“I want to bring in the trucks with all the personal effects and park in the lot by Cain,” Miles said. “Make the vehicles carrying people only stop here, that way we can do a good and proper…” he paused, “—two o’clock.”
It confused me at first because I thought maybe he believed that was the time everyone would get there. Just as I was about to tell him he was a bit off, I noticed he was giving directions.
A dead end street ran parallel at the front fence and wandering toward us was a Sleeper.
It was if he didn’t even see us. His left foot dragged some, probably broken. His clothes were tattered and nearly nonexistent. I could see his thighs through the worn and dirty fabric. Nearly to the end of the road, he stopped, looked at us, and walked to the fence.
“Weird,” I said. “He is paying attention to us.”
“You,” Miles replied. “He’s looking at you. You’re the sex symbol of the Sleepers, you know.”
“Ha, ha, ha.” I lifted my pistol, aimed, and fired. I hit the Sleeper square in the forehead and he dropped to the ground. “Eighteen.”
“Good shot.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you think there’s more than what Stacey said?”
“Nah,” I shook my head, truly believing that. “Just the leftovers. We’re good. Sleepers go where there are people. There’s no one really here and they can’t find us now. We’re finally in Sleeper free land.”
28. Alex
I honestly didn’t know how to feel, or react. The entire convoy stopped and greeted him like he was a long lost brother. He and Javier were encircled by a hundred happy people.
Me? I was confused.
I watched Mera show nothing but enthusiasm for his joining us and that ate at me.
However, a part of me was happy.
“What gives?” I asked Beck. “This is a shock.”
“I couldn’t do it, Alex,” Beck replied. “I couldn’t leave everyone. I need to be there. Hillard and I spoke. He can run the Reckoning and I have communications there. Plus, there’s a refinery right by the base and you know they have choppers there.”
That made me laugh. “Who the hell is gonna fly it?”
“Me,” Beck said. “I flew a lot for the ARC.”
“Good. Good.” I choked a little on my words, probably because I was digesting his. “Glad to have you back.”
“Are you?”
“Beck,” Mera said, “of course he is. He was pretty upset last night about you leaving.” She cut her eyes to me.
I was impressed. Old Mera couldn’t tell a lie to save her life. Amnesiac Mera could apparently pull it off.
“I’m sorry.” Beck extended his hand to me. “That was wrong.”
“Understandable,” I said. “What about you, Hot Doc? I thought you have work?”
“Blame me for being the final straw in Beck changing his mind,” Javier said. “When he told me where we were going, I realized there are two sites nearby. One is the naval weaponry. I can get Sonny to get power to that lab. I can work on much more, including that weapon you have in mind.”
It was the first time in a while that Javier brought up my ‘give the Sleepers another virus’ idea. And with Javier along, I wasn’t as worried about problems and I could stay on him to test Sonny.
After everyone got their excitement out of their system, I rallied them all and we hit the road again. All of us.
Just like in Ed’s future.
***
The rest of the entire five hundred mile trip was uneventful. I spotted three Sleepers on the way there. It was odd, seeing only three, and it was two separate occasions. One was walking the side of the road, and somewhere near the border of Virginia I saw two in a field munching on a deer.
When we arrived at the base, there was no doubt we had arrived at the correct place. A huge homemade sign out front read, ‘Haven Two,’ and the open fence was decorated with red and blue balloons.
I totally forgot about Sonny’s dog, Scout, until I saw him again. He had left with Randy and Renee, and the tan mutt excitedly yelped for attention the second we all arrived.
Miles directed the trucks where to go and also showed Bonnie the warehouse where she could keep the horses.
Sonny wasn’t there when we pulled in, but he rolled up in one of those electric wheelchair scooters, reiterating he wasn’t the workout king like everyone wanted to think.
It was like a dream world, clean and perfect, unlike Haven when we arrived. It wasn’t a prison. The air was crisp and fresh, and oddly, Randy and Renee handed out pamphlets with a map for everyone.
“Oh my God,” Danny said. “This is unreal.”
I nodded. “So far, yeah. We got so much work to do to unpack.”
Mera was cradling Hope in her arms with the two toddlers at her sides. Behind her, close by were the seven dwarfs, or rather the seven remaining children from the future who lived with us.
“You all right, Mera?” I asked.
“Very much so, yes. Excited to see where we’ll be living.”
Sonny walked up to us. “It’s temporary for the families. Right now it’s more like apartment living. We did the best we could to make the places livable and nice. We spent so much time prepping this place we haven’t had much chance for foraging.”
“Add another job to your list,” I said and pointed to Javier and Beck.
Sonny’s eyes widened. “They came?”
“Yep. Hot Doc wants you to get some lab off base all ready for him.”
“CDC Naval weaponry, yeah, I saw the sign,” Sonny said. “I take it Beck is gonna set up headquarters here like he used to do at Haven?”
“He is,” I said.
“This is great. We need to be together.”
