“But to create a mad mutilator.”
“Good God, Ellen,” Hal said. “He created the new improved Frank.”
“True.” Ellen nodded. “So he could have inadvertently created the mutilator. Seeing how Frank claims the mutilator runs as fast as him, he must have gotten the healing agent. Has Dean crosschecked or given you a list yet on who all received it?”
Joe shook his head. “No, and last I heard, you were suppose to do that.”
“Oh, yeah, I was sorry. I was too busy working on the profile, which you’ll love. But I’ll get that info for you tomorrow.”
“Good.” Joe smiled. “Now as far as the monster goes.”
“Joe. A monster?” Ellen laughed. “Come on, even if there was one running about, one big enough to scare the toddlers, this thing would have to be truly a monster. Where do you get monsters from?”
Hal answered. “Men who were once normal.”
Ellen shook her head. “I don’t think creating a monster is as easy as one shot, or two. You’d have to mutilate the entire being, and in order to do that, you’d have to find the triggers for his or her DNA. To mutilate one physical structure, it could take an entire series of DNA experiments, shots and …” Ellen stopped.
Silence.
“What?” Joe asked.
“Nothing.” She answered quickly.
“What?” Joe asked again.
“Nothing. Wow.” She glanced at her watch. “Will you look at the time? I gotta go, it’s Hokey Pokey time.” She jumped from her chair.
“Ellen,” Joe called as he rose slightly from his chair.
Ellen was quickly out the door.
“Want me to get her?” Hal asked.
“Nah, she’ll come around. Or we’ll follow her.” Joe reclaimed his seat. “She knows something.”
There was knock at the door.
“Why is Frank knocking?” Joe asked.
“Maybe it’s not Frank.” Hal suggested.
“It better be.” Joe looked at his watch. “He’s late.”
Another knock.
“Come in,” Joe instructed.
The door opened, Danny Hoi walked in. “Hey, Joe, you got a minute?”
“Yeah, Danny, only a minute. I’m expecting Frank. He’s late.” Joe held out his hand.
“Hi Hal.” Danny extended a hand to him. “Heard about your toddler troubles. Sorry.”
“Thank you,” Hal shook his head. “It’s very sad.”
“What’s up Danny?” Joe asked.
“You said Frank’s coming? I just saw him about a half hour ago. He didn’t mention about coming here.”
“Half hour ago? Did you pass him?”
“No he came to see me.” Danny said. “He wanted plaster.”
“Plaster?” For what?” Joe barked.
Danny shrugged.
“Is that why you came?”
“No, I wanted to discuss Vampire City with you.”
Hal choked.
Joe closed his eye as he questioned. “Vampire City.”
“Yeah,” Danny continued. “I have some ideas that I want to run by you.”
“Vampire City?” Joe asked again.
“Yes.” Danny said. “And I was thinking of something and I thought with feedback from you and …”
“Danny.” Joe interrupted. “What the hell is Vampire City?”
“You put me in charge. Don’t you remember? It wasn’t that long ago.”
“Christ almighty, Danny, I don’t even recall the words Vampire City coming from my mouth.”
“You didn’t. That’s what I’m calling it.”
“What?”
“Vampire City.”
Hal let out a silent laugh. “It’s a Frank virus. It’s contagious.”
“Danny,” Joe said firm. “What are you calling Vampire City?”
“Joe, the place we’re working on for Creed in his people. Uh, you said they can’t physically stand the sunlight.”
“And you’re naming it Vampire City?” Joe asked.
“Yeah.”
Hal interjected. “Pardon me Danny, but these people had a physical defect. Don’t you think that might be rude? I mean, when they arrive, we tell them that we’ve built them a town called Vampire City.”
“Could be.” Danny shrugged. “We’ll just not tell them it’s called Vampire City. We’ll say it’s called VC.”
Hal continued, “And what if they ask what VC stands for.”
“We’ll tell them Very Cool. Anyhow ...” Danny was interrupted by a single hard knock on the door.
“Thank God,” Joe said.
