The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  “So what’s going on with you?” Johnny asked. “How was the meeting?”

  “Informative.”

  “Something about it is on your mind.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “For starters it’s three in the morning and you’re playing with a cue ball.”

  Mike grumbled as he exhaled and placed the cue ball back in the cup. “Wanna know what they wanted?”

  “If you want to share.”

  “Seems there’s a meteor coming, a big one, too. It’s gonna hit the Far East. But, we’ll get some repercussions over on this end. Weather changes. So forth. We have to prepare.”

  “Extinction level?”

  “Nah. Damaging. But not extinction. We don’t ... we don’t have the resources to stock pile for a year in case we can’t grow food. We could do a supply run for canned goods, but don’t know how that will go. We’re like that poor family living paycheck to paycheck.”

  “No wonder this is heavy on your mind,” Johnny said. “When is it due to hit?”

  “Six weeks.”

  Johnny whistled. “Not enough time to prepare.”

  “The meteor isn’t what’s bothering me,” Mike explained. “See, the Society wants us to join the, we turned them down. In doing so, we brought upon us a declaration of war.”

  “The Society declared war on you.”

  Mike nodded. “Which I intend to fight. Then ... your pap springs this meteor on us and proceeds to tell me that he thinks we should move our town out that way.”

  “And you don’t want to do that because it’ll look like you’re giving the Society what they want.”

  “Exactly. Lars is pissed because I’m making this decision without consulting the community.”

  “You should.”

  “I know. I know.” Mike ran his hand over his face dragging the skin. “I guess I’m scared to put it to a vote because a part of me knows what they’ll decide.”

  “To leave?”

  Mike nodded. “It’s one thing to stay to defend against an invading enemy. It’s another to stay when you can’t defend yourself against an enemy that’s starvation and cold. Make sense?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “Lodi is my home, John. My home. I lived here all my life. We fought to make this place good. Its home.”

  “Yeah, but you got to look at it another way.”

  Mike raised his eyes.

  “Home isn’t just a physical place. Home is where your heart is. Is it Lodi you love or the people here you love? If it’s the people of Lodi that make you love it and want to defend and protected it, then you can do that here or a thousand miles way.”

  “You got a lot of wisdom in you, John.”

  “I can’t tell you what to do. I can only tell you that I got to know you, and I’m certain you’ll do what’s right.” Johnny stood and laid his hand on Mike’s. “Night, Mike. Good luck with this.”

  “John.”

  Johnny stopped just before he left the kitchen.

  “You think it may look to my men that we’re using the meteor as an excuse to run away from the Society?”

  “Hell no,” Johnny replied. “If the meteor is an excuse for anything, it’s an excuse to get near Beginnings. And man …” Johnny smiled. “Once you’ve been part of Beginnings, then you really know the meaning of home.”

  ***

  Jenny sobbed. Despite the consoling she received from Jimmy outside of that garage, her shoulder bounced with her every tearful word. “Horrible, Joe. Just … distorted, gross, horrible.” She inched, released a small scream, and then cried again.

  Joe cringed. “I’m sure.” With a raise of his eyes, he saw Hal and Robbie approach.

  “Jenny,” Hal laid his hand on her back. “How are you?”

  “Shaken.” Jenny sniffed. “Thank God, for Jimmy I could have been dead.”

  “Robert,” Joe warned.

  “What?” Robbie said innocently. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “You’re going to laugh.” Joe said.

  Robbie nodded. “Okay, true, I was.”

  Frank emerged from the side. “No sign out there of anything. Man, I’m disappointed. I wanted to use my balls.”

  Robbie snickered.

  “Robert,” Joe said.

  “Sorry.” Robbie tried to contain his laugh. “He just said he wanted to use …”

  “God!” Hal barked. “Grow up. He meant his electro balls.”

  Robbie snickered again.

  Hal rolled his eyes.

  “Hold it,’ Frank spoke up. “Let’s just double check. Now, Jenny, you guys saw the monster.”

  Jenny nodded, so did Jimmy.

