The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  “When you were away,” Joe answered.

  “Okay. Go it.” Frank gave thumbs up. “Fuck you, Hal.”

  “What!” Hal lifted his hands. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You thought it.”

  “I did not.”

  “Did, too. You called me an asshole in your mind.” Frank pointed to his temple then pointed hard at Hal.

  “Ow. Asshole.” Hal swiped his hand away.

  “See.”

  “Boys. Enough. Robert. Go on.” Joe instructed.

  Robbie stood up. “Okay, I had a long talk with Josephine. After doing that and viewing the evidence one more time against my will, I came to the conclusion that she doesn’t think she was mutilated. She thinks Dean marked his territory like a dog pissing on a couch.”

  “Robert, spare us.”

  “Dad, that’s what she said. Anyhow. I did some handwriting analysis. Had a few guys use the tattoo gun. And no one matched.”

  Joe nodded. “And who volunteered to get tattooed.”

  “No one really. We used the field workers,” Robbie said. “It’s pretty funny, the one has about six …” he cleared his throat when he saw Joe was not amused. “Back to what I was saying. I think Henry was a fluke. I don’t think the mutilator really wanted to get Henry, but may have been present at the hall or heard about my bet with Henry at the hall. But we can’t rule out the possibility that Henry may have been one of the marked no pun intended.” Robbie explained. “I think the barflies are marked. The ones who get drunk and mouth off. And I think the mutilator might just hit them all again. Josephine, Forrest, Hap.”

  Frank spoke up. “You’re missing one.”

  Joe shook his head. “No those are the ones hit.”

  “No,” Frank said. “I’m talking about barflies. You’re missing one who gets drunk and spouts off.”

  Hal huffed. “Frank. I hate the fact that you are inferring our father is a barfly.”

  “I was?” Frank asked.

  “You weren’t?” Hal questioned.

  “No.”

  Joe widened his eyes, looked at Hal, “Thank you for that.”

  “Sorry.” Hal hunched.

  Robbie wiped the smile from his face. “I know who you’re talking about Frank. And I think it’s awfully funny he hasn’t been hit.”

  “He’s never around,” Frank said. “Maybe that’s it.”

  “Who?” Joe asked.

  “Or maybe the mutilator is afraid of him.”

  “Who!” Joe asked stronger.

  “Or …” Frank said. “Maybe ... oh! Robbie. You’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

  “Great minds think alike.”

  “Who!”

  “Perfect!” Frank said. “He could pull off the Dean set up.”

  “Goddamn it!” Joe slammed his hand on his desk.

  “Without a doubt,” Robbie said. Ignoring Joe. “What better motive.”

  “What would be the motive?” Frank asked.

  “He doesn’t want to hurt people,” Robbie said. “So mark them all in the name of …”

  “Dean.” Frank said. “To …Oh.” He behaved out a breath. “That makes sense.”

  Robbie pointed to his temple. “And if you …”

  Bang!

  Silence.

  “Ow.” Frank grabbed his ear. “That hurt.”

  Hal, Elliot, and Henry all saw it coming, so they had time to prepare and block their ears. Frank and Robbie were too engrossed to see Joe pull his gun.

  “Now.” Joe put his gun away. “Can we …” he stopped. “Frank. What are you looking at?”

  “What did you see?” Frank asked.

  “What?”

  “You shot at something. What did you see?”

  “I shot at nothing,” Joe said.

  “But you shot your gun.”

  “Yes I shot my gun, because you two wouldn’t shut up!”

  “But what did you see? What did you shot at?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Did you miss?”

  “Frank!”

  “What!”

  “I shot my goddamn gun to get your attention!” Joe yelled.

  “To see what!” Frank yelled back

  “To see me shoot your ass now…”

  “Dad!” Hal lunged forward when he saw Joe reach for his gun. “As wonderful a thought as it is, it won’t harm him. He has nine lives.”

  “That’s right,” Frank said. “I’m part jackrabbit. They have nine lives.”

  “No, they do not.” Hal said. “Cats have nine lives. Jackrabbits don’t.’