“No,” Frank commented as he entered. “Thank Frank. And you will.”
“You’re late.” Joe said.
“I am.”
“Both of you.” Joe pointed to Robbie. “Your brother is a busy man, he can’t be waiting for you.”
“Dad, please,” Frank scoffed. “He can wait for this. He’ll be saying, Frank you’re the coolest.”
Hal smirked. “I highly doubt that.”
“And I highly doubt that you’ll highly doubt that.” Frank nodded.
“What in God’s name is that supposed to mean?” Hal asked.
“I don’t know, you said it first, you tell me.”
“Frank.” Joe slammed his hand on the table. “Enough. Does this have anything to do with the plaster you got from Danny?”
Frank gasped. “Tattle tale. You came here to tell my Dad.”
“I did not,” Danny defended. “I came to talk about Vampire City.”
“Oh,” Frank nodded. “Fuckin’ Freaks. Anyway …”
“Stop.” Hal held up his hand. “Do you know what he means by Vampire City?’
“Yeah. It’s where Creed is going with his people.”
“Did he tell you that was the name?” Hal asked.
“No,” Frank shook his head. “It just makes sense.” He pointed to his temple. “Takes common sense Hal. Any moron could have figured it out.”
Hal tossed out his hands. “There you have it Dad. We weren’t moronic enough.”
Joe waved him off. “Let’s just get this done.”
“Yeah. I got news,” Frank said. “Really cool news for our meeting.”
“Meeting.” Danny perked. “Can I stay?”
“No,” Joe replied. “I’m sorry Danny. This is a family meeting.”
Danny questioned. “Family meeting? If it’s a family meeting where is Jimmy.”
Silence. Not a breath.
“Fuck,” Frank blurted.
Joe winced. “Son of a bitch bastard I forgot about him. Didn’t I tell you boys to remind me?”
“Sorry” Hal apologized.
“Me, too,” Robbie added.
“Sorry.” Frank said. “I forgot too.”
“Let’s make a mental note not too.” Joe added.
Robbie spoke, “But in our defense, he’s still new.”
“True.” Joe nodded. “Anyhow, Danny can you …”
“Ah, Joe, please let me stay. I want to find out about the plaster.” Danny pleaded.
“Fine,” Joe gave up.
“Yes.” Danny clenched his fist and settled into a chair.
Frank began “Okay, me and Robbie have been up and beyond sector thirty-two. Which by the way, Danny, the fuckin tracking is trashed.”
“Trashed?” Danny asked.
“Busted in bits. So you need to fix it.”
Danny chuckled. “I’ll make a new one, you fix it. I’m not going in that sector with those babies running about.”
“Toddlers, and fine. Baby, I’ll do it. Anyhow …” Frank said. “We have a problem.”
“What kind?” Joe asked.
“A big one.” Frank responded. “Or really, a huge problem.”
“I get the …”
“Gigantic problem if …”
“Frank!” Joe yelled. “What’s’ the problem?”
“We know for sure what is scaring the Killer Toddlers. We have proof.”
Frank boosted, held up his hand, and walked to the door. After stepping out he returned with a huge object covered in a tarp. “May I?” He asked indicating to the desk.
Hal stood. “What is that?”
“Proof.” Frank laid it down. It sounded heavy. “Before I show you, can Robbie and I go to the future?”
“What in Christ’s name for?”
“To see if this is an ongoing problem or isolated.”
“Let me think about it.” Joe said.
“Yes,” Frank stated with excitement.
“Now show us.”
Everyone huddled around the desk.
Frank covered it. “Oh, yeah, we have a monster in Beginnings.”
Robbie stepped forward. “A big monster.”
“Oh my God,” Hal spoke in awe. “Where do you get this?”
“By the tree where tracking is hung. So whatever made this, killed tracking”
Danny pointed. “This can’t be real.”
“Very.” Frank smoothed his hand over the plaster cast of the huge foot impression. The foot was wide and toes distorted some.
“What is this?” Danny asked.
“A foot imprint,” Frank answered.
