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

by Jacqueline Druga

  Henry grumbled. “Fine. Deal.”

  Frank stepped to him. “It’s time to tell her what you created, not the Auralnator but the optical enhancer.”

  “Frank, if she shoots it down, or couldn’t care less, I would ...”

  “Have faith in her, Henry. I know El. Tell her, and tell her today. If you think I have this spot in her heart, you haven’t realized what torch she carries for Dean. And with him being blind, fuck, no one stands a chance.” Frank looked at his watch. “In fact, she’ll be ready for lunch soon. The ‘hello’ was the first step, this will be the second.”

  Henry placed his hands in his pocket. “Should I really tell her?” He saw Frank nod so assuredly. “If she burns me, Frank ...”

  “She won’t. I’ll test the water for you first before sending you to the shark.”

  “Ha, ha, ha.” Henry shook his head. Apprehensively he then agreed. Though making a deal with Frank was bad, and following Frank-advice could be worse, Henry knew he was at a low, and not much at that point was going to make things worse. Of that Henry was sure.

  <><><><>

  Peering over the hill, laying stomach down, Curt held the binoculars. “What the hell is he doing?” he asked Neal, the other guard.

  Neal shook his head. “Looks like he’s crawling to the SUT on post.”

  “Should he be doing that?” Curt asked. “Why isn’t Robbie following Joe’s advice? We’re supposed to aim down, miss one, and grab one. No, instead we have Robbie two feet from an armed thing, Steve in the bush waiting for God knows what, and us up here watching.”

  “Yep,” Neal said, “he’s giving a thumbs-up.”

  “He’s just not right.” Curt shook his head, positioned his rifle better and waited.

  Forearm over forearm, on his stomach, rifle over his back, Robbie crawled with a grunt on his face. So quiet, he was gripping the Auralnator in his hand, keeping his faith in Henry and Danny. One foot from the SUT and Robbie was still unnoticed. The SUT stared out watching and waiting. Grateful for their stupidity, Robbie counted to three in his head, jumped up at the SUT from behind, secured his arm around his neck, and placed the Auralnator in his ear, depressing the button. Robbie felt the slight vibration of the silent weapon then he felt the SUT drop lifeless into him. Closing his eyes tightly with a wide open mouth and a quiet ‘oh yes!’, Robbie pulled the SUT backwards into the trees.

  Though tough, he dropped him fifteen feet away at the feet of Steve. “Fuckin brilliant,” he told Steve in a whisper.

  “It worked?”

  “Hell yeah.” Robbie clenched the Auralnator.

  “Can we take the rest out now?”

  “Um ... no.” Robbie walked away.

  “Robbie, where are you going?”

  “Just one more,” Robbie said. “I saw one taking a nap. Just one more, this is way too cool.” As soon as he drew closer to the camp, Robbie circled to where a few SUTs slept. He dropped to his stomach, crawling in his entrance, and sneaking up on the next one.

  So easy it was, all except for dragging their motionless, limp bodies to Steve.

  “Good job,” Steve said. “Now let’s get ... Robbie?”

  Robbie held his finger to his lips in a ‘shush’ manner. He mouthed the words ‘one more’ and headed into the trees. Robbie spotted a third one, sitting and cleaning his rifle off by himself. How brainless Robbie thought them to just be so lax to the fact they could be attacked.

  The sneak approach to the SUT who sat on the rock, a grab to his neck, a buzz to his ear ... and Robbie felt the struggle. “Shit.” Getting a fight from the man he braced from behind, Robbie noticed the left temple. No marks. Not a SUT. So with that, Robbie broke his neck easily, pulled him into the woods and figured since he told Steve he was getting one more, Robbie hit the camp again.

  <><><><>

  Did she smell tea? Ellen knew she did when she raised her head to the opening of her Containment office door and saw the cup first, then its presenter, Henry. “What ...”

  “I thought you would like to have lunch with me.” Henry walked in and set the cup down. “I brought you a sandwich.”

  Ellen turned her head from him and collated the papers on her desk. “Thanks, but I’m not eating, I have a meeting with Joe.”

  “El, that’s not for twenty more minutes. I can walk you there.”