  “If Jackrabbits don’t have nine lives then explain how I got them now, huh?’

  “I hate you. It’s useless to talk to you.” Hal sat down.

  Henry whistled. “This was a very tense moment. Frank, Robbie, who do you guys think it’s the missing barfly.”

  Robbie answered. “Jason.”

  ***

  “Anyhow, it looks kind of spooky,” Ellen said as she moved about the clinic lab. “Andrea says she felt spooked all night last night.”

  “And they all look like Christopher Columbus?” Dean asked.

  “Yes,” Ellen answered. “Except one.”

  “Creed.”

  “No, I don’t know who it is. Creed didn’t produce her.”

  “You have me confused. A baby?”

  Ellen scratched her head. “I don’t know. All I got from Creed was he had a favor to ask of me. He said he’d tell me today. It had to do with a survivor they found on the way here. A child. He said she was frightened, strange, and hoped that we could help her.”

  “He’s a doctor, was she healthy.”

  “He said very.”

  “Was she alone?”

  Ellen nodded.

  Dean whistled. “She may need containment.”

  “I know. In fact he recommends we rehabilitate her to get back to normal.”

  “What else did he say? She obviously hadn’t be caring for herself.”

  Ellen, arms folded shrugged. “Creed didn’t give too much information. He said she wasn’t dangerous. It was hectic, he was tired and asked me to forgive him for being short.” Ellen snickered.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” She waved out her hand. “I just laughed when he said that because he’s seven feet tall.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “I know. So you’ll be around later if we need to go pick her up?”

  “Sure.”

  “I saw Margaret this morning. Andrea’s releasing her this afternoon.”

  “I know,” Dean said. “She seems to be handling it fine.”

  “Weird isn’t it? It was also weird how Jason was with her.”

  “Tell me about it, but I’m not letting your suspicions influence me.”

  “Okay, onward …” Ellen dropped three folders before Dean.

  “What are these?”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Three?”

  “Three. I told you, Dean. I told you it was only a matter of time when Hap got the shingles this would happen.”

  Dean opened the folder. “Has Hap had the shingles lately?”

  “No, but he will. All three of those kids are kids he takes care of at day care.”

  “Shit. All these years …”

  “We should have completed the chicken pox vaccine.”

  “We’ll have to tell Joe.”

  “Joe knows, He brought Katie in this morning. We have to let Hap know. In fact. We’re gonna have an epidemic here really soon.”

  “Fuck.”

  Ellen made a quirky face. “Fuck?”

  “Fuck. Forty some kids all down with chicken pox. We don’t have the resources to handle the itching.”

  “Well, we got five days. We might as well get started.”

  “We prepared fevered reduction, anti-itch, and some hospital beds, because some kids are gonna be bad.” Dean tapped his hand on the counter. “You know we could really use this opportu
nity to experiment. Techniques we couldn’t use in the old world.”

  “Like what?”

  “Tranquilizers.”

  “Oh! Dean! We’ll use them on our own. I remember when Josh had the chicken pox … he scratched so badly, I itched.”

  Dean smiled.

  “So …”

  “So … so you can talk while you work. Empty ointment containers please.”

  “I’m not a slave, you know, I’m a doctor now.”

  Dean only looked at her.

  “So …” Ellen walked to the cabinet. “I hear you are gonna be on Confessions tonight.”

  “How did you hear that?”

  “Danny told me. Confirm or deny.”

  “Confirm.” Dean said as he worked.

  “Why?”

  “Didn’t Danny tell you?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’m not.”

  “Ah, come on, Dean. Tell me.”

  “No. Watch.”

  “It’s me.”

  “Ellen …” He chuckled.

  Ellen crept to him. “You’re gonna confess your undying love for me.”

  “No. And …” He faced her. “I don’t need a show to do that.” Dean turned away.

  “Whoa.” Ellen reached his arm. “You still love me.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think you do.”

  “And I think I have to work.”

  “I wonder what you could be confessing. It has to be good to …Creed!”

  Dean blinked as he lifted his head from his work. “Creed?” he turned round just as Creed ducked through the lab door.

  “I’m not disturbing you am I?” Creed asked gently.

