The Third Ten

by Jacqueline Druga

  He was encouraged constantly by George to do so. On top of rebuilding antibiotics, Dean worked on curing that plague.

  Underneath Beginnings was a series of tunnels. At the time, no one knew what they were for, but they were there.

  Enter player four: Henry.

  Henry is a micro version of me. He fixed things, did things, but I’ll never own up to him being as inventive as me. Heck, he was even Asian like me.

  Henry worked and maintained the community. He maintained the generators. It was during routine testing he discovered something was not right.

  While transferring all power to Generator One, Henry noticed that Generator Three was still draining power. Something was using that generator.

  But what?

  He couldn’t rest until he found out. He traced every single wire and line and accounted for them.

  But the lines accounted for made no sense. They were lines running under Beginnings but they went directly into a wall.

  Henry became obsessed with that wall. He studied it, trying to figure out where those lines went. What they powered. He became so obsessed he was almost removed from duty.

  They thought he was nuts. He was warned to drop it.

  But he wouldn’t give it up.

  Not long after, on a winter night, Dean Hayes cured the plague.

  Ironically, the same night Dean made the announcement to the community, Henry broke into that wall.

  It opened.

  The long gray wall that was always thought to be part of the tunnel system slid open, exposing a huge lab that was deep and wide.

  In the lab was a long glass wall that divided the main lab from another room. In that smaller room, fifty-three individuals were cryogenically frozen.

  The process for removing them from the cryogenic deep freeze was possible by using the equipment in the lab.

  Dean Hayes figured it out. Why wouldn’t he? He had a brilliant mind.

  But one problem remained. These fifty-three individuals were secured behind an airtight room. Data showed they were frozen before the plague.

  So they hadn’t been exposed to the plague virus.

  Knowing the air still contained the virus, Dean was certain that it would hit the fifty-three people like a bomb if they weren’t immune.

  And it did.

  Luckily, Dean had the cure. They didn’t die.

  No one thought about what a strange coincidence it was that not long after Dean announced his breakthrough, the fifty-three were found.

  These fifty-three were scientists, placed there to be defrosted after the world was over. The timing device had just failed to work.

  They tried to take over Beginnings, but they failed. They moved on to their second location with Beginnings’ blessing.

  What Beginnings didn’t know of was that George Hadly was aware of the frozen scientists all along and he was aware of the whole plan.

  It had a domino effect.

  The fifty-three left for other locations to release more, spreading out and releasing even more from multiple locations.

  George eventually left Beginnings, gathered his forces, and started to rebuild by using the soldiers to gather survivors freely or against their will.

  He did have his own reasons for wanting to build the country again, to get it back on its feet and to have a strong military presence. George Hadly firmly believed and stood by the fact that one day, when we least expected it, we were going to be invaded. The United States provided seventy percent of the food for the rest of the world.

  Eventually, the rest of the world would come for that.

  That was the reason behind his rebuilding.

  One everybody dismissed.

  Day-to-Day...

  Despite the conflicts and the microchip soldiers outside of Beginnings, life was Utopia within the secure walls.

  When I first arrived, I was taken to a place called Containment. It was there that they processed ‘survivors’. They tested them to see if they were civilized and if they could be retrained to live in society.

  Bentley and I were there one day.

  I firmly believed they wanted Bentley out of there more than me. He had hair appointments lined up before his release.

  My ability and talents were able to provide Beginnings with answers and technology they wanted.

  Often times I’d chuckle because Joe would complain to me that, “It’s the Apocalypse, Danny. We’re supposed to struggle.”

  But that wasn’t the case.

  Beginnings was far more than a home. It was a way of life. Behind the secured walls, there was always plenty of food, the best medical attention, and freedom.

  People lived as they wanted to.

  They had moved on from the tragedies of the plague and though they’d never forget the loved ones lost, they were able to smile again.

  Beginnings lived up to the urban legend it was. It was no less than a Utopia to everyone who lived there.

  I was where I wanted to be.

  There was no place else I wanted to go.

  I was home for the rest of my days.

  Life didn’t get any better, couldn’t get any better, than in Beginnings, Montana.

  The Great War

  10.

  Peace at Last

  Five hundred and twenty-three men made up the United Western Alliance. Horse soldiers who were reminiscent of the Civil War days in the way they dressed and fought.

  A mere five hundred.

  Four hundred and seventy were active soldiers who went out and fought.

  They estimated that Hadly and his Eastern Society had more than twenty thousand soldiers and over nine thousand more in the West.

  Before we even discovered they existed, the UWA had managed to push every single Society soldier from the western half of the United States, securing a border that began in Kansas. Quite a feat for a small band of men. But their spirit was strong and their desire for freedom even greater.

  It made perfect sense that Hal Slagel, along with his right hand man, Elliott Ryder, were in charge of the UWA. Hal and Elliott devised each and every attack against the Society and were successful.

