The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Hi Henry.” Dean walked in. “Can I speak to Ellen?”

  Quickly, Henry looked back at Frank who stood up. “She’s not here, Dean. She said she went to find you.”

  Curiously Dean looked around. “I’ve been home. How long ago did she leave here?”

  Henry checked the time again. “Half hour. Shit.”

  Frank walked over to them. “I’ll find her.”

  “Frank,” Dean stopped him. “Do you mind if I do? I think I know where she probably went to look for me.”

  “Dean.” Frank sounded ready to argue. “I think I should . . .”

  “Come on,” Dean spoke with reason. “If she’s not there, I promise I’ll radio you. O.K.? But I’m certain she is there.”

  Frank, who had his hand raised in an argument mode, lowered it. “Radio me. I mean it!” He pointed and stepped back to sit on the couch.

  “Thanks.” Dean watched him then turned to Henry. “I’ll let you guys know.”

  Henry held the door open for Dean as he left. After shutting it he saw Frank get up. “Where you going?”

  “Following him.”

  “Frank, no.” Henry stopped him. “You’ve been drinking heavily. Don’t. O.K.? Besides the fact that you get mad easier when you drink, Ellen will kill you.”

  “I want to know if she’s O.K. Henry. And I’m not drunk.”

  “I know you’re not. But you’re upset, and she’s upset. I don’t want you upset with each other,” Henry reasoned. “Just wait here. I’ll . . . I’ll follow Dean.”

  “All right.” Frank’s shoulders dropped and he walked over and plopped on the couch. “Let me know as soon as possible. Please.”

  “I will.” Henry walked to the door he paused before he left. “Frank, are you all right to be alone with the baby if he needs you?”

  “I’m fine.” Frank brought his drink to his lips. “Just go.”

  Wondering if he should, Henry justified leaving to the fact he wouldn’t be gone long. He hesitated just once more and then he left to catch up to Dean who was well down the street ahead of him.

  <><><><>

  Ellen was exactly where he thought she’d be. Only she wasn’t doing what Dean thought she would be doing--looking for him. She scurried so fast around the mobile lab, she didn’t even notice she left the door open. She had a small duffel bag, it was laid open on the counter and she’d walk to it, drop something and then move to another part in the lab. “What are you doing Ellen?

  Ellen jumped when she heard the startle of Dean’s voice. “I’m busy.”

  “You’re packing up meds. What are you doing?” Dean walked into the lab.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Beginnings?”

  “Yep.” She stated and returned to get another vial. “I’ll be back, but I won’t be back until I make Robbie well.

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Then I’ll try. I’ll try with everything I have. But I’ll try.”

  “Ellen, look you . . .”

  “Dean!” Her hand slammed on the counter. “Leave me alone.”

  “What are you going to do? Go out there by yourself?”

  “Yes. I have to.”

  “How?”

  “I have it all figured out. The Jeep will be charged by dawn. Dan is working the back gate. Frank doesn’t hit the back gate until after seven. Dan said he’d let me out. I’m going to be with Robbie. I have to.”

  “Ellen, I know why you want to do this.”

  “Do you?” She faced him her expression was so desperate. “I can’t leave him alone out there Dean. I can’t. He stood by me and helped me when this fucked up world ended. Now I’m going to stand by him and help him now. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” She zipped up the bag.

  “Yes there is.” Dean unzipped the bag. “I can go with you.” He began to examine what she put in there.

  “What?”

  “I’ll go with you, El. I want to help him too. And you don’t have the new anti-serum in here at all. I’ll get it.”

  “Dean.” She grabbed his hand as he walked by her. “You don’t have to.”

  “Like you . . . yeah I do.” He nodded.

  She watched him move about the lab looking for things. “It’s a shame. We work out here, or at least I used to and we worked with the virus. They said nothing about it. What would be the difference if we worked on Robbie out here? It’s the same thing and they wouldn’t even know he was here.” Her face suddenly lit up at the same time Dean stopped moving and he faced her.

  “You’re not thinking . . .”

  “I am.”

  “So am I.” Dean rushed to her. “Can we?”

  “We’d have to do it early, really early before Frank or Joe could figure it out. We’d have to stock this place and do it tonight. We’ll need food and supplies for the mobile. Because once we’re in, we’re in until we prove it’s safe for us to leave.”

  “We’ll have consequences to face.”

  “Maybe not.” Ellen said. “Besides, all we have to do is get him into the lab. Any punishment we face will wait. Because you know and I know they won’t touch us or throw us out, at least for a few days.”

  Dean ran his fingers through his hair. “Can we? Should we?”

  “We can. We should,” Ellen stated.

  “You can’t and you shouldn’t.” The third voice entered the room and spoke… Henry. “What are you guys doing?” He asked as he joined them. “I heard you. You can’t do that. You can’t. It’s wrong. What were you going to do, bring Robbie in here and disappear into quarantine for a week? Didn’t you think I would notice? Or Frank? You can’t do this. I can’t let you do this.”

  “Henry.” Ellen looked at him. “We are doing this. Either we bring him in here or we stay outside the walls with him. Either or, I go to Robbie. I have to go to him.” Ellen, with Dean’s help unpacked the bag she had stuffed. “We’ll need a gun, Dean, if we’re going out there. Or do you think we can just use one of the ones Robbie has.”

