When I saw that, I knew why I suddenly felt so badly.
<><><><>
“Sleeper virus,” Javier said, setting down my chart.
“Well, I kind of figured that.” I looked to the IV that ran in my arm then to my bandaged leg. “You can’t tell anyone, okay? I don’t want Phoenix to scare people.”
“Everyone knows there are carriers here, but I’ll be quiet. You, on the other hand, are here with me for a couple nights.”
“That bad?”
“Alex, you were bit before. Remember?”
I did remember, that was the day I saw two Sonnys. I had been bit by a Sleeper when we were back at Grace.
“You have a very low resistance to the virus. Your body refuses to build up antibodies for some reason. It hits you hard and fast. You aren’t as bad as you were before, but we still have to hit you hard to combat it.”
“I understand,” I said. “Do I have to lay in this bed?”
“You can move around the clinic. I’ll say you have an infection if anyone asks. Except Mera. She knows.”
“She knows?” I swung my legs over the bed.
“Try to take it easy on that leg.” Javier said. “Yes, she knows. She came rushing in here.”
“Where is she?”
“Next door. Shall I send her in?”
“Yeah, might as well.”
Javier walked to the door and stopped. “Alex, why did Phoenix bite you?”
“He and Keller were playing. He asked if I would play. I said yes. Only he informed me that they were playing Sleepers after the bite.”
“That’s an odd game for a two year old to play.”
It was an odd game, then again, those babies were odd children. All of the kids that lived with us were odd.
Javier was gone only a minute and Mera ran into the room. She seemed frantic.
“Alex!” she gushed. “Oh my God.”
“Mera, listen I know—”
“Shh.”
“Shh?” I repeated, having a hard time believing Mera silenced me. Where was her concern? Her worry? Her anger over what I said.
She peeked out the door, then after closing it, she locked it.
“Why did you lock my door?”
‘Oh my God. I think we have a situation.”
“What? I’m confused.”
“I was waiting for them to tell me I could come in and—”
“How did you know I was here?”
“Randy said he saw you come here. Alex, I’m trying to tell you something.” She hurried to the small window. “Oh, sweet. Come here.”
At that point I was lost. “I need to look out the window? I’m sick, Mera.”
“Alex, I’m not fucking around.” Mera held out her hand. “Hurry up.”
I stood slowly and, holding the IV pole, I walked over to the window. “What’s going on?”
“I saw something.”
“Well, it can’t be anything, tower would have called it.”
“Tower watches outside the fence, not in.”
“What?”
“I was looking out the window while I was waiting on you and … look.” She pointed. “Look.”
The medical building was one of what I liked to call petal buildings. Four buildings joined together like a flower on the back on the property. When I looked out, I saw a man walking around in the grassy section behind the building. A tall, thin man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap.
“See?”
“Who the hell is that? And is he drunk? He’s just moving in circles.”
“He’s lost. That’s what I think.”
I laughed. “How can he be lost? And going in circles isn’t gonna help.”
“He doesn’t have a choice. That’s the situation I think we have.”
“Mera, I’m confused.”
“Alex, look at him. Look. You won’t be confused,” she said. “I know who that is.”
“Who?”
“Our son,” she replied. “I think future Keller is here.”
SEVENTEEN – MERA STEVENS
We didn’t watch him for long, in fact I felt really sorry for him. It was evident that the man couldn’t see. He kept moving in circles, hands in his pockets.
“If you didn’t have the Sleeper virus we could go out there,” I said. “I can’t believe you have the Sleeper virus again.”
“Tell me about it. Makes me wonder if the cloaking serum will even work on me.”
“Probably not. The Sleepers tore you apart even when you were infected.”
He gave me a look as if I said something highly offensive. “Can you be more callous?”
“It doesn’t count, Alex, you aren’t dead anymore.” I sighed. “Poor Keller.”
“We don’t know that’s him.”
“One way to find out,” I said. “You ready?”
“How? You gonna pull a covert operation?”
“We’ll try.”
Alex shrugged. “Works for me.”
Whether it was Keller or not, we couldn’t just leave the man out there, so I decided to help sneak Alex out of the medical building. It was only down one flight of stairs. I’d carry the IV.
His IV pole rolled nicely and it looked pretty good until Javier saw us heading for the stairs.
“Excuse me,” he called out. “Where are you going?”
Alex looked over his shoulder. “For a walk.”
Javier shook his head.
“No?” Alex asked. “You said I could walk around the clinic.”
“This floor. I don’t need you tumbling down the stairs. You’re sick.”
“Damn it, I’m fine.”
“Sorry. Back to your room or stay in the hall.”
“Should you go alone?” Alex asked me.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Just scream if you run into trouble.”
“I will.”
Javier snuck up to us. “Why would she scream?”
“Because the kids are out there playing Sleepers,” I answered. “They are so wrapped up in the new game.”
“It’s a demented new game,” Javier stated. “I’d like to know who started it.”
I don’t know why I said it, it just blurted out. “Sonny.”