  What a gift to his father it was upon Hal’s discovery.

  Hal thought his family was dead and had founded his cause.

  Then when he discovered his family was alive, they joined causes.

  But being there from close to the onset of the war between Beginnings and the Society, I have to say, the intensity of the war had decreased by the time Hal got there. Hell, after all, Hal’s men did a lot of the work.

  Many believed George Hadly to be a mad m an.

  Frank Slagel hated him with a passion and had actually tried several times to kill him.

  And George projected nothing less. Look at the Society he was building. A total military society where you fought or were a workhorse for those who fought. Farming was for food for the soldiers. Fuel, for the soldiers.

  Women .. Well, George couldn’t take a chance on them reproducing fast enough, so he farmed humans.

  Woman became mere housing for embryos, most of which were created in a lab.

  Some of those lab creations were unnatural.

  Frank called them killer babies.

  Actually, they were humans genetically created to withstand the elements.

  They had genes of other animals incorporated into their DNA and that’s where the problems began.

  They had animal instincts and if left to their own resources, followed those. They reproduced like animals, fast and in multiples.

  They grew at four times the rate of humans. They ate human flesh, attacked and were high speed.

  All before they could walk.

  Killer babies.

  The Society recognized their error in this breed and as one of the numerous acts of war, dumped a shit load of these things on Beginnings.

  They remained outside and although it took years, we finally were able to get rid of them all. Frank was actually opposed to it at first beca
use he was for some reason immune to being attacked by them. But as they grew and he recognized their destructive power, he took full charge of eliminating that species.

  Back to the Society.

  They farmed in order to get a bigger population. And the population on the side of the Society was huge. The eastern half of the US was booming, but it wasn’t civilized like Beginnings. It was all military.

  George was convinced it was needed.

  So why bother with Beginnings?

  Beginnings as originally a government installation.

  We all knew there was something in Beginnings he wanted. But it wasn’t until after the war with the Society was officially over that we found out.

  Too bad it was a little too late.

  Too bad we all thought George was mad.

  If he had just shared the information of what he wanted from Beginnings, I truly believe things would have been different.

  There were a lot of factors that caused things to turn out the way they did.

  Being a country divided and against each other, East versus West, was the biggest culprit.

  And we actually thought it was a good thing when we felt peace.

  Little did we know. It was the calm before the storm.

  11.

  End of an Era

  George Hadly, former president of the United States, lived in Beginnings from the onset. Frank Slagel was so engrossed in getting the property secure, that his surviving son, Johnny, found a father figure in George.

  Johnny had all the Slagel traits. Speed, agility, heroism, plus brains. But he had an unholy commitment to George.

  Shortly after George left Beginnings, Johnny did as well. But not without making some bad decisions. He burned his bridges, so-to-speak, with his home and family.

  Oddly, after a near life or death experience in which he was injured, Johnny had an epiphany. He didn’t want to be on the side of Society, he just wanted to go home.

  He hated himself for the things that he did and didn’t understand why he did them.

  Being on the inside and a pseudo son to George, Johnny had inside information. On the Eastern side of the country was a little town called Lodi. Lodi, Ohio.

  They weren’t with the Society, they weren’t with Beginnings. They were neutral.

  Being neutral also made them a pain in the ass to George. He wanted them gone.

  Johnny left the Society and headed there, to Lodi.

  He told the leader, Mike, honestly about his past and Mike gave him sanctuary. Giving Johnny sanctuary meant safety for Lodi because George would never harm Johnny.

  The Society knew of Lodi. Lodi knew of the Society and of Beginnings. But, Beginnings knew nothing of Lodi.

  Johnny made peace with himself and the town of Lodi. But it was their doctor that discovered Johnny had a rapidly growing brain tumor. It was non-cancerous but it was pressing on his brain. This tumor was causing his behavior problems and could have been the reason Johnny had been so easily swayed to turn against his family.

  The steroids Johnny received while injured, temporarily halted the tumors, which allowed for his clarity.

  The Lodi doctor couldn’t do anything about the tumors, but Beginnings could.

  Word was sent to Beginnings. Within a week, help from Beginnings went to Lodi.

  Ellen, who was a doctor and also Frank’s wife, went there immediately. She put everything aside for Johnny. He was like a son to her. She was able to handle the tumor.

  All was good.

  So we thought.

  The Fredrickson was another urban legend. A doomsday meteor headed to earth, due to arrive in February. It wasn’t as big as originally thought, but it was destructive.

  Six weeks before it was due to arrive, it was confirmed. It would land in Asia, but the dust could and would cause a drop in temperature world-wide.

  It was conceivable Lodi would not survive the cold and lack of food.

  The answer was to move Lodi to Beginnings or further west. Johnny would be allowed back, but would have to live in one of the surrounding towns. He was still banned from Beginnings.