  “We’ll need one.”

  “Stop!” Henry yelled. “Aren’t you hearing me? I’m on council, El. I can’t let you do this.”

  “Then don’t.” Ellen told him. “Don’t let us. We have it all set up.”

  “But I know about it. I have to do something,” Henry said.

  “You can.” Ellen walked to him. “You can turn the other cheek.”

  Henry closed his eyes and let out a breath. He knew he was being ignored. He listened and watched Dean and Ellen get things ready and make up a list of items they would need to pull off that they were about to embark on. A part of him knew why they were doing it, a big part of him. Henry had a choice. He could let them go or he could try to stop them. Telling Joe would only ensure that Ellen and Dean would just go and stay outside the walls with Robbie. To Henry, that was a worse move than bringing Robbie in. It was at that moment Henry discovered he had a third choice and that choice was not to stand in their way but to help them. Help them to do it right and safe. As Dean and Ellen began to prepare the lab, Henry weighed his choices.

  <><><><>

  Henry wasn’t gone long, half hour tops. There was a nervous feeling that crept inside Henry as he walked into Frank’s home. Perhaps it was because he knew something that Frank did not. Something Frank should have known, but couldn’t, not yet.

  “Did you find her?” Frank asked Henry the moment he stepped in and he was trying to be quiet too.

  “Uh . . . yeah.” Henry shut the door and stepped further in the house. “It’s cold in here, Frank.”

  “Where was she?”

  “At the lab.”

  Frank nodded “Which one? There’s fuckin three of them.”

  “Mobile.” Henry walked around the couch to where he sat.

  “Is she coming home soon?

  What he wanted to tell Frank was, ‘probably not. Not until late because see, Frank, they’re taking all the food from Dean’s house to the mobile... from my house too. Also th
ey have a secret meeting with one of your trusted security guys to break out without notice and break Robbie back in.’

  “Henry!” Frank barked. “Is she coming home soon?”

  “Soon. She said not to wait up.”

  “I need to wait up. I need to see her.”

  “How about I leave her a note and tell her to wake you.” Henry though that was a good suggestion, and that would satisfy him.

  “I’ll wait up. I mean how long could she be?”

  “A week maybe?”

  “What?”

  Henry gave a fake laugh. “Joking.” He sat down on the couch. Suddenly and with a soft tone of shock, Henry spoke his name. “Frank.”

  “What?”

  “This bottle was half filled when I left here.” Henry picked it up. “It’s almost gone.”

  “No Henry.” Frank took the bottle and poured the rest in his glass. “It is gone.”

  “Frank, I know you’re upset, I do.”

  “Henry.”

  “No listen to me.” Henry reached for the glass before Frank could take it. “You’re drinking way too much and you have been lately despite what Ellen thinks.”

  “Be my friend, Henry, and just let me alone about it.”

  “I am being your friend. That’s why I’m saying this to you.”

  Frank leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He cupped his hands and placed them under his chin.

  “Drinking isn’t going to make it any better. You know that. Everything will still be there when you sober up.”

  “I know that.” Frank ran the back of his fingers over his lips as he rocked back and forth in a nervous motion.

  “So why do it?”

  Frank nearly bit his fingers as he stared forward like a child being chastised. “I can tell you why I started.”

  “Why is that?”

  “When things were rough, it was just a little more accessible than what I needed to pull me through the rough times.”

  “Ellen.”

  Frank sadly raised his eyebrows with a quiet single nod.

  “She’s here for you now, whenever you need her. You know all it will take is for the three of us to establish an understanding and it’s set in stone forever. I’ll make sure if it. You won’t lose her again.”

  “I know. I wished it would happen.”

  “When it does, not if, Frank, you have to give this up.” Henry held up the bottle. “In fact, you promised Ellen you’d cut back.”

  “I know I did.”

  “But you haven’t. I know that, you know that, but she doesn’t know that.”

  Frank nodded again.

  “You have keep that promise, Frank. I won’t tell her you broke it, but you have to keep it.”

  “I want to.”

  “Then try.”

  “I have tried.” Frank stood up.

  “Try harder.”

  Frank placed his hands on his hips with his back to Henry. He closed his eyes tightly then turned around to face him. “See . . .” He held his hand out. “I want to. I am trying. I try.” He shook his head. “It’s just a little harder right now than I thought it would be.”

  “Frank.” Henry stood up and walked to him. “You know what you’re saying.”

  “No, that is not what I’m saying.”

  “Yes it is.”

  “No!” Frank snapped. “It’s not. Things aren’t easy right now Henry. They aren’t. My brother, the plague, this battle with George and the SUTs. Things are nuts. There’s a lot going on and I just, I guess I put the drinking as low priority.”

  “You have to rank it with everything else that affects your life, because it will soon affect your life just as much, if it already hasn’t.”

  “It hasn’t. I’ll control it. Just, just don’t say anything to El about it.”

  “I’ll help you if you need it.”

  “I know that. But I’m tough. It won’t be a problem, trust me. I’ll put my mind to it this time.”