  “Oh my goodness, no.” Ellen said pulling a chair with her. She stood on it, to give him a hug. “How are you?”

  “Rested. Better. Feeling strange being in new surroundings.”

  “Your people?”

  Creed smiled. “Rested. Better and feeling strange.”

  “Creed, I would like you to meet Dr. Dean Hayes.”

  Dean walked over with an extended hand and boyish grin. “I’m not standing on a chair to greet you. How do you do?”

  “Fine, thank you. I heard a lot about you.” Creed said as he helped Ellen down.

  “What brings you into Beginnings?” Dean asked. “I was under the impression that we were coming to see you.”

  “I wanted to see Beginnings. I called Mr. Slagel, he sent transportation for us.” Creed replied.

  “Us?” Ellen asked.

  “Julie and I. I brought the child to you. She had another outburst this morning.”

  “What kind of outburst?” Ellen asked.

  “Reactionary. As if she is scared. Traumatic. It doesn’t happen all the time. She doesn’t get violent. But she is tough to calm down. I recalled what you told me about containment and thought it might not be a bad idea.”

  “You don’t think placing her with a family is a good idea?” Ellen questioned.

  “Not at this time. She’s old enough to be taught. I think she’s eleven. Not sure.”

  “Where is she now?” Ellen asked.

  “In the hall.”

  Dean gave a quirky look. “You think she is still there.”

  “She doesn’t like to move much on her own,” Creed replied. “We cleaned her up. The best we could figure is she had been alone for a short time. I don’t think the child had the motivation to live without means.”

  This made Ellen curious. She walked passed Creed into the hall. “Oh my God. How cute.”

  Dean heard that and joined Ellen in the hall. “Danny’s gonna ask if she’s from Lodi.”

  Ellen didn’t have to hunch much for the child. The girl was about four and a half feet, very, very blond hair. A face that was red from embarrassment or overheating. Actually, Julie’s face was full, very full. Her entire body was full and as wide as she was tall. She cradled a doll, which seemed to get lost in her body.

  “Hi Julie, I’m Ellen.” She spoke pleasantly and turned to look up at Creed. “At least we know she wasn’t starving.”

  Dean cringed. “El.”

  “What?” Ellen asked as if she were clueless. “Creed does she have any belongings.”

  “Nothing we could find,” Creed replied. “We’ve had a hard time finding clothes to fit her, that’s why she is wearing the Toga. I wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm.”

  “I’ll see if Jenny Matoose has anything.”

  “El,” Dean scolded.

  “What?” Ellen asked. She shook her head and lifted her phone from her belt. After dialing, she spoke. “Hey, Jenny, I know you have class. We have a new resident at Containment. A young girl. About eleven. She’s not talking, and Creed thinks containment might be best for a spell. Yeah. Can you pop on by? Thanks.” She hung up her phone and smug, turned to Dean. “Jenny can find anything in this town. I wasn’t asking Jenny for clothes because she is large.” she returned to Julie, speaking pleasantly. “Would you like to come with me to see where you’re going to be living for a short time?”

  Julie nodded.

  Ellen took her hand. “Creed meet us there in a few.”

  “I have no idea where ‘there’ is.” Creed said.

  Dean held up his hand. “I’ll take you.”

  After a ‘thanks’ and holding on to Julie’s hand, Ellen led her down the hall.

  Dean watched as the child moved slow and wobbled in her walk like a penguin. Once they were out of ear shot he turned to Creed. “How does a child get that large in an apocalyptic world?”

  “She could have a gland problem. You’ll have to check.”

  “I will.”

  “But ... usually … people with glandular problems don’t eat that much.”

  “Does she eat a lot?” Dean asked.

  “We couldn’t keep up with her,” Creed replied.

  “Oh, my God. Okay, let me close down and we’ll head on over.”

  “Mind if I look at your lab doctor? It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything modern.”

  “Absolutely,” Dean said, “Follow me.”

  Creed did. There was something about the atmosphere he liked. He was back in a sense to the world before the plague. Even though having ‘God’ status had its perks, it was better for him, to be a doctor and stepping into the lab, Creed felt as if he were taking the first step on that path again.

