The Strain

by Jacqueline Druga

  “George has a point,” Joe said. “Danny. Anything?”

  “Um... yeah. Go to the past, get a couple antibiotics,” Danny replied. “Go to the future and recreate them, then bring them back.” He turned his head to Dean when he heard the laugh. “That’s funny.”

  “It’s just the long way around things.”

  Joe held out his hand. “The floor is yours Dean.”

  Dean stood, reached in the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a pack of matches. He set them on Joe’s desk. “My father was at a medical and pharmaceutical convention in Vegas fifteen years before the plague. I go back, I find him. He mentioned meeting a bunch of doctors there. I’m thinking, I go, I tell him everything and get him to help us. He will. You know my father. There has to be one doctor there that could arrange a pick-up of a large order.”

  “Uh huh.” Joe nodded. “And where would you get these from? Where would you pick up the pills? That’s a lot. You’re talking Vegas. My knowledge of time travel is limited but I know enough that the only way you’re shooting back in time to Vegas is through the HG Wells. Either there or from here. You aren’t getting that many pills through the HG Wells opening.”

  “That …” Jason spoke up. “Is where I come in.” he reached down for the matches. “This convention was twenty-five years ago. I was a young pup of twenty-eight. My father dragged me there. He was there as well. Not sure if you remember, but I am from Montana. Billings. My father’s best friend was the director of the main hospital there. My father served on the board. If we can convince my father, getting a large shipment would be easy.”

  “You’ve given this thought?” Joe asked.

  “Absolutely,” Jason nodded. “Ever since Roy told me Dean’s idea. I’ve solved the delivery method. Using the power of the HG Wells, we transfer it to a bigger regressionator archway on my family’s property in Billings. We drive through, pick up the shipment and return.”

  Frank asked. “Why not just go to Billings and talk to your dad?”

  “We need a time and place where were know everyone will be,” Jason answered. “This is it. Plus, Vegas would be much more fun for the travelers. We’d need three. Two to interact, one to be the constant with the history. This is pretty far back so we need a constant.”

  Danny added. “So you going would be a slam dunk on getting the pills.”

  Jason shook his head. “It would be, but I won’t go. My younger self was already working on the quantum Regressionator, I would be too afraid I’d spill my guts. But… my younger self would be instrumental in helping. I’ll write a letter Dean can present to me. It will be all the proof my younger self will need. Dean will have the medical knowledge to convince my father the need for the medication.” Jason glanced at Dean. “Maybe even speaking to his father first and they team up to talk to mine. We can work the details out.”

  Joe asked. “Would we send the three of them from here?”

  “We could,” Jason said. “Using the HG Wells. Or … for accuracy, we take the HG Wells there. I for one would love to see Vegas. I bet it’s one big desert.”

  Hal sighed out loudly. “But the beauty would still be buried underneath.”

  “I could fly us,” George said. “Would take two hours.”

  “Hold up. Hold up.” Joe held up his hands. “We still have one major problem with this whole plan.” He shifted his eyes to Dean. “William. William’s a problem. We can’t send post-apocalyptic Dean back in time to see his father. Dean you are far too instrumental in the plague. We don’t know how much this will cause a ripple if William knows anything.”

  Dean grinned. “I have been waiting for this.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the Hoi-Racer.”

  “Dean,” Danny snapped. “You have another phone?”

  “It’s not a phone. It’s a Hoi-Racer.”

  “A Hoi …” Danny grinned. “Oh, wow, something else from the future I invented?”

  “Yep.” Dean nodded. “I got it from Hank. They were time enforcers and this was something they used on people they met. Like from the movie—”

  “Men in Black,” Danny cut him off. “Oh my God. It is my idea. I swear to God … look …” he pulled a small notebook from his chest pocket. “A Danny note.” He held it up. “Talk to Dean or Roy about erasing short term memory. Like Men in Black.” He tapped the page. “I was thinking of this. Oh my God. Is that what it is? It erases the memory.”