“I know that but …” Danny stammered for words. “Who did this come from? Society.”
Joe’s hand smudged about his face, staring at it. “Christ.”
Frank shrugged. “I wouldn’t rule it out, but Christ probably didn’t have a foot that big.”
Joe’s eyes raised. “I didn’t suggest Christ did it, and Danny meant do we think the Society sent this.”
“No,” Frank shook his head. “I found it by the tree. I got it.”
Hal grumbled. “Responsible, Frank. Who is reasonable for this? Dean?”
Frank laughed. “Dean is little I think we’d notice if his foot was that big.”
Robbie intervened. “But, could Dean have made this monster?”
Hal, smug, looked at Robbie. “Thank you for clarifying.”
Joe had the answer. “Yes, I think he did. Ellen got awfully nervous in here when we were questioning her.”
“So, El knows.” Frank asked. “I’ll read her mind.”
Joe winked. “Good. You do that. Now this …” He placed on his glasses. “Whoever this is knows about tracking and doesn’t want to be seen.”
Hal added. “Smart. I say it’s Dean, Dean mutates. First he’s the mutilator, then morphs into this.”
Danny whistled. “Is Dean that good though?”
“Yes,” Frank replied. “But we’re leaving out a strong possibility.”
“What’s that?” Joe asked.
“That it could be Bigfoot.”
What usually would have caused groans, actually caused agreeable nods.
Robbie spoke, “We only found one, but I’m sure we can find more. And if it is a Dean experiment, for sure someone in Beginnings is missing.”
“Unless,” Hal said. “They are slipping in and out. Or aren’t even a Beginnings member. What about the UWA soldier that saw Dean or a Doyle man.”
“Someone would have to be missing.” Robbie said. “Unless they are immune to the electro fence, they aren’t getting in and out. No way. Unless …” Robbie paused. “They’re someone in security.”
“Don’t look at me.” Frank defended. “I’m mutated enough.”
Joe snipped. “He’s not talking about you. Okay.” He sighed out. “Even though this could be a product of the Society, let’s not rule out our own mad scientist’s work. Robert run a gate check, see if it was powered down and up. If this thing is coming in and out it is changing. But if it has changed for food, someone, somewhere is missing. We do a census.”
All agreed.
“Look at this.” Joe touched it. “Any guesses on how big this thing actually is.”
Frank answered, “Big.”
“I know that you asshole.” Joe snapped.
Danny reached into his back pocket. “Think about this. A foot is usually as big as a forearm.”
“Whoa,” Frank said. ‘That’s a big forearm.”
“Yes,” Danny lifted a tiny measuring tape. “But …they say on average for men, if you divide the length of the foot in half, that’s the number for the height.”
Joe nodded his understanding. “So a man with a twelve inch foot is six feet tall.”
“Exactly.” Danny whistled as he measured the foot. “Wow. Twenty-two inches.”
“Fuck.” Frank exclaimed. “Twenty-two inches. That means we’re looking at a monster …” he paused and looked up.
Joe did the math. “Eleven feet.”
“That was fast. Thanks.” Frank shook his head "Eleven feet.”
“Give or take a few inches.” Danny said.
“So is the foot twenty-two inches or not?” Frank asked.
“Yeah,’ Danny answered.
‘But you said give or take a couple inches.”
“In height.” Danny explained. ‘This foot is twenty-two inches.”
“Fuck.” Frank immediately looked up to the ceiling with a thinking look.
“Good Lord,” Hal stepped back. “This can’t be real.”
“Fuck.” Frank said. “Fuck, Robbie, Fuck.” He shook his head “We’re really in trouble. We have to go start a plan of attack. I just did the math.”
Joe blinked slowly. “I already did that. The monster is eleven feet tall.”
“Nope.” Frank shook his head. “Twenty-two feet.”
“No, Frank, that’s the inches of the foot size.” Joe argued.
“No, dad that’s the height.” Frank defended. “You said divide the inches and the number is the height in feet.”
“Yeah,” Joe nodded.
“Well, this foot is twenty-two inches making it eleven feet. So the monster is twenty-two feet.”