  Ellen just shook her head, looking down.

  Henry sat down in the chair across from her. He nervously folded his hands watching Ellen stay busy and not look at him. “I came here to talk to you. Can I talk to you? It is really important and I promise you, it won’t be about us. It has nothing to do with ... with ...” As painful as it was to admit, Henry was being ignored. “I’m sorry. You spoke to me today. I thought I could come to you with this. Did something happen?”

  “Let’s just say I uh ...” Ellen slammed the papers down. “I had a little talk with your new girlfriend.”

  “What? Who are you talking about?”

  “Bev, you know the one that left Kenny and Kyle for you.”

  “Ellen I ...”

  “The one who says she will have your baby.”

  “Oh my God. No, El.” He saw her look away again. “I told you I didn’t sleep with her ...”

  “Stop it, Henry,” Ellen snapped. “Just stop OK?”

  “I threw up.”

  “I’m ... I’m sorry? What?” Ellen asked.

  “I got sick and threw up before we finished.”

  “You were drunk.”

  “Yeah, no excuse, but I was.”

  “And,” Ellen said. “She’s foul.”

  Henry laughed.

  Ellen gathered her things. “Thank you for the tea.” She took a sip.

  “Will you eat the sandwich I brought you?”

  “On my way to Joe’s.”

  Henry smiled gently. “Thank you, El.” He saw her stand. “Are you going there now?”

  “Yes.” Ellen grabbed the cup and wrapped sandwich.

  “Can I walk you?” Henry asked as she moved by him.

  “Henry, no.”

  “But there’s something I need to tell you, something very important.”

  “It’ll have to wait.” She moved to open the door. “It can’t be that important.”

  Henry shuddered in a breath, getting up his nerve, and chanced it by blurting it out. “I’m going to make Dean see again.”

  “What?” Ellen stopped and spun to him. “Henry, you can’t do ...”

  “Yes, yes I can. I have ...” Breathing heavily, he stepped to her. “Danny and I have reinvented the microchip. I created a program that will enhance his vision and the chip will send the signals to Dean’s eyes that his brain is unable to do now. We have worked day and night. We have it now. As soon as Jason completes his tests, we’ll do it. Dean will see again. I’m sure of it.”

  The tea cup dropped from Ellen’s hand, shattering on the floor by her feet. Not knowing what to say or do, Ellen, with shaking hands, bent down to the floor to pick up the pieces. As she did, Henry joined in helping her. “He’ll see?”

  “He’ll see. But we don’t want to tell him until we know all tests have been completed successfully. They will be, I’m certain.”

  “You did this? You came up with the program?”

  “Yes, and the chip idea, I just couldn’t make it. But it’s made.”

  “Oh, Henry.” Ellen was so shocked. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you’re happy, El. Say I did something that didn’t hurt you this time, but made you happy.”

  Holding the broken glass in her hand, Ellen stuttered, “You made me happy with this one, Henry. Thank you.” She moved to him, dropping the glass to the floor again and laying her hand on his face. “Is this what you came to tell me?”

  “Yes. I was scared to. I didn’t think you’d care.”

  “I care.” She took her hand back and looked one more time at Henry’s smiling face. “Wow.” She shuddered then smiled too. “This is great.”
She finished picking up the pieces of the cup. “And ... and I’d better hurry to Joe’s. I’ll get one of my guys to clean this up.”

  “Can I walk with you now, El?” Henry stood to his feet the same time as Ellen.

  “Walk with me now?” Ellen opened the door. “Henry, I’m sorry. This was a great, great thing you shared with me. So great. I’m proud of what you did, but it doesn’t make me see you any different right now. It doesn’t erase what happened. OK? I ... I still want to walk alone.” Giving Henry a peaceful look, Ellen walked over the spilled tea and slowly from her office.

  Failed. Henry’s heart fell so hard at that moment and the glorification of what he accomplished in helping Dean, faded to the background. It meant nothing to him because Henry felt like he failed. How could he bask in what he created if he couldn’t fully bask in it with the person he cared most about? Until he could achieve that, what he did for Dean would never mean to Henry what it should.