  “Yes,” Dean said.

  Danny shrieked with excitement then composed himself. “Sorry. I’m psyched. Finally something I can’t be blamed for stealing from the future.” He cleared his throat. “Go on Dean.”

  “Thanks,” Dean explained. “See you set it for how long you want the memory erased. Right now, it’s set for forty-five seconds. Hank said no more than two days.”

  “Does it work?” Joe asked.

  Dean nodded. “Yes.”

  Jason leaned forward to look. “That’s amazing. You’ll have two days in Vegas to get the job done. Convince them, get things in motion, erase your father’s memory and head to Billings. I believe we can trust my past self and father if we remember anything. My father passed away right before I was placed in cryo freeze.”

  “Or,” Dean added. “Erase your memory in Vegas after the order was placed. Go through the machine on your property in Billings. Get the shipment and erase it again.”

  “Works.” Jason agreed.

  Frank laughed.

  “What’s so funny, Frank?” Joe asked.

  “It’s a fuckin phone,” Frank said. “Dean is making it up so he can go.”

  “It is not,” Dean argued. “It’s a real thing.”

  “But what if it doesn’t work on strong minded people.”

  “If effects the brain Frank,” Dean said. “Strong minded or not, it will work.”

  Frank moved forward, placing his hands on his hips. “Prove it. Test it on me.” He tapped his temple. “My mind is strong.”

  “Okay …” Dean lifted the Hoi-Racer. “Let me think.”

  “I know.” Hal stood. “I have true test. Frank, read my mind.”

  “Hal,” Joe warned.

  “I’m gonna think fast. Ready?”

  “Ready.” Frank stared at him, then suddenly, Frank’s eyes widened and his face turned red as his eyes shifted to Joe. “Is he fucking serious?”

  Hal grinned arrogantly.

  “Hal!” Joe blasted. “You son of a bitch.”

  Hal exhaled. “It felt good to get that out.”

  “Dad, is this true?” Frank asked angrily. “Is this why you hate me?”

  “Hal!”

  “Zap him, Dean,” Hal instructed,

  Dean hit the button.

  Frank paused.

  There was silence.

  Reset.

  “Prove it. Test it on me.” Frank tapped his temple. “My mind is strong.”

  “Oh my God,” Danny gasped.

  “What?” Frank asked.

  “This is perfect,” Jason said. “I’m impressed Danny. I was reluctant to believe it.”

  “Hey!” Frank interrupted. “We can’t believe anything. We need to test it. Use me... My mind’s the strongest. Test on me, Dean.”

  “Okay,” Dean played with the buttons. “Read my mind, Frank.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Frank smiled. “Finally, breaking down that wall of math facts you put …” His eyes grew wide. “Dean, what the fuck! When were you gonna fucking …”

  Flash.

  Pause.

  Frank didn’t move. Then after a beat. “Prove it. Test it on me.” He tapped his temple. “My mind is strong.”

  Dean smiled.

  Hal laughed.

  “Alright. Alright.” Joe called out. “Enough.”

  “Enough of what?” Frank said. “We didn’t do anything. We need to test it.”

  “No.” Joe shook his head. “I trust, Dean. If he says it works and Danny has the notebook, then I believe it works.”

  “I s
till say we should test it to make sure,” Frank argued.

  “We will. But for now. We draw to see who is going to Vegas with Dean. Names drawn are the ones that go back. Agreed?” Joe asked.

  He waited until he received nods from every.

  “Good. Let’s do this.” Joe lifted a sheet of paper and began tearing it into strips. “God willing, it will be a team that won’t screw things up.”

  FOURTEEN

  “No,” Joe wanted to scream when he opened the last slip of paper to reveal the third time travel. “No.”

  Frank laughed.

  Something told Joe that, of course, it would be Frank. His hardheaded son had the luck of the draw. It went back to when he was a kid. He always won drawings, he was always on game shows. So it made sense that Frank would have his name drawn.