Alex laughed.
“I’ll have a talk with him,” Javier said.
“And I’ll be back with that book.” I handed Alex the IV pole.
“You’re going to leave him here?” Javier asked.
“He’s fine.” I headed into the stairwell.
I was a little nervous. I mean, if it was Keller, I was fine, but what if some stranger had wandered onto the property?
After I hit the bottom of the steps, I went outside, staying close to the building. Whoever it was walked in circles behind the building. At the edge, I peeked around the corner to make sure he was still there. He was.
Slowly and quiet, I walked up to him, my stomach flipping nervously. The man was tall and his body was quite defined.
I made it ten feet from him, when he spun in my direction.
“Hello,” I said.
“Mom,” he whispered.
I hurried over to him. “I knew it was you. I saw you from the window.” I grabbed his hand. It was a strong hand and I wanted to cry. I looked up to his chiseled face, and I placed my hand on his cheek. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ll tell you when we find Phoenix. Right now, I have no idea where I am in this place.”
“He’s out on a run. He’ll be back. No worries, I have you.” I looped my arm through his. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“First we have to get you out of sight until we explain how you got here. No one knows that Ed is Phoenix. Just a few of us.”
“I understand.”
“For now, let’s go find Alex.”
Keller smiled. “It’ll be interesting to find out how much he has changed.”
“Knowing Alex, I will bet not much.”
Holding on to
Keller’s arm, I guided him along the side of the building, peeked around, then brought him to the door.
Thankfully, the medical building wasn’t a busy place. I needed to get him inside and up to Alex’s room without anyone being the wiser about the arrival of a mysterious stranger.
<><><><>
I felt like James Bond or some I Spy kind of guy, checking first before we moved. That half a corridor walk to Alex’s room seemed like a mile. I didn’t think we were spotted. Carefully, I opened the door, and looked into Alex’s room. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and stood up.
“Well?”
I pulled Keller inside and shut the door.
Keller smiled and gripped my hand tighter. “So this is when you looked like this?”
“I’m sorry?” Alex asked.
Without guidance, Keller walked toward him. “You are one of the few that have the ability to help me visualize, yet you always have me visualize you as you look now. Knowing I am thirty years into the past, I see which look you hold on to now.”
I asked. “Don’t I stop that?”
“You encourage it.”
“Wow, Keller,” Alex reached out and grabbed his arms. “Look at you. I’m so proud.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
“And he’s so handsome, Alex. I can’t believe how handsome he is.”
“He takes after me,” Alex said.
“Your spirits are up, though you don’t look well,” Keller said to Alex, then shifted to me. “You smile and…” his voice dropped. “You are carrying the baby.”
“Keller, what happens?” I questioned. “Do you know?”
“No. You and dad never speak of it. We don’t know.”
Alex asked, “Why are you here now?”
“I need to see Phoenix.”
After a beat, Alex blurted out an unexpected laugh.
“What?” Keller asked.
“You need to see Phoenix?”
“Oh my God,” I gasped. “Our son traveled through time to see us and you make fun of him. You are so rude.”
“It’s fine,” Keller said. “He’s still the same now. He still finds humor when I use the word ‘see’.”
The door to Alex’s room opened with a rush and Levi came in and shut the door. He looked at us all with a smug glance. “What’s going on?”
“We’re visiting Alex.”
“Alex is permitted visitors. Why did you sneak him in? I watched you. You snuck him in here.”
Alex tried to cover. “I told her I didn’t want anyone to know I was here. But she insisted on bringing him here.”
“Uh huh,” Levi nodded. “Who is he?”
“Who is he?” I asked. “George.”
“George?”
“George,” I repeated.
“George,” said Alex.
Keller still had his back to Levi. “George.”
Levi approached Keller. “I don’t know him.”
“Well,” Alex scoffed, “you can’t know everyone.”
“I can in this small community.”
“Bet I can name at least three you don’t know,” Alex said.
“Like who?”
“Salvatore, Fredo, and Vito.”
“Who?”
“Exactly,” Alex stated. “Point proven. You don’t know them and you don’t know George.”
“You are so full of shit,” Levi argued. “You hang around Sonny the hoodlum too much.”
Keller laughed. “Poor Sonny.”
Levi walked to Keller and faced him. “I don’t know you. I especially would know if we had a blind man in this community.”
“Ha!” Alex stated. “We have three blind people here in Haven.”
“Really?” Levi questioned. “And I’m sure you know their names.”
“I do.” I raised my hand. “Frisky, Graysey and Longtail.”
Levi shook his head. “The Three Blind Mice.”
I cringed. “How did you know that?”
“No,” Alex said. “The question should be, how did you, Mera, know the names of the Three Blind Mice?”
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“No,” Alex barked. “They don’t.”
“She’s lying like a Sonny,” Levi said. “She knows the names because Michael has been reading that story to the kids in school. And enough of that, I have never seen George before.”
“And he never saw you,” Alex said.
Levi grumbled.
After laughing, Keller said. “I just arrived here.”