  <><><><>

  “A lottery.” Joe sat at his desk with folded hands watching Frank, Ellen, and Dean so seriously look back at him. “You think this is best.”

  Dean nodded. “It’s the best choice we have.”

  Running his hand down his face, Joe reached for a cigarette. “I have to be honest with you. I knew of the antiserum, but I thought it was gone. Not used in some experiment, but used by you two,” he pointed to Ellen and Dean, “injected into the kids.”

  Dean quickly looked at Ellen. “We thought ... we thought for as much as we’d like to do that, it wasn’t fair.”

  “No it’s not,” Joe stated. “Calling an emergency meeting and not letting anyone know ahead of time is best. I’ll start tomorrow writing down the names. We’ll pull the four names before the entire community. This is a hard thing to do, to pick only four children to be definite survivors if the new plague hits. It’s even harder knowing that they could very easily, without saying anything, be all of my grandchildren.” Slowly, Joe lifted his eyes. “I need to know whose idea this was. Ellen, you said you and Dean went to talk to Frank about it. Which one of you came up with this?”

  Frank answered for the three of them. “Let’s just say it was a joint effort.”

  “Good enough,” Joe said. “We’ll just ...”

  The door to Joe’s office burst open and in walked Robbie, smiling, standing tall, arms extended outward, and ... singing. It was a song from the sixties by the Rascals, ‘People Got To Be Free’, with Robbie’s own words. “Shout it from the mountain tops all over town. Beginnings should be grateful that Robbie’s around. Ba-ba-ba-ba.”

  “Robbie!” Joe shouted. “What the hell is this?”

  “I’m back.” He walked in and kissed Ellen on the cheek. “In one piece, and in victory mode. Wanna fool around, El? I’m in a good ...” Frank’s loud ‘Hey’ stopped Robbie’s line of questioning to her. “Kidding. Anyhow, like I radioed, we were successful and I need Frank to come to the garage. I have a surprise.”

  Frank stood up. “You got our SUT?”

  “You could say that, yeah.” Robbie grinned. “I have to head back there. Grab Henry when you come.”

  “Got it.” Frank turned to Joe. “You coming?”

  “Yes.” Joe stood up. “You get Henry. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Sounds good.” Excited, Frank raced to the door, stopped, ran back to Ellen, rubbed her head, and kissed her cheek. He chuckled and ran out of the office with Joe right behind him.

  Ellen looked to Dean in Joe’s empty office. “I guess our meeting is over.”

  “I guess so.”

  “Wanna sneak and see what they’re up to?”

  “Sure, why not. Lead the way.” Dean stood, holding out his arm, letting Ellen take it, and foolishly lead him out.

  <><><><>

  The banging, slamming, and grumbling all came from behind the Mechanics door when Frank approached. “What the hell?” He opened it up to see Henry. Henry banged the file cabinet drawer. Mumbled something, stomped about, and made just about as much noise as one person could make on their own. “Henry? What the fuck?”

  “Hey, Frank.” Henry sounded so down.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Everything.”

  “Did something happen?”

  “You could say that. I told Ellen about my Dean invention.”

  “And?” Frank asked.

  “She killed me, Frank. Shot me down, burned me, crucified me, and hung me out to dry.”

  “Whoa.” Frank looked and sounded shocked. “I’m sorry, Henry. I thought she would have been receptive.”

  “She hates me.”

  “Tell me what she said.” Frank walked closer to him. “Did she say, ‘Henry you suck. That’s a stupid idea.’ or what?”

  “No.”

  “No? Did she say she couldn’t care less?”

  “No.”

  “Well, what the hell did she say, Henry? Let’s take what she said apart. Maybe each statement individually may not look that bad.”

  “I doubt it,” Henry said.

  “Let’s try. What all did she say? Start by her first reaction.”

  “She dropped the cup she was holding.”

  “Good. Stunned. Not bad. What next?”

  “She said ... she said it was a good thing. I didn’t make her feel badly for once.”

  “Another good occurrence, Henry.” Frank nodded with approval. “And then she blasted you right?”

  “No. She did say that it was a great thing and she was proud of me.”