  Hal didn’t seem bothered by not getting to go back in time. He was glad to be able to go to Vegas even if it was a desert city long after its glory days. He was convinced the shimmer of it was still there and he couldn’t wait to explore.

  “No,” Jo said. “No.”. More than anything he wanted to take that paper, throw it away, start over or just bang his head off the desk in frustration. “This can’t be. We have to draw again.”

  “No, Joe,” Henry whined. “You said. You said fair and square. Whoever got picked goes. That’s not right. Not right at all. You took a vote. Everyone agreed. And my name was pulled”

  “Henry!” Joe yelled with a slam of his hand on the desk. “We all know what happened the last time you three went through the Time Machine. Nothing, nothing was ever the same.”

  “In our defense,” Henry said. “If we hadn’t gone through the Time Machine and did what we did. You wouldn’t have had that chance with Robbie. You wouldn’t have got to see him again.”

  Jason clear his throat. “If you two or three hadn’t messed up with a timeline it’s also fair to say that we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now, would we?”

  Henry said. “You have a point.”

  Hal spoke up, “There is nothing more that I would like than for us to draw again. I would love to go back in time and experience the glory days in Vegas. But fair is fair, Father. We all voted that whoever is chosen would be the ones to go.”

  “Still,” Danny said. “They have a history of messing things up.”

  George asked, “Can I ask what they did? I wasn’t around back then. What did they screw up?”

  “Well,” Frank said. “It all started…”

  “Stop.” Joe lifted a hand. “I’ll explain this to George over a drink. I need one. As for now,” Joe gathered up boulders. “Start planning this. I want us to leave in the morning. First thing. The whole thing should take no more than six hours. I expect you guys back by the evening so we can plan to pick up the antibiotics. I’m done for now. George? Care to join me for a drink?”

  “Dad,” Frank said. “I’m the fucking alcoholic and it’s nine in the morning.”

  “Yes.” Joe nodded. “Yes, it is. Thank you for telling me that. And your point?”

  Frank shook his head. “Nothing. Just making an observation.”

  “Check back with me and a couple hours when you have a plan in motion.” Joe said. “And find Hank. I want him to explain how this eraser thing works. And if it will have any ill effects.”

  George with him, Joe walked out of the office, a second later, the door open and Joe popped his head back in. “And remember, this better be a prime example of what happens in Vegas stays in goddamn Vegas.’ He retreated and shut the door.

  “Oh, yeah,” Frank made a fist and drew his hand inward in a victory motion. “Watch out. We’re going to Vegas.”

  <><><><>

  “We’re going to Vegas?” Jimmy asked Hal. “For real?”

  “Yes, for real,” Hal walked with him across center town. “Well, not the light and glitzy days. Dean, Frank and… Henry will be doing that. But we will explore. Part of a brother trip. Only George will be there.”

  “What about Doctor Godrichson? Won’t he need to be there to do the time thing?”

  “As far as I know, Henry will be handling that. We’re using the HG Wells.”

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  “It’s something Roy brought with him. A potable time travel device.”

  “How convenient.”

  “Yes,” Hal smiled. “Isn’t it?”

  “Are you sure it’s okay if I go?”

  “Absolutely. We’ll leave first thing in the morning and be back by evening. I do have to head back to Bowman with George.” Hal stopped walking and looked around, dropping his voice. “Any word on our missing person.”

  “So odd, Hal, nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Have you asked?”

  “As best as I could without sounding suspicious.”

  “Hmm.” Hal drew a curious look. “Do you think maybe it was some straggling survivor?”

  “Or …. Frank did say there were twenty-seven hundred at that camp at one time. Three hundred left.”

  “Could be one of them. Finding them has to be on our agenda when we get back.”

  “Clearly the three hundred left the other group well before we discovered them up north,” Jimmy said.

  “Clearly. Ok I’m going to find George and head back. In the meantime. Keep an eye out and ears open. If it is one of our people,” Hal said. “Soon enough someone will report someone missing in action.”