  “How big?” Frank asked.

  Jimmy replied, “Huge.”

  “Color?”

  “Brown and fleshy in some spots.”

  Frank nodded. “Did it growl or snarl or anything like that?”

  “Frank!” Joe snapped. “Where are you going with this?”

  “Dad, I’m just trying to establish that they actually saw the monster and not maybe Bentley running around nude.”

  Joe’s eyes fluttered. “Why ….why would Bentley be running around nude?”

  “He’s a barber, I don’t know.”

  Robbie laughed.

  Hal did not. “Good Lord, Frank, what does that have to do with it.”

  Frank shrugged. ‘Just covering all bases.”

  “Bentley being nude is not covering bases.” Hal barked. “Now, Jimmy, you said you chased it?”

  Jimmy nodded. “Yes, Jenny and I were walking and we saw it.”

  Joe asked, “What were you doing up here.”

  “Walking.” Jimmy said. “I told you that.”

  “Have you checked the garage?”

  “Yes, we were in here.” Jimmy replied.

  “You were in the garage?” Joe questioned. “Why?”

  “To uh …”

  Jenny jumped in. “Jimmy put me in there to keep me safe.”

  Frank opened the side door to the garage.

  “Frank?” Joe called out. “What are you doing?”

  “What’s it look like I’m doing? Checking the garage.”

  “But they said it wasn’t in there.”

  “Doesn’t hurt to check.” Frank said.

  Joe trying not to get too annoyed, said, “Frank, why do you insist on checking places that clearly won’t have the monster.”

  Hal answered that. “Perhaps he is checking just in case they have the ability to be invisible.”

  “Hal!” “Oh!” Frank said excited. “Good thinking.” He walked in the garage.”

  “Why do I bother?” Joe lifted his hands. “Anyhow … back to you two.” Joe faced Jimmy. “Do you think maybe the monster followed you?” Waiting for an answer, Joe turned to Robbie who whispered out an ‘oh my God.’ “What, Robert?”

  “I was just thinking. This thing is DNA mutated, right” Robbie explained. “So was the incredible Hulk. What if this thing has the ability to change with emotions, and this thing is actually John Matoose and he got jealous and that’s why he changed.”

  Jenny screamed. “Dean worked on John!”

  “Exactly.” Robbie said.

  Hal tossed his head back. “Do we even realize how ridiculous this all sounds? Knowing this community and the way things get out of control, I for one am still not convinced there is a dangerous monster running amuck.”

  At that instant, a blood curdling scream came from the garage. It was Frank.

  They all jolted to the sound, then Joe, Hal, Robbie and Jimmy bolted inside.

  Joe was first. “Frank!”

  Hal looked left to right. “Where is he?” he pulled his revolver.

  Robbie added, “I have never heard my brother scream like that.”

  “It has to be bad,” Jimmy said.

  Frank’s voice sounded off, “It is.”

  Joe called, “Frank?”

  From the other side of the truck, near the work benc
h, Frank rose. He held a tire iron outward and attached to the end, hung a big bra. “Only one woman’s breasts are this big in Beginnings.” He said extended it further as if it were highly contaminated.

  Robbie squealed out a laughed.

  Hal gasped in disgust.

  They all stepped closer to Frank.

  After eyeing the bra, Joe shot a glance to Jimmy, and then looked around the garage. “This place is a mess.”

  Frank nodded. “I know, shit’s just tossed everywhere.”

  Joe asked, “What the hell happened here, it looks like the lab.”

  Jimmy stuttered an answer. “The monster got in and we were able to chase it and get it out.”

  Jenny nodded frantically.

  “The monster was in here?” Joe asked. “Why was your bra off?”

  Jenny replied, “I thought if I showed it my breasts.”

  “Uh!” Frank screamed. “Dad?”

  “What?”

  “Hold this.” With a jerk of the tire iron, he released the bra to Joe.

  Instinctively, Joe gripped it and watched Frank walked to the door. “Where you going?”

  “Lab.” He nodded at the news then after a wink, walked out.