  ***

  Rarely did Ellen call someone in for an outside opinion on a containment resident, but she had to with Julie. Richie couldn’t face her without laughing, and Julie was unresponsive to Ellen. She smiled at Jenny, and Ellen gave Jenny the job of seeing what she could find out about the young girl.

  In the dining room of containment, Jenny locked herself with Julie. They’d been in there for a good half hour when people started to arrive. News got out via the driving escort that, “People had to see the child Creed brought to town.’

  What the driver failed to do was inform everyone ‘why’ they had to see her.

  Joe knew something was up, when Gemma flew by him with a plate, “Excuse me’ as he stepped from the jeep. He paused, watched her fly into containment.

  He looked at Frank. “It’s not dinner time is it?’

  Frank looked at his watch, “Hardly, maybe El has something weird happening.”

  “Joe!” Dean called as he approached. “Hey, wait up.”

  Joe turned to see Dean walking with Creed. “Why is Dean smiling?”

  “I hate when he smiles.” Frank said.

  “Joe, thanks, I want to be there when you guys go in.”

  He thought it was odd, but then again, to Joe, everyone was odd in Beginnings. He gave a shrug and a ‘sure’, reached for the door and opened it.

  Voices flowed out pummeling him.

  “What in Christ’s name.” Joe squeezed through the hoards of people. “What the hell are all you people doing in here in the middle of a work day.”

  As soon as he spoke and made his pre
sence known, meshes of questions fired away and Joe couldn’t make heads or tails out of what they said.

  Creed was the last one in the tiny office, and with gasps and moans, every silenced.

  Frank looked from Creed to the crowd then to Dean, and caught it. The rare instance when Dean said something mentally to him. “No.”

  Smug, Dean nodded. “Yep, that’s why.”

  Joe lifted his hand. "Can someone tell me what’s …” he spotted Jimmy behind the security desk. “Jimmy why are you here? Where’s Dan.”

  “Dad, thank God. I can’t hold these people back any longer Dan went to get an offering.”

  Joe heard Dean’s snickered, gave a sharp glance then returned to Jimmy. “Offering.”

  “Yeah, and Ellen is deliberately holding it back.”

  “Holding what back?” Joe asked.

  Trish stepped forward, she had a platter in her hand. “The golden child. We hear Creed brought a child in, and since his people call him God and since Gary said the child was unbelievable. We all know what that means.”

  Another in the crowd added. “We hear she heals.”

  “My corn has been acting up for days!”

  “We want to see her.”

  “Yeah, Joe!”

  Soon an eruption of questions surrounded him. Joe whistled short and sweet bringing silence to the small room.

  “Enough! You people have to have something else to do!” Joe scolded. “Let’s go Frank. It’s a child, Christ.” Joe reached for the security door, and paused when he heard the mumbling about the child being ‘chosen’, with a shake of his head and a buzz of the door, he walked through.

  Ellen was standing in the hall outside the closed dining room door.

  “Ellen.” Joe approached her.

  “Hey, Joe …” Ellen smiled ‘Frank, Dean …” She giggled. “Creed. Wow, I’m popular.”

  “Yeah, I’d say so.” Joe pointed backwards. “You got a whole office jammed with people waiting to see this new kid. They think she’s special.”

  Ellen nodded. “She is Joe.”

  Frank spoke up. “El, if she’s a child then why …”

  Buzz.

  They all looked to see who came through the door.

  Henry.

  “Sorry, didn't miss her unveiling did I?” Henry asked.

  “No, Henry.” Ellen asked.

  “Good.” Henry grabbed his chest. “I ran. I wanted to beat Robbie and Hal.”

  “This is insane.” Joe lifted his phone and dialed. “Jimmy. Yeah. No one gets in here. No one. I don’t care that Robbie and Hal walked in. They don’t get in. Tell them to clear that room. Thanks.” He hung up. “Christ it’s a circus.” He gave scolding eyes when Ellen laughed. “And like Frank was asking, why is she here. She’s a child. Is this the best place for her?”