  <><><><>

  “Someone is going to report you missing if you keep hanging out here,” Ellen said to Roy, speaking through the intercom as she stood by the glass of the protective door.

  “It is okay. I hate leaving you here. I feel bad.”

  “Don’t. Really. Don’t.”

  “How are you feeling?” Roy asked.

  “Better,” Ellen replied. “Much better than this morning. Thank you for the medication. It’s helping.”

  “I wish there was more I could do.”

  “Hey, we’re all doing all that we can. Any news from the big meeting?” Ellen asked.

  “Nothing yet. I’m sure by now they are done.”

  “Can you do me a favor? Can you please not tell Dean or Frank anything about me having the bacterial infection?”

  “You do not want it to influence their mental state for the trip?”

  Ellen shook her head. “No. I don’t. Dean needs to focus on getting the antibiotic. More than that, pulling it off.”

  “Hopefully he’ll be able to do it.”

  “If they picked his method.” Ellen smiled. “There’s a chance somebody had a better idea.”

  “It’s possible,” Roy replied less than enthusiastically.

  “What is it?” Ellen asked.

  Roy shook his head.

  “Tell me. What’s going on?”

  “Time travel is tricky. We also may be so far removed from the way things were, we forget how hard it was to get medication. It is an astronomical task. I hope it is successful and as easy as they make it out to be.”

  “I’m sure they’ll have their issues. But Dean and whoever goes with him will do it,” Ellen said. “If they don’t we’re all in trouble. This thing is bigger than we imagined. We just have to have to have faith”

  <><><><>

  “Have faith.” George set down his empty shot glass at the Social Hall. “That’s all I can say. Have faith, Joe.”

  Joe grumbled. “It’s not a trip last week. It’s not a trip going to the future. This is twenty-five years’ worth of time they can screw up.”

  “I would worry if they didn’t have that mind eraser thing. But they do.”

  “Hopefully they don’t mind erase before Jason’s father can order the shipment. Letting those three loose in Vegas is just … just ….”

  “Scary.”

  “Yes.”

  “On the bright side, Henry will be away from them being the constant.”

  “The last time they went—”

>   “They screwed up. But you don’t know the history they changed, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Then another bright spot. You won’t know it this time either.”

  Joe was about to do his stock grumble again, when Danny and Lars stepped into the Social Hall.

  “Ah,” Lars said. “The pub is open morning hours now.”

  “Special occasion,” Joe replied. “What can I do for you guys? What brings you here?”

  “A couple things,” Danny said. “George, that plane is arriving along with the fuel plane. Should be here by this evening.”

  “Good. Good.”

  “However,” Danny said. “Stewart said to tell you that this trip brings your supply down to twenty-five percent. He wanted me to have you authorize pulling people from Great War training to send them down to ramp up fuel production. Because we’re going to need fuel to fight, I gave him the okay, telling him if it changes you’ll let him know.”

  George nodded. “That’s fine. Thank you Danny.”

  “And Hal is waiting for you.”

  George reached for the bottle and poured a shot’s worth into a glass. “I’m ready.”

  “If I may,” Lars said. “I wanted to clarify something with all of you. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Shoot,” Joe said.

  “Let me get this straight,” Lars said. “Six of you, George, Hal, Jimmy, Frank, Dean and Henry are leaving in the morning for Vegas, Frank, Dean and Henry are going back twenty-five years from now to a convention to get the elders Hayes and Godrichson to order a shipment of antibiotics to be delivered to Saint Vincent Hospital in Billings. When they return from Vegas, they go to Billings and time travel back with a truck to get what we need.”

  “Sounds about right,” Joe said.

  “Okay, then here’s what I need,” Lars said. “Starting tonight, I want all six of them quarantined. I will run a blood test on them in the morning to make sure each of them are all clear of the bacteria. Even though only three of them are going back in time, the other three can infect them if they have it.”

  “Done … but… tonight?”