  Henry nodded. “Good.”

  “To show you I’m serious.” Frank took the drink from Henry’s hand and carried into the kitchen. “I’m pouring this out. And . . .” He saw Henry stood in the doorway. Frank opened the cabinet. “This too.” He grabbed a bottle and took that to the sink.

  Henry observed him pour out his stash. It was a step Frank was taking and the right step. But it was also the first of many. As Henry watched him he couldn’t help but wonder. If Frank was drinking when thinks got rough, how drunk would Frank want to get when he found out that Ellen was sneaking from Beginnings, going beyond the walls, getting Robbie, sneaking him in, and staying away in quarantine with him. And to make matters worse, Henry, his best friend, knew all about it and didn’t say a word.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  JULY 16

  Hoping that Nick didn’t wake up, Henry sat with his tea on the sofa in Frank’s living room. He felt nervous and filled with guilt, knowing that his day started out with lies by Showing up at Frank’s to take care of Nick while Frank went to work and telling Frank that Ellen would be late because she needed to sleep. He hoped that Frank hurried and left before Ellen and Dean arrived with all of the other children as well as Henry’s bags for staying with Frank once she and Dean became unavailable for a week. So many times, he debated on just picking up his radio and aborting the whole thing. He sat wondering what phase of the plan they were on. Wondering if Ellen and Dean would be safe, and waiting for all hell to break lose if Frank happened to go to the back gate too early. And to know anything, Henry would have to just sit back, wonder and wait.

  <><><><>

  ‘Just stay on the back road here until it comes out on a main road’ Dan instructed to Dean and Ellen went he had let them through the back gate, telling security to down the perimeter for an animal that was too close. ‘Go left, and a quarter mile up will be the exit to the main highway. We have the road where you’re going kept pretty clear so you shouldn’t run into trouble. Stay center of the highway and watch out for deer, they’re all over the place. And though you don’t want to, radio if you run into trouble. You’re only fifteen minutes or so away . . .’

  “It’s so dark,” Ellen stated as they drove. “There’s the sign. Did you see it?”

  “Yeah barely.” Dean leaned close to the steering wheel.

  “Why is it so dark?”

  “It’s like driving through a paved forest Ellen. The trees will block off the sun.” He turned the wheel to the right to take the ramp that brought them to the small town where Robbie was located.

  “I recognize this area. Look, the tents.” Ellen pointed.

  “I do too.” Dean pulled the Jeep over to the small grade that used to be a park at one time. He could see where Robbie had set up camp, and he remembered being there. Shutting off the Jeep, he stepped out with Ellen. He walked around to the back of the Jeep and opened it staring at the supplies “Do you think we really need any of this? We were only grabbing them and bringing them with us.”

  Ellen looked around, “I don’t think. It’s pretty quiet.”

  “Let’s just grab the medical case just . . . in case?”

  “Sounds good.” Ellen waited for him to get it and she closed the jeep. “It seems just a little too quiet.”

  “Yeah it does.” They walked up the grade. “El?” Dean caught his breath on the hill. “Where is everyone?”

  “Shit.” Ellen’s eyes widened, and in a panic, began to spin around in search. Looking down the side of the hill she could see the fresh grave and a small light coming from the church. “Down there.”

  “Let’s go.”

  They picked up their pace, running to the church, hurrying to get Robbie and the others, needing to do it quickly so they could get back to Beginnings unnoticed. They had to get to the back gate before Frank did at seven a.m., and that time was only a half hour away.

  Dean stopped walking as they hit the used-to-be walk of the church. Four bodies lay out front and the odor from the decomposition sm
acked them harder than the vision. “Shit.” Dean covered his mouth.

  “Dean.” Ellen looked at the bodies. “Don’t tell me these were the four men left with Robbie.”

  “It can’t be.” Stepping over them, Dean opened up the church doors. It was lit by a lantern placed by the altar, not a sound came from that church. Not a soul was seen.

  Ellen filled with fear from the silence. She opened her mouth in a jittery stuttering movement to call out. “Rob . . . Robbie?” She felt her face get hot and her eyes well up as she walked slowly up the aisle. “Robbie?”

  It was weak, but it was a call. “El?”

  She gasped with emotions, handed her bag to Dean, and raced to the front of the church where the voice came from. “Robbie.” He lay in the first pew and she slid on her knees to him. “Oh God.”

  “El.” He tried to sit up, and his eyes rolled some. His face was so pale and splotched with purple marks. He had dark circles so deep under his eyes, and his neck was swollen.

  “Oh my God.” Her arms went around his neck and she embraced tightly, so tightly she actually held him up. “Robbie.” His body was so hot against hers.

  Robbie thought he was dreaming until he gathered the strength to hold onto her. He let his face slide back and forth against hers, cheek against cheek, feeling the softness and coolness of her skin. The last time he had seen her or touched her it was through a suit. But this time he held Ellen and he held her with gratefulness. “You . . . you like my gifts huh?” He tried to joke.

  “I like you.”

  “What are you doing here El?” Robbie asked.

  “We’re taking you home Robbie.” She pulled back to look at him. “We’re taking you home.”