“How the hell did you figure that?” Joe asked with a bark.
“Because,” Frank pointed to his temple. “Basic math. Bet me he has two feet.” He gave a wink and a nod. “Let’s go Robbie. We have a monster to catch.” With that he turned and hurried out the door.
Robbie chuckled “I love it,” And followed his brother.
Joe just stared for a second and shook his head. “Morons.”
***
Joe hated doing it. But it was a necessity. He knew by doing it, he would be bombarded, so he tried to take precautions.
First thing, is he waited until it was late afternoon. Mid work day, least amount of people running about town. He saw the snowflakes, and headed to the Joe Park. He walked with his hands behind his back, peered around, making sure no one would see him, then he opened up the glass covering to the Joe board.
He read his sign: Town Meeting tomorrow at 6. Important. And don’t ask me about what, just be there.
Thinking. That ought to do, it and it was safe, Joe hung his sign and closed the cover. When he did he heard doors opening and shutting. He turned to see Jenny, Trish, and a few others making their way to him.
“What?” He spoke out loud. “Does this thing have an alarm?”
“I told you he’d be posting one soon.” Jenny said as she rushed to beat the crowd.
Joe tried to slip from the way.
“God, it’s been so long since Joe posted anything,” Trish added as she fought to beat Jenny.
“Christ almighty.” Joe exclaimed as they rushed to the board, nearly knocking him over.
Six, seven, ten people crammed to the board.
“Meeting tomorrow,” Jenny said as she squeezed from the crowd.
“Thanks a lot.” Dan yelled. “I wanted to read it myself.”
Joe shook his head. Was it really happening? He had no clue how people reacted to his memos. He took a moment to watch, then just as he went to make his escape, Jenny called out.
“Joe, wait.” She trotted to him.
“Yes, Jenny.’ Joe stopped walking.
“Can you tell me …?”
“No.” Joe said. “Don’t ask.”
“But I didn’t. So how do you know what I was going to ask?”
Joe sighed out. “Fine ask.”
“What’s the meeting about?”
“Come and find out.” Joe turned.
Jenny reached out and grabbed hold of him. “But, Joe …”
“Jenny, I’m a busy man.”
“Yes, Joe, I know, but we are a nosey community.”
Joe supposed he could tell Jenny about the meteor meeting, but opted against it. It wasn’t wise. Once mouth opened, he’d have to explain everything, and Joe just wanted to finish up and go home.
“I realize that, Jenny. But no. No clues. Come to the meeting.”
“But, Joe, we’ve all heard rumors today. We know it’s not about this mutilator. Is it about the other thing?”
“Yes, and that’s all I’m going to say.” Joe lifted his hand, and hurried away.
Jenny’s head hung low.
Trish walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Is it what we thought?”
Jenny nodded and turned around. “If he’s having a meeting. It’s true.”
Others gathered, it was solemn moment, and they all embraced.
Group hug.
***
Hating to admit it, George wasn’t entirely disappointed in his trip to Lodi. It did breed a few positives. He got to see Johnny, the town had charm and Lars Rayburn gave him a gift that he would never forget.
In fact, it was a gift he’d treasure. A work of art, and George enjoyed it in his office. As he stood ten feet from his desk, he heard the phone ring, and saw the blinking light. Paying no mind, he continued the task at hand, and it wasn’t a task. It was fun.
On his far wall hung the art given to him by Lars. George chuckled then sneered with amusement. “I hate you, you little bastard.” He raised the dart and aimed at the portrait, homemade target of Dean Hayes. With a snicker he threw. “Yes!”
“President Hadley?” Bertha knocked and stepped in.
“Check it out, Callahan. Bulls eye!”
“You are the expert darts man.”
“Yeah, I am and this could make me better.”
“Even though the nose is bull’s eye. I’d aim for the eyes they seem trickier.”
“Good point.” George nodded. “So what’s up?” George aimed back and readied to throw.
“Beginnings is on the phone.”
The dart missed.
The Third Ten Page 3