“This morning,” I added. “Alex actually was the one who let him in. He walked up to the gate.”
“If you’re blind, how did you find us?” Levi asked.
“My dog,” Keller answered. “My dog led the way. I lost him a few miles back so I followed the smells of life.”
Levi folded his arms. “A dog? Now I know you’re lying. There are no dogs. They were rendered extinct almost immediately following the Event. So try another one, there are no dogs.”
Almost as if a heavenly gift, at that moment, and close, a steady barking occurred.
My eyes widened. “A dog? I hear a dog.”
After blurting out a stunned, “Me, too,” Levi flew from the room.
“Keller,” Alex said. “Did you really bring a dog?”
“No. Dogs are extinct. I only said that because I knew blind people used to use dogs. You were always looking for one for me.”
“I think we found one,” I said.
“But how?” asked Alex. “Who in the world found a dog?”
EIGHTEEN – SONNY WILSON
Beck said I had to quarantine Scout just to be on the safe side and to have him checked out. I understood that. I did want to help unload all the things we got first.
My chin needed medical attention. I took a peek in the side view mirror of the truck. It was crazy. The pain stopped so I thought it was fine. It had even stopped bleeding, yet when I looked I had this wide open gash like a second mouth on it.
Miles didn’t come down to greet us, he was on tower watch. Randy did. He crouched down to Scout and apprehensively stroked the dog’s head. Almost fearfully.
“He won’t bite,” I said. “He’s gentle and a hero. Saved me from a Sleeper.”
“I never saw a dog, other than a picture. He’s beautiful.”
“We either have to find another dog or clone him.”
“It would be wonderful to have more of these.” Randy stood up. “Jesus, Sonny, what happened to your chin?”
“I got that Jay Leno thing happening.”
“Who?”
“Never mind. I hit it. Sleepers came, one jumped me from behind. Some of us are Sleeper targets.”
“You aren’t having much luck. Better get that chin taken care of.”
“I’m on my way. Can you help Beck with the unloading?”
“Absolutely,” Randy said. “Oh, and check on Alex. They admitted him.”
“Oh my God. Internal bleeding?”
“Maybe it’s your flu.”
I clenched my fist. “Yes!” I shouted over to Danny, “Alex has the flu!”
Randy gave me a sour look. “That’s not right.”
“Oh, I’m not happy he’s sick, just that I’m right. I kept saying I had the flu.”
“You did. Seems they owe you an apology.”
I was still near the front gate and the medical building was a good distance away. With Scout on the makeshift leash, we headed there.
Scout was good, he walked proudly with his tail wagging. The kids all waved excitedly to him. I knew immediately he was going to be a beloved pet. I studied his face in the truck on the way back. His tag said mixed breed. I saw some terrier in him and could smell the beagle. I spent a lot of time with dogs, my parents loved them and dogs love me. It was a gift, one I was convinced I hadn’t lost. Especially after Scout’s heroics.
We reached the medical building and Scout barked as soon as he saw Javier. It was a ‘hey, I’m just gauging you’ type of
bark. He knew Javier wasn’t harmful.
He took us into the examining room.
“Where did you find the dog?” Javier asked. “I’ve only seen one or two since the Event happened.”
“Really? Because I haven’t seen any. This is hopeful.”
“He seems like a good dog.”
“He is. I think he was with survivors or something because he doesn’t seem wild.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Javier agreed.
“Beck wants you to check him out. Blood test or something.”
“I’m not a vet, but I’ll try. Let me go get the sutures to fix that chin first.”
Javier left and I gave my attention to Scout. He calmed down until Levi blasted in the room, then Scout turned viscous. He clearly knew nice people from mean ones.
He barked crazily at Levi.
Levi stomped his foot, stared at the dog and yelled, “Stop!”
“I can’t believe you just yelled at my dog,” I said.
“It’s not your dog.”
“It is. I found him.”
“Oh, yeah, where?” Levi asked. “A few miles from here?”
“As a matter of fact yes. So he’s mine,” I said defensively. “I found him. Finders keepers.”
“Yes, and….” Levi reached out and took the leash, “losers weepers.” He walked to the door. “His owner is here. Showed up at our gate wanting his dog. Excuse me.”
Before I could cry foul Levi walked out. My heart sunk. He took my dog.
To say I was angry was an understatement. I got up to follow him out but Javier entered the room. Getting Scout back would have to wait until my chin was repaired. Then I’d find him. I was prepared to fight for that dog.
NINETEEN – ALEX SANS
We were all rendered speechless when Levi walked in my room, handed Keller a leash, with a dog attached no less, and said, “I apologize, George. Here is your dog. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch Sonny whine. He has a gash the size of the Great Divide on his chin.” And then he just walked out.
“It’s really a dog,” Mera said. “Look how good he is.”
“Manifesting lies.” I crouched down to the dog even though my leg really ached. “Any other talents you wanna tell us about, Keller? Look at this dog. He’s a beaut. He’s too well behaved to be wild. Has to belong to someone.”
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