Suffice to say it was kind of chaotic with everyone trying to figure out what they were going to do. Renee announced that the new person, Stacey, had room and floor assignments for everyone, and Randy would be conducting tours on the hour. A special dinner was planned in two hours.
I stepped away from the masses to look at everyone. The Stilton family was back together. Danny stood not so inconspicuously close to Patty. Beck made his way to Mera and the crew of kids. The others from the community followed the instructions and headed to the table outside a building called Cain Hall. Some new woman was waiting there to guide them.
What was going on? Were we moving into a phase of normal?
I noticed Michael off by himself. He had his handy dandy Sleeper blocking headphones around his neck and he didn’t move. I walked over to join him.
“Hey, Padre, what’s going on? You sad?”
“No, I’m praying.”
“Whoops. Sorry.”
“That’s fine, Alex.” He faced me with a slight smile. “I’m done.”
“What were you praying for?”
“I was giving thanks. This place, so far, is very cool.”
“I hear they have a church for you,” I said.
“I’m anxious. Sonny said he personally wants to show me.”
“I see…uh…you’re still wearing the anti-call device?”
Michael touched the headphones. “I am. I will forever.”
“I know Sonny said there are a few straggler Sleepers wandering around town, but this is virtually Sleeper-free territory.” Then I saw something in his expression. “What?”
“Don’t say anything. But…”
“But what? Don’t do that shit.”
“Right now, yeah, we’re Sleeper-free. I have a sense it won’t be for long. Just a feeling. A bad one.”
“Would this be like a gut feeling or something more?”
“I don’t know. It’s strong. I just don’t want us to let our guard down.”
“Not yet?”
“Not ever.”
“
I see. Okay. You got it.”
Whether it was a heavenly message, a man’s instinct, or a future super shredder Sleeper calling Sandman thing, if Michael was expressing a concern about trouble down the road, I wasn’t going to dismiss it. I couldn’t. Not when he of all people never predicted trouble.
29. Mera
It wasn’t what I expected. Actually, it felt like a vacation. The ocean so close, the climate, the living conditions. Sonny told us it wouldn’t be long before he had plans for the families, but I was okay with where we were placed.
The newcomer, Stacey, was a nice woman. She liked to talk, and I guessed she missed her mother, because she had a ton of questions about Bonnie. Seeing Bonnie as a mother figure. Was Bonnie married? Was she with anyone? Did she have children? I told her that I would hook them up and Stacey was ecstatic. Bonnie needed that in her life, a young woman to mentor.
There were fourteen families in Haven. Mine was the biggest. Including Alex, Beck, and Sonny, because we always lived together, there were fourteen of us. We were placed on the second floor of Cain Hall and given the entire section at the end of the hall. The Stiltons were on our floor as well.
I was so proud of Sonny. They took the suite with the kitchenette, removed all the furniture, and added a huge conference table for us all to have meals, and the connecting room had couches.
We had a home.
At the Ohio facility, we made a home out of a cellblock. We all slept in the same room, and while it was larger, Cain Hall gave us a sense of privacy.
It hadn’t been that long ago in my mind since I slept in my own home, my own bed. To everyone else it was years.
I wasn’t in the mood to unpack, considering we just finished packing less than twenty-four hours earlier. I wanted to see the grounds. I heard there was a store that was being restocked, a theater, and a swimming pool. I also heard that there were Sleepers. I was to be careful.
There was still a good hour before the welcome home dinner and I pulled out my map and pen, marking what each building was. The map may have been given names like Lafayette Hall, but it didn’t say exactly what it was.
I stopped by the cafeteria. It smelled wonderful. I swore I smelled apple pie, but figured it was a candle or air freshener until I saw them cooling on the counter.
“We have apple trees,” Renee said. “And plums. Jenson has been picking them. Some were too ripe and I had to do something with them. Mera, the kids will have fresh fruit.”
It wasn’t that big of a deal for me, considering in my mind I just went shopping a few days earlier and never got to eat that expensive salami.
Bonnie, however, was ecstatic about the fruit. No, she was ecstatic about it all. She was a different woman.
The mood overall was amazing, and hopefully it would stay that way.
I was fortunate enough to get a taste of the seafood stew we were having for dinner. I couldn’t wait for a full portion.
With time to spare, I headed out of the cafeteria. Just as I readied to get on Sonny’s scooter, Beck pulled up in a jeep.
“Look at you,” I said. “Feeling at home on base.”
“Just feels good to be able to move around. Drive around. I’m sightseeing.”
“Me too.” I held up the map. “I’ve been marking what we use the buildings for.”
“We have a lot we won’t be using.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Want to sightsee together?” he asked. “Yeah. You don’t think Sonny will get mad if I leave his scooter here? He’ll have to walk.”
“Sonny needs to walk,” Beck said as I got in. “Where did you
leave off?”
“Here. But it doesn’t matter, I’ll go wherever,” I said. “I thought you were with the kids?”
“I was. Danny and Patty are with them.”
“Isn’t it so nice that Danny is spending so much time with Patty? He probably feels bad she’s alone and pregnant.”
