“Enjoy the steps,” I said. “If he is a kick butt man, you had a lot to do with that.”
“Beck too.”
“Hmm.”
“What brings you by?”
“I’m doing rounds and I needed a drink. Man Cave is dry.”
Mera smiled. “Hold on.” She walked into the main sleeping room. I followed, but stopped in the doorway. I didn’t want to make any noise that would wake the slumbering kids. Especially Hope.
There was a bag next to Beck’s packed military duffle. Mera opened it and took out a bottle.
“Here.” She said. “Take it.”
“What about you?”
She laughed. “You think that’s all I have?”
“No.” I uncapped the bottle and took a drink. “Ah, this is good. Thank you.” I took another drink. “I see Beck is packed and ready to go.”
“Yep.” She took the bottle from me and sipped it. “He doesn’t want to.”
“He has to.”
“Why?”
“Um, because he has to do the Beckoning. I know you don’t remember what that all is.”
“Don’t patronize me, Alex. Just because I don’t recall the Beckoning doesn’t mean I don’t know Beck or have feelings for him.”
“Swell.”
“He doesn’t want to go. He’s been doing this Beckoning from here.”
“He needs to be out there.”
“Oh, please, you just want him to go away, and you shouldn’t.” She wagged a finger at me. “He is good with these kids and Hope. He is a father to them.”
“So am I.”
“Yes, and do you want to leave them? How would you feel if everyone made you pack up and go in a different direction?”
“We aren’t making him.”
“You don’t think?”
“Why are you arguing with me?”
“I just see things differently now that I don’t remember how they were.”
“That makes a
bsolutely no sense.”
“I see the good in people,” she said. “I can see me believing you were sending him out for the good of all. However, right now with my emotions being so different, I am seeing things differently.”
“I think you’re going through that ‘Beck is my rooftop hero’ phase.”
She tilted her head.
“What is that look for?”
“Seriously, I am still trying to figure out why I am not interested in Hot Doc if I am interested in anyone. I’m mourning Daniel.” She snatched the bottle from me.
“Yeah, you moved on from that pretty quick.”
“Alex!”
“It’s the truth. And give me back that bottle.” I took it back. “Wake up that kid of yours. We have work to do.”
“He’s tired.”
“He’s second in command.”
“Okay, I’ll wake him in an hour. Will that work?”
“Yes, but you have to stop treating him like a boy.
“He is still seventeen to me.”
“Yeah, well, he’s all grown up now starting a family of his own.”
“What?” Mera laughed. “Eventually. Right now he’s too young and there is no one for him here. That makes me sad.”
I started to ask her what she was talking about then it dawned on me. Either Danny told her and she forgot, or he never told her about the baby arriving in a couple of months. Either way, it wasn’t my place to replant that information.
“You’re right. I’m gonna finish my rounds.” I lifted the bottle. “Thank you for this. I’ll send a team in for these boxes and bags.”
“Alex, do me a favor? Just make sure wanting Beck to go isn’t fueled by a personal desire not to have him around.”
“Why is that so important, Mera?”
“Because you’ll feel bad if something happens to him.”
“Got news for you. I’ll feel bad anyway. Why would it be personal?”
She folded her arms. “You don’t want him to tell you what to do, and you don’t want to backtrack when it comes to me.”
“I already backtracked. Your amnesia did that. What makes you so sure we made any progress as a couple?”
“We have a baby.”
I laughed. “We weren’t a couple when that happened.”
Sleepers (Book 7): Sleepers 7 Page 14