  “My God, Henry, could she have gotten any meaner with you.” Frank was sarcastic. “Now where exactly in the conversation did she kill you with words?”

  “When ... when ... she wouldn’t walk with me, Frank.”

  Another dramatic gasp came from Frank. “She tells you it was great and she’s proud of you, and you’re pouting because she wouldn’t walk with you? Henry! That’s stupid.”

  Henry raised his head and his hand dropped from the filing cabinet. “I guess you’re right.”

  “A step, Henry. We’re taking this one step at a time. This method is not an express elevator to the Peaches and Herb floor of being reunited. Got that?”

  With a snicker, Henry nodded. “You’re right. That Peaches and Herb comment was funny.”

  “I’m a funny guy. And ...” Frank walked to the door. “... the good news guy. Robbie got you your SUT. It’s at the garage.”

  Henry shrieked. “The Auralnator worked!”

  “I guess.”

  “Yes!” Henry paced to the door then backed to his desk where he grabbed his radio. “Danny, Danny, come in. Meet me at the garage and hurry. It worked, Robbie got a ...” not wanting to say it over the airwaves, Henry coded it, “... a recipient of the Auralnator. Hurry.” Hooking his radio on his belt, Henry hurried from Mechanics so fast Frank couldn’t catch him right away.

  <><><><>

  Proudly, Robbie stood before the closed garage door, occasionally banging his fist against it with a smile, yelling at Neal, Curt, and Steve inside, who wanted out. “Wait until everyone’s here.”

  Joe was his usual perturbed self, standing in front of the closed garage doors. What was the big deal? Why did

  he have to wait? His annoyance was coupled by Ellen who whispered her commentating to Dean, truly believing she was not being heard.

  Robbie could see Frank and Henry coming up over the hill. They stopped to wait for Danny then all three walked to the garage.

  “First off.” Robbie held out his hands. “Henry, Danny, I have to tell you that thing was so cool. Man, the SUTs drop like flies, buzz and down.” Robbie grinned. “So, knowing this and feeling like I was in a Lays potato chip mood ...” Robbie lifted the garage door, “I came home the victor.”

  Neal ran out first, stopping at Joe. “There is something not right about your son.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Joe commented.

  Henry and Danny stepped in first, the shrieks of laughter prompted Joe to race in.

>   Joe stood shocked. “Twelve? What in God’s name, Robbie? I told you one.”

  “I know, I know. But, Dad, it was so easy and now we have our fist squad.” Robbie pointed to them. “What do you think, Frank?”

  “You did this with that thing they made?” Frank whistled. “Henry, I want every single one of my men to have one. Can you make them?”

  Henry, who was bending down in a squat to a SUT, looked back at Frank. “We need the supplies and we’ll do it.” His hand reached to the SUT who just stared outward. “Danny?” Henry whispered. “Do you think we messed him up?”

  “No way. I think the thing was lobotomized and the chip told him how to function. You know, program CME-IS-2: Replacement of Normal Function, Infantry Soldier Directed. And ...” Danny sniffed. “That would explain the really bad smell.”

  Henry inhaled and made a gagging face. “What is that?” He covered his nose.

  “He doesn’t know how to control his bodily functions.” Danny’s back of his hand covered his nose. “Man, rank.” He blew out. “We’ll have to clean these guys up before we take them to the basement to reprogram.”

  “You mean they all will just go ...”

  “Where ever they feel like it,” Danny said as he watched Henry stand up. “Watch that puddle Henry your gonna ...”

  Henry let out a loud ‘uh’.

  “... step in it.”

  With his eyes watering from the smell and the thought, Henry took off running with his hand over his mouth. He raced from the garage, his stomach pulling and turning. The second he stepped outside, he released his hand, turned to the side of the building and vomited.

  Ellen saw this as she led Dean to the garage. “Must be good in there, Dean. Henry just puked.” As she walked by Henry, she tapped him on the back. “You OK?”

  Henry badly wanted to answer. Ellen was speaking to him and nicely too, but he couldn’t. All he could do was let her go see the SUTs for herself while Henry finished releasing the remnants of the contents of his stomach.