  Joe stood in thought for a second, then as he went to resume his conversation with Jimmy, noticed he was holding the bra. “Shit. Here.” He tossed it to Hal.

  Hal caught it, reacted badly with an ‘uh’, and then flung it to Robbie.

  As if a game of Hot Potato ensued, Robbie flung it to Hal, Hal to Joe, Joe back to Robbie and finally Robbie aimed it at Jenny.

  Jenny gave an embarrassed smile, and shifted her eyes to Jimmy before she innocently placed the undergarment inside her coat.

  ***

  What was it? What really caused it? Ellen had a lot of time to think in the cryo lab. After finishing her clean up, she discovered that a short took out the lock on the lab and she was trapped. So while waiting to be released, Ellen did a lot of thinking.

  It took everything she had not to pick up that phone and dial Dean. She wanted to call him, say hello hear his voice. Since the mutilator attacks occurred at night, maybe she would be on the phone with him while he went into that mode.

  She filed through reasons to call. Update on the kids, the monster, anything. After numerous times of lifting the phone, Ellen didn’t.

  In the end what would one phone call really do?

  They had lost so much time in just a simple week.

  Brian, being undone from the cryo unit, didn’t survive. Dean’s haste to free him was in question on whether or not it killed the baby. They were just dealing with that when Ellen went for her family vacation with Joe, Frank, Hal, Robbie and eventually Jimmy.

  She and Dean vowed to talk when they returned. Instead she was greeted with a snobbish Dean who was romantically tied and then living with Margaret.

  In three days, she went from hopeful to doubtful.

  So fast, so much changed.

  She just wanted to go home.

  So much on her mind. The Dean-thing was heaviest. Her heart ached that he was linked to being the mutilator. Not Dean. Not her Dean. A brilliant mind gone mad. She prayed it was short lived and the removal of the chip would heal the mind.

  But in order to remove the chip, they had to perform surgery. To do that, she had to be the one to show him the evidence and tell him what had happened.

  Dean would have to be removed from general population. But was containment the answer again? No. Ellen made a note to talk to Joe about maybe getting together a special housing until. Secure somehow, isolated, yet dignified. Dean was still the greatest mind she ever knew and deserved more than being in containment. Even if he did remove Forrest’s toenails.

  Just about the fifth deep yawn, Ellen decided to call tracking again. “Anything?” she asked.

  “No, still waiting on Danny or Henry, or even Scott to get down there. Nothing we can do on this end. Just wait it out. Sorry.”

  “I understand.”

  Perhaps she’d make a pot of coffee? Standing to do so, Ellen heard the buzz of the door and it opened.

  Frank walked in.

  “Frank!” She rushed to him.

  “El? What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, my God, am I glad to see you. Thank you for opening the door.”

  “You’re welcome. I thought you’d be pissed.”

  “No, no.” Ellen waved her hand out. “Why would I get mad? Things happen.”

  “True. I just thought you’d be pissed.”

  “It’s nobody’s fault there was a short in the door.”

  The corner of Frank’s mouth raised in a smile. “A short.”

  “That’s why it was jammed.”

  Frank nodded once. “Absolutely.”

  “Okay, I’m ready.” Ellen moved to the door.

  “One sec,” Frank headed to the back.

  “Where ... Where are you going?” Ellen asked.

  “Want to check the deep section thought …”

  “Frank.”

  “What?’

  “I want to go home.”

  “Only take a second.”

  “But I’ve been here so long.”

  “One more minute isn’t gonna kill you.” Frank proceeded.

  “But I ... I … my God are you hot right now.”

  Squeak. Frank stopped with a screeching loud halt to his boots.

  “Hot,” Ellen whispered. “I believe I may have other things on my mind right now instead of sleep.”

  Frank peered over his shoulder. “It’s my butt, isn’t it?”

  Ellen smiled. “Perfect.”

  “Yep.” Frank clapped his hands together once and turned around. “Okay, let’s go.” He held out his hand and grabbed Ellen’s.