“Probably.”
“How do you like your room?”
“It’s familiar. I remember going to training and staying in similar rooms,” Beck replied. “You know Alex and I are roommates. We could have different rooms, but one of us would have to be on another floor.”
“That won’t be too bad. And Stacey meant well trying to keep us all together. She’s just…she’s not really that bright.”
“Mera, that’s an unusual thing for you to say. Usually you aren’t mean.”
“No, I’m not being mean, I’m being honest. She’s not bright. When she told me the floor and rooms, she said there wasn’t any cable. But since Sonny had power up and running it wouldn’t be long before we had cable again.”
“Hmm,” Beck said. “She’s just confused.”
“Very.”
The drive was nice. There was a breeze that crept up once in a while, making the weather kind of chilly. At least I wasn’t dreading the warm weather. It didn’t matter…Cain Hall had air conditioning.
We drove by the baseball field and Beck spoke about getting a team together. He asked if I wanted to see the pier. We drove to a parking lot and just as Beck was telling me we had to head down some steps, we saw Alex standing there staring out.
He must have heard us because he looked over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I asked, walking up to him.
“Trying to determine which boat I want,” Alex said. “If Beck can fly a chopper, I can sail a boat.”
“There’s a lot,” Beck commented.
He was right. There were a lot of boats still docked at the pier.
Alex shrugged. “Some of them are probably useless. I’ll have to go check them out. Taking a boat out to the ocean fishing will be awesome.” He sighed. “Can’t wait to take the kids out, but not until they know how to swim. This is an unbelievable place. Secure too.”
“Once those fences are secure, Sleepers only have one way in,” Beck said.
“Why do you suppose we leave this place in the future?” I asked. “I mean, Ed mentioned it, but he was too young to know why we left.”
“Hurricane season,” Alex stated. “I can see us leaving. I can also see us leaving because this is too much for a small group to handle. Too big for too little amount of people to be safe.”
“Whatever the reason,” Beck said, “we won’t have it now.”
I stepped forward between the two of them and that was when I noticed across the bay, not only tree lined property, but a house with a light on. “Do you two see that?”
“Yep,” Alex said. “That’s the man across the bay. Crazy guy, lives by himself. Fishes every day, pops by every so often and doesn’t stay.”
“Did anyone ask him to?” I asked.
Again, Alex shrugged. “I don’t know. I just got here. Sonny didn’t get a chance to meet him since he was out on a run when the guy came by.”
I stared at the house and thought about the man across the bay. How lonely it had to be for him. Why would he not want to join us? Or any group? After all, we weren’t just neighbors in the apocalypse world, we were likely the only people in that section of the country.
Our first night, many of us sat outside Cain Hall, our chairs creating a huge circle around a fire pit. I positioned my chair to easily see the windows of our section of the second floor. Even though it had been weeks since I woke from the coma, a part of me felt like a newcomer because I didn’t have my memories. How badly I wished I remembered. There were painful ones I was glad were lost, but getting to know everyone was gone with them.
Bonnie talked about how it was the first time since the harvest festival that she felt normal. Before then it was at Grace.
A man named Grayson added that even then we weren’t normal because thirty percent of the camp was still in the religious cult phase.
Patty was one of them, and from what I coul
d see was still in that mindset for the most part.
The Stilton family were some of the religious people, but they broke from that. They looked so happy. Both of the parents survived the plague, but lost their children. It was explained to me that was how they ended up with several of the future kids, they wanted a family.
Everyone chatted and I had little to say, mainly because they spoke about a time in the past about two years ago.
Michael arrived and took the empty chair next to me.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“Beck and Alex were having a meeting,” Michael said quietly. “Anyone else that is missing was there. It’s over now. Alex, Sonny, and a couple of others went to work on the Club.”
“How’s the church?”
“Beautiful. I have a wonderful apartment in the back. It reminds me of the Hill.”
I lowered my head. “I wish I remembered that.”
“You will.” Michael took my hand.
“What was the meeting about?”
“You brought up something, I guess…about why we leave here in the future. They wanted to talk about it. Beck said something about changing the way the Reckoning was done.”
“If you think about it, any Reckoning is changing the future, right?” I asked. “According to Ed there was no Reckoning. We don’t win the
Sleeper Wars.”
“I think, looking around this place…” he lifted his head, “we already won. We just need to figure out how to secure the prize.”
I expected to see Alex or Sonny, because Miles arrived at our fire pit circle. The moment he did, he stopped, as did all conversation when Taps played.
Miles smiled. “Beck found it.”
“Why is Beck playing Taps?” I asked.
Rod Stilton answered, “Beck is military. We’re on base. Playing Taps signifies quiet time. Bet me tomorrow we get Reveille and retreat.”
I was confused, Rod must have noticed that. “Raising and lowering of the flag,” he said. “Start and end of the day. A part of normal base life.”
“But we aren’t military,” I said.
Sleepers (Book 7): Sleepers 7 Page 16