  About that time George was wanting them gone. So he gave Lodi the option. Join us, leave, or meet the consequences.

  I suppose it was a bully tactic to get the men.

  A community vote decided Lodi wouldn’t budge for the Society, but would for the meteor.

  I was part of the crew that went to Lodi to prepare their move west.

  We were going to register all the people of Lodi and train a crew to prep the railroad tracks for the pilgrimage.

  Frank went on that trip.

  Egos clashed. Mike hated Frank and there wasn’t any love lost on Frank’s part either. A battle erupted between the two men resulting in Mike changing his mind about the move.

  The town stood behind him,

  As for me, I didn’t give a shit. They were ungrateful. They treated us like the Society when we were opening our home and resources to them.

  We left.

  Within days we found out that forty-three of the two hundred Lodi residents were en route to Beginnings. Only forty-three of them.

  One was Johnny and another was Mike’s son. When Mike fond out his son left, he went after them to find him and get him to come back.

  I don’t remember the date, not exactly, but it was late February when we returned to Beginnings.

  It was also times up on the Society side.

  George was patient, he gave them time to pack up and move, he agreed to back off forces since Lodi was going west.

  George was also a man of his word. But when he found out Mike and the majority of Lodi had decided to remain on the Society side of the country, he deployed his troops.

  In the tunnels of Beginnings not only was a cryo lab discovered, but also a communication room. This room enabled phones again, and a small range satellite link up to activity in the United States.

  During a routine scan for Society soldiers heading our way, the monitor alerted us to the imminent attack on Lodi.

  Frank immediately was on the phone to Lodi, but Mike wasn’t there. Through phone direction, he tried to help Lodi hold their ground. But Lodi wasn’t set up for a military defense. No, wait, physically they were, mentally they weren’t. Even though Frank told them this country was founded and defended by farmers with guns, the people of Lodi failed.

  The Society annihilated them.

  After failing to convince his son to return to Lodi, Mike arrived to find his home destroyed, his town in ruins and most of his people dead.

  Mike was enraged.

  It has been said that the Society was nothing more than snake. George Hadly was the head of that snake.

  Remove the head, kill the serpent. Beginnings firmly believed that for the longest time.

  Mike took on a one-man mission to do just that.

  Mike was more than a man on a mission. He was a danger. A career military man, a former Navy Seal who went into law enforcement after retirement, he was a one man judge, jury and executioner.

  Society headquarters were based out of Quantico. A base Mike knew well. George was at that base.

  I wish I could give you this action packed story. How Mike trudged up there, went up against multitudes of Society troops and went through hell and high water.

  But that wouldn’t be honest.

  Truth is, Mike forged ahead on his mission with relative ease.

  With just as much ease, he infiltrated Quantico, located George, and with a single gunshot to the head, eliminated George.

  Killed him.

  He walked off the base without a second glance.

  The head of the serpent removed. Something everyone that hated the society dreamed of doing. It was like the planting of the American flag at Iwo Jima.

  A victory.

  Ding-dong the witch is dead.

  That was the reaction of many. I remember when the phone call came from Mike. Yes, he called to let us know.

  I was there. In Joe
’s office. Me, Frank, Hal, and Joe.

  Joe took the call. He did that Journalist thing of “What? Where? When? How?” and after a swipe f his hand across his face and a tag line of “I’ll get right back to you’, he hung up.

  He glanced to us. “George is dead. Mike killed him.”

  There was something about that moment. The look on his face. The feel in the room.

  Nope we weren’t dancing a jig of midgets from Wizard of OZ. We went silent. My gut gnawed. The feel of the room, our faces, matched the look on Joe’s face.

  George’s death didn’t feel like a good thing after all.

  Why?

  12.

  Disarray

  It wasn’t a good thing. Not at all. One would think with all the problems George had caused Beginnings and the Western half of the United States, that we’d rejoice. But unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

  We didn’t have a clue.

  We only knew of his master plan. To rebuild the population through the help of science and build a huge military force.

  To protect and defend the U.S. when, not if, the invasion came.

  No one took him seriously in that. After all, the world was knocked out by plague. Who the hell cared about war anymore? About invasion?

  He ran it like one big military base. Several heads to his organization. All food and supplies went to his troops first.

  He had an agricultural division. Transportation. He had the trains running. Phones up.

  The one thing he didn’t have was well trained men. Granted, some of them were trained, but for the most part, he didn’t have the A team of the old U.S.

  That's probably why he wanted Frank so badly.

  Yes, George Hadly was the head of the snake, but none of us realized how big that snake was. And when you chop off the head you have a body just laying there.

  It took two weeks for the news of George’s death to start making an impact on the Society.

  Bertha Callahan, George’s military right hand man, tried with diligence to keep the troops together. But once Stewart Lang walked off the job, the troops started doing the same.