  “You aren’t checking the back?”

  “Nope. It can wait. The back will still be there tomorrow. You being in the mood … won’t.” He kissed her on the cheek, and before Ellen could respond or say anything, he downed the lights, and took her from the cryo lab.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  February 16th

  The last thing Elliott Ryder wanted to do at four in the morning was deal with a problem that required contacting Beginnings. However, the bonus part of it was that he had to summon Ellen.

  The Captain decided to stay in Beginnings calling a late night. Which was short lived, because he came back to Bowman with Ellen at the break of dawn. The Captain decided to try to get a nap, and Elliott held down the fort.

  Things had calmed down some since the problem rolled in during the wee hours. Having only had coffee, and waiting on Ellen to have a full breakfast, Elliott decided to check on the progress at the clinic.

  In his stroll there, he saw Jess Boyens. Boyens was perky and upbeat, without a coat, and oblivious to the cold weather.

  “Hey, there, Elliott.”

  Elliott nodded a hello with a smile. “I will take it that this upbeat mood has to deal with the fact that you are returning to Beginnings today.”

  “Yeah, I have to check in with Joe for work assignment and housing.”

  “I see. You won’t consider staying here with us?”

  “I would love to, but I want to be in Beginnings.”

  “It’s either here nor there, Jess.” Elliott said. “We’re close enough.”

  “True but …”

  Elliott watched Jess’ eyes wandered, and with a turn of his body he saw where Jess stared.

  Ellen.

  Elliott cleared his throat. “Jess?”

  “Sorry.” Jess snapped out of it. “I wanna check in with El before I leave. You think now is a bad time.”

  “I think now is a very bad time. I’m going over to check progress, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”

  “Thanks, Elliott.” Jess gave a swat to his arm and darted off, saying something about getting breakfast.

  Tugging his coat tighter, Elliott headed toward the clinic.

  Dean’s eyes lifted to Ellen’s giggle a she spoke o
n the phone.

  “Frank, I gotta go.” Ellen said. “And can you wait until I get back to check the cryo. I have a surprise back there for you, and I don’t want you to see it.” A pause. “It wouldn’t be a surprise then, would it.”

  Dean cleared his throat. “El? Can we work?”

  “Oh, sure. Frank. I have to go. See ya’ soon. Love you, too.”

  Dean rolled his eyes.

  “Bye.” Ellen hung up. With an exhale, she faced Dean. “Sorry.”

  “Not a problem. We just need to finish logging all these.”

  “Okay, so, how are you today.”

  “Still pissed at Frank,” Dean said. “He named me at the meeting as a reason for some monster.”

  “Some monster?”

  “Yeah, well, El, come on.” Dean snickered. “A monster in Beginnings.”

  “Yeah, well, Dean, there is. A big one, too. I saw it.”

  “Are you sure.”

  Ellen slammed her hand in frustration. “I hate when you do that. Let’s just finish this so I can get home.”

  Elliott’s voice entered the lab. “Not without saying good bye or having breakfast, I hope.”

  Ellen smiled his name. “Elliott.”

  Dean mumbled a mock of her.

  “Grow up.,” Ellen snapped and walked to Elliott. “How are you?’

  “Good. Good. Where is Blue?”

  “He finally went to bed. Things are calmer now. All situated. Where’s Hal.”

  “Resting. He should be rising in an hour. He …” Elliott paused when his phone rang. “Can you excuse me?” After getting a nod from Ellen, he lifted the phone, stepped back and took the call. “Hello.”

  “Ryder, this is Joe.”

  “Morning Mr. Slagel. How are you?”

  “Fine. Fine. What the hell happened there last night?” Joe asked.

  “Not quite sure, but around three thirty, Blue called for me. Our men were pouring into the clinic. Seems we have forty-two cases of dysentery.”

  “Forty-two cases of dysentery. You’re shitting me.”

  Elliott didn’t say anything.

  “I mean, you know what I mean. Forty-two? Bad food?”

  “We believe.”

  “No one else?”